POPCORN

I LOVE popcorn. Mmmm popcorn. Really, there is no excuse needed to eat popcorn- want to watch a movie? Popcorn! How about just tv? Popcorn! Want to play a game? Popcorn! Paying bills? That's right, popcorn! Ok, maybe not so much on that last one, but you get my point. It's the snack of choice. I've even thought about finding the kind you can make over a fire to put in our 72-hour kits. On rare occasion we ever go to the movies, I can not resist that delicious, buttery, salty goodness. And yes, I literally inhale that heart attack in a bag. Last time we saw a movie, Chase gave me all kinds of looks as he told me to breathe in between bites and to let him have some for once. What can I say, it's sooo good, and there is absolutely no way you can stop with only a few bites. I don't have that kind of self-control. I almost always get a tummy-ache, but I still continue to eat. I can't help it. Mmmmm...

That only explains why as a child, I always loved this Popcorn book:


It's about a bear who throws a Halloween party while his parents go out, and all of his friends bring popcorn with them. And since he has way more friends than I ever did, his entire house fills to the top with popcorn....MY DREAM!! I always thought that would be the coolest thing, to swim in a house (or even a room) full of popcorn, devouring as much as I please. However, I do not want that house to be MY house.

Thanks to Cade, this is what I found as I came out of the shower this morning:


These pictures don't even show it near as well as seeing it in person. It was ALL OVER. Where did it all come from you ask? Because obviously the kid doesn't know how to open a bag of popcorn and use the microwave. In the picture above, the big Santa can that has the 3 different kinds of popcorn in it is the partner in crime. I should have known something was up when Cade kept coming into the bathroom saying, "Ohhhh nooo, Mommy". And when I finally come out to see what's up and why some popcorn had trailed into the bathroom, he says, "Mommy, mess!". Thanks Cade, I didn't notice...

Thanks for the cleanup help, Babe. And showing us all how to be the perfect housewife.

But I can't really be mad at the kid- just look at him:

Awwwww! What an angel:)

This Little Monkey is TWO!

Cade turned 2 last month on December 8th! I can't believe how fast he is growing up (can't think about that too much to prevent the water works from coming). We had a crazy month of December so we didn't get to celebrate Cade's birthday until a week and a half later and combined celebrating his and my brother Matt's birthdays at the same time. I didn't even attempt at a cake this year since I was feeling horrible and we were incredibly busy. So boring, not cutsied looking cupcakes it was! At least they had a cream cheese and chocolate chip filling in the center.

He looks just like my baby pictures right here.



Good Job Madison!

Now, I love, love, love my baby. He is the cutest kid on the planet. I know every mother feels that way about their kid, as I believe every mother should. So I am not holding anything back as I brag about him incessantly because as every other mother, that is my right. After all, he is my whole world.

Cade is the sweetest, and I mean SWEETEST, boy. He is so happy, so friendly, and SO loving. He tells me "I lu you" all the time (I'm sure it helps that I tell him that literally 50 times a day). All day long he will climb up to me, get in my face and say "Mommy, kiss" and give me a kiss. He says "please" and "thank you, Momma" for EVERYTHING. He has to say "hi" (really loud, I might add) to everyone we pass. He knows no stranger. He gets very upset when we get upset with him. He immediately cries and wants to kiss and hug for like 5 minutes to make it better. It breaks my heart that he feels like he's disappointing us, but I do love that he wants everything to always be good between us. He has a lot of compassion for other people. I am so glad he has this trait. If you are crying, he's all over you. He gets in your face- "Mommy, crying" as he scrunches up his face pretty pitifully and tries to love me back to happiness. One day at the playground, an older kid about 8 or so was yelling across to his brother. Cade thought he was hurt or upset and ran right over to him and asked him what was wrong. The other day we had the show Wipeout on tv. The first girl started the obstical course and she got smacked really hard with something and fell in the water. Cade immediately started crying (really hard) and going somewhat balistic. It was very obvious that he thought she was hurt. Everytime that girl fell or hit real hard or anything (which was actually really funny, might I add), Cade just got worse. We just had to change the channel. The list of these instances goes on and on.

He is very easy to reason with, for just about anything. We can almost always get him to calm down by just talking and explaining things to him. For example, he knows he has to eat bites of all his food at dinner. He will whine about it, but we tell him he has to eat however many bites of each thing and then he's all done. He says a whiny "ok" and eats. It works for just about everything else he starts pitching a fit about (it wasn't always this way might I add, but we always stand our ground and he knows it so he learned quickly and is easier to cooperate. It also got a lot better when he started communicating really well). We always tell him "no crying, no whining, be happy" and he repeats each one and will give us a kiss and calm down. He is such a good kid.

He always wants to say the prayer when we eat. We have to help him of course, but he has the "name of Jesus Christ, Amen" part down pat. He has known all of his letters since he was 17 months and quickly after that, learned how to count to 14, forwards and backwards. Kudos to Sesame Street for that one. I don't know where he got those genes from, but he is extremely intelligent.

Cade loves most vegetables. Chase and I have debated whether his favorite food is broccoli or green beans. Here he is chowing down on raw broccoli as he watches a show.

Cade's Christmas Jammies.

All of our Christmas Jammies this year.

Papa sporting them a little better in this pic.

Cade loves Sef.

I go into the bathroom and this is what I find. Cade looks up and says "Mommy, potty. Wiping."

Cade has the worldest greatest Daddy. Really. We had to get a new water heater, and Chase made the box into a train for Cade. Cade is really obsessed with trains.

Wearing Sef's pimpin hat that Jordan sent him for Christmas from Switzerland.

It snowed 6-8 inches in Huntsville last night and today! We spent hours playing outside and had a blast. Cade cried everytime we went inside.

Mommy, Cade, and creepy snowman

Another greatest Daddy moment. It's a snow fort!

Entrance

Going in the entrance

Inside

Daddy and Cade

Hanging in his long-john's, eating a grilled cheese at lunch time.

Grandma and Grandpa took us sledding in their neighborhood later that day.

Cade going down with Grandpa.

And then there was lots and lots and LOTS of nausea..

As most of you know by now, we are expecting our second child! I figured since having a baby is a big event, it should probably warrant an official post. We are excited to have another as our first has been an absolute joy (yes, some of you may be gasping at this statement since you know what a difficult baby he was for a long time, but if you are around him now, you know exactly what I mean). So hooray for a sweet, little baby and a sibling for Cade!

However, having a baby is not all smiles and butterflies, especially the first half of pregnancy (we will get to the insanity of the first several months after birth another time). What's wrong with the first half of pregnancy, you ask? WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT?! How about feeling like you want to puke your brains out every second of every day but no relief ever comes so you lay on the couch crying all day because you feel like you are going to die and you don't know how on earth you are going to take care of your child and feed him and give him any attention at all except turning on the tv for him all day, all the while all food makes you feel even more sick, but if you don't eat, you feel even more like your life is coming to an end, so you eat and want to puke the whole time, and to make matters worse, you have to eat that food you don't want to eat every couple of hours to try to control the sickness, and I am not just talking crackers every couple of hours, FULL MEALS...which then comes to the problem of how am I going to cook and prepare this food when the look, smell, and thought of EVERYTHING makes me sick and even just standing up for more than 5 seconds makes me want to die, so really, how am I supposed to survive when this is going on EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY?!?! And then try getting strep throat on top of that. So please excuse me when I strongly dislike you when you tell me that you don't get sick with pregnancy.

Luckily, I have finally gotten over the "I'm going to die" hump and have just been in the feeling yucky hump for the last few weeks. Last time, it all lasted until 16 weeks, so I'm hoping just a handful of days more.

I know there are some women who may think this is crazy and wonder why anyone would subject themselves to this awful state over and over. And the answer is so simple. It is because of this:

And this.

And this.

And so, so much more.

To say that I LOVE my baby (and yes, I will probably call Cade my baby his entire life) doesn't even come close to describing it. I never really understood real love and sacrifice until I had Cade. I would do anything for that boy. So I'd have to say that we want to add another joy to our lives because of the great blessing they are and the love our first baby brought to our family can only grow with the addition of another. Now, I would be lying if I said I'm not scared to death about being able to handle two kids, but I want children more than anything so I can't justify letting my fear and lots of discomfort and craziness get in the way of my dreams.

And so, we really look forward to this summer when we will meet the newest member of our family around the first of July:)

Halloween Festivities 2010

Just some pictures of Cade's Halloween this year.

We went to Tate Farms in Meridianville. If you aren't from Huntsville, it's a great pumpkin patch to take your kids. There are so many activities for them to do.

Playing in the big bin of corn

He loved this cotton trailer.

I love pictures like these.

Tractor ride for the little kids. Cade LOVED this. He screamed his head off when we took him out after it was over.

This is the one!

Hayride

At the Trunk or Treat at church. The Hearne's decorated their van for the kids to go through. Cade kept going through it over and over and over. He would go out the exit door and then run right back to the entrance. He did it about 75 times in a row.

My little elephant and his stash.

He loved trick-or-treating, but he really loved handing out the candy to the kids. He would put it in their bags and say "thank you!".

Our neighborhood is crazy on Halloween. A lot of the houses decorate their entire front yard and even do haunted house type things. We get so many trick-or-treaters you would not believe.

Notice the line.

I bought about $135 worth of candy this year (thank goodness I only paid about $35 for it). We saw about 350 kids and were only left with the 2 M&Ms bags.

I just love this time of year!!