First Hair Cut

I thought this day wouldn't come for years and years. We lasted until shortly after Cade's 3rd birthday. I guess now that I have a new baldy, it's okay that Cade has big boy looking hair.

My friend Katie ("Wuby's Mommy") came over and cut his hair for me. Cade did so much better than I thought he would. I don't call him Crazy Cade for no reason. That boy just can't be still. But for his haircut- still as a statue. I think I need to pay Katie to stay at my house all day, every day and SLLLOOOWWLLYYY cut his hair.

Oh. My. Goodness. He looks so grown up now! I'm sure he's tired of me telling him over and over how cute he is. Actually, he's probably not, but Chase probably is. I thought his curls would be gone forever as soon as his hair was cut, but it started curling up right away. It doesn't always do that, though. Usually, when it's warm out.

So adorable. So big.

Great to Be 3!!!

Cade had his 3rd birthday last week on December 8th. I can't believe my baby is already 3! I hate thinking about how quickly my boys are growing because all I can think about is how it won't be too long until they leave me (BIG crocodile tears). I want my babies to stay babies forever!

As for celebrating this occasion, of course, we did it Thomas style. Was there even a doubt?!

My first time making the birthday cake. Yeah...a huge headache. Thank goodness my sister helped me decorate it or there would only be the figures on top and nothing else. I vowed to never make another cake again, but I know when Reece's birthday rolls around, I'll think- It wasn't really that bad. And so I'll venture at it again and go crazy, get frustrated, and wonder why I thought this was a good idea all over again, I'm sure. Kind of like having kids. But, the end result is always amazing and then you're glad you did it. This cake, by the way, was incredibly delicious! Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Cade is still asking if he can have some Thomas cake, and we ate it up long ago! (And then he cries, so I wish he would just forget about it).

And what did he get?? Thomas, Thomas, and more Thomas!

He's not excited at all.

Of course Grandpa's in there playing with it all, too.

He had a great birthday! Now, the time can start going slower...

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

WELLLLL, let's just say, I have no talents and no hobbies. That is why saving money and finding deals has become my thing. When you are young and married with small children and living off of one income, finances can be really tight. So stretching our dollar and purchasing things at extremely low prices (that we may otherwise never have been able to buy) gives me great satisfaction! It is rare that I pay full price for anything. This way of thinking has brought me to find a new love-- garage sales!

I will admit, I used to stick my nose up to garage sales. I mean, why on earth would I want to buy some stranger's used crap?!? Well, my friend, because there is a lot of "used crap" out there that really isn't used or crappy at all. For instance, it only takes 1 time to hit a garage sale given by a shopaholic who is selling massive amounts of amazing clothes (some with tags still on) for $1 each to get hooked. Now, I am picky about the areas I go garage selling (because I don't want to waste my valuable time looking at actual crap) and what I buy. It's got to be something I need or really could use, in excellent condition, and really well priced. It is so pointless and a waste of money if those criteria are not met.

Whenever I go out to garage sales, upon arriving home, Cade always runs to the door and asks, "Mommy, you find any treasures?!". Because usually I have found a little something for him. Last time I went he said, "Mommy, you find any treasures?! Thomas?!". One of these days I will hit the Thomas jackpot, just haven't found it yet.

Here are some of the treasures I've found at garage sales in the past month:

Eddie Bauer car seat in pristine condition. It really looks like it has never been used. Retail- $200; price paid- $20! Your welcome Reece:)

Closet Organizer brand new still in packaging- $5.

Cade has gotten into the show Little Einsteins lately so he was more than thrilled when I brought home this submarine for the bathtub and the plush characters below. Apparently, they don't sell Little Einstein stuff in stores anymore and it's all going for a fortune on eBay. I did see the plush rocket for $16 on Amazon. Price paid for these toys- 25 cents each.

He sleeps with them. Now, I'm trying to find the other 2 plush girl characters for Christmas, but not sure if that's going to work out.

Fake Gucci purse- $1.

I have been wanting a food processor for awhile now so I was excited to find this. The lady said she bought it but only used it a few times because she still preferred to do things the old fashioned way. $5.

I kept my eye on this shirt a couple years ago at Target, but even on clearance it didn't go low enough for me to buy it. Happy day when I found it at a garage sale. 50 cents!

This picture makes it look frumpy, but its actually a really nice Gap sweater. $2.

Really nice lined black skirt- $2.

$3

$3

$1

Been looking for brown boots for church- $3.

This Express dress actually looks very nice and maybe worn once- minus the stain at the bottom that I need to get out. Just add a cute white cardigan and wallah!- my Easter dress. 50 cents.

Yes, I know pretty much my entire wardrobe is sweatshirts and t-shirts, but when you're getting spit up on 50 times a day, this is just what's practical. When my kids are all grown up, I'll dress nice again. Or not. Who knows. Anyways, representing the University- $1.

My sister and I found a killer garage sale a few weeks ago. The whole neighborhood pooled all of their stuff together and had 3 ladies in charge of selling all of it. That was the best for 2 reasons- 1.) 99% of it wasn't their stuff so they had no emotional attachment to it. Meaning- they didn't think things were worth way more than they really were. So, whenever we would ask how much something was, they would say, "I don't know. Like 50 cents?" or "Like 25 cents?". I got some great Christmas presents for Reece and Cade so check back later for those. (That is where I got the Little Einsteins, closet organizer, pink ruffly shirt, and dress from above). 2.) All the money they made was being donated to a charity so they really didn't care how much things went for. A big win for me!

I don't know about you, but all this talk is making me want to go search for more treasures!

"Hey, that kid was looking in my candy bag!"

-If you came trick-or-treating at our house this year, that is what you might have heard the other kids exclaiming as they walked away (one kid did rather loudly).

We had a great Halloween this year! Holidays just become more and more fun as Cade gets older and really understands what is going on. Cade is constantly cracking us up with his friendly and goofy personality, and that certainly came out this Halloween. He loved trick-or-treating, but he sure loved passing out the candy to all the hundreds (yes, I said hundreds!) of trick-or-treaters who came to our door even more. He had to talk to everyone, comment on everyone's costume, help hand out candy, look in the kids candy bags as he put candy in (or just as they were standing there waiting for candy), and just bounce off the walls with excitement. Some things you would have heard from Cade if you came trick-or-treating at our house would have been:

• (To everyone walking on the sidewalk), "Hey! Hey! You comin?! You comin?!" And as they walked up to the door- "Say trick-or-treat!".
• "Oooo, you kind of scary!!"
• "You got lots of nice treats!"
• As everyone left- "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" or "see you soon!"

My crazy goofball on Halloween. Can't you tell he's beaming with pride because of his Thomas costume? He was so excited to wear that thing.

Cade did have a hard time with getting freaked out at times. He would cry when kids wore scary masks. He eventually somewhat got over it when one really sweet kid told him he wasn't going to hurt him and took off his mask. Then the wheels in Cade's head started turning. He also was scared to death when he passed by some motion censored scary thing in someone's bushes when he was trick-or-treating. Chase said Cade's reaction was pretty hilarious when he ran away and cried big tears.

Adorable boys

My precious pumpkin. He is quite the smiler:)

Our loot to pass out this year. We barely had enough. Because our neighborhood is so insane, I started shopping the candy deals at the very beginning of October and spanned my purchases out over the whole month. I saved over $90 on all of this. I also kept a piece of paper by the door to help me count all the trick-or-treaters this year. Things got pretty crazy at times so I missed quite a few, but from what I wrote down, we had over 340!!! Thankfully, towards the end my mom came over and was able to help me count, and we had 43 just in one door opening!

This big group made a big pirate ship on a trailer and all dressed up as pirates and drove it around trick-or-treating. I thought it was awesome. They were singing pirate songs and had pirate-y music going. Click on the picture and you can see the look on Cade's face as he was running away. He was scared because they had something making cannonball sounds.

And just for fun:

Now, Cade keeps talking about wanting to go trick-or-treating. Gotta wait a whole year to do it again, buddy.

Fun Saturdays

Lately, the Layton clan has been trying to do some family fun stuff together on Saturdays. Since life is kind of crazy right now and Chase is busy with work and school during the week, it's important for us to spend this time together. Sometimes it's low key, and sometimes we go somewhere fun. There were 3 good Saturdays in a row that we were able to do something fun. Hooray for getting out of the house!

One Saturday it was Free Museum Day, so we went to The Space and Rocket Center. It's really sad that I've lived in Huntsville almost my entire life and had never been before. So what did I think? Eh- pretty boring actually. Maybe Space Camp and the IMAX are fun, but those aren't free. Cade didn't seem to care though. He had a great time!






He loved this kid ride the most. We thought he would get on it, get scared, and cry. NOPE. He laughed his head off and rode it about 10 times.

Chase tried to force me to ride the Space Shot ride, but it wasn't until after some man called me a chicken (which I am NOT. I just didn't want to mess up my hair because I was going to the Relief Society activity that night, and it doesn't get done very often any more. That's a good excuse, Chase!), that I walked my tail up to the front of that line and got on the stupid ride. Now, I am one to ride any roller coaster and have to sit in the front 1 or 2 rows, but oh my goodness, I thought I was going to die. It was glorious to get off of that awful ride! Chase, on the other hand, didn't even ride it- WHO'S THE CHICKEN NOW?!

Saturday number 2, we walked in the parade at the Madison Street Festival to support my brother-in-law Chris Messervy's campaign. He is running for Madison County District Court Judge (Vote for Chris!). I had never heard of the Madison Street Festival and didn't realize how big this event is. There were TONS of people there! Here are some pics of all of us getting ready to start walking in the parade. All of these pictures are taken before we reached downtown where all the people are so you don't get to see the masses.

Chris and Kim Messervy. Chris and Madison rode in the back of the car and waved at everyone. Chase and Pops walked in front of the car with a huge Chris Messervy banner. Kim walked alongside with Maisy in the stroller.

The kids- Jack, Kate, and Cade rode in the caboose of this train and threw candy out to all of the kids. They had a blast! And when we told Cade he was going to ride in a train, he was more than thrilled.

Cade rode in the airplane on this part of the train for a little while, but it didn't last long because he wanted to throw candy.

The caboose

Maisy

Kate

Jack

Walking alongside the train. It was freezing that morning!

Nice and toasty in his bear suit.

After the parade, there are over 200 vendors downtown, and everyone just walks around and has a good ol' time. We helped pass out popcorn and flyers at Chris's booth.

Saturday number 3, we walked in the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run. SEA (the company where Chase works) kindly paid for their employees and family members to participate in this event.

I had to put Reece in the sling because strollers weren't allowed (dumb rule). But when we got there, there were stroller everywhere. Oh well. This worked, too.

We walked the 5K with Charity and Matt Carpenter and had tons of fun. Cade was a hoot and kept everyone entertained. He walked/ran 3 of the 3.2 miles! It wasn't until the very end that Chase had to put him on his shoulders. That boy has more energy than any kid I have seen! (And only took a 45 minute nap later that day. Figures.)

All of downtown is blocked off for the run, and Cade was a goober and stopped at every stop light if it was red and waited for it to turn green before he would start walking again. Then, when we got to the first water station, we took a cup of water from someone and gave it to Cade. When he was done drinking it, we told him to throw it down on the side of the road. He was totally confused and kept looking at us like, "I'm not supposed to do that". Finally, he did it, and then laughed hysterically. So when we came to the next water station, he went up to the first lady who had a cup of water, took it from her, took one sip, and then threw it on the side of the road. Then he ran to another person with water, took it, took one sip, and threw it on the side of the road. We had to catch him before he grabbed the next cup. He thought that was the best. Crazy kid.

Hooray for fun Saturdays!