My 2 Year Old!

Caden had an Elmo party at Tumbling Stars. He had a great time playing with friends and family. He especially loved hearing everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him.




Caden's new favorite thing is a sucker! He says, "I want sucka!" in a demanding voice throughout the day.


Caden is very affectionate. He is always hugging and kissing his friends whether or not they really want him to. Then he says, "That's sweet!"


Jaime, Carson, Keaton, Nikki, Laney, Levi, Janna, and Nolan.


Braedon as the Tin Man, Caden the football player, and Eden as Tinkerbell. We had a great time together at the Fall Festival!




My mom, Star, Madison, and I got to see Mary Poppins! The show was excellent and we had some nice girl time together. We even met Mary Poppins after the show!


"I want the alphabet." Caden loves his letters! He named each letter as I placed them on the wall.


Madison, Jackson, Hope, and Avonlea at the pumpkin patch.

23 Months

Helping Daddy build a pergola.



Caden helped me bake cupcakes for the fist time.

Nathan's family birthday picnic at the park.















At 22 months Caden started saying the ABC's all the way through including every letter. Since then, the alphabet has become a passion. He sings them over and over and over again. He also progressed from counting to 10 at 22 months, to counting to 15 at 23 months. I bought him bathtub letters and numbers, and he was able to identify 19 letters at random without any prompting and all the numbers 1-9! I had no idea that his letter recognition was that good! It's just so amazing to me to watch as he learns new things.

His other interest right now is listening to music. He loves to hear his CDs! As soon as we get in the car he says, "I want a song!" He's very demanding! The cutest thing is that sometimes after a song ends, he'll say "That's a great song!" Right now his favorite songs to sing are ABC's, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Jesus Loves Me, Elmo You Can Drive My Car, Elmo's World, If You're Happy and You Know It, and Twinkle Twinkle

22 Months

My boys!
Two peas in a pod.
Of course all of the kids have to help blow out the candles!




Caden has 2 favorite books. "Duck: Book of Opposites" and "Who Says Woof?" He is reading the book to Hailey. His favorite page is the about the cow.


Caden loves Hailey so much. As soon as he gets out of bed he asks, "Where'd Hailey go?" Then he runs to find her and gives her hugs and kisses.

Caden is in love with footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, bouncy balls...and he likes to say the list, too. He takes them to bed, talks about them as soon as he wakes up, and even insists on eating with them even if they don't fit on his tray.

Wimberley

We went to Wimberley with Nathan's side of the family for the weekend. Everyone was able to go, and it turned out to be the perfect vacation spot. The house was on the river. The river was great because it was shallow for swimming and had a natural ledge for the little ones to play on. The guys went fishing, the girls enjoyed sitting in the hottub, and the kids had an amazing time. It was nice to spend time outside with the family!

Canyon Lake Vacation

Schlitterbahn

The Gristmill in Gruene


Madison, Jackson, and Hope

Caden loved the kid's pool b/c it was only 2 ft. deep. He was able to swim around on his own.

Braedon, Nathan, Kristin


In June we stayed in Canyon Lake, TX. My parents and all the Smith's came down for a few days. Later in the week Kristin and Braedon came to visit. We had fun swimming, going to Gruene and Schlitterban, tubing, and playing putt putt and skee ball (Caden loved the balls). We were so grateful to have time to spend together as a family.

21 Month Pictures

Hope and Caden

Caden's making car noises as he works hard to drive Daddy's car.
Madison, Mamama, and Caden playing in the backyard.


Caden had so much fun at gymnastics this summer. He was fearlessly jumping off of everything, no matter how high up.

Caden is texting while wearing a"hat" that he found in the guest room.

Caden LOVES to play ball. It's his obsession. He insisted on holding these two during his therapy.

Papa Joe and Caden at Kemah.

The playground at the zoo.

My mom and I took Caden to Chuck e Cheese. All he wanted to do was play basketball. Look at that form!

Hailey and Caden are best friends. He chases her, gives her hugs and kisses, feeds her, sits on her, pulls her ears, and anything else he can think of to drive her crazy. She won't admit it, but she loves him, too!

Mamama and Caden playing in the sandbox at Lupe Tortilla.

"I Want a Hug"

Tonight when Caden was on his changing table, he stretched his arms out to me and said, "I want a hug." So I gave him a big hug, and then he kissed me. Then he said, "I love you Mama." And I responded, "I love you Caden." Then he said, "I love you, too." I love my sweet baby boy so much!

Hello, Goodbye

Yesterday we went to the grocery store. As soon as Caden got out of the car, he said "hi" to someone in the parking lot. Caden always enjoys talking to people when we're out, so I decided to conduct a little exxperiment. I counted how many different people Caden greeted while we were at the grocery store. Drum roll please......37!! It is so sweet how he cheerfully says hello to complete strangers with such confidence. It's usually well received and so Caden often proceeds with further chatter. Once we got to the check out line, he began telling everyone from there on out "goodbye." And of course he said "thank you" to the checker. I just smile thinking about this because it encompasses Caden's friendly, happy, and loving personality.