ABCs

Leif (soon to be 4) and Cade (just turned 2) performing the ABCs for your viewing pleaure.

Some pictures of Aunt Sarah and Uncle Chris's recent visit to MN...

It's been a long time!

Well it has been a long time since I have update this thing...Just wanted to give a quick update because it seems like that is all I have time for. Over the last couple of months we have been busy. We took a little vacation to coordinate with Justin's work trip to Boston, MA. Then Krista and the boys flew out to spend a week in the NH with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Ken. The boys had a great time visiting G&G.

Cade (aka Cadders) is really talking a lot now! There are somethings that he says that you still cannot understand, but he does very well getting his point across. He is also a very good listener, which is quite refreshing when you have a rebellious 3 year in the house. Cade is usually very sweet but with all of his talking he has quickly learned that "No" is his favorite word! He must use "Noooo" at least 1000 times a day. It is kind of funny though because a lot of times he will say "No" and then do what you asked him to do. Watch the video of Cade talking...isn't he cute?

Leif is a great kid. He, like all other 3 years, has copious amounts of energy. Only about 1/10th of his energy can be burned by playing inside and then he just starts pushing his brother over and bouncing off the walls. We are all really looking forward to spring! Leif has started the new hobby of Lady Beetle collecting. Pretty much every house in MN has a ton of these Lady Beetles that get in through the cracks this time of year. Leif considers the Beetles his pets and insists on taking them everywhere, including to bed! Leif is also in floor hockey and really enjoys it, he leaves the hour long session with the biggest smile on his face, it is very cute. Next month we are going to start outdoor soccer with Leif,and he is really looking forward to that! Watch Leif in action in the video below....

Here are some other recent photos of the boys. Enjoy!

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Well, we had a very busy Christmas week. Christmas eve day Krista, Rebecca, Katherine, Leif and Cade baked Christmas cookies. The boys were really getting into decorating the cookies and eating them too! The parties started on Christmas eve when we went to Krista's cousins house in Edina, MN. There were about 40 of us in all, the boys had a lot of fun running around with all the kids. Leif is now known among the family as "the pinball wizard" since he spent about 45 minutes playing a real full size pinball game. He was really racking up the points too! There was so much good food we all came how with stomach aches! Christmas eve night Leif and Cade left out cookies and milk for Santa as well as special Reindeer food out in the snow for all the reindeer. Christmas morning was great fun. Leif came running in our bedroom and yelled out "Merry Christmas, Santa came last night!". He was very excited to go downstairs and rip open presents. Cade, was not much into opening up presents he preferred to just go and play with all his old toys. Although, Cade did open a couple of his own gifts, Leif tore through 90% of them. The boys got trucks, trucks and more trucks...which is just what they wanted! The boys got so much stuff, we may need to get a bigger house (just kidding!).

Later in the afternoon Krista's immediate family came to our house and we opened more presents, Leif was so excited he was opening everyone else's presents too! After Christmas dinner we were all playing board games...which eventually turned into stupid human tricks...did you know that Leif can role his stomach? On 12/27 we had yet another family party to attend, it was a couples wedding shower for Krista's cousin. On 12/28 Leif and Justin went downhill skiing. I think that Leif really liked going down the hill, however he did not like going up the "magic carpet" since he wiped out on it a couple of times. Justin plans to get Leif out skiing at least 2 more times this year.


We are not yet sure what we are doing for New Years Eve this year (even though it is only two days away). We have talked about either going up to the cabin or having some friends over.

Cade is Walking!

Cade has been "cruising" for months. But the other day he started walking! Now, after a couple of weeks, it is his primary mode of transportation. He really likes to practice walking around the kitchen island. He is very proud of himself and is usually giggling the whole time. The other day he had his snack cup, full of crackers, in the living room and would walk over to the porch to see what Dad and Leif where doing and then walk back over to the living and grab another cracker. This process repeated for about 15 minutes. And Cade just thought it was the coolest thing ever. Below is some video from some of the first couple of days of walking...




Leif has been fighting the potty training for about as long as Cade has been "cruising"...months...sometimes it seems like years. But I am happy to announce that he is now potty trained. All it is took was a leap of faith on our part to send him to day care with underwear on one day and pretty much after that he figured it out. It is really nice not having to change that diaper anymore!


The boys really enjoy each other. It is funny because it seems that if they are apart in a situation that they are usually together, you can tell they don't quite know what to do without their brother by their side. Leif is such a loving big brother, when they are at day care even when playing with the bigger kids, he always comes over to check on Cade every 10-15 minutes and give him a hug and kiss and to just make sure Cade is doing alright. Below is a classic picture of how Leif can get a little overzealous with his affection toward Cade.

Happy Halloween

Halloween with a 3 year old can be summed up in 1 word. Fun! A couple of months ago Krista had asked Leif what he wanted to be for Halloween and with no hesitation at all he responded "a tiger". Krista was lucky enough to find a very nice tiger costume for $6 at a local used kids clothing store. Cade, as little brothers always do, got one of his older brothers old costumes...a giraffe. But man did he make that hand-me-down look good! Halloween was a beautiful night, it was 55ºF. Cade only lasted about 5-6 house before he needed to go to bed. Leif on the other hand wanted to keep going and going. Dad and Leif when around the block with a couple of Leif's friends, Madalyn and Harper, and their parents. The other two kids were walking slow and Leif was making a b-line for the each new door...he would ring the doorbell, say trick-or-treat, get his candy before his two friends even got to the door. And after every house he was come back and say "Can we go to another house?". How can you say no to that?

Forgot some pics of Cade

Finally, the teeth are coming in like gangbusters!

Cade likes to go in reverse on the "motorcycle" (no, it's not a big wheel, it's a motorcycle...per Leif anyway).

Will life ever slow down?

Well, obviously I'm not keeping up with this blog as well as I had intended. Life just has a way of intervening! We're all doing well...finally! It's been a rough month of sickness - seems like just about every one in the book. I think we're on the tail end though, that is until the next round of sickness starts.

Leif and Cade continue to grow and amaze us every day (as well as challenge us). In case anyone's wondering, two is our number and we're going to stick with that...no more kids. These two boys are quite a lot to handle actually. If Leif isn't tackling the dog, he's tackling Cade or me! And Cade is busy pointing out anything and everything large that moves. He's starting to talk more though he hasn't quite reached the point of wanting to walk yet. The best is when Leif says "I love you Cade! You're my best friend!" If that doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what could. That's followed up by too many kisses on the cheek and a tight squeeze from Leif, which leads to Cade fussing. The outpouring of affection seems constant with Leif, which is so sweet, but Cade gets a little frustrated obviously. I can hardly wait until Cade is big enough to hold his own. They'll be wrestling all around, I'm sure of it!

We're spending as much time as possible outside to release some of that energy. Leif loves looking for bugs, though he's not so gentle with them so he usually ends of squashing them. He likes to carry them around in his bug kit (thanks to the Steele Family:)! Cade is happy just pushing himself backwards in his Cozy Coupe. He does go forward once in awhile, but his preferred direction is reverse! Leif also really likes to ram into his brother in the Cozy Coupe with his tractor. It's like bumper cars!!


Here's Leif with his first fish that he "caught" while fishing with Grandpa Butch, Justin, Tom and Clayton (I believe Clayton actually caught it and then put it on Leif's pole when he wasn't looking). He was very proud of his perch!


Leif turned 3 years old on 9/22! I made him a special cake (if any of you mom's out there want the recipe, just let me know - very easy and so fun)!