First DaY of ScHoOl tradition..ChUcK e ChEeSe'S

I started the tradition of going to Chuck E. Cheese's after the first day of school. We have gone the last two years, Kindergarten and now first grade and I am actually hoping that it follows through for the next few years. It's a special time that he can look forward to, just me and him. We can celebrate the new school year together. Since he begs for Chuck E. Cheese's all year round and we don't go much I figure it's a nice treat. He loves it!

and then with all the tickets-here's what he picked out!

First day of FiRsT grade

Summer came and went. Kaiden started FIRST grade on August 24, 2009. I can't believe my lil boy is so grown up! I've been waiting quite a while for this day in a way.. hah Paying three arms and two legs for daycare was getting to be a bit much. He was so excited to be going to school all day. Now had you asked him even a few weeks before he would have told you how much he loathed it, and I quote,"you just sit there all day".. aww kids.. they catch on so fast;no putting anything past them! But then, it came, the moment of truth and excitement, that brings a smile to every mom's face and warms her heart..in the car, on the way to school on the first day," I'm excited for school". wow. Now, he's great in school academically, but is such a social butterfly that the teachers seem to be hindering his social time when he's at school, so he hasn't liked it all that much, but he tolerates it. So to hear him say he was excited, I got excited. :) My little man. All grown up.

Well, I got half of his teacher. lol She was 8 months pregnant when he started. The baby was born the first week of October so since Oct 1st he had a permanent sub, which I liked and got to meet at Open House, Sept. 30th. She subbed until they went on track break right before Halloween. His teacher was supposed to be back right after track break, but wasn't and he had a new sub. I was a little worried when I found out his teacher was pregnant, that she wouldn't come back and he would be stuck with subs the whole year. I was really hoping that she would be back, but understand totally on the new baby thing. :) She is supposed to be returning after the holidays, so next week. They put off our classes parent teacher conferences until she returns in January, so I'm assuming she will be coming back. The last sub he had I wasn't too thrilled about. She wasn't as organized and with it as the last sub, and quite frankly she didn't have much of a personality either. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. At least it seemed like the kids were continuing on with their regular schedule as if the actual teacher was there. She was working with the subs when she could while on maternity leave, so we were told. Kaiden's progress hasn't seemed to suffer, so I can't complain. I really liked his teacher though and hope that she IS coming back.

Slackin

So, it's been awhile. I'd like to say that I've been vacationing and have been out of the country for the last 5 months, but we all know how likely THAT is for me. I think I just got overwhelmed being that I started a list of everything I needed to "blog" and it seemed like a lot, so I never sat down to get it started thinking, wow, I'm going to need a lot of time, so it gets pushed back. Well, here we are 5 months later and NONE of it got done. To be honest,I threw out the list. hah I can try to give a recap of what's happened the last 5 months, if I can remember back that far. ;)

Ok, so it's been awhile.. yeah, I know.. I think because I had so much to get caught up on I got overwhelmed, especially with everything else going on in our fast moving crazy life, it seems sometimes. I WILL get those blogs I'd planned on blogging.. UP.. but for now I write while I'm at work on lunch because my computer is being fixed. Yeah, fun.. got some viruses and have been without a computer for about a week. It's not been as bad as I thought, going without. haha I've been doing everything I need to at work on lunch or after work. Had I have to go 100% without I'm not so sure what would happen.. haha naw, I've been ok.. So the month of June just FLEW by..

• had the first 7 days all to myself as my son was still with his dad and family in Arizona. That was a MUCH needed ME time! I love that he can spend time with his family and I can live the single free life from time to time. Doesn't happen often so I've learned to really appreciate the time and enjoy it.. this was a record breaker for the amount of time he's been away from me.. 2 weeks and 2 days..the usual is a week a couple times a year.. so this was nice!.. It was great to have him back though.. just wish I got more ME time sometimes.. but most times I don't want to be without my boy.. catch 22's.. gotta love em.


• Finished up our third spring season of baseball.. on to soccer in the fall with a new league.. kinda nervous, but it should be fun!


• One year has passed since my grandpa passed away.. I love and miss him more than ever and can't wait to see him again!


• Had father's days..without my father..haha.. he doesn't like all the fuss and was down on the river.. oh well.. he's a funny guy.. we try not to take it personal.. ha
• Went out to our cabin at the lake to see my grandma and aunt. It was a day trip and was hot, but was so fun and worth it. We don't get to see them very much! We didn't exactly get out there in a timely manner, but I'm glad we actually made it! That too was a long night!

wow.. now it's the middle of July.. I'm suckin at this blog thing anymore these days.. I'm not at home or I'd just start posting everything and all the pics that I have to show. I'm at my sister's boyfriends house babysitting a friend from Arizona's,baby while they all go out. I'm stuck in a house that I don't know, with my boy and am kinda bored. Granted I DO have the internet AND cable, I guess I could watch some more tv.. blah.. seems like today, oddly, that's all we've done. We have been at my mom's all day. She had surgery on her knee and we were helping her today and hanging out. Well, Kaiden turned on the cartoons after we got out of the pool and it seemed we watched a lot of tv already today. I have the week off of work, as the Dr is on vacation so I just take Kaiden to school and pick him up and we hang out. Only problem being that his school is 10 miles or so from our house since it's around where I work so I have to seriously plan out my days before leaving the house incase I want to do anything or go anywhere along the way. I really want to move closer to my work, family and K's school.. working on that, hopefully.. so we haven't been home all day! Kinda sucks sometimes.. so we're just at Matt's now, playin and hangin out some more. I am going to have to get home to finish the blogging so I can update the last few months and add pics of everything. July has gone as follows:

• Celebrated the 4th with the family at my mom's house. We had a bbq and swam. It was fun! We went and watched the fireworks at the park on Paseo Verde that were from the Green Valley Ranch. We had a pretty good view and they were awesome! Maddie wasn't scared at all! She was pretty scared at the ones going off by my mom's house though. Some guy was shooting some LOOOUUDD ones off right across the street.. my mom's bf gave him a talking to.. yeah, they were SO illegal! So, we weren't sure how Maddie would do with fireworks after that, but all was well, and she watched them all. We had a blast and took a lot of pics while we were at the park. I'll have to post those later. It was a really fun night! We didn't get home until almost midnight I believe! Awesome day! I made a fruit salad that was so yummy too... :)
• Spoiled my boy last week and not only did he get McDonald's, that he always begs for and doesn't get.. haha.., he wanted to go bowling, so we went. It was fun.. then as we were leaving, the movie theater was right next door so I thought I would check it out. I've been wanting to see the new Ice Age and Transformers.. so I went in there expecting there to not be one starting anytime soon, and lo and behold they DID..so we went and saw Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It was cute, but nothing compared to the first two.. that was a great day, busy and fun!
• This week we visited our friends in town, went to the Lied Children's discovery museum.. some mixed feelings there.. went with the sis and niece and our friends in town and their little boy.. some drama, but it was fun. ;) Just don't ask my sis! ha that was monday, the 13th, yesterday after I picked K up from school we went to my sisters house to watch my niece as my sister was taking my mom to the surgery center for her surgery. We had fun even though I was wiped out and not feeling good.Once my bro in law got home I had to go to scouts and then we went home and watched a movie. We did homework at my sisters so we didn't have to do that once we got home. We watched She's the Man.I Love that movie.It had been awhile. I started not feeling well a few days ago and don't think it's a cold, not so sure on the allergies but may possibly be sinus stuff. I'm sneezing and my nose is always stuffed up. I was really tired on saturday and sunday and haven't really been able to find much energy.. yeah,I'm thinking more sinus stuff. Pretty sure it's not a cold or I'd be worse.. I'm hoping that gets under control so I can continue to enjoy my vacation. So here we are day three of vacation which included helping and visiting my mom and babysitting now for our friends.. I'll update later and hopefully I can get some pics up of what's been going on around here the last few months. I feel like I've left so much out.. yeah, can you believe it? After all this typing how could I possibly DO that??haha.. I'll just mainly post some pics!.. but until then..

Car ride to Carson

The journey began May 1,2009 after I picked up my boy from kindergarten.. and what an adventure it was! We were headed to see my sister that is working in Carson during the Legislative session for six months. I was the designated MOM aka servant in the back seat. ha My mom didn't want to change me seats because she said,"I see how hard that person works". lol.. yeah, so the passenger seat in the front was apparently the best seat. HOWEVER.. I was having fun with my camera with the kids. As you can tell, at the time that I was snapping all the shots they were watching a movie and Kaiden wouldn't let me in his face too much. ha That AND Maddie was inbetween us, so it made it hard.. but the photos continued.. :) and the pics are all in random order because at midnight I don't have the brain power to concentrate on how to upload them in order anymore. haha but you can get an idea of the start of our Carson trip.

We had to pull over before Tonopah because little miss just wasn't happy.. and NOW look at that face..
We also got to see a little excitement on the road.. yeah, a trooper following some runners... IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! lol.. man, rough job there Trooper.. Being that K's dad is one and I've heard all kindsa stories.. I get to make fun! :)

Here he is - still working hard.. just don't run em over, buddy!

We were PACKED to the TOP!!

Something random that my sis wanted me to figure out what it was.. had my zoom and got a couple shots, but WHO knows.. yeah, the "scenic" view on the way, isn't so scenic, that's for sure!

One of the movies that kept her happy, ELMO! :) Thanks, Kaiden!

The mom

The driver.. but naaawwwt on the waayyy hommmee.. :) Being the driver was pretty cool too while she was in the back handling them on the way home..hehehehe

This was one of the first shots at the beginning of the ride.. happy kids with full bellys.. awww.. nothing better!

More to come on the rest of the trip, the destination, the sis, the fun and seeing her work.. oh yeah, I got sooo many pics from that trip. Are you kidding, I took so many pics JUST in the car. I couldn't decide which ones to put up.. therefore I posted more than a "few". :)

Making chicken enchiladas with my boy..

April 25, 2009

So, I decided to make chicken enchiladas.. a first.. so I had my lil chef help me. He tells me he wants to be a chef when he grows up, so here's a good start,right? :)

Have to get lots of pics at any opportunity, so of course we have to get a mom n lil chef shot!..or two..
He cracks me up!

Had to put an apron on him, of course. ;)
Made sure he washed up
He wanted to help with EVERYTHING, it was so cute!

Chicken goes in.. And here's the final product! Funny thing being that I had my "cousins dinner" that night at PF Changs. I just had the urge to make chicken enchiladas. My mom watched Kaiden and Maddie at my sisters house, so my mom, her bf and Kaiden got to eat them first... but I got them the next day and they were JUST as delicious as they told me they were! SCORE! YEA! It was fun and great to hang with my boy and have him help!

My first AUNTIE outing..just me and the kids!!

April 24, 2009

Maddie, Kaiden and me

So these are all I captured of the night. It was a short night out, wished it was longer, but didn't

want to worry the new parents.. ha My sister had a presentation for her business at her house and my brother in law was having a hard day at work - on the golf course- rough, I know.. but he has to kiss butt with the big wigs so every now and again they go golfing. TOUGH life! ha :) Anyway, so Kaiden and I got to take the baby girl out and about. :) We just went and got something to eat because my boy hadn't eaten. We went to Burger King and picked up some chow. Gave the baby girl some chicken fingers. I think they were shaped like dinosaurs? Not sure, my sister could probably tell you since baby girl decided to chuck them all over the car! lol.. but she enjoyed some of Kaiden's fries he was so nice to share. He just loves her! We took our "num nums" and went and watched the airplanes land at the airport. It was fun, but short lived. As we were headed back to my sisters house they both crashed. Now, I was only supposed to have her until daddy got home and I even texted BOTH of the parents and NOT ONE of them responded to me.. yeah, I can see they were really worried and missing their baby. ha ;) My brother in law says, "no news is good news" as far as me not receiving a response from either one of them.. but I was ASKING for permission to stay past curfew.. and no response so I thought, "ok, I have to return her.. " haha and then when I get to their house my sister still has her guests and my brother in law has crashed!! WHAT?!.. lol which made sense being that as I'm pulling up to their house when I opened up the garage I thought maybe my bro in law would come out, being that I had TWO sleeping kids and his truck was in the driveway so I couldn't pull in... and no one bothered to run out.. soooo...hmm.... I had to park across the street.. now.. HOW do I get a 50lb boy and 25lb girl into the house while they are sleeping?.. well, for those of you who are really really curious.. I got them BOTH over my shoulders and into the house all at once! I know, I know.. I'm amazing.. hahahahaha jk Years of single mom-hood had brought many talents my way I guess. And can I just TELL you HOW heavy 50 lbs and 25 lbs of DEAD WEIGHT is?!?!?! It was interesting, that's for sure.. and then the INSTANT I was in the house, they BOTH woke up, AT THE SAME TIME! Sheesh! It was a fun night, none-the-less! Looking forward to another, soon I hope! (and yes, my son IS special. lol.. in reference to the pics.. haha he loves to be a ham!)

What happens when you give your son a blue sucker..

Check out those teeth!!

Enough said?.. and yes, once again, I was scaling his teeth! uck..

BaCk To BaSeBaLl!!

DODGERS # 41

COWLEY

So we started baseball again in April. His first game was April 18th. These are a few memories I captured at the first two games! I got a lot of little videos too. I will cherish those forever! Oh how my boy is growing fast!..

He LOVES to play first
Throwin it in...
He's so big now! To think.. we started this 4 spring seasons ago! wow!..yes.. at 3..it was so dang cute to see little 3 year olds playing tball.. a lot of the time they didn't care to be there and many just played in the dirt, but it was awesome and they had fun! It's fun to see the progress and interest from year to year.. although I think the coach has a HUGE influence on the kids and team and this years coach is a.. I'm going to say it, a douche! I don't care for him at all and I think the kids would be having more fun and interest with a better coach, but what do ya do, right? We actually saw Kaiden's first coach from when he was 3. He doesn't appear to be coaching his son's team, but we played his team two weeks ago. I wanted to go talk to him, but didn't know if he'd remember us.. but now I'm wishing I'd at least said hello. He was so great with Kaiden! He was one of THE BEST coaches he's had. His son didn't end up playing through most of the season, but he was still so dedicated to the team! Kaiden also hadn't been seeing his dad on a regular basis then to have that kind of male bonding and he just clung to this coach. I kept apologizing to him, but he was so great with it. I told him that it's probably maybe because he kinda resembled his dad. I wasn't sure, but he just LOVED him and he was so great with him, so I felt bad that I didn't go say something to him, but I'm sure I'll run into him again.. so strange how time goes by so fast! Kaiden has fun when he's playing, but isn't too thriled this year to go to practice and he's only really excited for the games because there's snacks! haha.. that's my boy for ya!

Love that face! hah

Up to bat-COWLEY

Videos, Memories,Random thoughts..aka My therapy :)

Little snipets of video of Kaiden during the egg hunt :)

Just LOVE my boy! He's getting so big! I remember his first Easter; hunting for eggs with him strapped to the front of me. He didn't help find any of the eggs though. :) Actually, he could care less at 4 months old! ;) Maddie could have really cared less too, and she is 14 months old! ha oh yeah, more to come on her! I have pics, of course I have pics.. she my cutest little girl! Kaiden says all the time he wishes she were his sister. It's kinda sad sometimes, but it's so cute! He tells me that randomly all the time. One day last fall, during soccer season Heather had come to one of the practices because she was putting together an awesome book for the coach (and parents) so she was taking pics. She had brought Maddie and Kaiden loved keeping an eye on her during the practice. It was kinda chilly that day and Maddie slept most the time in her stroller and gma and I were taking charge. He was so cute at making sure no one woke her up and he kept leaving practice to go see her.. then as we were leaving, driving down the street, he always has to keep up with whomever we have left and watches out for everyone's cars. So he says to me, "where's aunt Heather, where's her car". I told him that she was going the other way and I think he even asked about Maddie and I told him that she was going with her mommy and we were going home. He says to me, I hope I can remember this right, "I wish I had a sister, a sister AND a brother, I wish Maddie was my sister and she could go home with us. I wish there was a wishing well and I had a money and I would wish for (a sister, brother, or Maddie)" can't remember exactly which one he had said. It broke my heart and I felt so bad.. but what do ya do? The poor guy has been asking for a sibling for sooo lonnngg. He has even tried contemplating guys for me to date so I can marry one so I can have more kids.. haha this kid goes the whole 9 yards I'm tellin ya and is so funny. One night he says, "I'm thinking of someone you can date.. are you?". I laughed so hard when he said that! He's such a smart and creative kid. He's a great kid!.. have our trials like most do, but he's wonderful. I am very lucky!.. He's handled what he's been dealt VERY well. I think he's a special spirit that is strong enough to overcome such hard trials.. I can only imagine what the Lord has in store for him! I don't think he understands our situation much, but I've given him some insight when he's asked. Every now and again, and for some reason, more recently, he brings up his dad and me. He argued with me about our relationship in the past, as if HE were there.. haha.. yeah, I have an arguer/negotiator. :).. he kept insisting we were married because he was in my tummy.. ohh okkayyyy. . am I going to start getting these questions already? He's only 6 for heaven's sake!! Heaven help me!.. and I'm a terrible liar!lol.. I wouldn't lie to my son about any of that anyway, and especially with how I'm battling a lieing issue with HIM, that's not good to lie myself. So,I convinced him that, no, his dad and I weren't married when he was in my tummy and keeps insisting we be together.. yeah, uh.. WHAT do I say to all that?.. I have MANY things I want to say to that, but A LOT of it I shouldn't tell him, nor in the way I would LIKE to. ;).. but one day he'll get the whole picture and his dad will have a lot of questions to answer.. haha.. actually, just the other day he was talking to him on the phone and he brought that up, he said," dad, how come you didn't marry mommy when I was in her tummy?".. I about died when I heard him ask that.. we were driving to my cousins for dinner and I couldn't hear the conversation, but loved the fact that he said that to him! GOOD!!.. Yeah, you throw those questions out there buddy!!! haha Put him on the spot! ha.. and then Kaiden says, "dad, you said "I don't know" FOUR TIMES!".. hahahahahah THAT was hillarious. I'm sorry. I know I need to be more Christ like, and that is one of my biggest challenges in life right there, even though we are "friends", it's still something I struggle with. I've been doing good getting back into church. Went through the temple in January. :) I'm reading my scriptures more and praying.. and with K too. We have been reading the scriptures together at night.I read it and then explain it to him in "lamans terms" haha.. and it helps him understand it, and me, who'm I kiddin..ha and he has been getting into it. I love it! Many of you probably haven't even gotten this far since I've just babbled on, but I think this is just for my own therapy. :).. so I'll just keep writing.. ha well, I should be going to bed.. long day, and the last few nights I haven't gotten much sleep. At least I have tomorrow off, just have to get the kiddo up for school! I LOVE THOSE DAYS! Well, I was writing while my last video uploaded and it STILL hasn't finished..geeze!.. I hope everyone has a good night.

ok, so I had to re-upload it and it gets to randomly go at the bottom.. that's how things are working today.. I'm getting to bed now!

ReTrEiViNg ThE eGgS..

This IS and will FOREVER Be a tradition in our family.. the family shot on the porch before the official egg hunt! I only got one (bad) shot as I was trying to hurry so no one would run.. and because my dad was shooing me into the picture telling me that there can only be ONE photographer.. and apparently that was HIM and not me! lol. It is usually his sister, my aunt Lynette that takes them (the photog), but she went on a hike with my other uncle and cousins and didn't realize it was Easter weekend when she planned it and has always wanted to go on this hike, so I guess she is forgiven. ;) So if I get an updated shot maybe I'll share. :)
Ok, so once again, you have to be smarter than the blog, and you know when you have too many pics when you have to try and bypass their "only 5 pics uploaded at a time" rule.. pfffhh... who made THAT up?? soo.. I had to upload pics a couple times.. and once again, they stack themselves and the first five that took place are at that BOTTOM of the page.. :( One of these days I'll get it! I really thought I had it this time! hahaha Not much else to say other than "this is K finding his eggs" is there?? haha You know you're an only child when there are a BAZILLION photos of you just doing random or stupid things.. and A LOT of them!! :)..and I'm the proud mama. He calls me "mama" now.. don't think he ever has. It's been mom mom when he was little little, but always mommy or mom.. but now it's mama! :) It's so cute! He's such a mama's boy! ♥him
Now THIS one could use some explanation couldn't it? Things get interesting now don't they? :) That would be a grave stone my dad made for some poor chipmunk that was around our property that I can't remember right now, dangit, what the story is.. but he died somehow and my dad had to give it a gravestone.. see.. most everyone in the fam has a stone like that one, but with names on them, not gravestones.. so we all have our own rocks throughout the "cactus garden" aka the property.. it's really cool! I will have to take pics of them and post them later.. good idea!:).. anyway, so I had to get a shot of K getting his egg in front of the "gravestone"..even though the chipmunk wasn't buried, just disappeared to my knowledge.. that's my family for ya.. well, my DAD! LOVE him!
Spiderman egg!
Those ones are "Fun" to find in the desert! ;)
Cousin Joey and Kaiden still hunting for eggs!

Kaiden with Grandpa helping him find his eggs and the money that Grandma Betty Jean hid around the cabin. That TOO is tradition and we LOVE it! :)

The Easter bunny likes to hide them in "fun" places too! ;) At least we didn't have to aid to a pricked figer THIS year. Last year was the only year outta the 7 that K got "attacked" by the cactuses! ;) whhhhewwww!

Found another one mom!!

Still to come.. the Easter egg retreiving continues.. and the Diebel family hunts with us.. stay tuned.