Riding the range

Kaden got the chance to ride the neighbors horse while we were visiting Nana & Papa in Prineville.

Isn't that how the cowboys do it?

Easter

This year the Corvallis Easter egg hunt was right during church so we crashed the Philomath Easter Egg hunt since it was on Saturday morning.

The weather was beautiful & the crowd was a much better size then last years Corvallis hunt.

He has recently decided that he likes wearing my stocking cap more than his own.
Such excitement!
He was most impressed with the eggs that had stickers & balloons inside.
Kaden & Nixon comparing their loot.
We were driving through Albany later that day & saw this giant Easter Bunny walking down the sidewalk. Such luck!

Our own precious little bunny!

Spring comes in like a Lamb...

We made it out to the lambing barns a couple times last month to try to catch a glimpse of a baby lamb being born. No such luck though.

Here's Kaden with Janessa.

We did see alot of really cute babies.

And some very pregnant mommies!

These twins were hilarious, they were trying to tag team their mama to get her to roll over & nurse. The one on top would jump up & down on her back while the other one would run around trying to ram into her. She wouldn't budge an inch. There's an in control mommy!

Here we are with Nixon. Still no luck seeing a birth. In all my years growing up here we always went to the OSU barns during lambing season & I have never got to see one being born.

Believe it or not this was St. Patricks day & this little lamb was sporting green ears!
This baby was so cute curled up in a tight little ball in the feed chute.
Well, maybe next year we'll see a birth!

Gymnastics!

We just finished up our first session in gymnastics at OSU's kidspirit. Kaden loved it!

It was a great outlet for cooped up winter energy.

Check out those skills!

Brad recently put a pull up bar in the garage so now Kaden has gotten pretty good at holding on & hanging for as long as he can.

The trampoline was the biggest hit!

Our little buddy Nixon.
They are such great little gymnasts!

Conversation Overheard

I overheard the sweetest conversation between Kaden & his Lion King Simba doll a while ago. It's a talking and dancing Simba. It went a little something like this:

Simba- My Dad taught me how to pounce, did you learn anything today?

Kaden- "No, my Dad's building a fence with Uncle Tim."

Simba- That's Great! I'm gonna be a king when I grow up, what are you gonna be?

Kaden- "Um, a pirate!"

Simba- That's a great idea! Do you have a best friend?

Kaden- "Named Wickett!!"


He didn't know I was listening & Simba just keeps repeating the same questions over & over when you press his ear, so Kaden just kept on answering them. I was pretty funny.

Madison Belle

Here's the newest addition to the family! My sister Amy welcomed this beautiful little girl to the world on Feb.9th. Her name is Madison Belle. Amy had a very rough delivery and was induced 3 weeks early due to high blood pressure. Madison took her sweet time to make her appearance, they started a pitocin drip on Friday afternoon & she wasn't born until Sunday morning! She was admitted to the NICU all week and Amy was finally able to take her home on Friday the 14th.

She has been diagnosed as having Cytomegalovirus which at this point appears benign, but they will be meeting with a Specialist at Doernbecher's next week to find out for sure. She appears very healthy and is a pretty happy little girl!

Kaden is so excited to have a little girl cousin, he talks about her all the time!

She looks so much like her Daddy in this picture.

Her arrival took much longer than we had anticipated so we ended up spending an unexpected night up in Vancouver waiting by the phone. Here is Kaden in mommy-improvised jammies!

Seattle with Santa

CATCHING UP

(What we were up to in December)

Kaden & I spent another fun weekend up in Seattle. This time it was for my little cousin Erica's 6th birthday party. The party was a breakfast with Santa at the Marriott. Santa even brought his reindeer for the kids to check out. Very cool!

Erica, the birthday girl (with the pink crown) & her friend Lola getting their balloon animals.

A balloon elf hat!

My aunt Anita, Erica & her friend Ethan. Kaden thinks that Ethan is his coolest friend!

My cousins Anna & Alexis & another friend.
We braved the snowy weather & made it out to Redmond Lights that evening. It is a really fun walk along the river with music & goodies along the way. It ends up at Redmond Center, a fancy outdoor shopping area, all the resturants offer samples out in the courtyard areas, so yummy! Although the weather cooperated that evening it had been snowing all day & alot of the booths & musicians pulled out. We really missed the live nativity with a complete petting zoo this year.


As it warmed up we started to shed some of our layers.
Face painting at Starbucks.




Playing with the Red Robin mascot.

We always have so much fun up there!