Kindness in Bloomsburg

Right before we left on Monday:

We had a great time at my mom's house, but it was time to go come Monday. We packed up the car and headed out around 10:15. I was running a little low on gas (anything below half a tank is low to me - especially during winter), so we stopped at the Love's station off of 80 in Mainville. Little did we know, we'd be stopped for almost 5 hours. After Jason finished pumping the gas, he got back in and I tried starting up the car. Nothing. Great! Call AAA. I must say, they were not that great of a help. It took the people they called at least an hour and a half (we really lost track of time during this whole ordeal) to get to us. Thankfully we were safe at a gas station that had McDonald's right across the street. The guy gave us a jump and said if the lights started flashing, it's more than just the battery. So, the lights started flashing and we followed him down the road. He luckily pulled off at another gas station and recommended a garage. We got back on 80 heading West this time and got off the Berwick exit. Halfway down the exit, the car stopped again. Thankfully the garage was right up the road on 11, and Jason walked there. The mechanic wasn't there, so we just kinda sat trying to figure out what to do. In the meantime, two cars stopped to see if we needed help - how nice! Jason called his family, and his sister Melissa came ready to take 2-3 of us home. In the meantime, I called Brad and Kristen (two teacher friends in Bloomsburg). I got ahold of Kristen before Brad, but I know he would've given us a hand too. Kristen was on her way, but Melissa was there before her, which was right after the guy from the garage jumped us and figured it was the alternator (and the battery too). I'm so lucky to know so many great people in Bloomsburg who would've given us a hand. So, the mechanic ordered an alternator for the next day, Jason and Caden went home with Melissa, I went back to my mom's for the night and was on the road again by 1 the following day. I hated being away from Caden for a night (my first night ever), but I know his Daddy took great care of him. He even taught him "Who do you love?" where Caden responds with "luv Mommy!" Talk about music to my ears after all that.

The Day After Christmas

The day after Christmas was like Christmas all over again for Caden. He opened the rest of his gifts up at my mom's plus his Pappy D brought him gifts too. Thank you everyone for all the great gifts!

His new piano from Pappy and GG.
Taking a peek at his "animal kakis" from Mammy.

A new tractor from Pappy and GG.

"I need help Pappy."

"I love my tunnel! Thanks Aunt Erin!"

He's standing very still with this big bow on his head.

Caden got 2 huge boxes from Pappy D. It was much more fun to climb them than to open them. This one was his tiger.

His Step 2 wagon for 2.

"A life-sized tiger I can wrestle with!"

"Oh my! An elephant too! I have such a good view from on top of my wagon box."

Then, after all that, we had one more party to go to. My Dad's side of the family has a huge reunion type party after Christmas.

Here he is pulling Mammy along (after he took off first).

Pappy D and Caden

So many people I'm related to...more than I know :)

Christmas at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Bonnie's

Soon after opening Caden's vacuum, we headed down to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Bonnie's for a wonderful feast. Caden was so good down there. He didn't get into things like he normally does. Is he growing up?

Mom, Erin, Pappy, and Grandma
Uncle Jeff and Aunt Bonnie

Jason and Caden

opening more nice gifts

Caden was a BIG help with opening gifts. Here he's giving Aunt Bonnie a hand with opening hers. Sometimes he would even drop his own gift to help others.

Christmas at Mammy's

Like I mentioned in the last post, we were able to travel Christmas Day to my mom's house. We got there right before we had to leave for Uncle Jeff and Aunt Bonnie's for dinner, so Mom and Erin opened their gifts first.

Incase you can't tell...we got Erin something she really wanted - season 1 & 2 of the Golden Girls.
"Something's got me!"

Caden was being very careful with his unwrapping.

Yup - kitchen dishes and a vacuum cleaner for Christmas. We're starting our boy out right! Daddy's showing him the works here - Daddy is a very good vacuumer.

If it looks like this is all he got - it was...well, Christmas day at least. We opened the rest of the great gifts from Mammy, Aunt Erin, Pappy and GG the next morning.

Christmas at Home

We had a great, busy Christmas this year. I'm so thankful they were wrong about the weather and we were able to travel to my mom's (more on that later). We hope everyone had a great Christmas too.

Christmas Eve after Santa came.

Christmas morning (all dressed and ready to head out to Mammy's) - opening stocking gifts from Santa first as usual.

some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse crayons
He tore off little pieces of paper off most of his gifts and then handed them to me to throw away. He was very careful and very neat about the whole thing - I'm sure the next few years will be different.

Santa brought Caden a toothbrush, and he knew just what to do with it, plastic cover and all.


Caden got a few dishes and pots and pans for his kitchen from Santa which he is enjoying here. He then got a set from Mammy plus fake food from Nana and Papa - he's all set!

We're working on "just pretend - no mouth" with these items :)

Jason's family came that morning too before we left for my Mom's.

playing with the Little People airplane (one of many nice gifts) from Nana and Papa

Christmas Eve

Caden's Christmas Eve was pretty busy:

watching Christmas video/songs with Daddy

enjoying Micky Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express with Daddy

checking out the cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer

looks like Santa has one less cookie - the little sneak grabbed in when we weren't looking

hanging up Santa's key (since we don't have a chimney for him to come down) and still munching on the cookie

(the little tag says "A Key for Santa") - thanks Mammy for the key

a special visitor (Aunt Missy - or "Go Blue" according to Caden) read The Night Before Christmas and then it was finally time for bed

What a busy day for Caden!

"Cool Dude"

Caden hates to have the sun in his eyes, even if it's shining through a window. So, the other day I thought I'd pull out his sunglasses from the summer. He actually did not try to put them on his neck like before. Then, Jason taught him how to say "cool dude." I admit...he's one cool dude.

Great Deal

I just have to tell you about this great deal. We were done shopping for Caden, but how can you resist something for $2? K-Mart has Playskool Mr. Potato Head Spud Buds Pets on sale for $6.99. Then, if you go to couponbug.com, you can print out a coupon for $5 off. We just did it without any troubles. Happy last minunte shopping!

Elf Yourself

Check it out:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/IrOHstiJt8RHTCVD1w4z

Colors & Numbers

Caden now knows blue, orange, green, pink, red, purple, and yellow are all colors; he just doesn't know which is which. Everything was either blue or orange at first, but now he's picking up on the fact that there are other colors out there. We'll keep working on it!

As far as counting goes, he says, "one, two" and then starts back over with one :) He was just saying "two" a lot, but now he starts with "one." Something else to work on!

It's just a lot of fun watching him learn new things.

Baby "Sunshine" Week 21

I'm a little late on posting these pictures again, since I'm now 22 weeks as of yesterday, but anyhow, I had my ultrasound last Friday on the 11th. Baby "Sunshine" (I finally picked a nickname) was moving all around and is doing well.

We were very creative with Caden, calling him "BB" for Baby Boettger.

Here's a shot of the face (on the left) and the belly. Sunshine's mouth is open in this one if that helps.

Here's another shot of the face, and I believe a hand is near the mouth this time.

Here's a shot from the outside.

Portable North Pole

I just got this website from my neighbor. If you have little ones (or there are even ones for adults), you have to check out this personalized video from Santa! Thanks Kim!

http://portablenorthpole.tv

Here's Caden's video:
http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/b4bfff4be7915514505535a9f8fe3fde

Christmas Tree Hunt '09

We again ventured out to Roba's Tree Farm for our Christmas tree this year.

Let's see, do we have everything...

cart (check)

saw (check)

ready to go!

After all that, we decided to get a pre-cut one because they cut most of the nice ones in our size already. Everything happened so quickly that I didn't even get Caden's picture in front of it. So, here he is just posing in front of other ones.

Father and son.

A few of Santa's reindeer.

Well...we tried again...maybe next year?

(Caden's been calling him "Shanta")


Caden was stooped right by the tree when Jason cut the string. He grabbed Caden just in time so we didn't lose him under the tree.


Watching from a safe distance this time.

Getting a closer look.

I saved some of the "safer" ones for Caden to hang up (these were made by Erin 2 years ago when she did a craft night with her neighbor, Steph - one says "Baby Boettger")...


but he was more interested in playing with the beads.

The final product.

I think my favorite part of Christmas so far is just about every time Caden sees the tree, he whispers, "wow."

He already tried to throw his big bouncy ball at it...and now goes up to it with his arms open and says, "NO BALL."