Water Day Fun

Here's a post to give everyone what they really want. PICTURES! We've been having a little fun in the backyard the last couple of days, and these are some of the pics we got. Enjoy!

These two LOVE the water!

Ryland's quite the crawler now

Still Cade's favorite activity

"I might be able to get up this slide if my diaper weren't so heavy"

Priceless grin

"Free from the diapers, at last!"

All this play makes a boy hungry

"We were already wet, but now we're clean!"

Ryland decided this ball was the perfect teething toy

This had nothing to do with our time outside, but what a cute picture!

Cade's Spaghetti Recipe

Cade has decided to start helping me a little bit more in the kitchen. The other day he noticed a chair pulled up in front of the stove (I'd been looking in a cabinet above it, and since the stove and oven were off, I hadn't hurried to move the chair back into place yet.) He climbed up on it, grabbed a butter knife and said he was cooking. I asked him what he was cooking, and he said, "Umm...agetti!" Of course, I was relieved that I wouldn't have to cook that day.

Today, as I was cooking dinner, Cade started rummaging in the drawers that I've always left baby-safe items in. He grabbed two muffin tins and put them on the counter, then asked me to get him a chair so he could cook too. He again said he was making spaghetti. I gave him the chair, a mixing spoon, and a bowl, and I kept at my business of our actual dinner. I was so amused when I looked over at what he was doing! He was filling the muffin tins with anything he could reach, which included the following: a sippy cup, two pacifier clips, and crusts from a piece of French bread that I had given him when I was slicing it for our dinner. I wish I could've taken a picture, but Ryland had pulled up on my pants legs, so I was just shuffling around the kitchen trying not to knock him over! I'm not sure this recipe will make the next Betty Crocker cookbook, but it did look easy and fast if anyone wants to try it!

Random Facts

I'm so behind on blogging and reading blogs, I didn't even realize I'd been tagged for this! I've now been tagged a couple of times at least, so here goes...

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (**if you’re a non-blogger, you can email them!)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I love to eat frozen M&M's or frozen chocolate chips with a glass of milk. The unusual part? I like to take a little sip of milk and hold it in my mouth while I toss in a few M&M's. Then I crush it all up together in my mouth. I don't know why I started that, but it's the best way to eat frozen chocolate!

2. I have an unusually difficult time understanding what people say when they have an accent, especially an Indian accent. I also have trouble distinguishing lyrics to songs. I find this odd since I'm very strong in both language and music areas. I can tell you what notes someone is singing, but not necessarily what they said!

3. My husband is the only person I ever dated longer than about six weeks (usually by my choice.) I used to have the longest crushes though! I liked one guy for about six years through junior high and high school, and another through the first three years of college! Things just always worked out better in my head than when I actually went out with someone. Until Chris, of course!

4. Some of you know this, but I actually had the wrong leg operated on when I went in for knee surgery about 10 years ago. Fortunately, they only scoped it before discovering the mistake, so the big operation was saved for the knee that needed it, but I still woke up to having had both legs operated on when I only expected one.

5. I've never been to a major water park and ridden anything. I say "and ridden anything" because I did go to Hawaiian Falls last year to help with VBS, but I was pregnant and couldn't ride any of the rides. I would love to, though.

6. I LOVE kids Christmas movies! I love the magical feeling of the Christmas season, and I love movies that capture it. Some of the movies that I feel like I have to see before Christmas every year include, "The Santa Claus," "Mickey's Christmas Carol," "A Christmas Story," and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

7. I'm a little bit of a popcornaholic. I especially crave it when I'm pregnant and nursing. It's a good thing that I need the calories at that point!

8. I visited both Alaska and Hawaii before I ever went to Oklahoma-a state that borders the one I've lived in almost my entire life. And I've still never been to Louisiana.

And now I'm tagging:

1. Christina
2. Elisa
3. Alison L.
4. Summer
6. Melanie
7. Anyone who hasn't been tagged
8. Anyone who has been tagged and not done it yet!

Changes

It's been a busy few weeks! Lots of things have changed since my last post, so I'll just hit a few highpoints.

1. Changes at home: We've been painting and putting upland crown molding lately. Pretty soon I'll post some before and after pictures. So far this summer we've changed the hard floors in the kitchen and entryway, painted the living, dining, and laundry room, rearranged things in the living room, and put up a mantle and crown molding. We've done some stuff outside, too, but it didn't change the look. With all the inside changes it feels like a different house! I love it!!!

2. Changes in the kids: Ryland has become a livewire lately! My laid-back little guy who waited until 7 months to roll over has started crawling, pulling up, and cruising. He'll let go for a few seconds and is contemplating walking! All his physical feats require constant narration on his part ("dadadada," "yeyeyeye," "ababababa," and "NAYNAYNAYNAY!!!") He'll eat anything offered to him, and weighs a substantial 21.5 pounds.

Cade keeps learning to string more and more words together. His English is a little caveman-ish, but it's fun to hear his thoughts. If there's a noise around the house, he'll exclaim, "Cade hear someping!" Sometimes when Ryland fusses Cade will say, "Don't worry Ryry...Cade's here." And every morning he wakes me up saying, "Popsicle, mommy? Popsicle?!" He's supposed to start a two day a week Mother's Day Out in about a month, and honestly I'm having second thoughts. If we take Cade up to church childcare more than once on Sunday, he doesn't want to go. He'll even ask to stay home the next day. How's he going to feel about being gone for five hours twice a week? He's only two; it's not like it's required or anything. Plus, I'm planning on doing Mother's of Preschoolers again. That means in a week that MOPS meets, Cade will be in childcare four times. I stayed home for a reason, so maybe that's too much. Any mom who reads this and has an opinion or personal story, please let me know what you think.


3. Changes in me!
Umm, no big ones really. I got a new, shorter, hairstyle last week. I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (really good book!) I've had a little cold...man I'm boring. Oh well. Maybe I'll try to do something exciting before I post again.