Family and Basketball

4 month update: 26 inches long, 19 lbs!! What a chunk!!


My cousin Mandy Munns got a full ride scholarship to play basketball for the University of Utah. She's 6'4" tall and a super player, so it only makes sense. (She's the tall one below!)



Utah came to Vegas to play UNLV, so the Munns family came down to watch and gave us a call. We met for dinner at In & Out Burger, then headed to the Cox Pavilion to enjoy the game.



Mandy didn't get to play this game, and it was a rough one for Utah - they lost by 12points, their 2nd loss of the season. However, we had an awesome time laughing, talking and snapping pics.






Kaeden had a good time, too. He was happy as he could be, loved to 'dance' to the band music, and even had a nap in the midst of it all!




After the game, we waited for Mandy. She had seen us in the crowd, and was happy to see us there. She got to hold Kaeden, too. She loved him rockin the Adidas. I think all the Munns were blown away by how big he is!



Utah will be back in town next month for a Tournament, so we'll be seeing the Munns again, and every year for the next 3 with Mandy on the team. I'm excited, I love you guys!!

V-Day Friends

For Valentine's Day, we went over to our friends, Greg and Tamia Lindo. Greg just bought a new plasma tv and Kevin helped him mount it on their wall. As a thank you, they fed us dinner - yummy pot roast! While the guys were measuring and building, Kaeden and I played with their kids, Noah and Naiyana.



Actually, they played with Kaeden. They think he is the greatest toy ever! They 'mother' him constantly, making sure he is smiling, has his paci or blanket or whatever. They love to kiss his cheeks (which everyone does!) and whenever he gets fussy, they both come over and say 'don't cry, it's okay.' I think it's really cute the way they fuss over him themselves.

When he was being particularly quiet, Naiyana decided to read a book to him.


When the tv was all hooked up we were watching the basketball allstar hoops contest, and waiting for the roast to finish cooking. Kevin had a class of pop in hand, and Kaeden was very interested!



He was actually just licking the outside of the glass, but he loved it!! It was fun to spend the evening with them, and we love their new tv!

I Heart My Cupid!!

Valentine's Day has not always been my favorite - before marriage I called it 'Single Awareness Day.' Now that I'm married, it's more fun, but at the same time I always thought getting flowers as a surprise any other day of the year would be even more appreciated (hint hint Kevin :-)) As a teacher, this day has gotten more fun cuz my kids bring me lots of chocolate and candy. But now that I have a cute little chubby cherub, I'm loving it. Today I had Kevin take several pics of us together to share with everyone...





Aren't those cheeks just to die for?! Num num num!! (His, not mine :-)



We still go through quite the song and dance to get Kaeden to look in the direction of the camera, let alone smile for it. I've been lucky to get the shots I do - he's got camera radar and is so sober-faced when it's trained on him, we gotta be sneaky! We love him though!

Momentous Occasion...

For the first time in 3 months - I am wearing REGULAR JEANS!!

No more maternity pants for me :-)

Wahoo!!

3 month update

I can't believe he's 3 months old already! Our little hobbit is growing! Still at almost 17 pounds, Kaeden is getting more aware of his surroundings. He loves to watch lights, so in the evening we go out in the backyard and watch the cars that drive down the street. He's getting really good at hearing the cars and turning to try and watch, although his head is about a second behind following the car as it drives by. He also likes to watch the sunlight filter through trees, so as we go for a walk in the afternoon, I'll stop under the trees and he'll watch for a bit.







He also likes to know where Kevin is around the house while I hold him. Kaeden will watch Kevin as he plays with the dog or as he just walks around, and smile when Kevin looks in his direction. Kaeden knows the difference between me and Kevin, and has special smiles for us both - a big huge one for me and a half one for Kevin. He loves to play 'patty cake' and I've almost gotten a full blown laugh as we play, but not quite yet!

While Kaeden doesn't like to be on his stomach long, he does lift his head and kick his legs like he's crawling. The problem is he has no arm strength to lift his chest up, so he cries after a bit. Besides, he'd rather stand! Kevin thinks he'll just start walking, skipping the whole crawling part. (I doubt it, but it's so cute to see him standing, with help, and just smile and smile!)



He also seems to know what a camera is, as he'll be doing something so cute and I'll grab the camera to take a pic, and then he'll just stare at me. Hence all the deer-in-the-headlight shots. Kevin has to stand behind me and distract him to get smiling shots! I hope he appreciates all we go through for these pics when he's older!! :-)

The Hobbit Strikes Again...

"Gentlemen, we do not stop until nightfall."

"But what about breakfast?"

"We've already had it."

"We've had one breakfast yes, but what about second breakfast?"

"Don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip."

"What about elevensies, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?"

"Wouldn't count on it."

Gotta love the Shirefolk!!

My little hobbit, so intent on getting his meals, he wants to hold the bottle himself!



Look at that no-nonsense, feed me now face!! :-)

Call from afar...

Last night I was crashed out in bed, dreaming peacefully, when I was scared awake by the ringing of my cell phone. In a sleepy haze, I see it's a local number, and a million bad scenarios of who could be calling and why flash through my head as I answer, "Hello?"

"Hey, what's goin' on?" a male voice replies, very nonchalantly.

Still confused and sleepy, I'm trying to figure out who is calling me, "Uh, fine. Just woke up."

"Oh yeah? Huh."

Now I'm starting to get mad, as this jerk obviously doesn't care I've been awakened by his call, so I ask, "Who is this?"

"Now, who would be calling you at 2 in the morning from around the world?" he chuckles.

IT'S TIEG! MY BROTHER SERVING IN IRAQ!!

His company had stopped at an air base and he had some satellite phone time, so he called me up to say hi! :-)

I was so shocked, and jumped right up out of bed to talk to him for about 20 minutes. He's doing well, hasn't showered in about 2 weeks, hasn't cut his hair in about a month, and is growing a mustache!! He says it's cold and rainy along the Syrian border, where they patrol and 'ruin people's day' as he puts it. He didn't want to talk about it much, mostly wanted to know about me and the baby, how things were in our lives.

I did manage to ask him about the following pictures. Although they are not of his company, the shots are exactly what life is like for him over there...







I was just so touched that my baby brother would call me! My mind was racing a million miles an hour when I went back to bed, and when I got to school today I asked my principal if it would be alright for me to ask the students of our school to put together care packages to send to Tieg and his company. She loved the idea of 'adopting' him and his company, so we're putting out the word to start bringing in stuff (I gave a specific list of things, stuff Tieg said he enjoyed from other packages) and as the boxes are filled we'll ship them over (the post office has boxes that are flat rate 11 bucks, no matter what's inside, for troop packages).

I can't wait to see how it works out, and you'd better believe I'll keep ya'll posted!