Christmas performance

This past Tuesday Cadyn had his first school performance. I was more nervous than he was. He is so used to being on stage with Jeff at Forest Home I didn't know what he would do. I thought he might take over the stage and make up his own hand motions like at Indian Village. Well he did great. He stood still, smiled, sang nice and loud and even bowed at the end. (He went to Jeff concert the night before and saw him bow after each song). I was a proud mom.
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Pile of leaves

A few days ago I came home from the store and found Jeff and the boys a few houses down playing in the leaves. They had so much fun jumping and playing together.

Cadyn's 4th birthday

Well Cadyn turns 4 tomorrow. We had his birthday party today. We chose a Curious George theme. It was so much fun. He is such a sweet boy. He really loves life. He was excited about every aspect of the party. We made pretend binoculars which he is wearing around his neck in the pictures. When kids got to the party he made sure to pass them out to everyone. Before the party Jeff was helping Cadyn get his clothes changed. I peeked in the door and asked Jeff to talk to Cadyn about being thankful for gifts and to remember to use his manners. As the guests arrived Cadyn would say to them "Grandma Grable thank you so much for coming to my party". It was so sweet and so sincere. Then it came time to open gifts and after he opened each gift he said, "Wow this is what I have always been wishing for." It was so fun to see some of our hard work paying off. When he finally was in bed at night he was having a hard time laying in bed while his new toys were sitting just a few feet away from him. I said this was such a fun day wasn't it. To which he replied Mommy I just don't want it to end. What a great day!!!

Works for Me Wednesday/ Christmas edition

My favorite gift I gave was for my mom a few years ago. It was a scrapbook called "Nana's ABC Book". I put together a simple ABC scrapbook with pictures of my kids. I tried to make it very simple. On each page in the upper corner I put the letter. I used ABC stickers from a scrapbook store. I also used Creative Memories square cutter to mount the letter sticker. On the "A" page I put pictures of my kids doing things that started with the letter "A". As I am typing this I can't remember for the life of me what was on the "A" page. But the "B" page was bath pictures, "P" page was pumpkin patch pictures. You get the idea. Now this was not an elaborate scrapbook each page just had cropped pictures with 1 picture backed in paper. I chose 3 colors for the book. All of the paper or stickers were red, blue, or yellow. This made it very easy. I didn't try to make each page have a theme or decorate it too much. One great thing about this gift was it can be done again. I gave this 3 years ago to my mom and I am going to do it again this year. I would love to hear if you make one. My mom loved it!!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Today I am making some pumpkin bread loaves for tomorrow. I am really involved with our mom's ministry at church and we meet tomorrow. My husband was given pumpkin bread for a gift from a student a few years ago. Attached to the gift was the recipe. This is the second year I have made it. It is fun to start new traditions.
Here is the recipe

Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
3 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups pumpkin
2/3 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, adn surgar in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, pumpkin, water, and oil. Stir until blended. Mix well. Pour into two 9x5 loaf pans. Bake 1 hour. Cool slightly and take out of pans to let cool on a rack. This bread keeps well in the refrigerator and can be frozen.

Hope you enjoy!!

He's Growing Up

Lately I have been thinking about the fact that Cadyn is really growing up. He will be 4 on December 4th. Just in the last few weeks I have really seen a big difference in his behavior and his understanding of everyday life. For example tonight we had some friends over for dinner and he sat and ate with us. When dinner was over I asked him to go get his pj's on and go potty. When he was finished I told him he could have some shebert for dessert. Sure enough a few minutes later I saw him headed into the bathroom with his pj's on. Now this might not seem like a big deal but these few things have taken a lot of training day in and day out. There were some days I thought that everything would be a battle with him everyday. But things are changing with him just in time for Griffin who is not quite 2 to start to exert a little opinion himself. Oh the joys of motherhood never end.

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some pictures from what we have been up to. We went to Bates Nut Farm in San Diego to the pumpkin patch. We met Uncle Tim, Aunt Liza, Tyler, Colin, and Trevor there. The kids loved checking out all the pumpkins and going to the petting zoo. They are both excited about their Halloween costume. It has been so warm here they can only wear them for a little bit without sweating.

The Guys

Cadyn, Griffin, and I spend a busy morning at church today. We had a Mommy and Me playgroup. They had a great time playing on the playground, riding bikes, and playing with bubbles. We had a picnic on the playground. When we got home they were all tired out. They both got their "guys" (Pooh Bear and Clifford), blankies, and watched "Little Bear". I love to see them snuggle up with their "guys".

First Day of Preschool

Cadyn started preschool in September. He really likes it. He is gong two days a week for 3 hours. They are learning how to write their name, share, numbers, taking turns and so much more. It has been fun to have some time to spend with Griffin by himself.

Summer Fun

Here are some fun pictures from the summer. Griffin loved to play in the pool in the backyard. He would slide down head first every time. The boys both had a great time hanging out at the creek at Forest Home. Griffin is all decked out in his 4th of July attire. They had such a great time at Forest Home this summer.

Mount Hermon and Lake Havasu

In the month of May we took two trips as a family. We first went to Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center in Santa Cruz. My old church Valley Community Church from Pleasanton was having a family retreat and we came to hang out with 4th and 5th graders for the weekend. The next weekend we went to Lake Havasu with Jeff's family to camp and hang out in the water for Memorial Day weekend. The boys had a lot of fun. We are now living up at Forest Home for the summer as Jeff is the Director of Indian Village. Cadyn is now 3 1/2 and Griffin is 16 months. Cadyn loves Forest Home...... what more could a boy want than rocks, dirt, sticks, and singing about Jesus. Griffin is jabbering a lot and just thinking about walking.