Two and a half :)

Caden turned 2 1/2 on Saturday the 21st. .  He weighs approximately 30 pounds and is  36 1/2 inches tall.  He is wearing 2T/3T clothes and size 8 1/2 shoes.  We started working on potty training earlier in the month.  It has been going well for the most part.  Sometimes he'd just rather play than stop to take a bathroom break and he tells me that!  He is completely in love with all things CHRISTMAS! This is why our house has been all decorated for Christmas for 2 weeks already.  He wouldn't stop asking to put the tree up and decorate.  So we figured why not? We've read the Charlie Brown Christmas book nearly everyday for the last couple weeks.  On the last page they sing, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and he can sing the whole song.  He loves to sing and has recently figured out about making his voice go up and down.  It's pretty cute.  He sings several songs, but Christmas songs and Happy Birthday are the favorites right now.  The last couple weeks he's really been interested in building towers with blocks. He has quite the imagination and I love to listen to him as he plays.  We're still working on the letters at the end of the alphabet and when he counts past 10 it usually sounds something like, 11, 12, 14, 16, 14 :)  He's interested in how to spell things and we practice his name.  He said it one time last week while riding in the car, but I haven't gotten him to say it again.  He does know how to spell banana and asks how to spell all his family members names a lot.  We try to work on "preschool time" on the days he shows interest.  He has a couple of workbooks and has learned to draw a circle around objects, find ones that match, draw a line between 2 matching objects and trace shapes.

Just because we are already gearing up for Christmas doesn't mean we aren't focusing on Thanksgiving.  We have checked out lots of books from the library about Thanksgiving and in Sunday School they have been talking about what they are thankful for.  I ask him when he wakes up in the morning what he's thankful for and I love to hear his answers.  So sweet!  Most of the time he'll say the name of a friend or family member, and sometimes it's the simple things like, "blankets to make you cozy!"  We've been working memorizing Bible verses and he can quote 3 of them now.  Proverbs 3:5, Psalm 33:9 and Psalm 107:1. He loves to make funny face, talk in silly voices and make up words.

Here are some of the highlights of the last 3 months.

This is one of my favorites! We went to the park and I had to take a picture during the prayer before lunch.  So sweet!

 The boys found bandanas in the hall closet :)

 Fun play dates at the park with friends!

 We took a short trip to Omaha at the end of September.  

Caden loved the Zoo! 

 We spent the day in Weston with friends and family.  Looks like he enjoyed jumping on the hay bales!

All the kiddos:)

 Family pic in the pumpkins

 We love fall and tried to enjoy as many fall activities as possible.  This was taken at the Cider Hill Orchard.  We picked apples and enjoyed a hayride. 

 We celebrated my mom's 60th birthday at Lamborn Farm with a catered dinner in the barn and fun in the pumpkin patch.

Mitch's company offered him a ticket to watch the Royals play Game 5 of the ALDS.  At the last minute one of his coworkers got sick and couldn't go.  So, he called Shannon and she went with him.  

October 22nd Mitch & I celebrated 10 years of marriage.  I surprised him with an overnight stay in Weston at the Saint George Inn.  We had a fun time exploring downtown Weston and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

 Mahaffie Farmstead Trick or Treating

Dinner at Fritz's

We had the privilege of attending Game 1 of the World Series with some friends who'd gotten tickets from work.  It was such an awesome experience and even better since they won.  It took them 14 innings to do it, but what a fun night!

 We went to Hancock's for pumpkin carving and Uncle Mike's birthday lunch on Halloween.  We decided to stick with the Mickey Mouse theme for our pumpkin, too!

 Caden happened to wake up while we were watching Game 5 of the World Series about 3 minutes before the win.  I got him up and carried him out to watch it.  He was pretty confused, but we've waited 30 years for this, we figured he might as well see it :)  Then he went right back to sleep.  He really got into the Royals the last month.  It was fun to watch him enjoy the games and start to understand the game of baseball.  He can tell you several of the players and has been imitating their pitching. He throws a pretty awesome fast ball!

 We had a Halloween party with friends and with this many kids, this kind of group picture is as good as it gets :)

We found these in one of the boxes of Christmas decorations.  He was so excited this shirt still fit him.  It was his favorite last Christmas.  The sunglasses complete the outfit!

 One of his many tower creations

Celebrating Memo's birthday with lunch at the Webster House.  She was the last of the grandparents to turn 60:)

 We celebrated Papa's birthday at Longhorn then dessert at our house. 

Decorating the tree.  He had a favorite section of the tree which got most of the ornaments.  

 Caden's Christmas corner in his room

 Packing the shoebox for Operation Christmas Child

 Picking up leaves and sticks.  The reindeer glasses were a needed accessory!

We always have Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  This is a picture of all the cousins in Caden's generation.  

Happy 30 months, Caden!