PUMPKIN HEAD

My little sweet Caitlin...master procrastinator. I know that when I was growing up, I always wanted to put everything off (especially those long papers I had to write). I believe I've somehow passed that on to my daughter. She won't go to bed and stay there to save the world. She'll do anything to put it off one more moment! Tonight, as I was trying to get her just to go to her room and pick out her two books for me to read, she found this hat and had to put it on. I had to make myself not laugh when I asked her why she was wearing the hat and she told me that she wanted to be a pumpkin for Halloween.

(By the way, I have to put Vaseline on her just about every other night because she constantly licks her lips and chaps above and below the lip line!)

(This hat is actually for Cody made by my friend Eileen last summer. Caitlin loves to wear it though and see herself in the pictures with it.)
So, I get her to bed and read her two stories (nightly ritual). Then, after she has been in bed for about ten minutes, she gets up and HAS TO HAVE her favorite (stuffed) animal(s). You can never tell which of her animals will be her FAVORITE on any given night. Tonight it was Whopper and O.J. (an orange cat). Of course I couldn't find O.J., so I told her that we would just have to find him tomorrow. "Oh, okayyyyyyyy," she says (as if that was the ONLY toy that could possibly make bedtime happen, and she would suffer and be LONELY without him). When I went in much later to make sure the light wasn't too bright, this is what I found:

(That's Whopper on her chest.) And that orange squished cat by the pumpkin hat (under the elephant) is the one she is currently calling O.J.

Lastly, people ALWAYS tell us to enjoy this time when they are little...it goes so fast. (I would seriously be RICH if I got $100 for every time someone has said that to us!) I know it's true. As agitated as I might get trying to get Caitlin in bed and have her STAY THERE, I know that someday I will miss her 101 excuses for why she is out of bed. ("I'm thirsty, can I just have some water?" "I'm lonely because my animals don't talk to me." "Casey won't let me sleep." "My light's too bright (or not bright enough)." "I have to go potty." "Can't I just stay up with you?" "Can't I sleep in your room?" "When Daddy gets home, can you just tell him...(this one is always something new)." She sure is a stinker, but I know that I do treasure her little personality and her imagination!

Cody eats bugs

{Just a quick question...who does he look more like? Me or Brian?}

Ha, ha! Cody was enjoying the feel of Caitlin's ladybug today. He is teething something awful and has been chewing on whatever is handy. This bug seems to be a favorite of his. I'm just making a quick entry because I thought this was cute. Not much else was happening, obviously! Enjoy the photos!

Blazin' Trails (and stuff...)

Today it was finally warm! By warm, I mean high 60's, but I'm not complaining. It's been raining for days, and when it hasn't been raining, it's still been overcast. Luckily, today it's been blue skies and warm sunshine, so yardwork time!

Brian always likes to give Caitlin a trail to follow when he's mowing the lawn. Caitlin loves to run on it. (It was such a nice day today that we had to get SOME yard work done. )

Today she decided to take her "dog" for a walk (run) on the path. We just got this one at a yard sale and it walks and barks when she pushes a button.

She is also really into her cowboy hat right now. Isn't she cute in it though?

I think Cody was a little jealous of her hat.

"Hey, can I borrow that, sis?"

Though his is pretty cute too, for a golfer.

Oh, yeah, we also finally finished painting the wall blue in our spare room (which will someday be Cody's room, we hope). We figured people weren't comfortable staying over with us because our wall was just a blob of blue, with no real definition. = ) It's done now! Whew!

These last two photos were really for Diane. She was always wondering (out loud) when we might get that wall painted. It probably hurt Brenda too, seeing there all blobby and unfinished. Well, no more! Come on over and enjoy my finished masterpiece. heh, heh!

Grand Floral Parade!

Caitlin LOVES parades! We took her to her first one when she was two years old (the little Macy's parade the day after Thanksgiving). Anyway, I'm always happy for her to see all the great floats and marching bands. She gets so excited, dancing and singing, having a great time. We decided to go to this "big" one just yesterday. We had to get up early so we could get downtown before all the streets closed. We parked at Brian's work and walked a few blocks to find a place to sit. I brought a blanket (duh?) while everyone else had folding chairs. {How was I supposed to know how hard concrete would be after four hours of sitting on it? The parades I'm used to are either over in an hour (4th of July in Caledonia), or you don't sit down, you try to catch beads (Mardi Gras)!}

Anyway, I'll know better next time. Here are some photos!

Here is Bri and the kiddos sitting on a blanket while everyone else has a comfy chair! The show got started late because the lead float broke down right when the parade started. (The parade route started on the other side of the river!) We waited for almost two hours until we saw the first float! Here it is:

It was a cool dinosaur float. All the floats have to be covered in organic material, so everything that's not a flower is seeds, or greenery or something of that nature. They are quite amazing!

Here's Caitlin jumping and dancing as we listened to the marching bands play. She loves the music. Almost got mowed down a few times.

We were sitting by our friend Zach (tall guy behind Margaux) and his fiancee, plus the family she nanny's for. It was a good spot, but right near the end of the parade route.

This is what Margaux thought of what the horses left behind. Sure was STINKY!

Here's Caitlin dancing to the beat (and getting right out there by the band).

Here's the cool space shuttle float. It poofed out smoke from the pipes you see on the side.

There were GREAT looking pirates (very realistic) walking in front of the pirate float. Caitlin even spoke to a few. {They just said, "ARG" to her and stuff.)

This was a great Johnny Depp looking float. The flowers were amazing, truly.

This was one great parade!

Groovy Girl

Here's our little Caitlinator. She has always liked wearing hats and sunglasses (thankfully). We can usually pick her up a few pairs during the summer at garage sales. The ones in the following pictures are one of my favorite pairs on her. She always looks like a girl from the 60's.

She does like to pose for the camera! She put the glasses on herself, which is why she has that groovy hair under the side of her glasses. Love this look!

We've always thought she would be some type of vet as she LOVES (and I mean LOVES) animals. But in this picture, I can see her being a sunglasses model.

I was trying to get her to pose in this one, but she wanted to take a bite of her graham cracker instead. This is pure Caitlin, never really does what I ask her to do, but usually does some variance of it.

Cody's first haircut!

Sheesh, I finally did it. I took shears to my baby's oddly few curly locks. I hope he is not mistaken for a girl any longer, but still remains my little cutie, "Cody Coderton." We took some before and after shots, and I must admit, I might have gotten some of my Daddy's skills as a barber. (He's not a barber, but used to cut my brothers' hair.) Anyway, take a look and leave a comment (har, har) to let me know how I did!

Before:

"I don't know if I want to get a haircut, Mom!"

{Curly locks, just on the sides of his head. It's cute, but not exactly boyish!)

During:

Hair pile:

After - Voila!

What do you think? Pretty cute, eh?

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS

I don't know how to get people to leave comments, but if I have to threaten an end to the blog, I will. You all know how easily bored I get. You know that if no one encourages me (by leaving comments) I will probably get bored. You know once I get bored, I stop my artistic pursuit. (This blog is somewhat of an artistic undertaking, isn't it?) Sooooo, don't you think you should leave a comment, or two?

Roller Derby

Oaks Park is a wonderful place for toddlers! During the summers, they have "Toddler Time" two mornings a week, from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m., where all the kiddie rides are open for toddlers and parents get in free.


During the "winter," on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings they have roller skating just for kids under 6 years old. Parents are given free admission and fun is had by all. Today was our first time at the roller rink. Brian said that he used to be an ace skater "back in the day." But, I didn't get to see too many moves because Caitlin was trying to decide if she liked roller skating OR NOT. We're still not sure.

This is Caitlin trying to keep her balance while practicing on carpet with Brian (her coach).

Here they go in the real rink. This is the largest roller skating surface roller rink out there. (I think just in America?) There is also a huge pipe organ above (in the middle of the floor). I would like to go back when the guy plays on it. It's supposed to be really incredible. (Probably not as good as my brother John though! hee, hee)

Caitlin enjoying herself as she sits on the bench and hangs on the bar.


Luckily, her friend Margaux (and Margaux's Dad, Paul) showed up and it at least SEEMED more fun after that.


Here Brian is trying to help two little uncoordinated kids learn how to glide on their skates. They did pretty well, all in all.

Here's "the gang" supposedly getting a "lesson" on roller skating from the roller lady. (I have to say, as a side note, that Paul seemed to be having the most fun. He only had ever ice skated before, but seemed to really like how easily his roller skates glided on this hardwood floor.)

Margaux was just her usual self, dare devil, try anything little tyke. She did end up on the floor a few times, but we found out later that one of her wheels didn't move. She sure is a tough little kid!

We had a great time and will probably go back for THE LAST WEEK of roller skating next week. The week after that the amusement park opens again. {Caitlin told us that she is going to ride the roller coaster this year!!!!}

Barbeque Fever

We sure wish summer would start sometime soon. When Brian has an evening off, we tend to barbeque because it's nice to have dinner off the grill AND it usually gets us outside. Today started off with somewhat OKAY weather, but by the time we got that grill uncovered, it had started to rain. Since we had invited our friends: Anne, Paul, and Margaux (Caitlin's friend), over we decided to just go with it. Brian put the grill under the front porch cover and away we went.


We didn't get any great pictures of the food, but there sure was enough! We had steak, chicken legs, steamed (burnt) broccoli, grilled peppers and onions, and mashed potatoes. I don't think anyone left the table hungry.


The girls (when they are together at our house) have to get dressed up in their princess outfits. Caitlin, I doubt, will ever be a tiara girl, I think she likes cowboy hats better. Caitlin dressed up in her Ariel costume, while Margaux was Belle. They were both cute watching "The Last Unicorn."
{By the way Sammy or Caleb, the hat will make its way back to you at some point!}

Favorite things...

{These photos were taken during our Anniversary weekend - April 24th and 25th, 2008.}

Brian really wanted me to put up some photos of us at the coast. We LOVE the coast. We love the unbelievably frigid water, especially on hot days. (It actually doesn't feel so cold when it's 90 degrees outside!) We love watching Caitlin chase seagulls, the dogs chase sticks (mainly Casey, Abby is getting old and decrepit), and our family have fun together. Even Cody seems to enjoy it, though the wind at times makes him gasp. So, I'm going to post a few photos that are somewhat recent. Hope you enjoy!

This is a shot of the ocean as the sun is going down. It's just amazing the sky show you get out there. That little stream flowing out to the ocean is fun for Caitlin and her rubber boots! She likes to put her floating duckies in there and race them.Here is a photo that some nice couple took of the whole family. We never really get those pictures. You can see how much our dogs look alike. Everyone always asks about them. They sure love the water, almost as much as Caitlin.Here is a picture shot when the tide was low and you can see all the clams stuck on those rocks. It sure is rather gross up close. I hit some barnacles off a rock and something squishy lives inside. I didn't grow up near the ocean, was I really supposed to know barnacles had things LIVING in them? Yick!Here we are braving the freezing cold water. You can only stand in the water so long before your feet start to hurt. We do like running from the waves though.

These last two are from last fall sometime (don't exactly remember when). But, it's Caitlin doing her favorite chasing game. She sure is a cutie pie, isn't she?

Well, we will keep you updated with more photos as time goes on. We have hundreds (it seems) of pictures of us by water. Once I can figure out how to post a short clip (movie) I'll do it. Those are more fun anyway.