Cade the Eater!

Cade started using his fork and spoon all on his own - we think he's benefitting from watching his sister: 

A Little Catch Up

I read somewhere that this period of family life is characterized by long days and short years. I know that it's true. Having a 3 year old and 18 month old is the biggest challenge of our lives, but when things are sweet, it's better than I ever imagined. Ever.

Yes, it's hard to find the opportunity to blog. Hell, it's hard to find the opportunity to hear myself think most of the time. But, yesterday when Cade started calling a "choo choo train" a "Whoo Whoo", I was reminded of the fleeting nature of this moment in time and the importance of capturing it somehow. So, here I am back on the blog, trying to figure out how to do this from a Mac - one of the biggest changes we've made in the last few months. 

A couple of small recent highlights - I turned 39 last week, and had a wonderful celebration thanks to Lance. Lyla insisted on buying Mommy a heart shaped necklace and pink sparkly earrings - Lance humored her, and they are my current prized possessions. I'm so proud of them, and she beams every time I wear them. 

For my birthday, Lance asked his family over and we shared egg-free, gluten-free cupcakes, made by our family. Here they are working on the cupcakes: 

I love the way that Cade loves his Daddy - he just thinks "Daddddy" hung the moon: 

It's a blessing to turn 39. 

I love my little family. 

A Visit from Blaire & Van

We had a special visit from Van today, on his very first birthday - his 1 month. We felt so lucky to get spend some time with him! 

Lyla thought hanging out with Baby Van was pretty special: 

She's really excited to have a new Big Sister Friend in Blaire: 

And, let's face it, this boy is just beautiful!

He loves his Momma:

We tried to get Cade to hang out with a new Boy Cousin, but he had other things on his mind. We think Van will understand someday: 

Our boy is currently obsessed with opening and closing drawers, after pulling everything out of course. As soon as he closes the drawer, he claps for himself. Naturally - it is a big accomplishment after all: 

This behavior causes quite a stir in our house because when he's redirected, he is not happy. This boy wants to be in Mommy & Daddy's room all the time, exploring. As soon as he hears the door opening, his little feet clamor to get in, and when he has to leave, here is the end result: 

Good times around here. We love our little boy. 

And, we love having a new cousin. 

Thanks for visiting, Van. We love you!

Sweet Boy!

Cade is really all over the place these days - from throwing baby monitors in a bathtub full of water to throwing battery operated toys in the toilet, he keeps us going and going and going.

We're waiting for egg allergy testing results, following a very painful (for all of us) trip to the allergist in which they had to draw blood from a very resistant little boy.

In other "Cade E. Bug" (Lyla's nickname for him) news, he's taken to reading a Thomas the Train book over the last couple of days, and he enjoys looking at a recipe book full of baby pictures.

Latest word: his version of "apple": "baaappple".

Love this boy!


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Getting Closer!!

Look who dressed herself this morning. I think the snow dusting helped with motivation!

Nan is coming to pick her up this am to take her Christmas shopping for Mommy & Daddy.

Me: Nan is coming to pick you up to take you shopping for Mommy & Daddy. You can pick out whatever you want - a broom, cups, anything.

Lyla (looking pensive): But, you already have a broom!

Love it! :)


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Happy December!!

Well, so far, December has been filled with several hilarious moments, as our babies head into the sweetest childhood experience of all: discovering the magic of Christmas.

The hilarity of our month is epitomized in the photo below, chosen by us not because it was the best picture, but because we thought it was the most funny. Lyla took the experience of meeting Santa very seriously – she was focused throughout her conversation with him, making sure to convey the importance of her 2 biggest wishes this Season: Stomp Shoes (seen on a grocery shopping trip at Kroger) and a jump rope (discovered at the Watts Family Thanksgiving celebration at Aunt Naenee’s house). You can see the determination in her face.

And, Cade, well…he was okay with Santa because his hero (aka as Waa,Waa to him) was okay with Santa. I think he actually sort of liked him.

All in all, we absolutely love this photo.

In a word: Priceless.

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Elfie rejoined our family Thanksgiving night. Lyla was thrilled to discover him in Daddy’s Christmas stocking, along with striped, matching pj’s for them both. Of course, they had to wear them to bed that night.

Elfie seems to have a one-track mind – he gets stuck on something and can’t let go. His first agenda was getting our Christmas Tree decorated. Daddy brought it up from the basement and then worked several nights – so it couldn’t adorn its shatter proof ornaments (for Cade of course) until Daddy had a few days off. So, Elfie became fixated on getting it decorated himself.

First, he started gathering ornaments and carrying them on Cade’s dump truck:

Then, he got the lights out…

Then, when he finally located the shatterproof ornaments, he hung from the light trying to put them on himself:

Once our tree was decorated (only the top half of course, due to our “destroyer” named Cade), Eflie has moved on to more mischief. Here, he decided to do some decorating of his own:

  

He even tried to take over Mommy’s stocking one night:

He likes to leave messages for the kids sometimes, using a little sugar of course:

It says, “Be Good, L & C” if you can’t read it:

Here, he delivered a nativity scene to Lyla & Cade:

   

And, there was the day he was really tempted to eat Lyla’s beloved gingerbread house she decorated at preschool:

We never know what he’s going to do next, but we can’t wait to see. Lyla says he’s a very naughty elf!

Stay tuned.

Polar Express!

We were so happy to have the opportunity to visit the North Pole via the Polar Express in French Lick, IN. It was a great time for all of us, and just another example of how magical the Season is for us this year. We were able to go with dear friends, which made the time even more special – Lyla especially loved seeing the whole thing with her good friends Liam & Lily. There’s nothing like putting your Christmas pajamas on and heading north.

 

Of course, Cade was excited about it too: 

After lunch and a couple (or more) potty breaks, we boarded the train. I’m so proud to say that Lyla made it through the whole experience with NO accidents. She did a great job!

The Alvey’s:

More Alvey’s:

Cade loved charming a couple of elves:

Lyla was a little unsure what she thought about our elf:

And, his preoccupation with Christmas lights is the reason the Hottman family tree looks a little sad this year, decorated only halfway up with shatterproof ornaments and jute rope. He is a one man destroyer. Really. 

 

 

Lyla and Cade loved the train ride:

 

The highlight of the train ride (if you don’t count our elf’s singing, dancing and hot chocolate) was a visit from Santa himself.

Cade went right to him – you can’t see Lyla in the photo, but she’s standing to the side explaining that she wants Stomp Shoes and a jump rope for Christmas. She’s very serious about them both, and has repeatedly told us that’s ALL she wants. We laugh at that – Lance says he’s sure it’s in stark contrast to what she’ll be saying when she’s 14.

 

At the end of the ride, we tried to get the kids together for one photo, but it didn’t quite work out.

Somehow, Lyla’s face was hurt, and she was very unhappy about it.

So, this is as close as we got. We took this as our sign to head home.

The kids fell asleep in the car, were transferred from their seats to their beds when we got home, and we never heard from them again until morning.

They had a magical night. We all did.