Let's Go Fly a Kite...

Up to the highest heights!

Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring!!

Okay so I won't sing the WHOLE song, but you may continue to hum it in your head as you read. It is certainly applicable as I recap our weekend festivities.

As anyone knows who has turned on their TV at least once this weekend, the Bears had an exciting weekend in Houston. And you know that the world's biggest Baylor fan EVER, had to take this once in a lifetime opportunity and head to Houston to cheer on the Bears! Justin has literally been waiting for a moment like this his entire life. Year after year, season after season and finally Baylor has something BIG to cheer about! We've had victories in some smaller sports but for football and men's bball this is the golden star of the last several decades! 

So the point of all that was to say that Caden and I were solo this weekend. We had a fun weekend hanging out together, not that we don't hang out together every day, but you know... we had weekend stuff to do! :) Friday we had a fun Mommy and Caden day doing things around town. We went to the library for Toddlertime and then out for a fun lunch at Freebirds and of course in between all of our stops we did a few trips to the park! We spend the majority of our days outside when the weather cooperates and sometimes even when it doesn't, but luckily for us... this weekend was BEAUTIFUL!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to San Antonio for the day. We were at KK and Albi's by 9:30, ready to play!! Bright and early is how we like it in the Cox house! Ha! KK is always up on the latest "to-dos" in San Antonio and found us THE perfect event to enjoy on Saturday morning. The Tail Fest was all about kites and dogs, hence the name Tail Fest. Things that fly in the air and sweet little doggies running around everywhere, paired with a GORGEOUS sunny day, it couldn't have gotten much better!

Well, actually it could have and it did! We didn't have a kite to fly at the festival, so Albi bought us one and then the day was perfect! We had a kite and a big open field just waiting for us to run around. I must say that once our kite took flight it seemed as though we had found our calling...kite flying is so fun!

Justin took me kite flying on our very first date! Ah! Sweet memories! It to this day is one of my very favorite dates! Dinner in the Memorial Cafeteria, Putt Putt, kite flying by the Marina, talking while dangling our feet in the water at the marina, Frosties and trip to the BU baseball field... perfect! 

But back to the kite festival...

Meet our red octopus kite...

With all of the fun dotted tails!

The twinkies... pointing up at the kites!

The PROS had these HUGE kites that were anchored to the ground that were flying through the air! So cool!

Caden loved running around pointing at all of the kites flying through the air. We were surrounded on all sides by kite flyers... and kites!

He REALLY wanted to cross the line and go over to the PRO area... but that would have been a little scary with all of those big kites flying overhead.

Fly it Caden! Fly it! 

I loved this kite... it twirled through the air like two colorful stars!

There were plenty of wildflowers for Caden to pick too! :) Even a few bluebonnets, but of course we didn't pick those!! 

After the fun with kites we headed out for a quick lunch with Aunt Emily and Uncle Josh. Luckily the BU girls game was one so we could see for ourselves that they were in fact going to beat TN. The girls are up next! Sic 'em!

Once we were nourished and re-energized we headed to Aunt Emily and Uncle Josh's neighborhood park to play. They even brought Griff so Caden could say hi to one of his very favorite pooches!

Griff and Molli are his favorites... they are MUCH calmer than our two so they are a little less intimidating for him to approach, although he is getting braver and braver with ours. He's MUCH braver than I would have ever been that is for sure. He's been knocked down, clobbered by tails, and licked more times than he'd like, but he keeps going back for more!

He was showing off for his Aunt and Uncle... they had never seen his park skills before!

Caden LOVES to hug... especially dogs! Unfortunately for Caden he isn't quite quick enough to get to hug most dogs in a more favorable location, so the backside it is! I am just sure he's going to get a wet surprise one day! I'm afraid he'll be marked like a fence post... ah well, that'll teach him to be faster! :)

Walkin' down the sidewalk!

A little fam pic action... too bad he doesn't belong to them! :) They look good with a kid in the picture though don't they?! Hehe... not that I'm pressuring, because I'm not... REALLY! 

After the park we were all shades of HOTT, so what is better than a little run through the sprinkler! I used to LOVE doing this as a kid. I was so glad when KK suggested it! Caden enjoyed it... and would have probably enjoyed it even more if he weren't wearing cold wet clothes! Still a little cool for a long sprinkler run I suppose... in time, in time!

What a fun day! To top off our day, KK made Caden and I some yummy pancakes for dinner! Breakfast for dinner is my favorite and Caden's too! We were home by 7:30 and Caden and I hit the showers and then the bed! What a fun day!

Thanks for playing with us KK and Albi! We had a blast as always!! San Antonio is a FUN, FUN, FUN place to visit!

This morning Caden and I were up early to get ready for church. Since it was Palm Sunday and the kids at our church do a little Palm Sunday parade through the hallways I figured Caden needed a fancy new outfit to wear. KK gave him the shorts and Nana the vest... all I had to find was the shirt! :) We pieced this together this week and I think he looked pretty darn cute!! We didn't have much time for a photo shoot this morning but I couldn't resist taking a few pictures!

Palm Sunday was is day to sport his hipster clothes and Easter Sunday will be the day to sport his pretty boy clothes... get excited for those pics!! :)

Caden decided not to take a nap today so we had some time to burn before the big Baylor game, so up to the park we went. AND because I was desparate to watch our boys I decided to let Caden break a few rules... it worked! :) I know I'll be paying for those tomorrow, but for today it kept him happy and I got to watch the game! 

We're sad for our Bears but proud all the same! Justin is on his way home from Houston as we speak... and he's already gearing up for next year!! We're gonna be AWESOME he says! :) 

Hope y'all had a great weekend!!

Happy Palm Sunday!!

Going to Battle

God is so good! He really, REALLY is! Now this is not to say that God is not good normally or that on even my worst days He still isn't good, but TODAY God and I are having an absolute blast! He is showing up and saying check me out all over the place today! It's really kind of hilarious. It's all I can do to take it all in, my mind, my heart, my soul... we're all bursting at the seems with praise! God you are GOOD!

One of God's stops throughout our day so far today took place at my Thursday morning Bible Study. Caden and I were walking down the hallway after printing out all of his tags and I was preparing myself for the waterworks. In my mind I was saying, "Hang in there, Caden! Nursery H... there it is... hang in there! It's going to be GREAT!"

Once we pull up to the nursery door I flip the stroller around to get Caden out and I notice his face and I am SHOCKED that it was not red. I am even more shocked as I continue to unbuckle him that his bottom lip remained in place and that no pouts of sadness made their way out of his mouth. And then in the moment of complete and utter shock and awe... as Caden crossed the pathway from Mommyland to Nurseryland, he looked back at me, NOT ONE TEAR in his eye and I told him that I loved him and that I'd see him in a few hours. NOT ONE TEAR! Y'all... Caden didn't cry!! 

Now, to be fair to sweet Caden he's had some really great days in the nursery lately. BUT he always cries at drop off and usually at pick-up too and then usually there is a sprinkling in between, but week by week, day by day, hour by hour Caden has been making progress!!

And today NO TEARS! Never! Not one! Not at drop off, not at pick-up, not during class. Not one! 

So yes, Glory be to God for a no tear nursery day, YES!! BUT even more glory be to God for teaching me such a valuable lesson through this entire experience! You didn't think that crying in the nursery would be for nothing did you?! NO, NEVER, not when God has anything to say about it, and He ALWAYS has something to say! And he really can't pass up an opportunity to show-off a little... I mean who could blame him?!

After the very first Sunday in January when Justin and I took Caden back to the church nursery we knew that we were in for a tough transition. It was so so so sad to see him so upset. It was such a mixed bag of emotions. We were so happy to finally be back at church and yet Caden was so very upset for the same reason. We knew that church was important and we were just going to have to fight through it and that in time Caden would become adjusted. 

About this time, my Thursday morning Bible Study started up so Caden was getting an extra dose of the nursery each week. So with two times a week we thought the progress would be speedy. The first 3-4 weeks of Bible Study were rough. And of church too. I remember each morning as we'd be eating breakfast I would pray for Caden and my prayers would go something like this:

"Dear Lord, I pray that Caden will shed not one tear today at church. I pray that he will have a good time and that he will not get upset."

Somewhere in the midst of all of this my prayers began to change. I didn't even realized they had changed until today when in a teachable moment I realized what God was trying to show me. I thought about the prayer I prayed this morning over Caden and last Sunday. And the prayer that I prayed the Thursday before that. And the Sunday before that. I realized that my prayer isn't even close to the same. Now my prayer for Caden went something like this:

"Dear Lord, I ask that you would give Caden a spirit of bravery today. I pray that he would have courage in his heart. I pray that he would be a light and an example however small it might be to the other kids in his classroom. I pray for the teachers and for their hearts to find patience and compassion. I pray also for their creativity to teach and comfort the children in their care."

Do you see the difference? I don't even know why this changed. It was not a conscious "I need to pray more like this..." epiphany. If I am to be perfectly honest the only explanation is that I was beginning (and this is just the tip of the VERY large iceberg here) to pray with the mind of Christ. Ah-ha!! That was it. That was my AH-HA moment. 

I was beginning to pray THROUGH my circumstance and not FOR my circumstance! I was beginning to ask for things to help me win the battle and not save me from the fight altogether. In the end the THROUGH prayers were going to answer the FOR prayers, but I had to battle it out! Think about it, if God wanted to silence Caden and never let him shed a tear he could have done just that! Just like all of the battles in the Old Testament. God didn't need people like Joshua to go into battle because He needed their help in order to win! NO! God sent Joshua into battle to teach him! God could have won EVERY battle without anyone ever lifting a sword! But Joshua and his armies had to lift several swords, several times, over and over again! In fact that had to almost lose a battle several times to finally win it! And what a victory story they had to share on the flip side. 

And though most of our earthly battles with never involve a real sword or shield (but we are so thankful for those who do battle this way on our behalf each day) we are sent into battle EVERY day. God sends us into battle for victory!! He sends us there so that we can know Him better. So He can show us His glory! And so that we can turn around on victory's side and proclaim that same glory!! 

So we have arm ourselves, we have to take up our sword of the Spirit and our shield of faith and we have to battle. And along the way we are going to have to fight with bravery and courage. In Caden's case he needed God's help in conquering his fears and so we asked God to give Caden a spirit of bravery so he could go in and battle his fears. We asked God to give him courage. We asked God to give his teachers patience and compassion so that Caden could have a chance to fight it out. So that God would have a chance to reveal His glory in Caden. 

I know you will believe me when I say that before Caden was even born Justin and I placed a frame in his room with the passage from Ephesians about the Armor of God. We knew that we wanted Caden to know this truth more than any other thing aside from the MOST important truth. That he had the authority under God to go to battle. To take up his sword and his shield and get down to business. And that when he did that, we knew that he would never lose! What else could you want for you kid?!

Funny how that has now come full circle. Funny how I have seen Caden go to battle and WIN and funny how God is receiving the glory! Funny how God temporarily let me forget this truth and forget how to pray so that I might understand it even greater than I did before! Funny how God is always purposeful!

Funny how crying is not for nothing! 

God hears our cry! And He answers!

GLORY!!

Also funny how fear is one of the things I battle MOST but I don't pray for a Spirit of bravery or of courage for myself. Funny that how I  learned to pray for Caden is exactly how I need to pray for myself. God is not short on teachable moments today! I guess it's time for me to pick up my sword and fight! :)

What a ride! What a ride! God is a crazy fun guy to do life with! Crazy fun!

And now a few pics of my brave little man... 

He looks very Austin-ish to me today... hehe!

As always thanks for letting me share our journey with you!!

NEW POSTS!!!

Sorry I've been MIA the last week... we've had lots of fun and lots of things to share! Check 'em out!!

ROAD TR-IP: Abilene, TX

200th Post

When Mommy Cooks Dinner...

Aunt Ree-Ree Came to Visit

ROAD TR-IP: Abilene, TX

Caden and I figured since the rest of the world was enjoying Spring Break that we should too! I mean it just seemed right to hit the road with everyone else and go on a little trip... to be more specific a ...

ROAD Tr-ip!! (this should be said just like Elle's friends do in Legally Blonde!)

So KK came to the Rock on Thursday morning and picked up Caden and I and we headed to Abilene. These days we have quite a bit of family that lives there since my cousin Michelle and her hubby moved there a year ago. With them in town and our other family just a few hours North it is the perfect spot to meet up! It was definitely a quick trip but a FUN one. With the exception of two grandkids, my gram had all her kids, grandkids (missed you Shan and Josh) and great-grandkids ALL under one roof! A pretty special time for her, I know! :)

Of course, we did come in and take over her house for a few days. It amazes me after the years and years of torture that house has taken from grandkids that it looks as good as it does! How did it ever survive?! My Gram is one good house-keeper! That has to be it! :)

Our days and nights mostly revolved around the two newest members of our family... Cy and Caden! They are both at such fun ages now and really do enjoy playing, laughing and of course EATING! We had such a blast watching their sweet, little relationships blossom. Of course it seemed that it wasn't until the last few hours of our stay that they REALLY started noticing each other... hopefully they'll pick right back up where they left off. I know my cousins and I always did it that way!

I feel so insanely blessed to have grown up in the family that I did. We always have so much fun together and are never short on laughs! Oh my... I am sure glad we spend so much time laughing because the amount of food we eat is kind of crazy! It definitely helps with the calorie consumption. It was so good to see ALL of you!! I can't wait to set up camp in Abilene again soon! Actually... next ROAD Tr-ip will be to Seminole later this summer!! Get ready Wicksons... we're comin' for ya! :)

Thanks again Gram for hosting the circus for a few days... we loved being there! We're sorry that you were short on sleep that last night...Caden just couldn't stand to sleep when he knew the fun that awaited him... ha! :)

And now for the main event... the slideshow of the trip!

Little Cy standing up like such a BIG boy!

Caden begging someone, anyone to go OUTSIDE!! PAH-LEASE open the door!! PAH-LEASE!! Cy wasn't so sure he could do it, but he was going to see what he could do to help!

On Friday we braved the cold and wind and took the kiddos to the Abilene Zoo. They were expecting record crowds that day because of Spring Break so we went early to get our look at the action!

The wind was absolutely ridiculous... the next morning we would learn why when we woke up to sleet and snow and even COLDER temperatures!! It set our departure back a few hours, but that's okay at least we made it home!

Such sweet cold weather gear our boys have!!

I couldn't wait to visit the giraffes! I remember coming to the Abilene Zoo when I was a little tyke and feeding the giraffes. I remember sticking my fingers through the gate with a peanut and letting it lick it right out of my hands. OH, I loved it. I was so excited that Caden would get to do the same. Although now they have SUPER fancy crackers that they feed the animals and not peanuts, but it is still the same concept!

Cy got a good lick but Caden wasn't as lucky... there were lots of kiddos around to choose from!

Then we visited some buffalo... LOTS of buffalo actually!

Then of course there were the lions and tigers and bears, except actually you should replace lions for rhinos and bears for monkeys and that would sum up our trip! It was fun... even in the wind and cold.

The boys were in some adorable matching outfits that both of their grandmas bought on separate occasions so we had to photo-op it without the cold weather gear covering it up!

The boys and their mommies! 

I've learned that the wind is the perfect way to find your hair's natural part... haha!!

Then we made a quick trip to the park next door to the zoo. It was the neatest park... I wish we could have played longer, but the weather was beating us all up!

This was Cy's first time in a swing... he LOVED it. He was giggling and laughing the entire time. I think his Mommy and Daddy or maybe even the Easter Bunny might be brining him a swing soon! :)

And because I have ZERO pride I will show you the super FAST slide adventure that Caden and I went on and five times in the short time we were there! Haha! Thanks KK for the ultra flattering photography! :)

See how fast we were going check out my hair?!! Or was that the wind... HA!

Then there was a bouncy bridge!! Caden's new favorite thing is bouncing... favorite place so far though has been Gram's ottoman! :)

In the tunnel...

A pic of the Grandma's and their grandsons... KK and Caden and Nana and Cy! Sweet boys!!

Close-up!!

The weather in Abilene really is hard to predict... Later in the afternoon on Friday the wind stopped and it got a touch warmer so we spent a bunch of time in the backyard. Thursday afternoon we spent pretty much ALL of our time our there too. We were practicing Easter Egg hunting with the eggs that Gram bought for the boys. Caden was loving it! Cy wasn't there yet so we had to catch him up on the fun on Friday!

Caden can turn anything into an adventure. A blown over pool chair can easily be made into slide... 
Gram has some really cool things on her fence... I wonder if...

I can get one of those things off...

NO! Caden, NO! Okay, okay, I'll go back with the rest of the group and sit in the grass... not as fun as pulling stuff off the fence, but whatever! :)

At the end of each day the boys were FILTHY! They smelled like they belonged in the zoo and come to think of it I did too! I had zoo hair for sure!!

So only one thing to do when you are a bit dirty...

TAKE A DUDE BATH!!

Caden's a little embarrassed because he knows it is going on the blog... geez Mom, can't a guy get some privacy?! 

What a fun trip! We were so glad it worked out like it did... Cy and Caden haven't gotten to spend more than a few hours together before so we were really glad to have so much (still not near enough) time with everyone! Can't wait for Seminole Trip 2010!

Thanks for driving us KK! We had a great time... and an even better time thanks to your handy dandy DVD player in the car! What a lifesaver for a long trip! :)

We're missin' y'all already!!

200th Post, Oh my!

Welcome to the 200 Club! 

Since I missed my 100th post party, I figured I better celebrate number 200!! I didn't actually realize I was even close until I signed-in today to catch up on my poor attempt at blogging lately and saw 197 posts... WOAH, baby!! 

I knew in the middle of my catching up I'd hit my 200th post! I'm not really sure why people do these things, but it seems to be a blogger fad to note your 100th, 200th, and so on posts, and so of course I felt like I couldn't miss out on this bloggie fad... no way!

So happy 200th post, Sunny-Side Up! You've been good to us! We appreciate you collecting our memories and sharing our lives with the world (or the 20 or so people that read our blog!). Hehe :)

And thanks to all of our faithful family and friends who keep up with us via our pictures and musings! We love you very much!

Happy 200!!

When Mommy Cooks Dinner...

Caden sets the table!

See?!

It's easy, really!

Just find a spare diaper box lying around...

Step up... peak over the counter and give a grunt, just to make sure Mommy realizes that you are about to do something SUPER sneaky and a bit dangerous. This will give her time to DROP HER SPOON and RUN... and maybe even pick up the camera on her way over... these things have to be documented... of course they do!

Push it over to the table... use it to get up into the chair...

Turn around and give a shout and cheesy grin!

And then set the table!

Easy... simple... no big deal... 

From now on...when Mommy cooks dinner, Caden'll set the table!