A Weekend at Home...

What a weekend, what a weekend!

I know you were all hoping for Caden to write another weekend post, but he's busy... napping, feeding the dogs, etc., etc. Y'all understand... the life of a 15 month old is fast and furious... little time for blogging! I don't know who he thinks he is sometimes!

So this week the bloggin' is up to me!

We had a FABULOUS weekend at home in the Rock. It was one of the first weekends in a while that we didn't have any set plans. We just made it all up as we went along!

Friday night we had some of our favorite friends over for dinner! It had been WAY too long since our families had gotten together... SO LONG in fact that the last time they came over for dinner neither one of our kiddos were eating table food or sitting in high chairs... YIKES! That is bad isn't it?! 

So one million goldfish and two high chairs later we had a super FUN time with the Rowe Family! The mommies and the kiddos get to see A LOT of each other but the daddies always miss out on the fun. We were talking all week about how excited we were for our hubbies to get to see the sweet little relationship that is forming between Ava and Caden! They play so well together have an obvious liking for each other. It is so sweet to watch how they follow each other's lead (Caden is usually following Ava) and how they run and play enjoy their time together. They even pal around together in the nursery... it is always so fun to peek through the window and see those two playing together... And of course in perfect form, Caden will say "Ava" and not "Mommy." But I can't say that I blame him... she's been saying his name for a long time now... and it is the sweetest thing! CAAAY-den! He has to keep up!

So it is no surprise that Caden was really excited to see Ava's face behind the door on Friday evening! We started off outside on the patio, but the weather brought us inside soon enough! 

I think Caden thought Larry the Lion was bugging Ava so he figured he'd better deal with him, man to man! Either that or he was bringing Larry into the kitchen to be disciplined by Mommy and Daddy... he knew we'd have a word for Larry!

Our poor little outdoor adventurers were super sad that the fun in the backyard had to end, but they were pretty fascinated by the HUGE rain storm that hit and decided to make a little game out of their gazing! For once... Ava followed Caden's lead... 

The game was called...

BANG, BANG, BANG!!

Come on... try it... it's fun!!

NOW we're rockin'!! Bang, bang, bang!! Bang Ava! Bang Caden!! They were really gettin' into it... glad the door survived! :)

Such sweet friends!

We are so thankful for the Rowe fam! I remind myself every day how lucky I am to have a friend AND sister in Christ like Gina just one street away that I can call at a moment's notice for a walk or a park play date... it is certainly no coincidence that it ended up this way! God is great that way!

Saturday might be one of my favorite days on record thus far... and I have A LOT of favorites, but this particular Saturday offered me TWO of my very favorite things... Garage Sales and Festivals. Twice a year our community has a community-wide garage sale... everyone pulls out all of their "junk" hoping that it will be someone else's treasure! Seek and you shall find ANYTHING you are looking for... it's an exciting thing to roam the neighborhood looking for treasure! But you've got to get up and at 'em because there are some pro-garage sale customers that wipe the neighborhood clean by 9am!

We didn't really have anything in particular we were looking for, but I thought it would be great if we could find Caden a toy vacuum! He is obsessed with the vacuum as y'all know and I have been wanting to find him one, but the few resale shops I've been hitting up lately were fresh out. But remember... seek and you shall find?! And FIND we did! In fact, we were visiting Miss Gina who was selling her FABULOUS hair-bows to buy formula for the babies in Haiti and we saw it!! Like a beacon of light in a very dark world... a MICKEY MOUSE VACUUM! So we walked/ran two doors down and saw that the vacuum was in GREAT condition and priced well... so we said, WE'LL TAKE IT! 

And let me tell you... it was the best $4 we have ever spent! Caden was SO happy! He loves it so!! It has an attachment and it makes noise and has a light... oh my!! What could be better!

He has played with his vacuum off and on ALL weekend! He is in love... keep scrolling down for more vacuum action!

After the garage sale we decided to pack it up and head up to Georgetown for the annual Red Poppy Festival! YAY! I love small town festivals... I love the food, the booths, the live music, the people! I LOVE them! And they're free! What could be better!

We ate corn dogs on the lawn of the courthouse and browsed through all of the booths, even found a few fun things for our Nana and KK for Mother's Day! And to top off our day, Caden got to have a sugar cookie that was literally as big as his face!! Needless to say he is now a fan of the festival too!

The rest of Saturday we did various family things... grabbed some dinner out, played at the park, hung out around the house... it was a FUN day! We were all tuckered out by the end so we hit the bed early to be ready for church the next morning!

I made Caden get up a few minutes earlier so that I could take pictures of him in his new "pretty boy" outfit that his KK gave him. He looked adorable!! Oh my!! I couldn't stand myself and I also couldn't stand that I couldn't get better pictures of him in it... that little turkey won't sit still or smile on command if his life depended on it... I'm going to blame it on the age! :)

AND the PASSY!! He couldn't handle that he had to let it go! I don't know why at this moment he felt he needed it SO badly but he did!! Poor thing!

Here are our best attempts...

 

Oh that FACE!! Pucker those lips baby!!

In a moment of brilliance I thought to try to bring the rocking chair out in the yard, hoping it would make him still for a few seconds!

And he's off...

After church and a good nap Caden was READY for an afternoon in the backyard!! He was a BUSY boy...

He started off my mowing the lawn... 

Then he took a whirl and a splash at his sand and water table!! One of his favorite things... thanks Nana and Paps!! He's not too fond of the sand but he LOVES the water!! The love for sand will come with time, I know!

So wet... 
Loves floatin' his boats in the water!

Then he decided that Daddy needed a little lesson in sweeping the porch...

Oops... got something on my hand...

Back to work!
Then Caden had about had enough of Daddy's constant sweeping and decided he knew JUST what to do to fix it... 

VACUUM!!

So he vacuumed the porch until it was all clean!!

Then it was time for the dogs to eat their dinner...

And Caden to do his "job." He is an excellent bowl-picker-upper!

First Maci's bowl... she eats fast!

Then Max's... 
All in a day's work...

All that hard work will make a guy hungry and a bit hot! Nothing like a popsicle to cool you down!

He looks like such a BIG boy sitting at his table, eating a popsicle! Oh my!! He is just way too big for his britches! :)

We ended the night with a fun drive around Round Rock looking at various neighborhoods and exploring the sights and sounds of our sweet little town!

And there you have it... our weekend at home!

We were sad to send Daddy back to work this morning but knew that the sooner he went to work the sooner he'd be home again for another FUN-filled weekend!

Happy Monday everyone!!

Family Date Night

It's Thursday... Family Date Night in the Cox house.

Lately, we've been doing lots of eating out for our Family Date Night celebrations. A night at one of our favorite spots is something we look forward to all week. Last week though we were talking and we thought it might be nice of us to do something more Caden-like, since it is FAMILY date night, not Mommy and Daddy date night.

SO we got all pumped up about taking Caden to a new Jump 'n Climb, an indoor inflatable playscape, that just opened near us. We just knew he would LOVE it. In fact, Justin came home a little early from work to be sure that Caden would have enough time to play since they close at 7! I figured we'd have to drag Caden out of there, kicking and screaming because he was having so much fun!

We talked about it all week with Caden. He seemed excited and we were ready! We had on our socks and our comfy clothes... we were ready to play.

BUT the result was a little different than we expected...

Our park lovin', outdoor enthusiast, fearless little Chade did not like Jump 'n Climb one bit! 

NOT ONE!

He cried and puckered his lips the entire time!

Justin and I tried our best to be excited and show him ALL that the Jump 'n Climb had to offer but he wasn't buying it...And all we could do is laugh at what a BUST our GREAT idea was! Ha!

Our $5.41 was good for about 8 minutes of playtime... 

Poor Caden, he and the Jump 'n Climb were not quite soul mates... more like hate mates!

Sweet Caden... 

He was SO excited to leave that he started smiling and clapping his hands as we walked out the door! HA! I guess it was THAT bad! 

Ah, well...you win some, you lose some!

Apparently, you are more like your Mommy and Daddy who enjoy all things food on their date nights! We did try to redeem ourselves though and took Caden to Mickey D's for some ice cream! He was happy!

Next week, Caden... you can pick the place! Mommy and Daddy will stop with the "great" ideas!

Welcome the New and Improved...

SUNNY-SIDE UP!

Well I'm not so sure I really improved what the professional (Fabulous K) did... BUT at least the picture is current now!

It is a work in progress...

I love seeing my sweet bluebonnet boy!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

More to come soon...

It's All in a Name...

Hi my name is Katie Cox and this is my husband Justin and we are Nicknamers!

Welcome, Katie! Welcome, Justin!

Thank you! It really is good to be here! 

Katie, why don't you start... tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a nicknamer.

Right... my journey... well, I suppose like anyone who has an addiction, no matter what it is, my tendency to nickname people, animals and inanimate objects stems from a childhood of nickname terror. I was the victim of two very cruel cousins, who decided, Lord only knows why, that I should be nicknamed "Machadie." I think we were 4 or 5 when it all started. I have vivid memories of playing on the swing set in my Grandmother's backyard and them saying, "Come on, Machadie, slide...hurry Machadie!" I didn't understand WHY they were calling me that. I don't know why it bothered me so much but it did. I HATED the name or nickname as it was, Machadie. So much so that I would cry... they would say it and say it and I would lose it... 

I was a sensitive child and I guess I still am a sensitive soul in many ways, but eventually my sensitivities gave way and I could accept Machadie as my nickname. It wasn't easy mind you, I still hated the sound of the name, but I was able to more gracefully roll with the punches that the name hurled in my direction. In fact, the back of my Baylor Line jersey my freshman year read "Chadie," a shorter version of the loathed nickname. So clearly I learned to not only tolerate it, but even embrace it.

I sincerely believe the trauma I suffered as a mere child led me to become the nicknamer I am today and the reason why I am here.

Being a nicknamer can tend to put you out on an island. Like, I think I was the only one of my friends to call my dad "Homes," short for Homie, like rollin' with my homies. I called him this without fail or falter for at least two years of my life and I am sure you'd be shocked to know that these two years were in my teens! I was also one of the few people I knew who chose a nickname for her brother that went from the Italian version of his name to a watered down, baby-babble version said, Da-Da-Wa. To this day, Da-Da-Wa is still used.

So being out on the nicknaming island was a little lonely, but God had a plan! He always does doesn't He? He found me a nicknamer and I fell in love with him. Long before Justin and I ever took the first step into formal courtship he nicknamed me... I should have known then... he was my one true love. He called me Katie EEEEEEEE-vans! He yelled it! With his hands spread over his face! Loudly... very loudly! Every time he saw me. It later went from Katie EEEEEE-vans to just EEEE-vans! 

So I definitely knew what I was getting into when we started dating. I knew I was going to begin spending the majority of my time with someone who would enable my nicknaming habits and not only would he enable me and my habits but also encourage and enhance them. 

The list is long... one nickname after the other, after the other, until we pared it down to one that was good enough to STICK, forever... or at least for the last 6 years... and for us that's a record thus far.

It started with "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" trying to make the bridge from friendship to dating was a little wearisome so clearly we must have thought it helped to state the obvious!

Then Justin called me "boss." And I called him, "stop that, I don't like being called boss." He was figuring out how to play nice and was naive to the fact that "boss" was actually very fitting for me a lot of times. I had lots to learn.

Then we took it to the next level when things got a bit more serious. We swapped the traditional "honey" for "Hoony." 

And then because everything is better in its plural form it evolved to "hoonies" which was later shortened and lengthened to "Hoons Da Woons," which often led to "Hoonies of All Da Woonies." Embarrassing? Yes! But I'm trying to stay true to the story.

When we said "I do" it went to just "Hoons!" And occasionally like when a teenager switches from Mom or Dad to Mommy or Daddy, so they can be sweetly persuasive, we extend "Hoons" back to "Hoonies."

So that brings us to Caden! Sweet, precious Caden didn't have a prayer, he really didn't! I am not even sure why we put so much thought into his name, it's not like we'd ever call him that! Although we both believe that every good nickname MUST have an excellent starting point and Caden was just that.

Poor, poor Caden has gone through several rounds of names in his short 15 months of life, but for the past few months we've found one that sticks. Only a few people have ever heard us use it though and I haven't used it on the blog because I knew it would need backing and explaining and I thought people needed to better understand our little nicknaming problem in order to accept Caden's nickname. So I saved this post for the "outting" of his nickname. 

It started with Cade-man, then THE Cade-man, then it evolved into THE CHade-man and now more simply...

THE CHADE!

Of course there were sprinklings of the traditional nicknames like Caden-bear, Caden-waden, Squirmy Worm and more...

So back to The Chade! The Chade! Occasionally, we shortened it to Chade... but most often it is THE CHADE! Oh, what have we done! And I'm afraid there is no turning back... it sticks so well that it's stuck! 

So now we're outted and can freely use the nickname of choice for our lil man... so don't be afraid, turned-off, shocked and/or ashamed when you read it, hear it or even begin to say it yourself. It's all part of the natural evolution of a name... no matter how lovely or not so lovely the name might be to those who hear it. 

It's the way we nicknamers do business! And maybe, just maybe... with help and love and support we'll turn this thing around! And maybe, just maybe our next child might live nickname free... or maybe not...

Because...

To us...

It's ALL in a (nick)name!!

In the Cade-man's Words...

The Cade-man is BACK! Finally! I kept telling my mom that y'all were REALLY missing my bloggin' lately! And by lately I mean like months! I think the last time Mom let me blog I was like 6 months old, and let me just tell you I have gotten TONS more hilarious since then! I mean... 6 months... I couldn't even walk... LOOOO-SER! 

Mom didn't really have a choice in the matter because this weekend was all about the dudes. She even said so! So if it was about the dudes then the dudes MUST blog... and Daddy... well he's not so much of a blogger. He's hilarious in his own right, but only people like Mommy and me really get his humor and that is because we love him so. Other people just think he's... well... a dork! Poor Daddy!

SO my weekend was pretty low key. No traveling, no visitors, not even a trip to the grocery store, it was just me, my doggies, my crazy rents and my beautiful green backyard! Now that's what I call a weekend. 

On Saturday, Mommy had to go celebrate some other baby who hasn't even come into the world yet... BOR-ING! So Daddy and I hung out at home and held down the fort while she was gone. It must have been some fancy baby party because Daddy couldn't believe how cute Mommy looked. I guess since she didn't have goldfish or dirt on her clothes she did look different than normal... I almost didn't recognize the broad. 

While Mommy was gone Daddy and I had some "dude-chores" to take care of in the backyard. I mean y'all don't think my doggies wear diapers like me do you? The entire yard is their diaper and Daddy and I have to work hard to keep things clean. After we poop-scooped we decided that the inside needed a bit of TLC too so we made a quick trip inside to vacuum and start the dishwasher. Daddy and I aren't so much into the inside chores, though. Daddy always says that is what Mommy gets paid to do, so we shouldn't really worry about it. 

It's funny though because Mommy is always saying how she wished she got paid for this. I guess their wires must be crossed because Daddy says he's paying Mommy and Mommy says she's not getting paid... those crazy kiddos... I guess I'll have to straighten this mess out and get Mommy her paychecks!

Anyway... after the chores we just chillaxed in the backyard. 

We played the doggies...

I did some work on my slide. I'm kind of over the whole slide thing... any other 15 month olds out there feelin' me on this one? I mean there are only so many times you can go UP and DOWN a slide. Amen? A guy's got to add a little adventure in his life or else he'll go crazy. I'm all about trying new things, so I gave my slide an old "heave ho" the and found that it made an excellent surf board, trampoline and rock climbing wall... go figure! Slides... hmph... they are so much better upside down!

Then... in my search for yet another adventure I had a little run-in with the dirt. I wasn't too worried about it though because my Daddy is always telling me how much chicks dig scars. So I figured if they digged scars then they would SURELY dig dirt! I mean, come on! Who doesn't love a guy who can get his hands (or face) dirty?!

But you know what NO CHICK LIKES?! Well no chick except for my super embarrassing Mommy! CANKLES! Chicks DO NOT dig cankles! No one digs them! I made it a point to not give my Mommy cankles when I was hanging out in her belly, BUT NO... now that I have them she just can't help herself... she takes pictures of them! 

But they are SO CUTE Caden! So cute! I love them! I just want to eat them up!

OH my! MOM! 

At least my sweet new kicks make up for the cankles... crocs totally trump cankles! Right?!

So as you can plainly see Saturday was awesome! I was filthy dirty by the end of the day which remember only makes me MORE appealing to the lady folk so it was AWESOME to be THAT dirty! In fact I think it helped me land a hot babe at church this morning... 

That and the fact that I was wearing my some of my new Spring clothes that my KK bought for me! She is QUEEN of the Resale shop and always finds me the coolest gear. And because I'm not a stiff type of guy, I'm lovin' the fact that my clothes are always well-worn. It makes me look legit... like I don't really put any effort into my style... like I was just born lookin' this good! 

Y'all likes??
This is my Joey from friends..."Hey, how YOU doin?" look. I think I've mastered it... thoughts?!

And if the "how YOU doin" doesn't work... just remember... get your hands dirty! Do a little raking... the chicks DIG a guy who can rake! Trust me! It works on my mom every time! And she's a girl!

So I was feeling PRETTY good walking into church this morning. And it is a good thing because I kind of had a "thing" at church this morning. First hour there was only ONE other girl in my class and of course she is like the cutest chick I've ever seen... 

Gosh, just me and the cute chick! And as if I wasn't nervous enough my sweet teacher and also friend Miss Gina kept reminding me of how cute she was. She was making SUCH a big deal... it was a little embarrassing. Oh AND! I almost forgot the worst part. Miss Gina even went next door to tell my MOM about how cute my new girlfriend was and to come sneak a peak when she got a chance! MISS GINA??!!!

APPARENTLY Miss Gina doesn't know what "saltin' a guy's game" is because she was POURIN' IN IT ON THICK! Sodium overload! Like I'd ever have a chance now...

Ah, well... you win some, you lose some! At least Jesus was there... I've never needed saving like I did today! 

Today I took a monster nap because I was TIRED... I mean obviously... you just read about my weekend... aren't you tired? But I was lucky enough to wake up in time to see my boy Phil birdie his last hole to win the Masters. I even tried to find my Albi and Uncle Josh on TV but no such luck. Albi was wearing green pants so every time the crowd shot came on Mommy shouted, "Green pants, green pants, green pants?" 

No green pants!

I hope you all have had a fabulous weekend! It's good to be back!

What a weekend, what a weekend!