LOTS (of pictures!!) to Be Thankful For...

OKAY! So... we've got lots to talk about! It's been FOREVER AND some since I've blogged... apologies, apologies! Although, at least SO MANY of my faithful blog followers did get an up, close and personal look at our lives over the past week as we traveled all across Texas visiting family! But before we get to the travels we need to back up a bit and talk about our VERY first Thanksgiving Feast of 2010... My little Indian had a Thanksgiving Feast at school the week prior. The morning started with a Thanksgiving Family Chapel Service and ended with a HUGE feast in their classroom! :) AND when I say huge I mean HUGE to the kiddos who got an all you can eat meat and cheese tray, some apple slices and homemade peanut butter cookies... if that doesn't SCREAM Happy Thanksgiving then I don't know what does! Aren't they cute?! From left to right: Caden, Teagan, Kennedy and her Mommy, Will and Sean! What a fun class they are! :)

Alright now we can hit the road and head out West to the bustling metropolis of Abilene! I say bustling metropolis sarcastically of course, BUT I LOVE Abilene with all of my heart, I truly, truly do! It is and has always been my home away from home (wherever it may have been at the time) and I look forward to Thanksgiving there every year! In the old days we'd spend MUCH more time and usually get two holidays in each year with the ENTIRE family, but these days with spouses and now kids it is hard to make all of our families match up for Thanksgiving much less any other time of the year! SO we cherish it and look forward to it ALL year long!

When we arrived on Wednesday afternoon we did the norm... sit around and GAB, GAB, GAB and of course watch the two little toddlers run around the living room... they provided endless entertainment throughout our stay there and it is hard to remember what life was like before they both arrived on the scene! Caden and Cy are buddies for sure... and so are their mommies! (The picture above is of me and my cousin Boozy aka Cy's mommy!) I know I've gone over this before but let me go ahead and refresh your memory... Boozy is a twin to Michelle and we three are the same age and literally grew up together... I cherish their friendships more than they'll ever know! We are blessed to have such fun together!! And that's just the three of us... when you add in the rest of the gang it is just CRAZY kinds of fun... and I do mean CRAZY! :)

My Aunt Martha hosted Thanksgiving dinner at her house on Thursday evening. With our continuously growing number we are usually spread out between several rooms... including one with a TV for the boys to watch football! Caden and Cy were stuck around the kitchen island with their mommies though... I think they felt pretty slighted not getting to eat in front of the TV, but you win some, and you lose some... and if you're a Longhorn you LOST a lot... at least this year! Thankfully, we don't have any Longhorns in the clan... Just Red Raiders, Aggies and Bears... OH MY!

After Thanksgiving Dinner we all spread out and hung out in various places throughout the evening. Of course the EVER important UT/A&M game was on in literally EVERY room! Cy had the right idea though... portable DVD player... travels anywhere and allows you to choose something for your OWN viewing pleasure... he chose Toy Story 3! And he was LOVIN' it! Until...

Caden came along and got ALL up in his grill!!

And I mean ALL UP IN HIS GRILL! Caden LOVES Cy! In fact, since we've left he has asked about Cy several times and has even stuck his Red Raider gun up in the air and said "Tech!" just like Cy did. They are BUDDIES for life!!

Cy was REALLY patient with Caden, not really seeming to be all that bothered about the PDA, but if anyone put their hand in front of his TV screen (OVER!). He was not having it! :) And I can't blame him... they guy just wanted to watch some TS3... no shame in that! :)

It's really not that hard to see where these TWO ADORABLY CUTE little boys came from when you look at their gene pool... just sayin'! :) Group picture time...

Da boys...

Caden, Katie and KK... (I know I'm usually Mommy, but I was going with the alliteration thing there!)

THE BIG GROUP SHOT!! During half time... don't worry, not a snap was missed!

The OLD (er) girls...

The YOUNG (er) girls...

Sweet Chatty and Caden...

It was a FABULOUS Thanksgiving Day filled with LOTS of yummy food (I think we ate ALL day long!) and LOTS of family fun! I am so very thankful for each and every one of my Whitaker-Clan Family members! Y'all make my year!! :) (We missed you Josh and Emily... but SUPER excited we'll get you for Christmas this year!! Caden can't wait!)

Friday morning started out with a little detour to Dr. J's Express Care... Caden started running a fever on Thanksgiving afternoon and it kept rising as the night progressed. With no other symptoms we weren't sure what to think but when he woke up Friday morning with a high temp and LOTS of traveling, food and family still to come in Waco we decided to better be safe than sorry and go ahead and take him in and see what was up...

Once he saw the kitchen in the waiting room he really wasn't all that sad to be at the doctor... that is until the strep test, flu test and blood test came... poor little guy had a rough morning! BUT good news was that all came back normal! And by the time Saturday morning rolled around he was fever FREE and has been ever since... SO WEIRD! Just some strange virus I suppose!! Despite the fever, Caden really was acting pretty normal so we decided to take a few COUSIN pics before we left for Waco on Friday morning...

My Aunt Terry found the CUTEST shirts for the boys and had them monogrammed for that extra special touch... aren't they the sweetest little things around??!!

Cy and Caden are sitting on THE red bench that has been around since I was a toddler. My cousins and I used to sit on that bench and tell everyone we were going to San Antonio... and now look at it... still going strong...

Sweet boy...

Nothing can SHAKE the power of THE red bench... NOTHING...Except maybe a Paw-Paw... right after this picture was taken the bench went BOOM and so did Paw-Paw... and luckily for my Uncle Dee the bench is salvageable... or else he might have had LOTS of crying crazy women on his hands... it's THE bench!

Around noon on Friday we said our goodbyes and headed back East and a bit South to Waco!! The WHOLE gang was anxiously awaiting our arrival... they knew the FUN had just begun when Caden walked through the door! First up... COOKING!!

In between all of the "helping" he did in the kitchen, Caden was SURE to show everyone how much he had improved in the name game... he can successfully say: Ree Ree, Tag, Poppa, Gran (sort of), Nana, and Paps is actually Bop and we are thinking that Bop just might stick!
What do y'all think??!!

Aunt Ree Ree is a good picture taker and managed to snap a few pics of the guests around the table (actually she missed Nana and Bop but they were somewhere in the kitchen preparing our feast I'm sure!) You'll have to excuse the rough looking Cox Fam... we had had a rough morning at the doctor and no time to clean up much before we left that morning! :)

Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Tag! Caden REALLY warmed up to his Uncle Tag this trip... he was ordering him around everywhere and wanted to know where Tag was at ALL times! And his Ree Ree... well they have a love, hate thing going on. Aunt Ree Ree gets Caden into trouble and he knows it... and kind of likes it! I just kept telling that Aunt Ree Ree ... "paybacks are a you know what!!" :)

Last year, the girls decided that each Thanksgiving we would do a Christmas Craft. Last year we made ornament wreaths and this year we opted for Christmas Countdown Blocks. Here we are at work... We still had some work to do by the time we left on Sunday, so I'll have to show you a finished picture later. We have YET to pick an easy craft! Maybe next year!! :)

So I haven't blogged about this yet, and I have a few videos I'll need to post at some point, but this next picture needs a bit of explaining! I don't really remember how it all started, BUT I think it was during the BU/A&M game when Justin and I taught Caden how to sing That Good Ol' Baylor Line and since then he wants to sing it ALL THE TIME! I bet we sing it at least 5 times a day and that is only because we have had to put a limit on it. Well, Nana, Paps, Ree Ree and Tag hadn't seen Caden in action and they of course thought it was the most HILARIOUS thing to see him stand there so solom and still, SO they sang it OVER and OVER and OVER again. Caden even talked his Nana into singing it solo on the way to lunch before we left on Sunday... pretty hilarious!

When we get to the end he shakes, shakes, shakes his paw and says "eeeeeeee" and we say "Sic 'Em Bears!" Oh and the best part is when he wants to sing it he'll walk up to you and put his paw up and just stand there with his paw in the air until you start to sing!! Silly, silly boy!!

Caden not only provided the entertainment for the weekend but also did a few chores while he was there too... watering the plants is one of his favorites!

And making cookies of course... especially since it was only 10am! :)

He made chocolate chip with Nana and sprinkle cookies with Aunt Ree Ree. He was a GREAT sprinkle roller! :)

Time to sample... YUM-YUM-YUM-YUM!!

While Caden napped on Saturday afternoon the girls went out shopping to pick up a few things we needed for our Christmas Craft and the boys stayed home and caught a few zzzzzz's themselves... while we were at Hobby Lobby, Nana insisted that Caden had a craft of his own, or maybe it was Ree Ree who insisted, but nonetheless a water-coloring he did go! :)

But truth be told crafts aren't really Caden's thing... he's more into balls, trains, football and the nan-o (piano!). He played that stinkin' nan-o ALL day long! And in between he learned a few new oven mit tricks from Uncle Tag...

And he watched some football with the boys... while putting on Mommy's deoderant!

Oh and I cannot believe I forgot to mention that my HOT, SEXY hubby brought home dinner for TWO years when he shot and killed a Spike on Saturday morning! And for all of your hunting amateurs out there (like me) a Spike IS a kind of deer... it's actually a small, toddler-like deer similar to our friend Bambi! While I don't necessarily enjoy the thought of killing Bambi NOR do I like the smell OR taste of deer meat, I STILL think it's pretty AWESOME that my hubby's fixin' dinner for the next two years! Nothing says PROVIDER like a freezer full of deer meat... :)

We had a GREAT, GRAND, WONDERFUL, time with Cox crew this weekend! We are excited to know that it is ONLY a few more weeks until we all get together again to celebrate Christmas!

We have so very much to be thankful for, most of all a God who blessed us richly with NOT ONE, BUT TWO loving families. Praise the Lord for family! :) We love you all!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

And let the Christmas wonderment begin... :)

A Mommy and Me Park Date

Today Caden and I checked out a new park up in Georgetown... it was a GORGEOUS day and we had nothing but time to spend out enjoyin' it! We had the best time exploring the sites and sounds of the park... here are a few pics (courtesy of my phone) from our morning at the park...

Top of the slide is not near as much fun as the bottom!!
Ride 'em cowboy!!

Sup, Mommy?!

What goes up must come down... see I told y'all the bottom of the slide is more fun! (His next trip down this slide he somehow ended up head down and backwards which equaled a fat, bloody lip at the bottom. But not to worry... we'd never let a little blood spoil our fun at the park. After a quick trip to the car for a kleenex and some water we were back at it! :)

The tire swing... GOT.TO.LOVE.IT.

What a special trip to the park it was! I cherish moments like these with my lil 'man! He's the MOST fun!

Happy Hump Day!!

Caden's A Star...

A few weeks ago, Caden and his sweet friend Ava had the privledge of being the "child stars" in a Jimmy Jacobs Custom Homes (Justin's employer!!) commercial!! Of course Caden was selected solely based on his raw acting abilities and not because his Daddy happens to "KNOW" some people! The final commercial started airing yesterday in the Austin, San Antonio and Waco markets, so if you live in those areas, keep an eye out for our little star. Different versions of the commercial will be airing throughout the next year, so you might get really tired of seeing my lil man pop up on your TV screen, but then again who could get tired of that sweet face??

Enjoy...

Trip to SAY-YOooo!! (and other news...)

On Friday, Caden, Justin and I headed down to "SAY-YOooo" (that's how Caden says San Antonio) to start a weekend-long celebration of this guy...
Yep, that's Albi! (Or Al-di as Caden calls him... Aldi and KiKi...pretty hilarious hearing him run around the house yelling "Al-di, KiKi..." he'll get Albi and KK eventually... I don't think either one care for now!! :) )Now I know it doesn't look like this guy is the robust age of Double Cinco, but he is! And I bet it is even harder to imagine that at such a young, tender age that Albi could have ANY type of body ailment. Especially not one that involved a back injury after moving furniture a few weekends ago... NOPE... not at Double Cinco... that doesn't happen to people at that age! BUT alas, it DID happen to Albi and he has been quite literally "laid-up" for the past few weeks. Oh and if you didn't know Albi moonlights as a Doctor so he has been self-medicating/treating himself for his back injury, which might explain why we still found him in this position two weeks later. But I guess if nothing else seems to be showing his age then his knack for being stubborn sure does!

Despite the back pain Albi was in throughout much of our weekend, we still managed to have a fun time celebrating the big guy! Justin had to be in the area on Friday for work so it worked out perfectly for Caden and I to hitch a ride and spend our afternoon with KK and Albi on the Riverwalk... Our first stop was to get some traditional mexican grub at La Margarita. Since the party NEVER sleeps in SAY-YOooo, we were the lucky recipients of a little mariachi love... they sang the Chicken Dance en espanol, of course to Caden, who started out a little shakey but ended up LOVIN' the "ga-gars" or guitars for you non-Caden speaking people out there!

After a YUMMY lunch we headed through the market to check out the loot. KK and Albi treated Mommy to a shirt and Caden to his very own set of maracas!! Arriba!! After we walked off our lunch, our tummies told us to head to the bakery inside of Mi Tierra, stat! And so we didn't want to tick them off and we did... we RAN like the wind... grabbed our number and waited patiently for our turn to make our selections! Caden picked a cookie with sprinkles (duh!) and I picked one with coconut (double duh!) and KK picked out one with butterscotch (DOUBLE ICK, but TRIPLE DUH for KK!) and Albi just selected a plethora of others for us to munch on throughout the weekend (QUADRUPLE DUH!). Once our tummies were back to acting like themselves we popped across the street to the Children's Museum. If I was telling the truth I would actually have to tell you that I led us astray and into the GHETTO in hopes of finding the Children's Museum that in actuality was just a few blocks away from where we were... but that's not really that important is it? :) My iPhone told me how to get there... WHO AM I to argue with the perfection that is technology?! Hmph!

BUT regardless of HOW we got there the real point of the story is that we MADE it! YAY! And the even better part of the museum story is that before we left the car I gave Caden a fresh diaper only to have him walk immediately onto the Molly Trolly in the lobby and take a nice, fresh poop... which sent poor crippled Albi, hobbling back to the car for a diaper and some wipes! oops!

After we were all so fresh, and SO clean the fun was ready to begin!! First up the BALL room! Of course this was a highlight of the tour de museum for Caden... balls! Lots of balls!

KK and Caden trying to figure out what to do to make the balls go through the obstacles... "Just a second KK, I think I've got it!!"

"My work here is done... onward and upward g-rents!!!"

And so onward and downward (actually) we went. And guess what we found??? Caden's FAVORITE place in the world... HEB!! Oh joy! So he picked himself out a cart and started crossing off his list!!

He loves the produce section at the store because he gets to bag all of my produce for me! He is QUITE the helper! But this time he was a helper all his own! And there were no pesky plastic bags to mess with! :) "Gotta get a loaf of this fresh-baked french bread, KK... it's GOOOO-oood!"

Next up we headed to the area right next to the HEB that showed us where everything that we buy at the grocery store comes from... like for instance... milk... where does milk come from...??

Yep... that's right... cows... and their utters! Don't worry this was a plastic cow with plastic utters that sprayed water... PHEW!! :) Next up was the Virtual Adventure machine which Caden wanted nothing to do with but I was fascinated by! SO I took a picture of my virtual self... Ha!

Then we climbed in the boat... this was taken JUST before Caden slipped and hit his lip on the edge of the boat... we had a bleeder and everything! BUT it stopped soon enough and we were on our way...

Caden decided that it was the least he could do to whip up something for afternoon tea for all of us... the least he could do...

Once the kitchen was cleaned up and ready for its next chef-in-training we headed back upstairs to see the rest of the exhibits. Here are Caden and Albi coming to you direct from SAY-YOooo Air Traffic Control... man I'm glad we've got such qualified people directing our airways! Thanks Caden, thanks Albi! The skies are grateful!

Caden, having never been a passenger on a plane before didn't understand that you didn't have to ride in the cargo bin... silly boy!

Once I showed him that planes had seats not unlike those in our car he seemed to REALLY take a liking to this whole air travel thing. I guess someone needs to explain to him the physics of why flying is ABSOLUTELY the most terrifying thing ever conceived! But that's another story for another time for Mr. Caden! Who knew KK could fly???!!!

Caden prefers a little bit more control of things... and I get that! So he moved up to co-pilot. His pilot had obviously been flying the friendly skies for several years because he had all of the lingo down pat! Well done!

After traversing through the sparkling skies above SAY-YOooo, we decided to move on to the musical pipes! KK, Albi and Caden were like a three-man band... toot, tooooot, toot-toot!

Just before we left the museum we were curious as to how a Double Cinco-aged man would stack up to THE David Robinson... and well, I think Albi did pretty well!!

What a FUN day we had in downtown SAY-YOooo... we were all TIRED and ready to head home for a bit of R&R... and of course some dinner!! Not long after we got home we headed back out to one of Albi's favorite places for a little Friday night dinner. Daddy met us at home just in time to head to dinner! By 7pm Caden was OVER it and on his way to bed... ready for another exciting day in SAY-YOooo!

Saturday started off with a BANG, which unfortunately I do not have any pictures of, but you can BET that there will be future pictures popping up to document this particular trip very soon! Albi took Caden to buy a new pair of boots... dude boots! And some dude jeans. So to Cavenders Boot City we went... and Caden got the CUTEST cowboy boots and jeans ever! I can't wait to show y'all pictures! The boots have yellow tops!! :) Just like Daddy's that have red tops! :) After boots it was time for toys...which meant we made our traditional trip to Toy Zone to pick out a new toy for KK and Albi's house! AND he pretty much played with it for the rest of the afternoon... or until it was naptime! :) He ate lunch in front of the TV and watched the Bears play and ironically made it back up to watch them lose at the very end... poor Bears!!

Just before we headed out of town on Saturday night we had to hit up our favorite mexican food joint and filled up our tanks! It was good, AS ALWAYS! Once we arrived back in the Rock, I took Caden out of his car seat and knew immediately that I needed to get out the thermometer and take his temperature... he was BURNING up! And SHO-NUFF... he had a 102+ fever... yikers, Cade-man! It was too late at that point to make it to Urgent Care and we didn't feel it was a literal emergency, so we gave him some tylenol and put him to bed knowing that the next morning we'd be beating the doors down at 9am once Urgent Care opened...

Look at that poor sweet face! Turns out Caden has a NASTY sinus infection thanks to his LOVELY allergies that he has to battle like his Mommy and Daddy. They gave him the yummy pink stuff and sent us home with a sick boy! :( So yesterday we were pretty low key... lots of lounging on the couch and reminding Caden to drink his water/sprite/whatever we could get him to drink!

AND today... pretty much the same song, different verse. He is better, but still not 100%. His fever has come down dramatically, thank goodness... high fevers make me a bit nervous! So for the rest of today and most likely tomorrow we'll be pretty lazy around our house, which honestly is quite fine by me! :)

So there you have it... our weekend... on the whole it was GREAT, FANTASTIC, SUPER FUN with just a dash of ick towards the end! Albi- we hope you have a GREAT, FANTASTIC, SUPER FUN DOUBLE CINCO Birthday! We sure did enjoy celebrating with you! We love you!