This and That

We've been on a little blogging break around here. "We" being Cade and I, Cade as the "model" and overall "star" of the blog and myself as the writer...or picture labeler at least. Return posts after a little blogging hiatus are always so hodge podge. A combination of my random thoughts and random pictures...and random events that have taken place.
We've just been trucking along with normal life. Without snow days. Life is much more hectic without snow days. We're in the sewing unit at school...always a stressful time as I try to keep up with middle school kids running around the room with pins, scissors, and irons. Sounds chaotic...it is. It's kinda humorous how I act like my job is so important and stressful. Um, no I'm not a brain surgeon. I teach Life Skills to middle school kids. And I really love it. I overheard one sixth grade boy saying to another, "I didn't think I would like sewing, but it's really fun! And I'm good at it. I'm pretty much a sewing ninja." See? I keep telling you middle school kids are hilarious.

Cade has been passing the time by attending many basketball games and cheerleading practices...and watching some Sesame Street. Truth be told, I love Sesame Street. I like watching it and I'm trying to convince Cade to jump on board. If I did have one bone to pick with them it would be...not sure how to phrase this...I wish they had more...blondes on the show. Just one kid who looks like my kid. I appreciate multi-culturalism, don't get me wrong. But what would be wrong with having just one blonde, mid-western looking, Christian kid on the show? Matt says technically Big Bird is blonde...I say, technically not and actually his appearances have been brief lately. Check it out...you'll see what I mean, or maybe you'll just think I'm crazy.

Anyway, in other Cade-centered news...

Cade has been frequently re-organizing the pantry...

Chewing on anything, but preferably water bottles...

Being pushed around on his new car

And actually we've found that I'm a much more aggressive "driver" than Matt. (I already knew this).

Cade's been hanging out with his friends Isaac and Wyatt (not pictured) and they even joined us for a MNU game!

It's been so warm we got to hit the pavement for another run last week! It's been awhile!

We traveled to Emporia to watch Cheerleader Barbie and hang out with G-Mom & G-Dad

Cade LOVES all the cheerleaders in his life!

Cade had so much fun with Cheerleader Barbie over the weekend! She is so good with him.


Now she's off to Manhattan for a campus visit. She's trying to decide between KSU and Oklahoma State (our parents' alma mater). I can relate, I had that same battle. Part of me wants her to choose OSU just because that's the path I never traveled. But I know she'll be successful wherever she ends up. She's just that way. Collegiate Barbie. Wow, how the years have flown by. I get all weapy thinking about it. And my mom DEFINITELY gets all weapy thinking about it.

To end this random post...one of Matt's players suffered a gruesome injury in the last home game. Check out the article in the KC Star about it.
Don't scroll down if you have a weak stomach...this is your warning.





Oh, ouch. The image of his leg flopping is forever ingrained in my mind.





Remember...I warned you.

Babyproofing 101

Let's start with Auntie G and Snowflake Barbie having a little fun with Cader over the 3-day weekend. This mask from Los Cabos sure has come in handy.

Sidenote: Now please, please check out Jamie's post from when Cade got the mask, please. She's hilarious. You'll love it. Then come back.

Because we've got Babyproofing to talk about. We've been slowly taking the steps to baby proof as Cade has become more mobile (and as we get more relaxed about him exploring).

Normal babyproofing


Cheap babyproofing

Creative babyproofing

Yes, that's plywood wrapped in quilt batting with fabric stapled on it. I know. It's a combination of innovation and white-trashness. And of course I was a little short on my fabric estimate so I had to do some pretty ghetto stapling to make it work.

But it works! The banisters on the stairs don't match up so there's really no way to hang a gate. Trust me.

Um, what the heck?


And now, creepy babyproofing.

I got this screaming sling-shot monkey thing at a Christmas gift exchange. I even "stole" it from someone to get it because I thought it would be hilarious to launch it around my classroom at kids. I mean for the kids. This thing FREAKS Cade out. He HATES when it screams...which it does pretty much every time you go near it. So now it is helping us train Cade to "stay out" from those things that are difficult to babyproof. So far, so good. I know, you're torn between whether I'm a genius or just cruel. Me too.

And let's conclude with what great helpers I have!

S-N Day!

Middle school kids are hilarious at times. The kids have been counting on a snow day today since the beginning of the week. I'm not one for checking the weather regularly so when I said that something was due on Thursday they all freaked out and insisted that we wouldn't be having school in light of the forecast. I banned the word "snow" from being said in my classroom because I just knew they were going to jinx it. It became the "S-N word." So yesterday as the flurries rolled in, just as predicted, a sixth grader stood up and proclaimed "It's S-N-ing out! It's S-N-ing out!!" I tried to hide it...but I was just as excited as they were.

Babe Magnet

Cade just loves entertaining guests!

Especially when it's Peggy!

Peggy brought Cade the CUTEST gift ever! This book comes complete with tickling gloves...genius.

Matt is the tickling expert around here...although Cade says he won't even crack a smile...

He's wearing down a little...

He surrenders...

Okay, Dad, too much...


Thanks for coming to visit us, Peggy! We had a great time and LOVE our tickle book!

New Discoveries...

...like, you know, the dining room. Cade has been crawling up a storm and now loves to play underneath the kitchen table and...in the curtains.

It's a little bit gross, but he likes to lick the window too. (This was prior to the snow..)

Now the deck looks like this.



The fridge can be a fun place to play too.

Cade, meet The Nibbler. (This little net thing that you put food in for kids to suck on). Cade seems to think it's a little sketchy.

I put some juicy apple bits in and thought he'd really like it...

Except it took awhile for him to figure out what end to be nibbling. I really am a control freak. I for some reason had issues with him chewing on the wrong end. It just bothered me. That's not how it works, Cade. I kept trying to demonstrate and instruct that he should suck on the net part. I think he was messing with me.

Umm, ew.

Well, not much else to do but sit around and take pics of my kid. Snow days have kept us safely at home! Cade and I haven't left the house in about 48 hours now. We're trying for a record. :)

Oh, and an update from yesterday's post...I got an email from Amazon saying they would be refunding my money this week. Good work, Amazon. My grudge is over.

Totally Scammed

I am angry with you Amazon.com. Very angry.

We draw names on the Keeley side for Christmas. This year I drew Cindy's name which is great because I know she's trying to build up her Disney DVD collection. Disney, being the marketing geniuses that they are, only releases the classics "out of the vault" at certain times. I tried to out-smart them by purchasing from Amazon.com. Bad idea. You cannot out-smart Disney apparently. I ordered the Lion King and The Little Mermaid from two different sellers through Amazon on December 12th. They said they'd arrive sometime between December 17 and January 4th. Should have been my first clue, I know.

Well now it's January 9th and I'm a little suspicious. I log back into Amazon to see that I can't reach EITHER seller because they both have left the Amazon network and they both have all negative feedback saying people didn't get their items. Scammed.

To cut Amazon some slack I will say that it was very easy to file a claim and ALLEGEDLY I'll have my money back by January 22nd. Also, I've purchased probably close to 100 items on Amazon and NEVER had a problem before. I used to order all my textbooks and many, many other items from them/their sellers. So I guess this was bound to happen. But now what do I do for Christmas presents?! I feel like such a bad Santa as now the classics are pretty much impossible to find for $30 each like I previously had thought. I'm sorry Cindy...I promise I'll get something!

I have several other books I've been meaning to order...but I'm very hesitant now to trust anyone on Amazon. I'm holding a grudge...at least for a little while.

More upbeat news, Cade and I got our first snow day today! Wow! It was so unexpected it took me a little while to figure out what was going on this morning at 5:15 when we were being informed. We're staying in our pjs all day just out of principle.

Note: This pic was not taken today and these are not my everyday pjs...but I thought it still seemed appropriate to share. Yea for snow days!

8 Months

We tried for an evening photo shoot on his actual 8 month birthday...but PM hours just aren't great for his photo shoots.

I felt as if it was getting dangerous...

So we put it off until Saturday morning so technically it's an 8 month & 3 days photo shoot. :)

Always have to start by convincing him to have a seat...

And turn around...

And not to eat the paper...

What a handsome little man.

I tried to coax him to put on his mask from Los Cabos...not happening.

Cheesy smile

He is smiling here because I am wearing the mask now.

Here he's showing you his teeth. 4 on top and 4 on bottom. Sharp too.

He's crawling all over now, not just the army crawl (which is technically called "creeping") like before. We've been taking a lot of video footage...that I guess we'll really care about 20 years from now?

Loves to pull himself up to stand too...

Investigating his new "Bullseye" horse from Grandma Jan & Grandpa Mike

Sometimes he just needs a hand

Getting it to play music...and holding on for dear life

Oh wait, no hands now

He also is really into this from G-Mom and G-Dad too. It's like he discovers something new about it everyday! I like to open those doors you see on the front side and he's very OCD about closing them. I hope that means he's going to be a neat and clean person. :)

He's really on the move and just so curious! You can see him learning and figuring out how things work. He's getting more fun all the time. Constantly on the go...but still fun.
No idea what he weighs...still super-skinny but seems like he's putting on the pounds. It's getting harder and harder to carry him around in the baby carrier. I try not to use it out of the car but now that it's getting colder it's just easier to leave him all bundled up in it. NOT looking forward to this upcoming weather...unless it brings a snow day? :)