Kameron's 1st Birthday

I can never believe it when my babies turn one. That first year goes by way fast. Even though Kameron had no clue it was his birthday, Kaden and Ellie did and they were so excited all week. Kaden asked if he could stay home from school and with Jesse's permission I said "Yes!" (Most of you know my opinion of Kindergarten.) So we partied all day. The kids played with balloons all morning.

Happy birthday, new car seat! I love when I can turn the car seats forward! Kameron, of course, had a scowl on his face like always but he finally got used to his seat.

The kids wanted to go to McDonalds for lunch which is kind of a birthday tradition. Kameron was pretty hyper. Probably because his best friend Jesse was there!

My parents came down and took us to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, another birthday tradition in the Wakley family. Kameron was CrAzY at dinner. We could not control the monster! All he wanted to do was sit on the table and throw everything on it on the floor.

It's not a party unless you have a party hat! It didn't last very long on his head but I had to try.

Oh look! Imagine that! Kameron has his mad face on! (That's what Ellie calls it.) He did NOT like his cupcake. I tried to get him to at least try the frosting but his scowl got worse.

Jesse is always so good to have fun in the moment! I always have to stick to the schedule!

Kameron's favorite thing to play with is cars so his favorite toy was the car he could ride. He actually had to wait his turn while Kaden and Ellie enjoyed it too.

We love our Kameroony! Like I said on previous posts he is like a new baby lately. He does not like to cuddle or to let you rock him to sleep. He will give his dad hugs and me kisses though. But only when he wants to. He's doing better at night and takes longer naps during the day. He is a horrible eater. His favorite is oatmeal with yogurt. Other than that he usually spits it back out. He loves to make funny faces and knows when people are laughing at him. He is so close to walking but refuses to try. I remember Jess and I saying "He'll be walking by Thanksgiving for sure!" He's been able to crawl and walk with his walker since he was 7 mos old and at Christmas he was walking all the way across the room. But now he won't even try to walk. Maybe someday. He loves Kaden and Ellie and they are always so nice to play with him and run into his room when he wakes up from naps. They still fight over who gets to pick out his diaper. They are pretty protective of him and always run to tell me if he has something in his mouth or is going up the stairs. He likes to throw fits already when he doesn't get what he wants which is something the other two never really did. But we love all the laughs he gives us--he's such a cutie pie. Happy birthday Kameron!

If looks could kill...

Kameron started making this face a couple weeks ago and I can easily say this is how his face looks 50% of the day. At first it made me feel bad, like he was mad at me or didn't like me. But then I realized that he makes that face for just about any emotion. When he's mad, sad, hurt, confused, doesn't like something or someone. It's pretty funny. What a cutie.

He has changed into a completely different baby within the past couple months. He had allergic colitis when he was born so he was on soy formula and was constantly throwing up. When I switched him over to whole milk at about 10 mos he completely changed. No more throwing up, he sleeps better, he actually has a personality now. He was super mellow and kept to himself. Now he's a total wild child and doesn't slow down for one second. He loves to laugh and talks all day. I didn't recognize this for what it was until he was off the formula then I realized how bad it was. When I would go get him from his crib in the morning he would have no emotion where my other kids would get excited and smile. Now when I go get him he cuddles into my shoulder and talks to me. I feel pretty badly about it. Poor kid. So in some ways I feel like I'm just starting to get to know Kameron.

So the other day Kaden and Jess were wrestling around like they usually do and Jess sat on Kaden and farted in his face. (Totally gross, I know. Where do boys come up with this stuff?) Well, Kaden didn't appreciate that so he went up to his bedroom upset. A couple of minutes later a little note came floating down from his bedroom and this is what it said, "dad win you fardid in mi fas that mad me sad." Translated it says "Dad when you farted in my face that made me sad." It was pretty funny. A couple hours later Jess made him upset again and throughout the rest of the night we got two more notes floating from the sky. They read, "mom, dad iz bad," and "dad, you ar doomd". That's Kaden for you.

I took this picture and later realized what Kaden was doing in the background! Yuck! So this last week Kaden and Ellie both had nightmares at night and I was laughing at the differences in their nightmares and now they totally match their personalities. Ellie who is dramatic and has a vivid imagination had a nightmare that she was being chased by wolves. They chased her into a wall and there was a pathway to get out but they were blocking it. Then they started to bite her arms and her back. I thought this was a pretty intense nightmare for a four year old! Very scary. A couple nights later Kaden also told me he had a nightmare. He said he somewhere eating lunch and he was so full but the lady said he HAD to eat ALL of his soup. Then he said, "It was VERY scary!" Of course this would be a nightmare to Kaden who is too logical to have too much of an imagination and follows rules to the tee. I had to laugh. I love my kids.

Merry Christmas

Christmas was fun this year but a little hurried. It's been a crazy month. I miscarried a baby and had a D&C the day after Kaden's bday. Jesse's grandma passed away the day after his birthday and her funeral was two days after Christmas. I didn't feel like I got to spend enough time with the kids and help them feel the real reason for the season. Good motivation for me to try harder next year. But we still had a very merry christmas...

We made gingerbread houses. We split into teams and did boys vs girls. I don't need to tell you who won :)

Finished products. Girls is on the left.

Tami and her kids joined us for dinner on Christmas Eve. The kids opened the presents they got each other. They all got pillow pets and I could not believe how excited they all were!

After dinner we acted out the nativity which is a tradition from my childhood. It's always my favorite part of Christmas. Jesse makes a good donkey!

Here are the kids modeling their Christmas pajamas.

The kids got Jess a belgian waffle maker. He made us waffles for breakfast. Needless to say, nobody finished theirs!

Here's the calm after the storm.

We went to Malad later that day. All of the cousins got a pillow pet for Christmas. Here they all are sitting on them waiting for more presents.

Jesse and his brother and his dad. They all got those funnel ice scrapers.

Ellie got the Lalaloopsy she was hoping for. She also got a makeup kit and put makeup on all day every day we were there. For some reason she mostly applied it to her chin and nose. What a cutie.

Happy 30th Jesse!

Jess turned 30 years old on the 21st. He actually has been dreading this birthday for the past year. I tried to make the day special to make him forget his old age. He loves to go out for breakfast so we went to Denny's. After work he opened presents then we went to a movie and dinner. (Thanks Tami for watching the kids!) I think his favorite present was the chess set made of marble from Iraq from Nick.

He does have ONE gray hair right above his left ear. He still looks hot to me though! He is always so good to play with the kids and wrestle with Kaden. He is Kameron's favorite person in the world. He follows Jess around all day and dives out of my arms so that Jess will hold him. (Nevermind that mom has been changing his diaper and feeding him all day!) He is so patient with me even when I wake him up at 3am because I had a bad dream. He makes me laugh everyday with his sarcasm and jokes. He would do anything for anyone and does everything for us! Thanks for being you! We love you!

I am a total loser and the only pics I took all day were at Denny's that morning. Here's my handsome boys.

I don't think Ellie ever just smiles for the camera. She's my crazy girl. I look like I just turned 80 in this picture!

Kameron as usual was a pure delight at the restaurant. I'm sure it was because we kept him up all night :)

Happy Birthday Kaden!

Kaden turned 6 on Wednesday! I was realizing the other day how much I depend on him. He is the biggest helper around the house. He does whatever I ask without complaining. He was the perfect child to be the oldest. He's always so cheerful and loves to have fun. He gets so excited for his birthday! He doesn't care about Christmas until his birthday is done.

We went to Craigos pizza for dinner with Tami and kids. Then we went to the Fun Zone which has become quite the birthday tradition around here! Then home for cake and presents.

Kaden as usual wanted vanilla cake with vanilla frosting! I was able to convince him to have the Rainbow chip sparkles this year. That's my boy! Never too adventurous. Doesn't like to try new things.

We sent him balloons at school. When I picked him up all of the kids were circled around him wanting to see his balloons. He loved it. It came with a bag of candy which he didn't even touch. Ellie, however, asked if she could have the whole thing.

He got spoiled with presents! His favorites were his remote control car and his spark scooter. The next morning him and Ellie were arguing about something and he said, "Ellie! You have to be nice to me, I'm 6 now!" Too funny. We love our Kaden!

Catch-up pictures

Since I've been horrible at posting lately I thought I would put up some random pics I found on my iPhone...

I think this is the funniest picture of Kameron! Taken this summer in West Yellowstone.

Family picture at Mesa Falls.

Kaden tackling a Big Judd's burger!

My boys! Kaden is the biggest helper with Kameron.

Spongebob pj's! They love wearing these together.

Kaden thought he was so funny the other night, he insisted I take a picture.

We went to dinner with Keri and Jim. Why does Keri have antlers?

Kameron in his winter hat.

Kaden and Ellie playing in my mom's backyard in the leaves.

It's so handy to have a camera on my iPhone. Tons of moments I would have otherwise missed.

Girls Weekend

This last weekend my sister Erin turned 30. To celebrate all of us sisters and my mom had a shopping trip in Park City/Salt Lake. It was so much fun! Jess was super nice and watched the kids for two full days.

Me and my mom. I love that lady!

Here's Erin Casey and Keri (left to right.) All of my sisters are so amazing to me. They always just love me for who I am.

These two pictures are a total inside joke that runs in the family. To sum it up we like to laugh at silly things, which is why I love my sisters. Thanks for the awesome weekend girls! Can't wait til I turn 30! Vegas baby!