Merry Christmas! This has to be a short post because Santa arrives in two days and there are cookies to bake and presents to wrap. I want to take a minute to thank all of my clients this past year. I have been blessed with work and blessed by work I love.
Our third son arrived on july 25. He was the smallest of my three, but now at three months he is by far the largest. he is a very sweet baby and content. It has been an adjustment going from two to three. My husband likes to think of it as going from man-to-man defense to zone. 
Summer has not always been my favorite season. Maybe it was the summer basketball camp and outdoor games that made me mad at the heat. It could also be the fact that my family did not have air conditioning. It could also be that I am really pale and burn easily and sunless tanners were not perfected in my teenage days. But now that I am a mom, I have central air and sunless tanning lotion, I love the summer! I have even enjoyed this summer being extremly pregnant. I love going to the beach or the pool. I love not having a regular schedule. I love having the kids stay up late and sleep in. I love that it stays light outside until 9:00. I love eating lots of ice cream (that might be because I am pregnant – but the boys are taking advantage of it). I love visiting with family. I love baseball and fireworks and parades… there are too many things to list!
I saw this idea on a few blogs and decided to make a summer bucket list for our family. It has been really fun crossing out the things on our list and looking forward to the activities to come. Jackson who is six loves to read all of the items… he keeps waiting for us to make slime.
Caedmon turned four a few weeks ago… I guess the second child gets a delayed birthday recap. Just a little side note on his name: Caedmon was the earliest English poet whose name is known. He was a monk that began to compose poetry and hymns after receiving a vision in a dream. Caedmon is not a common name (not even in the top 1000 names), so I often get asked how we came up with the name. I thought of his name two weeks before he was born. I thought I saw it on a hooded towel in Pottery Barn – but it was actually Cameron. There was a group that I listened to named Caedmon’s Call, so I started looking up the history of the name Caedmon – which means “Warrior Poet”. My husband and I had already narrowed down our baby name list to four and there was no room for an additional name according to my husband. However, when Caedmon was born he looked so different than we expected. He had strawberry hair and really blue eyes. I said that his name has to be Caedmon – Cade for short.
Needless to say, that now that we are about to have baby #3 my husband has revoked all of my naming rights. He is going to pick this name and I can merely make “suggestions”. We will see how that works out in 10 weeks.
For Caedmon’s fourth birthday, he wanted a Robin cake. There are many Batman cake designs out there for inspiration – in fact, last year my husband made this awesome cake http://agentorangerecords.blogspot.com/2010/04/cades-third-birthday.html
I ended up using a DC bobble head doll as inspiration. The body was made from rice krispie treats coated in buttercream and colored fondant.
For his preschool class I made Batman and Robin logo cookies. Batman won the popularity contest and we ended up with more Robin cookies leftover. 
Caedmon makes me laugh. He can be so silly. He is a clothing fanatic and loves to dress himself – he really cares about what he is wearing – which is so different from his older brother. He loves lego figures – which he calls lego guys. He is so good at working with the small pieces (he had excellent marks in his fine motor skills in his preschool class). Cade is my cuddle bug – he is always giving hugs and pats on the back and saying I love you. I melt when I look at his square-faced smile and brilliant blue eyes – and his hair is so blonde that he calls it white.
I interviewed Caedmon on a few of his favorite things on his 4th birthday and this is what he had to say:
Favorite cereal: Frosted Flakes
Favorite Vegetable: Carrot
Favorite Fruit: Watermelon
Favorite Superhero: Superman and Batman
Favorite Toy: Lego Guys
Favorite TV Show: Bob the Builder
Favorite Book: Lego Sticker books
Favorite Restaurant: Red Robin
Favorite Animal: Elephant
If you could change your name, what would it be: Amen (interesting… I guess he picked this name up when we are saying our daily prayers)
Happy birthday my 4-year old – you are growing up and making your mama mia (as he sometimes calls me) proud.
It is almost April, but it feels like January. Sure, you look out the window and it sunny but don’t let that sunshine or the little birdies singing songs fool you into getting out flip flops… the five-day forecast is showing two possible days of snow.
Regardless of the weather, I know that it will soon feel like spring and that the easter bunny is on his way. I decorated last week (even though there was snow on the ground and we had a two-hour school delay) for Easter. My kids love digging through the eggs to see if there are any with forgotten chocolate – they were overjoyed when they found an egg with jellybeans. It is amazing how Easter grass spreads throughout your house.
Here is my mantle that I decorated for Easter. I change it up with every season/holiday. I just collect things from around my house and try to match colors and theme.
On another note, I am excited for Easter because it is the only time of the year that Cadbury mini eggs are available. Now I am not talking about those gross ones that ooze something that looks like egg yolk – yuck, but these heavenly morsels of goodness. I am usually known as the m&m girl, but these are even better. Time to stock up – they only come out once a year!
My husband is a pastor, so I design many pieces for our church. I saw this postcard design last year from another church, and I thought it was hilarious. I am not sure if I would have the guts to send this out to my congregation, but it does grab your attention.
Hoppy decorating and chocolate consuming!
I wanted a daughter. There I said it. I was hoping to give all of the bins of boy clothing to Goodwill and buy frilly, pink clothes with sparkly shoes. But sometimes there is a different plan. Now don’t get me wrong, I love raising my two boys and I am excited there is another one on the way, but come on – even our dog is a boy! I am beyond outnumbered in this house. 
I wanted a little girl in the house because I can French braid really well. All of that talent is going to be wasted (one of my friends said I could grow out his hair really long and French braid it and name him Samson). Mother and daughters are supposed to be friends for life – I talk to my mom a few times a week, I doubt if my brothers could say the same. I would love to trade in a few of the dinosaurs and trains for baby dolls and Barbies! Well instead of singing the blues, I am going to make a list of all the pros of raising three boys.
In all seriousness, there are pros and cons to both having all girls or all boys or some of each. I believe there is a special friendship that develops in households with same-sex siblings. I pray that I will be the best mom to the children God blesses me with.
Psalm 127:3 (The Message Translation)
Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift?
the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?
They really are the best gift – don’t you think? 
