Saturday, April 26, 2008

Announcement

Yesterday our family went to my ultrasound appointment and we found out the gender of the baby! It was amazing as all ultrasounds seem to be and Kaden was beginning to be able to see things like the hands, feet, head, and face without us even telling him what they were.

To get to the point... We are having a GIRL!!! And are super excited about it. If I had a scanner, I would scan in the pictures and show you all... Maybe I'll have to borrow my sister's sometime. :)

Bradshaw's Restaurant

On Wednesday Kaden and I decided to make our kitchen into a restaurant for Danny to come home to. As soon as we talked about it, Kaden was so excited that he made most of the arrangements and just told me what to do. His one major request was the mustaches that were to be painted on their faces so that Danny wouldn't recognize them. They were to look like waiters and not his boys. And I was to stay out of sight because he would recognize me; after all, I couldn't wear a mustache because I am a girl.


It was a lot of fun and even though Danny came home frustrated from work, we were able to cheer him up.


Wednesday, April 16, 2008

"He Can Help You"

As I was running up the stairs today, the engraved silver band that Danny gave to me as an anniversary present slipped from off my finger. Because I was running and my hand was going back and forth, I had no clue as to where my ring landed. I immediately went to work searching for this prized possession of mine.

Kaden saw me searching and began helping me. We looked all over; on the stairs, behind the couch, on the couch, in the laundry that was sitting on the couch, on the carpet… We simply couldn’t find it. As we were searching the stairs once more, Kaden spoke up. “Mom, I know who can help you,” he said. “The Holy Ghost… If you pray, he can help you find it.” Of course I stopped panicking, told him he was right, and sat down and prayed. During my prayer I made sure to thank Heavenly Father for this wonderful son of mine that had just put me in my place in the very best way possible.

After my prayer we sat there for a moment; then we got up and began looking again. Not two minutes had passed by before we had found my ring, in between our movie stand and the wall – one place I wouldn’t have thought of looking.

Whoever says that they are just kids, doesn’t know what I know. My children are angels, sent from heaven to remind me in the most subtle of moments of the important things in life. They remind me of who I am, who I come from, that we all need help once in a while and that there is always someone who can help you. Thank you, Kaden.

Mischief

Two days ago we (meaning Kaden, Danny, and I) were playing Halo online with my sisters and their families. We were enjoying ourselves; visiting with our family while taunting and shooting the enemy in our all-out war. While we were playing, Preston meandered around, watching us or playing with toys to his hearts desire. At one point during this fun family event, Preston found his way upstairs and was gone for quite a while. He ended up coming back downstairs in time for us to get him ready for bed.

The next day I was cleaning the house. I had completed almost all of my daily chores and went upstairs to get ready for the day. When I got to the top of the stairs, I smelled something weird. Having just changed Preston’s dirty diaper, I knew it wasn’t him. Having just cleaned the bathroom, I knew it wasn’t anything growing in there. I followed my nose to the boys’ bedroom, and that is when I realized where the smell was coming from.

I looked at the fish tank that is on top of Preston’s dresser. It contains the only pet that Kaden has been allowed which is a fish given to him from his Aunt Jill that he so lovingly named Jack. But instead of seeing the nice clean water and happy little yellow fish swimming around, all I could see was brown liquid. The smell was awful and the look was even more revolting.

In the time that Preston had been upstairs during our “fun family event” he had managed to pour almost an entire bottle of fish food into the fish tank. I could no longer see Jack, nor could I see any of the plants that are in the tank. All I could see was a murky brown liquid with at least an inch and a half of fish food pellets that had now sunk to the bottom of the fish tank.

Needless to say I called the boys in to the room, prepared Kaden for the worst (a dead fish) and scolded Preston for even touching the fish tank that he knows is off limits. I then went to work cleaning up the mess; my first task being to check on the state of the fish. By some small miracle, Jack actually survived! I hurriedly put him in a bowl of fresh water where he sucked in the clean water mouthful after mouthful. He looked like he was gasping for air. I cleaned the tank and put Jack back in his home.

It wasn’t until after it was all clean that I realized I should have taken a picture of this mischievous act that my two-year old boy could accomplish and almost get away with. Now I guess I have to make do with the written details of the event. Someday, when his children create their own amusement, I can point out this story and say, “You got into plenty of mischief yourself.”

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Days With Children

I’ve been waiting for something super exciting or wonderful to happen before I wrote another “journal” entry. But all the while I forget about the small little things that happen on a daily basis with my most wonderful possession… my children.

Preston:

On a daily basis Preston will follow me around. Well, at least while Kaden is gone to school. He refuses to be in a different room than me, let alone a completely different floor to our home. If I start to climb the stairs (even if it is just to take something upstairs and will be right back) he yells out, “Wait-uh-me, mom! Wait-uh-me!” I love it. From the first time he said it, I knew that this is something that I don’t want to forget: the sweet little deep voice of a two and a half year-old yelling for his mother to not forget him – to not leave him behind.

Another thing that Preston has discovered in his vocabulary is how to look for someone. The other day Danny decided to be a little late to work. He actually slept in and didn’t leave until 9:00. Because of this, Preston was not still snoozing away while daddy quietly slipped out the door at 6:30 am. Instead, I had to keep him preoccupied while Danny left; otherwise, Preston would have thrown a fit that he wanted to “tum too”. So Preston and I watched cartoons upstairs while Danny left the house. After about 30 minutes of cartoon-watching, Preston finally discovered that Danny was no longer there. He ran around the whole house yelling, “Wheh-ah-you, Dad? Wheh-ah-you?” The cutest thing about this is the way that he covers his mouth while yelling. It is like he is trying to make a megaphone with his hands; however, he ends up just completely covering his mouth with both hands. He does this while searching for any one of us. If he doesn’t know where one of us is, he will find us. It is too adorable and again, I simply do not want to forget this precious way of him finding his mom, dad, or brother.

Kaden:

The other day I let Kaden play his Xbox game for quite a while. He got Lego Star Wars for his birthday and I usually don’t let him play it for an extraordinarily extended period of time, but the other day I decided to just let him play for as long as he wanted (which ended up being over four hours!) Danny got him into bed that night while I was brushing Preston’s teeth. When I was done, we went into their bedroom and Kaden was crying. I asked what was wrong and Danny just said that he would tell me later. That got my curiosity going. I patiently waited while I said my goodnights and tucked both of them in. When we got downstairs, I asked Danny about it.

Well, Kaden had told Danny that I had let him play his game for a long time that day. In jest, Danny said, “You’re going to fry your brain if you play Xbox too much.” Of course, Kaden took Danny completely serious. He thought that he was going to die because he had played too much Xbox. In fact, he had asked me if he could read a book before he went to bed and I told him no because it was bedtime. He thought that if he read a book, it would exercise his brain enough to keep it from frying. He was so worried about it that he ended up sneaking out of bed to get a book to read.

I guess Danny learned to not joke too seriously with Kaden. Kaden, who doesn’t yet quite understand the concept of real versus fake, who gets his feelings hurt if you lightheartedly tease him too relentlessly, who constantly asks if you are just joking, will take you completely seriously and it will always be worst case scenario with him, I guess. Such is my six-year old son. And we love him even more because of it.