What we've been doing for the past few weeks...

We've been outside a lot...playing with our water table...

Trying to drink the water out of it...Ewww....
But hey, I'm sure we all did worse things as kids and still lived...And on the bright side, he's finally showing a liking to drinking water.

We finally got his playhouse together and he loves to hang out in it...it's complete with a doorbell and an outdoor grill. Playdates welcome in the Harrell backyard, we have plenty of outdoor toys, a swing, a baby pool, and even a bug zapper!

We went down south to Port St. Lucie/Jensen Beach to visit my family and go to my friend, Gabrielle's baby shower. Caden, my dear friend, Cindy, and I all drove down. It was an interesting drive with a two year old to say the least and bless Cindy's heart, she is 6 months pregnant and kept having to pick up the toys he dropped on the floor. But, we made it with only one meltdown each way, which I thought was pretty good.

Some members of my family, who I decline to mention by name...forgot what 2 year olds are like and how busy they are, so without Daddy with us, I spent most of my time chasing Caden, telling him to not touch things, or moving things out of his reach....so, this was the only picture I got from that trip...Caden and his cousin, Kaley.

Then we headed over to Panama City Beach to see Grammy and Pops for Memorial Day. Caden had not really been in a pool since last summer, so he was a little unsure of it at first...

Once he got used to it, it was hard to get him out...

He was getting so brave, that he would jump off of the last step, would go under, and then laugh. The boy is definitely not afraid of water, which I'm sure is a good thing eventually, right?!?

He went for walks on the dock with Pops...
Pops showed him the fish...

Then Pops showed him how to roll down the hill...

Then we helped Pops wash the bugs off of his jeep...

But Caden discovered it was more fun to watch the pole fall over...

And we also spent a little time inside last weekend because it kept raining! And no one wanted to get near us since Caden had pink eye :)...so don't laugh at the haircut you see below...I did it very quickly on the front porch to get the hair out of his eyes.

He made a parking lot in the doorway to our bedroom...

To get the full effect, you also have to see it from the other side...And we had some pizza of course!

That's it for now...we're loving the summer time, it means more time outside, windows down in the car, and best of all...water days at school twice a week!

Happy 2nd birthday, Caden!

Wow, we cannot believe that our baby boy is 2 years old now. I look back at some of his pictures from over a year ago and I hardly recognize him! Everyone always told me how fast they grow...but this is ridiculous! A year ago, I had this sweet baby and now I have a crazy toddler...not that he can't be sweet at times, but he would much rather be on the go than anything. We are the luckiest parents in the world to have our sweet little boy and wouldn't trade a second of the past two years. We love you, Caden...

Well, on his actual birthday, we decided to take him to a japanese steakhouse since he has newly acquired a taste for steak and likes the show they put on. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures of the birthday dinner. It was funny though when the chef asked if anyone was celebrating anything special and we told him it was Caden's 2nd birthday...he smiled and asked us if he picked out the restaurant :).

For his birthday, I stayed up most of the night before and made cupcakes for his entire class. I saved a few for us to have after his birthday dinner. Unfortunately, he wasn't too big on the cupcake...

What I didn't get a picture of was when he threw the cupcake on the floor and Riley got to eat it...What kid doesn't like cake???

So, then I stayed up late that night and made sugar cookies for his whole class, since I KNOW he loves sugar cookies. We get one every time we go to Publix.

Funny, by baking all of this stuff for his class, it made me feel like such a mommy!

We had his little party at a park near our house that Sunday. It was Disney Cars theme. Here's a picture of his fabulous cake made by none other than Sandy Stone (she did our wedding cake and his baseball cake last year)...amazing, but everything is edible!

Caden has developed a new love of pizza...which on one hand, we are thankful that he is expanding his food selection and then on the other hand...we wish it was something a little healthier for him than pizza...like broccoli or something. So, his wish was our command and we had pizza for his party...

Such a big boy drinking out of juice boxes...but he definitely still loves his sippy cups of milk.


Blowing out his birthday candles...or at least trying to...

We had so many friends come by to help us celebrate our big boy's birthday...

Anniston...

Brooke and Gavin...

Bailey...

Swayze...

Caden was definitely more into the opening of presents this year...But then as soon as he opened them, he wanted them out of the box immediately so he could play with them!
Uncle Todd, Aunt Carly, Brody and Wade had to leave before the party since Wade was up all night with a fever, but they stopped by before they left to drop off Caden's present, roll some balls, and take some pictures with Mimi and Grammy...




And Nana sent up some clothes, toys and books for Caden's birthday...and here is what he wanted most out of the box...he kept taking them off, but wanted me to put them right back on him...

More pictures to come of some of his other favorite toys...a water table and an outdoor grilling playhouse from us...

Party, Party

Man, have we been on the party circuit this year...we just can't help it if we're popular :). We went to Gavin Rudd's 4th birthday party at Chuckie Cheese...I don't know...who do you think had more fun - Caden or DADDY?

This was his favorite...I foresee many trips to Chuckie Cheese in our future...despite my protest since all I can think about is germs while I'm there...I know, I know, I need to get over it.

After Gavin's party, we headed over to Mariana for a quick lunch with Grammy and Pops...they decided to let Caden drive...

I just love this face...both the one he is making and just his cute little face in general...

Grammy and Pops gave him his Easter present while we there (it was April 19th). It was a larger than life bunny. He took to it right away...After we got home with his bunny, we had some periods of silence and I looked over to find Caden just laying on top of his bunny on the floor...unfortunately every time I went to get the camera, the little booger moved, so I never got a picture of it...but here is bargaining with Riley by giving him his duck, which Riley steals all of the time so that Riley stops trying to play with the bunny.

Then two weekend ago, we headed over to the Garbers for a little get together. Mimi, Grammy, Uncle Todd, Aunt Carly, Brody and Wade were all in town. Elizabeth had freezer pops for all the kiddos...do you think Caden liked his????

The bounce house...

Wagon rides with his girlfriend, Anniston...he already likes them young :)

Caden's first baseball game!

We took Caden to his first baseball game this week to cheer on FSU. We were also lucky enough to sit in a dugout suite, which was perfect for a two year old. It was outside, but sectioned off, so it was sort of like a big playpen! And Caden enjoyed the hamburgers and potato chips in the suite. Here are some pictures from the game...Watching the game intently with Daddy.

Caden with his new friend, Matt (mommy's friend), our friendly Seminole Booster CFO...

Always on the go at almost two years old...

Also, an update on his health...when we took him back to the doctor last week for his pneumonia re-check, his pediatrician thought it was time to start doing some tests to see why he seems to catch every respiratory virus and then those viruses seem to hang around longer than normal. So, he is doing tests for cystic fibrosis, immune deficiencies, and allergies. We had the cystic fibrosis test today, which had both mommy and daddy pretty worried, and it came back normal! We were thrilled with the great news. So, now we are going to have blood drawn and tested starting next week to see if there is any immune deficiencies going on, and then on to the allergist. His pediatrician is almost positive that it is allergies and asthma, but wants to turn over every rock and stone to make sure he is correct. He's also hoping that if it is asthma that Caden will grow out of it. So everyone please keep us in your prayers as we go through all of these tests! We are so blessed to have this little boy in our life and we just want him to be happy and healthy!