Happy Thanksgiving,& Happy Holidays!!!





It has been 2 months since I haven't posted anything and the main reason is because our computer has a virus and is very slow. It is so frustrating to get so far in something and the computer shuts down. We are hoping to get a new one soon. Anyways, things are going good. Caden in SO ready for Santa. This is going to be a fun year for him Christmas morning. He is at the age that you can threaten to call Santa when he is bad!! Not that my 2 year old is ever bad!! We have a new addition to the family. She is a 8 wk old black lab named "Nema". Caden loves her. He says Nema is his "sister". Maybe one day he will have a real sister, but Nema is a handful. Each week gets a little easier, but it is like having another child. The things Caden is really into right now are still construction trucks. He now says he wants to be a builder when he gets bigger. He is also into trains, books and puzzles. But, if it was up to him no matter the weather conditions, he would be outside digging in the dirt everyday. He loves watching The Grinch and Elf around the holidays. He even has some parts of The Grinch memorized. He thinks when the Grinch smiles real big that he is a nice Grinch. It is not the cartoon it is the Jim Carey version. One day he will understand the story line of the Grinch, but for now we will let him enjoy Whooville!! Nick is almost done with his second semester at Northwood College. Accounting I and II are the two classes he has taken. He will be taking his final for Accounting II this week. We are so proud of you daddy, keep up the good work!! Nick's brother Michael has joined the Marines and we are so proud of him, but already miss him. Caden asks about Uncle Michael all the time and it will be hard not to see him around the holidays. If I don't get to post again soon, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and with Thanksgiving just passing, we are so thankful for our family, friends, health and freedom. Happy Holidays!!

Bye, Bye Paci's..........

With the big wind storm we got with hurricane Ike, I have just now been able to get on the computer. We are grateful that we never lost power just cable, phone and internet. Knowing how much damage the winds alone caused here I can't even imagine what it would be like down in Texas. Well on a lighter note...Yes, Caden gave up to paci's. Yeah!!!!! Thanks to my friend Carrie Black who had a great idea of taking paci's to Build A Bear. Which is a place you can create your own animal with stuffing and even a little heart. We added 3 pacifier's to the monkey. Caden stuffed them in and said good bye. We are so proud of him. I think I dreaded the whole thing more than it even affected him. The first two night's he asked for it and even tried to dig them out of the monkey's back where he saw the lady sew the monkey up. Now, 6 days out he is doing great. Goes right to sleep with monkey and doesn't even ask about paci. I was starting to think with the attachment he had to the paci he would be going off to college with it!! (: Not really but, never the less we are proud of Caden and I am proud of myself!! Thanks for the great idea Carrie(:

I have now been at my new job for 2 weeks and really liking it. It is different being in a management position, but I think after all the training is over I will enjoy it even more. The staff and doctors are great. I'll let you know in a month when I really get settled.

Remembering 9/11




It is hard to believe we are having another anniversary for the tragedy that happened on 9/11. There are many people that Nick and I know that are serving our country to ensure our freedom. I am so grateful for all the military men and women. When you have children it makes things so different you not only live everyday to bring them up right we are fighting to keep the everyday freedom that we all had growing up. Nick, I am so proud of you for what you did before, during and after 9/11. I will never know what you went through, but I will always be grateful for what you did and Caden will be so proud when he is old enough to learn that his own dad fought for his freedom. Thank you.


2 1/2 years old....


It is hard to believe that Caden is 2 1/2 yrs old. Time goes by so fast. If anyone has heard the country song "Don't Blink" that is what I feel like. When I wake up tomorrow and blink he will be 5 yrs old before we know it. Caden has been such a blessing to Nick and I. I could have never imagined how much I would enjoy being a mother. A true blessing and I don't take it for granted. Caden is into a little bit of everything....Mostly construction trucks. He loves telling anyone who will listen that he wants a concrete mixer, excavator, dump truck, backhoe loader and a bob cat all for Christmas. Actually the Christmas list goes on and on!!! He also loves making new friends. In our new neighborhood any kid that walks by no matter the age, he SCREAMS across the street "Heyyyyy come play with me" then follows by asking there name. He is so funny. He also loves singing. Music is in the blood. So many of my family members played in a band or sang I guess that is where he gets it. His favorite right now is "Take me out to the ballgame", "Baa Baa black sheep" and "Jesus loves me." He can now count to twenty and when he see's something with writing on it he thinks it is his ABC's so if he is in the bathtub and picks up the shampoo bottle and starts to read he sings his ABC's(too funny) I don't know what we will do come winter because he loves being outside EVERYDAY. When it rains, we hear all day "Rain, rain go away, come back another day." It is so cute. The picture I posted is actually from a year ago. It goes by to fast especially when you see how much he has grown in one year. We will continue to cherish each day that we have such a gift.

Labor Day Weekend

It is hard to believe that it has already been one week since we moved in our house. We are completley unpacked and loving our new home. Caden is really enjoying having his own toy room and back yard to play. We have caught him a few times in the back yard with his shorts and underwear down to his ankles "watering the grass" if you know what I mean!! Thanks to everyone who helped us move. We couldn't have done it without all the help. This Labor Day weekend has been really nice. We started out spending time with friends at the Oldham County football game Saturday night. It was fun watching a highschool game which I haven't done since highschool. Between highschool football, college football and Pro-football which Caden is exposed to almost everday, I think I know what sport he will be playing as soon as he is old enough. The boys really enjoyed watching the game and chasing each other around. Sunday my uncle Bryan had a cook-out which it was great to see my family from Lawrenceburg, KY. but, that night did not end well. My uncle Bryan ended up in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder and a small fracture after him and Nick were playing some game in the back yard. He is going to be OK, but he was in a lot of pain. Today my dad had us over for a cook-out. So, I guess you could say I am ready for bed.

What a summer...We have had a great time with friends and family. We are getting ready to move into our new house and I got a new job!!! Friday I accepted a position in Lagrange at a general surgery practice to be there new Practice Manager. I get to run the office with the exception of HR duties. I am so excited. This is a big step up from being a medical assistant, I am thrilled working closer to home and I am ready for the challange. The packing is almost done for the exception of last minute things. We get to look at these stupid boxes for one more week. We can't wait to get settled in our new home. Caden is officially potty trained. YEAH!!! no accidents and he wears his "undies" all day every day. As you can see from the pics he is very proud of himself and so are we. Well I guess the next post will be when we get moved in......

Feeling better than ever......
What a difference having your tonsils and adenoids taken out makes. Caden sleeps soooooo good now. He doesn't even wake the kids at daycare up from nap anymore!!! As you can see from the picture in the last 4-5 days Caden has been more himself and even happier because he is getting a good night sleep. No more snoring or holding his breath. He had a bad case of chronic obstructive sleep apnea, but not anymore. We have actually hit a milestone recently. Caden took interest in potty training when he was 18 months old, so we bought him a potty chair. He immediately took to the potty thing and thought is was fun , but since then he has what we call regressed several times. No interest to interest then back to no interest-- you get the point. Here is where the milestone comes in. The last couple days he has been wearing big boy underwear. Daycare sent his paper home Monday and Tuesday and said he stayed dry all day and pee-pee'd on the potty and #2. He even started standing up and peeing. That may be more of a bigger deal to me than him. Hopefully he won't regress anymore. We will keep our fingers crossed and see what happens. We are so proud of him. We are also amazed at the songs he has memorized. The cutest is "Jesus Love's Me". Hopefully I can figure out how to download a video and put it on my blog. We have to sing it every night before bedtime. On another note, we started packing since we will be moving in a few weeks. We can hardly wait to settle in our new home. Caden seems to be getting more excited about the fact. We will keep you posted on the move....

Our new home....

We are so excited to be moving into our new home. Caden will have a large fenced in back yard and plenty of room to play. We get to move in the last week of August. I guess the packing will start soon. We have been telling Caden the last few days that we will be moving he says "I stay at this home with all my toys." He gets really upset when ever we talk about moving. I think once he gets settled he will love it.

Happy 3rd Birthday Jacob!!!
Caden's buddy Jacob turned 3 and we celebrated Saturday at his Pa-pa's house by the pool. Jacob, Caden and Miller had fun splashing, swimming, helping Jacob open presents and eating yumming cake and ice cream. Thanks for a great time and letting us be a part, we had a great time. They are all growing up way to fast, but it is neat to see how close the have become.

Miller and Caden
taking a break for a snack !!!
"Make a wish"

Update on Caden's recovery......

Caden has certainly had good days and bad days. The medicines he was put on have really messed him up. He has such a sensitive stomach and since he still won't each much, it seems he has an upset stomach and constipation more than a sore throat. We have had a lot of long nights. Two nights out of the last week he slept all night. The rest of the week he has been up all night. I certainly don't miss the newborn phase when they are up every two hours. That is what it has been lately, up every hour or two. The worst part is that there is not a lot I can do to make him happy. As a parent you feel so helpless. From what I hear, we still have another week ahead of us. A full recovery can take 2 full weeks. I can't wait til he is back to himself and feeling even better than before. Thanks again for all the support from our friends and family.

Caden's Surgery.....


Caden had his tonsils and adenoids taken out yesterday. Nick and I have been dreading this day for so long. With Caden almost 2 1/2 he is old enough to understand a lot, but not everything. When we arrived at Jewish Medical East at 6:15am Caden was in good spirits. He knew that Dr.Gould was going to "fix his throat". He did ask for something to drink several times. We had to distract him from thinking about it. Finally about 7:15am they gave him a "cocktail" this was suppose to help him relax before going into surgery and help them to put his I.V in. He was so funny after the "cocktail" kicked in. He would look at us and laugh or giggle. Nick and I never laughed so hard. Then the nurse came and took him back to surgery. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but then came the recovery. That was the worst of all so far. For one of the longest hours of my life, Caden screamed, kicked, hit and pulled his I.V out of his hand. I was sweating just trying to hold him and keep him away from his I.V that was in his hand. It brought tears to my eyes to see my baby boy scared and in so much pain. You just want to take all there pain away. Caden is doing fine now, a little pain medicine and a lot of TLC should get us through this recovery. Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers and visits. The pictures I posted are all right after the "cocktail". We can already tell a difference in his breathing now that his huge tonsils are gone. This will all be worth it in the end.

Destin, FL....
We had a great time in Florida. Caden was excited and little scared when he first saw the ocean. It took about 30 minutes before he went in the ocean with daddy. The waves were pretty big all week so, the second day we bought a boat so that we could ride the waves. (much easier than holding him) We had great weather all week, they said 50% chance of rain all week, but we lucked out with no rain. One morning we took Caden on a glass bottom boat tour. Caden was excited when he saw dolphins. The captain gave all the kids a bag of Cheetos to feed the seagulls. Caden thought that was funny to see 100's of birds flying right by him. The whole week was very enjoyable. We stayed busy with the ocean, the pool, a kid fun park, outlet shopping and going out to eat. Our first family vacation..we all had a great time. I think Caden was home sick the last day, he kept saying he wanted to go home. Now that we are home he talks about the beach EVERYDAY!!!

Ring of Rage
Mixed Martial Arts Cage Fighting
Michael Sheppard

Michael (Nick's brother) has been training for only 2 months and was asked to be in his first cage fight. Nerve stricken we all traveled down to Bardstown, KY and sat nervously waiting for Michael to fight. We shortly found out Michael was going to be the first fight of the night. Weighing in at 135 lbs. Michael was fighting this African American guy who called himself the "Grim Reaper" He even came out with the Grim Reaper outfit. With under 2 minutes the Grim Reaper tapped out when Michael put him in a Rear Naked Choke. His second fight was with an Asian guy who knocked out his opponent last time in under 20 seconds. It was a little different this time. In 1 min. and 15 sec. Michael had him tapping out in another Rear Naked Choke which won him the title and belt for his weight class. I am not sure if Nick sat down the whole night. He is even hoarse this morning after yelling ring side at his brother all night. I am glad it is over, but I am sure this is just the beginning of many more. Congrats Michael we are proud of you and support you.

Michael and Erica ( fiance)

June fun continues.....

Father's day weekend we traveled to Ohio and had a great time. Papa and Nana has a pool so we spent a lot of our time swimming. Caden is a little "water bug". I am glad he enjoys the water so much. Nick and I did water balloons a few weeks ago and now Caden is asking for them all the time. Thank you to the whole family for always making our stay so nice. Caden had a blast riding the horse, playing in the pool, riding his bicycle and just getting spoiled my everyone. I hope you had a nice father's day Nick, you certainly deserve it. You are a wonderful dad and husband. We love you!! Congrats to Corey and Brittany on their new addition..Baby Madelyn. She is so precious. Oh..by the way our countdown has begun.. 2 more weeks until we leave to Destin, FL. We are so excited and so looking forward to a family vacation. I made the mistake of telling Caden that we are going the "THE BEACH". He wakes up most days with the first words being.."we go the the beach today mommy????" We can't wait to see the look on Caden's face when he sees the beach and the ocean. When we get back the following week Caden will be having surgery ) : He has to get his tonsils and adenoids taken out. It will be so much better for him in the end. Being able to breath normal again, but it will be a painful recovery. His surgery is scheduled July 18th. So say a little prayer.


Daddy popping a water balloon in Caden's face!!!

Baby Madelyn

William's B-Day
(going for a ride in William's new wagon)

The month of June has been so busy.... Birthday's, Father's Day and girl's night out for mommy. We were able to start our month out by celebrating William's 2nd birthday. Caden is really getting into the party concept. He now just goes around saying "Happy Birthday to SOMEBODY" it is so funny. We had a great time jumping on the bouncy air slide, eating cake, playing in the water and helping William open his presents. Thanks for a great time Carrie.

Caden and Miller running from the water hose!!!

Memorial Weekend

Seems like forever since I have been able to update our blog. Being summer time we spend every day that it is not raining outdoors. Saturday morning we were invited to a play date at Miller's house. Caden, William, and Miller had a great time swinging, riding big wheels, playing on the teeter-totter and just hanging out. Sunday we went out to Grandma's house in Charleston, IN. We all had a great time grilling out, fishing, and having water fights. Memorial Day, my dad (pa-pa) had us over for a cook-out. Caden got out his drum set and played a tune for everyone!!! Pushed his lawn mower everywhere and rode around on his power wheel Jeep. We all had a great weekend with our family and friends ( :


Priceless Moments








Me and Uncle Matt








"Chef Daddy"







"Me and the boys!"

(William and Miller)

Nature Boy.......
Caden loves being outdoors. He is a boy through and through. Friday we took him to Mac's lake and he played in the dirt for hours, threw rocks in the water, fed the geese, caught a few blue gill, and filled his bulldozers with rocks and dirt til the sun went down. Needless to say he slept very well when we got home. Now that the weather is nice it has been fun taking Caden to the park, the zoo, the lake, and just playing outside at papa's house. He has had such fun!!!!

Mommy gets a BIG kiss before playing in the dirt again...

Picking flowers for Mam-ma.....
Caden and Mam-ma....
A beautiful sunset.......

GONE FISHING.....
Here are those pictures I promised. Caden has really enjoyed daddy taking him fishing. This time I took corn for bait. Caden thought that was pretty funny. He is doing a great job reeling the fish in. The only problem is when we are waiting for the fish to bite, he goes through daddy's tackle box and throws lures and bobbers in the water. He still has a lot to learn!! I still get pretty nervous when he get's close to the water. I keep picturing myself jumping in after him. Hopefully that never happens!
Daddy's BIG catch...20 pound Grass Carp!!Good job Daddy!!

Look at me! I should have my own fishing show!!
"Toddler Fishing 101"

Tonka.....A boy's best friend!!!

Caden loves bulldozers, excavators, dump trucks, tractors, and pretty much anything with wheels or a motor. When we are driving in the car he will spot a construction truck a mile away. He gets so excited to see a construction truck on a job site. When we drive past a construction zone on our way to daycare he yells "I see bulldozer!...Mommy, man build library?" At this age they don't forget anything. When the ground was dug for the new Lagrange library Nick and I told him what was being built and every morning and every afternoon Caden will remind us what is being built there. Maybe he will follow Papa's footsteps and build houses. Of course he loves garbage trucks too!!! Who knows!!!(:

Uncle Matt is sooo much fun!

Look at me and Papa!!!