Caden

Caden is the happy-go-lucky child. He is an extremely happy baby for the most part, or at least he was until he realized that he should get whatever he wants since he's the baby! He is a little too smart for his age, he can ride a scooter by himself, which is pretty impressive and pretty intense. He does really well with it, unless he is riding it on the stairs. That did not turn out so well. He insists he can do everything himself, and I usually believe him.

Caden has been in his terrible two stage since he as a little over a year old. I think, developmentally speaking, he is turning 3 or 4 soon! Ricky and Haley cannot defend themselves against Caden. It is like he has perfected martial arts and maybe some kind of mind power, because they are always subjected to whatever Caden has decided they will do. It is amazing to see the differences they each have. Each one of them has their own unique personality, yet they all have some similar qualities. I love watching them all together, and I cannot wait to see how their relationships develop over the years.

Haley

Haley is going to be 5 in July, already! As a baby, Haley was my difficult child. She was clingy, had to have mommy, and just fussed a lot. She has really turned into a different child. She is so sweet and lovable, she instantly loves anyone who enters her life. It is scary, as a parent, to watch her in public. She will talk to everyone, tell anyone her name and ask them theirs, and when it is time to leave somewhere she gives everyone a hug good-bye. I love that about her, but it makes me pretty nervous at times.

Recently Haley picked up a little phobia of getting older. I think she may have learned a little about the dying process, and decided that she did not want to get old. And by old she meant over the age of 4. Huge fits and crocodile tears have surfaced when mentioning her birthday coming up. She is excited to start Kindergarten in the fall, but whenever we tell her she has to be 5, she decides she can live without it. I think Ricky gets amused by her instant tears at the mention of her birthday, because he likes to remind her of her birthday any opportunity he gets. It seems the bigger the party he decides to tell her she will have, the heavier the tears fall. I have never seen a 4 year old with mortality issues, until Haley.

As most of you know, I snort when I laugh. I can honestly say that this is predetermined at birth. Haley has had my snort since she was old enough to laugh out loud. However, she sounds so much cuter than I do! Haley loves nothing more than kitties, puppies, and making people laugh. Oh! And sugar. I am pretty sure that Haley will end up doing something in her life to take care of animals. Every animal we have had ends up sleeping with her. She will feed them, help bathe them, basically treat them as if they are her children. I took her to the mall for some girl time and gave her 5 dollars to spend. She decided to buy a (fake) cell phone, her reasoning was that since she was the mommy to Audrey (her kitty) she needed a phone so she could check on her when they weren't together. Like I said, she has big girl ideas!

Ricky

Ricky started his first year of Kindergarten in the fall of 2008. He loves his teacher, Ms. Whitley, and does so well in the classroom. It is so amazing to see how much he has progressed in the last year. I know they grow at exponential rates, but to see it captured in his school work and art work makes me feel so proud, amazed, and nervous for him to get even older all in one big pile of emotion. Lately, Rick and I have been remembering all the things we did with Ricky when he was just a tiny baby, and it has made us realize that those years everyone tells you fly by are already here for us. Ricky just turned 6, in another 6 years he is going to be 12. I am not ready for my little boy to be that old. And I can't imagine that I ever will be ready.

Some of the things that Ricky has learned this year is how to count to 100, how to write, sound out, and sign the alphabet. He can spell words by sounding them out, and is learning how to write short sentences. In the beginning of the school year he drew a picture of himself as a stick figure with spiky hair, now when he draws himself it is a full bodied boy with a big toothy grin, detailed clothing usually colored to match what he was wearing that day, he likes to draw a watch on his wrist, even though he doesn't actually wear one, and he has big blue eyes, a nose, big ears and shoes. I am trying to portray how much he has grown, developed and learned since the beginning of the school year.

Ricky does have his first girlfriend! They became serious just before Valentine's Day. He asked to buy her chocolates and flowers, we only let him get her a small thing of chocolates. I don't know how I would feel as the mother of that girl if she came home with all sorts of goodies from a boy at school! Her name is Madison, and she is adorable! She has glasses, which we noticed he really likes girls with glasses. He always points out little girls with glasses and says, "doesn't that girl look so cute with her glasses?" One day in March Ricky could not wait until I got home from work to tell me about his day, so our friend Jesse let him call me from her phone. He says, "Mom, guess what? Madison and I held hands today after school!" It was the cutest thing! I asked him if he gave her a hug good-bye and he said, "I don't think we are ready for that, yet." Oh how sweet he is! Sometimes I find it so hard to believe that he is Rick's son:)

Introductions

My journey with Rick began fifteen years ago this July. We have come a long way since I was fourteen and he was sixteen, although sometimes I feel we haven't matured a bit! Rick and I married in August of 2002. Our oldest son, Ricky, was born in February of 2003. He is the kindest eight-year old I have known, and I am so proud of him. Haley is seventeen months younger than Ricky, yet she knows she can boss him around. She is extremely smart, and considers herself a genius! She is an old-soul who had her first young-life crisis at the age of 4 where she adamantly decided that she will not get a day older, so we had some severe issues with her 5th birthday. Now at age 7 she can't wait until she is a teenager(which we have to continuously remind her that she isn't). This brings us to Caden, the 4 year old. Caden has the personality of a young kid growing up in an adult world. He has proven to his older siblings, and us, that he can and will take care of himself! He could kill with his coy glances (they are so unbelievably cute)and have gotten him out of trouble countless times. He is the definition of "a little shit", but he wears the title so well. Caden is mischievous, sweet, independent, ridiculously smart, and completely above the rules. You can't help but love all of them!