Sledding!!!

Yesterday we went to Idaho City to go sledding with some friends of ours. There isn't a ton of snow up there because it hasn't snowed much this year but it was perfect for the kids to go sledding. Caden had a blast. He did really good walking up the hills and when he would get tired Rod would carry him. For the most part Caden would ride down with Rod in the tube because the hills were pretty fast. Caden did go a couple times by himself - he is pretty fearless! I took him a couple times but for the most part sat with Lainey in the back of the Tahoe and observed everyone. We all had a great time and I hope we can go back up and do it again before the snow season ends this year. I am having trouble with pictures - I will try to post them later. Sorry!

Playing Catch-up!

Well...where should I start??? It has been a while - I feel like I have been so busy and hardly get a chance to sit at the computer much these days.

Christmas was great for all of us. We spent Christmas in Boise with Rod's family and then for New Year's we made the trip up to Lewiston to celebrate Christmas with my family. We stayed at my sister Karel and her fiance Chris's new house. They have done some home improvements to the house and it is really coming along nice. Hunter, Cole and Caden had a great time playing together.




In early January we celebrated my nephew Lukas's 3rd birthday - he is growing up so big and handsome. Caden and him really enjoy playing together - mainly going on bear hunts and playing outside together.

The first weekend in February I got to fly up to Spokane and spend 3 nights with my twin-sister Stephanie. Our 30th birthday is February 12th so we made this plan months ago to spend the weekend together. I flew into Spokane at around 8:30 Friday night and the whole Wilkins Family was there to pick me up - Cole was mad that Caden wasn't with me and Finn just screamed at me if I look at him or accidentally bumped his carseat. I don't get to see Finn a lot so he was still warming up to me. Cole got over being mad at me when I told him he could come and see me this summer. But...he didn't forget...Saturday morning when he woke up I went into his room to cuddle with him and he looked at me in all seriousness and said "Aunt Maria, mom's don't leave. I said "Cole, what are you talking about" he said, "mom's don't leave their kids at home". I was so cute and made me sad I hadn't brought Caden to play with him. This was my first weekend away by myself since before Caden was born so I was ready to have so fun. I have a wonderful husband who took care of the kids for me while I was gone. Saturday Stephanie and I were out the door at 9:00 to be at the mall by 10 when it opened. We shopped for 7 hours, only stopped for 5 min to have an Arby's sandwich. We found some great deals. We went and had dinner at Azteca (Mexican Restaurant) where I got hit on by the waiter (I still have it:) Then we went back to Stephanie's and picked up Riley and went out to a bar called Curly's with some of their friends. We had a great time. Sunday Stephanie and I were a little slower moving from the night of festivities but we managed to get in a little more shopping, got pedicures and went and watched Dear John (great movie). We got back to her house around 5:30 and Riley made us some yummy steaks for dinner. We were both in bed by 9 we were so tired. Monday morning I flew out at 8:10 and was so excited to see my kids again, I think they were excited to see me as well. I had such a great trip and can't wait to do it again.




The following Friday (12th) was my 30th birthday, yes the BIG 30!!! My mom and dad came down for the weekend which was awesome. We went out to dinner at Kyoto (Japanese restaurant) and it was fun. They cut up the food and grill it in front of you, Caden was amazed at how fast they were. I even caught a shrimp in my mouth. Mom and I did some shopping on Saturday and I got fitted for my bridesmaid dress for Karel's wedding. My aunt and uncle came over for dinner along with my cousin Randi (or Caden's best friend:)) and we drank and visited. Sunday we went to church, did some driving around and had ice cream. Mom and dad left early Sunday morning. Thanks for making my birthday a special one.




Caden is growing and getting bigger everyday. He is learning all sorts of new things and keeps telling me when he gets a little bigger he is going to go to school. He is getting pretty excited. He is starting to draw me more pictures, you should see my fridge. He loves playing x-box with Rod (especially the deer shooting game) and loves to play "pretend" hunting with his guns. He got a new bike a month ago and it's red rocket he says and goes mega fast. He is a great big brother to Lainey and helps me take good care of her.





Lainey is 7 months old now and getting so big. She is still wearing 3-6 month clothes which just amazes me, by this time Caden was wearing 12 month clothes - she is just so much more petite that he was. She is sitting up like a big girl now and rolling all over the floor. She is eating 3 meals a day now (baby food) and gets excited when she sees her bottle. She likes to scream dadadadadadada!!!! It's really funny. She makes some monster growling sounds that Caden has taught her. She was 15 lbs 14 oz at her 6 month appt and is doing well. She had an ear infection a couple weeks ago that has since healed and we think that she may have an allergy to strawberries. We had given her some strawberry puffs one night and the next morning she broke out in hives all over her body - scared me to death! She has since recovered from that as well so I don't think that she will be getting strawberries anytime soon!





Rod has been working like crazy still and has started a workout program at the gym 3 days a week - I am really proud of him for doing this. He was been riding the bike for 16 miles - impressive.

I have been working 2 days a week still for Langston & Associates and two other days I am babysitting for one of my co-workers 5 month old. She is really cute and Lainey and her love to stare at each other. Caden tells me that Lainey is my baby and that Lauren is his baby - but I might have to help him once in a while. I have been working out 4-5 days a week as well and really enjoying my gym time - I am up to running 3 miles now and it feels good. I am going to run a 5K this spring with a friend of mine so I am looking forward to that.




Today is my Newphew Cole's 5th birthday so I want to give a shout out to him...Have a great day Cole - I love you!!!


I hope that everyone has enjoyed their winter and are looking forward to spring (I know that I am).

It's time for sledding!!!

So...Santa Claus was supposed to bring Caden a sled this year for Christmas - but mommy and daddy got to antzy and couldn't wait till Christmas. We got a great snowfall for a couple days and were just dying to take Caden sledding. So...we told him that we borrowed this sled from our neighbors down the street and were going to take him. Caden said "oh, that was nice of them to share" LOL. We are still going to put it out under the tree and just tell him that Santa brought him one to because he saw how much fun he had. I hope that everyone is enjoying this winter season - we sure are. I have my Christmas party tomorrow at 4 and we have Rod's party on Friday night. We are going to take Caden and Lainey to the Botanical Garden light show on Saturday evening - Santa and his reindeer are supposed to be there. Caden is really into Santa this year - I can't wait to see him unwrap his gifts. Have a great Holiday and remember -Santa is always watching!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well we had a great Thanksgiving this year. Rod's parents came over and had dinner and desert with us and the kids loved having them be with us. Caden and I made pilgrim hats for him and Lainey (actually I made them and he was excited to use my sissors to cut random pieces of paper). We had a yummy dinner and pumpkin pie for desert. Let's just say I ate way to much.

Rod had to work the next day so I missed out on the after Thanksgiving Day shopping. I did take the kids out at 8:30 to Walmart and got Brodie's Christmas present finished up so I was happy about that. Rod got home at 2:00 and I took Lainey with me and we hit Old Navy and Shopko. Santa is bringing Lainey and Caden a two seater sled this year so I am pretty excited about that...although Lainey probably won't ride until next year:! Friday night we went over to our friends Tim and Jen's and had leftovers and watched the BSU game.

Saturday we did some shopping and then went out to Parma for my father-in-law's birthday party. We had a ham with all the fixings and then played board games. Rod and my brother in law Brad really tied one on. I think they drank all the whiskey in Parma that night! At 2:30 a.m. I heard ROd get the hickups and Brad and Rod thought that it was the funniest things so they continued to laugh hysterical until about 2:30 a.m. They were both in fairly poor shape on Sunday.

Yesterday we got our Christmas decorations in the house put up and some outside lights put up as well. I got to go watch New Moon with my friend Jen last night. Our Thanksgiving Day Weekend was great and I hope that all of yours was just as great!

Some Fun Times!

Hmmm....where to start. Seems like we have had some really fun times lately and I just havne't had time to post pictures and blog about them. A few weeks ago my friend Jen and I took the kids over to Eagle to the Fun Fittables bounce house and the kids had a great time. They had two bounce houses and then there was gymnastic equipment set up everywhere. Caden really showed me how athletic he was, he was hanging from bars, climbing up the rock wall and doing flips on the built in trampoline - he had a great time.



Lainey is 4 months old now and just so much fun - although she thinks she doesn't have to sleep at night anymore. She is becoming such a big girl, she loves sitting in her high chair when we eat dinner so that she can see what is going and she thinks that she is the center of attention. When no one is paying attention to her she will start fussing until you come and talk to her...then she just gives you one big smile. Caden is doing well - he loves to play dishes and cooks things for you. He is a big helper and loves helping me take care of Lainey.





I went up to Cottonwood last weekend to surprise my friend Michelle at her 30th birthday party. She had no idea that I was coming. I showed up at Barley Hoppers around 9:30 or so and they had just got there. I jumped out in front of her and yelled Happy Birthday...it was funny because she had quite a bit to drink so it took her a few seconds to figure out who I was. But...when she did she malled me. We spent the rest of the evening dancing and drinking, it was so much fun. I spent the next 3 days in Cottonwood helping my mom out. We made some Christmas cookies and Caden got to help frost them. Basically, he would stick the knife in the frosting, put some on the cookie and then lick the rest off, then stick it back in the frosting. So...those of you getting cookies from me this year may just get one of Caden's special cookies!!!



We are heading to Hermiston tonight to spend an early Thanksgiving with Rod's Dad and Sandy. Brad, Amy, Lukas and Ella will be joining us so it should be lots of fun. Rod, Brad and Ralph are going steelhead fishing tomorrow while us girls hang out with the kiddos. I can't wait until Caden is old enough to go fishing with Rod -he would really enjoy it. It is just to cold for him to go out on the boat for 4 hours.

Hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween we made the trip to Cottonwood to go trick or treating with my sisters and their kids. Rod and Riley wanted to try one last weekend to find that big elk (again, with no luck) so I got to see my sisters and parents again. We got up to C-town around 8:30 Friday night. It was funny because when we got there Cole came out to greet us and Caden said from his car seat "look, it's my best friend Cole", it was so funny! They boys played for a little bit before I had to lay between them for 30 minutes to get them to go to sleep. They were kicking each other, talking and just plain not wanting to go to bed. Saturday morning Stephanie, my dad and I took Cole and Caden on a bike ride to the park and let them play. They had a really good time doing that and gave the house a little bit of peace and quiet (for an hour anyways) We got back to mom and dads and started carving pumpkins. We brought 3 up from Boise and dad had 4 of them so we had a lot to do. Cole dived right in and started gutting the pumpkins but Caden wanted no part of it. He went off and played until we were done. I made one pumpkin with the initials CW (Cole Wilkins and Caden Werner) I thought that I was pretty clever doing that. We all dressed up this year, Stephanie and I were witches, Kristin was a pirate, Karel a high school graduate, Cole was Bumblebee from The Transformers, Caden a "scary" lion, Finn was a frog, and Brodie and Lainey were both cute little penguins. We all went out for a little bit and of coarse everyone thought the kids were cute. We then dumped off the little ones and took Cole and Caden for a more serious run from door to door getting candy. We picked up Nicole and her son Dallon and went up to Snob Hill in C-town and got more candy. All in all the boys did really well. Hope that everyone had as fun of a Halloween as we did.


Dad & Lainey

Brodie the penguin

Cole & Caden in their pirate patches

Mommy, Lainey the penguin and Caden the "scary" lion

Rod's Doe!!!

Rod left on Thursday October 8th for some rugged terrain hunting with my brother-in-law Riley. It was really weird him being out of cell phone service and away from home for 6 days. I got a call from Rod on Tuesday the 13th saying he was about a 1/2 hour from my parents house and he had shot a deer - he was so excited. They were really wanting to shoot an elk but they just couldn't get to them. Rod and Riley had a good time hunting and since this is Rod's first year getting a deer he is no longer a virgin! My dad is cutting it up for us tomorrow and we will go back up to Cottonwood this weekend to get the meat - we are having hamburger and steaks made out of it. Can't wait to try it out. Way to go Rod!

Caden was really excited to have Rod back. When I told him that there was someone in the front yard that wanted to see him he opened up the door and took off as fast a 3 years old legs could run. Rod picked him up and Caden gave him a big hug and said "Dad, your wearing camo". They came in for tacos and Caden sat next to Rod at the table and had his hand on Rod's arm the entire time we ate - making sure he wasn't going anywhere. Rod went out and pushed him on the swing and then Caden finally fell asleep on the couch. We are glad to have him back.