1/2 A YEAR OLD! Where does the time go?!?!?

Six months ago we were in the hospital getting our very first peek at our little bundle of joy and now we are celebrating his 1/2 BIRTHDAY! And what better way to celebrate your 1/2 birthday than with your Cousin Blake on his SIXTH birthday, so Kaden and I loaded up in the tahoe and headed to Bentonville but we made a few stops along 71 HWY first.

Our first stop was at Papa Tom and Grandma Sara's for the night. And boy was Kaden happy to see them. He was all smiles, all the time except for a couple times Papa Tom tried to make him laugh and just scared him instead. But by the time we were ready to go, Kaden was Papa Tom's little boy. On the way out of Carthage we made a pit stop at Papa Richard's to say hi. Kaden loved sitting on Papa Richard's lap and banging on the table with his hands. Papa couldn't believe how big he had gotten and is itching for the chance to feed him his first bite of ice cream. See, Papa Richard gave Blake his first bite of ice cream. Blake was the biggest momma's boy ever until Papa got out the ice cream, Blake would sit there so quietly and eat all the ice cream but once it was gone, he was back to momma. It won't be too much longer and he will be feeding Kaden his ice cream and I won't be able to say no, how could anyone! And trust me, if Grandma Dorothy was here, she would have the 2nd helping of ice cream ready and waiting for her turn-oh, how I wish Kaden could have met her.

The trip to Bentonville didn't take long but we were ready to get out of the car and see Aunt Jennifer, she only had a few hours of Kaden to herself before the 3 wild ones came running through the door. Once the kiddos got home we had a full list of things to do, bake Blake's cake, play Super Mario Bros., put together his new toys, plan our Saturday of fun and did I say play Super Mario Bros.?!? Blake loves the new Super Mario Bros on the Wii and lucky for him, Aunt Kayla is pretty darn good! We went from World 2 to World 7 (skipped a few worlds) and now it is up to him and Brett to beat the game, good luck boys!

On Saturday, we went bowling and to Cold Stone for Blake's celebration. Papa Tom and Grandma Sara met us at Fast Lanes along with Cousin Brad since he lives in Bentonville. Now whenever the Hartley's get together and a sport is involved, there will be smack talking and money to be won. Kaden is finding out early on that his mother not only is one of the most competitive people he will ever know but most of the time she can back it up and in this instance he got to see his mom walk out of Fast Lanes with the trophy or in this case, $3.00 richer than she walked in. (Please note, only adults were in on the $$ game-Leah won bragging rights on the kids game!) After bowling we went to Cold Stone before heading to Brett's game. We all enjoyed some Like It ice cream, while Brett enjoyed some LOVE IT ice cream and was feeling the effects during his basketball game. However, you would never know it from the stands, Brett played the best defense I have ever seen him play and he even scored a few points too! We might have another basketball player on our hands. Speaking of basketball players, Kaden sported his first pair of new basketball shoes, AIR JORDANS and we got a basketball in his hands too, never too early to start the ball handling skills.

It was sad leaving the kids this morning but it was time to start our journey back to Kansas City. On the way home we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Earl's to say hi, it had been about a month since we had seen them. Grandpa couldn't believe how well Kaden was sitting up, he hardly is wobbling anymore and Grandma was so excited that it was feeding time and enjoyed feeding Kaden his morning bottle before we got on the road again. Kaden was such a happy boy and has certainly brought so much love and joy into our lives these past 6 months. We are very excited to see what the next 6 months brings...crawling, walking, talking and lots and lots of BABY GATES!

Blake feeding Kaden, I don't think Kaden wanted to wait on him!

To Nanny's House We Go

On Saturday, we headed out to Little Sisters to see Nanny. Nanny is Justin's 95 year old grandmother. In December, we threw her a 95th birthday party and over 100 family and friends came by to see Nanny.  People came in from Arizona, San Francisco and even Florida for the celebration. It was pretty amazing to look around the room and just see how many lives she has touched and enriched in her 95 years.  So since we had a couple hours where we needed to be out of the house, we thought it was a perfect time to take Kaden out and say hello. Nanny couldn't believe how much he had changed and how big he was getting. She was so excited to see Kaden roll over and Kaden was certainly up for the attention and rolled and rolled and rolled. Nanny is ready for the weather to warm up so we can show Kaden all the wonderful gardens at Little Sisters.

Nanny's kids, grandkids and great grandkids

In other South news, we had a second showing at the house but unfortunately the buyer went with a house that has a two car garage. Is it wrong to hope that something falls through on the inspection?!?!? Our buyer will come with time, we just have to be patient and have faith that things unfold the way they should.

Grammie and Kaden

Wibble Wobble!

Where's KADEN???

OH, THERE HE IS!! One of Kaden's favorite things to do is play Peek-a-Boo. He wants to play when he is waking from a nap, when he is done eating, getting his diaper changed, showing off his new swim trunks, if he has anything which he can pull over his eyes, he is playing!

We successfully finished 3 days of CARROTS, it was a little rough at first but he LOVES them now. Too bad we are switching to something different starting tomorrow.

Daddy made Lobster Mac and Cheese for Valentines Day and Kaden was introduced to the main course. Daddy was hoping he would have some type of reaction but he just wanted to touch the lobster. Stoli on the other hand, she did not like the look of the little beady eyed lobster. We ended up not having enough lobster so Daddy added some crab to the Mac and Cheese as well and it was AMAZING! Why go out to eat when you have a cook like my husband!! I am going to steal a line from Kendra Catron here, Justin is certainly the H. O. T. Y (Husband of the Year).

As everyone can tell, I love to take pictures of Kaden and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of him in his Valentines Day shirt and having Kendra turn a few of them into some keepsake pictures for family and friends. We also had to get him his "first" valentines day card and presents, he got a new swimsuit, stacking blocks and a Bearenstein Bears Valentine book but most of all he loved his CARD! Mommy got a couple birthday cards over the past few days and let me tell you, the K-Man could entertain himself for hours with cards if not for their sharp corners! We also received a wonderful package from Tugce and Justin, they sent Kaden a very cute Valentines Day outfit, boy to do we miss them!!

Here are a few more pictures we have taken over the course of this past week. Love to all.

Piggy meets Mickey

Piggy and I traveled to Orlando for a quick business trip and Piggy got to meet his hero, M-I-C-K-E-Y while mom got to listen to President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. Up next, San Fran and San Diego....

In other South news, we had another showing and are still waiting to hear their feedback-keep your fingers crossed. Kaden is loving his oatmeal and bananas so we are thinking about testing out the vegetables, pictures to come. We are having a few people over tonight for the Super Bowl and Kaden will get to play with his new buddy Jacob. Jacob and Kaden are taking swim lessons in March together, should be a fun time!