Making of the Haunted House

The kids and I had a good time making a gingerbread Haunted House a few weeks ago. This is how it all went down.....

I didn't get a pic of the finished product because this is when the camera broke. And by the time we got the new one, the Haunted House had been picked at something terrible (by Jaden). I don't know how he could stand to eat it... the candy was cute, but NOT good!

Jaden-boy

Ok, Tanya tagged me like forever ago. Since my camera is still broken, I have to use old pictures. So here's 6 random things about Jaden...

1) Jaden Dan Haynes (named after my dad) was born March 23 2004 at a whoppin 5lbs 8oz and spent 8 days in the NICU. I totally believe that the NICU experience has everything to do with his "strong-willed" and "determined" personality... because I certainly had nothing to do with that...

2) He was nick-named Jaden-boy when he was about 6 months old by his cousin, Myleigh, who was 2 at the time. It was so funny when she started calling him "Jadie-boy" or "Jada-boy" and everyone else started saying it and the name just stuck ever since.

Despite him being 110% total boy, he does love Myleigh and Nikyla and allows them to do his hair and nails once in a while... but ONLY them! He IS a well-groomed boy!

3) Every single morning Jaden comes in our room and snuggles with his dad (yes, his DAD! I get snuggles once in a while ONLY if dad is gone). He comes in the room and walks ALL THE WAY round the bed (usually in the dark) to climb in on his dad's side. This has been going on since he was born, he's the cuddliest child I've ever met. You HAVE to spoon him, if you turn over he will climb over you, and if you scoot back, he will scoot back. Things have to be done HIS way (hence the strong-willed personality).

4) Jaden loves to do anything manly. He used to get his motorcycle and tools out and "fix" his cycle. He has helped my dad change brakes on a car and loved every second of it (so did grandpa!). Anything to do with tools and he is there. He used to LOVE working on the basement with us when we lived in Kentucky. I even have pics of him hammering screws into the 2x4's, and they stuck!

5) Jaden is the master of mischief. Of his umpteen million sick days, I don't remember not-a-one of them being a day where he just took it easy on the couch. This picture was taken a few hours after he had tubes put in his ears... this face says "mischief managed, moving on to dumping out the ovaltine"...

6) Jaden is the best brother a little girl could ever have. He absolutely LOVES his sister and is VERY protective of her. A friend was holding her in primary one Sunday and he marched up to her and started saying "That's MY sissy!! You give her back to my mom!! Put her DOWN!! That's my sissy!". He was pretty upset about that. I guess we don't have to worry about anyone giving her any guff in school....

This is a pic of him kissing her bye on his first day of preschool.

I tag: Myleigh Vallace

Kendall Richins

Jenna Holloway

Shoe Shopping!

I just have to tell you all about my little KynnLee girl's love for shoes. I claim this part of her personality, it has nothing to do with her dad being a foot doctor ;). I'm sad I don't have pics or flicks but it's still good...

Saturday we went to Nordstrom Rack to find some slacks for Trev. While the boys were looking in the suit department, KynnLee and I went and checked out the shoes...

I had her strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn, and good thing too because those isles would have been a pain to get a stroller through and the place was packed.

The WOLE time she was kicking her feet, jabbering, smiling, and just absolutely lovin it! I couldn't believe how many people would come talk to her and laugh at how she was just having a good time, and some people would just smile at her from afar and comment to their friends at how cute she is.

At one point she had a little pair of red shoes in her hand and a few people said "My, you just love those red shoes don't you? You're going to be fun to take shopping". I just smiled and said, "Yep, I gotta start 'em young!!". I'm very excited that I have a happy little shopper.

I told Trevor that if I had a dollar for every person that smiled at her or talked to her I could buy him a new suit... really. I should have started charging people...

Sadly, we left Nordstrom Rack empty handed. One day (4yrs from now) we can go shopping for real, I assure you there will be many more shoe shopping experiences to come! But in the meantime, KynnLee and I sure had a good time just looking around! And she brightened many other peoples' day.

The big camping trip....

We went camping last weekend with 5 other student couples. As much as I am NOT a camper, we had a lot of fun.

This was KynnLee's bed, she was funny when I first put her in there.

Jaden always manages to become friends with the CUTEST little girls! I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from this handsome little booger... This is his friend, Sage, that he played with a lot on the trip. They were pretty funny to watch, a lot of people were laughing at how cute they were.

Jaden was so excited to go fishing that he could hardly contain himself. It was a little over an hour away to the campground and in the car he kept saying, "Gosh, this is taking FOREVER!".

A few months ago he had this burning desire to go fishing at Grandpa Dan's. I mean, he wanted to get in the car, go to the airport and go to Grandpa's house NOW! So I let him call my dad and ask him if he could go to Grandpa's RIGHT NOW and go fishing... of course my dad didn't catch the hint and told Jaden "Sure you can come over and go fishing!!" (way to add fuel to the fire, dad!).

So it's been a long awaited thing for him to go fishing. We walked from the campground to the fishing spot on Lake Erie. Trevor took him out on a rocky nook and I couldn't take KynnLee in the stroller, so I had to get the pic from far away. Trevor cast out the line and gave the pole to Jaden and told him to hold on, but he started reeling it in. He told him to wait a minute but Jaden just kept reeling it in... and he caught a fish the first cast!!! GO JADEN-BOY! He went back to camp and told everyone about it and they all thought it was so cute!

We stopped and checked out the Lighthouse on Lake Erie on our way out. It was pretty neat,

but I wish it wasn't so cold that day. The wind didn't help, but the lake water was actually really warm.

I have a few more pics to post later, but you all better savor these because our camera broke last night!!!! I don't know when we'll be able to take pictures again...

Obese Bread

I'm trying to learn how to make bread... from scratch, the old fashioned way. No bread maker, no KitchenAid, hand kneading and all!! I apparently wasn't aware at how much it rises...

I even had to lower my rack in the oven because it rose so high it was touching the top. These pics don't do it justice, it was friggin hilarious!

Anyone with any tips on breadmaking?? Feel free to leave a comment!!

Where oh where oh where is KynnLee??

I like to put KynnLee in her room to play while I get ready in the bathroom. The other day (ok, a couple weeks ago, I'm slow getting things posted) she was oddly quiet, so I went in there to see what she was doing, and she was GONE!!! She was not quite crawling or even scooting yet, just mostly turning and wiggling, so I automatically went into PANIC MODE for a few seconds. Then I heard something odd..............

Yup, she was UNDER her crib, just playing away!! She's really starting to get around... I don't know if that's good or bad.

I called Jaden in to come find her and it took him all but 2 seconds. Then he got right down and started playing with her under there and making her giggle. I love it when they play together!

Rotten, rotten, spoiled rotten!!

Was there EVER a more rotten dog? I find her snoozin in places like this all the time, but this one cracked me up! She can often be found snoozin on Trevor's clothes on the floor... because, you know, the floor or the couch just aren't quite soft enough for her little toosh. We do love the Phoebe-dog.