A new school year

It's that time again.  Summer break is over (It has been for a while now...this post is a little late).  The start of this school year has been very busy for our family as we have already traveled to the UP with friends over Labor Day weekend, and we went to Minnesota for a wedding.

This past Labor Day weekend we had two other families up at the cabin and more friends coming in and out to visit too.  It was a fun time, and of course I forgot to take many pictures.  Kaden enjoyed playing with the other kids and was especially fearless as he tried and actually did start to climb the ladder to the loft!

We also went to Minnesota for a wedding.  We stayed with John's grandpa and with my cousins for a night.  Going to MN is always fun, but always such a quick trip!  We did find a few minutes to go to the zoo and show Kaden some of the animals.  It was his fist time at a zoo! He absolutely loved it, and we will have to go back to a zoo and spend even more time looking at more animals.

 

It's time for another school year of watching my nieces and Kaden.  Now that the kiddos are a bit older than they started out last year, things are already different...and different just means different; in better ways and in more challenging ways too.  It is nice to already have a similar routine as last year with a few changes, but the cousins seem very happy to be together again!  My oldest niece goes to preschool 4 mornings a week now.  When the weather is nice, Kaden, Maja and I have been loving to go on walks and play at the park. We also keep busy by going to Story Time at the library, and also going to play group at church. We just started a MOPS group at my church, so I bring the kiddos their once a month while I get to enjoy time with other moms.

I have been asked if I am going to keep up my monthly updates on Kaden, and I think I will, but probably more sporadically.  Even though Kaden is almost 14 months now, he really has learned so much more since he turned one!  We don't have a baby anymore...he definitely is a toddler! and a fast moving one too!  His favorite things have been playing outside, playing in the tent, and coloring or really pretending to color!  He wants to be just like his older cousins and since they like to color, Kaden needs to color all the time!  It's cute, but tiresome as I can't take my eyes off him since he wants to put the crayons/markers in his mouth!

One of the cutest things in my opinion that Kaden has done in the past couple months is clap his hands and get really excited when we sing the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It."  Other new things Kaden has been up to include giving hugs. Kaden has never really been a snuggler unless tired, so this has been very exciting for us.  Kaden has started to repeat some words.  He continues to build his vocabulary, and I have been so surprised how quickly he seems to learn and understand.

Kaden has been taking one nap a day for quite a while now.  Occasionally, he still needs two, but most days just one.  I actually like when he takes just one nap because then all the kids are napping at the same time!  This new sleeping schedule is also great because I get to sleep in! and by sleep in I mean he's still up around 7:00.