Christmas Baby

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Look what I got this year....

An adorable nephew!!!

Isn't he perfect? Newborns are amazing... their soft, soft skin,

hairy backs, warm snuggles.

But I do not want one.

I have to keep reminding myself of that ;)

Feel free to make me as many nieces and nephews as possible. I promise to cuddle them whenever possible.

Welcome, baby Scott!

We sure love you and are soooo excited that you decided to be

a Canadian baby!

A few little gems

I've been trying to write my kids letters every few months to record their growth, development and the funny little things that happen. I was going through some notes I'd made and found some quotes from Caden. Enjoy!

-“Maya, it’s past your bedtime. Maya, our friendship will never die!”

-Dad was wrestling with Caden and pretending to eat him. Caden screamed "Jesus, help me!" When Ben put Caden down, Caden said to him "Dad, you should tell Jana I say Jesus help me!

-Dad said “Caden, do you want to get baptized?” Caden answered "All my wrongs might get washed away!”

-“Maya, I’m gonna pay you TWO BUCKS to put your hand in the toilet with my poo!”

-In the middle of the night, he came into my room, looked me straight in the face and said “You are a great Mom!”

-When Maya was putting her fingers in his mouth, he said “Maya, I’m not suppose to eat fingers, I’m suppose to eat food!”

-“Mom, do you get to heaven on an airplane or a ladder?”

-“Spencer just thinks he’s a PEZ dis-spencer!”

-“Jesus was going to make me a bad robber, but then he just sewed my arm like this and my leg like this, and made me Caden instead”

-After being told not to do something he said to me “I don’t like you on Earth anymore, Mom. Go back to heaven!”

-“Hey Dad, when I was a baby, when we were in Heaven, me and you went on a sea-turtle. Remember that?

-“How do you be like Jesus?" Dad answered that you be nice and you share. Caden quickly told him, “You should tell that to Maya cus’ she broke a Christmas tree ornament, so that’s why she’s not like Jesus!”

Do you remember any funny or cute things that he's said? If you do, write it in the comments so I can record and remember as many moments from his childhood as possible!

From Santa

Caden wrote Santa a letter this year (well, actually he drew Santa a picture of Buzz Lightyear as a wish list). In return, Santa sent him a little video. Check it out!

Baby Girl!

Meet Maya Lee. Girly girl.

She loves to dress up.

Hats, shoes, fur coats, necklaces and bracelets.

She will bring the girliest things she can find, sit on your lap and giggle while getting dressed.

If fussy in the grocery store, just give her a pair of shoes to hold and she'll calm right down.

If she see's a picture of herself, she cuddles it.

She talks on the phone (or calculator, or TV remote) for hours, while walking around in circles.

It's serious business.

When you tell her she is beautiful, she smiles, lifts her shoulders, tilts her head to the side and listens intently for more praises.

Oh dear.

Kisses

Caden has taught Maya so many things- how to "shoot" your arm's built in Buzz laser, how to run (away from him!), how to play, color, sing, laugh, how to hide...

But of all the things he has taught her... the kisses are by far my fav!

P.S. Don't my kids look alike?!?!

Birthday Highlights

I've slacked off on blogging lately.. but we've had TWO birthdays! I can't believe that I now have a three year old and a one year old! We had so much fun celebrating their birthdays. Actually, we probably had too much fun (which I realized when Caden started referring to his friend birthday party as his "wedding reception") Since I'm fighting off Caden trying to give me a "booger bath" as he calls it, (he's wiping his boogers all over my arms as I type this!) I'll just add the pictures rather than try to write all about them.. (then I'll go take a shower!)

Caden's Birthday(s):

Ben teaching Caden the art of the pinata

Giving Xander-man a hug at his friend birthday

party- he LOVES his friends!

Birthday cupcakes- riding in style!

Eating "Breakfast in Bed"

Enjoying his water gun party!!

THREE!!!

Maya's first birthday:

Birthday cuddles with Dad!

Enjoying her balloons!!

Maya, Mommy and her birthday cake!

Smiles while being sung to! Happy birthday, Maya!!

Mmm...cake! She loved it!

Burning off that sugar with Pappa-Daddy!!

Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate,

we all felt very loved!

Buttercream Purse

Hi Family! If you feel like winning a cool purse for me, please feel free to enter HERE with as many email addresses as you can.

Thanks!

Fabulous Fall

I absolutely LOVE the fall. The beautiful leaves, the cooler weather (no, seriously), sweaters (no more having to show off the love handles!), Taber corn and the excuse to eat pumpkin flavoured anything. I am especially excited about this Fall because I am not pregnant or postpartum! And that means enjoying the playgrounds, going on nature walks, jumping in leaves and having FUN!

We kicked off the season last week by having a "Fabulous Fall" playdate with my good friend, Lauren, and her boys. Lauren is the new Martha Stewart. Seriously, she blows me away with her creativity. The kids had a hot cocoa tea-party, which although Caden refused any hot cocoa (that kid drinks nothing but water!) he had the time of his life!

Maya thoroughly enjoyed the game of trying to eat the food the kids would throw to her before I was able to intercept. That girl. She turns ONE on Sunday. Can you believe it? It has been a challenging year, probably my hardest year yet. But it has also been my GREATEST year.

It makes me sad that she isn't my LITTLE baby anymore. (But she is so much fun and I can't wait to continue watching her grow and learn. She has such a sweet personality and just LOVES to have fun. Being a stay-at-home mom is such a blessing and I am SO grateful for this time in my life. Hard at times, yes, but so rewarding.

Happy Fall Everyone!

I Spy....

I spy...

the letter "E"

an ice-cream cone

a tea-party

Buzz Lightyear

I spy...

One very good boy who helped for over an hour with the clean-up.

Big Hill Springs

I just have to say how much I LOVE my new calling. Being the Activity Day leader is the funnest calling in the whole church! The girls are SO motivated and excited to be at the activities! Such a change from enrichment! Last night we went on a beautiful hike to Big Hill Springs (15 mins from Airdrie- the most beautiful provincial park!) I had been really nervous about this activity because I didn't know how the weather would be, but it was beautiful. The girls had a great time. It's a really easy hike, with lots of waterfalls, a stream to play in and rocks to climb on.

We saw a HUGE owl- Grandpa Parsons would have been jealous! Anyways, I can't believe that I have never been to, or heard of Big Hill Springs because it was beautiful. Definitely my next location for family pictures!

I started a little program for the girls to memorize their Articles of Faith- and they must be liking it because some of them have been getting together after school to memorize! (Oh to be young!) Anyways, I'm excited about my calling as I'm sure you can tell. And with only one girl offended so far, I think I'm off to a pretty good start... ;) (1 out of 14 isn't bad, right? Just kidding, I'm smoothing it over)

Back to Blogging!

I PROMISE that I will start updating more often. Summer was a little crazy, but so fun! I want to post some pictures and blog about some of the fun things (reunion, Caden's birthday, Calaway park, etc!) But for now, I'll just get a blog out there before Maya wakes up.

We are getting back to "real life" (cleaning, church callings, laundry, etc) after a very fun summer! I don't know if I'm ready for it yet. I think with two active kids, I may go a little crazy during the winter months.... Or are we already crazy?

Either way, I need to find some ways to keep Caden active and happy while we can't go to the park everyday. Any ideas? We are going to try edible playdough today. Anyways, have a great day, from the Crazy Matthews!!

How low can you go?!

I was dancing around the kitchen this morning during breakfast when Caden said, "Mom, why you dancing like a Toy Story barbie?"

For those of you who've seen me dance, it's probably true...! My kids love it, but I am smart enough to wait until Ben leaves for work ;)

Sometimes I wonder if I am teaching my kids anything worthwhile.... but at least they will know how to have fun!

Baby Girl!

Congrats to Lara and Ben on their beautiful baby girl,

Bethany Jane Goldie!!

We can't wait to properly meet her (in person rather than skype!!)

Caden has been talking about "Maya's cousin and Caden's cousin" for the past two days!!

(I am so in love with this picture. Look at her gorgeous little smile! AAAAhhh I love her!)

We love you Bethany- welcome to our family!!

Lots to catch up on....

I have so much blogging to catch up on. The longer I postpone it, the harder it is to do because I have so much catching up to do. Therefore, this may be a very long (and probably boring) post.

We are in Airdrie now! The move went really smoothly. Thank you so much to everyone that did so much to help. I felt very loved and supported with all of the time and energy people put in to helping us.

Thank you especially to Dad, for being such a kind, generous and cool landlord. Please pray, everyone, that the townhouse will sell (soon!) so that Dad won't have to rent it out again.

We LOVE our new house, especially the playroom and the kitchen. Oh how I love my kitchen! It is SO nice to have space to put everything. I feel so organized and cleaning up is so much easier! We have a lot to do still to be completely settled (we are still waiting on some furniture, grass, etc). We do really miss our old place though. Caden has cried a few times to go back to his old house, but he loves his new "Buzz Lightyear" room.

Airdrie seems kind of redneck, trailer trash in a lot of areas, but we love our community. We have some friendly neighbors and a couple of really close parks. We are having a hard time adjusting to our new branch, though. It seems that everyone is related to each other and in their own little world. I have tried to get involved with bake sales, enrichment, etc but it's going to take a while for us to feel like it's "our" branch. I think when we get callings it will really help. I swear though, If I have to sit by myself in one more Relief Society, I am going to snap. Thankfully, I have Maya to keep me company in Relief Society ;)

We had a fun Easter! The Easter bunny brought Caden a Buzz Lightyear flashlight instead of candy this year. He loved it. We had fun decorating Easter eggs with Dan, Patience and her sister's family. Every time Caden sees an egg now, he wants to color it.

Maya turned six months old and started eating solids! She is a great eater and has a great appetite! Her favorite food right now is sweet potatoes and avocado. She is such a great little baby! (Although she is not so little anymore, which makes me sad!). She is still the most easy going little girl with the most beautiful smile.

(Caden was most likely saying something like, "Oh Maya Moo, beautiful girl. Aaaaaah Maya")

I love being a mom. It is such a blessing to see my kids make progress, explore and learn. Caden and Maya love each other so much. I love hearing them "talk" to each other. Caden loves making Maya laugh. I don't think there is anyone Maya loves more than Caden. She lights up whenever she sees him (she also gets a little more tense and braces herself for possible "rough-play", smart girl!)

We had a blast on our Utah trip! I was amazed at how well the kids did with traveling and sleeping in unfamiliar beds. We had so much fun hanging out for the week. Thanks to the Utah siblings for hanging out! We loved spending time with you!!

Girls night... watching a birth movie, prepping the girls to puuuuuuush!

S'mores at the "canyon". So much fun!

Four generations! This picture is so special to me!

Lara's baby shower was so much fun! Thank you to Sheri and Mom for helping out so much with that! I was so grateful that there was such a good turnout and that Lara got so many awesome gifts.

Micheal and Katherine's wedding was beautiful. (Except that the kids were insane so I missed most of it because I was chasing around an over-tired Caden who peed his pants, screamed the whole time, etc). I could not have gotten through that day without Sheri. Thank you so much for helping out with the kids- you are truly an angel!

It was so much fun being in Utah with family. I can not wait for our first ever Zemp reunion this summer!

We had fun celebrating Mom's fiftieth birthday! Caden is still talking about the fifty flamingos that were "dancing" on Grandma's lawn! (Can you believe there was SNOW?!)

It was so much fun having David up here for a few days. We've really missed him around here.

I had a really fun birthday and mother's day. Both days I felt so loved and special. Thank you, everyone! I have also been sleeping great the last two months. I feel so grateful to be coming to the end of this dang sleeping trial. Now, just to work on Maya and Caden's sleep....! :)

Well, thats PLENTY for today. Thanks for reading!