Check it out!

Look what we did this morning!!

Home Sweet Home

I am home sick today. Not fun.

Ben and Caden are at church right now and I can't help but feel like I'm missing out. Caden is wearing his new church outfit (complete with a new belt, he was excited about that part because he always sees Ben wearing a belt!).

I hate missing church. I haven't been sick in a year and a half. I think my body is just collapsing from lack of sleep. My head is pounding.

On a more positive note, a few nights ago, I made home-made french fries. Caden was so excited about it and kept calling them "home sweet home french fries". That kid never ceases to find ways to make me smile. I love being a mom. I love being home with my kids. They are my treasures. I guess 4 am nights are a small price to pay to have them in our home.

We've Been Busy...

Sorry for the lack of updates. I always have such good ideas of what I should blog about, but then one of my kids decides that they need some attention, and the blog never happens. Caden and Maya are both sleeping right now (although Maya is in my arms, so I am slow at typing...), I've already exercised, showered, cleaned, done some laundry... now I can blog!

Ben and I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary! We had a fun night eating out at The Old Spagetti Factory and watching The Bachelor (we are a little too into that show, it's probably not something to be proud of.... although I definitely recommend getting into it...). Thanks for babysitting, Mom and Dad! I feel so blessed to be married to such an amazing husband. Ben is the best support and so selfless. He truly is only happy when I am happy.

Thanks for four wonderful years, Ben! I love you!

Caden is toilet trained! Yipee! I am so proud of how quickly he caught on. He loves wearing his big boy underwear. I love seeing him get excited when he realizes that he has accomplished something.

Caden has been taking Gymboree classes and just LOVING them! There are so many slides, mats, ramps, balls... it is heaven for Caden. His favorite part is playing with the parachute and running around with the other boys and girls in his class. He talks about Gymboree all week long and chants "Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! It's a Gymboree day!!"

He is such a great helper. I can't cook anything anymore without his help. The other day when he cracked an egg open, some of the yolk got on his hand and he screamed "SICK! SICK!!"

He is constantly making me laugh. I am so grateful that he is such a fun, loving little boy. He is so cuddly and always stops what he is doing to hug me, Maya or Ben and tell us that he loves us.

Maya is growing up so quickly. It is so much fun to see her personality really start to develop. She continues to be the most smiley person I have ever met. She is rarely awake without smiling. She really has brought so much love into our home. She has four teeth popping through right now, so she hasn't been as happy the last few weeks (although she still tries her hardest to smile while crying, it is adorable). Hopefully the teething will ease up soon so that her sleep and mood can get back on track. I had fun doing a little photo shoot with her this morning. Here are a few of my favorites, enjoy!

Look at those big, blue eyes! I just love her!

2 Year Old Wisdom

Lately, Caden has had a big interst in Dad's "sharp" face. Yesterday when Ben came home from work, Caden ran upstairs to find Ben's shaving kit, ran it down to him and said "Ben Matthews... SHAVE!"

Bahaha, I love that little boy (the big, hairy one, too).

Our Day...

Every morning I ask Caden what he wants for breakfast. Usually he tells me that he wants french toast, eggs or peanut butter toast. Today he wanted Thomas the Train. He was so excited about it that I decided to make a 'breakfast Thomas':

Had I really been thinking, I would have used scrambled eggs as the steam. The orange just doesn't cut it, sigh. Thankfully I have many years ahead of me to perfect our breakfast fun! Luckily, Caden LOVED it and ate breakfast better than he has eaten in a long time. Infact, after he ate Thomas, he even wanted seconds. I asked Caden what he'll want to eat for breakfast tomorrow, and he said "Pappadaddy!!" Watch out, Grandpa!

After breakfast, Caden made sure to tell Maya all about his life. She loved it. They are best friends in the making.

We had a fun playdate with Tarek today. We painted big boxes and made them into cars. Those boys and their cars. We cut out holes for their arms and bodies and the boys drove their cars around the house. They play so well together.

I finally got my camera out to get a picture of Maya smiling. I was asking Maya where her smiles where, and Caden informed me that they were in her mouth.

Caden was right, the smiles really were in her mouth. Look at that face light up! What a gorgeous girl!

Mom Talk

I haven't been very good at blogging since Maya was born. Life with two has been crazy, busy, hard, wonderful, fun and so rewarding! I LOVE being a Mom of two. Maya is the most smiley, happy baby I have ever met. She has definitely added a lot to our little family. She has a huge smile, her entire face lights up and her eyes even curve up in their own little smile! Caden has taken on the role of big brother like a champ! He loves to make Maya smile. He tells her stories about Indiana Jones, Yoshi and Lightning McQueen. He never stops kissing her. He has just realized that instead of holding one of Maya's hands, he can actually hold both of them at the same time. "Me hold baby hand...TWO!"

I read an article on the Today Show last week about how once you have kids, you give away so much of yourself that the only thing you have left to talk about is your children. That is true, as you can tell from all of my blog posts! It probably does gets boring only hearing me talk about my children, but I probably won't find much more to talk about for the next 20 years. And thats okay :) There is a new movie that just came out that I am dying to see. It is called Motherhood (<--- click to see the trailer). Anyways, enough of my rambling. Hurry up and start updating your blogs, family! You are slacking off! And you all have interesting things to talk about :)

Maya's Blessing

As you all know, Ben blessed Maya on Sunday. He did a wonderful job, the blessing was beautiful. (Thank you to all of the family that was able to attend and support us!)

Maya looked adorable in her little blessing outfit (a special dress, bonnet and booties that Ben's grandma made for a Matthews girl... it had been in the box for more than a quarter of a century just waiting for a little girl!!)

Maya has such a calm, sweet spirit and we feel so blessed that she was sent to our little family!