Cade hit 3 1/2 this month.  He is really growing up.  He loves to have his friends come play at our house.  He still loves playing with his ambulance and fireman.  He loves to dress up like a fireman, build castles out of blocks, draw with sidewalk chalk and ride his bike. 

Super-fireman-princess-saurus is playing doctor with Cami

He asked me to take a picture of his favorite toys

• Cade took a book to bed one night and told me  "I want to look at it while I am sleeping."
• Kirk was going to take Cade and Cami on a little walk to our neighborhood "trails."  As they were leaving, Cade was explaining to Kirk, "the problem is, you don't know where it is so me and Cami will have to show you."
• He has expanded his prayers and comes up with some creative things.  "Bless our house that it won't fall down."  "bless the firetrucks and ambulances."
• One day I found Cade closing the door to my closet.  Cami was inside and the light was off.  It is a sliding door and Cami can't open it.  I asked Cade what he was doing and he said he wanted to play by himself.  I told him he could play in his room, but we probably shouldn't lock Cami in the closet. 
• Cade wanted some ice cream after dinner.  He was having a hard time eating his real food and told me his tummy was full.  I told him that he couldn't have any ice cream if his tummy was full.  He said that there was a part over here where the ice cream could go. 
• They were doing play dough one morning while I took a shower.  I got out and everything was quiet.  I could hear them upstairs through the monitor, though, and no one was crying.  Pretty soon they came back down and Cade had helped Cami get a new shirt on because she had got play dough on her other shirt. 
• Cade accidently spilled some sand on our tile one day.  I told him to keep the sand outside and I don't like messes inside.  A few minutes later, he came in and went and got a rag to clean up his mess.  I helped him get the broom and we cleaned it up.  He felt bad because I didn't like the mess he made.  He is a really sweet boy. 
• When we were making Valentine's, he told me that he wanted to make one for me too, because he loved me.
• One night I was getting dinner ready and he came in the kitchen and asked "mommy, what can I do to help you?"  I told him that was the best question and it made me happy. 
• Cade sang me a song "one little monkey swinging in a tree, then the tree fell over because the delimber cut it down and the monkey fell out."  That's a silly song!
• He is learning lots of new words and says phrases like "we have arrived" or "I know exactly how to fix that"
• He can sound out short words (2-3 letters) and figure out what letters are in them. 
• He can say 4 articles of faith:  1, 2, 3, and 8
• He is working on writing his name and other letters.  We do this a lot with sidewalk chalk and it is easier than a pencil. 

I love holidays--especially with little kids.  Cade, Cami and I have had a lot of fun celebrating Valentine's day for the last 2 weeks.  We have done at least one activity each day relating to Valentine's day.  Here's what we have done:

• Made animals out of hearts:  dog, bumblebee, elephant, ladybug, snail, fish
• Made heart-shaped sun catchers with wax paper and crayon shavings (after hanging these on the window, Cade insisted that everything else be put on the window too. 

Cade wanted all of his to be blue and Cami always chose pink.  (imagine that!)  Cade put a mustache on his elephant while Cami wanted to make sure that hers had a ponytail and a bow.  It's awesome having a boy and a girl. 

• Made paper plate wreaths with hearts glued to them
• Hang up our Valentine mobile

• Made valentine's to send to Grandparents and cousins
• Heart-attack Kirk's car while he was at work
• Made Valentine's with friends
• Decorated Valentine cookies with friends--Most of the kids did one cookie, or part of it and ate it.  Cade sat there for most of an hour and decorated about 5 cookies.  He loved it.  Cami mostly spilled and ate sprinkles.  She had a great time too. 
• Make red velvet cookies (Lightning McQueen/Fireman) cookies and take them to family and friends

  Licking the cookie dough.  The washcloth on his head is a "baker hat"

  
  
  
• We bought some wooden hearts at Hobby Lobby, painted them each a different color, added our names and hung them on the wall.
  
  
  
  

Tomorrow is Valentine's day.  I have some pink streamers and balloons we are going to decorate with.  We are having some friends over for dinner and will drink red fruit punch with heart-shaped crazy straws, eat heart-shaped bread sticks, (and some other normal-shaped food).  I got Cade some small Gatorade bottles that he loves. Grandma Morris sent a Valentine present they get to open tomorrow and Grandma Smith sent them each a dollar so we can go to the dollar store and pick out anything they want. 

It has been a fun two weeks to think of cute little crafts to do and see how excited they both get.  Cami loves to glue and Cade just wanted to do project after project.  Valentine's day is much more than just celebrating with the romantic love of your life and a candlelight dinner.  It is about making sure everyone around you knows that you love them!

We got snow one day!  We had a great time playing it.  Cade would have stayed out forever, but Cami got cold.  We built a small "snowman" and a bunch of castles with a bucket. 

 We went on a family hike one Saturday.  Cade walked the whole way.  Cami was mostly in the backpack, but walked some too.

• Cami made a gate in our cupboard door.  She likes to spread out her arms in doorways and say "Gate!" She usually doesn't move until I tickle her. 

• We got to go to the fire station for a preschool field trip.  They got an alarm while we were there and we got to see the ambulance take off.  Cade thought it was amazing!  He didn't want to get inside the trucks, but he loved looking at them and seeing the firefighter all dressed up in his suit. Cami was a bit shy and wanted to be held, but she likes seeing everything. 

• Loves dressing up in her fancy skirts and police clothes, or whatever she can find. 

•  I blended up some dishsoap and water for them one day.  They went nuts and loved it. 

A few more things: 

• We have {finally} had 1 no cry day in nursery and at a babysitters house.  yay!
• Cami can count from 5-13.  She learned while playing hide and seek.  She knows what 1 and 2 mean.  She sings the ABC song like this:  ABCDEFG next time won't you sing with me. 
• She likes to read books to Minnie.  She also takes Minnie for walks in the stroller and likes me and her to play doctor when Minnie gets sick. 
• One Sunday we came home from church.  I took off Cami's dress and she started running around the living room yelling "run around naked" over and over again. 
• She is very independent.  She does not like help getting into her high chair, doing up the buckles, or putting on the tray.  She climbs into the car seat by herself too.  If I help her too much with anything, she gets down and starts over and says "Annie do it."
• She likes to pretend to be Santa.  We have a couple of Santa hats and she will put one on and sit in a chair and say "ho ho ho"  She will ask "want Christmas Mommy?" and what ever I say, she will walk around the room and then come back and pretend to give me something and say "there go."
• Cami copies Cade in everything!  She says what he does, wants what he has and follows his example all the time. 
• She is just learning consequences like "if you eat your chicken, you can have some chips."  Usually it back fires because she stuffs all of her food in her mouth, gags, and spits it out saying "too big!"  No kidding girl!
• Cami has several nicknames like Cam-Cam, Camers, Camers bamers, and Cami loo loo.  One day I said "hey Cami loo loo and she said "hi Mommy loo loo"
• She likes to give big hugs when she wakes up in the morning and always says "good night Mommy" when I put her to bed. 
• She was having left over pancakes one morning and I wouldn't give her syrup because she refused to sit in her chair.  She climbed up in my chair and helped herself, dumping syrup all over the table.  That's the kind of thing Cade wouldn't have done.  He is much more cautious while Cami will go and get what she wants. 
• We were getting ready to leave and all had our coats and shoes on.  Cami came running toward the door saying "Don't leave yet.  I coming, I coming!"
• When she gets hungry she says "want little little snack."
• She was insisting on filling up her sippy cup at the sink one day and putting her own lid on.  I helped her and put the lid on and she totally lost it.  She cried and screamed for about 5 minutes and I finally got her to tell me what was wrong.  She said "dump it out."  so we dumped out the water and refilled it.  She really wanted to put the lid on, so I let her and she ended up dumping water on her skirt.  This also made her mad, but then she let me help her and she got her drink.  Crazy girl. 
• Cami just loves to laugh and have fun.  She loves to get chased around.  She loves to show you pictures she has colored.

•  We got snow one day!  We had a great time playing it.  Cade would have stayed out forever, but Cami got cold.  We built a small "snowman" and a bunch of castles with a bucket. 

•  We went on a family hike one Saturday.  Cade walked the whole way.  Cami was mostly in the backpack, but walked some too.  Cade was really slowing down by the end but made it home.  He went up to bed right away and put himself down for a nap.  This is unusual!  He woke up with a little fever and was sick.  We felt bad about taking him on the hike, but he wasn't hot in the morning!  It was fun though, and nice to get out. 

•  We got to go to the fire station for a preschool field trip.  They got an alarm while we were there and we got to see the ambulance take off.  Cade thought it was amazing!  He didn't want to get inside the trucks, but he loved looking at them and seeing the firefighter all dressed up in his suit.  They talked to us a bit first and it went something like this:  Figherman:  what do you do if you see a fire?  Cade:  put it out!  FF:  How?  Cade:  with water.  FF:  Where to do you get the water?  Cade:  from the river.  It was cute.  He rarely speaks out like that, but he was really into this one. 

•  Cade dresses up like a fireman all the time.  He has worn it to Costco and several friends' houses. 

•  I blended up some dishsoap and water for them one day.  They went nuts and loved it. 

A few more things that happened this month: 

• Cade started Sunbeams this month.  They have needed help and Kirk has been in there during Sharing time.  Cade likes it though.  He got new clothes and shoes to wear to primary and he likes to tell us how he is so handsome!
• I was spray painting and my hands got pretty messy.  Later we were making cookies and I gave Cade some chocolate chips.  He wouldn't eat them because I had touched them with my painted hand.
• We found a book at Target shaped like a tractor with wheels on it.  Cade was so excited.  He kept asking me where we would keep it at home and we found a special place in his closet.  He kept telling me how his friends were going to come over and say "what a cool book, Cade" or "Can I read your tractor book?"  He even slept with it a few nights.
• Cade likes to come down stairs in the morning, all dressed and say "Look how handsome I am, Mommy!" 
• He has memorized the first 2 articles of faith.  He likes to repeat them the "crazy way" and say the second one and then the first.
• He got a dentistry for Kids shirt at the family expo and is so excited!  He has worn the shirt all but one day in the last 2 weeks.  Every night he says "Can I wear my dentist shirt again tomorrow?  It's not dirty."  When I do manage to get it off him to wash it, he listens for the washer and dryer to stop so he can get it back. 
• One day he said "What do you think of the fireman in your living room?"
• Another day he told me he was going to do a parade and my job was to sit on the couch and say Yay.
• He likes to watch his motor boat go around in the tub.  (Cami is scared of the boat)  Cade will rescue it when it gets stuck. 
• He and Cami spent the night at Scott and Kara's house while Kirk and I went to Cameo Heights.  Cade keeps asking me when he can go back and we leave him again.  Anytime kid!
• Cade still likes to mow the lawn and ride his bike, even though it is cold.  I think he is immune to the cold. 

Last weekend Kirk had Friday off and we decided to take the kids and go spend some time at Camp Zarahemla.  It is a church-owned camp about 2 hours away, up in the mountains.  During the summer it is used for girls' and scout camps, but they also have some family cabins you can rent.  We left home about 11 and ate lunch in the car.  One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the sun come out as we drove up.  We haven't had a sunny day at home for weeks but had lots of afternoon sun up there.  Our cabin was fun.  It was one big room with a gas-fireplace heater.  It had a queen bed and a set of twin bunk beds, a couch, a table and a kitchen area.  Just outside was a nice porch and a fire pit and we were just up a little hill from the lake. 


We explored around the camp first.  Cade and Kirk discovered a log swing and a stage we took turns performing on. 

There was a little icy hill by our cabin we let the kids sled down.  They would just laugh and say "again!" every time. 


We also built a fire and roasted marshmallows.  Cade and Cami thought it was a great day.  They kept saying they wanted to stay there for lots of nights and they loved how Daddy didn't have a work-day.  It gets dark around here about 5:00 and the temperature was in the 30s, so we went inside after that.  We had some dinner and played dominoes and cards and drove cars around the cabin.  Cade and Cami both fell asleep pretty quickly and Kirk and I got to talk a little bit.  It was nice to just relax and not have internet or other things to do. 

Saturday morning we woke up and had some waffles for breakfast.  Then we went for a drive up to White Pass--a ski resort about 10 miles up from the cabin.  We got out and hiked a bit by a frozen lake and stopped at a waterfall. 

Proof that I was there!

Cade and Cami both loved walking through the snow.  Cade did well walking slowly on the ice and being careful, but he was nervous.  We went back to the camp and had a little snack then did a hike there.  We built another fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for lunch. 


Then we packed up and headed out.  Cami was pretty tired by this point and was crying and saying "no go home.  Stay here."  She needed a nap, but just wanted to stay and play forever!  On the way down to Naches we passed the wintering ground for a heard of elk and stopped and watched them for a bit.  Cami was so excited and kept yelling "deer, deer." 

It was a really relaxing weekend with nothing to do but play and enjoy being outside together.