And the Winner is....

Cayden Odegard!! You might remember this post about the AWANA Grand Prix. Brandon and Cayden got his car looking great and Cayden won every race he was in. Which meant he got the first place trophy for his catagory. Congratulations Cayden!!

Mom Side Note: I know I was more excited than Cayden was because he didn't really understand what was going on. It was so hard for me to balance all my emotions. On one hand I really wanted to cheer for him and encourage him, but on the other hand, I wanted him to understand that it's ok if he didn't win, its just fun to participate etc etc and then on another hand (yes, I'm a mom, I have lots of hands) I was so excited for my son to win. (which isn't the best example either, but I'm a mom I can't help it, it's a primal instinct I'm sure:) )

(I thought I had a picture, but I'm not seeing it. Maybe I'll just have to take one now and put it on here.)

Piano

Last Tuesday Cayden started piano lessons with Miss Eliza. We've only had one lesson, but I think it will be lots of fun for him. I was going through old posts and saw this one. Little did we know she'd actually be giving him lessons a couple of years later.

Preparing for the AWANA Grand Prix

A couple of weekends ago, Brandon and Cayden spent a lot of their Saturday making, painting and decorating their cars for the AWANA Grand Prix. Result post to come as soon as I get pics :)

Bedtime

Cayden loves to sleep with his "buddies." I try and rotate which ones he sleeps with so that he's not too attached. He currently sleeps with either, Boy, Bull, Naptime Care Bear, Moose, or Dolphin. He names them, aren't they original? :)

And Karis just loves to play with her clothes, usually it's her socks, this time though, it was her pants:)

What Does Karis Think?

Valentines Party

Cayden and Karis had their first Valentines Party and it was so fun, they had...

Crafts...

Heart hunts...

Cookie making...

And they went fishing for gifts:)

It was such a great time for everyone. I love our new church and all the opportunities it offers!

Valentines Day 2011

Personalized onesie from Auntie Kellie and Uncle Cody

A Lightning McQueen card (that turned into a car) from Uncle Cody and Auntie Kellie. (He got some candy too, but the car was the biggest hit:) )

A personalized princess book for Karis from Grandma Peggy. Cayden got candy and a book from Grandma and Grandpa Odegard:)

January Pics of Karis

Sleepy Girl

This is Karis at midnight on January 1st. We've been taking pics of Cayden at midnight every year and we took one of Karis as well, so we can have a yearly comparison of their growth.

She LOVES her blankets!

This picture is so precious, not only because they fell asleep together, but because it could have easily never been able to happen.

Baby Friends

Here is Karis (born the beginning of August) and two of her friends; Isaac (born the end of Oct) and Annalise (born the beginning of September). Size is not a good indicator of age! :)

In honor of my grandma Doris I am hosting an Anne of Green Gables night every other Thursday and this pic was taken our first night. I went with my mom and now my daughter is going with me:) (I, however, was much older and actually remember the videos:) )

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...and Bulldozers

My uncle Lyle got creative in his retirement and made a Barbie car, Bulldozer, Plane and Train. Cayden and his 2nd cousin Abby had a great time being pulled around. They can be pulled by 4-wheelers or in this case, a mini-van! :) They are talking about having them be a part of the 4th of July Parade :)

Karis' First Swim

My mom and I took Cayden and Karis swimming at a local hotel on January 14th, it was her first swim in the pool and she did quite well. Hopefully we'll have lots of opportunities this summer to swim in gma/gpa's pool.

Update on Eating

It's been almost a month since Karis' first food and she has now had squash, carrots, peas, avacado, and bananas. Last summer Sarah and I made baby food and so Karis has been enjoying the fruits of my labor:) The avacado and banana I gave her fresh and just added water to make it thinner for her. She's been doing a very good job eating, I was afraid she was going to be a picky eater, but so far-so good.

She also had her "4 month" shots today. We didn't give them to her when she was 4 months b/c she was so little, then at 6 months she had a fever so today when we brought Cayden in (he's been sick since Thurs, they put him on amoxicillin) we gave Karis her shots, she's been doing well so far.