Visiting the Caddens

Better late than never, right? We went to Austin to visit Russ's Granny and Grandpa a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time full of playing Chickenfoot, playing with the baby and getting pedicures (for Granny and me anyway!). Garrett had fun meeting his great-grandparents and spending a bit more time with his cousin Kaylie. One of the funniest parts of the trip for me was seeing Lucy and Kaylie together. Lucy LOVED chasing Kaylie and Kaylie LOVED being chased by Lucy. It gives me hope that Garrett and Lucy really will be best buds once he's big enough to defend himself from her constant licking. :-) Here are some pics!!


Yummy prunes! Messy but he actually opens his mouth for them.


Garrett and Kaylie sharing a chair. It's impossible to get them both looking at the camera at the same time. But you get the picture.


Kaylie was sharing her goldfish crackers and cheerios. When Garrett wouldn't take them from her she dumped them in his seat. So cute!!


Kaylie meeting Lucy. I wish I had caught the game of tag when it was going on.


Granny, Grandpa, Russ, me, and Garrett




This is what the men did while we got pedicures.


Garrett playing chickenfoot with Aunt Chris.

Russ, Jason (his cousin), the grandparents, and the grandkids

PS: If any of you are linked to Corrie's blog, sorry for the similar pictures/post. But her pics are better 99% of the time. :-) Don't deny it, Corrie, it's true!!

Baby in a Box

I realized yesterday that we never posted pics of our unpacking craziness. So here are a few of Garrett "helping" with the boxes. How'd we end up with such a cute baby???

Almost crawling...

Garrett is so so so so close to crawling, as you'll see in this video. He can scoot himself backwards across the entire room and then roll his way back. It won't be long now before he'll be giving Lucy a run for her money. We've got the outlet covers ready! Go Garrett Go!!!

6 Months!!

Our little man is 6 months old today. Half of a year! I decided that we needed to take his picture in the morning so that we'd be sure to get them online sooner rather than later. :-) Garrett has his 6 month checkup and immunizations on Friday so we'll post his stats then.

Here's a list of his latest tricks and talents:

**Grabbing for EVERYTHING

**Pulling hair

**Moving ALL the time unless he's asleep

**Sitting up without support (with some wobbles of course!)

**Pulling himself up to sitting when you give him your fingers to hold

**Pushing up on all fours and rocking back and forth

**Pushing up onto his hands and feet like the bear crawl

**Pushing himself backwards across the room

**Grabbing Lucy's ears

**Rolling over and over and over

**Drooling a lot

**Babbling when he wants to

**Giggling

**Blowing bubbles

**Spitting out his green beans

Russ and I are both amazed at how much he's changed in the last few months and yet how he's stayed the same sweet boy. We are very blessed. Happy 6-Month Birthday Garrett Michael!!!

Still Unpacking

We've been in our house for one week now (6 days since our stuff arrived) and we're making a lot of progress with the boxes. But there are always more. :-) I'm taking a break to add some other pictures of our trip from DC to TX. We left IL on Saturday (last Saturday, I mean) and went to St. Louis with Grandma and Grandpa Koch and Aunt Krista and Uncle Nate. We spent a few hours at Grant's Farm then went down by the Arch to eat at the Spaghetti Factory. Yum! We drove a little bit then stopped for the night before finishing our "move" to Dallas the next day. Garrett did really really well. He slept and played and only got cranky at the end of the 9-hour driving day. (At which point, we were nearing cranky ourselves!)Anyway, since then we've unpacked a LOT, spent time with Nana and Papa and Lucy (who Garrett is thrilled to have around again!), went to the American Idol concert for our anniversary (surprise to me and pics to come later!), and met a couple of neighbors. Phew! I'm tired just rereading the stuff we've done the last week. Anyway, here are some pics like I promised. Then back to those boxes...

Aunt Krista is helping Garrett check out his Great-Aunt Carol's daisies.

Grandpa and Garrett check out the Clydesdales at Grant's Farm.

Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa had fun spending time with Garrett (and us!).

Our little cowboy. He loves the horse (Dale) that Grandma bought him.

This happened A LOT during our visit. :-) Can't you tell that Garrett just hates hugs??

Look how far we've come...Happy 3rd Anniversary Russ!!

Well, we're all moved into our "new" place in Texas. I say "new" because this house is actually the oldest that we've lived in during our 3 years of marriage and it's not without its complications. :-) But we've gotten a bit of the unpacking done and explored the local Walmart. Garrett is helping by taking occasional naps and smiling a lot. He's THISCLOSE to crawling...he's even started pushing himself backwards when he gets antsy to go. Anway, this post is mostly to say Happy Anniversary to Russ. I love you and I'm so blessed to have you as my husband.





This picture was taken in my parents' backyard in Illinois. He loooved the swing so it looks like we'll have to figure out how to put one up for ourselves.

It runs in the family...

It really does. :) Here are all of our "men" hard at work on their laptops and/or blackberries.

Garrett Goes to Tremont

We arrived in Tremont late Friday night and were welcomed by Garrett's grandparents, Aunt Krista and Uncle Nate, and Uncle Bobby. This was Uncle Bobby's first time meeting his nephew. They hit it off really well! Saturday was spent hanging out with family and walking up to the local ice cream shop after dinner. Sunday we went to church with my parents then prepared for the abundance of family and friends who were coming over for a cookout that afternoon. Garrett did fabulously being passed from person to person and he succeeded at charming everyone he met. :) I'm going to post as many pictures here as I can. It was a terrific day and we appreciate everybody coming over to meet Garrett and spend some quality time as a family.


Chillin with Uncle Bobby



Playing on the lion that Grandma got for me--whee!



At church...Mommy put me to sleep then Grandma got ahold of me.



En Fuego (aka Lindy, me, Laura and Mo) with Garrett



Great Grandma and Garrett

On the Road Again...

We left Virginia on Thursday afternoon, drove until we were nearly in Ohio, stopped for the night then carried on the next morning. We took a much needed break to visit with our friends Josh and Shaela up near Chicago before driving the final 3 hours to my parents' house in central Illinois. It's been a loooong time since we've seen them and their girls. Who gave those girls permission to grow up?? Here are a few pics from our much-too-quick visit. It was wonderful seeing you guys again Josh, Shaela, Kirsten, Kennedy and Kayleigh!!

Happy 4th of July!!

Ok . . . so I'm actually doing this post on the 12th of July. But immediately after the holiday we were busy packing up our house in Virginia, saying goodbye to special friends, and getting on the road for our week long family trip to Iliinois. So, we're finally catching up on posts! We didn't do much for the holiday. We were a little worn out. That morning we said goodbye to Lucy for a few weeks as my grandparents took her and our car to Texas early to help us out. We then went to the Lorton parade. It was really nice! Enjoy these pics and video of Garrett at his first 4th of July parade.

Five Months!!

Yes, our baby is 5 months old today. Wow. As cliche as it sounds, time really does fly by! I never updated with his 4 month stats so I guess I'll do that now. These measurements were taken a few weeks ago. Height: 26 1/4 inches Weight: 14 lbs 7oz And I never remember the whole head circumference details. I guess his noggin is just the right size. :) We're all VERY VERY excited to be visiting our family and friends in Illinois in just one more week so he can show everyone how much he's grown. The big move is getting closer all the time!

Nana and Papa's visit

We enjoyed having Nana and Papa with us since Wednesday, when they flew in from San Antonio, Texas. They were here for a few reasons. #1: To see Garrett. #2: To take my car back to Texas with them. #3: To temporarily adopt our Lucy until we get to Texas. The packing/moving/driving will be much smoother without our sweet puppy underfoot. THANK YOU!! We will miss her though.

While they were here, they were able to tour the INSCOM building where Russ worked this past year. Russ's coworkers also threw him a Farewell Lunch so we all went to a Japanese Steakhouse to watch him get his going away gift. He was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal ( I am very proud of my husband). Here are a few pictures from our few days together and the Farewell Lunch. See y'all (ha!) in a few weeks!!!

Garrett LOVED grabbing for Papa's glasses!

The Three Amigos outside of the INSCOM building

Russ and his boss Joe after he got his award



Garrett is checking out Daddy's shiny new medal

Yum...everything goes in the mouth these days.