Caden's New Look

On Saturday evening, Caden lost his first tooth! It only took ten (!!!) days for the tooth to come out.

The story...Caden first discovered his loose tooth when eating a mint meltaway on the sly right before dinner. He has been wanting a loose tooth since last spring, but he wasn't so sure once the time came. There were more tears than tooth wiggles. Over the last several days, he had chomped down on the loose tooth at least once per day, which both sounded and felt horrible. It was barely hanging on and very much in the way, but he couldn't bring himself to wiggle hard enough or pull it. During dinner on Saturday, Caden chomped down on this tooth for the last time. While comforting Caden, Curt reached in and pulled the tooth out without Caden even realizing it. Tooth fairy has visited! His lost tooth will be celebrated at school tomorrow! All is well! I wonder if the next tooth will bring less drama...He is my son, so probably not.

Here is Caden's new look.

And, of course, Cole wanted to show off his teeth too. Hopefully, this will remain Cole's smile for a few more years despite his clumsiness and carelessness.

Winter Break Fun

We enjoyed a long winter break at home: sleeping in, playing with new toys and games, and relaxing. We were lucky because Curt was on vacation the week after Christmas. This was his first set of several days off work since June, so we enjoyed lots of family time.

A day or two after Christmas, we received about four inches of snow. Despite the bitterly cold temps, the boys and I bundled up to play in the snow.

By the time we went inside, our yard was full of snow angels.

Cole making bootprints in the snow

Caden shoveled a path for the muskrat (named Hedgie because Cole insists he's a hedgehog) that lives under our deck.

The boys making snow castles

As always, we warm up with some hot chocolate with LOTS of marshmallows.

With our second big batch of snow, Curt built a snowman for the boys. Curt refers to it as the "worst snowman ever," but the boys like it. In his defense, the snow would not pack at all.

One afternoon, we took the boys to the bowling alley. Caden has been asking to go bowling since this summer, so he was thrilled.

Caden loves to bowl!

I am not a very good bowler. I used to despise this "sport" because it broke my nails and hurt my back, but it's grown on me. I have very poor form, which results in sore wrists, but I have fun bowling now. I bowled what was probably my very first strike during this game, but everyone missed it except me. The guys were too busy dealing with Caden's slippery feet and scraped back. At least, the scoreboard can't lie.

Cole's turn--It took quite some time for his ball to reach the end of the lane, but it always made it...eventually.

The Settlemoir family bowling champ

And the results: Caden-61, Cole-36, Kelly-86, and Curt-126


Caden spent a great deal of his break building his new Lego sets. He received 11 sets for Christmas from Santa and various family members. Here are the boys with Caden's creations on the Lego table (no longer a train table).

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture of his new Lego creations. Behind his new Lego sets are several "ships" created by the boys. The week before Christmas, Caden started deconstructing all of his old Lego sets and creating new ships, which is very unlike Caden who likes to follow the directions and keep the sets as they are supposed to be. Since all of his new Lego sets are built, he is ready to start rebuilding his old Lego sets again. Now to find a place for all of them...

Since Caden posed with his new toys, Cole wanted me to snap his photo too with his Toy Story pop-up playland.

Happy New Year! 2010 will be a very exciting year for the Settlemoir family, so stay tuned for lots of blog posts.

Continuing to Celebrate Christmas

On the Tuesday after Christmas, Grammy, Uncle Jason, and Aunt Mariah visited us for a belated Christmas celebration. Unfortunately, Grandpa had to work.

Cole was thrilled that Christmas wasn't over yet! Santa did not deliver any Superhero Squad toys, which was a bit disappointing. Thankfully, Grammy, Grandpa, and Uncle Jason came through.

Caden with even more Legos...

Presents, presents, presents...

Cole was ready for boxes to be opened and toys to be assembled.

All of the boys enjoyed plenty of video game time during their visit.

An intense game of Battleship between Uncle Jason and Caden, which ended in a truce when it took too long to find the last couple ships

Cole and Grammy creating with the R2D2 play-doh set

Aunt Mariah gave one of her favorite childhood books, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, to the boys. It is a hit! Lots of laughs!

Another wonderful Christmas celebration!

Christmas Day and Weekend

Merry Christmas!

Santa visited and stuffed our stockings full of goodies.

Santa put the boys' presents under the playroom tree this year.

Emptying our stockings--As typical, Caden dumps the contents of his stocking all over the floor, while Cole removes one item at a time.

The first round of present-opening--Santa's presents

For round two, we moved to the front room to open presents from us. Cole gave Caden a Lego sports car. Caden gave Cole more Superhero Squad characters.

Curt explaining Battleship to Caden

Of course, the boys really enjoyed opening the presents. They did not want the presents to end.

Caden's big gift from us was a Nintendo DSi. First, he opened a carrying case and game. When we jokingly said that Santa forgot to bring a DSi, the look of sadness on his face was enough to break your heart. :( He was so surprised when he opening his DSi!

Cole's big gift from us was a castle. He spotted this castle in a catalog months ago, so he was thrilled to call it his own.

Curt was given the job of castle assembly. After Curt finished, Cole showed Captain America and Iron Man around the castle.

After rounds one and two of present-opening, Nana and Papa arrived for round three later in the morning.

Delivering presents to Papa and Nana

Round three of present-opening for the boys

With Curt on call on Christmas Day until 5:00, we planned an evening Christmas meal instead of our usual lunch time. Curt took a lot of phone calls throughout the day, but he didn't have to go into any hospitals until Saturday morning. We were so thankful! With the more relaxed afternoon, the boys were able to play with all of their new toys.

Caden glued to his DSi while Cole peaks over--VERY common scene for the entire winter break

Cole and Mommy checking out Cole's new rocket from Nana and Papa--Papa was given the not-so-pleasant job of building the rocket.

Caden thought Aunt Shannon should try out his DSi. So thoughtful to share! ;)

Aunt Shannon and the boys sharing laughs during round four of present-opening

Caden and his DSi...AGAIN!

Following Christmas Day, we had a fun weekend with Nana, Papa, and Aunt Shannon--new toys, games, food, etc.

When Caden wasn't playing his DSi, he was usually building one of his several new Lego sets.

The boys love the R2D2 play-doh set from Nana and Papa.

One of Cole's favorite presents--Toy Story Bucket o' Soldiers

Before everyone left on Sunday, we remembered to take a family picture in front of the tree.

Christmas in Indy was WONDERFUL!

Christmas Eve

The four of us enjoyed a quiet Christmas Eve of baking, finally making our gingerbread house, watching Christmas shows, playing video games, and preparing for Santa's visit.

Our finished gingerbread house (minus several gumdrops that made it to the boys' bellies instead of the house)

Leaving cookies (a monster cookie from Caden and a poor man's turtle from Cole) and chocolate milk for Santa

Our main Christmas tree with presents for the boys and the rest of the family