Sledding- Not really-

Caiden loved sledding last year and went down several times. This year though, he was not having any part of going down the hill. He said it was too scary. Well that was OK with me because I was sitting out too. I was still recovering from a concussion and neck sprain that happened 3 days prior while we were sledding the first time.

Caiden loves doing everything the big kids do.

Relaxing in the snow after making snow angels and 'Caiden tracks'.

He loved being in the snow. That smile is too cute.

CAIDEN'S CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Caiden's class has been preparing for a month on this program. The first song they sing is saying hello (Gu'waadzi) to the crowd, but more specifically the tribal leaders on the front row.Caiden's hat was really loose and it was annoying for me to watch it keep falling down. Having it loose came in really handy for the big finish though. Watch the video and you'll see what I mean. Marissa, the little girl that is crying her eyes out was supposed to be Caiden's partner. For the dance song he was a little lost when he didn't have his partner to dance with. He really loved performing for the audience, but especially for Scott and me.It was awesome to see him perform and the things that weren't perfect is what makes these performances special--- and hilarious.MERRY CHRISTMAS and ENJOY THE SHOW!
DON'T FORGET TO SHUT THE MUSIC OFF AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE!!!

Caiden's Cool Pirate Treasure Cake

Caiden loved his cake. He has really been enjoying helping me bake.
He was so intrigued when we started mixing food coloring and the frosting
started changing colors. He is a scientist in the making.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

SMILEY BOY

His Pirate Booty

George and some loot that Grandma sent to Caiden.

*Happy Birthday Caiden*- School Party

Well it has happened again, I can't seem to keep Caiden from getting older.

Caiden had a fabulous 4th birthday. He is of course loving all of his presents and the left over cake. Scott took the afternoon off to go have a classroom party with Caiden. (Thank you Scott.)

Mrs. Jaunico and Ms. Charlie let us crash their class with a full party. I had made gift bags for each of the children, chocolate cupcakes, and had the cutest pirate tableware. Caiden loved being the center of attention, but he really enjoyed giving the gifts to everyone. I really enjoyed being able to share this special day with him. I know he probably won't remember these early memories, but thank heavens for cameras. I love being able record these little things in life.

*School Santa Visit*

Caiden had a visitor come to his school... SANTA!!!

He was so excited to see Santa. Santa was very kind and gave him an amazing gift bag filled with goodies: a hat and scarf, a book, and lots of fresh fruit and nuts. After Santa presented him his gift, Caiden remembered his manners and replied, "Dawa'ee Santa"(Thank You Santa). The whole room said, "AWWWW, How sweet!" Of course I was beaming with pride, too.

They sang Santa 'Jingle bells' in both English and Acoma. Santa and the other parents were quite impressed.

He really had a fun day making lots of Christmas crafts and having a classroom party complete with pizza and cupcakes. I was able to stay the day with his class and help out the teachers. It really has been a blessing to have him in such a wonderful school setting. He is just learning so much and enjoys each day that he gets to attend.

~Gingerbread House~

*~*~*River of Lights*~*~*

Caiden's School had another field trip last night. It was held at the Rio Grande Botanical Gardens. I have never heard of a preschool field trip being held at night before and was quite curious to see how 122 children would not get lost in the dark. It turns out that probably 95% of the parents attended with their children so nobody got lost.

The creators of the displays were amazing. The light sculptures really impressed us all.Caiden's favorite display was the train. Caiden had so much fun holding onto his teacher's hand ALL NIGHT!!! He really thinks highly of his teacher. She is wonderful and is so patient with her students.

Caiden and the few kids from his class.

Scott, Caiden and Amanda

Caiden loved this train sculpture

.

This puffer fish was huge. It lit up in stages to look like it was puffing up.

This was also a moving sculpture. It would bow its head 'pick up water' and then spray on the other elephants. This was my favorite.

These were life size giraffes.

Caiden, Iliana and Layla.

Amanda and Caiden

Scott and Caiden- Gingerbread Men

Looks like things are... Stop and Go

Caiden came home again and amazed me once more. I just can't believe that he is writing and spelling already. It really freaks me out! He has also gotten really quick at writing his name.

~~~Having some swimming fun~~~

We took Caiden and the boys swimming to our favorite pool.
Caiden had so much fun playing in the waves and testing out his
new swimming skills. We were glad to see that he is becoming
more confident in the water. He needs to get really good so he can
keep up with his siblings who are all good swimmers.


Googgly Eyes.

Look at that smile- It's a real one!

Caiden and his crazy smile. (I hope he out grows it.)

Caiden sure loves his brothers.

Caiden practiced his 'starfish' in deeper water.

Having fun in the waves.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Caiden is going to visit his Oma, Papa and Brothers for Thanksgiving.

He can't Wait!

(Shut off the music at the bottom of the blog.)

Here is a calm one....

Starting School

Caiden started preschool a couple of months ago and is loving every minute of it. He is attending at the Haak'u Learning Center. He is having a blast. He is the furthest along in his class academically but can you believe they told me I needed to 'cut the apron strings'? I guess I do tend to protect him a bit.... So with him attending an all native school (except for him and one other little boy) his teacher didn't want him to feel left out when they started talking Keresan and calling each other by their Indian names. He needed an Indian name too! His name at school is Ka'shesh. It means 'White Corn'. We got a kick out of it because he is the white corn in the Indian corn crop.... FUNNY!
He is pre-reading and we expect that he will be reading in the next couple of months. It is amazing to listen to my 3 year old sounding out words by himself. His progress is truly amazing and awe inspiring! He knows all of his letters with their basic sounds and we are working on vowels right now too. He is a genius in our eyes! He gets that from his daddy for sure.

Caiden is learning two other languages right now as well. Keresian which is the Pueblo Language and Portuguese which Scott is teaching him.

He speaks both Keresan and Portuguese better that I do. He sings songs, says prayers and is learning basic vocabulary in Keres while he is at school.

At the end of scriptures, a book (usually Berenstain Bears)and prayers in Portuguese, Caiden and Scott have a phrase that they always say. (I am going to butcher this next part.) Isso é tudo por hoje a noite. It means "That is all for tonight."

What a cutie-

Caiden is such a cute boy and is so very smart too. We sure love our little boy and feel blessed to have such a wonderful son.

-The Presidential 'Race' through Caiden's eyes-

This is a conversation that Caiden and I had on election day. I was quite impressed to know that they are already talking about national events.... even if the meaning to this one got lost in translation.

Mom- Who won the race to be President?
Caiden- Not John McCain. He lost- he ran out of gas.
Mom- So who won?
Caiden- Brock Ovama! He ran a good race.
Mom- What does that mean?
Caiden- He runs really fast, but he flies in a plane to Washington. Huh Mom.

Halloween

Halloween this year was fun, exciting and very busy for Caiden.

A week before Halloween we went to the 25th annual 'Zoo Boo' in Albuquerque. We got to play games, see the haunted habitats and have every one tell us how cute our family was.

Caiden was the cutest "breathing fire dragon" ever. On Halloween he woke up early to get into his costume as did Scott and I. Scott and Caiden rode the bus to school and checked in. It was then time to head off on the field-trip. I met them at the Casino where the workers had the ballroom set up as a spook-ally. It was awesome!

We then went to the hospital which was a kick for Scott because he got to show off his 'Dragon and Princess' to his coworkers. We then went back to the school for the classroom pizza party and junk food fest. We got so much candy from the field-trip and school. We would never be able to eat it all- at least not without acquiring diabetes and the 10 pounds that was lost.

I asked Caiden if it would be OK if we gave it away and he thought that was an awesome idea. I re-gifted it at the trunk-or-treat that we went to that night and then sent a huge container of it to Scott's work. I did let Caiden pick out a few things before I got rid of his loot. (I kept some chocolate for myself too.)

We spent Halloween night at a community carnival and they gave out candy too. We were going to go out trick-or-treating but it had been a huge day, and we were all very tired.

Thank you Scott for taking the day off of work to be with us. "You complete me... I mean us."