Caden's New French Ball

Cadens_new_ball
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We took a leisurely walk around Albertville today. It was nice to just get out and enjoy the town without having a specific task to accomplish. Since we arrived this past Friday, we have been out on the town at least once each day, but we were always shopping for this or that, or trying to find out where something was. All that to say we stumbled upon a little Big Lots-type store in the downtown area, and we bought Caden a little yellow ball for 1 Euro 50 cents. He loves it! This video is of Caden and April playing with the new ball right after we returned home. What joy such a simple thing can bring...and that's the best thing about living in this little alpine town; things are just simpler here...

Stroller Technology

So yesterday April and I borrowed one of the schools community strollers, and it was an interesting experience. By interesting, we mean that the stroller was a piece of junk. The wheels didn't turn, the restraint system was about as safe as putting Caden in a room full of venemous snakes, and on top of all that, it was just plain ugly. We have no problem saying that if this is the finest stroller French manufacturers have to offer, then the U.S. is light years ahead of them in stroller technology. We love you Graco!
Hey, the French gave us the Statue of Liberty; what more could you ask for?

Yesterday Hiking, Today Biking

We will never run out of things to do during our 4 months here in Albertville. Yesterday we strapped Caden onto Brett's back and walked several kilometers around town. Today Brett borrowed a bike from another guy at the language school and took Caden for a ride around town. Caden loved the journey, making lots of happy sounds all throughout the trip. Next up: rock climbing, with Caden tied to Brett's belt!

We Gave Birth to a Monkey

Not really, but Caden sure does love to climb. He's not walking just yet, but he is VERY close! These pics were taken right before we moved out of our apartment. Caden was into everything, including the fridge! Hopefully being in France will be so stimulating to him that he will be walking soon. He just turned 10 months yesterday, but we'd love to have an early walker!

Travel Weary

Well, we made it to France! Travel was uneventful, and Caden had fun sleeping through most of both flights. Oh wait, that was US who had fun with Caden sleeping through both flights!

Despite all of the sleep, little Cade was still tuckered out. Here he is crashed at our hotel room in Paris, sprawled on the bed like he just passed out from a long night of drinking.

We are now in Albertville, where our language school is. We would love to describe how beautiful it is here, nestled in a valley of the French Alps, but we will instead post some pictures tomorrow and let them do the talking. Words are useless to describe this portion of God's creation!

Big Helpers

Well, we're all moved out of our apartment, and there is a definite sense of finality to things these days. The last week was full of craziness, packing, laughing, crying, and wondering what in the world we are doing. Good thing we had big helpers like our nephews Owen and Dawson to help us out. You can see curly headed Dawson carrying a curtain rod in this pic, and his older brother in the background helping out with a tube of plastic wrap. We couldn't have done it without them!

Caden helped us out by carrying this straw around in his mouth. It's the little things that add up to make a big difference...

Cousin Nate

Caden sure is gonna miss playing with his cousin Nate! Nate (Nathaniel) is Brett's sisters first born son. He will be three soon, and he is definitely becoming a fun and rambunctious little guy. This weekend we'll be taking a pic of all the cousins together, so watch for it on the blog next week!

It's true...

Caden has hair!

After catching a few raindrops, we were able to spike Caden's hair just to show you that he does indeed have hair. Although it is Emerson tradition to not have hair until after your first birthday, we thought the rest of the world should get to appreciate the few tufts Caden has for now.

Caden Loves Mallory!

While we were in Franklin last week, Caden got to spend some time with his newest cousin, Mallory Joy Baynes. Truth be told, Caden is fascinated with every baby or toddler he sees, but for the sake of a good post, he was particularly enamored by Mallory. She is the closest in age to Caden, so even though they are different genders, they will surely have some good times together in the future.

On a side note, if you look closely and you can stop staring at his eyes or his smile, you will see that Caden's nose is quite an orangish color. This is due to the fact that he is in love with orange vegetables. Squash, carrots, sweet potatoes; you name it, he scarfs it down. Now if we could only get him to eat his green beans and peas, we'd be all set :)

Raiding the Pantry

With us packing up the apartment, Caden is finding new and exciting things to get himself into. Here he is raiding the food on our shelf in the laundry room. Let's hope he can't get the lid off that Wesson oil; that would make a very interesting diaper!!!

On a side note, thanks to everyone who prayed about Caden's heart doctor visit today. He is perfectly healthy, and the doc said we have nothing to be concerned about. He just has an innocent heart murmur that some babies and even grown people have and live normally with. Thank God for the blessing of a happy, healthy, and beautiful little boy!!!

Gatlinburg Adventures

Gatlinburg was a much needed break. We had a great time with friends from our days at Harding University. Caden was a trooper through all the travels. He even rode in his hiking backpack for the first time and didn't cry once! Here's a picture of us at the waterfall we hiked to at Cade's Cove (no, the husky bald gentleman is not in our party).

Caden also strummed his first guitar...thanks Erik.

We haven't posted a picture without Caden since...well, I'm not sure if we ever have...so here's a great shot for ya. ;)

Back Home...For Now

Well, we're done with traveling until we move to France, a nice window of...less than 2 weeks. We'll be blogging alot leading up to our departure, and here's a late night post just to tide everyone over until tomorrow. It looks like Caden is ready to get one step closer to his new home...

9 month update

-9 months, 1 week, 1 day
-29" long
-17 lbs. 2.6 oz.
-crawling professionally
-pulling up on everything
-babbling non-stop
-happiest baby on earth

priceless!

Listen Up People! I've Got Something to Say...

Caden Gabbing
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Let's Go!

Check me out! Thanks to Gamma I'm ready to go!

I've got my own backpack for the plane ride and

the two pieces of luggage they'll allow me to check.

I wonder if I can fit all my toys in here.

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Are you sure I can't fly to France in my new suitcase?

I'll Take the Stairs

I'll Take the Stairs
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If you happen to see Caden in a hotel lobby and the elevator is about to close, there is no need to hold the door for him. He'll just take the stairs...

Piano Man

We're in Texas right now, visiting friends and family and doing some fundraising, and Caden is having a blast. We'll be posting several pictures and videos in a row of our time here, starting with Caden's new love: the piano! He will just sit there and pound on the keys all day, and Granny Dot is of course more than happy to help him out.

Caden is clearly a budding musician. Just leave your tips in the jar by the door...

Climbing Caden

I was checking my email while I
thought Caden was playing with his toys. Next thing I knew, a little head was peeking over the edge of the computer table. Now you need to know that Caden is not tall enough to peek over the edge of the table...unless he is standing on something. It was in that brief moment I realized that our son had figured out how to climb on the file box in order to reach the papers on the computer table. I snapped a few pictures and then put him safely back on the floor. To my surprise, he did it again (although, why should I be surprised?!) I captured the action on video for your viewing pleasure.

Warning: Caden slips at the end of this video. The video will end abruptly...but have no fear, Caden did not fall.

Climbing Caden
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The Babies

Caden and Mallory (Ed & Amy) are the two babies in the family...at least until Cullen (Chad & Betsy's) is born. These two are only seven months apart. Right now, they are very different. But give them a year or two and they'll be running around together not knowing they weren't born the same year.


As you can see in this picture, Caden is quite interested in baby Mallory. I think Caden just wanted to give her a kiss...but Aunt Amy stepped in and stopped the madness. Don't worry Mallory, we promise to not let your cousin slobber you with too many kisses. I'm sure you two will be best of friends as soon as you can say each other's name.

A Globetrotter in the Making

Well we finally got Caden's passport back from Uncle Sam. It's really funny to us that 5 years from now, when his passport has to be renewed, he will still have the same 8 month old picture that will look almost nothing like his nearly 6 year old face. Oh well, it wasn't our idea, and we're not running the government of this or any other country, so what can you do???

It's cool to think that by the time he's 5 or so, he will have traveled more than most people do in their entire lives. Of course it's not of his doing; we just kind of kept on with our lives after he was born, and little Cade had to fit himself into our plans. He's already been to Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, and California; next week it's Texas, and then next month he'll be living in the French Alps, but he probably doesn't appreciate all of these great traveling experiences just yet...maybe one day when he's on safari in some random West African country, it will just hit him: having a passport and using it is AWESOME!!!