Infant Instruments of Torture

I guess it's about time we came clean. We feared child protective services were on to us. The reason we have no close up pics from the Moye visit in the previous post?? Young Caden had a gash on his wee forehead, right between the eyes.

We decided to let jr play with a teething toy. Ya, I know, teeth aren't due for months. Nothing wrong with priming the gums tho. The teether is a hard plastic cross between a chicken and a giraffe with dangling soft fuzzy balls. For feet...c'mon now. The only flaw we could see in the plan was that Caden doesn't really hold anything yet. Fortunately this particular toy comes with a handle. So Gayle decides to kinda cram Caden's hand through the handle and test how long he can hold the toy. He held steady for a good seven seconds, then swiftly smacked himself between the eyes creating a blood riddled onesie nightmare. Poor guy was stunned.

We've learned to be more careful with our decisions and we're happy to report he is in no danger of being called scarface.

Sunset Souvlaki

It felt like a culinary tour of the greek isles. The smells of mint, lemon and oregano mixed with the roasting chicken souvlaki, greek orzo and feta salad, kalamata tomato and cucumber, fresh pita, olive oil and balsamic, tzatziki sauce for all. Mix in some lively conversation and a heap of baby passing and there you have it. Sunset at the Moye's.

We enjoyed a fine evening of good eats and an introduction to Wii life, courtesy of Tammy, Steve and Mitchell.

Roll Bruins Roll

Turns out it's an all UCLA week for us here on the ranch. Today we received a parcel from Katia's all time favorite professor. Dr. Jayne Lewis, who spoke so eloquently at the dedication of the Katia Newman study room, sent young Caden an introduction to Greek Mythology.

Caden was a bit spooked at first...
yet warmed considerably.Caden has expressed interest in pre-enrollment of Dr. Lewis' class on Milton in the Spring of 2027.

Karen Ann Frankwich, M.D.

As many of you know, Karen is Katia's best friend, high school pal and UCLA roommate. Today Karen has taken the Oath of Hippocrates and joined the ranks as a Doctor of Medicine. It was a beautiful Sunday on the lawn at UCSD with the sun shining almost as brightly as the graduates. Karen is looking forward to her residency at UCSD to further her studies in Internal Medicine. Congratulation Dr. Frankwich, we could not be more proud of you!!!

Of course we wasted no time introducing her to her first patient...

John Joseph Metzidis, Esq.

One of Katia's closest friends from UCLA came down to visit for the weekend. We are proud to tell you that John has just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. What a stud. I guess we're a bit premature with the title as he has yet to take the bar. Sure looks good though. Congratulations Senator!

There goes the neighborhood

It's official, mark the calendar for May 26, 2008. Caden has a freckle. It's on his right shin, just off the corner of the zoom highlight.

Weekend in OB

Back to Ocean Beach this weekend for a belated birthday dinner with Grandad. The wee ones helped make funny faces and blow out the candle.

Life of Riley

The old man spent most of the day up in Orange County. But I was fortunate to return bearing gifts. Nothing cheers the wee man like a nice soft comfy place to lie about. Thanks to the Browns and Helmans for the spread.

Ladies Man

Another day, another lunch, another batch of melted hearts...

Scared Straight

After three straight diaper blow-outs, Caden has officially graduated from N to size 1. Next thing you know he'll be riding a bike. At any rate we popped down to Babies-R-Us for a few items and some new diapers. At the checkout line, sticky fingers Caden lifted a glow in the dark binky. Thankfully, they have an on-premises Scared Straight Toddler program. We hope this will put an end to that sort of behavior.

Fat and happy

It appears a steady diet of formula and hours of napping have an effect on the lil man. Training to become the Michelin Man perhaps. Caden hit 12 lbs on the scale today.

Peninsula Friendly

With temperatures soaring to record highs, Peninsula Football fans readied for Sunday's highly anticipated match. The Peninsula U6 League showcased their premier talent in a year end friendly between the Lightening Bolts and the Red Hawks. Despite the high heat, both teams looked inspired through warmups adding to the crowd's anticipation.

The Bolts 5 took the pitch with both barrels loaded. The famed combination of Ben and Elsa Kurth, wearing the home yellows, met the Red Hawks with unbridled enthusiasm. Early on Benny missed a sitter when he lost his footing, and the momentum was lost. The Red Hawks speed at the wings and the high heat proved insurmountable as the brave little Bolts gave in to the pressure.

I suppose it was the heat, but even young Caden wasn't too excited to meet the stars after the game.

Skyden Cadler

So my sister Kris was going through some old pics of her kids. She came across a picture of her first born Skylar at just a few weeks of age. The side by side comparison is almost a perfect match. On the one hand, Skylar who is now 8yrs is just gorgeous and pretty as can be. But does that mean my son looks like a girl?!?!

Lunch in the city

Gayle and the hammer decided to head into town and lunch with the ladies. Caden worked on impressing the gals with his calm cool demeanor, while the ladies tried to talk business.

Friendly Neighbor

Monday, when I returned home from work, Gayle told me all about a quick little adventure. In the early afternoon, she and Caden were playing 'watch mom make funny faces' when the dogs started barking. Sure the dogs bark all the time, but this was rather frantic and quite close to the house. She peeked out the window to make sure it wasn't an unexpected (human) visitor. She just caught the tail end of a snake slither around the corner of the house.

Not much goes by on the ranch without Gayle's documentation. Caden's sleep, how much we eat, animal changes, weather, fires, ranch improvements, weed growth and of course...critters. By the time G made it outside with the camera...he was gone.

Tuesday afternoon and we find Gayle and Caden furthering their studies. Today's exercise was screaming roll over. Place lil guy on his stomach for some tummy time and he'll scream, roll and relax. I guess he just likes to look up and see the world around him.

Just like Monday afternoon, the dogs kick into watchdog command and sound the alarm. This time G, had camera in hand. Crikey look at the size o that gal.