Peter Parver Pumpkin Carver.

Pumpkin carving at our house is an annual event full of magic and wonder. Okay, it's not that awesome, but we do look forward to it every year. And this year- the whole family got involved. Well, at least for a few minutes.







Dave, if you didn't know, is quite the artist and his pumpkin carvings are always amazing. I am always a few years behind him in technique. This year he did something totally different...


This is what he carved. I know. It's amazing.





And this is mine. I know it's not as cool as Sir Pumpkin Master Cain, but I was pretty proud of it.

Happy Halloween!
(I just wanted to be the first to say it for 2011)

More conversations

Miles: "Faye!!!! Don't shut the door!"

The door shuts and Faye comes running out to me.

Me: "Go open the door for Miles."

Faye goes running back.

"Stuck!"

Miles thought the door: "Faye, you have to do a tummy wummy fight!"

Faye makes the sound of her body smashing into the door.

Miles: "Harder!!"

Faye makes a louder sound of her body smashing into the door. "Ugh."

Miles: "You can do this, Faye! Try again!"

Faye stops and I hear little feet coming my way.

Faye: "Mawee, can you help me pwease?"


Maybe you had to be there. But it was awesome.

My Kids' First Real Conversation:

Faye: Milesh, guess what.

Miles: What, Faye?

Faye: Fishies.

Miles: Fishies?

Faye: Yeah, fishies!

(hysterical laughter from both of them)

Faye: Milesh, guess what.

Miles: What?

Faye: Thomas.

Miles: You can say Thomas?

Faye: Yeah, Thoooomassss!

Miles: Is Thomas your best friend? Who is your best friend?

Faye: Feet!

Miles: You can say feet? Oh, yeah, you can say feet.

Faye: Yeah, Feet! Ew, stinky feet!

(Both of them laugh hysterically again).


By far the best minute of my week.

"Honey, whats new." -Best in Show

As previously mentioned, the Cain's have undergone many changes in the past few months... Let me tell you about it.

Did I mention that we moved?



We live, happily, in a sweet little suburb of Cleveland called Shaker Heights in the great state of Ohio. We love it here. It is wonderful and beautiful and there is so much to do. I plan to blog about all of our great adventures.

David can relax. (And so can I.)




I am proud to say that after 12+ hours of studying per day, Dave has finished his first two years of med school and has taken both the USMLE and the COMLEX board exams- both of which are fancy terms for great, big, fat, 8 hour long tests. He is now doing rounds, working on patients at the hospital, and looking all doctorish. He is a handsome fellow (or MSIII, I should say (That was really bad med school humor)).

And now he can actually spend time with us! It's so awesome! I seriously can't express how great it is to be with him. He has worked so hard and continues to work hard, but now he can work hard and play. It's superb. I love my husband.

What else?

-Miles started reading. I seriously can't tell you how proud I am of this kid. One day he sounded out and read a word. The next day, a small sentence. The next day, he read a book. Borderline genius.

-Faye started walking. Finally. We though Miles took a long time @ 15 months to walk, but Faye was well into her 16th month before she could take more than two steps on her own. Now she struts her stuff all over the place.

-Faye signs. She is starting to master the art of Baby Sign. She gets so excited to show off her awesome skills and to learn as many new ones as she can. I will try and get it on film for you later.

Miles graduated. Each day he gets a little bigger. He isn't my little toddler anymore- it is bittersweet. Here he is with his best friends at the graduation of his first year of preschool (he will have three of those- I didn't think things through very well...)



Faye is growing some hairs. Sort of. She was starting to look like Doc Brown- we had to do something. Now, she mostly just has a skullet.

I am happy. I really am. Miles took this picture.



Life is wonderful.

Easter!

We are having so much fun for Easter!

Easter egg hunt we did with some of our friends from Erie!


Faye loves her new stroller. Thanks Gram Gram!


Miles gets paid in candy for finding plastic eggs. I guess that makes him a professional.




I think Faye will make for a fantastic hula-hooper.

Have a happy day today.

So Proud of my Baby.

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting Sunday- which for those of you that don't know means that there is a portion of our church time that is spent sharing our testimonies of the gospel (this is done at a podium in front of the congregation).

At the beginning of the meeting I felt the shimmy-shakes in my heart and which told me that I needed to get up there- my intent was to ignore the shimmy-shakes.

Then, one of Miles' best friends got up and bore his testimony. He is three. Miles was so excited to see him up there and he asked if he could go too. We talked about why you go up and asked him what he wanted to say. He told me that he was going to say "I love my family and I'm thankful for baby Jesus." He didn't tell me what else he was planning to say...

We got up there and he was all smiley and cute and then...

"I love my family."

Pause. Help from Mommy.

"I love Baby Jesus. Oh, and I love Books. Yeah, I love Books.

(Indiscrimanate mumbles... maybe about the temple?. maybe about breakfast. We aren't quite sure.)

"Gsbdyufsnkdjfbshd. Jesus Christ, Amen."


I was so proud of him! When he was done- I bore my testimony, and then Miles said

"I want to say one more word, okay?"

I thought it was going to be about church or family or nursery. But, instead, it was this...

"I love trees too."

So- even though he is really young and he didn't say the standard "bare your testimony" words, I was so proud of him. He wanted to share with us and he wasn't shy.

Good work little man. You inspired me.

Too cool

So today I went to Ikea- which as cool as that is- isn't the coolest thing that happened to me. You be the judge:

I saw a joker hat and put it on my head and turned to Miles

Me: What do you think?

Miles: Not cool.

Touche, my son. Not bad.

Summer lovin, had me a fall.

Neglect. It's a problem.

Lets get back on track with a quick recap of The Cain's Adventures Sum/Fall 2009.


Last Beach Hurrah.
Oh how we love the Erie beaches. It has already snowed here and it felt like summer here for literally about one week. Lame. We may head down there again in our gloves and snow boots just to feel the total relaxating affect that Presque Isle has.







The Raviiiiinnnneeee Flyeeer- at Waldameer- you're gonna love it here!
-ps. That was Miles' version of he jingle. You should hear his Activia! commercial. It's awesome.

So we only went to the water park at Waldameer, but it was still super fun. We are so tan. ...oh, wait.







Mama Suite, my sister Sabrena and baby Holden came to visit! Super fun breast pumping extravaganza! More to come on my creamy sister later.




Port Farms is the key to happiness.
It's hard to know who has more fun at PFs- the kids or the adults. I'd say it's about even.














Probably the cutest picture ever taken. ever.


Move over Martha.

I am not a crafty person. I think the stuff people make is adorable, but I just don't think I have the patience to successfully finish a project. Also, I don't have the skill. So, you can imagine how proud of myself I was when I finished two projects in one day! I think Mod Podge is my new best friend. Also, I tried my hand (and debatably succeeded) at my first sewing attempt since I was about 10.

Wanna see? These are some mock growth chart examples I made for my ward's Super Saturday next month. What do you think? (You can click on the picture to see the image a little bigger and clearer.







Miles is Ffree!!
This one deserves it's own post, but I will post some quick pics of the happy occasion.


Can you guess what we are?









Not only did I craft, but I also attempted a Dinosaur Train cake for Miles. These are huge milestones for me. Good thing he is only three and he doesn't have a huge grasp on cake splendor yet. wink wink.

Move over, butter.

Oh, one more thing- David will be doing his 3rd and 4th year rotations in Cleveland, Ohio! It is about 2 hours away and although we will be very sad to leave Erie and the awesome people and fun here- we are excited for our new adventure!


That is all for now. Loves.

(Meant to be said by the old guy on Christmas Vacation): The Blessing.

Continuing our Utah trip...

We were blessed, literally, to have Faye's blessing while we were with all of our family and a few of our friends in Utah. It was a beautiful blessing. David is such a great father and he loves Faye so much. Here are a few highlights of the special day.

Faye was lucky enough to wear the dress that my Mom made almost 30 years ago for Celeste. It was perfect for her. Thanks Mom.

Ps. My baby is gorgeous. Seriously, I look at her everyday and just don't even believe that such a beautiful person exists. Maybe it's just her constant cherubic smile, I don't know. I do know I'm her Mom and everything, but isn't she unusually cute?