It's finally happened....

It has finally happened, I Shannon Bradshaw, have found a way to get Kaiden to eat that doesn't invovle threats and food strikes. Kaiden has ALWAYS been a super picky eater. This started as a baby, when I couldn't get her to eat baby food. Hello, you're a baby you shouldn't decide what you do and you don't like. Since then it has been a constant battle of tears, frustration, and threats. Last Saturday this all came to an end when we went to A & W for dinner and Kaiden had a meltdown. We had ordered food for her and Carson to share and she decided that she didn't like it. After dinner we were planning on going to Diary Queen and getting an ice cream sundae. I informed her that she wouldn't be getting one if she didn't eat some of the food we had ordered (which were mini corn dogs by the way, who doesn't like corndogs). She wouldn't eat anything besides French Fries and as a result she didn't get any ice cream. When we got home she had a HUGE emtional meltdown. I mean shaking, crying, pleading. I was tired of this and frustrated that I had to put up with it at every single dinnertime meal. I almost felt like crying and pleading with someone myself. I put her to bed without receiving anymore food and then the idea hit me.
Kaiden works really well on using charts and stickers to recieve rewards, so I thought to myself why not try this on eating as well. I am not above the idea of bribing my kids to get them to do things. So I made a chart titled "Kaiden Loves to Eat New Food". Everytime she eats a new food at dinner (without crying) she gets to put a sticker on her chart. Once she has recieved 7 stickers she gets to go to the dollor store and pick out one thing that she likes. This was my thoery and plan and I was hoping that it would work.
On Sunday I made pot roast for dinner, I explained to her what she would get if she tried some pot roast. She was really excited about the idea but when it came time to actually eating the meat she kept putting it off saying "I'm waiting for it to cool down" Kaiden, it has been sitting there for 20 minutes, I think its "cooled" down by now. Finally, I got tired of her waiting for her to try it and told her that she wouldn't get a sticker. Five minutes later, she came over to me with her plate and started to eat her meat. Halleighluai!!! She even told me she liked it. What?!? Wow. It has continued to improve since then. She ate chicken pasta on Monday and French Dip sandwiches last night. In fact last night, I made my plate first and she asked me where her sandwich was. Who knew that I would have this kind of success. I don't even care that I had to bribe her with a prize from the dollar store (hello it's a dollar) because it's worth it seeing her try new foods and actually liking it. I am just so-o-o happy that the pleading (me) and the crying (her) have stopped. The last few nights of dinner have been a lot better. Hopefully this will continue. Oh, on a little side not, Carson who as always been my really great eater is starting to show some pickiness. I don't know if he learned it from watching his sister or if this is a little taste preference on his part, but I am already not liking this. Please let this be short lived. Please universe. Please.

Tempe Heart Walk

Since we live so much closer to AZ now, J. decided that he really wanted to participate in this years Tempe Town Lakes Heart Walk. One of his former coworkers at Chase Bank has a son with a heart condition, so every year she organizes one of the largest groups to walk and raise money. J. has supported her in past years by walking, so he really wanted to be apart of it again.

He decided to let the kids come and pulled them in the wagon. I, being the unmotivated fat pregnant woman chose to stay behind and wait for them at the finish line. Yeah, yeah, I know, I am lazy. Carson especially LOVED being pulled around in the wagon.

As soon as the walk started, Carson saw that I was not coming with them and got a little sad.

Yey!!! They fininshed! J. said Kaiden and Carson were really good until Carson got tired of the whole thing. He decided to get out of a moving wagon and fell head first onto the road. He was o.k. after a few minutes but J. had to carry him the rest of the way to prevent future injuries.

Are they not the cuteset kids you've ever seen? Seriously.

Las Vegas Temple

A few weeks after we moved to Las Vegas, we decided to drive over to the temple and check it out. I had never been to the Las Vegas Temple before and I really liked it. The kids were really excited to be outside and loved looking at all the flowers.

Dad Turns 70!!!

This year J.'s dad turned 70. His birthday is on New Years Eve so everyone decided that we needed to throw him a surprise party a few days early in honor of the momentous birthday. All I have to say was that he was definately surprised. We had the party at thier church building and so to get him down there a little white lie was told, something about the Bishop wanting to talk to him. I can't remember but it the trick. He was surprised, he walked in, we yelled "Surprise" ,and then he walked right back out. Priceless.

All of J.'s siblings and thier kids.

Uncle Mark is back, Uncle Mark is back!!!

One of the real reasons that Christmas was so exciting this year was the fact that my brother Mark was coming home from his mission to Russia. I was so more excited about that than Christmas. He supposed to be home two days before Christmas but because of weather and flight delays he wasn't able to make it until Christmas night. His flight didn't come until late Christmas night so we didn't get to see him until the next day. It was a frustrating few days but all that mattered was that he made it home.

Before Mark left on his mission, Kaiden and him were good buddies. She was really excited to see him again. Please try to ignore the fact that it looks like she is picking her nose or maybe she actually IS pickig her nose. Nice Kaiden.

Mark is already roped into reading a story to Robby, Kaiden and Adi.

Love the Russian hats!

Merry Christmas!!!

My family usually gets up at the insane hour of 6 a.m., however this year we were able to convince everyone to sleep in a little bit later. The kids were still jitterey and anxious to open presents. I wish that I could still get that exctied. Sigh. The good ole' days.

Carson really liked ripping into his presents. In this picture though it looks like J. is taking over the opening. Boo, J. Carson got a lot of cars. He is especially in love with all the Disney Cars.

The majority of the presents Kaiden asked for this year involved the Disney Princesses. She is some kind of crazy over them. I wonder if I should be concerned or if this is normal.

Putting out treats for Santa and his Reinderer

Kaiden and her cousin Adi were really excited about Santa this year. So my mother being the wonderful person that she is, helped them make cookies for Santa. They were so excited to leave him a plate of goodies and even made a plate of carrots for the Reindeer.

Christmas Eve- The Nativity Story

Every year my family reads the birth of Jesus and acts out the nativity story on Christmas Eve. Since we had all the grandkids together this year, we thought it would be fun if they dressed up as the characters. Kaiden and her cousin Preston were Mary and Joseph. I have to say that Kaiden was the best Mary ever. She was so attentive to her baby Jesus and never left his manger. At one point she came over and asked me if she could get him a baby toy to play with. So sweet.

We tried to get Carson to participate as a shepard, but he didn't like wearing the robe for very long. But he did make one cute little shepard!

Fun in The Snow!!

We went to my parents house for Christmas and Kaiden was really excited to go and spend time with her cousins, grandparents, and whoever else was there (we had a very full house). Besides all the visiting, Kaiden was really excited to be able to play in the snow. I have to admit that being a person who hates being cold I wasn't as excited to go outside everyday. However, between J. and I, she was able to get outside and play. Carson wasn't to sure about the whole snow thing and would only stay outside for a few minutes.

Ward Christmas Party

O.k., so I know that it is March so it is pretty sad that I am now getting around to posting some Christmas pictures but I do have a good excuse. That excuse would be the move down to Las Vegas and that fact that our computor died and we just got it replaced with a new one last week. Anyhoo, here are some fun pics with Santa Claus.