Happy Birthday, Dylan!

Wednesday was Dylan's 9th birthday. Wednesday is a hard day to have your birthday on, since church is in the evening.

I took cookies to his classroom. His teacher wasn't quite ready for us. Nate became very upset since he wanted to sit by Dylan right then! He started throwing a fit (very proud mommy moment), so we went out into the hall until it was time. Nate was very happy to be able to sit by Dylan and eat a cookie. When we first got there, Dylan was sitting at his desk with his head down on his desk. I asked him about it, and he told me that he was just tired. His friend came over to play after school. Dylan was a bit subdued, but he seemed fine. Can you tell where this is headed? I fixed Dylan's favorite food for dinner, macaroni and cheese. He ate some, then told me that he was full and that his head hurt a little. Very unusual for Dylan to not eat macaroni and cheese. I touched his head and the cause of the headache was immediately known. Poor Dylan runs a 102 degree fever on his birthday! Since Mark was working late, there was no church last night. Dylan was able to open his present. He was thrilled with the Wii American Idol game. We all had a lot of fun with some Wii Karoke. When Dylan went to bed last night, I was sure that he had strep throat. He woke up this morning with no fever and feeling fine. He still stayed home from school. Hopefully he will stay fever free and feeling good.

In honor of his birthday - here are 9 things that I love about Dylan.

1) He is so stinkin' smart! Scary smart at times. I can't wait to see what he does with his life.

2) He has fantastic blue eyes! They are the best color. He is the only one of our boys who has truly kept the blue color.

3) He loves to read - I love that he loves to do something that I love to do also

4) He is an individual. He is not afraid to do things his own way.

5) He is sweet-hearted. He is the one who will tell you that you look pretty, and he really means it.

6) He is incredibly sweet to Nate. Nate has been very attached to Dylan lately.

7) He is super silly - sometimes this is funny, sometimes it is just incredibly annoying.

8) He has always made the most hysterical sound effects. I think he walks around with his own internal soundtrack playing and the noises just escape some of the time!

9) He has a strong sense of what is fair and just. He treats others accordingly.

We love you sweet Dyl Wyl.

Easter 2008

Easter came way too soon this year! I was not even close to prepared. Mark was very proud of the fact that I did not buy Easter outfits for the boys. My budget for extras was pretty lean since we just had the birthday parties, and it was going to be cold. No cute outfits this year. The Easter baskets were pretty lean, too. There was a quick Easter egg hunt in the living room, but it was nothing special. The only redeeming thing that I did this Easter was to make the bunny biscuits. We did all go see a movie that afternoon (National Treasure). Overall, I give myself a D- for Easter this year. There is always next year (sigh).

The baskets. The boys were happy with what the Easter Bunny brought them.

The bunny biscuits - One poor bunny lost his mouth in the oven

Cade trying on his penguin outfit - such a cutie!

What I Have Learned

Having the boys gone for 5 days and then having them come back has taught me one thing - they make a MESS! Mark and I cannot believe the amount of mess that those sweet 4 boys make. Their mess seems to permeate the house. And the worst of them is Dylan! He leaves a trail of mess wherever he goes. And what he does to his clothes - unbelievable!! I love my sweet messes, but I could live without the cleaning that comes with them.

Spring Break Fun?

I would love to be able to report on all the fun activities that we did with the boys over Spring Break, but the truth is that I shipped the boys off to Mimi and Poppa's so that I could try to catch up some on my work. By all reports, the boys had fun. I wish that I could say that I had a lot of fun, but the truth is that most of the time I typed. When I got tired of that, then I typed some more. My stack of work has gone down, but it has not disappeared. I was able to do a few fun things. I had Bunco on Monday night - that was fun. I was able to eat lunch with my friend, See-Dub, that was refreshing. Mark and I went out to eat one night - and no, we did not talk about the boys the entire time. All in all, it was a productive week. The boys had fun and my fingers hurt. I hope that next Spring Break is filled with more fun!

6 Things about My Cade

In honor of my sweet Cader Raider turning 6, here are 6 things that I love about him.

1) I love how he is so snuggly. He will crawl into my lap with his scrawny body and snuggle up. He snuggles in bed with me every morning and waits for Mark to find the "bed bug" in the bed.

2) His memory is amazing. He can remember the craziest things from years ago.

3) He is very dramatic, both with good things and with bad things. I love the fact that the littlest things can bring him such joy.

4) I love his sweet eyes. They are beautiful and so very expressive. And his crazy hair that will NOT lay flat!

5) I love that he is so funny, without even trying to be. He can get so upset when we joke with him because he thinks that we are being serious. He is always fine after we explain the joke to him. He has been trying out jokes lately - they are so NOT funny. He makes us laugh just by being him.

6) I love how he looks at things differently than most people. He thinks of things that I would never have thought of. I appreciate that he helps me to look at things from a different angle.

We love you, Cade!

Cade's Birthday Bash

Cade's big birthday bash was last Sunday. He wanted a ....(drumroll, please) penguin party! He wanted to invite his classmates, the neighborhood kids, some of his church friends, and his cousins! All of those people added up fast! Cade was so very excited about this party. He enjoyed picking out his cake, picking out his party stuff, planning what to do, and picking out the goody bag stuff. He was incredibly excited and joyful. For me, it was worth every penny we spent. Cade had a great time! He still was not feeling 100%, but thank goodness we did not have to cancel. The kids bounced, played with bubbles, played with chalk, and had a snowball fight. The snowballs were styrofoam, and I was a little concerned that the snowballs would cause injuries - but it went perfectly.


Fun bouncing - the little boy in green is Ethan who is one of Nate's buddies - Ethan's brother is Cade's buddy

This little girl is Nikki - Nate LOVES Nikki. Really, he talks about her often and loves playing with her. They are so cute together.
The birthday boy!
Cade with his buddy, Mason

Snowball fight!!!!!!

My nephew, Drew

My niece, Ashley

Mark got into the action

See all the penquins

It was windy so we had to hide in a corner to blow out the candles

Maybe not the best planning here :)
Present time

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET CADER RAIDER

Family Birthday Party

Saturday night we had a family birthday party for the March birthdays. We celebrated Cade, Dylan, Lee, Ashley, and my brother-in-law's father, Bob. Earlier that day, Cade had a headache and a fever, which means strep throat. We rushed to Care Now so that he could get antibiotics and his party the next day would not have to be cancelled. Even though he was not feeling well in these pictures, he was still happy. Why not? He was being spoiled with many penguin presents :)


A penguin costume, perfect for my penguin boy.
Dylan was able to get some of his presents - he will have to wait for his birthday for his present from us.

Nate could not understand why he did not get any presents - isn't it like Christmas?
My sweet niece.
Cade has been thrilled with his penguin Webkinz. He got a little penguin Webkinz the next day. He is so excited to have a big one and a little one. He named them Icee and Snowee.
Grammy got beach towels for the boys.

Nate finally got to open a present! Grammy gave Nate and Chase an early birthday present so that they could have a towel for summer.

My cute pirate, ARRR

Do I even need to comment on this picture
Cade has wanted this Lego set. Mark and I and my parents got it for him. It was too big for my normal hiding place, so I hid it under the bed. Not the best hiding place. Cade found it and was so excited. He then tried to pretend like he didn't see it. I asked him if he could guess what we got him and he "guessed" Lego city. He then told me that he would try to erase it from his mind. Yeah, right! I still wrapped it for him.
My nephew, Drew. Or is it my niece, Drew?
Chase's towel

Cade was thrilled with his penguin music headphones and with the penguin that will play your MP3 player out loud.
More presents for Dylan
Doesn't he look cute with the headphones on?
Look! A penguin beach towel from Grammy.