Caleb Turns 2!

Some of Caleb's birthday came early, while we were at the beach. Since he loves veggie Tales so much, Grammie got him a pirate ship for the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, and a dress up Larry - basically like Mr. Potato Head but with a cucumber instead of a potato :) He loves them both! and plays with the all the time. So, the day before his birthday, here he was playing with Larry and sporting his new shoes. With physical therapy, he now has little braces that he wears on his feet (maybe one day we'll get a picture of them) and he needed new shoes that would accommodate the extra room the braces were taking up. So, the therapists suggested New Balance tennis shoes. So, here he is in his new shoes!

I think they make him look really big :(

On to the birthday! The night before with all his presents waiting for him :)

As soon as both kids were up, we tore into presents. They had so much fun and it was a great way to start off the day because who doesn't like presents first thing in the morning!??

The blocks were from Mommy and Daddy because Daddy is working on a new table that will be for both boys birthdays that will be a LEGO table on one side and a car table on the other but that will be another post :) So, the blocks came with Caleb's birthday.

Working on a puzzle from Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Shannon.

After presents, we had a birthday breakfast of pancakes with whip cream and sprinkles. Caleb ate it all up!

Getting in on some of the good from Aunt Lizzie's present to Cadence!

While Cadence had all her friends over for her party, Daddy took the boys and went out for lunch at McDonalds! What better way to celebrate being 2 than with chicken McNuggets :)

After McDonalds, Daddy took the boys bowling! I think that basically meant lots of food for the little boys while Daddy and Camryn bowled, but the pictures make it look like it was fun :)

Caleb Shaun ended his night skyping with Grammie and Poppa.

We will finish his birthday celebration with Cake and Ice Cream when his best friends, Garrett and Evan Kale, get back from the mission trip they're on in Alaska :)

Cadence Turns 5!

For Cadence's Birthday this year she was very specific about what she wanted for her cake and party. She wanted a cake with a rainbow, unicorn, and flowers. She also wanted a number 5 candle on it. For her party she had lots of ideas, a pool party with her friends, nail painting, a pizza party, and going to chuck E Cheese. So, we did our best to accommodate :) It really was fun for her to take an interest in her birthday. Other years I've planned what I wanted to, so this year was much different - but definitely not bad!

She also wanted a pink cake, so I bought the pink cake mix and the night before her birthday, started baking. The cake came out of the pan like this........

and I almost died! I didn't have a back up cake mix and it was 1030 at night so I was just going to have to make it work. 2 full batches of icing later, we pulled it off!

I honestly impressed myself with how well it turned out! Thanks to skittles and my little pony, a unicorn and rainbow aren't so hard :)

The table was all set with presents and ready to go when the kids woke up on their birthday morning.

She loved all her presents this year! Her Hello Kitty dress from Aunt Connie is being worn for day 2, she was surprised that Aunt Debbie knew she wanted to be a ballerina and is ready to start classes, the towel from MiMi and PopPop was so much fun, the bouncy ball from Aunt Lisa has already gotten lots of use, etc :)

We've worked really hard this year to not buy extra stuff for the kids. At Christmastime, we realized that our kids just weren't excited about it. It bothered us because thinking back to being kids, we lived for Christmas morning and what would be under the tree. So, after that we made several changes in our family - one of them being not buying stuff throughout the year and instead, just being grateful for what we have and saving presents for special occasions like birthdays. So, when it came to be birthday time, we asked Cadence what she wanted and the only thing she came up with was the "tangled" barbie and other than that she "was just grateful for all her other barbies and they were enough" That was a direct quote! Praise God it's working! Once she realized that she could ask for more than one thing, she added a couple more but mostly wanted the tangled barbie. So, that's what she got :)

Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Shannon sent 5 presents for our 5 year old to be opened throughout the day. It was so much fun to have things to do all day!

Birthday breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes with whip cream and sprinkles on top - except Cadence just wanted syrup :) Click HERE to watch them blow out their candles

Our Birthday Babies!

More presents from Liz and Shan!

We did have a party for Cadence and hit several things on her list.

A pool party

that she didn't swim at because it was too splashy

Pizza that we didn't take a picture of because 10 little girls killed 2 medium pizzas before I could get the camera out!

Our Girl with her special order cake :) I really can't believe that she is 5. It kind of makes me sad and proud all at the same time!

All her friends sang Happy Birthday you can watch it HERE

and of course nail painting. I'm so thankful for Jenn and Big Mary hanging out to help with all the nail painting because there were lots of girl with special orders for their fingers and toes!

Another present from Liz and Shan

and present #5 for our 5 year old! A book to read at bedtime that made me cry (thanks Liz)

and introducing Camryn, our newest foster kid! He's only staying for 10 days while his normal foster family is on vacation but we've really enjoyed him being here and he and Cadence are the best of friends ;)

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Girl! We love you so much and are proud of the person you are becoming. We can't wait to see what God does with you next!