Kaden is 4!

4 years old!

 

There haven't been a lot of birthdays, but I've been able to make their cakes every year.

THIS year Kaden had a vision as to what he wanted for his 4th birthday cake...

He wanted a pirate cake.

My first thought: "What the heck is a pirate cake? And how the heck would I make that?!"

Kaden and Owen helping with the birthday cake-- Kaden has become quite the helper in the kitchen. 

We even tried out our ice cream maker that Ben & I received as a wedding present. 

(And I have to admit that this has sat in the cabinet for way too long; homemade ice cream is amazing!)

 

I basically took Julie's vision and toys and came up with this to complete the Pirate Cake.

Kaden seemed satisfied.

Birthday success!

 

 

Papa looking thrilled to be at our house.  Sorry for the bad pic.  ;)

All of our kids around the new table

(Kaden, Luke, Owen, Ridge, Erika, Katie and Evelyn)

 Me, Julie and Laura cutting cake and scooping out ice cream for everyone.



Wonderland Park... Again

Getting a rain check was probably the best thing that could have happened.

We not only got to experience Wonderland (and all of it's glory) once but TWICE within a week.

AND we (Julie, Abby and I) took all 6 kids out to dinner at Jason's Deli on the 2nd night.

The BIG kids in our group included Luke, Katie, Erika, and Kaden.

Ha!

 

 

Owen might be a man of few words, but when Julie asked him if he wanted to ride with her he got his worried look, shook his head no, and she swears that he said, "I fall." 

(which makes sense, because he's taken a few good falls at the house recently)

Throughout the night Owen seemed fascinated with the rides, but whenever I asked him whether he wanted to get on (the boats, helicopters, cars) he would give a stern, "NO".

I finally convinced him to sit on the carousel bench with me and I think he had fun; no crying nonetheless. 

Look at those faces.  We didn't have to try to convince Luke & Kaden to get on any rides.

 Dividing & conquering.  Abby took her older daughter of 5 on a ride while I took Luke & Kaden on the sky ride and Julie wielded the stroller with the little ones. 

 

 "Don't worry Owen, Julie's GOT you.

You're NOT going to fall."

 

Ending the night (and the season) with the log ride.

 



Grandpa Comes to Texas

This was a good time for dad to come to town because he was between cuttings with his alfalfa and Ben was able to hang around and visit before starting back to school.

Dad also got to check out our new house AND experience his own guest bedroom/bathroom for the first time ever.

 

Going to an Amarillo SOX baseball game together.

 

 



Wonderland Park

Every since Kaden went to Wonderland Park last July (2012), he has been talking about going back.  We see billboards around town, commercials on TV and fliers on grocery receipts advertising Wonderland Park and Kaden has continually asked when we were going back...

 

The time finally arrived.

Kaden and his three friends riding the "Frog Hopper" as soon as they entered the main gate.

Kaden, Luke, Erika and Katie aboard the train

Since I was one of the few adult donning a wrist-band, I was able to ride a few rides that I might not have choosen myself... including the Scrambler.

the boat ride

Evelyn (tiny girl with red hair) was fearless and willing to ride all of the rides solo even though she just turned one last month.  I thought Owen might take her lead, but he was content being held most of the night...

Owen & Evelyn sharing a stroller.

(love this photo)

 

The best part of the night was when the storms rolled in.  Literally... This was the best part because the kids seemed content after riding/playing for an hour and 1/2... But since it started storming, they had to close the park and we all got rain checks!

 

... to be continued after next visit

Yoga Certification

excuses, excuses for not taking more pictures and updating the blog

BUT

in addition to the remodel & move, I decided to go through a real 200-hour yoga certification. 
So this has been a HUGE focus this summer. 

 

At the beginning of 2013 I talked with Ben and weighed all of the pros/cons...
I knew this certification would be a BIG undertaking but I came up with more reasons than not to finally take the plunge and go through the training.
 

1.  I knew I wouldn't be pregnant or nursing (this has been a huge chunk of the past 4-5 years) and a reason that I couldn't do this a few summers ago.
 

2.  The training was going to take 3 months (June-August) and literally only 5 minutes from our house (good trainings seldom come to Amarillo and a 200-hour yoga certification is almost unheard of).
I have a few friends with this certification, but they had to spend weeks/weekends in Denver or Dallas over the span of a year/years to get their entire 200 hours in. 
 

3.  A huge chuck of the class work would completely work with our family schedule with Ben home for the summer.  (for 9 weeks we met, our small group voted to do it early-- meaning every day, Monday-Saturday from 6-8 a.m.) 
This worked out great for the family as Kaden was rolling out of bed about the time I pulled into the garage each morning.  In other words, I had less "mom guilt" about leaving the house to take a course that would cut into our family time.

... We started on June 3rd and I will be completely finished in less than 3 weeks. 
I've been sore in places I didn't know I had and I would even go as far to say that some of our physical sessions were as hard, if not harder than some of my marathon training. 
And I'm so grateful I've been able to do it this summer.