Caden is Four!!

Today my oldest baby turned 4!! Where has the time gone? It is hard to believe we now have three kids! Rob and I often talk about what in the world we used to do when we didn't have kids! What did we do after dinner? What did we do on the weekends?! We honestly can't remember! Caden, Cole and Cora have certainly filled our lives with happiness.. a small amount of aggravation when being uncooperative.. but mostly pure joy! We can't even imagine our lives without them!

With Grammy, Grampy and Babci visiting on Sunday we decided to have cake a day early so we could share it rather than Rob and I basically eating the entire cake ourselves! I picked out 4 recipes and let Caden choose his cake.. he chose Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake. A great choice, as it was delicious! you can tell from the boys faces below that they thoroughly enjoyed it!

Being such a beautiful day on Sunday we gave Caden one of his presents early... especially since they were forecasting 3" of snow for today... which ended up being more like 4 or 5". A scooter! His friend Cole S across the street got one last year, so when we saw this one on the clearance shelf we thought it would be a great idea so they could "scoot" together! We now have the beginnings of a neighborhood scooter gang!

Normally we (okay... I) go overboard (to say the least) with presents, this year he really didn't need anything so he got a scooter, a bean bag chair for his room and a pair of Nike athletic pants and a pair of Nike soccer shorts. He couldn't have been happier! and we couldn't have chosen more well received gifts! Once the snow melts we are getting the kids a joint birthday gift of a new swing set since a fallen limb from the ice storm split the old one in half. Many thanks go out to all the family who have decided to help out by giving the kids money for their birthdays rather than toys!

Rob took today off in honor of Caden's birthday. We went to MaryAnn's Diner for breakfast, a place that is nearly impossible to get into on a weekend. They have the most delicious food.. I'll let your mouths water when I tell you I got banana stuffed french toast with strawberries and whipped cream on top.. MMMmm! I should also mention that MaryAnn's has been the first restaurant each of our kids went to after they were born! The easiest trip was definitely when we only had Caden!

Here is Caden in his bean bag chair this afternoon while he watched Tarzan, I don't think the bean bag chair has been empty since he got it, between Caden, Cole AND Rob!

Here are a few photos from Babci's visit... 4 generations of girls! Cora has been long awaited for! Babci gave her a hand-knit pink sweater and a hat that have been sitting in her hope chest since Caden was born!