Caiden turned 5 yesterday!! We were driving home from a Whitecaps game last night and I looked at Phil and reminded him that 5 years ago, we were just meeting Caiden for the first time, and I was cuddling this incredible little life in my arms, amazed by how my heart was bursting with love for him.
We celebrated birthdays and time together with family last weekend. My MIL's birthday was Friday, so the kids and I met up with Wendy and Kenton, to decorate Sherin's house as a surprise. It was so much fun to get a cake all ready and hang streamers, balloons, and banners. She was so surprised and excited when she got home that night around midnight. 
Saturday morning, Phil's family met up with us at the theater, to see Cars 2 for Caiden's birthday. Last year, Caid chose to see Toy Story 3 for his birthday, and this year he wanted to see Cars. We decided to make it a family event and let Ellee and Cole join us, too. They did very well and enjoyed jumping from family members laps and chairs and eating lots of popcorn. After the movie, we put everyone down for naps, and then got everything ready to celebrate Sherin's birthday together as a family, and I also got things ready for Caiden's party the next day. We had pizza for dinner at the Austin's and then Joe got the boat ready so we could spend some time on the lake. We headed back in after 8 (though it was so beautiful, I would have loved to stay out there much longer!) so we could have Sherin's cake and ice cream and then get the kiddos to bed.
We got up and ready for church Sunday morning. I had been in a bit of a funk/discouraged the past several days, and I really didn't even want to go to church that morning. I tried to focus on changing my attitude and didn't even mention my attitude to Phil. Figured that a day I didn't want to go to church was a day I really needed to learn something. Anyway, went, got everyone situated in their classes and got seated. Had opportunity to greet people around us and was told/asked, "You guys are expecting again, right?" Um, nope. "Oh yes, you are. I thought I heard you were. Really, you are, aren't you?" Um, nope. {Fight back tears, answer very politely about the current ages of my children and life, try and think positive that she was just confused about a different niece or nephew that will be joining the family soon, etc, and then turn back around and try to focus on singing songs of praise to God, while fighting back tears.} When we started singing Laura Story's song, "Blessings", I just couldn't take it anymore and I ran out forcing the tears to wait until I got to the women's bathroom. After I calmed myself down, I headed out, where Phil met me, and I told him I would grab Cole and was heading home and would pick them up after church. He convinced me to just leave Cole and have some time to myself. So I left. It wasn't just this lady that got to me. It was just the last straw, on top of my own insecurities and emotional battles and struggles from life. Then when I went to pick everyone up, I heard that Cole had been very upset in the nursery, not even calming down with his Memaw, who was in the other nursery. They tried to find us to get him, but apparently couldn't find Phil. I felt sooo bad for my little Cole-baby! He is usually such a happy little guy, so when he gets so upset, it just makes me so sad for him! Needless to say, Sunday morning was NOT the best part of the weekend.
Anyway, I didn't really even plan to go there, in this post, but I guess I'm just getting it all off my chest.
So after church, we had lunch, got kids down for naps, and Phil and I finished getting things ready for Caid's party! It was so nice to have all our immediate family together for presents, playing outside, grilling out, and cake and ice cream! Caiden loved being with everyone, loves all his presents, and was pleased with his Lightning McQueen cake that I decided to attempt for him. (It definitely was far from perfect, but Caiden was excited about it, and I was proud of myself for even attempting to be creative.) We were so thankful for that time together with family, celebrating our Caiden-boy.
Yesterday, for Caiden's actual birthday, Memaw Sherin stopped by to give him hugs and a special birthday present (a box of Cars 2 cereal!) in the morning. We played a game of Cars 2 Monopoly (that we got him for his bday) and he beat me! We went to ToysRUs so he could use his $3 birthday coupon, and he picked out a fun Tow-Mater puzzle and got his birthday balloon (he said he didn't want his birthday crown, but then was very disappointed after we left, that he didn't get his birthday crown). After playing a while, having lunch, and attempting to make scotcharoos (Caiden's request), the kids took naps with my mom while I ran to the store to get more corn syrup (so we could finish the recipe.) Caiden woke up shortly after I returned from the store, so he helped me make the special scotcharoos. Both my mom and MIL found a super cute idea in different magazines, turning rice krispie treats into popsicle looking treats, so that is what we were going to attempt to do with the scotcharoos. Ellee woke up in time to help for a little bit, too. They turned out pretty cute, but we didn't allow enough time for them to cool and harden enough, so they fell off the popsicle sticks when the kids were eating them. They were yummy though, and looked super cute on the tray, and the kids had fun!
In the evening, we met up with Phil after work and headed to the Whitecaps game for the evening. A group from Phil's work got tickets for the game, and it happened to be on Caid's birthday. The kids had so much fun, even with a little bit of intermittent rain. The group from Phil's work all seemed to have fun with our kids, feeding them cotton candy, peanuts, etc, and letting them climb all over them and play with umbrellas and coupons and stuff. Caid even made friends with a couple of ladies sitting right in front of us, who have birthdays today. They kept talking to Caiden about being birthday buddies and their birthday jokes and laughing and teasing and having fun together. We had hotdogs, french fries, and Cole was still begging off everyone around us for more food (totally not kidding, even the strangers in front of us) good thing he's so cute that people weren't annoyed. Phil's coworkers kept teasing us about not feeding our obviously starving children, and glad they were there to give them something to eat. They even announced Caiden's 5th birthday and our whole group cheered for him. It was pretty exciting. We left before the game was over because it was after 10 and it started to rain again, and apparently the game was suspended for rain shortly after we left so we don't who won! I'm pretty sure I can confidentally say that Caiden had a blast and this will be a birthday week that he will remember with lots of happiness.
Caid even made friends with a couple of ladies sitting right in front of us, who have birthdays today. They kept talking to Caiden about being birthday buddies and their birthday jokes and laughing and teasing and having fun together. We had hotdogs, french fries, and Cole was still begging off everyone around us for more food (totally not kidding, even the strangers in front of us) good thing he's so cute that people weren't annoyed. Phil's coworkers kept teasing us about not feeding our obviously starving children, and glad they were there to give them something to eat. They even announced Caiden's 5th birthday and our whole group cheered for him. It was pretty exciting. We left before the game was over because it was after 10 and it started to rain again, and apparently the game was suspended for rain shortly after we left so we don't who won! I'm pretty sure I can confidentally say that Caiden had a blast and this will be a birthday week that he will remember with lots of happiness. We have another busy weekend ahead of us with lots more family time. The Battle Creek air show is going on this weekend, so we will go see the Blue Angels on Saturday with my mom and the Austin family. Sunday we will be in Muskegon with the extended family for a pool party 4th of July celebration and Monday will probably be spent pretty low key, recovering from the previous days of activities. Happy 4th of July weekend to you! (How is it already July?!?!)
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