Yesterday was an exciting day getting to see baby #4 on the ultrasound. Everything appeared healthy and good. We discovered that this baby is very active, the ultrasound tech said we have a little pistol on our hands. When she tried to take a picture of the face, the baby put an arm over it's face. When she tried to take a picture of the spine, baby somersaulted to the other side. When she tried to take a picture of the foot, baby would kick it's legs. We knew immediately this baby would fit in our family just fine!
The ultrasound tech kept asking me what I had eaten for breakfast, I was too embarrassed to admit that on the way to the appointment I felt shaky and I found a Slim Jim in my purse to eat. After seeing this baby move, there's something to be said about "Snapping" into a Slim Jim!
Clark and I stopped at Party America on our way home from the appointment to fill a giant balloon with confetti and helium for the boys to pop to find out the gender! We were pretty excited with our giant balloon!
Ethan was voting for a boy. Quinn was adamant telling everyone that he was having a baby brother. And Caden said, "I want a sister just to see how she will handle this family."
Watch this video to see the results:
It's official! Caden is 6! Oh how I love this boy! He is sweet, intense, smart, thoughtful, creative and fun! He loves art and creating, he loves playing with his brothers, and he loves going to school. Instead of wanting a birthday party he wanted some fun family time...that somehow turned into 5 days of a Caden celebration. What a party!
Friday night the boys went camping with Clark as part of the Father and Sons Camp out. It was a perfect way to start the celebration. The boys absolutely loved the night with their Dad in the mountains, and I loved that Quinn called it "mom's night off."
Flash was a little bright!
Quinn was so comfy in the tent he couldn't wake up, he missed the hike and everything.
On Saturday afternoon we went to Colorado Springs to the trampoline park.
Afterwards we went to Red Robin. Shy little Caden was equally delighted and mortified when the waiters came out singing with an ice cream sundae for our birthday boy.
Monday night was the circus! So much fun with these 3 little clowns! I laughed and laughed watching their reactions to the guy doing crazy tricks on the Wheel of Destiny. They were so amazed by everything. Quinn kept yelling "awesome" in the lady's ear that sat in front of us.
He woke up the morning of his birthday to find decorations, wrapped presents, and fun signs around the house. He loved it all!
Quinn and I surprised him at school with lunch.
He had a fun afternoon opening presents. Lots of new art supplies for the little artist.
The birthday boy requested cheese fondue for his birthday dinner. I still have no idea where that came from!
Instead of cake he wanted ice cream sundaes.
We sure love this handsome 6 year old!
The only video that turned out from the night. This was right before bed and he was a little hyped!
I love my daily conversations with Quinn. 3 1/2 has to be the best age! Lately Quinn has been carrying around a little set of scriptures that he has. He insists on sleeping next to them in his bed at night. I finally figured out that it is from the song he has learned in primary called "Scripture Power." One of the lines says, "scripture power keeps me safe from sin, scripture power is the power to win." To a little boy who spends half of his day pretending to be a super hero, scripture power really is a super hero like strength for him. I love to hear him sing that song and pump his little scriptures into the air. The other day we left the house without our scriptures, he pointed out that we had forgotten and said he wouldn't have his scripture power. About 5 minutes later he said out of the blue, "it's okay mom, as long as I have the scripture power in my heart I will be able to deflect my sins." It cracked me up!
Quinn insisted on checking out this puppet from the library. He calls it the "3 toed slob," and is pretty good at imitating a sloth's voice.
Just ready to save the world!
He was so proud to come with me to the school. He insisted on wearing his backpack...and of course cowboy boots always!
At the school skate night a few weeks ago he figured out the best way to get around was to ride on the skate trainer.
For a couple of days he wore this bandanna and made us all call him "baby Scout."
Mother's Day felt extra special this year. I have 4 wonderful reasons to celebrate...Ethan, Caden, Quinn and baby #4 coming in October. I feel so blessed!
My boys did a wonderful job of spoiling me on Mother's Day. I got lots of sweet cards and gifts all throughout the day. And to put the icing on the cake, Clark replaced our broken grill with a new one and made lobster tails (which totally grossed the boys out) and steaks for a special dinner.
I loved this questionnaire that Caden filled out at school about his mom.
My last surprise at night was finding all of the boys' prized stuffed animals tucked into my bed. So sweet!
Caden lost one of his top front teeth while eating a popsicle. Such exciting news! And he looks pretty cute with a gap in his smile.
That night with great anticipation he left his tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy. Somehow the next morning when he checked to see what she left he found nothing! How could she have forgotten Caden? Clark saved the day by helping Caden write her a letter and stick it in the mailbox.
It said: Dear Tooth Spy and Tooth Fairy,
I lost a tooth yesterday, and it looks like you couldn't fine me. We moved to Pueblo. This is our new address: I'm sending you my tooth, would you please send money. From Caden
When he got home from school he found a letter addressed to him! A sticker and $2 from the tooth fairy! That letter saved the day!
My favorite part of the whole day was when Clark caught Ethan trying to discreetly get money out of his piggy bank to slip under Caden's pillow that morning when Caden was so sad. These brothers don't know how lucky they are to have each other.
The boys' school does a really fun school carnival, it is Western themed and they call it the Hootenanny! They advertised for weeks before the event and no one was more excited than Caden. For weeks and weeks all we heard about was the upcoming Hootenanny (which is a really fun word for a Kindergarten kid to say, he emphasized each syllable).
The day of the Hootenanny all of the school kids get to wear Western wear to school. It was advertised that there would be a girl and a boy winner from each grade that would get to wear a special ribbon that night at the Hootenanny. Caden was determined that he was going to win that ribbon. So determined that the night before the event I found myself at Hobby Lobby finding fabric to make chaps. He felt pretty proud the next morning with his Sheriff badge, bandanna, hat, Wranglers, boots, lasso, and chaps.
Ethan, on the other hand did not feel so proud the morning of when he had on his horse costume. He had planned on his own that he was going to be Caden's horse. However, putting on the 3 sizes too small costume and actually picturing himself walking into 2nd grade wearing something so different from everyone else put him into a small panic attack. So in the 5 minutes before school started we made him into a cowboy too. (Too bad little guys have to grow up and follow "social rules."
Caden was selected as the boy winner from his class and got to go down to the front office with the other Kindergarten winners from the other classes to be judged for the grand ribbon. That was way out of the comfort zone for shy, little Caden. He was so nervous. He told me later his heart was beating so fast. He felt a little ripped off that the boy that won didn't have chaps, Sheriff badge, or a bandanna. Luckily the big event that evening lived up to all of the hype and the ribbon was soon forgotten.
I'm luckiest girl around to have 4 handsome cowboys on my team!
Last Saturday we joined a group of people from our church to participate in some Earth Day clean-up activities. We were assigned a stretch of the river and a fishing pond. No one worked harder than Caden. He loves to find "treasures" in our yard and can spot the tiniest little beads or rocks. So he was a natural hunting for trash. As we were leaving a man from the newspaper came and snapped some pictures. I didn't really think much of it.
The next day at church someone came and handed Clark and Caden a copy of the Pueblo Chieftain. There on the front page of the Local section was Caden picking up trash and Clark showing his best side to the camera! Caden has never been more proud. He sat there with his smug little grin all during Sacrament Meeting, and then took the paper to show his Primary class.
He was pretty proud to take it to show his Kindergarten class, and then the secretary hung it up in a glass box in the front of the school. It couldn't have happened to a better kid! I asked him how it felt to be famous, he said, "it's not that fun being famous, it's just fame."
