Twelve Have Passed

My last year with pre-teen Cade arrived today. Twelve years have passed and today we celebrate it! He woke to some Sister Schubert's cinnamon rolls and we sang a little morning Happy Birthday song. 

He chose his annual all day Partypalooza ( I mean, why would you NOT?) and we invited pretty much the same crew that's been coming for years. We had a couple absentees this year....one that has been at his birthday parties every single year of his life. That was a bummer:( His friends were primed and ready for an all day swimathon and I was prepared with sunscreen since I sent home a bunch of lobsters last year. 

 Cade requested Grandma's chocolate cake and as usual it was divine!

Happy birthdaaaay dear Caaaadee....Happy birthday to you!

The gang.

Swimming, swimming and more swimming....

And the annual birthday jump. I always love this photo:)

We ended the night with some dinner at Drake's where there was a trivia contest going on. The boys participated but didn't win (although they thought they had it in the bag!). The biggest spurt of laughter came when someone else in the restaurant named their trivia team "Saving Ryan's Privates" instead of the popular movie "Saving Private Ryan". Oh boys. If it has to do with anatomy or bodily sounds there is always laughter. 

I'm so thankful to have had the privilege of watching Cade grow over these twelve years. I pray for many, many more partypaloozas to come!~

Sixth Grade in the Books

 I really can't even believe that I'm sitting here blogging about Cade completing his first year of middle school. As the cliché goes, time is flying. This year started and then all the sudden it was over. I'm not sure I had time to blink! 

 Cade had a great year. He didn't get shoved into a locker or pushed down in the hallway and he's kept a good distance from crazy girls so I'm considering this a winning year! He also came out with a few awards. He made A-B Honor Roll (darn that one B!), received an "iChoose 2b a hero" award (I'm going to assume that means he had good manners and kindness), and an award for Power Performance in Math (he's a math rock star apparently). 

We are so proud of Cade and the young man that he's becoming. I hope the Lord continues to bless him in his endeavors. As much as I miss him sitting in my lap looking at truck books, I am still so very excited to watch him grow. Sixth grade is in the books! No more bottom of the totem pole....well, for 2 years anyway:)

Last Day of School!

The younger boys both had great teachers this year. In fact, I'm a little sad to leave them. Both of them have done great this year. 

Cade survived his first year of middle school and didn't get stuffed in his locker by a bully one time!:) He pretty much kept his same group of friends from elementary school which was great since I really like all of them. He quickly progressed from Nervous Nellie to opening his locker "with one hand without even thinking about it" (direct quote:) ) He received an award for Mathematics, A-B honor roll (ONE stinking B and it was a 90!!!), and a citizenship award. I would say that's a great end to his first year in middle school! 

Now, let's do some summer relaxing!!

Shadow

This picture is an accurate representation of Elaina and her baseball love. She is constantly the first person to ask to practice and even when brothers are practicing she is right behind them listening to every word Bobby says and she copy cats. I hope this passion leads to some scholarship or something!:)

She's always wearing her game face! 

A Day in Hollywood

While in Laguna we had the opportunity to take a quick day trip to Hollywood. We unfortunately had to take a guided tour and I'm never too excited about something so structured. We got to see a few things but then ran out of time before we could really do a lot of just walking and looking. 

It was interesting to see all the stars handprints and such. 

 I took my turn on the stairs in the Kodak theater where many a famous person has walked. It was also neat to see all the movies posted that had won Academy Awards in all the year's past. 

 The walk of fame was interesting too. I found a few stars I liked:

One thing about Hollywood is that you see a lot of people dressed up like famous people but they're really not famous. I came out of the Kodak and this Walking Dead wannabe scared the living daylights out of me! And because I was an easy target he followed me around for several minutes. Creepy. And gross. 

Been there done that in Hollywood. I'm not saying I'd never go back but I think I'd rather go to Beverly Hills or something where you might actually catch a glimpse of a real star. Hollywood was so overrun with tourists, if you were actually famous you'd never set foot there on a regular day! I'm glad we were able to experience it though! 

Laguna Beach

Bobby and I had the chance to go to Laguna Beach to spend a little time away. Work reward trips are always the best! 

Our room was oceanside with a little fire pit on the porch. We sat outside many a night fireside eating ice cream from a little place in the hotel we came across listening to the ocean. Relaxation at it's best! 

We also spent a lot of time at the beach watching the surfers. They would be out in the water from sun up to sun down.

The views here never, ever got old! 

We took a late afternoon walk and noticed our shadows in the sand....what a perfect opportunity to do heart hands:) 

Sunsets are beautiful pretty much anywhere but in Laguna I was thoroughly impressed by God's handiwork. They were breathtaking each and every night! 

Downtime is always a nice thing when you are raising a family with four rowdy kids. We appreciated the time away but we're always ready to get back to our crew!

Mother's Day

There is no greater blessing to me than these four. Happiest Mother's Day to me:)