Another birthday celebration

On Kaden's actual birthday we celebrated with a family birthday party. We started off with a wonderful birthday breakfast of German Pancakes and sausage!

The bigger celebration took place at dinner time. Kaden wanted his favorite meal, fish with nuts, for dinner. After dinner Kaden got to open his presents. He got his Weblos stuff and more Colts shirts. He was thrilled.

For his birthday treat we had an ice cream sunday bar (we didn't want anymore cake). Everyone enjoyed putting different toppings on their ice cream.

The best part though, was the whip cream. The boys (Chad included) can't resist the urge to spray the whip cream into their mouths. They love it! There is never an unhappy face in the group.

Happy Birthday Kaden, we love you!

Kaden's Birthday Party

Kaden is always excited about his birthday, but this year he was really excited because he got to have a friend birthday party!

We decided to have his party the weekend before his birthday because his birthday fell on a school day. Kaden wanted to have a football party again this year. We told him he could invite four friends over and we would have pizza and then the boys would play a football X-box game.

I loved it! This was the easiest birthday party we have ever thrown. For thur majority of the party the boys played the football game. They really got into the game. They barely noticed I was taking their picture! The boys all had a lot of fun and Chad and I enjoyed relaxing during all that fun.

After the game was over everyone congregated in the kitchen for cake and presents. Kaden's last cake was a football cake, so this time I decided to make a football field (personalized for Kaden, of course). I even made goal posts with yellow straws.

The best part of the cake was watching Kaden look at the cake for the first time!
We gave everyone huge pieces of cake so we wouldn't have any leftovers!!

It is always fun to watch Kaden open presents.

Kaden's birthday was just before the Super Bowl in Indianapolis, so part of the thank you gift included a Super Bowl cup! It worked out well.

It was a great party. Kaden loved it and so did we!

Devon's Birthday

This year Devon's birthday landed on a Friday. That day also happened to be Chad's work Christmas party. So we talked to Devon and decided that we would celebrate his birthday a little bit on his actual birthday and then again the next evening. He was all for it (I mean, who wouldn't be - two parties)!

So on Friday morning I made Devon Mickey waffles for breakfast. He was excited to have his special breakfast instead of the normal cereal (so were the rest of us)!

During the day I brought cookies in for Devon to share with his classmates at school. That is always an exciting delivery! Devon really looked forward to sharing his treats with all of his friends. Later that night, Chad and I went to the work Christmas party. While we were gone Devon and the boys had pizza, watched a movie, had a treat and had a sleepover. Sounds like fun to me!

The next night we had the big party with presents and cake. It was just a family birthday party, but that is still a lot of fun! Devon loved opening all of his presents. He got a special present from my parents in Canada. They sent him a popular canadian candy bar. It is called Aero. It was chocolate mint. What makes it different from our candy bars in the USA is it is filled with tons of tiny air bubbles. Devon was very kind and he shared some of his candy bar with everyone in our family. That is a pretty significant amount of the candy bar he gave away, but he still enjoyed eating the leftovers by himself!

One of his favorite gifts was a marshmallow shooter. I tried to get some action shots, but Devon was too quick. Just know that Devon had a ball shooting marshmallows inside and outside the house for the next couple of days!!

Since we were so busy with Christmas and Christmas parties we bought Devon a snowman ice cream cake. He was very thrilled with the cake! It was a fun way to end all of the birthday celebrations!

We love you Devon! You are a great boy! Happy Birthday!

Brooke's Birthday

This year I wasn't expecting that my birthday would be that exciting. Chad informed me a couple of weeks before that he had to go back to China and he would be gone for my birthday. Oh well, birthday's aren't that exciting when your an adult anyway, right?

Well, I was wrong. My birthday was wonderful! First of all, just before Chad left for China he and the boys celebrated my birthday. I was not expecting it, so it was a nice surprise. I was perfectly happy with that celebration, but I soon found out there was more in store.

One surprise I got happened a couple of days before my birthday. There was a knock on the door and when I opened it I saw a bouquet of roses. I was delighted to receive flowers.

I thought they were from Chad, but when I read the card I found they were actually from Chad's company! The card read:

As you might guess I was very surprised and impressed. This has never happened before and I was very honored that they would think to send me flowers in Chad's absence. I quickly sent a text to Chad to let him know what I had received and he was also impressed. He didn't know that they were sending me flowers (although they had asked him when my birthday was).

The next surprise came in the form of flowers again. This time they were from Chad. He sent them to me on Saturday before my actual birthday. They were beautiful! They reminded me a lot of the flowers he sent me before I went to the temple. It made me feel so happy and loved to think that Chad had the flowers sent to me when he was half a world away.

Friends also remembered my birthday, by sending me emails or gifts. One friend, even though she is out of the country, remembered my birthday and sent me some cake decorating tips. I loved it! She tricked me, she asked me about cake decorating like she was wondering for herself and then she gives them to me as a gift. One gift I had to laugh at was from a good friend. She got me a Snuggie! I have always joked about them, but you know what, they are actually really comfortable and very warm! Plus, I think the leopard print suits me . . . don't you?

On the morning of my actual birthday the boys got up and made me a wonderful breakfast. We had to go to church, so the boys had to wake up extra early in order to get everything done. They were so sweet, they even made me a cool birthday sign. It was such wonderful morning!!

If that wasn't enough, one of my last gifts came from a great friend. She knew that Chad was out of town, so she invited us over for dinner. The boys told her that I liked ham, so that is what she made for dinner! It was a delicious dinner and we had a nice evening at her house. It was a simple gift, but one that really made me feel loved!

I wasn't expecting much, but I was delighted by all the wonderful things I was given on my birthday. Everyone was so kind and thoughtful. This is one birthday I won't forget!

Trevor's Special Year

This was an exciting birthday for Trevor. He had been looking forward to it for quite a while. This was the year that he would be baptized and also become a cub scout.

We started the celebrations off with a birthday party at home with the family. We had a nice dinner and then Trevor opened his presents. He was very excited when he opened his cub scout shirt and book. He can't wait to go to his first cub scout meeting!

Trevor's baptism happened later that week. Unfortunately, none of our extended family were able to attend the baptism, but we had the next best thing. Our good friends, the Hancocks (who our kids refer to as their cousins) were able to come for the day to celebrate with Trevor!

It was a really nice day. Everything, for the most part, ran smoothly. The only snafu we ran into we literally ran into! When we were getting ready to pull out of the garage the garage door button was pressed instead of the back car door button. The car door caught on the garage door and dislodged it. We quickly reversed what we had done and assessed the damage. Chad and Mark got out of the car and assessed the damage. They worked on it for a little while, but we had to leave, so they just pulled the door down and we left.

Luckily everything else went off without a hitch. The baptism was really nice. Trevor personally asked all the people on the program if they would be a part of his special day. Two of the people are two brothers in our ward that Trevor really looks up to. They did a great job and they were quick. It was kind of funny that the whole baptism and program took less than half an hour. It was short, but sweet!

Trevor was baptized by Chad. It was very neat. What a blessing that Chad has been able to baptize Trevor, Kaden and Tanner.

Even though our family couldn't be with us, our ward family was with us. Many people came to support Trevor. We felt very blessed and loved.

After the baptism we went back to our house and had a really nice dinner with the Hancocks. Before dinner they gave Trevor a cool candy bar poster for his baptism. He was very excited!

Then of course, we had to have cake. An "It's Great to be Eight" cake!

We are very thankful for Trevor and the choice he made to be baptized. He is growing into a wonderful young man. He is kind and helpful and is always looking out for others. We love you Trevor!