Homecoming Party!

On Valentines Day we loaded up and drove down to St. George for a Homecoming Party for Brad's parents.  That night Aleah and Cade got to have a Valentine's Day pizza movie night with Grandma and Grandpa and Brad and I got to go out on a date with Brad's sister Tina and her husband Tedd.  It was a fun night full of good food, good dessert, and good company!

The next morning Cade and Brad got the train all set up and they spent most of the morning playing together.  It was so cute!  I love my train conductors.  Their trains were friends and they would visit each other.  I love listening to Cade play, he has such a great imagination!

We got to spend some time at one of our favorite parks.  It is amazing to see how much the kids have grown since the last time we were in St. George.  Now they can climb and slide and jump form step to step.

 They were even climbing all over the rocks without help.

Saturday night we got to have dinner at Brad's sister Dawn's house.  Dawn and her husband Jason and their kids just moved into their new house a couple of months ago.  It was fun to see their beautiful house!  After we walked around Dawn's house Aleah said, "Mom, why are there so many pictures on the walls?"  Haha, I had to laugh!  I said, "That's what you do when you decorate your house."  She said, "Why don't you put pictures on our walls?"  I explained to her that Dawn's kids are older so she has more time to decorate.  Then I said, "Maybe when you and Cade are in school I will have some time to decorate."  And she said, "That will be fun!  I will get home from school and be like, Oh Mom, the house is so decorated!"  She makes me smile!

Sunday morning we helped Grandma get the food ready for the luncheon.  They spoke in church and then had a luncheon at their house.  We really enjoyed listening to their talks and hearing their testimonies.

On Monday we had a big family homecoming party for Brad's parents.  The kids did a song for them.  They practiced right before the party.  Cade was so silly, dancing around!

Brad's sister Sonya did all the planning and decorating.  It was an amazing party!  

It was a mission impossible, secret agent theme.  So the kids had a secret mission that they had to do.  They all had to work together to find the clues and decode the clues.

 For one of the clues they to make it trough all the laser beams.

 Their final task was to put together the message that said, Welcome home Grandma and Grandpa.

 They accomplished their mission and won some Pop Rocks!

It was fun to watch the kids perform their song.

Brad and I, mostly Brad, put together a video.  In the video every family talked about the blessings they received and the things they learned from having Grandma and Grandpa on a mission.  It turned out really well!

Then the kids did a talent show to show off all the things that they have been doing while Grandma and Grandpa were gone.  Aleah and Cade both wanted to do floor routines.  They both wanted to make up their routines themselves.  It was fun to watch them!

After the party we had some time to play at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.  We had to enjoy the nice weather as much as we could.  We drove home that night because Brad had to go to Milwaukee again for work the next day.

It was a wonderful weekend!  We loved all the time that we got to spend with family and nice weather.

Kindergarten Registration!

On February 3rd Brad and Aleah went over to Legacy Elementary and registered for kindergarten.  It was a big day!  Aleah was so excited which made us excited for her.  I am going to miss her so much, but I know that she is going to love it.

When Aleah and Cade are good for their babysitters they earn a family date.  Brad had to go to Milwaukee again.   So we spent the day before he left as a family.  We decided to go ice skating!  Aleah got a shirt from her cousin Sydnee that was perfect for our date.

The kids started off with walkers.  Cade didn't use his much.  He was determined to figure it out and do it on his own.  Before we got there he said, "I going to be so good at this!"  They would push their walkers for a minute and then brad and I would push their walkers and they would skate next to the walker and grab on if they needed it.

 After a little bit they just wanted to skate holding our hands.  They figured it out fast and loved it!

There was a girl who was really good.  She was doing spins and stuff in the middle.  She asked Aleah to skate with her.  Aleah loved it, she even got to do some spins.  We are all looking forward to going again.  Aleah says that she wants to be an ice skater when she grows up and an "arter" (artist).

 While Brad was gone we had preschool.  We love our preschool group!

We also got to spend a day up in Syracuse with my sister BreAnne and her kids.  She helped us make some cinnamon rolls so that we could have a surprise waiting for Brad when he got home.  Yummy!

This is a picture from Brad's flight home.  I love it when he gets home!

Brad and Cade got Aleah and I some beautiful flowers!  It was so fun.  They got them for us a few days before Valentine's Day so that we could enjoy them since we would be traveling to St. George on Valentine's Day for Brad's parents' homecoming party.  I love lilies!  They lasted for two weeks.

Dinosaurs and Magic for Our Four Year Old Cade!

I like to decorate for birthdays the night before, after the kids are in bed, so that they wake up to decorations and balloons for their birthday.  For Cade's birthday Aleah was so excited to help me decorate, she just couldn't wait!  So we all did it together a couple of days early.  We also made Cade's volcano for his volcano dinosaur cake.  It was fun!  Cade took some pictures of us making his volcano.

Brad was on a camp out with the young men from our church (the priests) the night before Cade's birthday.  So my Mom helped me out by bringing me some balloons after the kids were in bed.  At least I got to surprise him with birthday balloons.  He loved them!

Cade is so silly!  His favorite thing to do is to stick out his tongue for pictures.  For his birthday breakfast he wanted oatmeal with raisin toast.

I love how his cake and volcano turned out.  Cade had a dinosaur birthday party when he turned 1.  He loves to look at the pictures of his party in his baby book.  He decided that he wanted a dinosaur party again.  This time he wanted the volcano next to the cake.  When he turned 1 I made a volcano cake with dinosaurs on it.

Before the party started Aleah made a note to go on the front door so that everyone would know that they were at Cade's party.

We were so glad that Brad was able to make it home right as the party was starting.  We were also very blessed to have a lot of family come to Cade's party!  Cade was so excited that his Grandma and Grandpa Godfrey would be home from their mission just in time for his party.  Also, Cade's Uncle Joel, Aunt Sonya, Aunt Crystal, Uncle Todd, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Nate, Grandma Great, Grandma Bushman, Grandma Stone, Grandpa Stone, and lots of cousins were able to come.  It was such a great party!  When we were planning Cade's party he wanted to invite ALL his family, even the ones who lived far away.  He said,  "If they can't come then that ok, but I want to invite all the cousins and Uncle Todd!"

Cade picked his games.  He started off by putting together a dinosaur puzzle.  Then we played pin the spike on the dinosaur.  Cade even helped choose the dinosaur for Brad to print.

Since Grandpa Godfrey is a magician and he was home from his mission, Cade wanted him to do a magic show at his party.  It was a fun magic show!

Cade is trying to get King Tut to go in his tomb.

 The milk in the newspaper trick was awesome!

 Cade checked to make sure the milk was not leaking out of the bottom of the newspaper.

 I wish I had a picture of Cade's face at the end of the milk trick.  It was pure amazement and joy!

After Grandpa pulled all the hankies out of his box, Cade reached in and pulled out a little bear.

We all enjoyed the magic show!

Cade wanted to help me with the volcano, but then changed his mind because he was afraid that it was going to erupt on to the cake.

After seeing that it didn't get on the cake he tried it out.

It was an awesome volcano!

Cade had fun opening his presents and playing with his cousins!

After the party, Cade had fun setting up his race tracks with his Dad and Grandpa Godfrey.

We were all so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Godfrey.  We are thankful that they served a mission for our church, but also thankful to have them home.  That night we went out to dinner at Golden Corral.  Aleah enjoyed being with her girl cousins.  She is usually surrounded by boys.  It is nice for her to get to spend some time with some girls!

It was a fun birthday for Cade!  And a fun day for all of us.  I enjoyed celebrating his birthday with him and spending time with our wonderful family.

Cade is such a happy boy.  He loves to do service for his sister.  He loves to help me make dinner.  I love it when he helps me.  It's nice to have a helper.  He is also a talker.  Sometimes I laugh because he talks non stop, but I love the cute things that he says and his voice is the cutest!

I'm trying to soak it in because I know that it will change as he gets older.  An example is, he says, "baboose" instead of caboose.  He loves trains and told me the other day that he wants to be a train conductor when he grows up.  With his birthday money he bought a train whistle.

When Cade asks for a drink at bedtime he says, "I just want a little lots."  When we bring it to him he says, "Thanks.  Is it a little lots?"  Since we have no idea how much a little lots is, we usually say, "Yes."  Most of the time we get it right, but there are the times that he makes us try again because it is not a little lots.

Lately Cade has been saying, "Mom (or Dad), I'm going to talk to myself now."  It is so kind of him to let me know so that I don't try to figure out what he is saying or try to be included in the conversation that he is having with himself.

I love Cade's "What if…" stories.  He has a "What if there was a guy…" story for every situation that we talk about.  We were talking about his birthday and he said, "What if there was a guy and he turned four and then he turned back three!"

I can not even tell you how much I love this boy!  I am thankful every day that he is a part of our family.  I am so blessed!  I have an amazing husband and two amazing kids.  Cade still gives me the best hugs.  The other night as I was tucking him in bed he said, "I want you to be my Mom forever!' and then he gave me a squeeze hug.  I can't say no to that!  I want to be his Mom forever.