Time to celebrate!

Today was the party day!  We celebrated Caeden's birthday, and also my parents and brother and sis-in-law came from Indiana to help celebrate!  We have much to be thankful for, and were glad to all be together!

-- Caeden's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cupcake cake --

I do not do well with cake decorating (at ALL!), so this came from Wal-Mart bakery.  The characters go around when you turn the gears.  He was very pleased.

The kids played Mickey Memory Match game. 

Caeden did better when we let him play it on his own.

Jeremy is the best at picking out and giving cards.  He gave Caeden a Yoda card that played the Star Wars theme song.  Caeden was so thrilled, he would have been happy to get just this card and not one other thing, I think!

A Mickey stuffie from Disney World, with lots of 2009's on it, to remind him when we went to see Mickey.

Mario Kart Wii jammies!!

Star Wars clothing, always a pleaser

A very cool shirt from Uncle Travis & Aunt Erin!  Thank you!

This boy is even excited to get socks, thank goodness!  Thank you Gram & Krampa!

Krampa & Gram gave Caeden a HotWheels collectible car.  Apparently there is one for each state, and they come with interlocking clear boxes.  This one is from Indiana.  Very cool!

Gram is going to have a very special birthday this week too!  So we also celebrated her!

Aunt Erin & Uncle Travis will be having their 8th anniversary this week!  So we celebrated them too!  See, we have so much to be thankful for!  And, if you can't tell, we are also celebrating Baby Girl McEowen's life, and thanking God for her, excitedly waiting for her arrival in February!!

Since we won't be traveling to Indiana for Annah's birthday later this month, and they can't travel back this way again, Gram & Krampa and Travis & Erin showered Annah with gifts today too!

Could he BE any more into this card?!  He was entertained by this thing all day long!

Jeremy and I had to leave for a while to go to a wedding, and Gram had no trouble keeping the kids entertained.  They played Operation, watched a movie, and had raked up leaves and were doing somersaults through them when we got back home!

Caeden waited all day long to blow out his candles and eat a birthday cupcake!  Gram blew out candles on her pumpkin bars too. 

Happy birthday Caeden!

Caeden is 5 years old today!

Yes, my BABY is FIVE!  That's not a baby age!  I told him a couple weeks ago I wasn't ready for him to be 5, because then he wouldn't be a baby anymore, and he said, "Mommy, I will always be your baby!"  Oh my, I believe that sometimes God sends words we need to hear right through our loved ones' mouths.  This boy is precious, a challenge to me, and he teaches me things and makes me smile and cry and laugh every day.  I do love my son!

I had to be very sneaky at 5:30 this morning, decorating his door.  He was very excited to wake up to this though!  And he's realy excited about being FIVE!


This morning after the girls got on the bus, I helped Caeden get ready and told him we were going to have a special breakfast, but we had to go somewhere to get it.  Right away he said, "It's McDonald's!"  He was right, but I didn't admit it to him until we pulled in and parked there.  He loves McDonald's and was very excited to order hotcakes and sausage and orange juice.  He ate every bite and drank every drop.  Then we went to the resale shop to find him a winter coat and some jammies.  He was good, so he was allowed to pick out 2 movies to buy.  We went to a couple more stores, then home.  It was cold and rainy, but we took about 5 minutes to try to get a good birthday portrait.  This one is my favorite...

Caeden took Edy's Fruit Bars for his birthday snack to share with his preschool class.  His teacher sent me some pictures of the kids enjoying them.  Caeden felt very special at school today!  He was given a birthday sticker to wear, a card and birthday pencil and 5 high-fives from his teacher, and they sang to him too.

Things to be thankful for and think about

I love tea, especially a good chai tea.  I've tried making various kinds at home, but Celestial Seasonings and TAZO just don't really cut it.  I remembered having a rooibos chai a couple years ago with Jesika at Teavana in Water Tower Place.  So, I ordered some of their loose leaf chai teas last week, and am soooo enjoying it!


Masala Chai Black Tea

Rooibos Chai Rooibos Tea

Energy Chocolatte Chai Tea Blend

I don't usually make much time to read these days, except for once in a while when I happen across a really inspiring book.  Well, my friend Lorrie has loaned me some of the Left Behind books, and I have read EIGHT of them in the past month!!!  Yes, they are fiction, but they also include a lot of scripture and give an amazing picture of what the rapture and tribulation times might be like...scary, yes, but definitely thought-provoking and faith-confirming!  I am itching to get my hands on the next ones now!

The work on house continues, here and there, as we have had more days of rain than not raining.  They worked all day last Wednesday on the north side of the house and got the soffit on, squared up the curved parts around the window upstairs, and covered the rest of that side with foam core insulation, as well as the front of the house.  Today they are working on the front porch, and without going out and staring, I can already see how great the ceiling is looking!  Oh it's so exciting!!!

Beginning October with so many blessings!

Well Autumn has definitely arrived here in central Illinois!  Fall is definitely my favorite time of the year by far!  Everything about it--the colors, the smell, the quiet of it, breaking out my warm clothes, drinking hot tea and making soups--just gives me constant reminders of the many, many blessings in life I have to be grateful for!  Fall just feeds joy into my heart!!

My sedums are beautiful right now!

Caeden and I shared our "Favorite Lunch" today.  Baked potatoes with broccoli, cheese, and sour cream!  Mmmm!  I love that he loves this, and will say, "Hey Caeden, should we have favorite lunch today?" and he knows what I mean and usually says, "Yes!"  Sometimes we'll have it twice a week.  So yummy!

Little Buddy is excited to be sporting his Mickey shirt today!

We went outside for just a bit today to play.  It's getting chilly, but we don't mind!
Caeden figured out a way to go across the swingset from one swing/thing to the next.
Notice how green the corn still is...The farmers are expecting to be in the fields through December!!  We need to stop getting rain!!

He's finally getting the hang of the swing, and can stay on without slipping off, my little cutie.

And here is something exciting I'm thankful for...workers started in on our house yesterday!  They are going to finish the siding, windows, and soffits!  I can't even explain how excited I am!!!!

Caeden thinks the forklift is really cool, and that it's amazing how they guys put it all the way up high and stand on a palette, not even strapped in to work on our house!

Still having Disney on the brain

Yes, we've been back almost 2 weeks, but we are still reliving the wonderful times we had at Disney World.  The girls were so excited to wear their Mickey Shirts today. 

Before we left, I put together these little autograph books for the kids.  I should have taken the pictures before we carried them around and shoved them in and ripped them out of the backpack and suitcases for a week.  They held up pretty well, considering all they went through--especially the layered stickers...

some inside pages with autographs

the backs

Disney Days 7 & 8!

We are home now, and looking back on our wonderful Disney vacation!  We sure tried to do it all!  On Tuesday, we spent another day in the Magic Kingdom--this time visiting Fantasyland (My favorite!).  What a blessing this vacation was!!! You can see our pictures from Tuesday and a few from today by clicking the link below, of course.

*DISNEY DAYS 7 & 8 PICTURES!*

Disney Day 6!

Today we tried to relax a bit.  We spent the morning at the resort, then took a boat to Downtown Disney for lunch and some exploring there.  You can see our pictures by clicking the link below.

*DISNEY DAY 6 PICTURES!*

Disney Day 5!

Hollywood Studios today!  What a FUN park!  See our pictures from the day at the link below!

*DISNEY DAY 5 PICTURES!*

Disney Day 4!

We spent the day at EPCOT Center today!  It was rainy, and we are tired, but we still had a lot of fun!  Check out our pictures at the link below!

*DISNEY DAY 4 PICTURES!*

 

Day 3 at Disney World!

Today we visited the Animal Kingdom, and had dinner at a wonderful restaurant at Disney's Wilderness Lodge!  Lots of fun!  Click the link below to see all of our pictures from the day!

*DISNEY DAY 3 PICTURES!*