When Dad's in Charge

And he takes you on your very first Father/Son Campout with the rest of the dads and their boys from church...
You end up, after getting ready for the morning, looking like this (and yes, those are pajamas doubling as pants).

Then Dad takes you on a cool hike, dressed in your very best camouflage sweatsuit, and teaches you how to blend completely into your surroundings.

I think someone forgot to mention to Cade that he doesn't exactly blend in.

Ps - kudos to Evan for taking both kiddos with him on the campout. He was understandably nervous that while helping one out, the other might jump into the fire or something. Everyone came home unscathed, dirty, and completely exhausted. I, on the other hand, felt ridiculously rested.

Birthday Boy

As of two days ago, my baby is officially two and truthfully, he's not a baby. He's a full fledged toddler and right on cue has started acting like a two year old, complete with Academy Award worthy tantrums and the declaring of his independence. I'm pretty sure that I hear, "I do it" about 3,258 times a day. It seems we're right on schedule. So how to celebrate his big day? My goal was to say "no" as little as possible. To let him try it on his own even if it meant waiting three hours for him to buckle his carseat or put his own shoes on or bathe himself... and losing my mind in the process. Cade also determined the menu for the day, starting with pancakes.

After uploading his birthday pictures, I realized that every one of them was of him in his seat at the kitchen table eating or about to eat. Pretty accurate for how I think birthdays should be celebrated.

Ready for cake. Colt had a hard time at the beginning of the day realizing that it was not his birthday being recognized, but perked right up once he realized he got quite a few of the birthday benefits.

Does this cake look familiar? Let's rewind two or so years to Colt's 2nd birthday. What can I say? I order cakes with the best of 'em.

I love this little man something fierce. This second time around I've remembered how much I love this stage. The part where they really start talking and telling you how they see the world. I asked Cade what he wanted for dinner and he said rice. I asked him what else and he answered water. What? After a little more conversation he settled on a burger from "Cheeseburger King" (as it's known around here). I love how he makes me laugh and will still snuggle with me before a nap or sometimes, for no reason at all. I'm more than grateful that we were blessed to have Cade come to our family.

Here's a couple of videos from the birthday festivities (mostly for the grandmas/aunts out there but for anyone else who cares to look too). On the first video, check out Cade singing to himself and Evan's sweet "zoom in" skills. The second video is Colt's take on the whole birthday thing.