Caden's Month Long Birthday

It's our favorite son's 12th birthday!!! We love Caden so much that we wanted to celebrate his birthday all month long. Well there's a story to his month long birthday celebration, but we'll get to that in a minute. 

Caden woke up bright and early on his birthday. I was able to go into work late so that I could see him open one of his presents and make him his requested birthday breakfast before he went off to school. 

Caden got the Collin Sexton jersey he wanted and was so excited to wear it to school. 

Brynnli bought Caden a gift with her own money. She got him squirt guns so they could play together in the summer. 

After school Caden wanted Chick-fil-a for dinner. They even gave him a free birthday brownie. 

After waiting all day for everyone to get done with their after school activities it was finally time for Caden to open the rest of his presents. He got new basketball shoes, Stef Curry shoes to be exact, games, and an Xbox game pass from Mom and Dad.

Remember that nasty 24 hour flu that was making it's way around our family? Guess who's turn it was to get it? Me. I was so sad because that meant I would have to miss Caden's friend party. Luckily Tyler was feeling much better and Grandma and Grandpa came to help at the party. I was so grateful Caden chose a few weeks prior for his party to be at the bowling alley so we didn't have to host the party at our flu infested home. 

Caden invited Tanner, Logan, Jaron, Camden, Callen, and Seth to his party (and his sisters, of course). They played two rounds of bowling and then got to play a round of laser tag. 

Then they had pizza and donuts and opened presents

By Saturday I was feeling much better. We continued Caden's celebration at his favorite restaurant Texas Roadhouse. 

We have finally reached a milestone I have been waiting for for over 12 years now... all of our kids can cut up their own meat!! Do you know what this means? Tyler and I can finally have our meal hot since we don't have to spend forever cutting up our kids' steak. 

And no birthday at Texas Roadhouse is complete without sitting on the saddle for a Texas sized yea haw!

Sunday was supposed to be Caden's family party, but since our family had just gotten over the flu, we didn't want to host and risk the whole family getting sick, so we rescheduled for the end of the month because Tyler was heading out of town for two weeks. To make up for the delayed party, we let Caden choose dinner. He picked chicken wings, artichokes, baked potatoes, rolls, and shrimp. 

We were kind of kicking ourselves because we all seemed to be feeling better and the weather that weekend was absolutely perfect, we wondered if we should have kept the party on that day. However the flu bug stuck the last and final victim... Poor Caden was throwing up his chicken wing dinner all night long and we were happy we didn't have everyone over. 

Luckily two weeks passed quickly and it was finally time for Caden's family party. We had everyone over for pizza dinner, then played the basketball game. 

Carson came in 1st place, and Tyler came in 2nd place. 

Caden opened his presents from the family. 

He got a new basketball bag, some basketball accessories, Percy Jackson books, Jazz clothes, and an x box gift card. 

Caden wanted a cookie cake this year... it was so yummy!

But it made everyone's teeth tongue turn blue!!

Happy birthday Buddy! I can't believe you are 12 years old. You are such a bright spot in our lives and family. You are so responsible at home and at school and are always making us laugh with your sarcastic sense of humor. I love that you are the first one to hop in your bed so that you can earn the title of "favorite kid at bedtime". We are so proud of how much you have improved at basketball and how much you love the game. You love watching the Jazz and cheering them on... even when they lose (which they seem to be doing a lot lately!) I am so sad this is your last year in elementary school, but so proud of you for doing so well in school, making good friends, and being a strong leader in the school on student council. You are so competitive even when you play bored games, or basketball with friends and cousins. You are such a good brother and support your sisters at their all day dance competitions and I know they appreciate your support. We are so lucky to have you in our family and love you so much Buddy!! Happy Birthday Caden!!

What are some things that you like or are popular today? "well stuff that I like is basketball and video games. Some things that are popular are toilets, Ohio, and the word skippidy, and rizz"

What do you like most about yourself right now? "I'm perfect in every way mom... what's not to like about myself... I'm funny"

What do you think your future job will be? "Definitely not a basketball player because you don't have faith in me. Ok, but really I want to be an inventor"

What are you good at? "Basketball and Fortnite"

Do you have a celebrity crush? "Ya, but I don't want to say it."

Who are your friends and what do you like about them? "Tanner and Logan, Jared, Johnny and Seth, everyone on my basketball team."

Where is your favorite place to eat? "Culvers"

What makes you really annoyed? "When people drink my drink or when people blame me for not flushing the toilet"

What makes you feel proud? "Whenever I score a basket in basketball"

Which of your nicknames do you like the most and why? "Boy because it's funny"

What is your favorite subject in school?  "Writing/ social studies"

What do you wish you could do that mom and dad won't allow? "Buy what ever I want with your credit card"

What is your favorite thing about Makayla? "She likes to help me with stuff"

What is your favorite thing about Brynnli? "She likes to play with me"

What is your favorite memory with Dad? "The time we played Monopoly and the time he took me out for ice cream after my basketball game"

What is your favorite memory with Mom? "Going on the big rocket ride with you at Knotts Berry Farm"

Dance, Dance, Dance

We are thick into the dance competition season and are having fun spending entire days (literally from 8 am until 11 pm) at dance competitions. 

Brynn's trio did great at Amplify

1st place and a High Gold ranking!!

Makayla might have gotten a little too much into her and and freaked herself out at this solo comp. She was worried about performing on the gym floor and didn't do as well on her turn section. She still did really well and got high gold. 

 

I love this picture of these girls. Makayla, Avery, and Harper are all doing solo's this year choreographed by Haiden, and they usually compete in the same division. I love how they all cheer and support each other. 

This is such a fun year for Makayla's team. All of their dances are so good! At this competition Party got 1st and High Gold, Professional Show business Comedy got 1st place, platinum ranking, and 3rd overall in the Junior division. Moment got 1 place and a platinum ranking, and Auschwitz got 1st place, platinum ranking, and 1st overall in the Junior division!

Brynnli's dances are doing so well this year too. They all received high gold. 

Just a quick trio comp for Brynn this time. Her trio got 1st in the mini duo/trio division and were tied for 1st overall for all duos/ trios. 

I had shirts made for all the girls. The back of the shirt says, "In a world full of Barbies, be a Rosie". We were all chuckling at the girls trying to explain their shirts to each other, "Barbies just wait for their Ken to come marry them, but Rosies know how to work!" Wise words from 9 year olds. 

Why would we want to have a free weekend when we could spend another weekend at a dance comp? Brynnli's trio got a judges award for Elite costume... if only the judges knew we pieced the costume together from the clearance section and a Halloween costume!!

Makayla did so well on her comp this time around. She hit all of her turns in her solo flawlessly!!

Dance comps are so fun when friends cheer each other on. 

High gold for Brynnli's dances! Cinderella is my favorite because she has so much sass in her dance and really stands our more than the other girls on her team. 

Blackbird is such a cute dance, but the judges never seem to score it well. 

And hip hop is my favorite of her dances... so fun!

Makayla's dances did so well again this comp. Professional Showbusiness got platinum and 2nd place overall in the musical theater category. Moment got Platinum ranking, Elite judges pick and 3rd overall in the contemporary category,  Party got High Gold and 3rd overall in the hip hop category. And surprisingly Auschwitz only got high gold... turns out the judges thought the dance was too inappropriate for the girls? All of us were so confused, but it could have something to do with the current conflict and the war with Gaza... and the fact that the judges are all in college. And if you don't understand what any of that means, just google "College students protest war in Gaza"

After all these dance weekends, we are left with one tired dance dad. I love that Tyler makes it a priority to be at all of the girls' comps. He really is the best dance dad around. 

You may be wondering where Caden is all these dance weekends. Sometimes he comes with us and other times he opts to hang out with the boys playing games and having a sleepover with Camden.