Happy Birthday to you too, Dale!

Dale's greatest birthday gift ever was when I gave birth to our first child on his 30th birthday! Yesterday was Dale's birthday too! Here are some pics of Dale at one year. Does the second one remind you of Kaden?

Dale is a good provider for our family. It's because of his hard work that I'm able to be a stay-at-home-mom. He is the plant manager at a local welding and fabricating company. Dale also sings and plays a mean fiddle with his family's Bluegrass band, The Carroll County Ramblers. Dale has a huge range of talents from music, computers, to being able to make and fix nearly anything with his mechanical abilities.

I thank my Heavenly Father each day for the great blessing of having Dale as my eternal companion! I love you Dale!

Happy Birthday, Kassandra!

Here she is, making her debut into the world! Kassie was born 15 years ago yesterday.

Hey, Dottie, remember this pic?!

This is Kassie first thing on the morning of her first birthday. I have traditionally taken this same picture with each of my seven children.

Kassie's best gift this year was having a snow day and being able to sleep in on her birthday!

Kassie at 15: She is in her first year of high school (9th grade), has all academic classes and achieves good grades.

Kassie LOVES to read and is rarely without a book in her hand! She also enjoys writing her own stories and working on the computer. Kassie is very artistic, something she gets from her Nan Nan! She is in the National Art Honor Society at school and is currently painting the set for the High School production of Beauty and the Beast.

Kassie rises early each morning (5 am) to attend our church Seminary class before heading off to school each day. Kassie serves as first counselor in the Mia Maid Young Women's class at church.

We love you Kassandra Grace!

Kaden, now that he's two

I thought it would be nice to journal some of what Kaden can say and do now that he's two. "I help Mommy, I help!" are the words I often hear. Kaden hands me the clean dishes from the dishwasher as I put them away. He pulls the clothes out of the dryer telling me who they belong to, "That Daddy's!" "That Avery's!" He has starting pulling the vacuum cleaner out of the hall closet saying, "I vacuum clean, Mommy. I vacuum clean!" When I offer to help him with a task he often replies, "Kaden do!"

Kaden's longest sentence so far: "Mom, come in Avery's room!"

Favorite foods: hotdogs

chicken nuggets

apple sauce

peanut butter and fluff

marshmallows

Goldfish crackers

cereal bars

eggs

Favorite toys: cars

trains

school buses

blocks

anything Bob the Builder

In fact, he loves Bob the Builder so much, he sleeps with Bob and even takes Bob to the potty!

A few weeks ago I asked Kaden, "Who loves you the most?" of course I fully intended to hear my name in response, but instead he said, "Jesus!"

Last week he and Ashton were playing with magnets on the 'frig. Ashton started to count them and Kaden joined in.

Ashton: "One..."

Kaden: "Two,"

Ashton: "Three, four..."

Kaden: "Five,"

Ashton: "Six, seven, eight..."

Kaden: "Nine, ten!"

What Kaden calls his family members:

Daddy -- "Dad" or "Daddy"

Mommy -- "Mom" or "Mommy"

Kassie -- "Dass"

Brady -- "B"

Ashton -- "Asht"

Avery -- "Avery"

Bryson -- "Avery" (Yes, he calls them BOTH Avery!)

Kenzie -- "Dee Dee"

He also says "Aunt Bonnie", "Nan Nan", "Nana" and "Pappy"

Kaden has such great manners, using please and lots of thank yous. The other day he was sitting on the couch watching Bob the Builder. I asked if he wanted to cover with a blanket and he replied, "Yes, thank you Mom!"

Kaden makes all the usual animals sounds: Moo, Meow, Woof, baa, neigh, quack. He often pretends to be either a dog or cat. He LOVES the neighbor's calico cat that hangs out on our deck. He fusses and cries for someone to take him outside to be with "Callie".

Kaden names the common parts of the face: eye, nose, ear, chin, mouth, and also always includes "eyebrow"!

Kaden pretends to be Daddy by putting on a pair of his safety glasses.

He enjoys baking with Mommy, pulling a chair over to the mixer and insisting on dumping in the ingredients.

Our entire family has, and does, take great pleasure in watching Kaden grow. One of the first things Ashton will ask when she comes in the door from school is, "What did Kaden do or say today?" Each day is a new adventure! We love you Kaden!

Happy Birthday, Kaden!

Today is Kaden's second birthday! Hard to believe it's been two years since his birth. Some days it's still hard to believe I had another baby! What a tremendous blessing Kaden is. I'm so glad Heavenly Father sent him to our family!
Kaden is a huge Bob the Builder fan! His birthday started with his morning juice from a new Bob the Builder reusable sippy cup.

After his Sunday morning bath, Kaden lay in his room reading books while the rest of us got
ready for church.



Nana, Pappy, Aunt Bonnie and Nan Nan came over Sunday evening for Kaden's little birthday party.

He received three "new" Bob the Builder tapes! We are all so tired of watching the ones we have, all of us except for Kaden! (Got these off of freecycle!)
Nana and Pappy got Kaden four new puzzels and Thomas the Train underwear! Thanks Nana and Pappy!

Aunt Bonnie found Bob the Builder toys at the Target in Westminster! Apparently Bob has faded in popularity. I looked all over Hanover and all I could find were the juice cups!

It's Bob the Builder with a talking toolbelt! Thanks Aunt Bonnie!
Yum! Amish Apple cake with Bob the Builder on top!
Kassie and Ashton made Bob the Builder, Spud and Scoop toppers for the cupcakes!

Kaden also received a new set of Duplo blocks, a small magnetic Scoop (Bob the Builder toy), another school bus to add to his collection, Leap Frog magnetic alphabet learning toy, a talking Bob the Builder doll (another freecycle find), money from Nan Nan and odds and ends of hand-me-down toys from his brothers and sisters. We love you Kaden! We are so blessed to have you in our family!