The Birthday and all that goes along.......

One Minute after this picture was taken my first born son was officially 8 years old.

He was up very early on his birthday knowing that the tradition is that you may open one birthday present when you first wake up no matter who is home. However, Mom gets to choose which one and the rest can not be opened until we are together as a family. That usually means that as soon as Dad walks in the door (who usually makes a point to get home promptly at 3:30 on the day of their birthdays) they are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. They know Mom saves the best ones for the time when we are together.

So of course as soon as we got the birthday hugs out of the way when he came running up the stairs on the morning of his birthday, he couldn't wait one minute longer to unwrap the present that was waiting for him on the table. It was the present from his brother and Reece was very excited that he was unwrapping the one that he got him first. Caden within the last few months

has decided that wearing basketball shorts all of the time is NOT COOL! So Reece got him some new cargo shorts and this Life Is Good shirt and you would have thought he won the fashion lottery. He was thrilled to say the least!

The day was filled with lunch at Applebee's, which was not his first choice, as he really wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse. However, we either had to have a birthday lunch on his birthday because we were having our Heaters Baseball Party/Caden's Birthday party during supper, or we had to wait until Friday night when Texas Roadhouse was open for supper. He also really wanted Daddy to go and since Applebee's was close to the school, Applebee's it was. We had a great lunch and then we were off to pick up his cake and a few odds and ends that we needed for the party. We arrived back home at 2:30, Phil walked in the door promptly at 3:30 and presents were unwrapped within seconds of him coming in the house.

What could bring this much excitement to a kid's face?

An iPod Nano, of course!!

And this face?

Of course you can't have an iPod with out an iDog Dance, or so I am told and I am a sucker for pleasing my kids.

Ellee got him an Itunes card to help fill that iPod up with fabulous songs, but he seems to be pleased as punch with all of the songs that Dad downloaded from his iTunes list that they use at the State baseball tournaments in between innings. Everything from Low Rider to Home Sweet Alabama, as Caden calls it.

With the present unwrapped we were off to celebrate not only his birthday at the Squires house (they have an amazing backyard with a beautiful pool and have hosted our baseball party 2 years in a row. They rock!!) but we were also celebrating the 8U League Baseball Champs, aka the Heaters. Phil stayed up half the night on Thursday smoking pork and brisket and making his famous sauce that our parents want to use as a fundraiser next year for our baseball team and call it the Heaters Heat. I thought it was a very cleaver name they came up with and who knows...we may actually try and make that happen! Lots of swimming, lots of the boys playing baseball, the younger kids playing on the swing set, the adults enjoying the beautiful weather and everyone having a great time of celebrating 2 great things. I especially loved being able to kill two birds with one stone.

The bat reads: Happy 8th Birthday Caden and didn't even realize it says CHAPIONS instead of CHAMPIONS until I looked at the pictures!

So a great time was had by everyone and we arrived back at home shortly after 11:00 tired and ready to call it a day.

Caden,

I hope you had a great day and a great party. I still can't believe that 8 fabulous years have passed, however, I can't wait to see what this year holds for your life.

I love you more than you will ever know and then some.

Mommy