3rd Birthday Party

Caden had a great 3rd birthday party. We celebrated with a sports themed party in our backyard. He was lucky enough to have lots of family travel to see him and several of his friends came over for the fun. The kids spent most of the time bouncing in a bounce house that we were fortunate enough to borrow from some friends. They had a great time and we finished off the party with some yummy cupcakes, ice cream, and presents.

Maya and Caden playing baseball

Fun in the bounce house

Caden's best friends here in Columbia.

The messy cupcake cake and more cupcakes

The birthday boy! He did have a blast and smiled most of the time....just not for this picture

Cupcakes and icecream with his friends

Opening lots of great presents

More presents

And even more great presents

Caden's 3rd Birthday

On Caden's actual birthday we went to the park in the morning to meet some of his friends and play. Then he chose to go to a specific restaurant that he likes (with the Elvis statue) for dinner. However when we pulled into the restaurant's parking lot we realized that they obviously were not open. We didn't know that they were closed on Mondays so we had to implement plan B. Caden chose to go through Taco Bell drive thru and take it to the park to eat and play again. So we did that and then went back to 63 Diner for dinner on Tuesday night. He had a great birthday and is getting so big. At his 3 yr check-up everything looked great. He weighed 30lbs and was 36.75in tall (25th percentile).

Caden playing at the park with his friends

More cupcakes

More green icing on the cupcakes and on Caden

Playing at the park with Daddy

Tacos for Supper

Playing with the new catcher he got from us for his birthday. You gotta love his face.

Second birthday dinner on Tuesday night

6 Months of Cuteness

Happy Half Birthday to Avery Lynn!!

She is a lot of fun these days. She is interacting more and more with us. She still loves her big brother. You can always count on Caden to get her to smile and laugh. She is still eating rice cereal but is also adding vegetables to the mix. She has had carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes so far. She isn't the biggest fan of them at the moment. She would much rather blow bubbles after I put them in her mouth so she covers herself, the high chair, and me in orange. Nice huh. She is close to sitting up unsupported but she topples over at the moment if you let go of her. She is eating four times a day now and napping two longer naps during the day and one shorter one in the evening and then sleeping at night from about 9:30pm until 7:30ish am. I can't complain. From her 6 month doctors appointment we learned that she is still long for her age, measuring 27 inches (80th percentile) however she isn't quite as high in percentile for weight. We kind of expected this since she is looking very long and lean. She weighed in at 13lbs, 15ozs (8th percentile). The doctor wasn't concerned, saying that she is getting the nutrition she needs since we see her gaining weight, and her head circumference and height look good. Plus Caden did the same thing and slowly climbed back up in percentile. She is a happy and healthy little girl. Here are some recent pictures.

She is an absolute HAM! Here she is showing you all her tricks as I try to get some photos. I thought these turned out really funny. And you've gotta love the last one. There's no way I could have planned that.

Gotcha!!

Summer Fun

We have been enjoying the summer weather up here in Columbia and have been doing all kinds of fun summer activities. Here are some pictures of things we did in June. Most of the summer activity pictures are of Caden, but I couldn't leave Avery Lynn out so she has pictures included as well, even if they aren't specifically of summer things.

Caden swimming at the neighborhood pool

Making homemade ice cream

Eating Popsicles

Playing outside

We also enjoy the AC inside

Avery Lynn lounging in the bouncer

Crazy girl sucking on her washcloth

Running through smoke bombs

On a side note: Avery Lynn has mastered her swaddle blanket. It no longer keeps her all tucked in. This is how I found her the other day.

Tour of the dairy farm

Caden swimming in the pool in the backyard

Rice Cereal

A video of Avery Lynn eating rice cereal.

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Vacation Week

Ricky had a vacation week so we packed up and headed to Memphis for a few days. We stopped in Cape on our way and way back to visit with family but used most of our time to eat some much missed Memphis food. We visited some of our favorite restaurants, Soul Fish, BBQ Shop, and Belmont Grill. In addition to eating some great food we also got show Caden the house he used to live in, visit with some old neighbors, go to a Redbirds Game, swim in the hotel pool, and hang out with some of our good friends. We do miss Memphis...in some ways.

Avery Lynn all smiles and ready for her first swim

She was more interested in watching Caden than caring about the water

Ricky and Caden at the baseball game

Caden with Fredbird (or Rocky the Redbird...whatever you choose to call him)

Avery Lynn at her first baseball game

Allie & Avery Lynn at the park (they are only 13 days apart)

Caden and Drew at the park