Caden is FIVE!

I can hardly believe my baby boy is five years old. We had a great birthday party at The Little Gym. Since we went to Disney World twice this year and Caden talks about it all the time, I found a place that did a cute Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake and cupcakes for the kids. The girl's loved playing with the big kids and trying to keep up running around everywhere. Harper even was trying to do the crab walk and was scooting on the floor. It was so funny and AMAZING to watch them take directions at one years old!

People keep asking me about Caden going to kindergarden next year and if we have decided where he will go. I get a bit nervous every time I think of him going to kindergarden next year. It really is making me a bit teary to think we won't have our Monday's and Friday's (days not in Pre-K) to spend together going to lunch and fun activity or play dates. We are still trying to decide on private or public school for next year. It is a tough choice and the price of private school is something to consider as well. I am thinking of going on a tour of the elementary school he would go to next year and just see how I feel about it. Sometimes a mommy's gut feeling makes the decisions along with a lot of prayer! If any of you reading this would mind praying for us, I feel we could use some peace about this decision. THANKS!

Serenity Now

Not sure if I have mentioned our little motto stolen from Seinfeld. Serenity Now... Insanity Later. We'll we were in need of a bit of Serenity Now, so we packed up the kids and Oakley and headed for the lake house. We took off the boat cover and headed out to Captain Jack's. The restaurant is actually called Eldorado Jack's, but Captain Jack's sounds so much better so we re-named it. They have docks to pull up your boat and eat outside with a perfect lake view. It is just so much fun and really makes us feel like we are on vacation, plus Caden's favorite part is they have a really cool life size pirate outside and give you free ice cream cones. That will cheer anyone up from a stressful week. The weather was PERFECT.... like a Colorado summer day in the mountains.
We were surprised to see additional restaurants and tons of docks being built near Captain Jack's - including Sam's Boat restaurant, a BBQ place not open yet, Starbucks, CVS pharmacy, and Double Dave's pizza. This summer should be even more fun with more options of where to eat lunch or dinner.

I think the girls liked being back in one room together at the lake house. It was like a sleepover party. They talked and talked for a LONG time during their morning nap time and were laughing so finally we gave up and let them come out and play and put them down a bit early for their afternoon nap. By then, it was sweet dreams and Greg and I took turns playing with Caden so we each got an hour nap. Ahhhh... It made me think of college days and how lovely it was to take an afternoon nap on the weekend and there was no time limit.
Caden is getting such an amazing imagination with Lincoln Logs. I was getting him a snack and I went in to the living room and he had them all lined up and was making train tracks with a train station and had it all figured out. He said, "It was a lot of hard work and took me a very very very long time." I was very proud of him for not building a log cabin like the picture. I love that he uses his brain to build the non-traditional out of traditional toys. It is so much fun to watch him when he doesn't see me.

Apples to Apples

We play a game at our house. We ask the girls to point out people in our family. We'll say, "Where is Caden?" and they point and say "Daden". "Where is Oakley?" and they say "Doggie". "Where is Mommy, Daddy" and they are really good at this game. This weekend, when we asked "Where is Addison?" Greg noticed that Emery has decided to call Addison, Apple. We say, "Where is Addison" and she points to Addison and says "Abble" which is what they say when they see an apple. So much of their babbling sounds like nothing, but Emery is for sure saying Abble for Addison. I guess Gwyneth Paltrow and I both have a baby girl named Apple!

Family Photo Shoot in The Woodlands

My good friend Tanya for Cozy Impressions Photography out of Austin took these amazing family photos of our crazy family running in all different directions! She had her twin boys when she and hubby Rick lived in The Woodlands and I always thought- wow, there is no way I could never do that. I learned I can do that and handle one more baby and an older boy running around.
I remember Greg and I learned how to give a baby a bath by watching and helping them give their boys a bath. They were the first babies we had held when I was pregnant with Caden. Funny how life works out and never would have imagined me with four kids and Tanya with baby 5 on the way. These pics will only be online until Nov. 11 (I think), so enjoy while you can.

http://cozyimpressionsphotography.com/Mathews/

Action Packed Halloween Weekend!

This weekend for Halloween, Caden had three costumes. Our friends The Marsh's and friend Ling hosted a fun Halloween party out at their new property, so Caden wanted to be a skeleton mummy. For his soccer game, they asked the kids to wear a superhero costume under their jersey so Caden work Spiderman. That afternoon he went to a Halloween birthday party and work his knight costume.

Emery went as Snow White, Addison was Cinderella, and Harper was Ariel. About ten minutes before the Halloween party I told Greg he should wear his pirate costume. So we looked everywhere and finally found it in a box of sweaters up high in the closet. We found my pirate costume too, so I figured I would get into the spirit too.
Caden had his last soccer game and soccer trophy ceremony and party. The season went by so fast that we are thinking of signing Caden up for Spring soccer too. We went to two of Caden's classmates birthday parties and then had cake at our house for Fran/Gran before they left for Las Vegas.
We are partied out for now... resting up for Caden's 5th birthday in two weeks!

Update and Grand Cayman Video - October 2008

I know it has been since April since I've posted anything. We have been busy and these past couple of months have been full of roller coaster moments! We moved to a brand new house in September and less than a week later our new home was damaged by Hurricane Ike. A week after the hurricane, we went to Disney World (for the second time this year) for a week and had a BLAST! The day before we were to leave we got the sad news that my step-grandfather Charlie passed away. My dad decided not to go with us and he went to Tulsa to be with my grandma. My mom went with us to Disney and we couldn't have gone without her help. I am so thankful she was there to share those special memories with us and we missed my dad not being able to go this time. When we got home from our Disney trip we found out Greg's college roomate Jordan and his wife Kari lost their son Drew to a complicated illness. Our hearts are still full of sorrow for their loss, as we had just seen them in April on our other Disney vacation with them and their sweetest easy going baby boy Drew. If you read this....We love you Jordan, Kari and Peyton. I cannot imagine losing a child and we ask God to bring peace and comfort to your family.
After a week trying to get our home put back together again and unpacking suitcases, it was time to pack for another vacation a week later to Grand Cayman with Greg's parents! Grand Cayman is our FAVORITE beach. We've been several times, and this was Caden's third trip and the girl's got their first stamp in their passport. The girls and Caden LOVED the beach and loved the buckets and shovels I brought for them. Emery kept trying to eat the sand, but by the fourth day, I think she stopped. She showed no fear of the ocean and would walk right in and had no idea that it got deeper so we had to really keep close to her. Harper wanted me to hold her in the ocean or sit in my lap on the beach and was a momma's girl this week. Addison loved playing in the water on the floating ring hammocks with Daddy. She cried when she would have to get out. Caden went on his first snorkeling adventure and we went on the coolest spacey looking glass bottom boat. That was so amazing. Greg and I were treated like royalty at our couples massage and we went to the best atmosphere restaurant on the island, The Grand Old House, right over the water at sunset. We had a wonderful week there and look forward to going back as soon as possible.

Here is our most recent vacation photos in Grand Cayman I put together on One True Media.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Peter Pan vs. Captian Hook

Caden has been interested in Peter Pan and Captain Hook and all the sword fighting for a long time now. When he was two (almost three) he was Peter Pan for Halloween and last year he was Captain Hook. Caden and Greg were playing Captain Hook and Peter Pan sword fighting this morning. Here is how the conversation went:

Sword fighting...
Caden: Daddy, close your eyes
Greg: I'm not buying that Captain Hook!
Caden: No, I am Peter Pan, You are Captain Hook!
Greg: Well, you close your eyes then Peter Pan!
Caden: I'm not selling that!

Here is another favorite saying that Caden came up with while sword fighting about a year ago. Greg and I still use this one because it cracks us up.
Greg: You're going down Captain Hook!
Caden: You're going up Peter Pan!

We just got back from Disney World and he was so excited to see Captain Hook and Mr. Smee and get his picture with them. Caden had his sword with him and Captain Hook took it and stabed Me. Smee in the stomach. Caden thought that was very cool.