Well it's Monday night and my 4 day weekend is over. My little man, Cade, turned 3 on Friday. Has it really been 3 years? In some ways, it seems like I've been Cade's mommy forever and in other ways it seems like he was born just yesterday. It's hard to believe that his childhood is already 1/6 of the way finished. Why do kids have to grow up so fast? Sometimes I think it just isn't fair. I just want my baby to always be little. Luckily, for now at least - he's in no hurry to grow up!
Lucas and I took the day off on Friday to spend with Cade. (this is our little tradition to always spend Cade's birthdays together as a family doing something fun - at least while he's not in school.) We went to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Oklahoma a.k.a. "The Dinosaur Museum." Cade went there a couple of months ago with Lucas' mom and dad (Nana and Pape) and loved it. He asks about going back all the time, so I thought this would be a good opportunity.
Friday night we had a little party with just us and our parents (and of course, my uncle.) Cade was able to go ahead and open his presents from all of us. This was nice because he was able to play with all his new toys over the long weekend. Lucas and I got him some animated dinosaurs - a T Rex and a Triceratops. We also got him some clothes which he could care less about. My aunt and uncle got him a really cool scooter for toddlers, a helmet and knee pads, some new jeans, and some PJ's. My mom got him a new Thomas the Train train set, and a bunch of other smaller toys. Lucas' parents got him a bunch of new clothes, a really cool dinosaur DVD by the Discovery Channel, and some other stuff. Needless to say he raked it in! LOL
Sunday was Cade's party at Lucas' parents' house. It was dinosaur themed (of course.) I'm not sure how many people were there, but it was a lot! I'm always amazed at how many friends and family always come to show their love for Cade. He is definitely loved by many!
I bought a triceratops pinata last week before I knew it was going to be freezing cold on Sunday. (On Cade's actual birthday and the first 2 anniversaries of that date - the weather was very mild and beautiful.) We went ahead and strung up the dino in the neighbors tree (they are family too - just like everyone on that street.) The kids had a lot of fun beating that dino to death. We let the smaller kids take quite a few whacks at it, the bigger ones only got one whack each because they were all so strong! It's amazing how powerful kids can be when you put a bat in the hands! LOL
After the cake came the presents... and as if he didn't get enough presents on Friday night, he got tons more stuff. So many more that I had to clean out over 2 trash bags full of toys last night. Some of what I remember off the top of my head - robot T Rex, 2 baby animated dinos, 2 different dragons, 2 golf sets, Scooby Doo DVD, Mater truck, some other trucks, some moon sand, a transformer, a remote control car that works on 2 sides, a cool stuffed dinosaur that he can sit on while he watches tv, $$$, and so much more... there is so much stuff in his room - you just wouldn't believe it!
Needless to say, we are so blessed to have such great friends and family. Thank you to all of you who came to his party. I know Cade feels very blessed and loved.
Here's to another great year for Cade! - Shaunna
