Happy Birthday Caden

7 years ago today our first child was born. Indulged me while I take a walk down memory lane.

Newborn

One year old


2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

What a wonderful 7 years it has been. My sweet, new born baby boy has grown into a independent, smart, sensitive young man. He can drive me crazy with his perfectionist quirks, but can melt my heart with his inviting open arms for some cuddles with mom. He is so concerned with what others think and feel, which can be to his detriment at times. He has recently taken a love for sports (especially football) with has created a special bond with him and Brice. I love to see them curl up together to watch a game or pile up all of my couch cushions for a game of catch. He has such a soft spot for his baby sister, and a not so soft spot for his little sis. They can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies. He loves music and thinks he is "so cool" with his new MP3 player (best $20 I ever spent). He is a protector to his 2 sisters but will always be my baby boy. I love you Caden.

Fall Pictures

Ironically I am posting Fall pictures as the snow is coming down outside. These were taken about a month ago. We have a lot of trees in our community and the kids had a blast playing in all of the leaves.

Fun Fall Pictures

Fun Fall Pictures

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The Louvre

Because I am having such a hard time keeping this blog updated, I'll just give the quick story of our trip to the Louvre. I am not an artsy, fartsy type of person, so going to a big museum was not my first priority while in Paris. But.....It was my absolute favorite. Now for the quick version.

-Arrive at Louvre @ 5:30 pm (been awake since 4:45 am)
-I'm tired, Caden is even worse but not complaining
-I anticipate much complaining and requests to be carried around the Louvre.
-I request free "pushchair" for Caden b/c I don't want to be holding him.
-"pushchair" is a wheelchair and everyone thinks Caden is disabled.
-get lots of special treatment b/c of said "pushchair"
-I make Caden sit in it the entire time b/c I don't want to give up said treatment
-I start to feel a bit guilty when we are escorted around and in front the mass of people looking at the Mona Lisa
-We are standing only inches in front of Mona Lisa and I really feel really bad
-We walk around for over 2 hours and still only see 1/2 of one of the 3 floors.
-Our dogs are barking and we head back to the hotel

Misty and Caden outside of the Louvre


The famous Mona Lisa (picture taken before our personal escort)

Fancy art and the "Crown Jewels"

Paintings and paintings and more paintings

Caden and Misty in front of the Venus de Milo

Awesome time!!!! We went on to see many more wonderful sights while in Paris. We saw Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees and much more. We loves sipping our hot coco and eating our crossiants at the French Bistro. I'm sure I'll make it back there with Brice to see the many other sights we missed.

Paris

When my sister visited me last month we were able to take a quick trip to Paris. Last minute changes allowed Caden to tag along. We didn't know until the night before we left who was coming on the trip. When it was decided I asked Caden..."Hey buddy, do you want to go to Paris tomorrow?" OK, so can you imagine as a 6 year old getting that opportunity? We feel very blessed to be able to live here in Germany and have so many chances to enrich our family's life with such experiences.
So at 4:45am Caden, my sister and I headed to the train station to catch the ICE train to Paris. What a way to travel!! We had our own little "room" with closing glass doors. We could get up and walk around the train whenever we wanted. There was even a little bar/bistro for snacks and drinks. It was great. The train took about 4 hours with a few stops along the way.

This picture is deceiving. Caden never slept on the train. This is him "resting" his eyes for about 2 minutes.

When we got to Paris we checked into our hotel and headed out to see the sights. First stop....the Eiffel Tower.

You can either take the elevator up the tower or you can take the stairs. The lines for the elevator were really long, so the overachiever in Shauna and I decided to take the stairs. It actually wasn't that bad. We made it to the first level and took a break to look around and eat.

Looking down from the tower is an amazing map of Europe.

We had lunch inside the Eiffel Tower. Shauna ordered french fries. Yeah, so the French do NOT know how to make good fries.

We had a wonderful time looking at all of the beautiful views. After about an hour we headed to the next stop......the Louvre.