Daddy Bear

Meet Daddy Bear---Logan appropriately named him.

This bear is one special bear but until this past Monday, he wasn't getting much love. You see on Monday, Kaden and Logan stayed with Grammy while Justin and I had a date night at The K--you may have seen us on TV--towards the end of the night Logan announced that he needed to get his friends and came down with this guy. This bear just happened to be Justin's bear when he was about Logan's age & when Grammy told Logan this he named him Daddy Bear. 

Daddy Bear was given to Justin by his Aunt Barbara and Uncle Charlie when he was little and Grammy held onto him for all these years. & surprisingly, Daddy Bear is in really good shape. Sure he is missing a little stuffing here and there but besides a VERY and I mean VERY small hole, he is intact. 

Grammy was a little hesitant to let Logan take him home when he asked at the end of the night but like everyone else, she succumbed to his big blue eyes. She made sure to tell Logan that he had to take really good care of Daddy Bear & Logan instantly looked into Daddy Bear's eyes & said, "Don't worry Daddy Bear, I take real good care of you. You can even sleep with me." & we haven't been able to pry the two of them apart since…

And Daddy Bear got me to thinking, I was already planning on saving their lovies but now I think I may just have to save a few of their favorite stuffed animals too. Kaden's would be his Mickey Mouse and Logan's well that could be his Froggy. Or horse. Or doggy. Depends on the day.

Holy Huck Finn Kaden

Last Thursday Kaden had his 5 year old session with Katy from Katy Gitto Photography. It was a little chilly & by a little chilly, I had a coat on and was wondering where my hat was! Since it was so cold I was a little worried that he wouldn't want to go shirtless and without shoes for this shoot --- after all, my "theme" this year was inspired by Huckleberry Finn and when I think of Huck Finn, I think of a boy down by the creek wading through the water and doing all things boys do. I shared a few ideas with Katy & she had the perfect location for our shoot. When we arrived I gave Kaden his new camo belt---anything camo makes everything better for him & the smile went on & the camera came out.

Now, my boys are VERY use to have a camera in their face on a daily basis. If not my nice camera then my phone. They will smile for me on cue & will laugh when I ask them to. Okay that second part isn't true---they will laugh and give the biggest smiles ever when I tell them NOT to. & I LOVE the fact that reverse psychology works so well with them at this stage. 

"Don't you look at Katy!" --- They look at Katy. 

"Don't you put your hands on your hip." --- They put their hands on their hips. 

"Don't you laugh and have fun." --- They laugh and have so much fun. 

The boys were on the top of their game this evening & when these pictures showed up in my email yesterday I got a little teary eyed. I can't believe how big our boys have gotten. I can't believe how every single picture captures them just perfectly. I was going to send Katy and email back thanking her for the images but an email just wasn't enough--she needed a call. A call that told her just how much these meant to me and how much it meant to have her capture the boys yet again. You're the best Katy---so blessed I have found you & to call you a friend! 

His Locks

From pretty much the beginning Justin and I have let Logan's hair grow. He has the blondest of blond hair and can totally pull off the surfer look. His long golden locks and his long eye lashes have melted our hearts for years but this past Friday, I had them chopped off. I am not 100% sure what I was thinking, I loved his surfer look but lately I have also been wondering what he would look like with some a shorter do. So there he was in the chair getting ready to get a trim and out of my mouth it came, lets go short. It'll grow back, right? Right.

But since Logan has been somewhat known for his luscious locks, I figured it was only fair to give them their own post.

His hair may never get this long again & it may never be this blond again but one thing is for certain, he's still the cutest 3 year old I know.

Jump. Jump. Jump Around.

It should come to no surprise that since I typically celebrate a birthday MONTH, that my son would at least get to celebrate his birthday more than once too. After it was all said and done, I think he managed to blow out his candles five different times which is actually pretty appropriate since he is FIVE.

I have been proclaiming that birthday parties were going to look a lot different going forward for about 2 years now and each time one rolls around I get sucked back into planning something grand but not this time. This time I scaled back and we even held it outside the home---best decision ever.

Kaden and Logan love going to Sky Zone. We went on Logan's birthday and a handful of other times. When I suggested having his party at Sky Zone--he flipped in excitement. Perfect, he was totally on board. So I reached out and reserved a room for him and his friends. I was pretty sure that I would still have to supply the decorations, plates, food and such but at least it wouldn't be at our house. Then I noticed what the birthday packages included---your own party attendant, they not only meet you and your party at the front but they get everyone signed in with their socks on ready to go on time. They had a cart for gifts, shoes and anything else we didn't want to carry which they pushed back into the party room. They provided pizza, juice boxes, plates, napkins. She wrote down what each present was and who it was from and gave the list to me after the party. They cleaned up the room after we were finished and even asked if we would like them to haul the gifts to the car---it was a small party so we managed on our own. But basically, I was SOLD from second I laid eyes on the word party attendant.

Kaden's friends starting arriving around 10:15 and at 10:30 they were let loose to jump till their hearts content---or for an hour whichever came first.

After their hour of jumping we all were escorted back to the birthday room where we had pizza, Spiderman cookies and Kaden got to blow out his Spiderman cake for the first time. I had decided to go with cookies again since they're a little easier to eat and let's face it, I am addicted to the cookies at Icings by Ang---plus how cute are these?!?!

And when it came to the cake there was only one person that I had in mind for it, Shanna with MoMo Roo. Shanna has done countless cakes and cake pops for me, honestly the only birthday I can think of that wasn't done by Shanna was Kaden's first and 2nd birthdays---other than that she has done each of their birthdays and multiple baby showers for me. She's amazing & Kaden's face was filled with excitement the moment he saw the case. I think he said it was "SOOOO Amazing, Mom. Thank you!". No, thank you, Shanna!

The party was a hit and although I can't speak for everyone, our boys napped for a VERY long time! & when May rolls around next year I am pretty sure we will be looking to do something very similar for Logan---then again, Kaden received a Totally Turtle birthday for his fourth birthday--certainly don't want little man to feel like he was slighted and didn't get his share of parties that were planned by Mom. Dilemmas. Dilemmas.

Oh and later that night, he blew his candles out yet again but it would also be the last time for 365 days.