Happy NINTH Birthday Kaden (best day ever!)

It's official...my firstborn is NINE!  Wow!  Next year is double digits!  I wish he would slow down a little bit! It seems like just yesterday I was rocking him in the middle of the night wishing and praying that he wouldn't grow up too fast.  

Jeremy had to leave on the day before his birthday for a work trip to Malaysia, so we started celebrating early.  Monday night Jeremy took the boys to a movie, Megamind.  

Wednesday night was when we decided to let him open his gifts from us and then go out for supper and have cake.  Hudsen worked really hard on a picture for Kaden's birthday.  That was his gift to his big bro.

Kaden was very gracious and gave Hudsen a great big hug.  I love seeing our boys like this.

Kaden loves the book Hatchet so he has his own copy now.  He also got some new Star Wars Legos and a subscription to Sports Illustrated Kids.

Jeremy was telling me that one of his favorite birthday memories as a kid was when his parents tied his presents to string and hid them all over the house.  He had to follow the string to each present.  

We did this for Kaden's big gift.  Here are the boys following the string throughout the house:

The string ended in the linen closet in the upstairs.  Tied to the box was a little box and in that box was exactly what he had been wanting.  An iPod!  He was SO thrilled!  We got a killer deal on one.  Thank goodness because I was not excited about giving him one.  He will be an "Apple guy" for sure!   How can you not be??? (that's my Apple plug!) Monica and I joke how if they made dishwashers we would buy one!  

That evening we went out for supper to anywhere he wanted to go.  He picked Outback.  We came home and cut into his Hawkeye cake.  I decided to try making his cake this year.  It was actually pretty easy.  It isn't perfect, but it sure did taste pretty yummy!  It was all worth it when I saw this smile:

Jeremy left Thursday afternoon for his big trip.  This is what Malaysia looks like right now:  
Lucky ducky!  He got to sit by this pool at his hotel for a few days when he got there to recover from his 20 hours of flying.  Wish I was there with him...OK, back to Kaden!
The boys, Grandma Blum and I loaded up with Matthew and Monica Friday a.m. to the WI Dells for Kaden's big day.  He didn't have school on his birthday and he was just thrilled he got to go to one of his favorite places on Earth!  We were looking forward to showing Grandma this place we get to go to a few times a year thanks to discovering the best kept secret at the Dells.  One night for 49 bucks which includes 4 waterpark passes!  We love this little hotel and love the deal they offer even more!  It makes it pretty dang affordable for us.  We started swimming and going down the waterslides as soon as we got there.  We all had a blast.   Here is the link to some incredible pictures of the day taken by Monica:
http://thewillitsfamilytribune.blogspot.com/2010/11/best-day-everhope-you-want-to-see-some.html
I love this picture that Monica took of Kaden and Matthew walking out of the amazing Italian pizza place we seem to always end up at when we are in the Dells.  After an amazing meal and dining experience for the boys (and us!, Kaden looked at us and said, "this was the best day ever!"  What's better than that????? 

My mission to not have him dwell on missing his dad on his birthday had been accomplished!  These are the days and moments that I am SO thankful that I get to be a mommy to these amazing kiddos of mine!