The Big 7!!

On Sept. 19th Caden turned the big 7!! It's amazing how as a parent you are waiting and expecting your oldest to get older or take the next step, but with your second (or third) it just happens without you realizing it. I can't believe Caden is 7! When did this happen? We are so glad he is a part of our family!

This is a picture of Caden's "basketball" party. I had this picture later in the post but I accidentally deleted it and can't figure out how to get it back in the right spot. I'm awesome on the computer...I know!

Celebrating Sept. Birthdays with the "Edwards side of the fam" under our beautifully new painted deck...only it wasn't painted yet in this picture.

Caden blowing out the candles on his pink cake. My mom had made 4 small cakes...two chocolate and two pink. There were 4 boy birthdays and only 1 girl's birthday (mine...two days after Caden's!) So Caden got the other pink cake. He was a very good sport about it- he says he likes pink.

Caden with his cousin Ian opening a present.

Matt and I gave Caden a metal baseball bat and some batting gloves for his birthday...he loves them.

Dad, Caden, and Caden's friend Ben...after he blew his candles out at his big birthday bash...oops!

All the Boys...and Alli. Poor Alli was quite bored...she hung out with Matt and I a lot. She's way to mature for all those "little boys."

Caden and his friends decorating bags with basketball stickers to put their prizes in from the pinata. I think the boys favorite thing to do was just play...Caden went in the house and found every weapon toy we had and they just played and played! It was a fun time! Later that night Gma and Gpa Wilson came down for dinner. Caden had a lot of fun on his Birthday!

Happy Birthday Caden! We love you!!!

Home Improvements + 33 weeks pregnant = Preterm labor

So maybe it was a little too lofty of a goal to get our fence and deck painted before our baby arrives. We've been wanting to get these projects done since we moved here, but never could find the time with Matt in school. So I was determined this would be the year! We started with the fence two weeks ago. Two days and 14 gallons of stain later it was finished! I was definitely sore for a few days. Then after a week of rain and with a sunny forecast we decided to "hurry and get the deck done." Our plan was that I would do the railing during the day and then Matt would work on the floor and underneath the deck when he got home from work...estimating it taking about 3 or 4 days time. So early Monday morning I headed to Lowe's and picked up a five gallon bucket of stain. That was my first mistake. Who did I think was going to carry that five gallon bucket up to our second story deck for me? Well me of course! After getting that up the stairs I proceeded to put in a full day of painting and "taking care" of the kids. I discovered kids can survive at least one full day on nothing but crackers and water bottles. Okay I wasn't that neglectful...but by the time Matt and I called it a night and had gotten all cleaned up I started having contractions. I have a lot of those these days and didn't think much of it. Finally at 10:15 that night I started timing them. I timed them for a full hour with them coming every 5-8 minutes and decided I should probably call my doctor. She told me to go to the hospital. Bummer! So Matt's parents came down to sit with the kids and by 11:45 pm we were on our way to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital I was having contractions every two minutes and was dilated to a two and 1/2. In the end they gave me a shot to stop the labor, which thankfully worked with only one, and sent me home. I have since been banned from painting our deck and Matt has dutifully taken on the responsibility all by himself. What a great husband I have!! It is 10:30 pm and he his outside working on it trying to get as much done as he can before Caden's big birthday bash we are having out there tomorrow. He's such a trooper!
So the moral of the story is...don't try staining a deck in your last trimester of pregnancy...OR...going into labor is a great way to get out of doing home improvements! ...You choose.

Good Times

Here is a little of what we've been up to in the last couple of weeks...

Taylor started preschool yesterday (Sept. 2nd) at our neighbor Miss Heidi's house. He doesn't go until the afternoon but all morning he kept asking me if it was time to go. He even asked me if I could drop him off first (before Alli and Caden at 8:30 am).

I have been growing a baby! I've had a couple of requests for pregnancy pictures...so here you go-courtesy of Taylor. Gotta love digital cameras!

For Labor Day weekend we went up to Park City and stayed in a hotel and went school shopping at the outlets. I must say we found some pretty good deals and had a lot of fun.

Taylor, Alli, and Caden swimming at the hotel.

When we got home from Park City the kids tried on all of their new clothes for us. Here is Taylor in one of his outfits...doesn't he look cute? They grow up soooo fast!

Alli (our poser!) in one of her new outfits. She is looking mighty grown up!

Caden (the gangsta) in his new clothes. Also growing up too quickly!

We went to Matt's company bbq and they had a professional face painter there so all the kids got their faces painted. Caden is an eagle (if you can't tell), Taylor got batman, and Alli got a flower.

Last, but not least, Alli started soccer. She looks so cute in her uniform and she is actually quite a good player. I was afraid ballet would've made her soft...but she is pretty aggressive and does not shy away from the ball. She took a turn playing goalie in both her games and did really well, but she says playing goalie is boring (unless she's sick of running). She loves to play any other position and I must say...it's much more entertaining to watch than a two hour ballet recital!!!