Cade's Birthday Weekend

Wednesday started with cleaning the house before my parents flew. We made a mad dash to cut hair and get it cleaned before leaving for the airport. We literally picked up my parents and drove to the Outer Banks. We seemed like it took forever to get there. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We got to the hotel just after 9pm. It made a late night for the kids. They did great in the car though. Thursday we woke up and got on the road to Cape Hatteras early, which was good because it was really getting busy by the time we left. It was here that I realized that I had left my camera's memory card in my computer at home. I was so mad! Thankfully we brought our digital video camera. We just got it for Christmas and still haven't learned all it's features. I had to learn real quick how to make it take still pictures. The picture quality isn't near as good but it's better than no pictures at all! Cade, Kelson, G'ma and I climbed the lighthouse. Papa's foot was hurt and Analise was too short to go so they patiently waited at the bottom. Kelson climbed up so fast. He beat us all. However, he wasn't so excited to make the trek down. G'ma was paranoid once she got to the top. She walked around it once and only paused long enough to have someone take our picture. She wouldn't let go of the inside wall even for that though. We didn't have any idea how bad our legs would hurt the next few days.
We got some lunch and ventured to Kitty Hawk. It wasn't the most fun for the kids. They were more focused on getting their time on the beach. Once on the beach, they were tickled pink. It was so windy though. I don't think I'm a beach person. I'm perfectly content to live inland away from the musty smell, salty water, and sand. Analise got sand in her swim suit and wanted to go back to the room. I thought it was going to be hard to get the kids off the beach. I had no idea it was going to take convincing my mother to leave. We got showered, went to dinner and miniture golfing. The wind started to really pick up by this time. We had ordered ice cream cones and WOW it was a mess. The wind was causing them to melt so fast that none of us could keep up. We got some cups but Cade refused to use it. I was getting so frustrated with him. This is when the frustration for the entire weekend would start with Cade.

Cade's 8th birthday was Friday. I had planned a special day for him even though we wouldn't be having the traditional cake and ice cream with presents that night with the family. We took the kids to the NC Aquarium (which was a disappointment- BTW). We got him a Star Wars happy meal at McDonalds (something he had been asking for). We got home and waited for Cheeto to get home from Philadelphia (he had been there on a business trip). It was friday night fireworks at the Hoppers game. I thought Cade would enjoy doing this for his birthday. I called ahead and had them announce and put his name on the big screen during the 5th inning. Cade was not impressed with this either. It didn't matter what I did he was not going to be happy. We had to change his baptism to Saturday morning instead of Sunday. He started pitching fits about this Friday night.

Saturday morning he woke up and refused to get dressed or go to the church. I woke up Cheeto and said he needed to talk to him. After 15 minutes or so, Cade came out and said he was ready to be baptized. So many friends and family came for his special day. I would like to thank those who took the time and money to make the trip to participate in such a milestone in Cade's life. Cheeto did a great job. I had never been more proud to be married to such a man. Such a worthy man, that made this day more special. Nothing touches my heart more than to see my husband acting with the priesthood. I was emotional of course. I always do this however, pregnancy hormones weren't helping I'm sure! Things went smoothly until we started taking pictures afterwards. Then the Cade grumpies set in! He wasn't happy with us then. It semi-spiraled down from there. I decorated his cake finally that night and that perked him up a bit but not enough.

Sunday was a different day. We had two wards get divided up to make 3 so we had a joined meeting at 1pm. It was nice to have my parents in town so we didn't have to haul kids to a 2 hour sacrament meeting. We are in the same ward so no changes for us other than some new leaders. We had Cade's "party" right after. A friend has a helium balloon maker and gave me some great balloons to hang everywhere. Cade requested a Steelers/Panthers birthday. This was very convenient- made decorating very easy. Cade wanted us all to wear our shirts. I wasn't sure if mine would still fit. It was close but it worked fine for today anyway. I have started a tradition to make the kids videos of their last year. I spent hours getting his together, tried burning it 3 times and it still didn't work. What a waste of time! Some friends and family came to share the afternoon with us. I thought Cade would like this as well. NOPE! After presents his exact words were, "Was that it?" I wanted to scream in his face, "IS THAT IT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!" I was so mad. I'm still fuming a bit. Can you tell? I have bent over backwards for 3 days to make the child have a great 8th birthday. 3 days! And this is how he acts? If I remember right this is exactly what he did last year. I'm sure I'm threatening... but I refuse to do anything at all next year.
It's been a crazy 5 days. I drove the entire time at the beach, which I never do. I don't mind driving. It's just being married to Cheeto it doesn't require me to drive. He refuses to allow anyone else to drive. After driving, late nights, stress of the baptism and birthday party- I'm exhausted. Tomorrow the boys have their open house at school and Tuesday is the first day of school as well as having to have my parents at the airport by 7am. It's going to be exhausting for a couple of more days if I can just make it that long.

Funny Kid Quote of the Day
When we leaving the hotel to drive to Cape Hatteras, Cade noticed that the gas was getting low. It wasn't even close to the "E" yet but he kept saying, "Mom we need to get gas." I said we would but later. Another 15 minutes goes by, "Mom- We need to get gas now!" I asked why he was concerned about the gas. He said, "Mom, I really don't want to push Millie when she runs our of gas." (Millie is what we named the van) Where do they get these ideas?