Caiden Turns 4!!!

Can you believe it? My little boy is already 4 years old!! Today is his birthday, and for me it is a combination of excitement and awe and sadness. I mean, I know he is only 4 but he is growing up so fast. If you look back in my blog postings you can see him grow from a little baby to this little boy that has manly features.

You know he started calling me Mom. :( The day we brought Kiya home he called me mom and my heart sank. I am no longer "mama" to him. He is getting bigger and older and apparently so am I.

Last night our power went out (planned outage by the Electric company), but it was a bit scary for Caiden. Thankfully, I had given him a blue glow stick for fun last night (without thinking about the planned outage), so I was able to find him upstairs when he was telling me he was scared. I just looked for the "floating" blue glow stick. Needless to say, he slept in our room, which means he takes over the bed and I am practically on the floor. He has learned a lot from his father - spread out and don't give an inch to anyone else! :) It was a bit challenging changing Kiya's diapers by candlelight, but whatever.

Anyway, due to the power outage we got a bit of a late start. We woke up, got dressed, picked up the neighbor's girl Mackenzie and headed off to Chuckee Cheese! Caiden and Mackenzie had a lot of fun. We ordered nasty pizza and played lots of fun games. They played everything - no game or ride was left untouched. We loaded them up on sugar and then let them go!!!!
Mackenzie and Caiden after we loaded them up with pizza and sugar before the games
Caiden loves riding the carousal
Playing games
Kiya and me...self portraits.
Dave and Caiden playing games
Me trying to beat Dave's score. It didn't happen.
Caiden taking his turn
Kiya and Dave
Kiya looking thrilled :)

Of all the things Caiden did there, he seemed to like this drawing machine the best. He did it 4 times. The first time he didn't seem to quite understand it. It had a camera and a chair. You would sit in the chair like one of those photo booths at a carnival and push the button for 1 or 2 people. You would then smile until it took your picture and it would then draw it. The problem was that it took SO LONG to take your picture Caiden had lost interest or started looking at something else. We did it 4 times though and he wanted to do it more.
The top one was Caiden's first try. I then tried to explain it to him. The bottom one with Mackenzie was the last one we did before we left. I had to shove them in front of the camera at the last minute.
The one with me Caiden WAS smiling and looking, but it took so long to take the picture he got distracted. The one with him and Dave turned out the best.

Afterwards, we came back home and Mackenzie and Caiden played until Caiden was SOOO tired he couldn't see straight. At that point, Dave and Caiden took a nap (I think Dave took a nap cuz I asked him to help me fold the laundry) :p Two hours later I woke them up and got dinner and brought it to the park for a picnic and then played until it was too dark to see.




Kiya amused by Caiden



All and all I think Caiden really enjoyed his birthday. He is excited to tell people he is four!! I can't believe it. My baby is 4 years old!! Where did the time go?