Alden Turns 5

I can't believe it, but I now have a 5 year old.  Alden was so excited to turn 5 this year because it means that he can start Kindergarten next year.  He has been looking forward to turning 5 for at least the last 6 months and every time he talked about turning 5 he also talked about being able to go to school.  I have some reservations and am a little nervous about Alden going to all day school next year but he isn't nervous at all!

We kept his birthday very low key this year, since I have been on bed rest (and I was just hoping the baby didn't come on his birthday), but we still tried to make it special for him.  Alden helped me make his chocolate cupcakes on his birthday and was really excited to put sprinkles on them.  He had a few presents to open that evening from family members, which he was really excited about, and then he got to blow out the candles on his cupcake.  It was a great way to spend his birthday, celebrating as a family and enjoying time together.  I am so proud of how much Alden is growing up but it is also sad because he isn't really my baby boy anymore.  All I can say is that we are really trying to embrace every moment and enjoy every phase of our kids' lives because they fly by so quickly!

Alden's chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles.

Alden was so excited to open the gift that Grammy and Grandpa sent to him!

He loved the new clothes...

and was super excited to have new books to read!

Drew and I went in on a gift together with my sister and parents for Alden.  He was really excited to get a big boy bike (since the movers broke his when we came here).

He was a little tentative about pedaling but started getting it quickly.

Alden was so excited for his cupcake and candles.

Anders was mesmerized watching Alden with his cupcake and candles.

My sweet little 5 year old making his wish!

 The next week(while I was in the hospital with the new baby), Drew took Alden to a parking lot to get some more practice riding his bike.

He was apparently very slow, but started to get more of the hang of it.

Happy Easter

I love celebrating holidays with our kids and getting to see their excitement!  The boys were so excited to get up this year and see that the Easter Beagle (yes a beagle, not a bunny) had brought them eggs and presents.  Alden loves Snoopy so much that one year he just told us that the Easter Beagle had brought everything and it has stuck with our family.

The boys were so excited to look in their baskets, in which Anders got a little bow and arrow and Alden got a jump rope.  Then Alden was excited to start looking for eggs but we had to tell him to slow down so that Anders could find some too.  Alden then did an awesome job of leaving lots of the easier eggs for Anders and was really sweet trying to help to tell Anders where to look.  After they had found all of the eggs, with only a tiny bit of help from Mom and Dad they had fun opening all of the eggs to see what they got.  They were excited about the candy, but they were even more excited about the giant balloons the Easter Beagle brought.  The balloons proceeded to entertain them for at least the next hour, which was great.

The boys finding their baskets and getting excited that the Easter Beagle came.

Anders was a little more tentative than Alden.

The boys loved finding the eggs!  Alden decided that all the ones that looked like bunnies were his and all the ones that looked like chicks were Anders.

Looking all over for the eggs!

Alden got really excited every time he found an egg.

The boys with all their eggs!

Alden getting a little help from Daddy to open all his eggs.

Anders was so excited to get one of his giant balloons blown up.

Both boys were very excited to eat a couple pieces of candy.

Anders was excited to try out his bow and arrow with Daddy!

Alden was so excited about his jump rope and quickly figured out how to use it!

Anders enjoyed watching Alden learn to jump rope.  It was a great, relaxing Easter for our family and I am so glad that we got family time and got to go to church and focus on the true reason we celebrate Easter there!

April Snow

So, after a couple months of fairly warm (50s -70s) weather and no snow it apparently decided to snow again, right as we thought we were hitting spring.  We got two snow storms within a couple days of each other that were very pretty and gave us some much needed moisture.  Alden was very happy for the snow because it meant he got to go sledding and play outside with Dad but I have to admit that I was glad that it melted quickly.  I do not like driving in winter weather and so I was glad that the snow provided some fun and then quickly melted away.

 We had just put out our bird feeder a week ago and it was funny to watch a couple birds use our bird feeder as protection from the snow for awhile.

 Alden and Drew had fun building a snowman together since this snow was actually wet enough to stick together.

 Alden was very excited about the snowman.

 After building a snowman the boys had a snowball fight.

 It was fun to watch Alden and Drew run around the backyard and have so much fun together.

The next snow storm a couple days later brought even more snow.  It was extremely pretty but no fun to drive on, and of course the snow fell on the one day that week that we had two doctor's appointments to get to.  However, once we were back home and warm inside it was fun to watch the snow through the windows.