School parade and bday party

Whooo...what a fun Thursday. It all started with Halloween parades and parties at the kids school. Maddi's friend Maddie is Hanna Montana in the big glasses, Maddi is Gabriella from High School Musical in the white dress. Her teacher, Mrs. Aylward, is the purple crayon. She is a very sweet teacher, very grandmotherish, which is great for Maddi. It was a beautiful day so the kids didn't need jackets but we did add the turtleneck and leggings since it wasn't exactly sleeveless dress weather.

The back of Maddi's wig.

Cade as Indiana Jones. I got a video of Cade and part of his class you can see at the bottom of the post.

I helped with Cade's class party since Halloween is his favorite holiday. I'll help in Maddi's class for Valentine's since that's her favorite school party holiday. Here is Cade with Adam and Bobby, some of his friends. Brett made bozo buckets for them to play. I saw a parent with them last year so I copied. He nailed 5 pumpkin buckets to a piece of wood and the kids threw balls in the buckets like the grand prize game on the Bozo show. The kids loved it.

After school parties Maddi had dance. I picked her up a bit early from dance to go to her party. The kids are out of school Friday so we got to have her party on her real birthday.

The party was at Bouncetown. Here are some of the kids in one of the bounce areas. Since it's close to Halloween the kids got to wear costumes.

Maddi invited Jack so Cade would have a buddy to run around with.

For some reason, my kids theme of their parties is always "It's my party..I can cry if I want to" and they always do cry! Not long into the party Maddi was feeling overwhelmed with all of the attention from her friends. There were 24 kids including Maddi and Cade and they all were wanting to follow her around and be by her. It's rough being the special birthday kid! The people working the party were super sweet and had her happy again in no time.

The kids on the "snake" before we left to go to the second room of bounce toys.

Of course the party wouldn't be complete without both of our kids crying. Here is a shot of Cade crying for some reason....can't remember what he was pouting about, but I'm sure it was something really important.

This is Maddi and Abby racing on one of the bounce areas. It looked like too much fun so I had to give it a go and raced a lot of the kids. They were quite impressed that I came very close to beating most of them. I have a burn on my knee from crawling through the maze so fast. Fun stuff.

Brett was showing off his moves over at the ball toss. Click on the picture and you can see Cade's green ball going through on the red side in the hole on the left. After 1 hour and 20 minutes of bouncing the kids were worn out and needed some more sugar in their bodies.

Next stop was the party room. Daddy with his 8 year old Maddi. Part of the reason Maddi wanted her party at Bounce Town was so she could sit in the big blow up chair. It's the little things in life....

My big 8 year old with her cupcake. Watch the video at the bottom to see the birthday wish.

This is Scott entertaining as usual. He was at hockey in the locker room and told his friends he was leaving to go his girlfriend's party and that she's really hot. I'm not sure Maddi would consider him a boyfriend, but they are good friends. Her boyfriends come and go with the changing of the month so I never know who the current love is.

Funny story about this picture. Cade and Brett were negotiating. See...nothing ever goes as planned when I'm involved. I made 24 cupcakes but somehow when the party attendants were setting up for the party they informed me I only had 23 cupcakes and there were 24 kids. They wanted to know what they should do. I told them that Cade would not get a cupcake. They were vanilla and he wanted chocolate cupcakes so I told him he could have a drumstick ice cream when we got home instead of the cupcake. He was fine with that because the boy LOVES drumsticks. So when they passed out the cupcakes there was a boy who didn't want the cupcake so we told Cade he could have the cupcake instead of the drumstick. He was not giving in....his mind was set on the drumstick. Well, it was the last drumstick and Brett wanted the drumstick too so Brett was trying to convince Cade to have the cupcake so Brett could have the drumstick. Guess who won that negotiation? If you guessed Cade, you're right!

This is another boy who is "love" with Maddi. She only invited 7 boys and they are all boys she has a crush on or who have a crush on her. This boy Parker gave her a necklace with an M and charms and when she opened it everyone was going..."ooooooooohhhh". Poor guy. He turned red and Maddi too. Brett was talking to his mom after the party and told her how it went down and she said she told Parker when he picked the necklace out that people might make fun of him but he was adimant that he wanted her to have it. Kids are so cute.

She's 8!!!

My Maddison Shea is now officially 8!!! She woke up at 6:00 am which is the earliest she has woken up in a VERY long time. She actually woke up with a bad dream and was almost back to sleep in our bed when Cade, the rooster, came in our room ready to start his day. She was happy to wake up early to enjoy all of her birthday. Cade gave her a set of girl Legos for her birthday and she was very excited to have her own pink Legos to build with and not have Cade bossing her around telling her if she's doing it right or not. Today at school they have their Halloween parade and parties because they are out of school tomorrow. After school she has dance and then her birthday party with 23 friends at Bouncetown. She took cupcakes to school Tuesday for her bday b/c they had a field trip Wednesday, and parties today. She's taking cupcakes to dance to celebrate with dance friends and then she'll have cupcakes at her party. I think she'll be cupcaked out by the time it's all over! We love you Big 8 year old girl!

Cade and Maddi showing off the house, car and person that Maddi made with her new Lego set.

Roadtrip

This past weekend we headed west to Iowa with some friends to watch the Aggie football team vs. Iowa State. On the way to Ames, Iowa there was the longest line of geese flying East. It went on forever, just goose after goose in formations in lines. It was fun to watch. We stopped at Chick Fil A in Davenport, Iowa and it didn't dissapoint. The friends we went with had never had Chick Fil A before (imagine that) and they really liked it too. They said they'll stop there now everytime they go home to Iowa.

We got to Rachel's parents house around 9:30 Friday night and the kids played for a bit and then it was bedtime. They have 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms in their basement so it was a very nice setup for our families. Maddi was thrilled that she got to sleep in the same room with one of her boyfriends, Liam. Liam is an early riser like Cade so by 7:10 Liam had woke Jack and Maddi up and Cade was playing his DS in our room so as soon as Cade heard the other kids up he joined right in. They played with their DS games, house, Legos, and then made their way upstairs for coloring Halloween cards.

Later Saturay Jack and Liam's grandpa took the kids out to fly Chinese kites. The grandparents had visited China in September so Brett and them had fun talking about their trips to China. The grandparents live in a nice neighborhood that backs to a creek and the walking path and park are on the other side of their house. In the picture above Grandpa was testing out the kite and the kids were in awe watching it.

They decided they needed a little more room to fly the kite and get away from the utility wires so they helped carry the kite.

They started with one kite and took turns holding it. Here is Maddi with her baby and Grandpa.

The first kite crashed and tangled into the tree. So then there were two half kites flying. They decided it was more manageable to have half kites so they broke the second kite in half so there were now four half kites flying and each kid had their own kite to fly. They had so much fun running around and tangling kites with each other!

Cade with his half kite.

Cade and Jack's kites got too tangled to fly anymore so they had just as much or more fun rolling down the sledding hill. Maddi was flying her kite and trying to jump over Cade as her rolled. Watch the video at the bottom of Cade and Jack rolling, but beware, it will make you dizzy!

Cade was pretty dizzy making his way back up the hill so he could roll down again.

Before the Aggie football game we tailgated with Rachel's family. It was pretty windy so the kids spent the first half hour in the car. Maddi was drawing Halloween pictures.

The boys were again playing Nintendo DS. They didn't stay in the car too long before their Jack and Liam's cousins showed up then they were out throwing the football, playing bags, and eating!

They learned a new game and I can't remember the name of it, but I need to find the name of it to get it for them for Christmas. You make a pattern with colors and hide the pattern and then people try to guess the pattern and you give them white and red markers on the side to help them know if they have the right colors, etc.

The tent behind us had some great music and we went over and joined them for a bit to dance with them. The kids were dancing to the electric slide. Fun stuff.

This is Maddi with her grumpy face because she had too many cookies, liccorice, juiceboxes and whatever else she was eating since we weren't watching. Sometimes you gotta let them learn on their own!

Our family in front of Iowa State stadium. There weren't too many Aggies there, but it was fun to high five the ones we did see. When we first got in the stadim and were walking to our seats 2 different groups saw our Aggie clothing and welcomed us. How nice is that? Once the game began and we were winning nobody welcomed us anymore. Ha ha. In the Big 12 Iowa State had the worst record in the north and our Aggies had the worst record in the south so it was a game to see who won the title of worst in the conference. We were glad the Aggies didn't win that title!

It was a 6:00pm game so it was cold and windy. Maddi sat on my lap most of the game asking me 500 questions about the teams, the yell leaders, cheerleaders, dancers, band, etc. She had a blast and it was fun to share her first college game with her.

Me and Brett...old Ags!

Brett with his future Aggies. Cade was all bundled up. We were the second row from the top so it was pretty chilly. Aggies won! Whoop! It was a fun game and even though the Aggies defense was horrible, it was a fun game and a fun weekend. When we left Sunday it was crazy windy so I got a video of Maddi and Liam trying to catch the leaves flying in the air.

He's baaaack...

Brett got back from China this afternoon and the kids and I were so happy to see him. The kids were also happy to see all the fun things Brett got them in China. I think the kids were really expecting toys because they have been talking with friends about all the things that are made in China and they thought he'd bring all the toys like Webkinz that are made in factories in China. You should have seen Cade's face when he found his first gift was Chinese silk pajamas. Not exactly what he was hoping for, but I think it will be hilarious to see Mr. Cade in silk pjs!

Maddi actually was happy about her silk pjs. I got some silk pjs and robe too and like mine. I guess only girls appreciate some nice silky pjs!

Another fun gift were necklaces with the animal of their birth. Cade is a horse and Maddi is a dragon. The kids are looking forward to taking some of the gifts to school to share about China.

Now this is what Cade was really hoping for...a Chinese fan! He has been making paper fans and airplanes like crazy. Now he has a REAL fan and you can see from his face how cool he thinks it is.

Had to laugh at Maddi with her tongue sticking out while she concentrates on closing her fan. Why does my family stick their tongue out to concentrate????? There were other fun gifts from China, but the best gift was having Brett back home!

After China gifts and baths we let Maddi open her birthday gift from us early. Her birthday is in one week. We are taking a road trip to Iowa this weekend to watch the Aggie football game so we wanted Maddi to have her Nintendo DS (her gift) for the 5 hour drive. Cocoa was joining in the birthday celebration in her favorite spot on the end of Maddi's bed.

Maddi was very excited to finally have a DS. Too bad it was bedtime and she only got to play for a few minutes. She'll have plenty of time to play on our drive.

Another Fun Trip to the City

I apologize, these pictures are in here in random order, so bare with me...Saturday we took the train into the city for some Chicagoween fun and shopping. American Girl store moved to the old Lord and Taylor building so we had to go check it out. Good thing the Nintendo DS still had battery left to entertain Cade while Maddi and I were checking out the new store. The kids both had some money they have earned so Maddi was busy looking for something that wouldn't cost all of her money ($15). She wanted something for $5.00 (yeah, right, at American Girl) but she ended up spending all her money plus some of mine :) on a cooking set for her dolls. It's actually pretty cute with an apron, rolling pin, flour, sifter, cookie cutter, etc. She was happy as lark and then we were on our way to the Lego store for Cade to spend his money. Cade chose a Star Wars set that he spent all of his money on ($11) plus some of my money. He was happy as a lark too and then we were on our way back to the train to go home so they could play with their new toys.

This picture is from the FAO Schwartz section in Macy's on State Street. Cade is into Batman right now since Lego Batman is his newest game for his DS.

The city of Chicago has so many cool things for kids/families. Chicagoween is one we never made it to last year, so we were excited to go this year. At Chicagoween they have the Midnight Circus, pumpkin decorating, mask making, face painting, balloon animals, etc. and it's all free. We watched two shows of the Midnight Circus and the kids got this picture with one of their favorite performers.

This was one of their favorite acts from the Midnight Circus. I was so nervous watching them juggle fire and knives. They even stood on one foot on one guys head and juggled knives to each other. I don't care if the knives were real or not, people should not stand on other peoples heads! I was so afraid he was going to paralyze him and break his neck.

It was cracking me up during the show Maddi kept saying, "I can do that". She is strong and flexible like some of the performers and it was fun to hear her want to work toward something. Each show was the same but with different acts. There were some really talented people with some cool tricks/talents. The kids and I really enjoyed it even though we were pretty cold. We got hot chocolate for the second show so that helped us enjoy it more.

Before the first and between the first and second show the kids were playing on the sculpture in the Daley Plaza. I have no idea what the sculpture is, but the kids were having a blast sliding down it. If you click the picture, you can see Cade on his belly in his orange shirt sliding down.

They dye the fountain orange for Halloween. At football they give out orange crush awards and the kid gets a liter of orange crush soda. Cade called it the orange crush fountain and wanted to drink it up.

Here is Cade sliding down the sculpture.

Here is Maddi sliding down. They learned from watching the other kids to slide on their jackets to go faster. The first video below is of the kids sliding down the scupture. This was after the first show and the sculpture was getting quite crowded. I forget when I video that I can't turn the camera, so you have to turn your head.

The second video is of a tap dancer on Michigan Avenue. Him and his band were so fun to watch. We always enjoy the street performers on Michigan. This video is sideways too. I know..I know...

The third video is from Cade's game Sunday. He is on the kickoff return team and he is standing by the coach in the back, number 45. Not very exciting, but you can see him in action. They lost the game, so the season is over. Basketball starts this week!