Chuck E Chaos

Well, on Thursday my baby boy will be 4 years old! Where has the time gone?? Sometimes when he talks to me I feel like I am talking to an adult. We hosted his 4th birthday today, February 12th, 2012 (which would have been my Nanny's 90th birthday) at Chuck E Cheese in Lake Jackson.

Cade had a ton of family and friend come and celebrate with him today and he enjoyed every minute of it. He has been looking forward to his Chuck E Cheese party for months now and the antcipation paid off. He played a ton of games, ate cake, danced and enjoyed the ticket blaster (he came out with one ticket in his hand). Luckily his birthday crown caught quite a few others!

All of the screaming kids paid off to see how much fun he had!! Here are a few birthday celebration pictures!!

Abigail, Kyndall and Cade with Chuckie

The Birthday Boy with Chuckee



Cade and his best friend Kade Estrada playing games

Cason and Brie

Cars Cake

Challenges and Blessings

2011 was a very trying and tough year for me personally. Reflecting back on the year though I know that each trial made me and my family stronger and God also sent many blessings our way. Below I am just sharing some of my memories - good and bad from the year - a recap of sorts.

January started 2011 off with my mom's double masectomy - and during surgery her doctors came out to inform me that her cancer had spread and more treatments would be needed. Five days after my mom's surgery we lost my Nanny. She battled dementia for many years and hadn't been herself for quite sometime - however that didn't make it any easier. I shared a picture below of Nanny and I at my wedding.

My mom lived with us for the next month during her recovery. She was in a lot of pain and had to keep drains in her sides for longer than the doctor had expected.

February brought on Cade's 3rd birthday day - which we celebrated at Nani's house with a Thomas the Train theme and an actual train the kids could ride.


March -- my mom started her 16 weeks of chemo treatments (8 treatments -every other Monday). My friends hosted me a sweet little baby shower as well during March. March is also rodeo time and I remember Cade's excitement with the ferris wheel and them not allowing me to ride with him because I was obviously quite pregnant.


April - on the 2nd (I believe) my sister in law was put in the hospital with mild contractions she was having with our neice who wasn't due until July. Needless to say they decided to keep Lynsie in the hospital until Camryn was born. On the 8th - we went into the hospital early that morning for our scheduled C Section to meet our 2nd baby boy - Cason Dane. (A definite blessing) Cason by far made any challenges we had this year worth while and brough in the shining light we all needed.-- Later in April - my cousin who is 10 years older than me - had a little girl - Riley Breann (20 days younger than Cason). Chad's step brother Michael and his wife Mindy also had a baby boy in April.

May - I had to go back to work from maternity leave and we also participated in the Sobotik Strider 2nd Annual walk in support of CF.

June - Busiest Month By Far!! My mom's last chemo treatment was June 6th!!! Chad and I celebrated our 6th anniverary with a small getaway to L'Bearage du Lac in LA. (I refused to go to far because Cason was still so small). Chad also started his new job at Brazoria Telephone. We spend Father's day at Sea World with Cade. Cade also participated in his first Vacation Bible School. June 29th - Corey and Lynsie were finally blessed with their beautiful baby daughter, Camryn Grace.

July - This may have been our least exciting month of the year because I can't currently recall anything.

August - Back to work for Mommy and Cason started day care at Mrs. Nina's. We also celebrated my 30th birthday at the riverhouse.

September - Texans football - Sam Football - and a little B'Wood football! We actually spent the 10 year anniversary of the Sept 11th attacks at a Texans football game and it was very humbling to see the tributes done there and around the world. Makes me very proud to be an American. My mom also had her final surgery and is on the road to a full recovery. And we will continue praying for no relaspe.

October - Halloween with the boys and Camryn and seeing all of them in the cute little outfits.

November - Had a great Thanksgiving


December - We spent a lot of time at Sam Houston State playoff games!!! Took Cade to the Christmas celebration at Sea World and celebrated the birth of Jesus with our family. Santa was also a big deal this year -- Cade was finally not scared of him and actually went to see him 3 times!!
Although the year started off quite rough -- we have so much to be thankful for. Sometimes I have to remind myself that ultimately God knows the plans he has for us. --- Jeremiah 29:11

Here's to a great 2012!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Well, we made it through Cason's first Thanksgiving and Christmas!! Always such as busy time but so worth it.

We did Christmas at my dad's house on Thursday, then Friday Chad and I took Cade to the Sea World Christmas Celebration while my mom watched Cason and this was by far one of my favorite parts of Christmas this year. I loved the shows and it really put us in the Christmas spirit. I also loved that they made things about CHRISTmas and the birth of Jesus and weren't afraid of any reprecussions from someone that may not celebrate Christmas. We will definitely spend a Christmas in the future at Disney or somewhere like that!

Friday for Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon at Chad's dads, attended Christmas Eve service and came home for Christmas here at our house with my mom. She stayed the night with us (which really helped because it allowed Cade to sleep in his bed at least half the night while Santa came) and then finally we spent Christmas afternoon and evening at Chad's moms. BUSY BUSY BUSY!


So today, Chad was off and we all lounged around the house and enjoyed all of the kids new toys.

Sorry for all the pictures but I had a hard time narrowing them down (and they are in no order)!

Look Mom!! Santa came and brought me a Buzz flashlight!

My Sweet Boys in the Christmas PJ's!

(Yes, Cason got a black eye right before his first Christmas -- thanks to his brother!)

My Mom with her grandsons!


Our family pic (the best we could get)~!

Poppa TR with his grandchildren

Cason, Cade and Camryn

Daddy and Cason opening gifts at Nana's house.

Chad and Cade at the seal and otter show at Sea World!

Mom and Cade at the front of the park - yes it was very cold but so worth it! Big Bird and Cade

Cade opening gifts at my dads --- new Sperrys!

Fall, Football and Fun!

Fall is by far my most favorite season of the year!! Football season, cooler weather, Halloween all follwed by the Holidays!!! Love it!! It is also usually our busiest season of the year so of course I haven't updated in a while -- if I try to sit down at the computer then Cason ususally begins fussing. He turned 6 months old yesterday and is teething like crazy. We aren't crawling yet - but we are up on all fours rocking back and forth - so it won't be long. I feel like his baby year is going by way too fast and I wish I could just pause both of the boys right where they are. Cade says the funniest things -- I bet I could write a best selling book just from the quotes that come out of his mouth.

Last weeked we participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in honor of my mom. It was a lot of fun and we had a great group of friends come out and walk/run!! I was very proud of my mom finishing all 3.2 miles just two weeks after her final surgery. She has been such a trooper and hopefully the worst is over -- just check ups from now on. Thank you to everyone for their support and prayers through it all! We plan to make this an annual event so please consider joining us in the upcoming years.

Sweet boys ready for bed!


The Three Loves of My Life



Cade's 1st Teeth Cleaning (Not 1st Visit though - due to his dead tooth)

6 Months Old

Battle of the Piney Woods Tailgate 2011

Chad and I before the Sam/SFA game

Half of Our Race for the Cure Team

Mom coming through the Survivor Finish Line


Family Pic Before Texan Game on Sept. 11th

This And That - Summer 2011

Well, now that the first week of school is behind us I am finally sitting down to catch up on downloading pictures from the summer (at least from one camera) and do what was meant to be a weekly blog update! Weekly, monthly - who's counting! Lot's of summer events I never posted I will include some pictures of in this post -- Ringling Brothers Circus, Children's Museum and My Dirty Thirty Bash!



Yes, that is right I turned 30 this past month! Chad threw me a party out at a river house on the San Bernard with all of our closest friends and we had a blast -- eating, drinking and wake boarding. It was the best weekend! The boys came out for a little bit on Saturday - we were able to take our dogs with us and our family was in and out as well.



I am back at work full time and both boys are in day care. I am having a little bit of regret about not putting Cade in pre school this year, but I wanted him to be with his brother for at least a year and he will go to school for the next 12 years so one more year out will be okay! Cason is doing real well with Mrs Nina -- he is the baby so he is spoiled there. He is rolling over ALL the time. In fact I have a hard time sleeping because he rolls over in his bassinet and I am super paranoid about SIDS so the minute I know he is not on his back I am wide awake. He is a very happy baby and I blessed to have had two happy babies.



Here are a few pictures from the past months!! Enjoy!

Banner for the Dirty Thirty

Before Date Night for Chad and I

Cason's First Time Eating Solid Foods

First Time Swimming

Stefanie, Cason, Cade and Drake at the Children's Museum

Cade at the Children's Museum

Circus!

Dad and Cade at the Circus (Cade was still unsure at this point!)

Painting with a Twist with Al's Pals!!! So much fun! Girls Night Out!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Summer that is! Tomorrow I return to work for another year at B'Wood. Can you hear the excitement? Cason will start day care - luckily he will have his big brother there to help watch after him and ease Mommy's mind. Cade is quite the caregiver with Cason - he loves to feed him, hold his hand and talk to him and Cason just smiles and laughs at him. I can already tell they will be best of friends.

Cade has recently become addicted to the Wii. Chad bought him the Cars 2 game for a surprise and it was all over from there. (Cars 2 is another addiction we have.) As soon as he wakes up in the morning he asks to play -- and I am worried that he will be a gamer. Hopefully it is just a phase. Cason has started rolling over (from back to tummy) and laughing quite often. Other than that things have been quite quiet around here. But with me returning to work, the chaos will begin ---

Dani & Cade playing Mario Brothers!

Sweet Brothers holding hands asleep in the car!!!
Cason and Brie (cousins - twenty days apart)!

My handsome boys!

God Gives Great Gifts! Thank You God!

WHAT A WEEK!

This week was Cade's first experience at Vacation Bible School. He went to Sweeny 1st Baptist which is the church I grew up in. He was in the three year old class while mommy helped out in the nursery with the babies. I was very worried about how he would do in a "school" type setting since he has always gone to an in home daycare but he did wonderful. His teachers said that he always wanted to be the "leader" for everything. He came home the first day telling me - "God made me - Thank you God!" and that just melted my heart. Throughout the week he would sing songs he learned and continue saying their theme for that day with "Thank You God!" after everything. Cade's Official VBS picture.Cade with his class and the teachers singing the last day!Cade and Jake eating their snack in the Fellowship Hall.

Ironically, the last day of VBS their theme was "God Gives Great Gifts!" And for our family we could all say "Thank You God!" to that statement. On Wednesday, June 29th, Corey and Lynsie welcomed Baby Camryn Grace into this world at 1:08 PM. And praise God she was a healthy 7 pounds 2 ounces - 20 1/4 inches long. They have been through so much to make sure she was healthy it was such a blessing that 4 weeks early she was and had absolutely no NICU stay at all!! It was a long, long three months for Corey and Lynsie but she is here now and they are happy. Here are a few pictures of beautiful Camryn. Hopefully her mommy and daddy will get to bring her home on Sunday.

Corey, Lynsie and Camryn!!


Camryn Grace Thoe
Cousin Cade, Uncle Chad, Camryn and The Proud New Daddy