Birthday Time!

It's that time of the year in the Vanderploeg household when all three of our kids have birthdays in about 6 weeks.  It gets a little nuts, but it's so fun to celebrate another year with each one.  I am a little behind on my blogging, but I will work on a birthday blog for each of our beautiful children...We will start with the boy...

Kaden is 6!!!!

Just under a month ago, Kaden turned 6 years old!  Kaden is our oldest, and it feels unbelievable that we have a six year old...in only a decade he will be driving!  It's a scary thought.  Even crazier is the thought that Kent and I have been riding this crazy parenting train for that long.  We now have a kindergartner in our house.

Kaden is such a wonderfully big hearted boy.  He is an incredible big brother to both of his sisters.  He is always holding Allie, helping her when she is upset, and generally loving on her.  It can get too be too much for her at times, but it is never ill willed.  He is also such a great brother and friend to Maddie.  It is true that they are "frenemies."  They switch back and forth between being best friends and then fighting and screaming at least 50 times a day.  But, at the end of the day, they will not be separated.  They want to share a room at night and they cannot sleep without each other.  They often can't sleep with each other because someone is talking and getting them in trouble, but they always choose to stay together.  There have been several night recently when Maddie loses her stuffed animals at night because she is talking too much (she tends to be the bigger offender in this category).  Later, when I come to check on them as they sleep, I find Maddie sleeping with one or two of Kaden's animals.  This means that after losing hers, Kaden has shared one of his precious animals so that she won't feel alone.  This is such a wonderful example of Kaden's heart for his sister and for others.

At Kaden's school conferences a couple of week ago this is what we heard: "Kaden is such a good boy."  "He is a leader."  "He is such a good role model for the other kids and everyone wants to be his friend."  Since this has kind of been the first time we have really sent one of our children out into the world for most of  each day, we couldn't be more proud to hear how well he has been doing.

Kaden is definitely all boy.  He loves guns, transformers, trains, hot wheels, and generally being rough and wild.  Sometimes that means we get frustrated with the excessive amounts of energy coursing through his little body as he careens around our house runs into everyone and everything while yelling wildly.  It is true that we are trying to focus that energy a little into things like t-ball and soccer, but mostly he just needs about an hour every day to go absolutely crazy.

Looking at Kaden this year makes me so proud.  He is a good boy who is loving to his family and kind to others.  He makes friends easily. He is still tender, honest, and innocent.  I hope we are able to keep him that way as long as possible!

Here are a few pics of Kaden this year...