Kadence's 5th Birthday Party

We celebrated Kadence's 5th Birthday Party on Saturday, September 6th at Pump It Up. We had a blast! Pump it Up is a huge wharehouse full of inflateable slides and bouncers. I think the parents had as much fun as the kids did. After almost an hour and a half of jumping we celebrated with pizza and birthday cake! All in all it was a great time and I think Kadee really enjoyed spending the day with her friends! Thanks to all that came and to those who couldn't we missed you!

The Big Day

Just wanted to share some tidbits of Kadee's Big Day...aka the first day of school. On Friday, August 22 we got to go meet her teacher and visit her classroom. Her teacher is Mrs. Thorton and knew the second we walked into the classroom that she was a perfect fit for Kadence. Her class was decorated to the hilt in cowboy decor. There were cowboys and cowgirls, horses and haystacks, I was almost ready to re-enroll in Kindegarten (oh if only life could be that simple again). Mrs. Thorton was great and it really meant a lot to see all of her old students, some now in middle school coming by to visit with her.

Well the weekend went by very quickly, we did some school clothes shopping and got all of her supplies labeled and ready to go. As I figured I would, I stood in her doorway staring at her the night before. I just couldn't believe that she was really starting school the very next day!

Naturally, mommy took the day off of work so I could send her on her way and I knew I wouldn't be able to go to work after because I would be a blubbering mess! Charlie came home at lunch so we could both take her to school for the first time. I remember walking behind them in the parking lot thinking, wow this is really it! Things went well as I knew they would, my daughter is a rock and keeps her chin up no matter how nervous she might be on the inside. We all anxiously waited in the kindegarden play ground for Mrs. Thorton to fling open the door. All of the kids lined up and off they went, one by one. Some cried, some ran to their parents and Kadee Bug just turned quietly to us, waved a little wave and went inside. And that was it, her school days had begun!

That afternoon I was literally counting the minutes till I needed to leave the house. My mom and Cole went with me to pick her up. We were there prompltly at 1:50, needless to say school didn't get out until 2:11. When the bell rang Mrs. Thorton opened the door and one by one she dismissed the children to their parents...naturally Kadence was one of the last ones out. She came out with a huge smile and ran to me and gave me a huge hug, at that point I was okay, I knew from here on out she would be just fine as she began to experience all that school has to offer.

Ready or Not...Here We Go!

Well in exactly one week from today, we will tuck Kadence in, probably stare at her a while and wonder to ourselves, where did the time go. On Monday morning she will be attending her very first day of school. To say the least mommy is undergoing minor bouts of disbelief, distraughtness and even a little depression. My baby girl just isn't a baby anymore. All of the concerns a mother could possibly have are rushing through me at a mile a minute! Will she make friends, will she have a good teacher, will she make it to the bathroom on time?!?!? I am trying so hard to hide my anxiousness and just play the, "this is so exciting" card with her. I don't want her to read my tension and freak out! Although I have to say regardless of my fears I have all of the faith in the world in that little girl. She never ceases to amaze me. So I will put on my happy face and try to instill all the confidence I can in her and send her on her way. I do however plan on taking the day off of work because I am already anticipating a major breakdown when she walks through that classroom door and into her new world...just to clarify, the breakdown will be me in the parking lot! Despite all of my nervousness and tears we are on our way.

We went to Target today with our school supply list in our hands and checked off all the goodies on the list as we placed them in the basket. Kadence picked out her backpack. Mommy liked a pink and brown rockstar backpack with skulls and lots of bling. Daddy liked a blue skull and guitar backpack. And then we realized wait, we're not the ones starting school, she is so she very carefully picked out a black and pink Hello Kitty backpack.

Ready or not...here we go!

WEEKEND GET-AWAY IN BIG BEAR, CA

This weekend we visited Big Bear, CA. Since my parents moved to Vegas a couple of years ago we have been trying to find a great fishing spot that had a complete change of scenery from Vegas but wasn't too far of a drive. Well I think we finally found it! Charlie did some research and stumbled upon Big Bear. My parents along with Pete, Julie and Cody decided to make the trip with us. We found a beautiful cabin to rent that was actually somewhat affordable with a pay for two nights, get one night free special.

We rented a pontoon boat on Friday so we could put our fishing skills to test and even convinced my mom who is deathly afraid of the water to take a cruise around this beautiful lake.

Taking off on the Boat.

Kadee and her new best friends...the Ducks!

Mom Scared to Death!

Dad trying to catch "The Big One"

We did reel in some pretty big catches...HA! Just Kidding. Charlie caught a baby catfish, and regardless of what he says, it WAS NOT THAT BIG! We are talking a baby catfish (the picture really doesn't do it justice, it is true what they say, the camera adds five pounds, cuz this thing was tiny!)

My brother-in-law, Pete was the only other one to catch a fish, or should I say, minnow? Just kidding, but it was just a baby Bass and much smaller than Charlie's.

The town of Big Bear was very quaint. We were there during the Anuual Hot Rod show so we were able to see some pretty awesome cars on display. The kids enjoyed the candy store where they picked snow cones as a cool treat on a pretty warm day.

The Kids and their Snowcones.

Taking a break from our walk through "The Village"

Regardless of the fact that we didn't have any GREAT fish stories, just a couple of chuckles to bring home all in all we had a FANTASTIC TIME!

SEE YA NEXT TIME BIG BEAR!

Kadee's Wisdom on God

Kadence has recently started asking more and more questions about God, who he is, where he is, etc... On a couple of occasions she has made the comment that God is our stepfather. I blew the comments off thinking she must have heard Holy Father and is possibly a little confused.

Well the other morning I was getting ready for work and Kadee was sitting up on my bed reading her Christmas Book. She asked me, "Mom, God is our stepfather right?" Well I thought it was time to set the record straight. I explained that maybe she meant God was the Holy Father. She shook her head and replied, "No, he is our stepfather." After some more debate she finally asked, "well what is a stepfather?" I simply explained that if mommy and daddy were to ever get a divorce and mommy married a new man, that man would be her stepfather. She shook her head that she understood and that was the end of the conversation.

A few minutes passed and she coaxed her brother up on the bed with her. She told him, "Come here Cole, I am going to teach you all about God." Of course this peaked my interest so I stopped getting ready in the bathroom and stood to listen. Cole was sitting next to Kadee and they had the Christmas book spread over their legs. Kadee states to her brother, "Okay, Cole let me tell you about God...when mommy and daddy get a divorce and mommy marries God, he will be our stepfather!"

My heart has never laughed so much in my life! This is a true "kid" story that I am sure we will continuously bring up throughout her life. What a moment to just stop and think about the things that come out of kiddo's mouths! Love her!

Hi. We are the Neilson's (Charlie, Kristi, Kadence & Cole) and we have decided to start a blog. I was recently introduced to this sight and immediately thought WOW...finally a way to keep in touch with all of our family and friends spread all over the United States.

Anyone who knows me knows I am just not the best at keeping in touch no matter how good my intentions might be :(

But now I can fill everyone in of exciting news with our family late at night after everyone is tucked safely in bed. I battled with the idea of, "this just seems so impersonal" but then I thought to my self that this is 100x better than no communication at all!

I am very excited and hope all of our loved ones create their own blogs and link up to our site. We look forward to hearing from you!