Happy 4th Birthday Cadence

For Cadence's 4th birthday we had a little birthday party for her at the house. One of our very close friends drove up from South Carolina to celebrate with us as a surprise!!!!

Always great to hang out with Darlene!!!! This was her first time seeing Chase.

As always Darlene went wild spoiling us!!! We went to the party supply store and Cadence had all the princess party decorations one girl could ask for!!!

We have great friends to come and celebrate with!!!

Here is the birthday girl and her ribbon letting everyone know it was her special day. You can't tell she loves all the attention can you????

Her favorite part of the whole day - Presents!!!!

She's serious about this gift opening - and she has no time for Jacqui's nonsense!!!

All four year old girls need a big huge princess hat that won't stay on their head for longer then 13 seconds!!!

Little Miss "I love attention" had to cover her eyes while everyone sang to her because she was "embarrassed"...

Chase was even ready to party!!!

One of Darlene's surprises was a new Wii for the family. We were all so surprised and appreciative of her thoughtfulness so much! Friends like her are very few and far in between! We are very lucky to have her!!!

Cadence's goal is to beat her dad...

And just because...

Um yeah, this is what we are working with here at the Ski residence...

Chase's Baptism

Earlier this month we had Chase baptized. We were fortunate that Bryan was stationed so close to us that he was able to drive down from Virginia and be there for it. My best friend Theresa flew in from Michigan to be here also. Ski's mom, Judy, also drove down from Ohio so she could see her grandson being baptized in the same baptism dress that Ski wore, Bryan wore, Cadence wore and pretty much every cousin in the Haynes family! Ski was not happy that his son was in a "dress."

Notice Cadence... all eyes weren't on the princess!

At least she isn't dramatic!!!

Our family pic!

Chase and his God Parents Theresa and Bryan. They are also Jacqui, Matt and Cadence's god parents!

Judy and her boys!

My four babies!

Now that she has daddies attention again, the smile is back!

After the ceremony we invited some of our closest friends to join us for lunch at Morgan's Tavern and then back at the house for cake and ice cream.

GG brought him - and the rest of the kids - some pumpkins to carve!

Look at this pair!!

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone that came and celebrated with us. Especially to those of you that drove hundreds of miles to get here!!!! We had a great time!!

What we have been up to!

Well it was a great summer but too short as usual. The kids had a great time at their dads. They said it was one of the best summers they have spent with him. They came home two days before school started! Here they are on their first day!

Matt - first day of sixth grade! Hello, SIXTH grade??? I can not believe he is in middle school this year!!!

Jacqui on her first day of Seventh grade!!! She's mad because Matt is in the same school as her again!

Miss Cadence Evelina started dance class. She wasn't a big fan at first but then I bribed her with McDonalds and she started to catch on. Not sure if we are going to make it the full year but we are going to give it our best try. We may go back to gymnastics!!!

Here is the perfect example of our girl now a days.
Riding her bike in rain boots and putting on lip gloss at the same time.

My Chase!!! He's getting so big! And photogenic!!! Here are some cute pictures from the past few months of him!!

Look who's sitting up now!!!

I LOVE those chunky legs!!!

We don't have a thumb sucker this time! Instead, we have a finger sucker! Rock on!!!!

Tell me he doesn't look just like his daddy!!!!

The kids and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the beach at sunset.

Anyone that knows my kids, knows that this picture is a perfect example of their relationship! Matt is trying to dig a hole in the sand and Jacqui is kicking the sand right back in!!!

The only way to describe this is "Perfect"

Chase wasn't a fan of the waves rushing around his feet!!!

For some reason it never occurred to me that they would "accidentally" get wet!!!

Me and my baby!

In Jacqui news - she made the volleyball team at school! 50 kids tried out and 16 made it! My baby was one of them! I'm so proud of her!

Love this picture of Matt keeping Chase occupied!

Oh and Michigan Football season started! I love the new U of M Jersey Ski bought me!!!!

Matt started playing the trumpet this year also! (Well Coronet - it's all we had!) He really likes it!

Jacqui is still playing her flute - the same flute I played, Genie played and Megan played!

I wish I could freeze this moment in time. They were actually getting a long and laughing together instead of fighting!!!

So that is what has been going on with us over the last few months!