Happy Birthday, Cade!

With all the fun and excitement we've have this last week, the kids are in bed early tonight so I wanted to go ahead and post a "happy birthday" for my little boy.  Four years ago tonight I was packing my bag and heading over to the hospital to be induced.

My mom had just flown in that morning and went with us to my last ultrasound.  Being the last Mitchell woman who hadn't given birth yet, I was determined NOT to have a c-section like my 3 sisters-in-law.  My wonderful doctor did everything he could for me to help me attain that goal... but, unfortunately, I joined their ranks.  (I say "unfortunately," but I am so very grateful that I was able to have the c-section.  If we had been living 100 years ago, who knows what would have happened to either of us.  Plus, I now have the convenience of scheduling my children's births and avoiding labor).

What was really amusing was that the attending was the same doctor who delivered McKenzie, Kyler, Karlee, Kavan, Collin AND Samantha.  The only cousins missing from the line up were born near Atlanta.  He asked me, "Didn't you know what you were getting yourself into when you married a Mitchell?  They marry these tiny women and then put babies with big heads in them!"  (Our situation was a little different, but it was amusing nonetheless)

It's hard to believe that much time has passed already.  My little baby boy is no baby any more.  He's a Sunbeam in primary.  He knows his letters and what sounds they make (for the most part).  He dresses himself and wears glasses.  He helps with the chickens and takes care of his rabbit.  He reads books (from memory) to his little sister, knows sign language and can count to 13.  I'm so lucky to be his mom.  I know he is here for something truly great.

Happy birthday, Cade!

A few hours old...

One year old...

Two years old...

Three years old...

Today...

We love you!

Caution: Super Long Post

For spring break we decided to go down to Atlanta this year and do the touristy thing.  Thankfully, Tyler's parents live in Conyers (just east of Atlanta) so we were able to save on hotels and just stay with them (thanks again!)

We drove down Sunday night and went out Monday morning to the World of Coca-Cola.  I know none of us actually drink it, but it's the American thing to do.  That, and it came in our City Pass packet of tickets (which is definitely the way to go).  It's smaller than the old one, but they still have the tasting room where you can taste different Coke products from around the world.  We really enjoyed the one from South Africa - I think it was kiwi mango.  Vegibeta from Japan was a no-go.

That day was also Tyler's birthday so we had a nice little party for him.  For those wondering, he's 28 - on the downhill side to 30.  

Tuesday was a kid-free day (another advantage of staying with family).  Tyler and I went to the Atlanta History Museum.  I'm really into that kind of stuff, so I really enjoyed it.  They also had a little setup of a homestead kind of thing so Tyler really enjoyed it as well.

Here is Swan House - we loved this as well:

Wednesday we went to the Atlanta Botanical gardens.  I was surprised we were there as long as we were.  I wasn't sure how much the kids would like it, but they have a little children's area that they loved.  We almost got a free lunch because their machine wasn't reading credit cards, but darn the luck, they got it fixed before we left.  Oh well.

This was part of the children's area.  I'm telling you, she LOVES to brush her teeth.

Thursday was the most beautiful day and we spent it at Zoo Atlanta.  Of course we all had a good time (other than the hour we spent waiting for our lunch), but it was especially fun to see the pandas they have there.  We found out the lease is up on them and they could be shipped back any day.  The baby is still too young to travel and they are in the middle of trying to renegotiate leasing the bears for another few years.  How much, you ask, does that cost?  Try $1,000,000 a year.  

My grandparents flew in and went to the Georgia Aquarium with us on Friday.  The funniest part was that they took the kids with them in to see the 4D movie and only ended up staying the first two minutes.  Apparently glass breaking and water splattering all over them was not their idea of a good time, so they went to the gift shop instead.  Sounds good to me (and probably everyone else who was tired of hearing my kids screaming).

Saturday we went to the monastery to feed the ducks and geese.  This turned out to be not such a good idea. We were nearly pecked to death by hungry geese and ended up running for our lives.  When we got back, we decorated Easter eggs with the cousins (Timothy, Jeremiah and Rebekah).  Ali especially loved it, as you can tell by her dyed fingers.

Sunday, of course, was Easter.  We got to go to church in the Conyers ward and then up to the lake house for some good old family traditions.  We all had a great time finding eggs and then an even better time doing a triple combination birthday celebration.  We have several birthdays in the month of April in our family and 3 of the kids' are within 2 weeks of each other.  So Jeremiah, Timothy and Cade all had a present-opening-extravaganza.

And, thus, our very exciting week.  Usually after vacations we are so ready to come home.  But on the drive back, Tyler and I decided we could seriously do one more week.  Oh, well.  Back to life as we know it.

If you are interested, you can go here and see all the pictures of our trip.  Careful, there's a lot.  Or, you can go to our old site under the "pictures" link and see my personal favorites.

Easter

IMG_1702
Originally uploaded by Tyler Mitchell

Happy Easter Everyone!