Richards Family Blog

Once our boys turn five, they get to have a birthday party with friends every other year.  This year was Benjamin's first friend birthday party. He has been talking about it for weeks.  Benjamin invited 4 friends and they all came. We started at our house with pizza, cupcakes and ice cream, followed by opening presents.  Then we loaded all 6 kids (Benjamin and Britton included) and Caden into our 12 passenger van and headed to Planet Kid for a wild time.  By the time I got all the kids buckled in, I was exhausted!  Luckily, the boys got to run wild at Planet kid and had a great time!  When the party was over, we drove the boys home just in time to get the boys ready for bed.

Next on the longest birthday weekend ever we had a family birthday party on Sunday.  Benjamin requested pancakes for dinner so we had pancakes, sausage, eggs and fruit.  Everyone loved dinner.  After dinner Benjamin got to open even more presents, which he loved, and then we got to have cake. Benjamin doesn't like cake, so this year we got him a Baskin Robins birthday cake and it was super yummy.  Benjamin had a great birthday and birthday weekend.  We are lucky to have that cute little boy. 

Happy Birthday Benjamin!  We can't  believe he is already 5 years old.  Benjamin woke up at 7:00 this morning on his own.  That can only happen because it was his birthday.  Most days I have to literally pull him out of bed.  He was so excited.  Before he went to bed he asked me if he could have a snack in the morning because it would be his birthday. I said yes. When he came into my room this morning, he requested fruit snacks. The breakfast of champions!

The day just got better for Benjer because he got to take the snack to preschool and he chose ice cream cups.  After preschool we picked up Mcdonald's for Benj and met Dustin at work for lunch.  Benjamin loved the attention.  We left Dustin's work to register Benj for kindergarten.  I can't believe my little Benjer will be in kindergarten.  He is getting to be such a big boy.  We asked Benjamin what he wanted for his birthday and he said he didn't know but he would love everything. He can be so sweet!  He really did love everything we gave him.  His favorite gift was his ipod shuffle.  Benjamin loves music.  He wore his head phones all night and sang and danced around.  We love that little boy!  Benjamin is funny, sweet, cute and a good big brother.  We are so happy to have him in our family!

We got to go to Utah this weekend to seal Caden to our family.  It was so great! We went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple since the Boise temple is closed.  The Oquirrh Mountain temple is really pretty and it was a beautiful day.  Caden was tired when we got there but he got to take about an hour nap in the nursery.  They had to wake him up for the sealing but when it was time, he was all smiles!  He was so cute.

We were lucky enough to have my parents and sister travel from Boise to join us.  Dustin's parents and one of his brother and sisters and their spouses, as well as a couple of his cousins joined us too.  We were also super excited because some of our friends that we met when we lived in Coeur d'Alene came too. We were so excited to see them!  It was a great day surrounded by people that love Caden.  We are so excited to have him in our family forever!

 I love this picture of Britton.  He is so athletic and focused!
This is Benjamin holding a baby turkey.  My sister let us borrow some baby chicks and a turkey for my farm week for preschool.  Benjamin loved them and wanted to hold them all the time!

Our boys are as different as can be.  Britton lives for sports.  If he could play sports all the time, he would. He is very social and loves playing with friends.  Benjamin loves electronics.  He can entertain himself for hours.  Benjamin loves music and animals.  Caden is just cute and sweet.  We love watching them grow!

My best friend and soul sister Heather is visiting from Saipan and she brought her adorable baby with her. It was so great to see her again! It was like she never left (except her husband and boys stayed in Saipan). We got the cutest pictures of Caden and Whitney together. They were born exactly one month apart. Whitney is so petite, and Caden is so robust that it is just funny to see them next to each other. We just know they are going to be great friends.

Britton at his first game. I got the last pair of long johns at walmart. They are camo and at least one size too big.
Benjamin in action!
We forgot his glasses but he seemed to do ok without them
Is it possible to get a picture without a crazy face from Britton? Not really
Britton has a huge bruise on his chest. He told us he fell on a fire hydrant while diving for a football at school. But he didn't cry because he didn't want the other boys to see.

We had a busy weekend. Friday night Britton had his first soccer game of the season. His whole team did awesome! Britton likes to play goalie and he has gotten really good! He had some amazing saves. They played a team that was undefeated last year until the playoffs and won! It is really exciting to watch Britton's soccer.

This morning was Benjamin's first game. Benjamin played really hard too. His games are really funny to watch. He got two goals today, although he used his hands to scoot the ball into position for one of them (they're super lax at this age).

Caden was a trooper and enjoyed being held by grandma during both games.

After Benjer's game we came home and dyed Easter eggs. Benjamin was very confused by the word "dye." He kept thinking "die." I'm pretty sure he still doesn't get it.

Later in the afternoon we had our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. The boys got TONS of eggs and candy. It was a busy day. The boys went to bed all excited for the Easter Bunny to come in the morning.

It's Official! Today Caden became a legal Richards. We went to court at 11:00 this morning and 15 minutes later we came out with our legal family of 5. We kept Britton out of school today so he could go with us. He was excited and nervous. The judge asked both boys to say their names, as well as everyone else in the courtroom. We had our parents join us for court as well. We love court! We are so excited to have Caden's adoption finalized! He is such a wonderful, cute, sweet, and adored baby!

It was Spring Break so Benjamin and I didn't have preschool. Since Britton was still out of school for track break, we tried to do something together each day. Monday we went to Monkey Business with some friends. Tuesday I had a meeting with a friend so I brought the boys along to play with her little boy and they had a great afternoon. Wednesday Grandma Shirley took work off and took all of the local grand kids bowling and then to her house to make cake pops. They finished up the day with a movie.

Thursday we ran some errands and cleaned the house. We planned on taking the kids skiing when Dustin got off work. I got everything together and we headed out. We got to the base of bogus basin and saw that night skiing had been closed! We were pretty bummed but we thought we would still try to fit in something fun. I took Britton and we rented a red box and then I let him pick out a bunch of candy. The boys thought it was great.

Friday we had some friend's kids over while their parents went on a much needed date. We had 3 extra boys and 1 extra girl. We got pizza, rented the Muppets, and played movie theater. The kids were all great and everyone had a good time. It was a good Spring Break. We didn't do tons, but we did have some fun together, and that's what matters.