Kaden

I'm struggling to decide just how to get caught up on my blog after so much has happened and well, things just keep happening.  I'm going to try and write a post about each of the kids to basically sum up how things are going for that particular rugrat.  Wish me luck!

Because of the somewhat transient status our family had for the last few years Kimball and I have had a little extra concern for Kaden and the affects so much moving and uncertainty would have on the little guy.  I always worried a little more for him simply because he was older.  The boy hasn't started 3rd grade yet and has been enrolled in 6 different elementary schools, one of them twice!  He learned early how hard it is to say goodbye to people.  I'm happy to say he also learned how fun it is to make friends though!  He definitely got nervous every time he had to start at a new school, but he always come home telling me about the fun kids he had met.  I'm so thankful Kimball and I seem to have put things in place now before he gets any older.  He is finally having the chance to have a best friend for more than just a few months and to not always be the one who leaves.  Just before second grade was over his best friend moved away.  Kaden was heartbroken.  He cried himself to sleep for a few nights and talked about him for weeks.  Even now, months later, Kaden talks about what a good buddy he was and how much he misses him.  He told me one night that it was harder to watch a friend move away than to be the one to leave.  That broke my heart a little too. Kaden is such a good and sweet kid.  He feels so much emotion and doesn't always know what to do with it, somewhat explaining his need to tackle his own team mate at baseball practice.  Oh yes, he did.

Kaden with his best buddy Aidan at his 8th birthday party

Kimball tells me Kaden reminds him a lot of himself when he was that age.  Very sensitive to what is going on around him and just wanting the world to make sense, but not knowing what to do when it doesn't.  This actually makes me happy.  I would love for Kaden to grow up to be like his dad one day, though hopefully with a few less fist fights and visits to the principal's office if you don't mind.

Kaden is such an awesome kid!  He turned eight at his last birthday.  Wow!  How did that happen?  We celebrated with a Halloween themed birthday party, with costumes, candy, and capture the pumpkin (it was a big hit).  Just a couple weeks later Kaden was baptised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am so proud of him!  I know he is only starting to understand what it means to have faith and believe in Jesus Christ, but he really wants it and is full of questions to help him better understand.  It was a little extra special in that we had a lot of family in town for the baptism.  Grandma and Grandpa Patterson, Aunt Mo, and Aunt Ranee were all in town for the special day.  He probably doesn't appreciate how wonderful it was to have them there, but I sure loved it.  It was a great reminder that just because we don't live in Utah any more our family is willing to go the extra mile, or in this case 300 miles to support us in these big moments.

Kaden played his first season of baseball this year.  He absolutely loved it!  He improved a lot during the season and was able to get a hit in just about every game.  He's going to try flag football in a couple months, but I'd be surprised if baseball doesn't come back on his radar next spring.  Not to mention he was the cutest Dodger I've ever seen!

As you can see Kaden has stayed pretty busy.  To top it off he joined Cub Scouts just after turning 8 last year.  I knew Kaden would go nuts for Cub Scouts.  He loves all the social interaction and fun activities they do.  Every Wednesday he begs me to be late picking him up so he can have more time to play basketball or dodgeball with the other boys as they're waiting to be picked up.  The cherry on top of cubscouting is of course the pinewood derby and boy did Kaden love that.  If any of you Joneses are reading this do yourself a favor and call Warren if you ever need a derby car.  After about a 30 minute phone conversation Kaden and Kimball were able to build a slick little car.  Kaden's car easily came in first in every race it ran.  I wish you could have seen how awesome it was for Kaden.  After every race his excitement just kept getting bigger and bigger.  I thought his eyes were going to pop out!  He was a good sport though.  He was asking the other kids all about their cars and did his best not to rub it in.  It was a pretty fun night, but boy did we set the bar high for his first pinewood derby!  We'll see how next years goes.

To sum it all up Kaden is just about as good as it gets when it comes to eight year old boys.  He's incredibly bright and loves to learn new things about the world and just about anything he can think of to ask about.  He is a great big brother who tries hard to reason with his younger sisters when they aren't following the rules and is very patient when he's forced to watch Barbie and My Little Ponies when his sisters get to pick the television show.  He loves to help out on fun "building" projects like hanging the tv on the wall and changing out light switches and has been known to make a box or two of Macaroni and Cheese to serve to the family at dinner time.  I love this guy with all my heart!