Kaden Robert Castrup 4-21-2005

Our first-born baby boy who was a surprise, a worry and a stress all in the beginning but turned out to be a blessing, a treasure, and a wonderful gift from God. Kevin always says that Kaden is a mini me in his behaviors, as he is extremely emotional and wears them wide open on his sleeve. Kaden has been curious and needing to know it all, he has a memory that amazes me. His first word was tractor and the kid has been talking non-stop since he was nine months old. His favorite things to do are: play video games and make-believe reenact what he has just played. The kid has an imagination that I cannot even begin to explain, he can turn the most simple of objects into an adventure. You can always tell when he is tired because he starts to whine about silly little things that happened to him during the day, seriously this is how I know he needs to get to bed and fast. His favorite food used to be spaghetti but now he wants nothing to do with it. Currently he is in kindergarten and is doing well in school, he struggled at the beginning with handwriting but has come so far and I couldn’t be more proud. He likes sports but doesn’t live for them, in wrestling we have learned that he is so strong and can do well if he would be aggressive but he has no desire to pin anyone down, which is okay because he has fun. He is a great big brother but often times forgets that his little brother and sister are A LOT smaller than him. The tenderness that he shows to our friend’s daughter amazes me because he is so gentle and adoring with her. The things he says make me laugh so hard sometimes because he is such a comedian and can really lighten the mood. I am so proud to be his mama and I can’t wait to see the man he turns into because he has already amazed me so far. I love you K-diggy dog!

My life

For the next three days I am going to explain each of my children so that everyone can get to know them better.

Day 03: Parent-teacher conferences and bullies

We got the pleasure of going to Kaden’s school and sitting down with Mrs. Gerk to check in on Kaden’s progress thus far in the year, I can’t believe my baby is ¾ of the way done with kindergarten. We took Kalli and Konrad with us as well and I was a little nervous on how that would go but all three of my amazing children sat quietly and listened, Kalli cracked us all up because she had her hands folded on the table and would point to stuff like Mrs. Gerk did and jibber jabber, it was a hoot.

Kaden is doing great in school and has made huge progress on his handwriting and working neatly, this was a big struggle for all of us at the beginning of the year and we have been diligently working to get him on the “write” (hehehe) track so I am pleased that our hard work has paid off. He continues to do great in reading, math, and the other subjects and we couldn’t be prouder of him. Lately we are dealing with a little attitude problem but discussing with other mom’s of six year old boys I see that this must just be an age thing. I sure hope it passes soon because I am tired of being the mean mom who has to yell and discipline him regularly!

Bullies:

Okay so I created quite the controversy on facebook with a comment about bullies, I chose to remove this because I didn’t want to make anyone mad. So I am going to put my view on my blog and then only those who want can read it.

I get that bullies are not always created by their parents or adults in their lives but from the experiences I have had with them more often than not it is by some adult influence that children turn into a bully. The stories I have seen (media) and heard prove to me that if we were proactive in the lives of our children (parents, teachers, school staff, and so on) then things like this wouldn’t happen. More often than not a bully is not reprimanded when they are caught the victim is the one that has to re-direct their lives and that in turn makes them feel isolated and could end up making them bully so then the cycle never stops. It seems to me that people turn a shoulder on bullies because many of us grew up in a time when you fought it out yourself (fist or words) and things were resolved, however in the day and age that we live now this is not going to work. We need to make sure that kids are not hurting each other physically or emotionally, no one and I mean no one should have to feel fear when going out in public and for sure not in their own home. I just feel that if we as adults take an active role in the lives of our youth we can begin to stop this bully war. I know it is so much easier said than done but what isn’t? It all goes back to the simplicity of monkey see monkey do and leading by example.

Quote of the day: Konrad

“My have lots of farts so that means my have lots of ‘xcuse me’s!”

Day 02: Birthday Boy

Day 02: Birthday Boy

We celebrated Kevin’s birthday last night because today (his actual birthday) is going to be crazy with basketball, wrestling, and Kaden’s parent teacher conferences (check back tomorrow for an update on how that went). Kevin got a smoker for Christmas and made smoked bbq ribs and a pork roast and I made twice baked potatoes, southwestern eggrolls, and cheesecake to go along with his amazing ribs! They were so tasty, I tell ya that guy has a gift for grilling/smoking! It was a fun evening even though when we do stuff in the smoker there are a ton of dishes and I feel like I am never going to get them all done. He got a big screen TV right before the Super Bowl so he didn’t get much else for his birthday this year, but I am sure he is pleased with his present! I guess to some birthdays aren’t as big of a deal when you hit adulthood but I still like to make it somewhat special. I am sure his work will do their share as well because they always do silly things on people’s birthdays. He has a great group of gals that he works with even if they boss him around all day and he doesn’t like it when I do it when he gets home too. I do have to say though they have come in pretty handy when giving him ideas for gifts for me, so thanks ladies!

I also got to take part in my nephew Jaxon’s baptism yesterday morning and the kids and I went out to Dad and Barb’s for a Mexican food meal afterward to celebrate. It was good to see all my sisters and for the kids to get to play together. We had to rush home to get things ready for Kevin’s dinner so we didn’t get to stay as long as we would have liked but it was still a good time.

Quote of the day: Kaden

"Mom if you ever died in a car crash I would cry so hard and I would never ever be able to replace you because I love you so much!"

-Often times I put funny and silly quotes from my kids but there is sometimes when they say things that melt my heart beyond belief and this is one of those times!

Day 01: Weekend Recap

Children’s Museum and Casa Bonita

It has been awhile since we all five could get away to do something as a family so I had planned a really fun day in Denver, however, life happened and Kalli and Kevin got sick and didn’t get to join us. So I turned it into a mommy/boy day and we met our dear friends “Uncle” Jimmy and “Aunt” B (Bri’) for the day. We started our day off at the Children’s Museum playing in all the areas and taking it all in. The boys got to make snack boxes with Jimmy and Bri’, which took quite the skill and I just melted at the how excited they both were while using all the tools in the workshop areas. We had a blast in the bubble area as well where I got to go in this booth with the boys and pull a rope that made a big bubble around us. Of course the hit of the museum was the huge real life fire truck that they have in the museum for kids to explore and “drive” while dressed up in coats and hats. We also got to sit in on the adventure of the day and learn about the painted turtle which is also Colorado’s state reptile and the boys got to make necklaces of the turtle, that was really fun and I enjoyed watching the boys in a learning environment. After the museum we headed to Casa Bonita. For all my non-Colorado friends and family I will give a little background on this place. It is a big palace looking pink building on Colfax in Denver that is home to some good family entertainment but the worst food around. It is a cafeteria style Mexican food that is edible but not gourmet. The entertainment includes cliff diving into the big water hole they have the restaurant centered around and several “gun” fights and pirates throughout the meal, there is also a cave, a magician and an arcade. The boys seemed to enjoy it all except the cave and I am pretty sure that Konrad was going to sit down right in the middle and not go anywhere, thank goodness for Uncle Jimmy because I am not sure I would have got him out of there without taking someone or something out. Kaden keeps talking about how Black Bart’s Cave freaked him out. I am claustrophobic so this too was an adventure for me! We had a blast doing all the things you do at Casa Bonita but were ready to be back within our bubble. As you all may or may not know I am not a big fan of the “city” and all the stuff that goes along with it so venturing out without my Kevy by my side was way outside my comfort zone. I had the GPS but got a bit turned around and ended up going south instead of north on the way home however my two passengers were blissfully unaware so I just turned us around and headed the right way for home. All in all it was a great day even though we missed our other two Ks and wished they could have been there to share in the memory making.