CJ in the House

I lied in my last post when I said my only regret from the surprise party was my lack of photos...I also regretted that my best friend of nearly 20 years couldn't be in attendance. Dean tried to fly her in for the occasion, but Cherrylynn was in her cousin's wedding in St. Louis...so close, yet so far. I obviously completely understood that she coudn't be there, but I was bummed and know she would have loved to have been a part of the fun, as would I have loved to share it with her.

Once again though, my sneaky husband had a surprise up his sleeve. Cherrylynn, her husband Ethan, and their daughter Cadalyn Jane got up bright and early to drive from St. Louis to spend the day with us! I was so shocked to see her pull into the driveway and so very excited! We had a great day just catching up and watching CJ play with the boys. Cherrylynn and Ethan went out to dinner that night for Ethan's grandmother's birthday and Dean and I got to babysit CJ.

It was a great night and the kids all clearly enjoy each other. I love watching the three of them interact and seeing the boys already "fighting" for CJ's attention. She is an equal opportunity lover though and shared her time rather equally. It was a busy evening of food, baths, and snuggling but I loved every minute of it. It was such a treat to be able to spend time with this little person who is a product of 2 people I love very much. Cadalyn is such a smart, friendly, curious little lady and it was so nice having another female in the house...though she did fall in love with her Uncle Dean and I had to force her to snuggle with me instead of him.

Ben fell asleep before Cadalyn last night and when he awoke this morning and realized she was gone he was very upset and said "I'm not ready for Cadalyn to be gone yet. I didn't even get to say goodbye!"