Kaeden (13)

It doesn't seem right (even though I know it is), but Kaeden is officially 13 years old. It has been wonderful to watch him grow into his own person. So far, while Kaeden is a teenager and has some moodiness, he is by far better than the majority of teens out there.

Family: Kaeden is a really great big brother, especially to Mila and Kai. He is good with Bennett too, but Bennett clearly irritates him more than the other two. Kaeden makes time to hang out with each of the kids individually. With Bennett, he frequently wrestles or will humor Bennett by playing the Wii. With Mila, he tries to build with her, read her stories, or even indulge in one of her MANY tea parties. With Kai, he is a snuggler and happy to help me hold him, play with him, etc.

Kaeden Putting up with Bennett :)

Kaeden Holding Kai

School/Friends: Kaeden is in 8th grade at Justice Page Middle School in Minneapolis. Here, he has so many friends (he even had his first girlfriend). In particular, he enjoys spending time with his friend, Sam, whose cabin he went to a few times this summer. Based on our conversations, he is hoping to go to Washburn for high school so he can stay in the same school as his friends. We'll see if that actually happens. Sonja and Steve would like for him to go to Cretin (I believe that's where Steve went to high school). Jae and I disagree based on the fact that we have access to awesome public schools that we already pay for via our taxes. Unless there is a real need for private school, we would like for our kids to go to public.

Kaeden's First Day of 8th Grade:

Sports: This summer, Kaeden played baseball, however, I'm not certain that is something he is interested in any longer. WHich, honestly, is fine by me. I only want him to participate in things he really enjoys. This leads me to his other sports. He LOVES to ski, which is something that he was first introduced to with his Papa, Matt. I am so happy that they bond over this - Kaeden really cherishes his time on the slopes and loves when he can do it with the people he loves. This year, he will be participating in Ski Jammers for recreational purposes on Saturdays and for racing (sport) on Mondays. This is the first year he will do the whole racing thing, so I am eager to hear how he likes it. I bet he's going to be great at it. Additionally, he participated in cross-country this year. He never ran before, but gave it a go, and seemed to really like it. He improved so much this fall - it was awesome to see.

Kaeden is such an awesome kid. He is introverted, easy-going, and a great big brother.

Back Up and Running

When I started this blog, I meant for this to be a place where I could store all my favorite memories and things that I would surely forget like family outings, funny things the kids have said, etc. Clearly, I let this thing tank as it has been damn near six years since I have posted ANYTHING. I am actually 100% shocked that I was able to keep this URL handle. I do not want that to happen again. I plan to actually give this blog thing a go and work at it. I don't want to lose these awesome memories, and I'm afraid to say that I probably did over the past six years out of sheer laziness.

So... this is the first post in what I hope is many to come, and I am going to lead with the question: what has happened in the past six years? A whole hell of a lot, that's what.

Married Life: Jae and I are coming up on 11 years together and 8 years married. It has not been without its ups and downs, but at the risk of sounding cliche, our life is still full of love, laughter, and friendship. There were certainly times when we probably both questioned whether or not to continue moving forward, but I am happy to say that we have stuck through for the better. I absolutely love my life and am happy I get to wake up every single day and share it with a wonderful man who happens to be my best friend.

Careers: Both Jae and I have shifted gears in a big way as it relates to our careers. A few years ago, I made the decision to go back to business school full-time, pursuing my MBA. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I am happy to say that I treasured my time in the program and have come out on the other side to a career that I am excited to go to every day. I am challenged, constantly learning, and interacting with incredibly intelligent individuals daily. Jae has moved to commodity-management, something that he is very talented at. In his current role, he really loves the team he works with and is able to excel with everything he does.

Kids: There will obviously be more to come on this front. In fact, I plan on completing one post per kid since so much has happened (that's a lot of posts). This year, we completed our family. We are officially Chong, Party of Six. It's a wonderful thing. There are now four of them. Kaeden (13), Bennett (6), Mila (3), and Kai (almost 4 months). They are so unique in every way and keep us on our toes. Life is crazy with all these kids, but I wouldn't wish for it any other way.

Home: When I graduated from my MBA program, I was offered a position at Land O' Lakes. Given the HQ is in Arden Hills, the commute from Chaska would've been WAY too crazy, so Jae and I sold the house and moved to Maple Grove. We live in a beautiful neighborhood that is perfect for raising our family. Sometimes we feel a bit like outsiders to our neighbors, but I would like to believe that if anything happened, we could reach out to them and they would be willing to help.

So that's that. Here's hoping that I actually keep it up this time.

MCC