Twas the night before the New Year...

...And everyone was asleep. So I stayed up watching movies, the new year for to meet. Actually, I'm anticipating my dad calling at the stroke of midnight, so I thought I'd make some use of the time and get a little caught up on the blog.

Well, we spent Thanksgiving at my sister's in Pouslbo. It was good fun to have the cousins together. Dylan enjoys watching Cadence, and Cadence enjoys making sure Dylan is behaving. Dylan was so sweet, tolerating Cadence and giving loves to Kennedy. I think he really likes that Kennedy is littler than him, so she's not able to boss him around. He's going to be a great big brother!

Jeremy braved some of the shoppers at Day After Thanksgiving sales, and picked up some pretty good deals. Mostly socks, but they are some really awesome socks. Cadence had fun hanging out with her dad and uncle in the afternoon while Auntie Pammy was at work and Mom was doing homework.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were fairly uneventful. Classes ended for Fall semester, and now I get a good break until January 12. We had a dinner with a few members of the heart team, did a lot of shopping and decorating, and when things got a little too stressful for the girls, we made a huge mess on the living room floor.


Playing in corn meal is one of our favorite indoor, super-messy activities. As long as I can keep it off the linoleum (it's worse than ice!) I have no problems with it getting everywhere. It's super easy to vacuum up when we're done. It's all the fun of a sand box when you can't play outside in one.

Although Kennedy is more interested in dumping, she became quite fascinated with what Cadence was doing as she mixed us up a batch of 'cookies'. Mostly she just mixed and mixed. Kennedy really wanted to do it too. For awhile Cadence tried to come up with different ways to keep Kennedy away - moving from the floor to a chair, setting it up on top of an overturned bowl. Then she decided not to fight it anymore and let Kennedy 'help'. In the last picture Cadence is actually taking Kennedy's hand and putting it on the whisk and assisting her with the all important action of mixing.

We attempted a sledding expedition and BBQ in the snow up on the mountain which was pretty successful except for the fact that it was only 4 degrees out and hard to stay warm. Cadence has really had a good time with all the snow we've had in the weeks leading up to Christmas. One day she had a friend over to play in the snow in our backyard. The girls had fun going down the slide into the snow.

Cadence has been a trooper, getting through the holidays. She was all excited for pictures with Santa, and would go through the aisles at the stores pointing at things and saying, I'll tell Santa I want that, and that, and that, and that... It was hard, though, with all our talk about it being Christmas, and yet it wasn't Christmas until the designated day. And then the fact that there are parties that don't include presents and cake, and parties that do.

We went to Gramma's house on Chrstmas Eve and Cadence crashed on the way home after a day full of playing, sledding, presents, and treats. That meant she didn't put out any treats for Santa before she went to bed. When she woke up in the morning, she was impressed by the display of presents under the tree, but she couldn't figure out how they got there. So, she blamed Kennedy. It's okay, though, 'Santa' had mentioned that he didn't want cookies and milk this year. Instead he wanted cashews and salted almonds. Unfortunately Cadence didn't quite hear what was said and so told us all that this year Santa wanted "cashews and salted onions". I love that kid.

We spent Christmas Day at home, then went out and looked at Christmas lights before going to bed. The day after was Gramma's birthday, so we went down to Tri-Cities and I went to the temple while the girls had breakfast at Starbucks with Gramma, then we got a little shopping done (found the best deals on socks for the girls - must've been a good year for sock manufacturers) and P.F. Chang's for lunch.

The following day (we're up to Saturday, by the way; while we were pretty busy going here and there all month, the last week and a half has been filled to capacity) we went with our good friends - the Huards - up to go sledding and have a BBQ in the snow. The kids had a blast, and it was pretty fun when we started out. We were the first ones into the lot, but the longer we were there, the more people showed up, and the crazier they got. People were getting stuck in the snow and so would just stop wherever they were. There was a little fender-bender as cars were backed up trying to get in - apparently people do not know how to park in an open parking situation - and after it started raining and some guy totally blocked us in, we decided to call it quits.

This week we have been recouperating and enjoying our new toys.

As I'm wrapping up this post I can hear the fireworks going off downtown. I've missed getting this post in before the end of the year. Okay, so my first resolution is to do better at keeping the blog up-to-date. I'll probably do fine until school starts... as usual.

Anyway - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We love you all, and wish you the very best in the coming year.

:)

Apparently...

Cadence was being a big helper for Mommy today and decided to go check on Kennedy while she was napping. The report was that Kennedy was just fine and still sleeping (thank goodness). In order to redirect her to a different are of our home, far, far away from sleeping sister, I asked her to go check on the cat (I could hear her in the kitchen). The report came back: "Apparently the cat is just fine". Huh. Apparently.

:)

Ha Ha!

Okay, I just had to share this.

For any of you that don't know, my family is full of Scandinavians - Swedish on my dad's side, Norwegian on my mom's. I grew up listening to Ole and Lena jokes. While I was looking up some links for lefse and lutefisk for an earlier post, I came across this site. It's a page of Ole and Lena jokes (clean ones, from what I've seen so far - I only perused the first page though, so be forewarned), and you just have to click on the link to find out how to keep a Norwegian busy. It's great!

Just some fun stuff I wanted to share. :) Hope you get a little chuckle.

Happy Halloween!

Yup, I know. Story of my life. At least I got them up before Thanksgiving!

We didn't go door-to-door trick-or-treating, but we visited Cadence's friend Lily's grandma at work (she's a teacher at Robertson Elementary School), and then went to visit Grammy at work in the the media center and trick-or-treated at her new location in the fabulously remodeled YVCC Library which now houses media services and the tutoring center. (If anybody has a chance to go by and explore, the facility is just beautiful and really awesome with all the new technological additions and advancements). We met up with Dad at the church for chili, carnival, and trick-or-treating at several of the classrooms. Cadence declined to go through the haunted nursery, but was more than willing to do the cake walk just one more time.

Swabby Kennedy and Purrfectly Pink Cadence. Cadence sans ears, tail, and kitty collar that she had to have. Kennedy sans booty, although she has the lingo down pretty good - Yar!

Are you talking to me?

Oh, I see. Another picture.

I mean, CHEEEEEEESE!

(Click on any of the pictures to make them bigger and you can see Cadence's face paint. For Halloween night she decided she wanted to be pink from head to toe. On her pre-Halloween dress-up days she wanted different whisker colors each time. It was fun for both of us.)

Playin' at the Punkin' Patch

A couple weeks before Halloween, the girls and I went with my mom over to visit my Aunt Maureen near Gig Harbor, WA. We went for the lefse at Aunt Maureen's church's annual Lutefisk Dinner and Bazaar (we declined the lutefisk), and found a fun little produce market that was having a pumpkin festival on the way. They had two of those huge inflatable bouncy things for kids to jump in (for free!) and, as Cadence would say, close to a gazillion pumpkins. They had several varieties of apple too, and it looked like they were set up for a carnival of sorts, although there was nothing really going on at any of the booths. We had a good time jumping and taking pictures anyway. And looking at all the fun painted pumpkins. It was hard to tear Cadence away from the jumpies, but she was a big girl about it and decided to let other kids have a turn to bounce too. Cadence wanted to wear her Halloween costume to show Aunt Maureen, so she's wearing part of it in these pictures. You'll see more when I get the Halloween pictures posted...

Just jumpin' around

These chairs are just our size!

Just smile and wave to the gal up on the tractor...

Punkin mobile

Tee hee!

Peek-a-Boo!

And Cadence too!

A "Brady Bunch" moment

Too cute!

Punkin' bustin'
(okay, not really since the pumpkin isn't actually moving, but Kennedy was having fun anyway)

All Kennedy

Since Cadence already did all the stuff Kennedy's learning to do, and Cadence is still learning new things I haven't seen done yet, I don't always give Kennedy the credit she deserves for being the wonderful, unique ray of sunshine that she is. So this post is all her. No sisters, Moms, Aunts or others to take the spotlight away. Just 100% pure Kennedy. Enjoy!! (PS - In some of the pictures you'll notice her hair sticking out all crazy. It does that all the time because of the double cowlick she has in the back. I don't know how we're going to tame it...)

Playing "Kennedy-in-the-box" (a favorite game)

Yep, I'm cute!

This looks tasty...

It's a little chewy... but I am undaunted

Still chewing...

This part is softer...

Aw, who needs that?!? I've got enough fiber in my diet anyway

I'd much rather munch on the camera...

Well, now, who made this big ol' mess? Guess I'll have to pick it up...

Oh! You caught me -

I intend to pick up each and every one of these little snackies...

And put 'em in my belly!

Wanna share??

Truffle Trouble

Cadence was really in a mood to bake something. I was really not. So, we compromised. She got to do some stirring (her favorite part) I got to make dessert using just the microwave and a cookie sheet. The tricky part was getting the truffles all rolled around in the cocoa powder before plopping them into the cupcake papers. That was Cadence's job. So was telling me how big to make the truffle balls. And helping design the swirlies on top.

And so - the finished product!

Cadence wanting me to hurry up and take pictures so she can sample some of her hard work... (yes, she is wearing different colored socks - she picked them out herself)

Finally! The moment she's been waiting for!

I don't know how we managed to get any cocoa actually on the truffles...but it was fun and delicious!

Build a Better Mouse Trap...

...And maybe the mice won't take off with it. We have recently found ourselves in the middle of a small crisis involving small, furry, four-legged creatures. They have infiltrated our home, and make no effort to hide their presence (several have passed right under the dog's nose, while she was sleeping of course, knowing full well the dog wasn't going to do anything about them). We have tried trapping them, however, they mock us by simply dragging the traps down their holes with them after being caught in them. One night Jeremy and I heard the tell-tale SNAP! of the trap closing on its victim, followed by a horrible racket for about 30 seconds, then silence. HA HA! we're thinking as we drift off to sleep; another one bites the dust! Alas, when Jeremy went to check the trap in the morning, he not only found no mouse, but NO TRAP. Yes, the horrible noise was the mouse dragging the trap across the kitchen floor to its getaway hole. There are several entrances, apparently, into our home, and although we have blocked them (with traps, which could be our problem), the mice still enter. So, Jeremy took matters to a different level and brought home a more "advanced" mouse trap. No, not de-con, not a sticky trap. It's called "Zooey". Here are a few pictures of it:

Yes, it's a kitty. As far as kitties go, however, it's really a good one. She's very tolerant of Cadence, and lets the girl drag her all over the house, upside down, right-side up, curled in a little ball, hanging by her middle. Her favorite pasttime is snuggling, which she does pretty well. She tolerates Kennedy very kindly, and Ange has really taken to her as well. She came to us box trained, so we had little to do there but encourage, and although I haven't seen that she's actually doing much about the mouse problem, the mice have stopped coming around. Maybe word got out that there's a new force to be reckoned with in this place. Or maybe that one mouse never made it out of the trap and it's rotting carcass is putting out the message. Either way, something is working to our advantage in this saga of 'mice and men' (well, mostly women in this house), so I think we'll keep the balance of good karma we've got going on and let the cat stay a little while longer.

Pumpkin Carving,Round One

Jeremy and Cadence carved the first pumpkin of this 'season' together a couple of weeks ago. Good thing we got a couple pictures, because it does NOT look like this now. It's amazing how quickly things spoil sitting in the house, or on the step... There are a few images missing because I was trying to get some video instead. I'll see if I can get that up in the next couple of days.