Updates! Pictures! Exciting!

Alright! So I finally found a few minutes in between reading my geology homework and making sense of it to add some new posts. Be sure to scroll down really far because I've added several. I'll be adding a new adventure soon too - our trip to Goldendale last weekend. We'll be going to the fair tomorrow, but it'll just be me and the girls, so I don't know how many pictures I'll get to take with both hands in use the whole time. If I get any, though, I'll be sure to post as soon as I can. Enjoy!

Getting Brave at the Park

It was a really beautiful day today, so we went to the park. Cadence has often approached this ladder, but never actually gone up it. Today she marched herself over to the ladder and climbed herself on up without even a second thought. She was ready and today was the day.

Waiting patiently for others to get out of the way

Movin' on up...

And up...

Yes, I know she has a jacket on in this picture. It's the first one I got of her going up the ladder. I wasn't fast enough to get her ascent, but this is the one picture I got of her at the top and the other's were actually her second attempt. But the pictures made more sense in this order.

Kennedy in a Cupboard

I don't know what it is about this cupboard, but both girls love to clean it out and crawl inside. I have pictures of Cadence when she was a little older than Kennedy is now, and she crawled up inside that same cupboard and posed for me while I took pictures. It's just the rights size, I suppose. And makes for great photo ops!

Beauty Shop

Cadence decided she needed to play beauty shop today. First she did her own hair. Three times. At one point she had every single clip we own stuck up in her hair. I didn't know she had that much hair. When I finally got her to leave them in so I could take a picture (each time they just weren't quite right and she would start over again) she sat down and put clips in each of her bunnies' 'hair', then wanted me to take pictures of them all together.

Box Car Races

So we had this beat up old box sitting around (after I emptied it of its contents) and Cadence decided to hop in and see what happened. I got to pushing her around in the box all over the apartment and later I put Kennedy in to see what she thought. Cadence couldn't get enough of it - More More Mommy, MORE! she would say. She even made car noises with me. Kennedy laughed and laughed. Then Cadence got this great idea to get in the box WITH Kennedy and have Mom push both girls around. This plan worked out to: great fun for girls, good workout for Mom. It always amazes me just how much fun a kid can have with a cardboard box, or a hanger, or a measuring cup/spoon, and all the other edutainment 'toys' get thrown by the wayside. I'm so glad kids haven't changed THAT much.

Splish Splash!

Okay, so these photos are a little overdue. Okay, a LOT overdue. As we've apparently abandoned summer in favor of fall here in Yakima, the pool pictures seem a little out of place. Don't worry though, these were taken sometime in July or August when it was plenty hot out and we ALL wished for a pool with a slide. Cadence just thought this was the best set up and we would be out in the backyard in the pool for hours if I didn't call it quits every once in awhile. We even had two of her friends over one afternoon, and the three two-year-olds had a blast. Nothing beats a backyard pool on a hot day.

Quiet Time

Here's what quiet time looks like at our house - when it happens. Usually when we get into the quiet time portion of our day there are some tears, sometimes a little bargaining, mostly a lot of eye rolling (Cadence is really good at it) and occasionally quiet time sneaks up on us, unawares, and takes Cadence hostage before she even has a clue what happened.

Cadence really is pretty good about quiet time, although she really hates to be by herself, which is why time out has worked so well for us with her, so sometimes quiet time feels like a time out. I really love the pictures of her on the couch with the book over her face. She was making her bear have quiet time and she fell asleep mid-story while reading to him. She's too cute. :)

Picture Pages, Picture Pages...

As promised - here is the Cadence's most successful attempt at staying in the lines while coloring. It's such a fun milestone! Cadence has really been bitten by the coloring bug. She colors all day long. When she's not busy dancing, or jumping, or doing preschool on the computer, or watching a clip from Kipper or Blue's Clues, or generally making our lives wonderful, she is busy, BUSY coloring. Some days she works at it a little harder than others, but for the most part, she is really putting her best effort forward in trying to stay in the lines while she colors. This is one of her first efforts to stay in the lines, once she figured out how to stay in the lines. Right now she's a little more worried about changing colors, and coloring on the paper as hard as she can (she stops often to tell me that her finger or her thumb or her hand hurts; I tell her to hold the crayon a different way or to color with her toes and she just laughs and goes back at it) so she's not staying in the lines quite as well, but she's working hard on it. That and staying on one page until she's really colored in an entire picture. It's so fun to see her mind working as she carefully chooses her colors and picture, then commences to coloring, then exclaims "Mommy! I did a good job!! Look at my coloring!". It's fun when she asks me to color with her and she tells me, so enthusiastically, "Mommy! Your doing a great job!". She's such a beautiful child. I'm so lucky. :)

K.E.D. Back up and Running

Our newest prototype, the K.E.D. (Kennedy Elise Day) release 02.19.08, went in for scheduled check-up and maintenance this past Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. Things went well! She is weighing in at 17lbs 6oz, and is 26 inches long now. Her inspector issued a certificate of good health, then sent in an associate to complete the virus protection upgrade. The upgrade took a little longer than Mom would have liked (I've never seen this nurse go so slow!) but the K.E.D. took it in stride. It wasn't until a few hours later that we discovered a glitch in the upload process, preventing her from sleeping and eating well, and causing her to be uncomfortable and grumpy and to run a temperature. We had no previous experience with this type of reaction from our first prototype (the C.A.D. 01.21.06) so it was a rather tough first 24 hours or so. However, as of yesterday evening, K.E.D. is up and running at optimal performance plus an enhanced feature - squirrely tongue. (I've been trying to capture a screen shot of this new enhancement, as it is rather silly, but as yet have been unsuccessful. I will keep trying and post again once I've got it.)

Is it a Jeep or a Miata?

Cadence can never remember. She remembers that we have a new car, but can't remember what it is. It's a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee. We got a pretty sweet deal on it (found it on craigslist), and I'm just praying that it doesn't turn into a nightmare. We have some friends who have let Jeremy borrow their Miata a couple of times, so that's where Cadence's confusion is coming in. She'll get it though. It's still pretty new. We've only had the Jeep a few days, so I don't blame her for getting a little mixed up.

So yay! Now I won't be stranded and have to walk to church if Jeremy gets called in. (The church is uphill, there and back.) We've been making the one car thing work for 5 years now, so it's quite a treat to have two vehicles again. Cadence likes having a car seat for her in both cars, and loves going out with her dad in his car. Apparently the Focus is old news, and not nearly as exciting as the Jeep with it's tinted windows and sun roof. I just can't compete. I have better music though. And snacks.

Adventures in Canning

Okay, so, seriously - how on EARTH did women can ANYthing while their children were little and running around underfoot??!!??? I can barely find time in my day to go to the bathroom, let alone synchronize boiling pots of water for sterilizing, making syrup, keeping things hot, and finally canning. I was able to crank out 7 quarts of peaches over two nights at the expense of my homework. Needless to say, while I still enjoy canning, I am just not coordinated enough to attempt this type of adventure while my children are awake, and will probably hold off on more adventure until I know whether or not my first attempt was a success, and also until I have no more homework due. I'm looking at late next summer. That should give me enough time to get the WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!??!! track to play itself out so I can go at the next batch with gusto. I might wait until after pears though... I still have jars left.

'M' is for MomMomMomMomMom....

Well, Kennedy has DEFINITELY got the crawling thing down. She is totally mobile now, and there is no stopping her. She is quite pleased with herself to be able to get places whenever she wants, wherever she wants. We're still learning not to leave things on the floor we don't want Kennedy to have in her mouth - especially paper. Cadence has been really into coloring the past few days and is doing such a great job of staying in the lines! She tore her best work out of her coloring book and we have to keep an eye on it because it likes to end up on the floor, and Kennedy believes (as she rightly should) that anything on the floor is fair game, and if there's paper, she'll find it. Once we find where we hid it from Kennedy, I'll scan it to share. Cadence is SO proud of herself. ;)

Kennedy has become quite a momma's girl in the last few days. Tonight as I walked past her with Cadence, she started saying MomMomMomMomMomMom! before wailing a bit. The communication part is rather exciting, however, the clingy, separation anxiety part isn't so much. I like feeling important, but not necessarily that important. I have to go look on Cadence's baby calendar to see what her first word was; I don't remember. I keep thinking, Oh I'll never forget that!, and then I do. sigh.

Kennedy is also pulling up on things now. I had to make adjustments to her crib because she grabs the side and pulls up to standing on it now, especially in the middle of the night. She'll pull herself up on anything she can get to that will help her be taller and move better or reach something new. It won't be long before she's cruising, I'm sure. She's just a movin' and a goin' and just as sweet as ever.

Cadence has been reminding us what a big girl she is. I think it might be because we are all ooohing and aaahing over what a big girl Kennedy is getting to be, but Cadence wants us to know what real big girls can do. Like eat pizza and go potty in the potty and jump off the couch and sing songs and color in the coloring books.

I love my girls!