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.
:)
