Too Cute!

So Kennedy just came to me and wanted help putting a pair of bloomers on her head. She was quite cross with me when I tried to explain that they are supposed to be worn under her dress, and was adamant that they go on her head. So, I got them on her head and she promptly dropped to all fours and started crawling around and woofing like a dog. It was hilarious! Unfortunately, it was short lived - I could not get her to do it after I got the camera up and running. Silly kid. :)

Fishing with Daddy (and other adventures)

Okay, so, the fishing part apparently wasn't very successful as I don't have any pictures of Cadence casting, reeling, or showing off any fish, but they still had a good time. Kennedy was terribly sick on Sunday, so Jeremy took Cadence out to the park to go fishing and ended up just playing around in the water instead. So far it looks like whatever Kennedy had she's not going to share, and she made a nice comeback last night at about 7:00 when she decided she had plenty of energy from resting up all day and was ready to party. Things are still going good today, so I'm going to hope it just stays that way. Hopefully we can make it through the rest of cold and flu season without another episode like this. Although, since it only lasted about 24 hours, I'm wondering if it was something she ingested rather than the flu...

Anyway, here are some pictures from Cadence's Adventure with Daddy:

Looks like they walked down to Burger King to get a drink...and maybe a snack...

What magic lurks beneath the surface?

I just love my Daddy!

Water Fairy!

Adventures in Poop

Note to self: do NOT put Kennedy in diapers with Velcro closures any time she is unsupervised, such as nap time. Fortunately Jeremy was home today when Kennedy woke up from her nap and had poop EVERYWHERE in her crib. Also fortunately, she is still in her crib, so it was fairly contained. Daddy threw all the dirty things in the wash while Mom threw the baby in the tub. Kennedy was absolutely devastated by the reaction she got to having explored her creative side while penned up in bed, but quickly got over it with some snuggles from Daddy and yogurt drops from Mom. Cadence never once tried to remove her own diaper, but I have caught Kennedy on more than one occasion removing her diaper (only the ones with Velcro closures) and especially if she has no pants on over the diaper. I never imagined, however, that this would be the end result. She's been doing really well going on the potty. She likes using the potty seat on the big potty, and the little training potty we have too, and she's doing pretty well at it. Sometimes she tells me she wants to go potty AFTER the fact, but she is trying. Cadence definitely needed more coaxing and prizes. Kennedy seems content (so far) on getting praise and lots of clapping. If there isn't enough clapping she claps for herself to get everyone going. It's great. :)

Kennedy dotes on her new Cousin

This is a short clip showing Lily, only a few hours old, and Kennedy stepping into her new role as 'little mommy'.

Video from the Wading Park at the Bremerton Ferry

This video is over a minute long, so it might take awhile to load - be patient! It shows the girls and Dylan playing in the water. Mostly Kennedy. Cadence was busy making friends. She ended up making friends with a little blonde girl, but another little girl, who pointed out that she and Cadence both had Ariel on their swimsuits, worked really hard to run off the little blonde whenever she and Cadence got to having too much fun. It was really quite a circus, but Cadence didn't seem to mind. She was having a blast meeting new people, trying new things, and didn't even notice the dynamics in her new relationships. It was great. :)

Vacation at Auntie Pam's!

Whew! It's good to be home again. :) We've spent this past week twiddling our thumbs, missing the fun and excitement of playing at cousin Dylan's house, getting to know his new little sister Lily. We headed over to Poulsbo July 19 after Pam started having some pretty good contractions. Turns out they were all practice and no show, but it made everybody feel better knowing that we were there as Pam's due date drew closer. Pam ended up having several episodes of contractions, but didn't go into labor before her induce date on July 27. So, to pass the time we played in the pirate pool (yar!), went beachcombing at Point-no-Point, ate some delicious food, went shopping, caught Harry Potter at the drive-in (the kiddoes had a private showing of Bolt, Finding Nemo, Fox and Hound 2 [they didn't watch anything in its entirety] in the back of Uncle Jared's car while the adults sat out and watched the feature film on the big screen), and just generally had fun running around the house, doing crafts, and having fun. Grammy came to join the fun on the 26th.

Pam, Jared, and I were at the hospital with Pam after she was checked in on the 27th until Lily was born at 5:45 the morning of the 28th. The kids stayed with Grammy and came to visit us all in the hospital later that morning. The girls were in heaven! Dylan was glad to see his Mommy was okay, and knew exactly who Lily was, but didn't quite go as gaga over her as the girls did. That poor baby got more loves and hugs and kisses from Cadence and Kennedy in the few minutes the girls were with her, than she'd had her whole life. Granted, her whole life only consisted of a few hours, but still. Dylan stepped into the Big Brother role almost immediately, and it was so sweet to watch how he interacted with her. So loving, so gentle, so protective, so concerned. Cadence just wanted to sit and hold her and hold her and hold her. Kennedy wanted to show us all that Lily has a mouth and eyes and a nose and eyes and feet and eyes and hair and eyes... Before she'd even had a proper bath, Lily was showered with kisses from her brother and cousins. It was really sweet.

The rest of the week saw more crafts, more running around, lots of fun, and some really creative ways to cool a house, that doesn't have air conditioning, during a heat wave. We made sure to get in one more trip to the beach, (and miracle of miracles I got my homework finished) before we made the trek back home to more record hi's and an air conditioner on the putz. Fortunately we have an old-rock-quarry-turned-swim-hole nearby (same place we went for 4th of July) which we utilized every day over the weekend for a sweet way to cool down. The girls absolutely love swimming, and Cadence has decided she can abandon the 'noodle' and swim around in the deep water with Daddy with just her life jacket. Now that she's become quite adept at that, she's looking forward to taking the plunge without her 'life-it' and seeing what transpires.

Now that we've been home we've had a chance to just kick back, relax, enjoy our family time, play at Kids Castle, and terrorize the cat. Oh, life is good. :)

Here's a bunch of pictures from our adventures at Pam's:

Headin' to the beach

Posing in front of the driftwood fort we found waiting for us

Okay, let's get down to business

Sneaking up on the seashells

Eeeeewwwwwww! It's so gross! I don't want to touch it!

But I have to touch it!

Can you find Kennedy?

Posing for Mom

Hurry Dylan! Run with me!

Woohoo! The water is COLD!

But it's too awesome to stay out of it!

Cadence: See Auntie Pammy!? Look at the fish I reeled in!
Dylan: See Mommy?! Look at the fish I caught for Cadence!
Uncle Jared: What's up with these kids taking credit for my fish?!

Tackling a glue project

I can brush my teeth better than you!

Cousins in the tub!

Baby Lily is finally here! Welcome little baby!

Funny little monkey I found, hangin' in this tree, at the Bremerton Ferry
(As soon as we got to this park she climbed up in this tree and was happy as a clam to just hang around, until she figured out she didn't know how to get down...)

Time for Break!

Summer break has finally arrived! The end is nigh! Classes ended on July 31st, and now I get to catch up on housework, and paperwork, and any other kinds of work I've been putting off since January. Fall semester starts up again August 24th, but there is light at the end of the tunnel! I've filed for graduation this December, and if all goes as it has so far, I'll be getting my diploma in the mail soon after. Woot!

Happy 4th of July!

I'm so incredibly grateful for the freedom and independence I enjoy as an American citizen, and had a blast celebrating these gifts today with my family. First the girls and I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a few last-minute things for our picnic, then we grabbed sub sandwiches and the boat and headed out to Myron Lake here in Yakima. It's a small lake which used to be a rock quarry. I was a little unsure of the spot when we first got there (Jeremy's the only one who'd been to this lake; he went there to go fishing in with some co-workers in May), but the relatively secluded spot, along with the fact that there were very few people there to compete with, made this a perfect spot for our afternoon. We had our picnic, then Jeremy put his fishing boat in the water and took turns taking the girls out on the lake. They LOVED it! Cadence learned to trust her life vest and the 'noodle' and spent some time kicking around in some pretty deep water. Angel went with us and, although she enjoyed being out with the family, was very much glad to get home where she could lay on her soft, (relatively) clean bed. She's just not overly fond of swimming and getting dirty. In fact, I'd say she's more like a cat in that sense. :) After we'd had plenty of fun playing in the water we came home to take naps, then watched "Flushed Away" before ending the night watching the fireworks. We can't see any live fireworks from our place, but if we walk just down the street a little ways we get a really clear view of the city fireworks display. So, we put some pillows and blankets in the wagon and hauled the girls down to a little patch of grass where were were promptly attacked by ravenous mosquitos and I ended up running back up the street to get the bug spray. I had given us all a quick once over, thinking that would at least deter them for the 30 or so minutes we would be down there, but apparently they were rather determined to feast on Jeremy and me, so we had to rethink our plan of attack. Another dousing of 'Off' kept most of them at bay, but there were a few that were rather determined to get a snack off of us. I'm certainly glad I was inspired to buy more After Bite this morning!

I took lots of pictures, so here's a few of the best to start with; I'll try to get more loaded later.

Two too cute girls!

Yes, I'm talking about you...

First one out in the boat...

Wee Haw!

Dad has enough lap room for everybody, but we only get to go out one at a time with him on the boat (although Mom has yet to have a turn...)

It's Kennedy's turn...so I'm just sitting here...with my feet in the water...

Kennedy and Dad

Cap'n Kennedy

EEEEEE!!! Heeheehee!

I'm not scared of the water! (only a little bit scared, but not really...just a little. maybe)

Cadence doing it all by herself!

Kennedy absolutely loved being in the water and floating around - every time Jeremy told Cadence to kick, Kennedy kicked and kicked her little heart out too

Hi!

No fear here!

Dad and his girls :)

Just floatin' around!

We had such a good time, we're definitely planning on going back soon. The girls just loved being in the water, and taking turns on the boat with their dad. We really had a fabulous family day, and we hope that all of YOU had a fabulous 4th as well! Remember to celebrate all year long!

This Kid Loves Cherries!

Last weekend my sister was in town and we all shared cherries over the weekend. Last week I bought some cherries to have with dinner the night we had the missionaries over. There were some kids selling cherries they had picked out of the cherry tree in their yard, so I stopped to see how much they were selling for. They gave me a bucketful for $2.00; I probably paid around $1/lb, so that was a pretty decent price. The cherries were delicious! While we were eating dinner outside at our picnic table, our neighbor came out on her deck and asked if we wanted some cherries she had. Sure! we said. Then Jeremy brought home a mixed bag of cherries from a co-worker. We have been very blessed with cherries this last week! Fortunately, none of them went to waste. Cadence is a cherry-eating machine. At first she wasn't sure about eating them herself because they have the pit, but when I showed her how she could bite off one side, then scoop the pit out, nothing could stop her. Fortunately cherries are in season when it's appropriate for little girls to sit outside either naked or in a swimsuit and let cherry juice decorate everything they touch. Kennedy enjoys the cherries too, but not nearly as much as Cadence.

Take my picture too, Mom!

I loves me some cherries!

Fortunately, we have a variety of rinse-options available once she's finished enjoying her cherries (you can see where we had the slip'n'slide in one spot for a little too long last week in the background). Cadence chose the sprinkler when she was done, and the girls had fun getting all cleaned up, then shushing their slippery little selves down the slide. Thank goodness for our wonderful backyard!

Painting the Bathtub

So the other day I just couldn't take the "Mom, Mom, Mom, Hey Mom, Mom, Mom - I need this, I need that, she's taking something from me,whiney-whine, fussy-fuss anymore. I took them into the bathroom and told them that our bathtub looked awfully plain, and I thought it could use some decorating. I asked them if they wanted to paint it up to make it more exciting. Boy were they up for the challenge! Cadence stripped right then and there, and when Kennedy caught on to what was going on, she wasn't about to be left out! So for a good 45minutes, maybe a little over an hour, the girls went to town painting the bathtub. It was great! Unfortunately we had major meltdown the next day when I wouldn't let them paint the tub again, but it's a good activity to do on the days I clean the bathtub, since I'll be scrubbing it down anyway. Just after Cadence stepped into the tub she told me not to worry, they were going to make the bathtub "sexy gorgeous" for me. Here's what happened:

'Sexy gorgeous?' Maybe not quite. But is sure was a lot of fun!