It seems by the time I start to blog about something, the event has lived out it’s time, and it’s on to the next thing.
I wanted to still post pictures showing our Easter fun, if nothing else, to show that we actually had Easter here.

The weekend before Easter was spent at Cadence’s best friend’s house, Alyson. They had a pre-Easter event, of sorts, with several of their friends from preschool. Her dad made lots of bubbles for the girls, and Cady tried catching them in a pretend watering can. Needless to say, she didn’t catch too many, but at four years old, it’s the going, not the getting there that matters more.

Alyson’s house:


Alyson is on our far right. Cadence is in the middle.



Goodies in the eggs






BUBBLES!!!!

















The next Saturday night, we colored our eggs. Cady got very scientific in her color exploration.






I think Mom’s done this before.


And then, it happened. The Easter Bunny came!!!!!















.....and left Daddy trying to figure out how to take out all the goodies in the basket that he dropped off.


BTW, this is the same Easter dress she wore TWO years ago. She insisted.


Easter 2007

I can’t believe how fast time flies.
By the time we get the pictures off the camera and on to Scott’s computer, then transferred on to my computer, the event has usually already played out it’s welcome and moved on to the next event or holiday.

Two big Christmas gift hits!









My personal favorite is the ballerina jewelry box. I remember having one as a child, and watching her go ‘round and ‘round. I was just as excited as she was about this one.


Below are also some belated Christmas party pictures from preschool.

Click here to track Santa’s whereabouts
Updates hourly, starting midnight, December 23rd (North pole Christmas Eve is a day ahead of the western atmosphere).

Here’s a fun little tidbit about how NORAD’s Defense Team started tracking Santa, taken from NORAD’s web page

  Why We Track Santa

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s Christmas Eve flight.
The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born. To listen to Colonel Shoup talk about the experience, click here.
In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD. NORAD inherited the tradition of tracking Santa.
Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. In addition, we now track Santa using the internet. Last year, millions of people who wanted to know Santa's whereabouts visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website.
Finally, media from all over the world rely on NORAD as a trusted source to provide Christmas Eve updates on Santa's journey.

Track Santa here

Rule #1
Always make sure your four year old never keeps secrets from her parents.

Rule #2
Never tell your four year old what you got your spouse for Christmas.

Rule #3
When, as the parent, you ignore rule #2, and your four year old brings out the gift after you’ve shown it to her, and let her hide it, and says to your spouse with a beautiful smile on her face, “This is for you” don’t laugh, smile, or give any hint that you think she’s cute.

Rule #4
Realize that your four year old thinks, “Don’t tell him what it is” is not the same as “Don’t show it to him”

OK. So it’s cheezy, but Cady laughs such a big belly laugh from it, that I have to share it on the blog. We created 5 faces, and since I don’t have a very good picture of Char (Daniel’s girlfriend) we substituted Barbie as his date at the Elf Ball.

I know you are all waiting, and can’t stand it.
So, here’s the show you’ve been waiting for.


ELF DANCING
Starring Mommy, Daddy, Cadence, and Daniel.
Special guest appearance by Barbie.




OoOOooOooHhhh “Encore, encore!!” You say?
Have we got an exciting time for you tonight. Unfortunately, Barbie sprained her ankle. I told her not to wear the plastic heels elf to this event. sigh.

Anywho.....Back by popular demand......
Mommy, Daddy, Cadence, and Daniel.
And Keegan as Barbie’s fill-in double.



YEE HAW!
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Miss Independence




We spent the 4th at my brother and sis-in-law's house, up north. We had purchased fireworks the day before, and found out that no fireworks could be set off in their county. The county display was not even going to be happening this year, all due to the fires.
When we got home, we invited our friends over the next night, and had our own fireworks display.




So, we actually had two 4th's!
And getting together with family AND good friends was as good as Christmas and Christmas Eve!



Cady and her cousin at the pool, on the 4th.

Well, we all seem to have gotten over the bug that invaded us. It was a horrible flu that made us all feel sort of like we were taken over by the plague for three days each.

So, now that things are back to normal in our home, we've been able to enjoy a bit of the Chinese New Year celebration. Today we went to the same event that we went to last year. We were thrilled when we realized we were going to have photos of Cady enjoying the same waterfall again, outside of the production.
Below are a few pictures of last year and this year.

Last Year




This year





In this final photo, she was "reading" the tablet in front of her (shaped like a book). The story went something like this:
"Once upon a time, Cady and Mommy and Daddy went to China on an airplane. When they were in China, they got Melody. Cady and Mommy and Daddy all hugged and kissed Melody, then they came home and lived happily ever after. The End."
Cool story, kiddo. You're going to be a wonderful big sister. And I bet you'll even share your waterfalls with her.

We had a small but nice Christmas. It was just the three of us this year. Cadence got some precious toys from my brothers and their wives. Nothing passes by this child. She thoroughly reviews everything she has and takes inventory as she receives it. It's really cute to watch her check over everything.
Santa brought her a red Radio Flyer scooter. Apparently, Santa tried to make a bike for her when it was too late, and the Elves had all gone to bed, so Santa decided a scooter was more fitting for Christmas.....Maybe in the spring, the Easter Bunny will leave more of a surprise than bunny pellets and a few eggs. She seems to be a natural on the scooter!

We were able to travel to my brother and sister-in-law's once again. It's the one time of year that we all get together, at least try to. Last year, Scott had to work the day after Thanksgiving. So, this year was Cady's first Thanksgiving with the family.
It could have easily been any other day for her, as she is not quite sure what the hubbub is yet about Thanksgiving. But, the fact that she gets to visit family makes it more like any other day....WITH FAMILY!
The kids spent most of the afternoon playing ping pong this year.
And, like always, my brother outdid himself with the meal. Dinner consisted of burbon soaked smoked ham, barbecued filet minnon, and of course, a huge turkey. Cady was so excited to be visiting her cousins that she didn't take a nap. She was very good thru the day, but around 6 pm, she looked up at the clock and asked her daddy, "Is it 8 o'clock yet?" Poor girl wanted to go to bed. Then she asked me if "lunch" was ready. I fed her a bit early, and while she was sitting there, with bread in her hand, as if a wind up toy was on it's last round.....her head started to bob and her eyes shut. I grabbed the bred and put my hand on her forehead a second or two before she would have thunked it on the table. She was down for the count! We were able to wake her after dinner, to have a nibble or two, and then she caught a second wind.
By the time we were ready to go to the hotel for the night, she was playing with the girls in her cousin's bedroom, and when she saw me come in the room, she quickly jumped off the bed and insisted nicely that I leave them alone, as she shut the bedroom door. All I could do was imagine my daughter 10 years from now, as a teen.

Not many pictures.....but here are some of the ping pong tourney



And this isn't one from Thanksgiving, but it was a few days earlier




I just love her laughing face here.

Cinderella never looked so pretty.

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin farm in the middle of nowhere. We took a long country road to a town called Wheatland. When we arrived to the town, I thought that it might have just been a nice drive. The town is so small. But when we got to the pumpkin farm it was HUGE. The parking lot was around ten acres of space, and by 10 am it was more than half full.
There were pony rides, panning for gold.....(marbles) in a creek, curvy slides, and a train ride.







Cady was very excited to ride the pony. We thought for sure that she would need me walking along side her the entire time. Half way thru she didn't even notice me with her, and she went on without me. She had her serious look on the whole time though.



She's such an easy kid. We didn't even think about bringing a stroller, but she walked along side us thru most of it.

I think the most exciting time for her though, was the train ride. Just look at this face when we were sitting down ready to take off:




We spent so much time doing other things, that we never got around to picking out pumpkins.

Cady adores the people in her family.
She understands the meaning of family. She knows the importance of family. She totally understands it.

We had the opportunity to go to my brother's house for a few days. Unfortunately, Scott couldn't go with us because of his new job title, but Cady and I had a blast. We got to see my other brother's sons, who were just kids last time I saw them, and we did so many exhausting and fun things that I came home more tired than I was before we went on our mini vacation.

We spent time at their pool side, and then went to a park to view the fireworks. We also went out on the lake, with my brother's new 10 person boat. Cady has grown so much in the past few weeks. She now says complete sentences that are logical, and listens when no one thinks she hears them. I tried explaining to a four year old that Cady is only two years old, and she heard me say, "she's kind of like a baby still" To which Cady replied several times, "I'm not a baby!" Yeah, I know sweetie. I suppose you're not quite a baby, any more.

And now, the letter F. It's not just for fireworks.



F is for floating




F is for FREAKING big cousins and big brother (cousins on the left/middle and brother Daniel to our right)



F is for flying things







F is for finding toys



F is for finding more fun




F is for family

First, let me start off with a few pictures that are way overdue.

Cady had a sweet Easter. Scott held a stuffed bunny in the bay window, in the front yard, and knocked on the window as he crouched. Of course, Cady assumed it was the EB incarnate! She was so excited to see the Easter Bunny that, when he 'hopped' into the front yard bushes, she became a bit anxious and yelled out for him to come back. That soon turned to pure joy when we ventured outside to see that he had left her with Easter goodies. Candies, a few good books, and baby carrots (Hey, she likes them. Why ruin a good thing?)

We then ventured to our new home. It was a walk that took us only 6 doors down. We finally bought our first home, and it's 6 houses away from where we were before. This house was a God send, of that I'm sure. But it might as well have been 60 miles down the road. In fact, the move might have been easier on us.
With only 6 doors down, it's easy to fool oneself into believing that you always have time to pack. After all, you can just take the items in your car, or by foot in the kid's wagon, and eventually you'll get it all moved in. Well, let me emphesize the word eventually. Two moving days, fifteen car loads, two Uhaul truck trips, twenty-five + walking trips, one trip to the dump, four good friends and one son's help later and we are all moved in. Oh, and by the way......You probably should not assume that large black garbage bags are good for hauling items to save the expense of purchasing more boxes. You will NEVER find the one item that you know is in one of those bags when you need it the most.
We were going to move two weeks earlier, but came across a few snags. Have you ever lived out of boxes (and big black garbage bags) for two weeks? In any event, we are now in our new home, and it all worked out for the best. We got an excellent loan, and a very good price on the house.
The neighbors are all wonderful. We've met three of them already while we were unpacking. Oddly, around the corner, and six doors down, we only really knew one neighbor family and the lady across the street. Strange how on this street (just around the corner) people seem to be in a different neighborhood. Perhaps it's because the woman that used to live here seemed so well loved by them. Or perhaps it's just a different set of people around the corner. Whatever it is, we feel very blessed to be here and to be in our new home. And one that's finally ours.

Cady is now in dance classes at preschool. She thoroughly enjoys it. And although she is among the youngest in the class, she seems to follow along enough for the dance teacher to want her to perform with the older children.

Here's a preview of the routine they're working on for a recitle they'll perform on Saturday.

Break time?



This is bound to be an interesting (but damn cute) event.