Verbal Explosion

Cadence's verbal skills have increased a TON lately.  I've been trying to keep a list of all her new "words," but it's really hard when she's learning a new one or two or three every day!!  Here's a few of her latest and how she says them...

Octopus... "a-pa-doos"
Peak-a-boo... "peek-a-goo"
Panda...  "men-na"
Piggy back... "bi-ga-gak"
bok... "chicken"
A rooster's crow... "ca-ka-goo-goo"
Animals... "a-man-oos"

When smart phones aren't always that smart, and Tom-Toms can't tell you where to go...

Derek and I went on a double date last night with some friends.  Another friend of our was starring in the Christmas play of "It's a Wonderful Life," at a local university and we went to see it. 

We purchased the tickets through him a couple weeks before hand and our friends arranged for a babysitter for the kids.  We met them at their house with plenty of time to get to the theater and be seated.

But about halfway there, we realized that none of us really knew how to get to the university.  So I texted my dad to see if he could find the address.  He wasn't home, but he has a smart phone so he was able to find the address. 

Next, I entered the address into our Tom-Tom GPS.  Well, tried to enter it.  The street, University Boulevard, didn't exist in the Tom-Tom.  University Way did, but that was in another town 30 minutes away.  NOT where we wanted to go. 

Then my friend handed me her smart phone. She had just got it the day before and didn't know how to use it.  So I tried looking on google maps on her phone while calling a friend who had attended the university on my phone.  The friend directed us to the university but didn't know specifically where the theater was so I continued looking for the "Little Theater" on the smart phone's internet.

Again, no such luck.  Somehow the little theater had escaped the internet and my friend's very cool smart phone was useless.  So we drove around campus for a while looking for signs.  And there were a few, just none for the Little Theater.  We even tried to catch a student.  Yeah, that was a little creepy; a van full of adults chasing down college students at night.  Hmm... not the best idea. 

So finally we went inside a building and asked a student.  They said we were close, but not in the right building.  Thank goodness it was right around the corner.  We ran in thinking the play was already starting (it was a minute or two past the starting time by then), but it hadn't yet!  We were still able to find great seats and make a visit to the ladies room!  Success!!

So the moral of the story is to look up the location before you leave the house!! :)

So I've been told...

So I've been told by my husband that if I don't post something on this blog soon, he'll quit reading it! :D  I really have been meaning to post something, I guess I just needed a "kick" to get writing!

And since a post without a picture isn't an interesting post, here's an adorable picture of my girl!  Although I know her eye color changes minute by minute, it still surprised me when they came out nearly brown in this photo (okay, so they're more grey-green)!

She's decided that it's HILARIOUS to wear her socks on her hands.  I'm not sure why.  She hasn't really seen any puppets besides Elmo and his friends, but I don't think she's connected that yet...

Oh, and she counts!  It's so darn cute!! It goes something like this...

Me: Cadence, let's count. One...
Cadence: (silence)
M: Two...
C: Twwwwoooooo!
M: Three...
C: Freeeeeeeee!
M: Four...
C: Foooor
M: Five....
C: Fis
M: Six...
C: SICK!
M: Seven...
C: ne-nen
M: Eight...
C: EAT!
M: Nine...
C: nine
M: Ten!
C: NEN!

And sometimes she tries to do it on her own.  It goes something like this...

"twwwwwooooo, free, twoooo sick!"

Adorable!!!

This year we're doing a book advent calendar (Thank you Kristi for the idea!!!).  I found a bunch of 2nd hand Dr. Seuss books for .50 a piece and a few others for great prices.  Cadence loves it!!!  But there are two things I'm changing for next year.

#1: It will be more of a 12 days of Christmas advent calendar.  Can you imagine how many books we'll have in our house if she gets 24 new books every year?  Just at Christmas?  We already get her books for several other occasions throughout the year. We love books.

And #2: I'm saving the "big hit" for day 12, Christmas.  This year's big hit was a HUGE Elmo's Christmas song board book.  My thinking was that since it's a Christmasy book, it would be fun to have it out through the season and to start out with a book I know she'll love.  Cadence's thinking is "E-nee (Ernie--her current favorite Sesame Street character) book!" everytime she starts to open a present.  I think she was a little disappointed on day 2-6 when the books weren't Sesame, but we opened day 7 today and I think she was excited about her new "real paper pages" books! :)

Autumn Splendor

Drinkable Yogurt

I think this girl likes drinkable yogurt!

Fall 2011 Family Picture

Yes, we're nerds!  My favorite part? Cadence's super hero... Super Grover 2.0!! :)

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch today. It was cold but it was AWESOME!!!  Cadence had a lot of fun!  Thanks Cori for inviting us to come along with your preschool's field trip!!!

Mini-Miracle

I love the look on Cadence's face when she finds one of her bear blankets outside of her room!  She knows they're supposed to stay on her bed so when she sees one somewhere else, it's like a mini-miracle!  She squeals, runs over to it, grabs it, and holds it straight up in the air to show me with the biggest, "HOLY CRAP MOM!  Look what I just found!" face!  Too cute!!

Awesome Birthday

I had an awesome birthday today!  Sorry though, no pictures.  I was having too much fun!! 

We went out to eat twice (lunch and dinner), got to relax and watch what I wanted to on TV, lots of Facebook love, and a fun evening!  Thank you Derek for making my birthday special!

A Munny Pancake, a Puzzle, and Heels

I made Cadence a "munny" shaped pancake the other day.  She was so excited about it!

This is her latest favorite toy!  And she's starting to figure out how to put the puzzle pieces together.

And her latest favorite parent footwear!  Until today, she's been wearing Derek's shoes.

Rainbow Splash

Rainbow Splash 

I chose this picture for the F Stop Frenzy challenge, "Rainbow Splash" because of all the bright colors of my daughter's dress, toy and book!

One More

The picture quality is sort of crappy, but the quality of the subjects is superb! :)

How could I have forgotten this picture from our day at the zoo!

I was a little wary of Cadence trying out this slide because she has HATED slides before, but this one was different somehow.  Probably because it was a huge giraffe (she loves giraffes) or because of the stairs instead of a ladder (she loves to climb stairs too).  Either way, Cadence LOVED it!  She made Derek take her down it at least 10 or 12 times!

2011/09/25 Snapshot

Cadence wearing Grandma McGrath's reading glasses.  And VERY excited about it! :)

My Lucky Girl

My lucky girl got to celebrate her 2nd birthday this week with two grandpas and two grandmas, mine and hers! Poor girl was pretty confused at first though. She's not used to having two grandpas around.

Grandpa is obviously her favorite!  She opened almost everyone of her presents on his lap!

She's also pretty lucky because she gets to share her birthday celebrations with her grandpa.  She was born the day before his birthday!  My dad was kind enough to let her help him open his presents too. :)

We all went to the zoo.  Cadence really loved it... in between tantrums.  It's like she turned to the terrible twos overnight!! 

Everybody in front of the lion enclosure. See the lion on the left?

Believe it or not, the most exciting exhibit for Cadence was the petting zoo area.  She was thrilled to feed the goats and sheep!  Especially the sheep!

Love that grin!

We Have "Munnies" at Our House

The other day Cadence and I were walking home from checking the mail.  Yes, we live in a house but our neighborhood has dumb community mailboxes so it's a bit of walk to get our mail.  Anyway, we were on our way home and Cadence starts pointing to our house and exclaiming, "Money! Money!"  I had no idea what she was talking about.  It wasn't like there was money laying around our front yard.

Later that day as I was putting her down for a nap, she pointed to her window and exclaimed, "Money!" again and pointed to the bunny window cling on her bedroom window.  Oh... BUN-ny!  That makes sense!

 

An Oldie but a Goodie

12 month Photo Shoot

I had the opportunity to photograph an adorable 1-year-old this week, and on her birthday too!  

I love that the background of this shoot is very neutral so the birthday banner and her face and skirt really stand out!

Big, beautiful, blue eyes!

This family is crazy about Bronco football!  I thought this little jersey was so cute!   It matched the birthday banner AND it was Boise State!  What more could you ask for? :)

Go Broncos!

Videos of Cadence

 So I could sit here for hours and watch cute movies of my daughter, but you might not want to.  These clips are a little long.  So I won't feel bad if you don't watch them, but she sure is cute! :)

Ba-ba!

Big news! Cadence finally says Grandpa! It's "BA-ba!" She loves to say it, and we all love to hear it!

And here are Cadence's new favorite toys.  Their names are "bik," "moo," and "sheep."  Or at least that's what they sound like when Cadence says them!  They aren't exactly new toys, I got them at an Other Mothers .25 sale, but Cadence has just recently become obsessed with them.  She always has at least one of them within an arm's reach.

Oh, and any white, fluffy thing?  They're all sheep.  Even poodles and pictures of men with bushy white hair and beards!

Bear Blanket

We had a sad moment today.  One of Cadence's bear blankets (Way back when I was smart and didn't even know it and bought three!) finally fell apart.  She loves them so much so you can imagine how devastated she was!  

I had put her down for a nap and was listening to her jabber to herself and then all of a sudden she started crying and wailing, "uh-oh, UH-OH!" in between sobs.  When I ran in there to see what had happened, she had the blanket part in her left hand and the pooh bear head in her right and a horrified look on her face! 

She handed the two pieces to me and I laid her back down telling her I'd fix it.  So I got a needle and thread out of my sewing kit and hand stitched it back together.  What a happy girl!!!  Thank you Mom for teaching me that skill!

Snuggling with her bear blanket while she sleeps.

She's an Original!

Yes, that is a belt around her head.  She put it on this morning.  I'm not sure if she really knew what she was doing.  I'm betting that she thought it was a crown of some sort.  She really knows how to pull an outfit together though.  She's wearing a purple shirt and pink pants that only sort of match (mommy was in a hurry this morning), and this belt thing makes the whole outfit! :D

Yours, mine, Daddy's!

Since Cadence has learned to say baby, daddy AND mommy, she has become acutely aware of ownership.  Just about every night during dinner this week she's pointed out whose cup and plate is whose.  It's really cute!

We also went to the Western Idaho Fair today.  SO MUCH FUN! 

The reward's a little low.  I think she's worth a lot more than $1000! :)

Cadence's Word List

Daddy
Mommy
Ball
Car
Kitty
Baby
Noodle
No
Bird
Duck
Uh-oh
Ew!
Bye
Guy
Blue
Purple
Yellow (sort of)
Nite-nite
Bless you!
Book
Boat
Butterfly/balloon
Eat
Cheese
Cracker(sign)
Ow
Oh
Yi
Buckle
Love ya
Yay!
Zoe
Cookie
Hello
Shoe
Num-num
See
Flag
TV
Milk, water, please, more (signs)

2011/08/21

It's probably not the most reverent thing to take cell phone pictures during sacrament meeting but Cadence was being so cute with her friend playing with a Mr. Potato Head, I couldn't resist!

AND Cadence learned how to say MOMMY today! I heard Derek teaching her in the other room and it was the cutest thing!

Finally!

I'm a first time mom so I worry.  Probably more than I should but hey, that's what moms are for, right?

So until this week, Cadence hasn't said much.  Her first word was ball when she was about 18 months old, and then car and kitty.  And that's about all she said for a loooong time.  Over the last month, she's added daddy, num-num, no, meow, and a weird dog growl/bark.  She'd occasionally say bye, and nite-nite.

But now she says all of those things regularly, PLUS hello (into a phone), guy, eat, Yi, duck (guck, that's my favorite), flag, and EW!  Hooray for Cadence!

Bonus picture!  She's trying to play the Wii with Daddy! :)

Our Trip to the Lake

Cadence had a ton of fun looking for rocks to throw with Daddy!

Pioneer Day Celebration

Our stake had a GREAT Pioneer Day celebration this morning!  There was a lot to do and it was all a lot of fun!

And of course, it's always great to have a grandpa around!  Cadence wanted him to hold her every minute! :)

Visiting the petting zoo area!

Eating her hot dog bun.  She ate the hot dog out of it first and then was a little disappointed with just having bread! :)

2011/07 Provo Trip

At the 4th of July Parade

Crappy cell phone pic, but beautiful smile!  Go Cougars!

Playing with a cool cousin while camping!

She's quite the charmer!

YMCA Pool

We took Cadence to the YMCA pool yesterday evening.  It was her first time in a big pool.  She LOVED it!  At the shallow end there are several mini-fountains.  After I showed her that she could put her hand in them and splash the water, that's all she wanted to do! 

Cadence only biffed it once and swallowed a mouthfull of water.  I guess it only took her the one time to figure out that she had to walk carefully! And she couldn't understand why we wouldn't let her go when we were in the deeper end of the shallow end. 

Then we took her over to the river area (I think that's what it's called?).  It has a current so you hardly have to put any effort into moving!  She enjoyed that too until she got cold.

She was so cute in her swimsuit!  I wish I had some pictures, but I didn't bring my camera and I didn't think about taking a picture before we left.  Next time! :) 

Finds

On my way to bed tonight--I'm blogging in bed on my iPad--I found 3 board books hiding on the floor under the edge of the covers (ouch!) and an assortment of bracelets and plastic chain links under my pillow. I love being a mom! :)

2011/06/06

She's turning into Derek!

Oh, and she smiles like that on command! :D

2011/04/19 Digging at the Lake

Way Back When Wednesday - Head Over Heels

I was 16 and I was head over heels for a guy, my first love, although now I don't think I'd really call what I felt for him as real love.  He and I were a "thing."  We saw each other at school and talked on the phone pretty much every evening. 

So as you can imagine I was pretty upset about not being able to see/talk to him for TWO WHOLE WEEKS while my family went on vacation!  So I did what any rational teen would do.  I had him call me before the phone call curfew and then secretly talk to him until the wee hours of the morning. 

And it would have worked... if my mom hadn't knocked on my door to come in and tell me goodnight.  I quickly told him not to hang up (Because if he did, he or I would have to call the other back and that wouldn't work because then one or the other of our parents would find out about our late night conversation.  Tricky, huh!).  Then I put the phone on mute and hid it under a blanket on the floor. 

I was only expecting the conversation with my mom to go something like this, "Good night sweetie!"  "Good night mom!" Mom exits the room, I pick the phone back up.

But that's not what happened.  My mom stayed and talked for a few minutes and then a horrible thing happened.  The phone started beeping!  The person-on-the-other-end-of-the-line-hung-up kind of beeping.  And I wasn't supposed to still be on the phone!

She gave me a mild scolding and I broke down in tears.  Not because of the scolding, but because I really wanted to keep talking to him (lame, no?)!  After all, we were going to be gone for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!  My mom took pity on me, the love-struck teenager, and let me call him back.  He had accidentally hung up and we continued our conversation, and all was right in the world! :)

Recently...

(5/21/2011) This is how she reacts to most of my ideas.  Only slightly amused...

(5/21/2011) She's giving her unicorn a kiss!

(05/23/2011) Derek finished his shed this week.  We are THRILLED!

(05/24/2011) She was trying to give everyone and everything a drink! :)

(05/24/2011) Cadence had her first ice cream cone.  She figured out how to eat it eventually...

(05/25/2011) Cadence got some bracelets in her happy meal and put them on and took them off over and over.  And shared with the cat! :)

(05/26/2011)  We had Willow shaved today... yeah, she looks pretty ridiculous!

Recent Happenings

 At Panda Express.  She LOVES straws!

Notice anything about my counter tops?  They're clean and clear!!! :)

Cadence recently drew her first masterpiece!

Happy Mother's Day!