California Science Museum

When we discovered the science museum in Los Angeles only cost as much as the parking fees to get in ($8), we decided to make the best of James's 4-day weekend and go check it out! For the most part, the majority of the awesomeness that was the science museum was lost on our 2 year old and our 1 year old probably would have had as much fun being pushed around the apartments in her stroller. However, it was still a blast. We invited Robyn and Cameron to join us. Since Cameron was just baptized recently, we also took advantage of the trip to stop by and visit the new LA temple visitor's center. Now that the summary of our fantastic Friday is over, on to the details in the pictures:

Cadence checking out the wall of ice at the cool ecosystem exhibit. This was the "Poles". There was also a cool jet ski but the one person let their toddler sit there and play with it for the whole time we were in that exhibit. Meanies.
Megan thought being this close to the fish was awesome.
Cadence was equally as thrilled. She LOVES fish.
Not only is this an awesome shot (at least I think so), the bubble window was awesome in and of itself. It extended INTO the aquarium and when you leaned forward enough it literally seemed like you were in the aquarium surrounded by the kelp and the fish.
Naturally, the place they came alive was the "house" ecosystem. It was for children only under the age of 7, so everything was childproof. Except this puzzle, which Megan thought was lunch:
I did not intend to dress them matching today, it just worked out that way. They LOVED this red couch in the mini living room of the family play area/house ecosystem, though.
They had toys for part of the science exhibit. How cool!
For $2 you could experience hurricane winds. Cadence insisted on joining us for the experience.Cadence was NOT amused in the end. (This picture makes me giggle)
The best part of the new visitor's center? The coloring center, of course!
Playing near the fountain. Cadence was excited up until she realized just how cold the water was.
No, she did not fall in. Robyn had a good grip on her. She just really liked the water.
Yes, I still love my husband.
Family picture did NOT work out well at all. Megan's crazy hair and blank stare, James blinking, Cadence refusing to look at the camera. But in the other one, James was making a face. Butthead.

Robyn & Cameron. Who knows, if they get married at the LA temple (that's awhile away, but hey, who knows? It could happen!) they can have this pictures to put side by side with a similar one on their wedding day.

Obligatory Christmas Post

There's not much to blog about this Christmas. It was enjoyable. We spent a lot of time with family and a fair bit of time just watching the girls play together and enjoying ourselves. James had Thursday and Friday off, so we got an extended weekend together. Friday we spent the morning with friends from church, Jacob and Laura. Jacob and James went home teaching, so Laura and I hung out and let the girls play. Once the boys got back, our little family headed out to Taft for an early Christmas with family out there. The girls got spoiled, naturally, and James and I took advantage of them doting on the girls to go do some shopping kids-free.

Christmas morning was quite enjoyable. Santa filled stockings with gummi bear packets. Smart guy. The girls also got new monkey toothbrushes as well. From us, they got matching pajamas, two movies, a video game (that didn't work, so we returned it and will be getting the next Leap Frog movie instead) and the favorite present: a Diego trike. We ended up playing outside for awhile and playing with the new favorite toy.A few videos to enjoy of our time outside, including Cadence chattering at me. She's really begun to grasp simple sentences, but since her verb lexicon is so limited, she babbles a lot recently.

James got a pocketwatch, a scope for his .22 rifle, and a role-playing rulebook for the Wheel of Time world. I got a beautiful red wool coat that was a size too big Christmas morning, so it got traded in for a different wool coat and a necklace & earring set (as always when viewing pictures of my apartment, you must ignore all the little messes or you're not allowed to look at the picture anymore, lol):
We then headed out to my mom's house for dinner (which is always a good spread). There were a few more presents. James got a cool looking sword set, I got an all-time favorite DVD: "A League of Their Own", and the girls got a Dora DVD (which Cadence has already watched twice). We headed home for naptime, then back to mom's for pie and a phone call from Seth, who should be coming home from the Philipines in only 6 weeks! All of us are beyond excited to see him again. And whoever else might be showing up around then, too *wink wink nudge nudge, Erin* (I'm honestly not sure who I'm more excited to see, lol).

Sunday we went back to Monica Ward to hear James's friends farewell talk. The lucky guy's going to Fiji for two years. The girls wore matching outfits to church, I'll admit. I swore I'd avoid that at all costs, but the dresses Jen bought were just too pretty not to wear right away (no pictures, sorry). Next week our ward switches to the 9am meeting time, so no more church through lunch and naptime, at least for a year. In the Smith household we're having a post-holiday cleansing, as far as food goes. After all the rich foods from the holidays, we're having nothing but soups and stews for the rest of this week. Perfect excuse to try all sorts of new recipes! Yummy.

Look what Megan got

Since Cadence did so well transitioning so young, James and I had discussed moving Megan about as early. We hadn't actually planed on THIS early, but she's done so well napping on Cadence's bed and due to some recent sleep problems and the Christmas bonus giving us a little more wiggle room in our budget this month... Well, the stars simply aligned, so wish us luck! I'm optimistic.

Though I'm not sure how I feel about my baby being in one already. A part of me would love to keep her in a crib for another year, but I'm really hoping this early transition helps us solve a few new sleep problems.

Leap Frog Letter Factory

While my girls are thoroughly transfixed by the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD for the umpteenth time....

...I find myself pondering a few very important thoughts about it:

1.) If the letters are 3D and very nearly child-sized, how in the world will Mr. Websley publish them in a book?

2.) How do they train the letter instructors to speak?

3.) Do the "guest speakers" come every day for teaching? (On that thought, do the ducks argue every time they're a "guest speaker") Or do they have rotating guest speakers? If they don't have regular guest speakers, how do the S and Q letters learn their sounds?

4.) If the M's consume food to learn their sound... do they have to use the bathroom too?

5.) Same thought with the H's, if "water makes them h-h-happy" do they need a bathroom as well?

6.) How did Professor Quigley get Mary Poppin's tape measure?

7.) Why do some letters have hands, while others don't?

8.) Why did the dad ask the kids to watch their younger brother when the mom is right there?

9.) Why does the mom not join in the search for her youngest son when he's wandered off in a factory?

10.) If Mr. Websley's business is so important, why is the all-important presentation left in the hands of children?


Yes... I've watched the DVD far too often...

One week of nothing exciting

Well, I try to post at least once a week... and it's been a week since my last post. We don't do much that's exciting around here. Slowly getting ready for Christmas, though I am way behind in my crafts. I had hoped to finish my niece's present by this Saturday so I can give it to her. But with everything else on my plate, I'll be lucky to finish a complete set for my girls by Christmas! It's not that I'm busy. It's more that the only time I can do it is when the girls are asleep and that's also my cleaning time around here. I think I'll have to push back my bedtime by an hour and see if I can't crank these things out!

It's been a nice, quiet week. We had our ward Christmas party Saturday night, that we had to leave before Santa pictures, since Cadence decided to be inconsolable. She literally ran screaming across the gym to get to me. That was after being restless the whole time. So we packed everything up (not that there's much to pack anymore, no bulky diaper bags for us!) and headed home.

Anyway our adventures of the week in pictures. Thursday night, we went grocery shopping and it took long enough (since we can no longer go during the quieter mid-morning and have to go in the late afternoon) that we just bought dinner on our way home. Megan loved the coleslaw:
Cadence wasn't a big fan of any of it. But she's loving the reindeer antlers we got from the $ section of Target:
We stopped at the dollar store to pick up some snack containers that we saw last time we were there, so the girls had little snack containers for church (since sandwich bags and sharing were not going well). We'd searched for similar containers while out and about running other errands recently, but found nothing. So back to the dollar store we went! Outside they had some rides and I happened to have some quarters:
Let's see... upcoming plans. We have the annual Christmas luncheon for James extended family next weekend. Trying to decide whether to crash another ward's Christmas party, just for another shot at Santa pictures. Looking forward to the next few weeks. Next week James only has a 3-day work week. And the week after that is yet another 3-day work week. So we get lots of James-time coming up. Two 4-day weekends in a row. Yay!

Cadence's 2 year check-up

Well, from here on out, Cadence only needs to go to the doctor for a once a year check-up. I think she'd be more relieved if she actually understood that idea. As it is, she was quite happy to run down the hallway towards the exit once today's torture was over.

As always, the doctor was impressed with our little girl. I'm starting to think it's all an act and he's impressed with all of them. But when he expressed surprise and questioned me further in her colors and letters knowledge, I was quite the proud mommy! Even if she did bury her head in my shoulder every time he got too close and refused to talk to him. She was quite calm through most of his exam until he had me lay her on the exam table so he could examine her stomach and hips and the like. At that point I felt like a rotten mommy because she just laid there with her arms held up and looked at me and cried.

Felt like an even more rotten mommy when I had to pin down her torso so they could administer the booster shot for her flu vaccine. Luckily, when they did the finger prick to check her iron levels so she was so curious about what the contraption on her finger might be, the prick was over before it even registered that she should cry about it. (At least that experience wasn't half as rotten as having to stand back while two nurses took Megan and gave her 6 shots last week. I find it much easier to handle the whole ordeal if I kind of hold her and whisper comforting things. Just watching my babies tense up and shriek and having to just stand there and watch... not fun at all.)

Anyway, Cadence's stats:

At 18 months-
Height: 33"
Weight: 23 lbs

At 2 years-
Height: 34.25"
Weight: 25.7 lbs

She's remained steady hovering right around the line for 25th percentile as far as weight, but she's dropped from 75th to just over the 50th percentile over the past year. The doctor was awesome and ran a quick calculator they have and said given her current growth curve and mine and James's heights, we can expect her to be about 5'6". Megan's curve is slightly taller, I think, so maybe 5'7"? Guess we'll know in 20 years!

Well, I suppose that's all for now. Be sure to check out the post below this for birthday pictures (in case you somehow missed them...)

Birthday Party Pictures

My dad was gracious enough to bring the pictures over to me after he got off of work today, so I can share them with those that were unlucky enough to miss out on the fabulous shindig:

First, my dollar store decorations to decorate the area of Pizza Hut we reserved. I was quite pleased with how easily the place transformed into a little party get together, without costing me an arm and a leg. We had crayons and coloring pages for everyone. It was a toddler party, after all. Crayons seemed a fitting theme. For the most part, everyone just hung out and chatted:
The tasty food we served. Gotta love pizza. Certainly can't go wrong there!:
Cadence having fun on the coin-operated car, though we didn't put any coins into it:
The lovely cake. I was quite pleased with how it turned out. So far from what I initially envisioned. But I made do with what I had and it turned out cute nonetheless. The smash cake was nothing special, so no need to share that. I just loved the crayon scribble idea:
Cadence attempted to blow out the candle with me:
Both girls enjoying their cake. Cadence was quite neat with it (until she attempted to clean her hands with her shirt). Megan dove right in. (Be sure to enjoy the video my dad took!):

Look, I was there too (it's not often I post pictures of myself, since I'm usually behind the camera. I couldn't resist). My mom took over cutting the cake soon so I could sit and enjoy Megan making a mess:
Opening the presents. Cadence and Megan got constantly distracted by all the new toys, but we did coax Cadence into opening a few between new toys. A few favorite shots:

Just another post of nothing important

Still waiting to get my hands on the birthday party pictures. We had a lot of fun with friends and family, but I'll have the details for the photo montage that I will hopefully have soon. The girls have been dealing with a cold that Cadence brought home from nursery. A few pictures to show off real fast.

Megan and her snotty nose (notice the surplus of Mega Blocks littering the floor):

Cadence chatting it up with me. Look how old she looks:

Daddy made sure her nose stayed clean (I love daddy-daughter pictures and wish I had a ton more of them):

They were counting to make sure all the soda cans were accounted for:

Things continue to be both quiet and hectic all at once. Megan is chatting up a storm and mimicking new words every day. She's walking like a pro and helping her sister get into everything they're not supposed to. Cadence has mastered about a dozen or so letters already, all from watching "Leap Frog Letter Factory" over and over and over... and over... But, the sucker works and it entertains her, so I let her watch it at least once a day. I'm putting off working on numbers until she gets all of them down. I don't want her confusing her numbers and letters, since the two have very different functions.

We put up our Christmas tree today and both the girls were fascinated. They weren't so interested until I plugged it in and it lit up. Then they were enthralled when suddenly toys were hanging on the tree, too. Unfortunately, my only shatterproof ones were silver, so our tree looks a tad plain (white lights, silver ornaments...). I'll be purchasing some more shatterproof ornaments in a different color to add some more sparkle to the tree. Cadence tried to put the ornaments on the tree, but kept trying to put the ornament directly on the branch rather than using the hooks. Megan's only contribution was to pull the ornaments off that she felt were in the wrong place on the tree and bring it to me to correct. So helpful. The tree would not look proper with our her critical eye...

Megan's 1 Year Stats

Megan had her check-up today. Been awhile since I did one of these posts, it seems. And after her 18 month check up, I'll only be doing these once a year. Anyway, teeny Megan still cannot be legally flipped to forward facing and at the rate she's going, she may not be legally able to for a few months yet.

Also, due to way too strict of regulations, she did not get her shots today. Her last set of shots were of 5/20. It has to be at least six full months and Megan went in on 11/19. That's right. Despite being reminded by my dear sister who went through a similar experience recently, I did not check the immunization records and took Megan in for her check-up one day too soon for her to get the next round of vaccines. So we'll be going in next week (this time with Cadence in tow, oh joy!)

Ah yes, but Megan's stats (again with her last round of them for comparison's sake):

Height: 28.75"
Weight: 17lb 3oz

Previous stats (August 19, 2010- 3 months ago)

Height: 28"
Weight: 16lb 4oz

I was a bit shocked that she barely grew over the past 3 months. She weighs less than Cadence did at 9 months old! She's dropped off the charts, if just barely, in weight, and is in the 25-50th percentile for height, so she's dropped a few percentiles there as well (remember, she started out in the 90th here)

The doctor's not concerned. She's meeting her milestones ahead of "schedule" and doing well besides. After just over a week of really working on her walking, she's walking I'd say 90% of the time. It's rare to see her crawl anymore. She's happy and playful and loving and energetic. I'm more or less unconcerned, but I admit I do have a few worries crowding in the back of my head where I've banished them. If she drops any further at her next appointment I'll make a point of pressing her doctor a bit. I kind of wish she had a 15 month check-up. Maybe she'll catch a cold around then, so I can take her in anyway...

Terrific Twos, here we come!

Ah, the power of positive thinking...

Cadence is two!!! Not only has one baby become a toddler, but the other is now on the verge of being a preschooler! She is so smart. I am amazed at how far she's come in a year.

She met most of her "big" physical milestones by one year old. But she's mastered running and stairs and jumping over the past year. She throws balls, she climbs up and down easily. She's learned to manipulate the world around her, especially in dragging a dining room chair into the kitchen to get to the counters. I can't say how much taller she's gotten, but I imagine she's got at least another inch or two. Her face no longer as the baby chub it did and her hair is still baby fine, but if you stretch the curls in the back her hair's almost six inches long in some places! She'll probably be getting her first haircut soon, if only to even everything out (since the hairs on top of her head are, at most, three inches long).

But, most of her leaps and bounds have been in words and the like. I can't even count the number of words she knows. If I were to try to write a list, I'd probably spend all day remembering "just a few more" to add to it and just as it was complete, Cadence would come up with a few new words herself for me to add. I don't even know where she gets them anymore! Just the other day she used the word "chocolate" instead of "mems" for her M&Ms.

She knows all her colors. Not only can she point to them, but she can hold up something and tell you what color it is without any prompting. I kind of helped her, I'd point out colors whenever I had the chance, but she picked them up so quickly once she put her mind to it! She counts to 10 regularly (while holding up her fingers appropriately) and we're working on her ABC's. Right now she loves the Leap Frog Letter Factory movie. We must watch it 2 or 3 times a day... in a row! She stunned me yesterday when the characters got the S-room and she began hissing the S-sound before anyone else even said the name of the letter. She hasn't done it since, but it was still a "whoa" moment.

She loves all songs. Nursery has really broadened her experience in that. I would sing to her, but she was never expected to sit and listen to my songs. In Nursery, her participation is expected, and she now loves songs. She knows all the hand signs for "Popcorn Popping" and sings "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" often. She'll walk in circles singing her ABC's. One of her favorite requests is "Jesus", more commonly known as "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam".

She knows an amazing number of animal names and even knows the sounds for a large number of them. Her favorite is the chicken and she'll "bok-bok-bok" almost fast enough to be convincing! Right now all puppies are "Oreo", and most cats are "Hanna" (which sounds more like "nana" right now), but they "oof" and "meow" appropriately. And bears, tigers and lions all "roar" as well.

I could probably go on and on about everything she's learned over the past year. Any other mother of a 2 year old knows exactly how much they learn. But, I'm still impressed with my daughter (even if she might be only "average"). And she has an awesome personality. She may be stubborn and tantrum-prone, but she's so quick to please, eager to give a hug, and loves to just laugh at whatever she can. She loves shoes and "pretties" (hair barrettes). She'd spend an hour in the bath every night, if only the water would stay warm that long. If she could live at the playground, she would, especially if she had sidewalk chalk to keep her entertained for the rare moment the playground didn't. Such a sweet girl, even with her stubborn tendencies. :-)

One Year Old

One year ago today... wow. I've both dreaded and looked forward to this milestone, as if this first birthday is what makes my baby a toddler for good. It doesn't matter that she walks everywhere or that she already uses a few words... she's 1 and that makes her a toddler. Officially.

This past year with Megan has been so different from my first year with Cadence, and it only has a little bit to do with raising two instead of one. Megan is my laid back little snuggler. She smiles at the drop of a hat and always has (seriously, just smile at her and she'll grin big!). She's quite the distraction during church classes, but, luckily, nobody ever minds. She's just too cute to get annoyed with. She adores playing with her sister, but would gladly spend the entire day glued to my side if she had the chance. With as much as she wants to be held, it's a wonder she learned to crawl or walk! If I ever lay down in reach she'll crawl over and either lay against me or try to pull up my shirt so she can blow raspberries on my belly.

She's into everything, as all toddlers are. Her favorite toy to play with is a bin full of toys so she can take them all out one by one; or just swish her hands back and forth and listen to the toys clink together. Her second favorite toy is a tie between my pots and pans, and the singing puppy that Nana got Cadence last year for Christmas. She can semi-capably put the Mega Blocks together and will spend much of Sacrament reassembling the mini towers I break apart shortly after she completes them. She still crawls, but only about half the time. Walking is her first choice if she's already standing, and even sometimes when she's not. Crawling is her first choice is she's in a hurry.

She has a few "words": "All done" is delivered with her hands outspread in a helpless manner and is quite clearly stated. "Hello" is garbled, but she puts her hand up by her ear like a phone when she says it (or if you say it). "Meow" is always repeated after a cat or someone else. I suspect she's starting to use "ma" and "dada", but cannot prove it, so I won't say she is. But she has looked at me said "ma!" and fell forward for a hug and will point to James and shout "da!" and bounce. Still, they could both be random sounds as well. Only time will tell. She's quickly learning what the word "no" means, but only because I use it so often given her new fascination with plugs and outlets.

She loves sippy cups and will crawls across the apartment at full speed if she sees one laying on the floor. This certainly causes problems when it's one of Cadence's pink sippy cups! Other than night feedings, she's pretty much entirely on solids now, and we'll probably begin fighting her on the night feedings soon (I'm just too tired to bother, lol. Oh, the irony!). She's perfectly capable of long independent play, but she prefers having someone, usually her sister, playing nearby. She loves books and will do her best to interact with the book when we read our story at night together.

She's quickly evolving into a toddler, though. She scrunches up her face and throws a fit if you won't let her grab the cell phone, remote control, or game controller that she has her heart set upon. At one year old, she's got tantrums down rather well. I blame the influence of her big sister. ;-) So, while she's my sweet laid back kid, she's got a stubborn streak as wide as her sister's. Luckily most tantrums are smoothed over with a few snuggles.

Three years and still going strong

Who would have thought the broad-shouldered scruffy redhead who got grumpy with me the first time we met (because I pointed out he was doing something the wrong way, and I was right), would be the guy I've enjoyed three wonderful years of marriage with? I may not get butterflies every time I see him, but I still get them. Especially when he happily confesses, early, the surprise he'd had planned for me for our anniversary, which includes him home early and a cheesecake for us to scarf down right from the platter as we enjoy a late night Bill Engvall comedy show via Netflix.

Saturday night, my sister has graciously agreed to babysit, so we'll be scampering off to enjoy a hockey game, complete with hot dogs and sodas, from the cheap seats. I think it's going to be glorious. Honestly, at this point, I can't imagine a better anniversary. Who needs fancy dinners, candlelight, and jewelry? Cheesecake, hockey, and hot dogs sounds amazing to me.

Anyway, if there's any doubt, I absolutely adore my husband. I do. I probably don't tell him often enough (but he'll probably read this, so this is me telling him again, I guess). Sure, we have our moments where we probably just irritate each other to death. We live together, that's what happens. But three years later, we're still living up to our goal of never fighting. He still makes me laugh pretty much every day. I love watching him with our girls and I love how he takes pleasure in the small things, things I tend to overlook because I'm always around them. He takes his priesthood responsibilities seriously, and he's so passionate about fulfilling them to the best of his abilities.

I am amused that some children find him scary. Even his Sunday School kid once remarked "Do you realized how scary you are?" He has such a gruff exterior, but he's the biggest softy in the world, something I tease him about constantly. Yet, while other toddlers eye him nervously, our daughters know what a teddy bear he is and will gladly settle down to snuggle with him.

Yes, my husband is pretty amazing. I think I'll keep him around for a little longer.

Acting out for Attention

Cute stories, cute stories, cute stories. My kids may drive me up the wall and I may be relieved when bedtime finally arrives and I can sit back and put off doing the cleaning around the apartment. But, my kids are cute.

Cadence has begun actively seeking my attention. Especially in the form of mimicking her sister to get it. This afternoon, Megan got her leg tangled up in the cord of the vacuum and I swooped into rescue her. As I gave her kisses to calm her down, Cadence raced over and wrapped the cord loosely around her own leg and began fussing. She happily accepted my rescue and kisses and went about as if nothing had happened. Then, later, Megan toppled over and I ran into the room to once again administer kisses and snuggles for comfort. Cadence immediately rolled herself off of her bed and began whining for attention.

Later on, during bathtime, Megan was standing up. I very firmly told her to sit down and once she complied, I gave her a cheerful "thank you!". Almost instantly, Cadence popped up to a standing position and grinned at me expectantly. She was overjoyed when I also issued her the command to sit down and gave her the "thank you" as well. Silly girl!

Megan's also begun interacting more. We're loving it. Aside from insistently pointing to what she wants and throwing fits when she doesn't get her way, she's begun "singing" with me. I sing silly songs with Cadence on a daily basis. Her favorite song is the "3 Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree". She loves it. I sing that song more than any other song. This evening, though, as I was waving my hands to be the 3 little monkeys, I noticed Megan holding her hands up and waving. As I got to the alligator she began clapping. I realized she was "singing along" in the only way she could.

Even cuter, after bathtime, she got a very serious look on her face and clapped her hands once. I grinned at her, but kept putting her in pajamas. Again, the serious look and her hands clapping once. She was beginning to look quite upset. On a hunch, I began singing the song again. She got the biggest grin on her face and immediately began waving her hands along with mine. Once we'd gone through it once she was perfectly content to crawl off.

It startles me, sometimes, how old Megan is getting. Cadence I'm used to aging. Each of her milestones is new, and while I love watching Megan master new things, sometimes it's easy to not treat her like she's a 1 year old. She's my baby. Cadence is my precocious toddler who masters new things daily, Megan is my sweet cuddly baby and she's supposed to stay that way. It's so strange to think that she's not a baby much longer. She'll be 1 in less than two weeks. She's walking more and more. Soon, she'll be talking. Heck, she already says "all done". When we finish diaper changes, or clothes changes, or when I asked her if she's done eating, she'll hold out her hands and say "all done". Sometimes she'll say it for no reason whatsoever. She claps and says "yay" and "whee" and she chases after Taz meowing the whole time...

Luckily, they're both pretty sparse on the whole hair thing, so until I have to start putting their hair in ponytails and barrettes, I can at least pretend they're still babies! Except, one of my babies starts Sunbeams in just over a year, and the other one starts nursery next May. Gah!

This is Halloween

Boys and girls of every age

Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween

I love that song from the "Nightmare Before Christmas". I think a part of my affection for the song stems from 8th Grade Show Choir, when we sang the song with flashlights under our face being turned on and off in a choreographed fashion. So very cool to a 13 year old...

Anyway, it is Saturday night, so the bulk of our Halloween activities are coming to an end. Tomorrow night we'll be handing out candy to the plethora of kids that live in our complex (and perhaps a few complexes over). We've got a skeleton on our door and pumpkins on our porch. So it's not completely over, but it's mostly there.

The girls have enjoyed three different parties. First a small playgroup get together, where the girls ate brownies and cookies at 10 in the morning and "trick or treated" down a hallway with all of three doors. The girls were dressed up as pirates. Cadence is technically wearing a "boys costume", but she's such a doll in it! And Megan looks precious in the pirate princess costume we'd initially bought for Cadence:

Anyway, Friday night we crashed Nana's ward's Halloween party. This was a fairly late start for a party, so the girls didn't do as well. They enjoyed the dinner and Cadence was happy to get a small bit of candy in her pail. She was tired, though, so we only made it once through the line (goodness knows there was enough candy to make it through multiple times before they even came close to running out) before we escaped.

Then tonight, we went to our own ward's party. This one started much earlier, which was convenient. Except Cadence went down for her nap late and we had to wake her up in order to be late for the party. Still, once she got to fish for some tootsie rolls, she was in a pretty good mood. Plus, they served hot dogs, which is always a favorite of hers.

She was much more awake and happy for tonight's trunk or treat, though she still threw a fit that we were steering her towards it (some days she refuses to go where we want her to go, just out of spite). Once we got to the first car and she was given a sucker, she calmed down. We got to the second car and she happily ate her sucker while I trick or treated for her. By the fourth or fifth car, she realized that when I held out her hand with the bucket people put more candy in there for her. By the end of our first trip through the cars, she was happily holding out her bucket with one hand and impatiently pointing to the empty space inside with the others until the people put candy in her bucket. She even insisted on two helpings from the bishop. She was also not shy about showing her disapproval of what one person chose to put in her bucket by taking it out, dropping it unceremoniously on the ground, and walking on to the next car.

So, tonight, we retire the costumes. I'll probably hold on to them until next year, just in case. But they'll most likely be replaced with new ideas. What fun is re-using costumes, after all? Maybe we'll just toss them in a bucket to become dress-up clothes.

Our awesome pumpkins

Cadence painted the base, then I added the faces. Cadence decided it wasn't quite good enough and added a few details in black crayon. And then we put them on our doorstep. Awesome!

My Motherhood Superpowers!

So, I've decided, motherhood has given me superpowers. Honestly. Here's a few:

1) I can run on virtually nothing. I do not need to recharge at all! A few hours of sleep is now merely a luxury and I can run off of water and a handful of crackers for hours on end. Pretty impressive stuff.

2) I have super smelling powers. I can smell a dirty diaper from across the room. Half the time, I can even tell which one it is by subtle differences in the smell. I'm just that awesome.

3) I have super hearing. Even with headphones over one ear listening to something, I hear the tiniest fussing from the girls' bedroom and I'm out of my seat and halfway to the girls while James, who has both ears uncovered and is usually closer to the room, hears nothing.

4) I am tri-lingual, whereas before I had kids I couldn't even pick up Spanish. Now, however, I understand, almost fluently, English, Cadencian and Meganese. James is still learning the languages, but he's picked up a fair number of words as well.

5) I have super-speed! I can dash across the apartment and grab a toy from Cadence before she smacks her sister over the head with it in the time it takes her to form the thought and raise the toy up. I can also get breakfast done, diapers changed, clothes changed, and a diaper bag packed and be out the door within 15 minutes of waking up. How's that for speed?

I'm sure there are others, but my super mind-reading powers are warning me that Megan's thinking about trying to wake her sister up...

Potty Training Success

I know I'm probably jinxing it, but I must brag about my awesome daughter.

We just bought her own potty Tuesday morning. Tuesday night, Wednesday night and tonight we let her spend the hour before bathtime diaperless. I figured, why not? She normally needs a diaper change an hour before bathtime anyway, so why waste a diaper when we can make full use of that hour?

Anyway, Tuesday night she ignored everything, just loved being diaperless. Wednesday night, I didn't notice any change. We were back in their bedroom playing for most of that hour and I was talking to my mom on the phone, Cady's potty was in the living room, and she would run back and forth frequently, which is perfectly normal. I'd ask her if she needed to go, she'd tell me "no" and we'd move on. But Wednesday night when I was cleaning up I realized the potty had been used! I was thrilled. Cadence had realized she needed to pee and gone to the potty without having to be prompted to use it.

She did the same thing tonight. Except I caught her this time, so Megan and I did a happy dance for her. Both the girls thought it was great. Cadence immediately sat on the potty again, but no luck that time, lol.

I know we've still got several hills to get over. For example, she does great diaperless, but how will she handle underwear when the time comes? When do we risk no diapers at night or during naptime? How are we going to handle running errands? She's going to have to tell me when she has to go potty.

But, I'm still feeling pretty optimistic. I was going to go full steam ahead tomorrow, but my full steam ahead means no errands for the first day and being home for most of the second. But with groceries needing to be replenished tomorrow and a family reunion luncheon and other stuff on Saturday... We'll put off the full-steam approach until Monday.

Oh, and today I reserved the place for the girls' combined birthday party. It's nothing fancy. But with 20 people coming just for family alone, we definitely couldn't do it at our place! Luckily, the Pizza Hut in the Southwest has a party room that's free to reserve. We were thinking pizza anyway, so it works out nicely in the end. Now we're debating what presents to get. Hmm...

All about Megan (and a pumpkin shot)

Megan has surprised us with how much she's learned just over the past week! Yesterday, she had James and I laughing over the "words" she's picked up from her sister. While meowing with Cadence, we were both surprised to hear Megan utter a low "mow!" When we meowed again, she grinned big and repeated the sound.

Then, as Cadence ran in circles shouting "whee!", Megan bounced and repeated "whee!" Right now, if you say "whee" she laughs and throws herself at you, expecting you to do something "whee-worthy", such as throwing her up in the air or spinning her around.

Then, the girl began clapping and saying "yay" with a big grin on her face. It amused us so much we kept clapping and she'd keep clapping and saying "yay".

She is much more confident on her feet. She's finally taking steps without thinking about it. She bounces on her feet without support, catches herself when she begins to wobble, and continues to take steps forward. It really is quite cute. She's still trying to go too fast for her feet sometimes and will fall on her face most of the time. But she just grins big, gets up to her hands and knees, and takes off crawling as fast as she can to find a place to stand herself up again.

For those of you wondering, our talks went well. Actually, the Sunday School president asked me to email him a copy of my talk so he could use parts of it for preparing a course on how to teach or something like that. So I guess it was good enough. I tripped over my own tongue far too often, but I do that whenever I get nervous or upset, so I wasn't too surprised or embarrassed, just laughed at myself, repeated the word properly, and moved on. James's went well too. I admit I didn't pay a ton of attention. I'd already ready over his and spent the 15 minutes of his talk making faces at my girls. What can I say? I'm head over heels for those two little blonds!

Cadence got to her paint her Halloween pumpkin. I carved the bigger one, but it turned out really lame. Cadence's, however, turned out pretty cool. She got COVERED in blue paint (which, by the way, I know I said this post is all about Megan, but Cadence can now identify colors. At least, if you ask her for a blue crayon, she'll hand you a blue one for all of the colors. Blue and yellow she knows well enough to name on sight, but the others she just recognizes the name. Again, I was completely stunned. I've been going over the colors with her, but two days ago she just gave me a confused look over the whole thing. Then today...)