Moving Tomorrow

Tonight, the computer gets packed up. One of the very last things to be boxed up. There's still the odds and ends, most of which will be packed neatly in trash bags at the last moment. But for the most part, the apartment is completely packed up and waiting.

We signed our lease this afternoon. Tomorrow morning we do the move-in inspection and walk through and get our keys and being our move.

It's going to be a busy day. Tomorrow I also need to find a way to exchange Megan's crib. We just learned the used crib we bought in January was recalled in February. So Megan's getting a new crib to go in her new room.

But, we'll be offline for awhile. Issues with getting cable and internet set up at the new place have crept up already. My track record with getting utilities up and running is not good, despite being on the ball. So, we'll see.

Wish us luck! We'll have pictures of the new place up... if I can find my camera. Despite packing up the entire apartment, I have yet to find out where Cadence stashed it.

Special Hymn

I think this hymn will forever have a special meaning to me. I don't think it's possible for me to hear this song and not think of my uncle. I can't wait to see him again.

Moving around

For a family of three (almost four) mobile people, our apartment has simply become too small. It has quickly gone from annoying to almost unbearable, as Cadence gets more and more mobile and Megan begins taking up more and more room.

After a little bit of apartment hunting, James and I have turned in rental applications. So, unless we're denied for some reason, we will be moving this upcoming Saturday. We're both a bit sad that we have to leave the ward we're in, but there's so few apartments in our price range within the ward boundaries (truly, we looked!), let alone ones that allow pets. We did, however, find a place with considerably more living space that's not all the way across town.

I'm excited. I love everything about this move. Less rent, more space, downstairs apartment (very helpful with two little girls to lug around), right off of the parking lot, a playground nearby, patio that actually allows barbecues, bigger kitchen (with pantry). The only downsides are a small step down in neighborhood value and leaving the ward we both like. However, I know a few people in the new ward, so I know there's plenty of good people there as well.

Anyway, we'll be loading up the van and moving this upcoming Saturday. Not early, early Saturday morning is for signing the lease and finalizing the organization in the apartment. Around eleven we expect to be loading up the moving truck. And then I'll be returning to the "old apartment" throughout the next week to get it all spic and span (so if anyone wants to keep me company and help out in the mornings anytime over the next week... lol)

Hopefully next Monday night will be an even more exciting blog post about an even more exciting move. But no details are being revealed to the general public until we're 100% certain. So, :-P

Missing Camera

I keep putting off and putting off blog posts because I haven't found my camera and blog posts without pictures of my kids are just... meh.

Anyway, a rundown of the past week and cute stories, I suppose. Sans pictures, I'm afraid.

Saturday, we went to a family friend's first birthday party for their son. It was a small get together of family and close friends, so we were happy to be included. Cadence scared a few people by wandering too close to the barbecue once or twice, but for the most part she was content to steal my hamburger, my chips, my hot dog, my drink, and my macaroni salad. There was a bounce house. It was cleared out for Cadence to venture in and not be knocked over by older kids. As soon as she was in there, though, she freaked out. And even Mommy climbing in after her did not soothe her. So we wandered out, she refused to sit still to get her shoes back on, and ran over to play with Ben's new puppy, Blue.

I'm thrilled listening to Cadence begin stringing words together. In church, the other day, when I closed the door so she couldn't escape the Relief Society room, she looked up at me and said: "No bye-bye?" And recently she's begun saying "Hi, Taz" or "Hi, Megan" or "Baby Megan". It's definitely a start.

Megan is getting mobile. She's only 5 months old! Nothing on purpose yet. She rolls around a lot and wiggles enough to scoot herself forward. Mostly, though, if you set a toy in front of her that she wants, she lifts her arms and legs and attempts to fly towards it. Thus far, she's had little success with flying. But I expect she'll begin having success with scooting sooner than I'd like her to. That's normally how it goes, right?

Nothing truly exciting or monumental has happened too recently. We're just enjoying the quiet life for the moment. We're hoping things get exciting over the next few weeks, but that's mostly due to waiting on some final decisions on something we've been pursuing since last September. And, there's plans for a move next month. Tomorrow we go apply for another apartment with considerably more space than what we have now. And with having almost two mobile little girls, more room is a necessity! If things work out as we expect, we'll be submitting our 30 days notice to our current place tomorrow afternoon.

A Day at CALM

We got a great deal on a family membership at CALM here in Bakersfield. For $14 we were able to get a year long membership for our whole family. But that's not all, the family membership comes with free admissions and discounted admissions at several museums and zoos in California (including half off at the LA zoo and free admissions to China Lakes Naval Museum and even a zoo in Texas!). Anyway, if anyone else is curious about this great bargain, check it out here. There's also some great deals on Catalina ferries on that site (I know some of my blog visitors might be needing those this upcoming summer...) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium (if anyone's heading up that way).

And for the mom's out there, explore that site a bit further and there's discount spa treatments available in town. Check that out here. There's also Vegas trips, California hotels, Frugatti's gift certificates, and other steals and deals worth investigating.

Anyway, we've had the certificate laying around for about a month now and decided we should probably go activate it. So James woke up early and we made a trip out to CALM. It was a fair way to spend the morning. Cadence exhausted herself, which, of course, was the whole purpose of the trip! She was fascinated by the large white pelican outside of the reptile house, the first animal we saw. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to leave that display. She could've cared less about the snakes and was thrilled with the fish. She couldn't pick out any of the birds of prey, but she did see the bald eagle (kind of hard to miss). And she did see a falcon eating what was left of it's dinner (luckily she didn't recognize what it was). The bears were being boring so she could care less, but the turtles were moving and she loved them.

Her favorite part was the children's area with the goats, rabbits, and pony. She refused to follow us back out to the main part of the zoo and had to be carried and as soon as she was put down, she tried running back inside. When we wouldn't let her do that, she then insisted on pushing Megan's stroller for us. So James and I stood on either side holding a handle and steering while she pushed. We strolled by what will soon be the mountain lion/bobcat exhibit and bypassed the overcrowded children's playground.

Next time, we'll have to have some cash on hand so that we can try out the children's train ride! And, hopefully, next time I'll have figured out where Cadence stashed my camera so I can share lots of pictures. Right now the only picture I have is on my phone and I haven't figured out how to get those onto the computer yet.

Too cute not to share

Recently, Cadence has wanted to contribute more to taking care of Megan for me. She'll happily burp Megan for me whenever she sees her sister on her belly. She'll offer Megan drinks from her doll's bottle or from her own sippy cup and always offers her food to her sister as well. She figured out the top buckle of the car seat and always wants to buckle her sister in. If Megan gets fussy because we're taking too long to get moving after putting her in her car seat, Cadence'll squat down and entertain her. She'll even offer her special blanket for sharing if Megan's fussy (though she throws a fit if Megan is using it while NOT fussy). And recently, she's also begun wanting to hold Megan, even though Megan is now only a handful of inches and pounds smaller than her big sister. Still, it makes for some cute pictures (obviously Megan looks a tad bigger because she's closer to the camera, but the size difference is really minimal now...):

(the blurry hand is because Cadence was patting Megan's belly)

Easter Day has come and gone

A relatively quiet Easter has passed here in the Smith Household. We did fill Easter baskets for both girls, though most of what was in Megan's basket has been commandeered by Cadence. I had them up on the table in an effort to have Cadence wait to go through them until James was awake and could enjoy her going through it. Of course, in the few minutes it took me to get Megan out of bed, she saw the baskets, climbed up onto the chair and began going through it. Her favorite things were the books that were tucked in each basket.
She was confused about the camo eggs that we bought. She knew shaking them made a cool noise and she was okay with that for awhile. Then I opened one for her. When she saw that it had actual candy inside she was thrilled. She couldn't get the others to open, so she'd eat a few m&ms and then go back to trying to figure out the secret. One dropped and it popped open as it hit the floor. Before I knew it she'd thrown the rest on the floor in an attempt to open them all.
Of course, we had to take at least one picture of Megan. She posed nicely with the stuffed bunny that was in her basket. She's always the one that'll smile with almost no work on my part. She spent Easter morning laying on the floor.
We decided cinnamon rolls would be a good breakfast for Easter/General Conference. Cadence loved the cinnamon rolls. She ate two of them on her own and then tried to climb onto the table to get to the pan that had the rest of them.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet, as well. We enjoyed General Conference. Cadence would always stop whatever she was doing once the choir started singing. The singing is always my favorite part of General Conference. But I also really like pretty much every talk given Saturday morning. My favorite was the second one, can't remember who it was by. But I really enjoyed it, nonetheless.

After General Conference, we went to Nana's house for dinner and birthday cake (Aunt Robyn turned 17 a week ago). Cadence has her two top canines and her fourth molar all threatening to cut through at any given moment. Her Motrin wore off about the same time we got there. However, she loved the pancit and loompia. She probably overate, though, because she turned up her nose at the cake and ice cream. Between teething and probably a sore tummy (we tried limiting her chocolate intake, but she kept sneaking more. I don't know how she got her hands on it all the time!), Cadence was miserable as the night wore on.

No pictures of Nana's house, but Nana did get a video of us using Megan as a toy and playing keepaway with Cadence. We'd put Megan in her walker. Her legs are still too short to reach the ground. Cadence loves pushing the walker around though and Megan eats up any attention her big sister gives her. Of course, being the cruel adults we are, we began pushing Megan around the room and keeping her out of Cadence's reach. Megan thought it was great. Cadence was laughing until it lasted a little too long. When it went on too long for Cadence's choice, she threw herself to the floor (carefully, since Nana has hardwood floors) and cried. Oops.

We finally got Cadence home, in the bath, read her a book, sang her a song, and snuggled her a bit. Then we said prayers and she was tucked in and passed out within moments. I came out from putting her to bed to find James entertaining Megan (World of Warcraft addict in the making!):