Coloring (Mommy Brag)

Cadence's artistic skills continue to advance. While not perfect, she does an outstanding job at coloring within the lines for someone that's only 3. Well, 3 years and 3 months old. I know some suggest that "free thinking coloring", with a plain white page, is "better". Cadence enjoys both equally. It's fun to watch her color. She gets so focused on the page in front of her and you can see the concentration.

So, there it is. I know it's not CRAZY advanced for a 3 year old, but I know it is above average, and I do love to brag about my kids. Of course, after i took pictures of Cadence, Megan wanted hers done. Cadence helped color Megan's, since she can't keep her crayons to herself.
I told Megan to smile while I took her picture. She refused to do so when the picture was facing me, but I got a cute one anyway.
And then she came in for a close-up.
Let's just face it, I have the cutest girls in the world. There's no competition. Though, I will admit some of you have some contenders for second place. First place, however, is taken.

Day at the Zoo, Take 2

James's mother bought us a family pass to the zoo. It means the girls and I can go whenever we want and James can join us (should he ever get a day off again in this lifetime). Admittedly, it felt strange to go do something like the zoo without James. We always try to make such adventures a family thing, but I wasn't going to let the zoo passes go to waste. Besides, James had already gone with us, so it wasn't a newexperience, though we did do a few things we didn't do last time.

For example, we completely missed the primates exhibit last time we went, so the girls were ecstatic to discover cage after cage filled with monkeys. And then I got these pictures of their innerselves shining through.

The orangutan with the baby was so precious, I couldn't help but snap a quick picture of it. The baby kept looking at the girls and I, probably because we were making so much noise.
Shortly after leaving the primate exhibit, Cadence began begging to see a dragon. Lo and behold, minutes later, we were passing by the komodo dragon exhibit. I am not sure if she remembered it from last time or what, since it was in sight when she began asking for it. I'm not sure I convinced them this dragon isn't the same as the one on our video games...
Since members get carousel tickets half-price, I figured I'd treat the girls to a ride. They wanted to ride all of the animals and had a hard time deciding, but in the end they ended up on the lioness and the leopard, though Cadence referred to hers as a tiger for the entire ride.

The most exciting part of the day was getting to feed the giraffes. Armed with extremely overpriced leaves of lettuce, the girls got to get up close and personal and watch the giraffe snatch the leaves from their hands with its long tongue. Cadence giggled the entire time (can you see how hard she's grinning in the picture from her cheeks?)
After that, it was a quiet lunch in the children's zoo and then on to the petting zoo, where the girls, once again, enjoyed brushing the goats before racing around the many playplaces the children's zoo offered. Cadence stubbornly navigated a rope playplace intended for older children and Megan and I went up and down a ramp a dozen times to let her go down the slide.
Before we left, we stopped off at the aquarium. The girls went nuts over the displays. Starting with a huge aquarium filled with fish as large as them (no picture, though, because the little boy in the corner of this picture posed with them and I'm not putting the face of some stranger's kid up on the internet). They were especially fascinated with the reef fish, where they happily pointed out every Nemo and Dory they found. Nor were they the only ones referring to the fish by those names. I think scientists should just give in and rename the suckers.
And... the aftermath:

First and foremost, we must remember to wish happy birthday to our number one man! James is 27 today. Unfortunately, no special plans for his birthday. There'll be carrot cake and a special meal at his request tomorrow night. And the girls and I are going shopping for presents today, not that he's expecting any. He just got a new, expensive toy a few weeks ago. But, the girls and I don't have many excuses to spoil our favorite guy, so I'm taking full advantage!

Anyway, on to the girls (since that's the reason everyone reads this blog anyway).
Can I just say... I love their curls! They're not always quite so curly, but right after naps they've both got those run away curls that no amount of combing seems to tame. Cadence's hair is starting to straighten out, especially after it's washed and combed, but when it's been awhile since we shampooed their hair, they've both got crazy curls.

Cadence has started playing pretend lately and I find it fascinating. She's always trying to rope Megan into her make-believe, but Megan is completely clueless and just grins and runs in circles. The other day, Cadence insisted "I'm Angelina Ballerina, Megan, and you are Alice". Then before that, Cadence told her sister "I'm Mommy and you're James, Megan" (since Cadence still refers to James by "Daddy" and by his given name. She's outgrown the fascination with my given name). She then proceeded to roll her eyes and say "James" in a rather exasperated manner. I snorted. Seriously.

Megan's speech has improved by leaps and bounds (and Cadence's has gotten back to normal the more Megan speaks properly). She's forming complete sentences, with proper pronouns I might add. At the drop-in daycare they go to sporadically, the teachers have all thought she was older. When I told them she was 2, they assumed 2 almost 3, until I corrected them. She seems to be flourishing in nursery without her big sister and I'm quite pleased. It never even occurred to me that she might have a problem without Cadence in nursery with her, seeing as they've rarely been apart, until someone else asked how she was handling the situation.

Cadence is doing much better with primary. I still don't dare go into sharing time to be with my primary class, and am so grateful to the other parents who have substituted for that hour since my co-teacher is taking temple classes during that same hour. However, I do peek into the primary room while waiting the last few minutes before picking up my class and I am pleased to see Cadence smiling, laughing, and getting into singing time (Her new favorite song EVER is "Once There Was a Snowman"). She's fully adjusted and blossomed back into the sweet, slightly hyper girl everyone loves. I was even pleased when I caught her getting in trouble for being a little too eager and talking to her neighbor. Seriously, I bragged about it the rest of the day whenever anyone asked how she was doing.

I don't know what to say about Megan. Living in her sister's shadow, her "new things" often go unnoticed because I'm already used to such things from Cadence. But she is getting bigger. Just the other day I finally went through the girls' clothes, moved some of Cadence's clothes over to Megan's drawers and some of Megan's clothes into a box. Just another reminder of how big my littlest girl is getting. At the playground a week ago, she managed to even climb up the ladder to get on the platform instead of using the steps. My heart was in my throat and I was poised to spring forward at the first sign of distress, but she got it down and used it many more times after that.

Time to get ready to go run errands. Finish this episode of "Diego", then we'll get the girls dressed and head out.

FHE: Cookies and Coloring

Sunday night, James suggested coloring a big picture for Family Home Evening this week. So, right after dinner, I ran out to the corner store and bought a big roll of craft paper and some store brand thin mints. We taped the paper to the table, grabbed every coloring utensil we own, and let the girls go nuts. So much fun. It entertained the girls for the better part of an hour, especially with James and I sitting right there with them coloring as well.
Megan cracked us up. I opened one of the rolls of thin mints and dumped them on the table and both girls immediately began collecting a pile. Megan determinedly picked up 9 cookies, stacking them and reminding me of Gus from Disney's Cinderella with how she attempted to hold the stack with a single hand and found her hand just a tad too small but still stubbornly trying to find a way.
Despite the bored look on Megan's face, she was as into the activity as Cadence. Notice how she took a bite out of each cookie and lined them up?

The paper is still on the table, too. So guess what the girls started doing once they finished breakfast? :-)

On another thought, been seriously tempted by this offer for the past few days...

New Swing Set

One of James's co-workers bought his daughter a new swing set for Christmas because she'd outgrown the one she already had. He mentioned it to James a couple months ago, and then last week brought it up again. We'd been talking about getting one anyway, so this was too great of an opportunity to pass up. So last night, the set was delivered and set up and this morning the girls were ecstatic to discover the mini park now just outside their door.

Obviously, it's used, but it doesn't need to be brightly colored and new to be fun, as the girls are quickly proving to any who might watch them! It's the perfect size for the girls (though Megan's about an inch too short to get on the swing by herself). We are loving having a yard for the girls to play in, even more so now that there's a swing set for them to play on. Now, if only we had a dog to nip at their heels as they're racing around...

Another Sunbeam Update

We finally had success.

For the first time, Cadence went into the primary room without myself or James anywhere in view. In fact, apparently, her teacher spotted James and Cadence dropping Megan off at nursery and took Cadence off of James's hands right then and there. AND, Cadence went willingly.

When we did peek through the window into the primary room she wasn't ecstatic, but she wasn't crying either. She did spend a little time in her teacher's lap (when James peeked), but for awhile she was happy sitting in her own chair (when I peeked).

After primary, we were informed she did wonderfully and even got up to do the motions with some of the songs. Her favorite primary song is currently "Once There Was a Snowman". Whenever we ask about songs in primary, that's the one she mentions and I heard them singing it while we were sitting in the foyer. So, I think we've finally broken through this problem and she's going to enjoy primary again. And, hopefully, in a few weeks, they'll have me successfully moved to senior primary so I don't feel like a complete slacker missing sharing time.

So, yay, Cadence!

Playroom and stuff

When we first moved into this house, I knew I wanted to set aside one of the rooms for the girls' playroom. It just so happened it was the biggest room in the house. For the first few weeks, it was pretty sparse. A few buckets of toys on one wall and their play kitchen in the corner and the spare TV in another.

The girls, of course, didn't mind, but it was pretty pathetic looking. So, over the past few months, I've been organizing, buying furniture, and reorganizing their room to be more of what I'd envisioned. At least, as much as I can do without being able to paint the walls and such (Unfortunately, the texture on the walls makes it nearly impossible to put up the vinyl dots I loved so much on the apartment walls). Anyway, finally, it's a nice place to play and hang out. At least in my opinion. With the addition of the futon (which worked out great for our guests this past month!) and some new shelves, I am loving the end results.

First, my Ikea "hack". I was so bummed when the spice rack was not in stock at my local Ikea and probably never would be, since I loved the hack others did for that. But I stumbled upon another "hack" and ended up with these! I am in love. Though the girls have so many books, we probably need another shelf. Not sure where I'd put that. The top shelf is already almost too tall for Megan to reach. The wire shelf under it is mostly empty, but you can never have too much storage, so I wasn't ready to throw this one out yet.
Along the opposite wall is most of the play area. We bought the shelving unit from Ikea as well when I fell in love with it at someone else's house. I wanted baskets to match the white one we already had, but I couldn't find it in stock. Go figure, after checking all the big name stores and buying the ones I ended up with, I did find the bins at our corner store.
And here's the room from the other angle, with my two favorite shelves and the TV. The stand the TV is currently on was a $4 purchase from Goodwill. So happy with it (the TV was one our broken filing cabinet before that).
Really, all that's missing is a nice rug to go in the middle of the room. I just haven't found one I want yet. Plus, it wasn't high enough on my wants list to put any real money into. Now it's at the top of my list for this room, so I may be willing to spend a little more money on one (This is how my brain works. Unless the item is at the top of my priority list for purchases, I'm not willing to spend more than $2 on it. I'll spend more once it's moved up, though.). I'm also looking for some wall art ideas. Unfortunately, the letters I painted became toys and most of them are lost or broken.

And now some cute pictures of the girls doing what they love the most: coloring. Actually, I'm thinking of putting a string of clothespins on one of the walls to hang their art work. That'd be some decent wall-art for a playroom, right?

Oh, and for those that want an update on Cadence and Sunbeams:

This past Sunday it looked like this week in Sunbeams wouldn't be any better than last week. Luckily, my team teacher was in town this week, so when it became clear Cadence would NOT be calming down, I practically ran from the room and spent the rest of sharing time hovering in the hallway and peeking through the window into the primary room. My team teacher was, of course, extremely understanding, and the Sunbeam teacher immediately picked Cadence up, since she was the only child actually having a hard time with it. I stayed out of sight until primary was dismissed then rejoined my class and when I picked Cadence up at the end of the day, she was jumping and talking to her teachers.

Anyway, I'll be staying out of the primary room for the next month or so while she adjusts. My team teacher is again fully supportive. Hopefully, she doesn't need to miss church anytime soon! Once Cadence has adjusted, I'll try rejoining sharing time again.

Sunbeam Cadence

Technically, this past Sunday was Cadence's first Sunday as a Sunbeam!

However, we have decided not to count it. We were one of the first ones to arrive at the primary classroom and so she quickly ditched the empty Sunbeam row to come sit in my lap where I awaited the arrival of my CTR 4s. However, she never left my lap, frequently asked for snacks from my purse (I have since learned I do NOT share my classroom with a senior primary class so I can leave my bags there to avoid this problem in the future), and refused to participate. She even got upset when they did not sing the songs in the order she wanted, though she knew all but one song already. I tried coaxing her to at least sit in a chair at my side, but we had no luck.

Unfortunately, she took up so much of my attention primary presidency had to come help with my class, well, one specific child who just wanted to participate as much as possible during sharing time. Next week should be better. I'll have my team teacher. Of course, next week I should also expect all 10 of our CTR 4s...

Our other big problem: The Sunbeam teacher wasn't there, which meant I taught the Sunbeams as well. This went about as expected. After several minutes of attempting to teach with a fussy 3 year old in my lap, I left my class with the last minute sub/helper and one of the parents who was having similar problems with HIS new Sunbeam to hand Cadence off to James so I could at least get through my lesson. She came back for the last 15-20 minutes, but still insisted on my lap and I did have to leave the room again when she became inconsolable near the end.

We survived. If barely. I managed to play "Simon Says" while holding on to her to keep the class busy for the last few minutes.

Next week will be her first REAL Sunday as a Sunbeam. This past week was just our practice run (though if the practice run is any indication, we're in trouble). We also learned James has to have Cadence with him as he drops of Megan, since part of Cadence's problem was worrying about her missing sister. Megan, naturally, forgot all her "where's my sister" issues not long after the nursery teacher showed up and was perfectly content in nursery on her own.

Galveston Island Beach

(Don't forget to check below for another entry about our visit to the Houston Zoo)

Another day of too much time off and nothing to do had us loading the girls into the car for the hour-long drive to Galveston Island Beach. Obviously, late December is NOT the BEST time for visiting a beach, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

We walked along the shoreline for a bit pointing out seashells for the girls, but these held little interest. I feared the trip had been a complete waste of time as neither girl seemed too interested. But a suggestion of taking off socks and shoes changed everything. At first the girls were hesitant about the soft sand under their bare feet.
But it didn't take long for them to take off and thoroughly enjoy themselves.
I had to include this picture of Megan and the seagulls to tell a funny story.
By the way, I now hate sea gulls. Rather than just toss the remainder of our lunches away, I thought it'd be a good idea to toss the pieces to the birds. What commenced was something from a horror film. As soon as they realized I was tossing food, they all took to wing and came straight for me, hovering overhead. I tried to remain calm and continue tossing pieces, but that only brought greater, hungry numbers closer and closer as they all sought an edge to pluck the food I tossed right out of the sky. I panicked after a few tosses and threw the entire handful of food as far from me as possible and ran (well, to save what little dignity I had left I just walked at a near trot as quickly as possible). Several of them followed me for awhile before accepting I had nothing left. They still hovered nearby for far too long and I have vowed to never feed the gulls again.

Houston Zoo

What's a family to do when Daddy has a lot of time off? Go to the zoo, of course! Probably should have gone before they raised admissions prices and Megan was old enough to require a ticket, but that really didn't matter in the end. It was a nice weather day (high 60s and sunny!), practically perfect for a day of animal perusing.

The girls were a little restless in the stroller, wondering what all the hullabaloo was about around them with people everywhere and nothing of interest in sight, except for some ticket booths and trees. Once we pulled into the first exhibit, though, they were excited and no longer content to hang out in the stroller and just look around. The aquarium was our first stop.

We got close to a lot of animals throughout the day, but I think being this close to the elephants was amazing. You really got an idea of just how big they were. And how smart, as one of the zookeepers came out and offered them pieces of bread to do tricks (like wave their ears and pose)
We saw several other animals, of course. That's what the zoo's for. The girls sometimes just pressed their faces against the fence just because that's what they were supposed to do, though they couldn't see any animals of interest at the time.
Not far past the elephants was the African area. Complete with a mock tribal village, drums to play on, monkeys, and giraffes.
We strolled past the lions and tigers (no bears, oh my!), but the big sleeping cats held little interest to the girls and we eventually found ourselves in the children's zoo area where the girls zeroed in on their all time favorite thing: the slide.
Before we left, I made a point in dragging them away from the slide and going to the petting zoo where each kid could take a brush and brush the goats. Despite initial protest, the girls LOVED wandering around and brushing the goats. Cadence made a point of brushing every single one at least once.
And, of course, once the girls saw these statues that had to climb on and ride them like "horsies", their new favorite past time.
And when I saw this picture of Megan, I couldn't help but think of a similar one I took 4 1/2 years ago in San Diego. Like mother, like daughter, eh? (Now if only we had one of Nana sitting on a turtle!)