Why craigslist sometimes rocks

I always thought this $20 find was my favorite craigslist find. I found it just as the girls were outgrowing their dresser and I was so glad to find have enough room for all their stuff!
But today's find trumps it all. We've been having issues with dinner time. Megan, even in a booster seat, could barely see what she was eating and she'd make a huge mess doing it. And her making a mess meant her chair was getting disgusting, despite my best attempts at cleaning up after her. We were looking into replacing it. At the same time, Cadence had to sit on her knees and since she wasn't comfortable would lose interest in eating very easily. While randomly browsing craigslist, I found two highchairs for sale for $20. Now both girls can sit comfortably at the table and have their feet dangling (they both loved swinging their feet while they eat, enjoying the novelty of it).
I don't think it was just coincidence that both girls gobbled up dinner and smiled the entire time. I'll have to get a picture of Cadence's new dinner trick. James taught her to put her fingers on either side of her mouth and wag her tongue. It's cute, especially when she's coughing with her mouth held open like that. Haha.

Graduation 2011

That's right. We're doing it again! This time next week, there'll be these four ragamuffings running wild. Watch out, Bakersfield.
Aunt Robyn's graduating next week, so Erin's coming into town and bring her two kiddos with her. Robyn's not the only one graduating, though. Uncle John is graduating Wednesday night. We'll be missing that one, but James will be able to go. He got time off of work just so he could make it. :-)

Other than graduation, there's no official plans in the works, but I'm thinking we need a few trips to the apartment's pool and at least one visit to the spray park. I need to make sure the girls both have bathing suits that fit!

Quiet days

It's been a quiet few weeks... at least as far as "things going on" is concerned. Noise-level... yeah, not so quiet. But, in my effort to blog at least semi-frequently for those people that use this blog as a way of keeping up with grandkids, great-grandkids, cousins, nieces, etc.... Here are some pictures:
Yeah, they're getting too big. Cadence is getting so close to giving up her afternoon nap, and some days she pulls it off successfully, despite my best attempts to get her to settle down for a nap at what I deem a decent hour. Other days, around dinner time she sits down for "just a minute" and the next thing I know I'm trying to find where Megan hid my camera so I can snap a picture.

Anyway, nothing new going on in life. We had missionaries over for dinner tonight. That's always a fun time. It's nice to sit back and watch the four of them unwinding on our couch and joking around with each other. Plus, I get lots of compliments on my cooking. Yay, ego boost!

Chatted with my dad on the phone tonight and now I'm thinking about a dozen little trips I want to do with the girls. Like, I'd love to return to the science museum. And I definitely want to make a trip down to the Long Beach Aquarium. And James and I are eager to take the girls down to the beach one day as well. Maybe we should just save up for a few paychecks and then take one long weekend away. Anyone got some coupons for the aquarium (since the beach and the museum are free, lol)?

Where did my babies go?

Most mornings, as soon as I open the room to their door, Cadence rushes out and Megan fusses to be picked up and carried out to the couch. This morning, though, Megan was sleeping in and Cadence was playing with her legos. So, what's a mom to do?

That's right, I sat next to her and began playing too. She was talking up a storm as she played "hmm, green one right.... here" and "oh no, be careful" and she'd pretend to wobble every time her lego tower did. Every time the tower did fall over (despite my best attempts to counter balance her awkward building choices), she'd cover her mouth and get a huge wide-eyed look and say: "Oh, no, she fall down!" She'd also babble at me as we worked. She told me Megan was still sleeping.

Taz came over and chatted with us. Cadence did really well with just petting her instead of being mean, which I praised over and over again. Then she rubbed her face against Taz's, giggled and said she had "pet Taz with face". There were a few more random syllables thrown in there, of course, but the words I recognized were those in that order.

Megan woke up shortly after that. I had scampered off to get dressed for the day and when I came back, Cadence was asking Megan if she wanted to get up and Megan clearly said "no" and burrowed deeper into her blankets. When she saw me, she sat up and asked "up?" So we sat by her bed. She pointed to the Dora book at my feet and asked "book?" so I picked it up and we began to go through it. She pointed to the turtles and named them. She pointed to Dora and named her. She pointed to the babies and named them.

Cadence came and offered a trade. A stack of legos for the book, which Megan happily accepted and began disassembling and reassembling them as Cadence sat by both of us and began reading the book to me. I was fascinated. I've read the book to her a few times, including once last night. She opened to the first page and repeated the typical opening to Dora show ("Hi, I'm Dora!" "And I'm Boots!"). She continued to name basic facts for most of the pages. She recognized the Troll Bridge and the Troll. She discussed Map. She pointed out Swiper and pointed to the "tenpoes" (tent poles) he was attempting to swipe. She named off "Mami and Papi" and pointed to the marshmallows they were roasting and said "Yummy!" Her recall is amazing. She's also really beginning to relate to the movies and books. Just yesterday she was watching Toy Story (a favorite, though calling it simply a "favorite" may be selling it short, lol) and when Buzz broke his arm off she exclaimed "oh, no, Buzz broke his arm" very clearly.

Yes, fascinating.

Then, as we wandered out into the living room, Megan asked for "frog", which is our normal routine. As I was emptying the dishwasher, she wandered in and asked for "juice" and bounced when I pulled down the "cereal" and happily repeated the word over and over, then ran back to the couch to wait when I told her to.

In the time since I sat down to rush through this entry (I have a kitchen needing cleaning this morning and I'd rather get it done as soon as possible), Cadence came up to me with two cups and informed me she had "two cups, one water, one juice" then scampered off to enjoy the exciting moment. Megan carried her cup and bowl over to me, set them both on the desk beside me then held up her arms and asked "Up?" and spent the rest of my typing exercise in my lap talking to her sister.

So, seriously... when did I suddenly become the mom of two toddlers? And when did they get so smart?

First day of nursery

At the suggestion of the nursery leader, we dropped Megan off at nursery this week. The original plan was just for a trial period. James vowed to check in on her once he was done teaching his Sunday School class, and possibly take her with him.

So, we walked both girls down to the nursery room. Megan fussed a bit when I put her down and she began to suspect I'd be leaving her behind. Once we got her sitting at the round table with all the other kids, James and I were able to slip out and we went to our respective places.

It's not the first time I've sat through sharing time without her, James frequently takes her to his classes with him for the day, but her absence was crazy obvious to me today. Every time I caught movement at the primary door I'd turn and half-hope it would be a nursery leader with my little girl in her arms because it wasn't going well. The only time they did come in the room was to bring Cadence to me for a potty run. I took the time to ask the leader how Megan was doing and was told she was doing just fine. Cadence, apparently, was being a very good big sister and watching out for Megan the whole time they were playing together (aww!)

James checked on her after his class and again halfway through his third hour class, but both times she was perfectly content.

So, it's official. Both my girls are in nursery. I now have my hands free for almost two whole hours every single Sunday. No more wrestling with Megan while trying to teach my lesson, no more wandering the halls during sharing time because I can't get her to behave in the primary room. The girls in my class were almost as sad as I was at the lack of a distraction.

Yes, yet another lesson in the true meaning of "bittersweet".

Happy Nana's Day, 2011

Working hard, as she's wont to do, my mom's backyard has taken a backseat on the "to do" list. It's one of those things she'd really like to get done, but when prioritizing, it just doesn't seem to make it to the top of the list. So for Mother's Day, James, Seth, Chad, Robyn, two missionaries and I set about making it our priority. It was a few hours of trimming rose bushes, pulling weeds, mowing grass, etc... but the end results were phenomenal. There is still a LOT to do. It's a good-sized yard and requires a fair bit of upkeep, but it looks worlds better. Sometime next month, I intend to be back in that yard getting the next stage finished. Hopefully we can get the whole thing put together and get it back to the point that general upkeep is all the yard requires to look fabulous.

Porch Before:

Porch After:

Main Yard Before:

Main Yard After:

And, of course, the whole reason Nana wants the backyard looking fabulous is so it's clean and tidy enough for moments like this:

We finished off the day with some tasty barbecued ribs, beans, and corn on the cob (bought fresh from the farmer's market this morning). It was a busy day, but totally worth it. Oh, and spending all morning out in the sun has faded me hair a full two shades of blond lighter. Pretty sweet!

Oh, and we picked up my Mother's Day present/James's Father's Day present, so expect me to be totally distracted for the next week or two (again):


Happy mother's day, to the best mom out there (And happy Nana's day as well). :-)

Easter Afternoon

Easter ham with the fam. A nice way to end the day. (Yay, rhyming). Not having to cook, but still having a tasty meal? Score! Actually, I did bake a cheesecake. Mmm, yummy. My family dyed eggs. James and I had planned to do so, but the day got away from us yesterday, so we never got around to it. Shortly after we got there, Seth and Robyn "hid" them in the front yard. Then armed with a grocery bag and a toy bucket, the girls went on their very first egg hunt. For first-timers, they got the concept down really well.

Baby had to help:

Megan really got into it:

Cadence easily found the larger number of eggs (though Grandpa would point out ones whenever she couldn't find any):

Casualties of war. Cadence was so excited to go after one across the yard she didn't see the one right in front of her:

Showing off her booty:

When we attempted to take away the hard-boiled eggs, Cadence threw a fit. Since the plastic eggs had jellybeans inside, she wasn't willing to part with any eggs. Once Nana showed her what was inside the shell of the non-plastic ones, she wasn't so interested and contented herself with gobbling up jellybeans. The Easter eggs were quickly whipped up into hard-boiled eggs and served alongside the ham and potatoes. :-)

Easter Morning

I was not up until 2am putting the finishing touches on the last Easter dress. I was only up until 11, so :-P. And actually, I was only up that late because I didn't start on the finishing touches until after 9 (and had minor issues halfway through, so had to start over on one part). At last, they were finished and we were able to lay them out next to their Easter baskets for a nice photo finish.
I was in the kitchen turning the oven on when James let the girls out of their bedroom this morning. Cadence zeroed in on the new stuff on the couch and was happily investigating as I turned the corner. No coaxing needed. As soon as they realized there was chocolate in the foil-wrapped eggs, they lost all interest in everything else. Though Cadence has since become very possessive of her new roaring dinosaur flashlight and Megan added car sound effects to the lesson in elder's quorum thanks to her new car keys.

We enjoyed cinnamon rolls and the girls got into a bath (since we got home late and I didn't get around to it last night). Then they got all dolled up in their new dresses and new shoes and new hair clips. I grabbed my camera and attempted to get pictures of the dresses on the nice lawn outside the church building. In my head I envisioned adorable pictures of Cadence's cute grin and Megan's wrinkle-nosed smile. Alas, things did not go as I had hoped, but my kids are cute anyway.

Easter and lunch (not related)

So, I have Megan's Easter dress almost completed (zipper and sash are all that's left). I had planned to get as much done on Cadence's dress last weekend, but I discovered a new video game and immediately began slacking. So then I intended to buckle down and just get it done this weekend, but at the last minute, James's work needed him in all weekend (which is great, straight over time, yay) and I can't sew with both girls moving around. Therefore, I am behind.

But, in all reality, it doesn't take a lot of time. I'll just probably be up until 2am Sunday morning sewing zippers in. And if I don't stop playing this video game, I will be up until 2am Sunday morning sewing zippers in. Must.... focus...

I'm excited for Easter. I get to show off home-made dresses (because shrugging your shoulders and casually saying "Oh, I made it...", as if it were nothing special, when people ask where you got those adorable dresses is totally the main reason to make your kids' clothes). Plus, James and I had a long chat with the Easter bunny on Friday and I'm totally psyched about what he's bringing her for Easter. It is the perfect gift right now. It combines four of her favorite things into one toy. Megan's is a keeper too. :-) The Easter bunny is under strict instructions to keep it simple. One toy and a few treats. We don't want to distract from the real reason for Easter, after all.

But, we did get egg dye. Cadence will probably lose interested after the first two come out a different color, but oh well. Start traditions while they're young, right? And take lots of pictures for those one or two that she is interested in and claim she loved every moment of it.

Anyway, off I go. Got two girls to get dolled up for church and I've gotta check out how long this Spanish rice is going to take to cook. Before he knew he'd be working, James invited the missionaries over for lunch today (They gave him the calendar last week to make sure he signed us up for a dinner night, but he didn't realize that and handed it off without signing us up. I guess the missionaries came up all disappointed, so he extended the invitation then. I just hope they remember!) Seth, who graciously agreed to taking over James's class last minute when we realized James would have to work through church, will also be coming over to be our 18+ male so they can still come over today. Hoping James doesn't have to work too long, though, and that he'll be home waiting for us when we get home from church. It all depends on how long it takes to pull the machine apart and get it ready for it's trip to Houston.

A "Picture" of my Day

There's a new "tab" near the top of this page. After enjoying the 30 Day Picture challenge, some friends of mine suggested a new fun idea: Document your day with your camera and then post all the pictures to get a "picture" of our day.

So here's mine.

Perhaps a tad more eventful than a day that I don't have the van, but it's pretty typical for a day that I do have access to a car. Enjoy!