Tea Party or Drunken Party?

When Grammy came to stay for a few days while she was off-track, we decided to have a tea party. Instead of a cute little tea set, we use a little Tupperware picture and cups. Since I didn't have many tea parties growing up, I don't really know the proper ettiquette and how to conduct a tea party. The only thing I know about them are to lift your pinky off the glass. I've never drank shots of vodka or even been to a drinking party, but I have a feeling our tea parties are more like what a person would see at a drinking party. This is how they go.

First, Cadence pours everyone a little water into their cup. (Cadence loves that she can do this by herself with one hand. She is such a big girl!) Then, we raise our cups in the air and say a toast - usually it is "To....(fill in with a person's name or something silly in sight).

Afterwards, we touch everyones cups saying "Cheers."

We then proceed to drink the water. The best part is the big "aaaaaahh" after we drink and the pumping our fists in the air making obnoxious sounds. Cadence loves it and so do I. It's a lot of fun. Cooper even likes to get in the action by drinking from a cup. He enjoys pretending to be big enough to drink from a cup without the majority of it spilling down the front of him!

Yesterday, Cadence has Jen, Mariah and Sharlee over for a tea party under the table (while we attended the temple for Thomas' endowment session.) I heard that was a blast too. Sounds even more like drinking party. Isn't there a phrase similar to "I'll drink you under the table!"

Come over for a drinking, I MEAN, a tea party anytime!!!

I Should Have Been Chinese

My favorite craft blog, Little Birdie Secrets, has posted a few ideas about celebrating Chinese New Year. With little thought, I decided to celebrate it also! We invited a few friends over and partied, (but not too hard.) I made Chinese Egg Rolls from this recipe except I added some green onions. It was so easy and tasted SO YUMMY!!! That was my first time making them, but definitely not my last. The Sims brought Sweet and Sour Chicken and the Gardners brought rice and fortune cookies. A tasty Chinese dinner.

Cadence and Carolyn-Kate enjoyed playing together.
Sneaky little Cooper grabbed his container of food while I ate a bite of my food and dumped it all over himself! Look at those big mischievious eyes trying to say "I don't know how this happened. I definitely didn't do it!" The Sims lived in China for a year teaching English. They brought some funky red Chinese decorations and told us how to pose if we were Chinese tourists - except they said we shouldn't smile.

I think I will make this a yearly tradition. Next year, the party will be bigger and better

(more authentic.) I will do more research on this holiday. I had more things planned, but I got to babysit a friend's son and didn't get to plan as much as I wanted. It is the year of the Ox. I should have been Chinese!

Compassionate Service is my Destiny!!!

For the last year (at least), My calling at church has been the Compassionate Service Leader. This means that I get to arrange dinners for families when they have new babies, surgeries and extreme sickness and deaths. I get a few other random assignments, but dinners is the main gist of it! That's right! I am "in charge" of the dinner after funerals. That is the most time consuming, stressful part of my calling. Luckily, I've only had to arrange for two funerals. Last week was for sweet Roxy Marshall. The dinner was for 120 people! I am not a caterer and I never want to run a restaurant. I'm lucky to get a dinner on the table every evening! So this part of the calling is a stretch for me. It has been a good thing because now I feel that I could do a large dinner if I had to - Whereas, before this calling, I would fall into a deep chasm of worriness and fear. Luckily, my ward is very kind to assist with these dinners. We had over 50 assist in some way (bring food, donate money or help in the kitchen.) The menu was very original - Ham, green beans w/ bacon, potato casserole, green salad, jello salad and a roll. Brilliant! The dinner went well and I am grateful for callings that force me to grow!
While I may not always have this calling, I will probably always be destined to have compassion. I cry too easily for other people and am always trying to figure out how to make everyone happy and "better." On Sunday, I broke down in Relief Society and had to leave because my heart hurts for a sister that can't have children, a friend whose child has a disability and another friend who is still single (but would love to be married). I am grateful that I have am able to feel compassion and that I enjoy giving service!!!

It's Time For A Haircut@#$@%#!

It has been two-and-a-half years since Cadence was born and I haven't cut her hair. It was starting to get scraggly on the bottom and is very hard to comb because of all the knots and broken hair where I have pulled knots apart. Chris and I decided it was time to get her hair cut! SCARY! One of my biggest fears is that Cadence will find some scissors and CUT HER OWN hair. My logic is that if Cadence doesn't know that scissors cut hair, she won't try it. Every time I let her play with scissors, I tell her that they only cut paper!

After weeks of worry, we called Camille, Cadence's former babysitter, and asked her if she would be willing to do it. She went to cosmetology school. Camille gladly obliged and I am so glad that we chose her over going to a beauty salon. Why? Because Cadence had NO IDEA SHE WAS GETTING A HAIR CUT!!! Seriously! (Don't tell her either!)

When we drove to Camille's, Cadence was so excited to play with Charles. They watched the movie "CARS" while Camille played with Cadence's hair. That is all that Cadence thinks happened. She never saw scissors or the cut hair falling. She was a perfect angel! Camille did an amazing job trimming the ends to make it look nicer and more combable. Thank you, CAMILLE! You have caused me to breath easier.

Cadence looks very cute with her hair cut. It's not very noticeable (unless you are combing her hair.)

This is the picture of BEFORE. Notice the long hairs in the back that look a little strange.

Here is the AFTER picture. Her hair looks full and beautiful. No straggly hairs!

Snowwoman!

A couple of weeks ago, Cadence and I created her first snowwoman (or is it snowoman or snow woman)! I'm calling that because I read my friend's blog and she called it that. The snow wouldn't roll so I have to shovel it into a ball and pack it. Cadence just danced around, made her footprints and told me what to do. I asked her what she wanted for arms. We found the small boards we pulled out of the walls of the house. We used her colored gloves for the hands and the "A" hat from Christmas to cover the head. For eyes, we used two rocks, a stick for the mouth and a baby carrot for the nose. Cadence was so proud of her snowwoman!

Best Friends!

As I was posting all the pictures of Cooper turning 6 months, I noticed all the beautiful pictures of Cooper and Cadence together. They are best friends. Cadence loves Cooper and Cooper loves Cadence. Together they have a lot of fun most of the time. They like to take baths together. Cadence likes to splash Cooper. He doesn't mind getting water in his face. Cadence, however, doesn't enjoy the splashings of Cooper! Bath time is fun when they have each other. Most of the time, Cooper and Cadence look like this together.
But sometimes, Cooper gets a look like this on his face! Cadence can still be a little rough and selfish!
Times are changing quickly. It seems like yesterday that Cadence was holding a little baby in her arms on the front swing. Now, he is too big to hold. They just sit next to one another and interact in squeals of joy! Though they are 2 years and 4 days apart, they wear about the same size diaper and only weigh about 10 lbs difference. Cooper is catching up with Cadence very quickly.

They love each other very much. Always giving kisses to each other! Best Friends Forever!

Our Six Month One-year-old

Cooper is now SIX months old, but he is the size of a one-year-old. At his six month check-up, he weighed 20 lbs. 12 oz. and was in the 95%ile. He is 28 1/2 inches tall which is higher than the 95%ile and his head circumference was in the 92%ile. He's got a big body AND a big brain!!! What a bonus! He wears size 3 diapers and has many leaks and blow-outs, but when we put him in 4, the messes stay in better. He will be moving onto the 4 when we use our last size 3! He is getting too big for his 6-9 month clothes and fits into many 12 month clothes. He is growing WAY TOO FAST! He bottoms out the Moby when I put him in so I can carry him and still use both my hands. He has rolls and rolls of cute little skin!

He is enjoying most baby foods- especially applesauce, bananas, and pears. He doesn't really like squash or carrots. He absolutely LOVES his Nuby. It has a soft plastic nipple that he has figured out how to use. He drinks and drinks like crazy. (He is a heavy drinker like his dad:) Sometimes, he just likes to get a lot of water into his mouth and then let it drain down his chin thus soaking his bib and shirt. I'm pretty sure he knows what the sign for "eat" and "drink" mean though he hasn't signed them back to me yet.

He has discovered his feet, toes and socks. He like to pull his sock off and occasionally likes to suck on his toes.Cooper LOVES bathtime and splashing in water. He jumps up and down and leans toward the tub when I am filling it. Oh the joy!

He sits up by himself very well. On occasion, he will get really excited and throw himself back so I still put a cushion behind him for those times.

Cooper is still enjoying his binkie and still puts everything in his mouth! It is hiliarious to see how much/what he can fit in that mouth of his. He has two teeth on the bottom.

Mr. Cooper is a screamer. He has this high-pitched squeal of excitement at literally makes Cadence cry and it hurts my ears. I don't know how he makes a sound so high and so loud. His excitement is our fear!!! He also makes a cute little clicking/kissing sound. I will make a kissing sound to him and he makes it back to me. It is so adorable!!!

Cooper is starting to move around when he is on his tummy. He attempts to move towards things. Of course I am discouraging this as it will lead to crawling:) Crawling and putting everything in his mouth don't work well for me being a mom!

Cooper is still a very good baby/boy! He is happy and loves to play with his sister. He doesn't sleep well, but I love him a whole bunch! I can't believe he has been with us physically for half a year!!!

Nap Time Anywhere!

Since we moved upstairs 7 months ago, Cadence doesn't seem to want to take naps. She got even worse when Cooper was born. If I take her into a bedroom to read books, she gets her second wind and goes crazy! So I found that if I put a movie in around 3:30 or 4pm and let her watch it, she will SOMETIMES fall asleep! If we are driving in a car after about 3 for more than 10 minutes, she usually will allow herself to sleep.

This is the problem: If she hasn't taken a nap, we almost can't go anywhere in the evening because she will fall asleep. Sometimes, we carry her through the store sleeping. Other times, we put her in the shopping cart to take a nap. Isn't this lovely?

Cadence sleeping in a cart at Lowe's. Cooper is sleeping in his carseat in a different cart!

We really know how to shop and get A LOT of smiles and laughs as people pass us by admiring our sleeping beauties!

A Magical New Years!

New Year's Eve this year was "Magical." We were invited by Troy, Chris' friend, to attend a magic show at the Rassmussen's house in Mendon! The magician was great!!! Very funny guy with cool tricks. I couldn't take pictures obviously because it would spoil the illusions, but I did see something suspect on his thumb for many tricks! After the magic show, Chris and some other "old men" were singing songs from their youth! They were trying to be rock stars!On New Year's Day, we invited a group of friends over for another yummy jambalaya dinner. Chris' jambalaya is so good!!! I think it is my favorite food at the moment! Everytime we feed people this dish, they become are lifelong friends. We don't have to buy our friends. We just feed them! The Begjso's, Ryan's, Miranda and baby Andrew and Sarah and Nick Thompson were our invited guests! What a great day and way to start off a new year! Welcome 2009!!! We are expecting marvelous things to happen:)

Isn't Harley a great dad? He sat at the kid table with Zander to eat cupcakes!!! Cadence and the Bergjos kids having fun with play-do!

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning was so fun! I can't remember a more fun Christmas morning! I think it is more fun to be a mom at Christmas than to be a kid.

We had to wake Cadence and Cooper up and take them downstairs to see what Santa brought. This is what Cadence saw when she came around the corner. She got what she wanted - some blue and green presents!

Excited by all the presents, Cadence didn't know where to start. Actually, she started with the presents that weren't wrapped - the rocking horse and baby crib.
Cooper knew exactly what to do. Chew on the paper with the fun little teeth poking through his gums. (Look at those BLUE eyes! What a hottie!) Cooper was VERY skilled at eating wrapping paper and crinkling it! This was his favorite part of Christmas!
Because Cadence has been quite the "Daddy's girl" lately, Dad assisted her in opening presents and I helped Cooper open his. (I also got to make sure he wasn't swallowing the paper!)

Cadence received many presents because she has been such a good girl. Besides the two prior gifts, she got a princess bedspread and sheets, a tutu, some clothes (from her closet), a spray bottle, a sword, books, art supplies, a mommy/daughter matching Aggie hat (from Dad), foam letter squares, and more. Santa was VERY THRIFTY this year. He made some presents, got some from garage sales/thrift stores, used hand-me-downs and the dollar store. Cooper got some clothes that he is almost already too big for, some chew toys, a NUBY drink/bottle/cup, a sword to fend off his sister, a homemade floor basket and other little toys. He gets to share some of the toys that Cadence claims as hers.

Santa learned that there is such a thing as too many presents. Cadence was "finished" opening presents before they all opened. Overstimulation!

After presents, we ate breakfast and snacked on junk. Chris made pecan pies and some fantastic shrimp dish. We drove through the snow to my sister Sandy's house for a ham dinner. Because it was snowing so badly at her house, we decided to stay the night. We played the Wii and opened presents. We stayed at Grammy's for a few days visiting with friends in the Salt Lake area (my roommate in college, Heather, Jonas, and Todd).

Don't Cadence and Jasmine look like princesses?

After we got back from Salt Lake, Cadence finished opening her presents. Her favorite present was paint and play-do from Mimi. This was a great Christmas!!! Next year will be even more fun because Cadence and Cooper will both "get it" more! Love you Christmas season!