Water Weekend

For Memorial Weekend, we spent a lot of time with water. After irrigating and garage sale-ing, we drove to Don and LuAnn's house on Utah Lake and went boating with Chris' Impact friends (Dale, Debbie, Mandy, Melissa, Kristy and Ryan and kids). This was the first times the kids have been on a waterski boat. They were in heaven watching the water, trying to touch it, taking in the mist and driving the boat.Cadence loved watching the water behind the boat and was intrigued by the banana boat.Unfortunately, it was a little overcast and chilly. Neither Chris nor I participated in the water fun outside of the boat. There is just something daunting to me about it being wet and shivering for hours:( Riding in the boat was tons of fun!!!We stayed at my mom's that night and did church with her the next day. We took the kids to see my dad's grave and did our best to explain death (spirit, body, graves, cemetary, heaven, etc.) to Cadence. This is the first time I have taken her to his grave. It has been 7 1/2 years since he passed away:( Oh how I wish he could meet Chris, Cadence and Cooper and vice versa! Sunday evening was spent at Todd and Lilly's house in Orem. The kids had a lot of fun playing, goofing off and getting into everything. Cadence is so social and Cooper is interacting more and more each day.
Kenny, Justin and Audrey are great playmates for Cadence and Cooper!
On Monday (Memorial Day), we swam in heaven! Literally! Todd's uncle lives in Saratoga Springs and the community pool is water from a hot spring. There was no chlorine and the water was 90 degrees. While Cadence and Cooper don't like to get their faces wet, they love being in the water. (Cadence kept calling it a "big bathtub.") I could enjoy swimming in that kind of pool everyday if it were close to us! It was nice to have my mom along. She definitely helped with all the little bodies that needed close supervision.Chris and Todd fished off the lake and caught some catfish. We bbq'ed some hamburgers and headed home! It was an awesome weekend!This is a cute little sundress/swimsuit cover I made for Cadence!!! I also made the bandana dress she wore in the boat!

Duck Time

Now that the weather is warm and dry, duck time is here! Cooper absolutely loves the ducks. I have to keep him strapped into the stroller unless I'm holding him because he tries to crawl to them (in the water.) He jumps up and down when he sees them and kind of has a sign for duck, (I think)!
As usual, Cadence enjoys feeding the ducks too. She is getting more brave and attempts to get close to them. They run away and she doesn't understand why. It also has been really fun the last couple of weeks to see the mommy ducks with their babies. Duck behavior is so interesting. The moms do NOT like other ducks to mess with their babies and they allow the ducklings to eat all the bread we throw to them. However, if the dad (or some male) is around, they take the food away from the babies. They think only of themselves. Hmmmm! Does this sound familiar? Hopefully, not. Anyway, we will enjoy feeding and playing with the duck A LOT this summer.

Cadence has learned many interesting facts about ducks already - especially about poop! She was intrigued and repeats what I tell her to her dad. Sometimes, I don't think she is listening, but she sures suprises me with her knowledge.

Bridget's Bike

Cadenc has a couple of bikes she likes to ride, although she gets frustrated often due to various things. Usually it is because she has a hard pedaling or isn't steering straight. With Cooper around it is difficult to push her up and down the sidewalk like I did the two spring/summers. This is an example of Chris assisting Cadence while pushing Cooper! Two weeks ago, we wanted to show my friend, Tina, and her daughter, Bridget (Cadence's friend) the Logan River Trail. They met us at the golf course and Bridget brought her bike to ride. She was so nice to let Cadence try out her big-girl bike with training wheels. Of all the bikes that Cadence has, she doesn't have one with training wheels. Cadence was a little nervous, timid and frustrated at first because she had difficulty making the pedal go all the way around. She kept pushing the pedal backwards and thus, the bike would brake.
The second turn, she got a little better with pedalling and seemed to enjoy it a little more. The third turn was a charm. Her pedaling in a complete forward circle improved. Her confidence went up. She was happy and excited! She rode more than a quarter mile on Bridget's bike. She needed a little help up the sight inclines, but otherwise, did fantastic! Cadence was proud of herself!
Cadence will be excited on her birthday when she....(keep this a secret) gets a big-girl bike with training wheels (Thanks to friends who give us hand-me-downs, which we LOVE!). I'm excited to see her cheer when she sees it!!!!

New Hair-dos

Miracles never cease to happen. Cadence has started letting me do her hair in more ways than just pony on the very top. After our trip to Texas in which her cute cousins had braids and ponytails, Cadence allowed me to comb her hair without a fight and do some braids and different things. In fact, she likes a ponytail in the back of her hair. Sometimes, she even asks for it!
She doesn't love her hair getting combed or wet, but she lets me do it without too much wiggling. I think she looks so much older when her hair is pulled back. My baby is growing up! What a great little girl!!!

Definitely, An Awesome Dollhouse.

A couple of weeks ago, Cadence's good friend, Mariah, gave her this enormous, cool doll house with furniture. At first, Cadence only had the furniture (because we forgot to take the truck to pick up the big dollhouse). She had so much fun drinking from the tiny cups and playing with the toilet and kitchen. A week later, we picked up the doll house. Cadence LOVES it! She enjoys playing dolls with Sadie and other friends. Actually, I think she plays more with the dollhouse and furniture, but not so much with dolls in it. She's so funny!!! Thank you Mariah for sharing the toys you have outgrown with us! (Notice all the furniture is neatly arranged.) The other funny thing is that Cooper LOVES the dollhouse too. He pulls up to it and destroys the set-up of the furniture. He tries to eat all the little dishes and accessories. I almost think he likes it more than Cadence. He scatters everything from it around the room, but is not interested in the dolls. Oh, he is "into" everything! I get to watch him very carefully! (Yes, he is wearing a pink Minnie Mouse shirt. It is Cadence's t-shirt that he wore to bed the night I took this picture. What am I doing to my son? Wearing a pink shirt while playing with a dollhouse!!!)

My Blog Is One Year Old & A NEW BLOG

Today is the first birthday of my blog. Wow! So much has changed in one year. A new baby, moving upstairs, Cadence growing one year older and wiser, not working, etc. I'm glad I have been able to keep up the blog and record special events and aspects of our lives, but I have to admit that somedays I feel like I am losing steam on this blog. I will keep blogging, but I think as life gets busier, the blog will not be as detailed. We will see how it goes. Only the future can tell!
On another note, I guess part of the reason I feel like I've slacked more and have less motivation on this blog is due to another blog I have started - http://www.somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/. Over the months, I have seen fun projects, cute clothes and cool home decor ideas on other blogs and I keep them in one place. Well, the list started getting to long so I decided I would just start another blog for links to these posts. It is evolving more each month. Check it out! Become a follower! Tell your friends about the awesome tutorials. Save yourself money and learn how to do some of the fun projects out there in blog world!!! Visit www.somedaycrafts.blogspot.com and check out the archives!!!

Garden Is IN, But Will It Grow?

A couple weeks ago, a guy with a big tractor was going around the neighborhood asking people if they wanted their garden plowed (for a price.) We bit the bullet for a couple of reasons. A few days later, we picked up horse manure from my friend, Mary. The day after that we picked up seeds and starts and I planted a garden. So the seeds and plants are in the dirt/garden, but I don't think it will grow for a couple of different reasons. 1. Our garden didn't produce much last year. The soil is very rocky and some plants have got fungi in the past from the alkaline in the dirt. 2. I wanted the manure to be plowed under/mixed in with the plow, but because we didn't have it, I put some in with the seeds and plants. I'm afraid I over-fertilized and maybe burnt or hurt the seeds and starts. 3. I thought the irrigation water was coming a few days after I planted, but it didn't. The garden area didn't get soaked for about 10 days. I watered it by hand, but that doesn't do as well of a job as irrigation. 4. Because of the large trees on both sides of the garden, it doesn't get as much sun as I wish. Therefore, I don't know if any of the red potato, tomato, zuchinni, croqneck, cucmber, pumpkin, onion, or corn seed or starts will grow!

If it doesn't grow by next week, I may replant somethings and try again. No matter what, I will water the dirt because Cooper has a ball in the water, dirt and mud! He thoroughly enjoys the garden area! I asked Chris to attempt to trim some of the branches of these three big tree clumped together that block some of the sun. Here is Chris on a ladder trimming some of the branches.

While I was inside the house, he just decided to cut down the whole tree:( He was very proud of his destruction! I wasn't!!!

Everyone, pray that our garden DOES grow A LOT of veggies!!! We will share!

Not So Sweet Thunderstorm

About two weeks ago, (I am very behind on posts), there was a very big thunder and lightning storm. I love that we can sit on the front porch and watch it rain and snow without getting wet. As a family, we bundled in blankets to watch and listen to it rain, lightning and thunder. (It is great desensitization for Cadence to experience it with us.) It downpoured for a good 45-60 minutes. We loved the puddles, river in the street, water-filled flowerbeds until........

I got a call in the morning from our downstairs tenant, Miranda, telling us that the smaller bedrooms' carpet was wet. Yep, there was so much rain that it filled up this small window well and flooded one room in the basement!!! We got to pull out the carpet and pad to let it dry and cut out some sheetrock in the wall to see if the insulation was wet (it wasn't really!)
This is just what we needed. One more project to do on top of everything else. Luckily, the carpet and pad dried within the week and we were able to reinstall it without too much trouble. We will fix the drywall in a little while. I'm grateful for downstairs neighbors who are easy to work with!!!

Sweet Sadie!

A little over a month ago, some new neighbors moved in right next door. They have 3 beautiful kids, one of which is a 2-yr-old girl named Sadie. Cadence has hit it off with Sadie. I joke that Cadence stalks her because she is always watching for her car, asking where she is, what she is doing, looking for her out the window, waiting for her to jump on the trampoline, etc. Cadence and Sadie get along so well together. Rarely do I hear them argue, cry or be selfish. It appears to be a perfect friendship.
Cadence wants to play with Sadie everyday. It doesn't always happen, but they have so much fun together. I don't know how long Sadie's family will live next door, but I know that Cadence will always have a best friend as long as they are there.
Sadie's sister, Taylor (10), is so kind too. She loves to play with Cadence and treats her like a queen. I don't know how to describe it. Cameron (7), is also so kind to Cadence. They all play together so well. It has been a dream come true so far!!!

Our Jumping Life!!!

The weather has finally been good enough to allow us to jump almost everyday in May. After breakfast, Cadence wants to jump. A few ago, we would jump for a few (3 or more) hours everyday. Now we only jump for about 2 hours a day. Of course, the time is split up into smaller chunks. We have drink breaks, potty breaks, go to the park breaks, eat a treat break, etc.
Cadence LOVES the trampoline! She loves all the balls on it! She kicks them around, bounces them, sits on them, etc. The best thing is that they stay on due to the net! She likes it when I sing this song I made up that tells whoever is jumping what locomotor skill they should do (jump, hop, walk, run, swim, twist, kick the balls, etc.) She likes to fall on her bottom and bounce back up.
Cooper just tolerates the trampoline. If I am on it holding him, then he likes it. Someday, he will enjoy it more.
I am grateful for the net. It is such a relief that I don't have to be right next to it every minute making sure that Cadence doesn't jump off (or constantly throwing the balls back on). I also can leave Cooper on the tramp and run to the house to get something or do something in the garden withouth him crawl off. I think I would worry too much. I don't know how my mom didn't worry when there were 5 or more kids going crazy on our trampoline when we were little.

Our life revolves around the trampoline and that is ok with me! The kids are active, safe, having fun and being creative. That's our jumping life story!!!

A Quick Ten Months

I just wrote about Cooper turning NINE months a few days ago. That's because I am behind in my posting. Cooper really is TEN months old. The time has gone by so quickly. Many toddler-like changes are happening to my baby!
Cooper's communication is quickly improving. He understands many words, phrases an signs. He is signing more often and deliberately. He has added the signs "dog" and "again." Cadence is relearning the signs she's forgotten so quickly. I think she will be a big help in teaching Cooper to sign. He also says the "d" sound when he sees a dog or a duck or when he is calling Dad. Cooper also uses the "m" sound in honor of me and has many emerging sounds.
Cooper is into everything. He can crawl very quickly!!! He likes to crawl to the stairs and go up one step before I can tell him he can't play there:( One of his favorite places to crawl is wherever Cadence is sleeping (bed or couch). He then pulls up and wakes her up by yelling and hitting her body. She doesn't like it, but he sure does!!! Walking is his next goal. He holds onto our hands and walks around the house. He also uses the furniture to assist him in walking around. Dad put child locks on the kitchen drawers and cabinets because he kept taking everything out and smashing his cute, pudgy fingers. We have plugs in the electrical outlets. The garbage and recycling cans are on top of the counters because Cooper enjoyed dumping them too much. He loves the garbage cans in the bathroom and has found the toilet brushes (which are now up high too.)
Cooper loves the bathrooms, toilets and water. He likes to flush them, stick his hand in them, turn over Cadence's big potty, etc. When the bathroom doors are shut, he crawls over to them and hits the door while saying "Let me in" in his cute way. Let's hope that he still likes them in a year when I attempt to potty-train him. He also likes to turn on the water in the sink and splash all over. The bathtub is a lot of fun as he gets water everywhere. However, he no longer enjoys laying down in the water.
Cooper eats everything!!! I rarely give him baby food anymore. He eats whatever we are eating - tacos, fish, bread, noodles, veggies, etc. He is NOT picky! He even eats sidewalk chalk, dirt and rocks! I have a feeling he is going to eat a TON when he is a teenager!
Animals are another thing that Cooper loves. He enjoys petting dogs and doesn't seem to be intimidated by them (the barking or the size). He almost jumps out of the stroller when we feed the ducks. He likes kitties and horses too. When we are looking at books about animals, he touches the animals.
Cooper is a people person. He loves babies and likes to "talk" to them. He makes his cute sounds as he touches the other babies' faces and arms. He goes to almost everyone, but usually wants to come back to Mom after a few minutes.

The park is one of Cooper's favorite places to go. We go at least 3 or 4 times a week. Swinging gives him a big smile, claps and signs of "again." He also likes playing in the sand (filling up his diaper with it and eating it). Sliding down the slides are also enjoyable for him. Of course, he still needs assistance from a big person on them. He also enjoys the crunchiness of the woodchips:)
Cooper is still far from sleeping through the night. He just loves me too much and wants to see me. He loves to be held and wants to fall asleep in my arms.
Cooper brings so much joy and happiness to our family with his easy-going and loving personality! He is the sunshine in our lives!

Cinco De Mayo

I'm not great at celebrating holidays. I don't do tons of decorating. I don't buy/make lots of gifts. I just live the holiday like many other days.....that is unless they are holidays about other countries. I did a Chinese New Year party and I decided to have a Cinco de Mayo party too!
Now that the weather is usually dry and warm, I thought a neighborhood party would be appropriate. I started out inviting a few new people who have moved in since last fall and just kept inviting more and more people. I have a problem drawing a stopping line because I don't want to leave anyone out. Anyway, about 30 people ended up eating and playing at our house. I actually wanted to invite more, but was worried that we might not have enough food. We did a wanna-be Cafe Rio burrito/salad menu. I made the sweet pulled pork and creamy cilantro dressing and asked/assigned each family or couple to bring a part of the meal for everyone i.e. cheese, lettuce, tomato, guacamole, tortilla etc. It turned out very well and yummy. I think everyone had enough to eat and enjoyed the tastiness! After dinner, I stuffed a duck-looking pinata with treats and Chris hung it from one of the trees outside. The kids took turns hitting it. We made it through all the kids once without it getting hurt. The second time through, Cameron hit the body off the head. The kids took turns whacking it while it was on the ground. Such fun to appropriately take out aggression on a pinata. I prefer that if Cadence and Cooper want to smash something, they hit a pinata:)










I put 7 bags of candy in it. Hopefully, it was enough for the kids to enjoy. They were great about sharing. As I have said before, I not a great party host. I like to go to parties, but not be in charge of them. However, I am improving in this area. The longer I live, the more I realize that it is people, not things, that matter. To be invited to a party is to feel included, wanted, important and loved. I may never be rich or famous, but I hope to be someone that people will say "she cares." I look forward to hosting many more parties in my very modest home and letting people know that relationships are important!

Happy Birthday to my mom and Happy Cinco De Mayo to the rest of the world!!!