Fair Fun and Other Festivities

This year was the first year that Danny and I attended the Ohio State Fair.  I'm so glad we finally decided to make a trip.  It's crazy that we'd never been before - when we lived on campus, we could practically walk there.  I used to be able to hear the fireworks each night of the fair when I lived in my apartment.  We were both pleasantly surprised by the fair and the kids had a great time!  Yes, there was plenty of people watching to be had and loads of unhealthy, delicious fair food.  We knew all of that would be there.  But there was so much more!  We saw some dairy cows and a newborn calf.  We also saw plenty of sheep - some that were even getting shaved.  We enjoyed some ice cream and checked out the Big Butter Cow.  We also saw some of the horse show.  Would you ever imagine that there would be girls doing gymnastics on horseback?  Crazy!  The horses were beautiful.  The best part was that Cadence wasn't afraid of anything.  She got right up to the animals and rode some rides!  Since she turned 4, she's gotten this sudden burst of self-confidence and courage...and we love it.  Colin had a good time too, but he was super tired by the end of the night.  

The kids were able to pet the cows.  And no, that's not a bindi on Cadence's forehead.  Ha - ever since she had her face painted at a birthday party, she's obsessed with putting gemstones on her forehead.  

There were 3 sets of Clydesdale horses that were competing for first place.  One set traveled all the way from Canada!  

The winning set - beautiful

We went down the slide while Mom hung out with Colin.  Cadence loved it and screamed the whole time.  That's Danny with Cadence, me, and my dad - yup, kids at heart.

We watched Cadence go on the Merry-Go-Round.  It went too fast to get a good picture of her on it.  Colin was kind of over the whole fair thing by then.  Poor lil' guy.

We let Cadence run around the cooling station for a good 5 minutes - she was soaked

Earlier that day, Mom took the kids to the playground at their church.  Look at the future American Ninja Warriors!

On Saturday night, the church had their first annual festival. It was a pretty big festival for their first year!  Cadence's favorite part were the blow-up slides.  Again, she was fearless.  We bought her a wristband and lost track of how many times she went down the slides.  They were super tall and super fast!

Last week, Cadence's daycare had their first annual gallery hop.  Her teacher told them they were supposed to dress "fancy".  All of the fancy talk inspired her to dress up like a princess one night - shoes, jewelry, crown and even eye shadow and mascara :)

During the month of July, Cadence's teacher focused on an artist each week.  They started with Georgia O'Keeffe, then moved to Wassily Kandinsky, then learned about Claude Monet, and finished with Robert Rauschenberg.  We were blown away with how much Cadence learned and was able to tell us each week.  She learned about where the artists lived, their art style, etc.  It was super cute and a great idea.  At the end of it all, they held their gallery hop.  The classes replicated artists' work and it was all hung down the halls for the parents to see.

Monet's Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies

Cadence's Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies

Cadence & her buddy, Brynn, in front of their classroom's Rauschenberg collage

My friend, Tyler, invited us to her daughter, Addison's 4th birthday party last weekend.  The girls haven't seen each other since they were 2, but they had a blast.  Cadence had the balloon artist make a blue puppy for her.

Our new found daredevil got on the "big kid" swing all by herself.  She actually requested that we push her higher!  What?!

Here she was back at the beginning of July in the "baby" swing at the park.  We could hardly let go of her because she was too scared of the swings!

Colin?  He's not afraid of anything.  He can't even walk by himself yet, but he was determined to get on those swings!  He held on and I was able to let go! I didn't really push him though...we're not there yet :)  A lot of parents wish for their babies to stay babies.  Not me.  I can't wait for Colin to be able to run around.  I know, it's going to mean more chasing him around, but he wants to explore and be like his big sister and being able to run and be more independent will be great for him.  I really need to get some of the things he can do now on video.  When he's excited, he'll say things like, "Ooooooh, whhhhhhhhhhat's that????"  It's totally cute.  When he wants something, he'll rub his chest as to sign, "please" and will make the "pppff" sound with his mouth like he's trying to say it too.  He's also started to say, "yeah."  It makes me laugh.

And the piece de resistance!  Cadence in the pool...swimming by herself!  Again, a few weeks ago, she was like a baby koala gripping whoever was holding her in the pool.  Each week, she's made some progress.  She would go under water for a second with us.  She would jump off the stairs to us.  Things like that.  Then, all of a sudden, last weekend, she told us to let go!  She was so proud of herself that she told the kids at school the next day.  It was so much fun.  Look, Mamaw and Papaw!  She's finally getting some good use out of that Puddle Jumper!

The Curls Are Gone!

This summer has been unseasonably cool.  As I'm writing this, it is 66 degrees at 9:30 at night on July 30th! Typically, the temperatures are in the mid-80s at this time of year.  We hope that it warms up soon so we can get back into the pool!

It was beautiful outside on the 4th of July, but not warm enough to swim.  The kids had some fun with the water table.  It was Colin's first time playing...they both had a blast!  Colin had more fun drinking the water than playing in it.

We're lucky to get gorgeous sunsets almost every night!

This past weekend, Danny was due for a hair cut.  I have been his barber since college.  While we set up shop in the garage, we decided it was time to cut Colin's hair.  We had been going back and forth trying to make a decision for weeks now.  It always looked really cute when he first got out of the bath tub - his curls would be nice and tight and oh-so-cute.  When he'd wake up from his nap, his hair would get all crazy.  I'm so glad we cut it...it's adorable!  Here is Colin's "before" picture.  Danny had "fro"-ed it out before we cut it so that we could make sure we cut it all.  Just look at that hair!

And here's the "after"!  He looks like such a handsome little boy!  It's adorable how old he seems now.  Especially with all that he's learned lately.  Tonight he said, "all done" after dinner and is trying to say, "please" as he signs it.  He'll hold any object up to his ear/cheek and you can tell he's trying to say, "hello".  He also mimics us when we say, "I love you" but it isn't true words yet.  It's so fun to watch him grow!

Cadence has been practicing riding on her scooter.  She's doing a great job!  She's starting to learn how to lean to turn.  As you know, she is not our daredevil...she does things at her own pace.  I think before the summer's over, she'll be a pro!

She had to show me her split...ha!

Summer Fun

Since my last post, we've celebrated Cadence's 4th birthday, my parents moved in, we took a week-long "staycation" and celebrated the 4th of July.  It's really hard to believe that August is just around the corner.  

The kids are doing great.  Cadence is into the movie "The Sandlot" right now - she's hilarious and randomly quotes the movie all day.  This morning on our bike ride, she says to Danny, "You're killing me Smalls!"  Ahh, I love it.  Cadence is still super "girlie", but she thinks the boys in her class are cool, as well as the things they're into.  When we went shopping, she picked out a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt.  Mom painted Cadence's nails yesterday - she ended up with gray toe nails and dark blue finger nails.  She's such an awesome kid.

Colin is almost 14 months old.  He's still not walking on his own.  We'll see if he follows in his sister's footsteps and walks at 15 months!  He'll crawl over to the couch or to a kitchen chair and cruise around.  He likes to walk around with his walker too.  He's very adventurous and crawls all over everything.  He growls like an animal now and can sign "more" and "please".  He will make a puff sound with his mouth like he's going to say, "please."  He will wave "bye" and has even started saying, "Poppa."  He's much more needy than Cadence was at this age and he's always into stuff.  If you forget to put up the baby gate, he will be up the stairs in the blink of an eye.  He eats almost anything and still has 6 teeth.  Speaking of teeth, we think he is getting some back molars.  He is drooling like crazy, he isn't eating as much, is super cranky, waking up at night, keeps spitting out his paci, and randomly smashes his mouth with his hands.  Teething is horrible - I feel like there is nothing I can do for him.  Orajel doesn't work and he hates taking meds to help ease his pain.  Since the teeth are coming in the back, he can't really chew on anything either.  I hope these teeth pop soon!

Cadence decided she wanted a "Frozen" themed birthday party.  She loved it - that was the goal.  A co-worker let me borrow some icicle Christmas lights, so the house looked like a winter wonderland inside.  

Elsa and Anna 

Cadence wanted Erica to try on her Rapunzel hair

The girls all got to get in the pool!

Cadence has come a long way with the pool since June, but she's still getting used to it!

Sweet cousins

Pin the nose on Olaf!  One of Danny's co-workers made this for us.  It turned out great and the girls had a blast!

Cadence also requested a pinata for her birthday.  When we got it, I didn't realize pinatas nowadays are a little different.  You take turns pulling strings and the one who pulls the lucky string releases all of the candy.  It was fun.

 

Cadence does not like birthday cake, so we decided on a cookie cake.  I think she might've had a couple of bites.  The best part to her is singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles!

Their version of playing cornhole, I guess

Colin had a rough time that weekend.  He had his 12 month check up the day before and received some vaccinations.  When he was running a fever and not acting like himself, I chalked it up to his shots.  He kept having these fits where nothing could console him.  Here's Nanny trying to calm him down.  It turned out that he had a double ear infection.  Ugh, I felt so horribly for him!

Cadence - as happy as can be after her party 

Cadence had her first dentist appointment recently.  She did surprisingly well!  We thought she'd be super scared, but she was very brave!  The hygienist was great with Cadence.  She showed her all of the tools and the sink near the chair reminded us of Finding Nemo.  Of course they'd have a Nemo fish for Cadence to play with!  It was too perfect.  She did so well and didn't have any cavities!

Our family friend, Jackie, took some family pictures for us a couple of weeks ago.  I am so happy with all of the pictures she was able to capture. I'm excited that I will have these pictures to cherish for years to come. 

During our vacation, we did a ton around the house and got to spend a lot of time with the kids.  It was a great week.  The weather was cooler than normal toward the end of the week, so it worked out really well!  We spent a lot of time in the pool early in the week when it was warm, and then took the kids to the park and spent some time in Sunbury for the 4th of July parade later in the week.

Here's the kid who's not afraid of much...

...and the kid who is! :)

And the big kid!  He had to show Cadence how it's done.

And this, I simply just don't understand.  She won't go on the swings, but she'll go down this really tall slide!

The kids had a blast on their first bike ride together!

This past weekend was a little busy.  Danny and I attended a baby shower for our friends at Dave and Busters.  It was a good time and a great idea for a baby shower!

Cadence also attended her first birthday party for one of her friends at school.  It was also a lot of fun.  It was at a local park in Westerville - probably the best park we've ever been to.  At the last minute, Danny remembered that the birthday girl is Blake's cousin.  Blake is Cadence's little buddy who she hasn't seen in a while since he's home for the summer.  He was at the party and she was in heaven!

They had face painting too.  Cadence wanted to be Elsa.  

How precious!