Little girl

My baby is growing up so fast, I took these pictures while we were walking on the beach and she looked like a little girl!

Holding hands

This morning after Aden's swim class, as we were leaving the complex, Kadence finally held on to Aden's hands. Aden has been trying for MONTHS to have his sister hold his hand and she always gets so irritated and won't let him. I don't know if she feels like he's trying to contain her or what. It was one of those moments that I will always remember and I wish so badly I was able to capture on camera. The look on Aden's face was pure joy and pride. When I asked him if he's happy that Kadence finally let him hold on to her, he said "yes, it means that she loves me a lot". It was the sweetest thing - it brought tears to my eyes. I told him that his sister will always love him, whether she lets him hold her or not. He's the best big brother and he loves her so much, I just hope that growing up, they'll stay so close as they are now and feel so lucky that they have each other.

Little Miss Talker

Kadence is starting to talk a lot now, words that we can actually understand. It's been fun figuring out that she actually is saying stuff to us, we just couldn't figure it out before! Here's a little sample of her cuteness...

Slidin' fun

Pure Joy

Don't you wish that something so simple as water can make you this happy?

Water kids

Pool Fun

I tried to get better shots of the kids but it was a little difficult to get decent shots with 2 overly excited kids in the water. You'd think the amount of time we're in or around water, I'll have a waterproof camera. That will definitely be a nice investment!

Water fun

We had a lot of sunshine on Saturday which prompted me to head to Target and pick up one of those pools for the kids to play in. Aden was so excited to blow it up and when we finally get around to doing it on Sunday, Kadence was down for a nap. I was thinking to myself that we should wait to fill it up until she is awake so they could go in together, but since Aden was so excited, it will be torture for him to have to wait for his sister. So I didn't say anything and just watched them set it up and put water in it.

Turns out, my son had the same thought. I was gardening in the front yard and after they setup the pool, they came out to join me. I asked Darin why he wasn't in the pool and Darin told me that Aden wanted to wait for his sister. It brought tears to my eyes and another proof to how much he loves and thinks about his sister. I told him it's ok if he wants to go in and he doesn't have to wait for her, but he wouldn't budge. He said he wants to play in it with her. He is my sweet boy and I love the way he loves his sister so much.

First Pony

I've waited for this moment ever since I found out I was pregnant with a girl...somehow being able to put her hair up in a pony and all other hair-dos were the first thing that came to mind why I was looking forward to having a girl. Not the clothes, shopping or all that other stuff that makes you want to have a daughter. Mine was being able to do her hair. I don't know why since I'm really not very good at it - and I am terrible at doing my own hair. But somehow, this moment is what I've been waiting for and look how amazing she looks!

I'm sure in 6 months, I will be complaining about having to fix her hair all the time. But for now, I still can't believe I am fortunate enough to be able to do this.

Fun with Dad

Some moments of our little miss with her daddy....

Beach lover

I was really worried that Kadence wouldn't enjoy hanging out at the beach, and in our family, that is just not an option. It took 3 trips to the beach before she actually immersed herself to the fun of being on the beach. You'd never know now that she used to cry whenever her feet touched the sand. Now we can't get her off of it! I was amazed how much she has changed and she was just happy to be covered in sand!

Memorial Weekend 2010

This memorial day weekend marks our 4th year having the beach house and it was fitting that we spend it with friends - although we were hoping that our co-owners could've joined us. Oh well, next year, right?! We spent 4 glorious days walking on the beach, checking out the Tide Pools, hiking the dune and watching 2 or 3 whales hanging around the Cape. We had great weather - no wind and partly sunny, which is perfect when you're talking about the Oregon Coast! Some highlights from the weekend..

The kids eating lunch on the beach:

Liam & Aden observing Liam's 'catch':

Hiking up the dune:

Our expert 4-year old dune-climber enjoying his snack with the best view:

You talking to me?

She's very sweet with lots of 'tude. I wonder who she took after?

Playdate?

A few weeks ago, we met up with Karly & the kiddos for lunch at HUB. Karly and I looked over at the play area and saw the boys "playing" together. It was a picture-perfect moment.

Move part deux

It's been a crazy few weeks in our household. March was a whirlwind and April was a very busy month. We bought a house in less than a month after viewing it and did some remodeling before the big move. We crammed 2 months worth of remodeling in 3 weeks. My poor husband worked such long hours, I don't know how we didn't manage to get sick with the stress of moving and remodeling at the same time. Oh, plus having 2 kids, one of which is a very active toddler! Big thanks to my mom who stayed with the kids while we did our crazy work on the new house.

Aden was very excited to move again (even though we just moved 6 mos ago!) and he was adamant that he's going to make a sign on our driveway as soon as we closed on the loan. Just in case you have a hard time reading a 4-year old's "sign", he wrote: Welcome to our new home from Aden. He came up with that himself, he asked me how to spell each word and as I tell him the letter, he wrote it down. He's getting so good writing and we are so proud of him.

Aden helped me finish painting his room - I saved a small area for him to paint and that made his day! He was so excited that he was able to paint his own room and he actually did a pretty good job painting.

Lots of projects in our future - there's a very long list of stuff that needs to be done. We still can't believe that we were able to make everything happen and I'm sure one of these days, exhaustion will hit and we'll have to take some time off and maybe go on a trip somewhere...

Riding the ski lift

This is the face of a boy who has looked forward into riding the chair lifts!

After 3 trips to Meadows and staying at the Ballroom carpet, Aden has graduated into taking on the Buttercup run. He has practiced hard to get to this point and he was so excited while we were waiting in line.

The boy is a natural skier - he just loved the lift and was amazing going down buttercup. He goes fast and he can't quite get why he has to keep waiting for mom who is still getting the hang of snowboarding. We are just having an awesome time skiing and I can't wait for more trips. Next goal: high-speed quads!

Skiing

We've been busy bees around here lately. We took Aden skiing a couple of months ago and he's loved it ever since. We've gone 5 times and he is just in heaven and keeps asking us when we will go again. This video was taken on our 2nd trip to the mountain. It's amazing how fast he picked it up.

A big kuddos to my husband who took on skiing just so he can teach Aden how to ski. He's an amazing dad - the best part is that we are enjoying skiing/snowboarding again now that we're seeing it thru Aden's eyes. I've always loved skiing/snowboarding but with the kids, we just never got the chance to go up as often as we did pre-kids. But now that Aden is into it, we're seeing lots of ski time in our future! It also helps that my mom's willing to babysit Kadence. A couple more years and she'll be ready to go!

Dancin'

First father/daughter dance?

Lovin' the party

We had a great time seeing family at my cousin Punky's wedding earlier this month. The kids were a bit tired from the long weekend, but seeing all the cousins made it all worth while! Ms. Grace was in rare form, being loud as usual and just having a good ole time.

Aden did not enjoy all the fuss with getting his pictures taken (the boy clearly takes after me...) and he keeps making this face:

But he clearly enjoyed posing with his beloved Danice:

Family portrait

We haven't had any great pictures of all 4 of us, especially not one where we're all dressed up. So we took to opportunity to get a good shot while at my cousin's wedding. We all clean up nice...

A year in review

A look back at how our girl has grown...

Kadence is 1!!!

I can't believe it's been a year since Kadence was born and what a year it has been! Our little girl is 1 - how did it get here this fast? It seemed like I didn't get a chance to savor each moment and every milestone. I blinked and her baby stage is gone. She is now a toddler. T-O-D-D-L-E-R. I am so not ready for it! She's little miss personality - always on the go and always has her little pointer finger telling us what she wants. She has given us so much joy and has made our family complete. We love her so much - especially her older brother who will not let her out of his sights. I am looking forward to the year ahead and I am consciously telling my self to savor each moment and to not take anything for granted since each moment passes so quickly, it's gone before I even know it...

Monkey see, monkey do

It must be the obsession about Curious George and how he's mastered the monkey speak - Aden hung out at the Orangutan's and had a staring contest with one of the Orangutans. We were there for the longest time and they just stared at each other the entire time we were there. My little monkey.

Fun at the zoo

It was Two buck Tuesday at the zoo last week, and since it was such a gorgeous day, I braved the crowds and took the kids to the zoo. It wasn't so bad since we got there quite early. We had a fun day and the highlight for Aden was the train ride (big surprise).

My wild child

Enjoying the lion ride

Too excited about the train ride

I'll never get tired of this...

Aden figured out games he can play with his sister and this is one of their favorite things to do. I'm amazed (and thankful) each day how much they adore each other...