Visitors

Cadence was very excited to have visitors this past weekend ... so were mom and dad for that matter!
Didi came for a few days and Uncle Mark, Auntie Donna and Evan and Aidan came up for dinner and ......

Drama:

Mallow roasting:

Hot tubbing:

Thanks for coming up guys ... we enjoyed your company immensely!

Hanging on ...

to summer!
Despite the slightly chilly temperatures on the weekend, we still managed an evening swim ... fireside!


So much for 'mom time' in the hot tub:

There was some cozying up to the fire:

And getting comfy in our fleece:

We sipped on hot cups of cocoa...

And savoured the sweetness of jumbo mallows:

We are NOT done with summer yet ...... no sireeeee! We are hanging on for dear life ...

Back to Ballet

I put forth some great efforts to try and convince Cadence to stick with gymnastics ... they were wasted!
My girl wants to dance so dance it is! After all, it's not about me is it????

She has 'graduated' from the local community programs to a proper dance studio ... and moms are NOT allowed.
Here's my big, beautiful girl dressed and ready to move it:



The Olympics are a ways off ... there's still time if she changes her mind!!!! LOL!

Adoption: A 6 Year Old's Definition

One of the teachers at our school made a proposal to the grade one class to "adopt a tree".
A little girl asked, "What's adoption?".
A young student, who happened to be in Cadence's class last year, and who is a friend of our family, took it upon himself to to provide this answer:

"Adoption is when you go to China and you get a baby and you bring it home and love it and you become a family".

I think this six year old is pretty AWESOME!!!
He's also totally cute!

Back to School!

Here she is ... ready for her first day of SENIOR Kindergarten:


She chose another BIG, HUGE Hannah Montana backpack:


A 'cheeky' photo on the rocks:

Her 'current' coat hook in the big hall:

Waiting on a friend ... or two:

Skipping once again ... I LOVE that she is so full of joy:

And she is off:


Cadence had a GREAT first day of school! She likes her class, her teachers and seems pretty excited. I'm hoping there are no changes on the horizon, but in this climate one can never be sure. We'll just take it a day at a time for the next week or two.

I'm very proud of you peanut! Work hard and have fun ....

Best Line of the Summer ...

It is 9:00pm in Mexico. The internal aircraft lights have been turned off in preparation for landing. We are minutes from touching down. Cadence is completely excited and yells out:
"WE'RE GOING DOWN!!!!!!"
The plane erupts in laughter. Cadence becomes very angry ... she's embarrassed!
It was dang cute!

Back To School 'Treat'

Cadence got a special 'treat' for going back to school!

Here she is getting psyched up in the big chair ... the teddy is a back up ... just in case:

She got the special treatment ... a tag team! I love the face in this one:

They got out the 'big guns' and ...:

TaDa! She's ready to go with her new bling:

We had a celebratory brave cone:

She never cried or flinched once:

Well done my darling! I'm so proud of you! Happy Back to School!

Shirts and Shoes and Dresses and Tights and ... OH MY!

We pecked away at it, little by little, but I think we are ready ...

for Septemer anyway!!! LOL!
Although Cadence is looking pretty excited in this photo, it is still mom who was excited to do the back to school shopping (no surprise there!). She'll catch on eventually ...

How about these clogs!!!! I couldn't resist. They take me back ....

FOUR Years ....

This is the first moment I held Cadence four years ago. It was a long awaited dream come true! She was and is more than I could ever have imagined and more. She is the light of our lives and has brought more joy than I thought possible.
We continue to be grateful to China for giving us one of their beautiful daughters ... she is the greatest gift!