Getting Ready to Update ...

I am moving on to plan B which means I will be taking my computer in to let someone else 'preserve' my photos and video clips this week. The good news is, everything IS on my hard drive from the previous years. Between my external and internal hard drives I have 883 video clips and over 10,000 photos ... I just can't manage that on my own! I really need to make sure that Cadence will be able to go back and 'view' her life. I have a box of old home movies down in the basement and although I haven't watched them in ages, it gives me peace knowing I can 'go back in time'. I suppose one of these days, I'll consider having them put on DVDs.
In the meantime, you can come back tomorrow and throughout the week to see what January was like: dress up, boom boom clap, interviews, stage shows, you tube, story time and maybe even mommy's night away to name a few!

Still haven't 'solved' my computer issues, but I'm not letting it hold me back ... just yet! I may have to go to plan B though.

In any event, Cadence continues to keep us laughing ... daily. Yesterday, she was playing 'dance teacher' and oh how I wished she wouldn't have quit the SECOND I pulled out the camera. I could hear her from the other room tell her students, "Put your listening ears on!". She was instructing whoever, to "put their arms this way, then go that way and you need to put your leg here" ... she is a hoot to listen to. It really is hard to keep track of all the funny things she says ... Cadence pretty much doesn't stop talking! I absolutely love that about her.
Tonight after fighting to get her to sleep, I went in for my final check ... this is what I found:

Seconds after the photo, I delivered polar bear.

Cadence's runny nose and post nasal drip have returned. Funny how an hour after falling asleep she is awakened by her cough and yet, after being put down in our bed, no cough and no awakenings .... hmmmmm .... could she really be that smart?!

When Wishes Come True

Last evening Cadence was telling us about some wish ... "but it didn't come true". I didn't even realize she knew what a wish was!
I responded to her story by sharing that MY wish came true when she became my daughter. She didn't miss a beat ... "Yeah, my wish came true when you became my mom!" Awwwwww ..... I hope she'll always believe that in some way!

Wedding Plans ...

Apparently we need to cash in the RESPs to pay for upcoming nuptuals. Cadence has announced the impending marriage to Mitchell ... Who is Mitchell and what's in his portfolio?

Christmas Concert?

It was no solo performance this year:

This 'n That ...

Blog Neglect

What can I say? I have been needing to do a few things with my computer regarding it's RAM and transfering photos, but I haven't gotten around to it. And I haven't wanted to add anything to my hard drive until I do that. AND so ... I've avoided even taken pictures until the former tasks are accomplished. I'll get back to it ... be patient!

Foggy Forest

Before, during, and even after the holidays, Cadence watched The Grinch a number of times. Even though I'm not sure what those Whos are singing while they hold hands in their big circle, I'm confident it is not "Foggy forest, foggy forest". What I am sure of ... I never get tired of hearing Cadence sing that!

Fair Play

My dear, sweet daughter received a number of games for Christmas. It was not because she asked Santa for them ... her parents recognized and were concerned about her inability to lose at pretty much anything ... we thought the games could provide family time AND function as a teaching tool. It is a slow process I'm afraid. We were a little surprised to be called "cheaters" and told we didn't "play fair" by our 3 year old. Obviously there is still work to be done!

Excema

We have been trying to figure out what to do about Cadence's excema. Back in Oct./Nov. I asked for a dermatologist referral ... the appointment is finally coming up next month. Since my initial concern however, the excema has actually gotten worse. As much as I hated to do it, I did use some cortisone cream which has helped the itching and has made some recent improvements, but I'm feeling quite stressed about it. We have now changed over our detergent and are prepared to do WHATEVER it takes ... if we are told to get a humidifier for the furnace ... we will ... if we're told to get a water softener ... we'll do that too! We're are trying to get her to drink more water and we are doing more showers as opposed to baths ... she'd stay in the bath forever! Unfortunately, we have to participate in her showers which brings me to the next topic ... for women only!

What Are Those Things?

Cadence and I were taking a shower earlier this week ... we often do. This week the conversation went as follows:

Cadence: Mom what are those things?

Mom: What things?

Cadence: Those big things.

Mom: Breasts.

Cadence: Breasts?

Mom: Yes

Cadence: What are those brown circles?

I answered her question quickly and accurately and told her to get in the shower. I wonder how Sean will handle his questions ... ya know she'll ask!

Rhythm is a Dancer ...

Bring on 2010 ...

Since we were having such a good time with our family we decided to stay on and ring in the new year with them.

We started off the day with some friendly, competitive, touch football in the church parking lot:

Team photo (insert Di and Donna somewhere!):

Tailgating the northern way:

Primping for our night out (and letting out some creativity):

Our USUAL table (3 years in a row!) although it did take a little effort this year:

Most of the gang:

Enjoying a few activities.
Pool:

Basketball:

Boxing:

Racing:

And of course Canada VS. the USA:

A partial family photo:

Afterwards there were hats and noisemakers:

Toasts:

And games ... charades and ... poker:


It was a great night, a great week, a GREAT holiday!
Here's hoping 2010 brings us ALL much health, happiness and joy!
Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

And now I'm off to export this year's photos to the hard drive to make room for all the memories to come .....

'KIDS' Night Out!

As we 'kids' grew up and matured over the years we began to branch out on our own after the family festivities. We started out with tobaganning (there may have been a flask or two involved), but after 'taking out' a small child and a couple of serious tail bone injuries we switched to bowling. Nowadays we simply head out across the river to enjoy some quality time together. This year we had a pretty good turnout:

Okay, it might not be about the quality of time alone ... we do enjoy a few beer barrels ... what can I say ... it's become a tradition:

This year, Kenny tagged along:

I wonder if he'll be best man at the upcoming nuptuals for this happy couple?:

Congratulations Denise and Jon!!!! Welcome to our family!


"Hey you guys ... is that ANOTHER round you're having?":

"Great!":


It was really nice to have some free babysitting, I mean, for my mom to want to spend ALONE time with her grandchildren! Along with this night out, Sean and I enjoyed two shows and dinner out ... THANK YOU BABA!!!
Cadence, well ... she enjoyed wearing Baba out and playing, drawing, dancing, crafting etc. with her cousins ... something for everyone this holiday season!

These are not for flying ....

One of the funniest things I have heard come out of Cadence in the last few weeks has to be a question she asked me while accompanying me to the washroom. She might like privacy, but I am not entitled to that at this point in time. Anyway, as I'm 'doing my thing' Cadence asks, "Mom, why do you have feathers and I don't?". What an imagination!

Boxing Day

If you had any interest in navigating back to last December (and December 2007), which I highly doubt, you would essentially find the same 'posts' and pics (except of course we were all a year younger!). On this particular day, my mother and I typically spend the day in pjs ... BUT ... make no mistake ... we are NOT lounging ... we are simply choosing not to ruin any meaningful articles of clothing, because what we are doing is cooking and cleaning ... pretty much ALL day! It is OUR turn.
Of course, these days we do have to take breaks to help out with crafts:

And find other ways to keep a certain someone entertained and out of mischief:

It's not easy, but we manage! And this year we didn't have a moment to spare ... there was still lipstick and final touches to apply as the first guests arrived ... right on time!
This is an evening of ... you guessed it ... drinks, food, family and for everyone's added pleasure ... games. We are talking SERIOUS players here:


And for the young ones ... crafts, videos and healthy snacks! Yes that is fruit and cheese on their plates ... I am definitely getting the hang of this role:


That takes care of what we have come to know as the three days of Christmas ... but that doesn't mean the fun is over yet!

In Our Thoughts Today ...

Wishing you a speedy and FULL recovery!!!!! LOL ...

Christmas Day

After her/our late night, Cadence spoiled us by sleeping in until about 9:30.
First order of busines ... checking out the goods in her stocking:

Someone sure looks excited!:

Cadence methodically opened her gifts AND took her time doing it. She'd tear off the paper and then insist we take whatever it was out of the box so she could play with it immediately...and y'all know what the packaging is like these days! I think she spaced each gift out 20-30 minutes ... it was a l.o.n.g process:

While waiting for her cousins to arrive and 'lunch' to put on the table, Cadence took some time to beautify baba and daddy:

Once Liv and Allie and the gang arrived it was mayhem ... in a good way:

The kids opened more presents and then we stuffed ourselves with my mom's fabulous feast. There was a little bit of rest and rejuvenation and then we were off to Uncle Mike and Aunt Judi's where the girls accompanied uncle Mike on the accordian with their own instruments this year:

For a second night there was food, drink, family, conversation, laughs and catching up:



Cheers to another great evening:

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve tradition involves and continues with my own childhood one ... opening ONE present ... new Christmas PJs to wear:

Not sure where my head was at this Christmas ... I have NO photos of the PJs themselves, nor of us all dressed up in our holiday best, nor of all the family festivities at Auntie Jen and Uncle Ed's place. I'm hoping to 'borrow' some pics from Denise's Facebook posts. In the absence of photos, I will just share that our whole extended family gathered to enjoy food, drink and exchange some fun gifts as we do every year. It was a great start to MANY more family activities ....

Once home we hung the key for Santa:

Put out some cookies and CHOCOLATE milk, apparently Santa prefers chocolate:

And then crawled into the princess bed at Baba's:

As you can see we had one tired little lady on our hands. She took all of three minutes to drift off to sleep ... it was WELL after midnight after all!

Christmas Holidays: Part 1

Our holidays started off on highs and lows. I had 'wine club' here to kick start Christmas, but it was cut short when my girl got sick ... we thought it was from coughing. We then enjoyed a lovely evening with our friends and godchildren: dinner, gift exchanges, drinks, but that got cut short on account of Sean getting sick! The next night Cadence and I enjoyed some Christmas cheer at a friend's open house. There was little sleep for me over those few days ... Cadence could not shake that cough at night and she was still 'bringing up' stuff, so ... on Monday we set out for the clinic ... better that than sitting at Emerg in my home town. That turned out to be a good decision ... antibiotics and a nose spray were prescribed. On Tuesday we headed to the mall for the morning to finally meet and greet the big guy in red:

This Santa was awesome! Cadence braved the line but continued to inform us that she was going to only stand beside him. That was fine for us ... progress really, but that wonderful Santa just picked her up and plopped her on his knee! I could tell she wasn't overly thrilled but she held out to give us this nice little picture. I imagine now that she has grasped the concept that Santa DOES in fact bring those presents on Christmas Day will having her leaping into his lap next year.
Following our photo session, we headed to the dollar store to let Cadence do her own shopping ... she made some great choices for everyone on her list. AND then ... it was my turn ... I thought I was sweating from the long coat and toque I'd been wearing all day ... wrong! I ended up sick next and in bed for the next 24 hours. This put my packing on hold. Luckily I was mobile enough the next day to throw things in the suitcases and head out on the road. We had great travelling weather, enjoyed a lovely visit with 'Didi' and made it 'home' for Christmas Eve!

We're Baaaackkkkk ....

We stayed longer than originally planned ... it was well worth it!
Photos and anecdotes to come soon!
Currently, the name of the game is unpacking, laundry, restocking the fridge and getting a certain someone back on somewhat of a reasonable schedule.
Happy New Year to you all!