The Last Few Days

As the end of pregnancy draws to a close, we're trying to make use our time very well.  Here are some highlights of us waiting for the baby to come

Taking a walk at Three Lakes Park

Here's the view of the "lake." Definitely grateful for the gorgeous weather. 

Raking leaves! And then jumping in them. 

Enjoying a Dixie Donut

Maymont Park once again.  Cadance wanted to pet the goat...kind of

And here's the bear statue at Maymont.  The next best thing to the actual bears.  They've been MIA lately

Halloween

So yes, I know the rest of the world has moved on to Christmas, but here is what our Halloween happenings looked like.  Just in case anybody actually cares.

The night before Halloween we went to our ward party.  Yummy chili and trunk-or-treating.  It was super fun.  My sister was in town and we dressed up like Mrs. White and Ms. Peacock from Clue.  Steve dressed like Professor Plum, but we didn't get that photographed.

No, that's not a real knife, but it was fun to pretend

Cadance was the most super excited princess in the entire world. 

The day of Halloween was all sorts of adventures.  We spent the morning walking around Maymont Park and then took a tour of the Victorian mansion on the property.  Did you know that they used to stop clocks when somebody died?  Now you do. 

After an unsuccessful hunt to find a carving pumpkin (seriously every store sold out the weekend before), we went home to try to get Cadance to take a nap.  After that didn't happen we took her trick-or-treating at a local mall.  I'm pretty sure the most fabulous thing in the entire world is hearing your daughter say, "trick-or-treat please!" 

Steve tried unsuccessfully to take Cadance out again around our block. After one house she said she was done.  Oh, well. 

While I made pizza for dinner, my dear sister made jack-o-lanterns with Cadance.  All month she talked about "scary pumpkins."  She loves them.  So, making one of her own was like the greatest thing in the world.  Too bad we couldn't carve one for real, but the paper kind seemed just fine with her.  It actually was probably a good thing we couldn't find a pumpkin because paper is a whole lot less messy than pumpkin innards. 

To complete the evening I thought it necessary to eat more sugar, so we made donuts.  Pumpkin donuts.  Can you say, "new tradition."  This was definitely my favorite part of the holiday. 

And now we're on to Thanksgiving.  Oh, wait, we need to have a baby first.  Cross your fingers it happens next week!

And Now She's Three

This weekend we celebrated the birth of Cadance.  It was quite the celebration.  What has been the most fun is the fact that there is recognition on her part of the significance of birthdays.  Steve woke her up in the morning to say "Happy Birthday."  There was also an explanation about how she is now three and not two.  When we started eating breakfast a few minutes later she proudly exclaimed, "Three!" while holding up three fingers.  On Saturday she asked very excitedly if she was still three and thought it was the coolest thing ever. 

Also important to note is that she has changed the rules about the correct response to, "Happy Birthday!"  Instead of "thank you," you should exclaim, "Happy Birthday!"  It becomes more of a mutual rejoicing that way.  Although people may look at you funny. 

So Friday morning Cadance got all dressed for the day and we headed out. 

First up was our weekly playgroup.  We played at a local mall with some friends. 

Afterwards we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  I think her smile expresses well her feelings toward Chick-fil-A.

Next was a hair cut.  It was be hard to believe, but Cadance has never had her hair cut.  I think her smile in this picture expresses well her feelings before her haircut began and the fact that she could see herself in the mirror.  We are both very grateful that the lady only took about 10 minutes to cut her hair. 

And, Cadance helped make her birthday cake. 

After Steve came home and we had dinner Cadance opened her birthday presents. 

 And last but not least came the cake and ice cream.  This year she even blew out all three of her candles all by herself.  We were very proud.

Saturday morning started an all new set of adventures as we got ready for Cadance's birthday party. 

We invited over just a couple of Cadance's girlfriends for a pink lemonade tea party.  We started by making crowns.  Glitter glue and fake gemstones, what more could a toddler ask for.

Here is a picture of the table we set up for the girls. 

They liked the lemonade. 

I read, "Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink"

And we finished the party with some good ol' bubble blowing.

It was super easy and casual and Cadance had so much fun. 

And now we're off to year 4.  Crazy!

Cadance and I have been Vacationing

A week and a half ago Cadance and I set out on a little trip.  With a bag full of snacks and hours worth of toddler entertainment thanks to our local library we hit the road.  "This is a long drive," Cadance pointed out a time or two, but luckily that was about the extent of the complaining!

Our first stop was Morgantown, WV.  Home of WVU, the #1 party school in the US, also my super fabulous old roommate, whom I hadn't seen since Cadance was born. 

We visited Cooper's Rock and this great view

 

Ate ice cream in a gun shop!

Went swimming. 

 

And ate dinner at the Polky Dot, voted #1 breakfast place in WV by Food Network magazine

 



Basically there was no was I could resist taking a picture on this bench

Thank you Katie for giving up your bed to your old roommate and your floor to her slightly crazy toddler

Next up PA.  Luckily the next leg of our journey was slightly shorter.  Too bad Cadance didn't fall asleep until the last 5 minutes of the trip.  But, she was happy to be woken up at her cousins house!

Among other fun things we went to Chocolate World in Hershey.  Steve and I went a few years ago, but we thought it would be fun to take Cadance.  It definitely solidified in her mind that she likes chocolate. 

Here are the three cuties waiting to go inside

And here they are again enjoying a post tour treat

 

Although Autumn seems to be in the air we had a couple of hot 95+ days and couldn't resist the sprinkler.

 



The morning we left we took the cousins to a place called Let's Pretend.  Cadance is still talking about it. 

They did some painting

Here is Cadance's cousin taking our order at the diner

Cadance taking care of her baby.

And the day wouldn't be complete without a concert

I couldn't decide if Cadance was more hilarious in pink hair

Or a brown crop with pink hat

And here is a video of Cadance and the first time she's ever gotten a hold of a microphone

Thanks to my awesome brother and sister in law for letting us crash at their place.  It was such a fun week!

Richmond Culture

Richmond is this weird mix between historical and new age culture.  If you want some great civil war history, this is the place to be.  But, Virginia is old, like John Smith and Pocahantas old.  We go back to the beginning here.

In contrast, there are local artists everywhere.  The city is a huge supporter of the arts.  We enjoyed one of them this past weekend.  Richmond, along with other generous people, commission artists from around the world to come and paint murals around the downtown area. 

It's a way to reduce graffiti, etc.  But, it's also just really cool.  We took a tour of the news murals that were put up this summer. 

Here is a small sampling

This mural was lots of writing like this with bright geometric shapes all around it

These guys kept popping up on our tour.  I kind of got a kick out of them.  The fish one was my favorite.  I made Steve turn around and go back so I could get a picture

This is a monument over looking the James River.  I didn't get a good look, but I'm assuming it's John Smith.  Mostly I loved the blues. 

So let's be honest, a lot of the murals were just a little weird.  But, he's fun I guess

Our favorite was this bear.  He looks so happy.  I'm pretty sure it was the only one Cadance understood.