Cadence Can Stand

Candence can stand in her crib! Isn't she too young for that? Devon was working on his computer in her room and he looked over and there she was standing. I think maybe the chewing is better at the top.

New Family Member

Our newest family member has arrived. The tadpole we ordered came in the mail yesterday. It was very exciting! Devon and I thought we killed him because the water was pretty warm when we put him in it, but so far he is doing okay keep your fingers crossed. Lyric has decided to name him Little Tad. I told her I didn't like that name at all, it is kind of like if we had named her girl. She totally disagrees and loves the name. I decided I was going to call him F.T.B. (Frog To Be), so she decided that would be okay for a middle name. I know it is hard to tell in this picture, but Little Tad F.T.B Cox really is a cute little guy!

Lyric made this for him today, I am not quite sure what it is supposed to be, but she spent quite a bit of time on it. She used construction paper, straws, pipe cleaners and lots of glue!

Week in Review

We had a really busy week. We went to Bryan on Wednesday because Cheryl was having a baby. Finley Slade was born on Wednesday afternoon. I have no pictures because I didn't take my camera. The labor wasn't too bad she went to the doctor that morning and he sent her to the hospital; Finley was born around 3:30 that afternoon. No offense against you hospital birthers, but in my book homebirth is the way to go (surprise, surprise). Faith stayed with us Wednesday and Thursday nights. The girls all play really well together. On Friday, I took the girls out shopping, to McDonald's, to Kroger and then to Cheryl and Reiley's. They all were really good and we had no trouble at all. Cheryl and Reiley thought I was crazy for taking the 4 of them out and about, but it wasn't a big deal. I just felt like I had a daycare:-) For example, when we were at McDonald's I said everyone stand with their hands on the wall while I order. They all stood there. Story got off of the wall twice to tell me she gave Faith a kiss. Finley is doing well at home. Cheryl and Reiley aren't getting much sleep, but that's life with a newborn! When we were driving to Cheryl and Reiley's Lyric asked, "Why did Cheryl have her baby in a hospital?" I had to smile because she doesn't yet get that her mama is the "strange" one according to most people.

Busy Weekend!!!

We had a very busy weekend! It started out on Friday with the girls painting Wesley's wrapping paper for his birthday present.They used paint and Bingo dobbers to fix it up for him. Story worked really hard! They were proud of the final product.

Wesley probably will not realize the hard work that went into his wrapping, but the girls had fun and they finally got to use those Bingo dobbers Mimi J gave them.

After the wrapping paper was dry we wrapped the present and headed to Bryan. This trip is becoming increasingly harder!!! It is less than two hours, but the girls seem to always lose it before we get there. Story slept most of the way this time, but Lyric was up and ready to be there! We played the pass game for awhile and she LOVES that, but I tend to get bored with it. One person starts telling a story and then passes to the other person and they continue the story. She loves it! We finally made it to Bryan after one potty break and a bag of cookies:-)

On Saturday, we went to Wesley's patry. I did not take my camera, well actually, I did, but I didn't take it out of the car. I may try to add pictures from my mom's camera later. Wesley was too cute! He had a really good time with the cake. I think he enjoyed clapping while covered with cake or at least the adults enjoyed watching him clap while covered with cake. Yes, he was outside so it was okay that it was flying everywhere. I can't believe he is already one!

They had a pinata at the party, which was a first for my girls. We have seen pinatas before, but have never been to a party with one. We told them when it busts open there would be candy inside and they could run and get some. Lyric was so cute. The pinata was busted open and candy went flying. She walked up and got one piece and walked back to my mom, "Grammy, I got one!" She would have been completely satisfied with that one piece, but we explained you could have more than one. Aunt Kendra passed out little bags for the candy and Lyric filled it about half way up. Story on the other hand was clueless! She just stared at the candy on the ground. Kendra gave her a bag and she just kind of looked at it. I tried to help, but she showed no interest. Sydni took over and Story's bag was overflowing with candy in the end. I will have to say Sydni has been around a pinata a time or two. I wonder how long it will take my girls to get the hang of it?

We drove back to Round Rock after the party. It was a really long ride! We left Bryan about 8:30 expecting the girls to sleep on the way home, NOT! Well, Story did sleep some of the way, but not Lyric. She was up the entire time. She wanted to play the pass game, she wanted me to tell her a story, she wanted to hear a CD (and another CD and another CD and the radio and another CD). Cadence slept most of the way, but woke up about 5 minutes from home. Yes, we eventually made it.

Sunday was the Kite Festival at Zilker Park. This was our third year to attend. It was a lot of fun, as usual. We started out with the girls wanting to fly their kite.

There were tons of kites out there, but daddy tried flying it for his girls.

Cadence liked being out and seeing all of the people and kites.

Lyric was really paying attention to her kite!

Story had a great time flying the kite. I think daddy was a little nervous she may let it go, but she did awesome.

We saw quite a few Nemo kites, which was very exciting for Story. "It's Nemo, mama. Look mama it's Nemo. Mama, there's Nemo!"

The girls decided they wanted to jump in one of the Moon Walks. Okay, sure you guys can jump. But they had to jump in the Princesses. Of course, it has a huge line because it is the Princesses. Spider Man had no line, but wait I have girls, so we wait in the line. We finally get to the front get the girls shoes off and get them in. Ah, it is nice to be in the princess jumpy. There are only little girls age four and under. It was worth the wait!

While the girls were jumping Cadence was playing Peek A Boo with daddy.

After jumping Uncle Brandon and Katie joined us. We decided to find a spot and spread our blankets. I fed Cadence and Devon and the girls went to a puppet show. We all had some food (the festival wouldn't be complete without some "festival" aka: fried food) and enjoyed the kites. After awhile we decided to go fly the kite again before heading out. The girls were really into it this time:-) Daddy and Uncle Brandon were working so hard for "them".

Uncle Brandon and Katie got some hugs before they left. (Well at least from the youngest two children).

On the walk back to the car we discovered we pushed the girls a little too far. Cadence was completely out, but the other two were really cranky! I pushed Lyric in the stroller and Daddy somehow managed to lug the other two. It was a pretty long walk, but we eventually made it.

The girls and I were so tired we were in bed asleep by 7:00 Sunday night. Story slept until 7:00 Monday, but I don't think it was enough. We got to Lyric's Spanish class this morning and she said, "Can you carry me, I too tired to walk." She may have been tired, but she was able to make it the 15 feet up the driveway and to the door.

About the time they get recovered we will be heading to Bryan again for the birth of Finley.

Cadence Has Cereal for the First TIme

We gave Cadence some cereal for the first time tonight. I don't think she liked it. But we will keep trying.

The Big Bad Rain Forest and Red Riding Hood

Lyric decided to write a book for Wesley for his birthday. It turned out pretty cute. She is very proud of it!

She told me the story and I typed it then she illustrated. Enjoy:

Red Riding Hood was walking through the forest she suddenly heard a big noise. She didn’t know what it was. She decided to look in the big bad rain forest. So she looked and looked and nobody ever answered. And there was a big bad wolf behind a bush with blueberries on top. She didn’t know what to do because it was a big bad wolf. She doesn’t know what to do because she thought the big bad wolf was going to eat her. Red Riding Hood did not know what to do because nobody knows what to do even her. Nobody else knows what to do. The big bad wolf did not know what to do either because when Riding Hood threw a ball at him he ran as fast as he can with his tail between his legs. They lived happily ever after.

Gardening

Today the girls and I decided to plant some plants. I had bought these a while back (well actually, I think it was this time last year) and we never planted them. The little pots came with a packet of seeds and a soil pellet. You had to soak the pellet in water for 5 minutes.

The girls then used forks to fluff up the soil.

I learned one thing about my girls today, they do not like dirty hands! They wanted nothing to do with carving the pumpkins at Halloween, but I didn't think they would mind a little dirt. Lyric wanted to use a fork the whole time because she didn't want to get her hands dirty. Story used used hers, wanted to go wash her hands in the middle of it. They did not get that from me!

Someone, Story, touched Cadence's head in the middle of our planting adventure. She didn't seem to mind it. I wonder if she will mind dirty hands?

An Apple A Day...

Cadence had her first food today, well kind of:-) I gave her a green apple to "chew" on. She was too cute! She has really been teething, so I thought the green apple might make her gums feel better. She really seemed to enjoy it.

Shower for Baby Zayden

Today we had a baby shower for Trent and Kristin. It was a lot of fun! They were "showered" with lots of gifts from their friends and family. Frogs is their theme; you would not believe all of the frog things they have for babies! They got frog clothes, a frog hamper, frog toys, frog shoes.... you name it they probably got it with a frog on it! Ashlee and I spent the entire day yesterday working on cakes. Yes, we really did spend the entire day! We started out with breakfast at Cracker Barrel (the girls were at Grammy's-- we just had to). The cake baking started about 9:30am. She had to pick her kiddos up from school at 3:30, so Cadence and I drove her to Liberty Hill to pick them up and back to my house to finish the cakes. She left last night at about 9:30. Everyone loved the cakes! They thought they were so cute! I was most proud of Trent's cake. He has been remodeling their house, so I made a special Daddy to Be cake for him. (Devon made the hat and the toliet... I think he likes working with fondant)The baby cake of Zayden turned out pretty cute, too! The frog cake was pretty cute in the end, but it gave us lots of trouble!!!! We made one frog, but his body was too small for his huge head, so we had to start over. I was working on Trent's cake, so Ashlee did the frog by herself. Devon says if she ever needs to make a monkey cake she now knows how. You be the judge, does it look like a green monkey?

Overall the shower was fun and I think everyone had a great time!

Bastrop/ Buescher State Parks

Sunday Feb. 3 We decided to take the girls hiking today. Story woke up at the crack of dawn, so she and Devon decided to wake Lyric and I up at like 6:30. We were not too happy, but we got up anyway. Everyone was dressed, fed and out of the house by 8:00. That is extremely early for a family of 5 to be up and out, but we were (thanks for the early start Story). We deciced we would head over to Bastrop have a snack and hike there and then find a restaurant before heading back home in the afternoon to get redy for the big Super Bowl party. We were in the car approximately 14 1/2 minutes when Story began demanding to , "Get me out of this old seat!" Needless to say it was a pretty long journey. Our little Story Bell is not much of a traveler and unfortunately for her she joined the wrong family because we like to get in the car and go. We finally arrived in Bastrop around 9:30. The girls decided we should have our snack before we headed out on the hike. Devon and the girls found a log to share the snack while I gave Cadence a snack in the car. After everyone had a full tummy Devon loaded Story in her backpack and I loaded Cadence in her front pack.

We hit the trail, but soon discovered we were not on the trail we wanted to be on. Daddy accidentally parked us in the wrong parking lot; to be on the trail we wanted to be on we had to get back in the car and drive to another parking lot. Daddy told everyone he was sorry for the mistake, but Lyric quickly informed him, "It's okay Daddy everybody makes mistakes sometimes, even Connie." We eventually made it to the trail and set out on our hike. Devon is getting surprisingly good at judging when we need to turn around before Lyric gets too tired. On our hike back up the trail she started to complain a little, but we started racing to each trail marker so that kept her momentum going. We had some water and another snack after the hike (yes, we like to eat). We then decided to drive over to Buescher State Park to check it out. The girls spotted a playground and played a while. I think Daddy enjoyed the slide as much as they did. We decided it was time to find some lunch (I told you we like to eat). Lyric wanted to go to a resturaunt with chips, we were all to happy to appease this request because she usually doesn't like Mexican food and Devon and I could eat it for every meal. We found a little place outside of Bastrop, I think it was called Tamaleo's (or something like that). If you are ever outside of Bastrop and you see a little place called Tamaleo's (or something like that)... keep driving! We went in and there were about 10 tables, two were occupied. Okay, no big deal so far, it's a little place, but were are going to get some chips and salsa a cold drink and realxe after our hike...NOT... A guy comes up gives us a menu and takes our drink order. Well the first problem was the menu, it had a total of about five things to choose from. What? I mean come on I know it is a small place, but can we get a little selection? He brought our drinks and I asked if they had anything for the kids, no kids plates, but they do have quesidillas and tostados. Okay, we can work with that. Devon asked if we could get some chips. No, we try not to be too unhealthy, so we don't serve chips and salsa. What... I mean come on you are a mexican food restaurant and you don't serve chips and salsa... CRAZY! Buddy, if we were looking to be healthy we wouldn't be eating mexican food... But, I do have to give Tamaleo's (or something like that) credit the food was really good. Devon had tamales and I had pork cooked in green sauce. So the next time you are traveling outside of Bastrop and you want not so unhealthy mexican food with no chips and five items on the menu you might try Tamelo's (or something like that). Oh and they do sell Bio Fuel if you are in need of a fill up. We had a very long ride home becsuse not only Story wanted out of that old seat, but Lyric did to! I found a bag of Cherrios and peanuts (one of the girls' snacks from the week before). We entertained ourselves by throwing them at Daddy. Yes, it wasn't very safe and yes the car is a mess now, but we made it home without anyone going too crazy. The night ended with cupcakes and our big Super Bowl party (yes, it was just the five of us). A great end to a great day!