weekend update

...i have been waiting for MONTHS for cadence to fit into these shoes, a gift from caleb and kathy, and the day has finally come. here's a close-up shot of these totally awesome shoes. i remember when we got them that cadence's feet looked so tiny next to these shoes. i thought it would take forever for her to grow into them. and now she does, and that makes me all sentimental...

sunday was our monthly grandma day. ted's brothers jason and david accompanied us to visit grandma carol. she was delighted to spend time with cadence, whom she refers to as her little angel in all written and verbal communications, and cadence reciprocated by being on her most adorable behavior AND counting "one, two, free, four, fie!" all by herself. so now grandma carol thinks cadence is not merely an angel, but a smart angel at that. i have to admit, i was a little surprised by the sudden display of intellectual prowess as she's never done that for me. go figure. she must know who's supplying half her wardrobe and toys.

...after grandma carol's, we met up with vikki and mackenzie at grandma sophie's (yia yia's). we got to meet vikki's boyfriend mike, who seems like a very nice fellow. i just hope we didn't scare him off. ted and dave can act like such little kids when they're around cadence and mackenzie.

...vikki brought mackenzie's kiddie pool so the girls could cool off in the afternoon heat in yia yia's backyard. cadence was suspicious of the water, though, and wouldn't do much besides dip her feet.

...ted and dave managed to get more wet than cadence, who would start crying if she happened to be anywhere near the line of fire of their splashes and hose sprays. i had thought that seeing mackenzie play so rambunctiously in the water would encourage her to be a little more adventurous, but not today.

...yia yia had just gotten back the night before from two weeks in reno, where her nieces yiot and liz live. she still managed to cook us all a yummy spaghetti and italian sausage dinner, and vikki provided strawberry shortcake for dessert.

...ted and dave and mackenzie spent a good hour or two using a flat square seat cushion to play a crazy game that can only be described as sculpturary--pictionary in 3D using only the aforementioned seat cushion. you'd be surprised at the different shapes you can mold out of a plain old seat cushion. mike must have thought we were nuts...

anyhoo, it was good times all around, and i didn't even think about missing the pitchfork music festival. cadence always has so much fun on grandma days that ted and i don't have to worry about looking after her. she loves following mackenzie around, and even when we're all eating around the dining table, she's happy to just roll around on the floor singing to herself without demanding any attention from any one. it's a nice break for ted and me.