I finally did it!

This weekend I was totally 100% sick of my hair always being in my face, always being broken in the middle and sick of the curly cues I got in the front. So, I went to the hair dresser and chopped it all off! I got to thinking about why I was growing it out anyway and well that occasion has come and gone over a year ago now. So, it was time. When I got home Jon and I both realized that long hair doesn't really suit me well at all. I'm so glad I made the change and can't wait to see what you all think of it! And, I want honest opinions please :)

Before...long and gross

After...short and healthy

I didn't realize how blurry these were until I put them on here. I'll have Jon take some better pics tomorrow and post them later.

Big Girl Pictures

We took Cadence to get her One Year Photos taken. My friend Pam, who is an amazing photographer, thought it would be a great idea to take Cadence outside. Good thing the weather cooperated for us, otherwise we wouldn't have had so much fun. Jon and I were very nervous at first as Cadence has been teething something fierce for the past week. She's been waking up in the middle of the night with a fever and hardly eating/drinking. The only thing she's somewhat interested in eating/drinking is milk. Anyway...back to the photos. Cadence did a fantastic job. Pam got some great shots and we couldn't be happier. Here are just a few of the fantastic photos!

I don't believe it!

Today must have been my lucky day. The committee that puts on several functions at my work was doing a raffle to win a Wii. The raffle has been going on for at least 2 weeks now with today being the drawing day. On a whim, I decided to purchase 6 tickets within the last hour of the raffle. And, would you guess...I WON!! I don't win things EVER, I mean EVER! The poor man that was on the phone with me when the winner (that's me) was announced. I made him repeat his information at least 4 times, with all the commotion around me (and my shock and amazement) I couldn't hear him at all! I'm so excited!

Yup, that's My Wii!

P.S. Jon thinks that you can hook it up to your computer and play games with people far away...Anyone in VT want to give it a try? Let us know!

The Pool

The hotel we stayed at had a pool so we took the girls for a dip after the zoo (and their naps). Matt and Jen brought along a pink ball that Cadence couldn't get enough of.

Cadence had vice grips on this ball and would just lay back and relax.

It was the cutest thing ever!

The Carousal

At the zoo, there was a carousal ride for the kids to go on. Cadence or Acadia had never been on one before so we thought we'd give it a try. I honestly didn't know how Cadence was going to take it at first. As the ride started going, she looked a little scared but as the animal she was on started going up and down, she got this huge grin on her face. SHE LOVED IT! I'm pretty sure Acadia loved it also!

The Zoo

We took the girls to the Henry Villas Zoo in Madison. It was a free zoo with a huge park next to it. I think we enjoyed it more than the girls did!

This is our little ham!

The wonderful Paradee Family

Jen with Acadia

Jon with Cadence

(Not sure what Cadence was looking at here...the attraction is behind her)
This was the cutest!
Yup, that's our little monkey!
Roar! Says Acadia.

The first morning

Just a few pics of our first morning in Madison. The girls were having a ball playing together, or so it seemed!

Gonna keep you hanging

HOLY COW...15mph!

I'm gonna keep you all in suspence with the rest of our trip until tomorrow! We have a TON of pictures and I want to share lots with you all but right now it's time for sleepy sleep!!

Until tomorrow...

Our Weekend Away

This past weekend Jon, Cadence and I took a mini vacation to Madison, WI. The trip should have taken us 4 hours. Our friends Matt, Jen and their daughter Acadia are in Chicago for the whole month! We decided to meet somewhere in the middle since they were so close. We chose Madison.


I got out of work at 10am on Friday and came home, packed the last minute necessities and we were on the road. Before I left work, my friend Bryan told me to watch out for the Lake Delton/Wisconsin Dells area because he had heard of some flooding down there. Well, I didn't know any other way to get to where we were going and I didn't want to waste anymore time. We just wanted to get on the road, so that's what we did.


I guess we should have taken the few extra minutes to map out an alternate route because we were stopped dead in traffic for about 6 hours total. OH MY GOSH! This was not fun at all. The worst part was that the road wasn't even marked. We didn't know that the interstate was closed until it was too late for an alternate route. The cops were pulling people over who were trying to turn around also. Bad news! The Lake Delton area of WI was totally flooded from all of the rain. We decided to call Matt and Jen at this point as we thought we were only a couple hours away. They said they weren't going to get there until 6:30ish. Well, they wanted to surprise us and they were already there when we called them at 3:30!! This would have been awesome if only we had listened to Bryan.


To make a long story short, we made it 50 miles in approximately 6 hours. I never want to experience that with a 1 year old again! We did however make the absolute best of the time spent together!

No traffic yet...just driving. Cadence's first nap
This was our view for 6 hours...crazy! I think I did make a new trucker friend though!
Cadence had exhausted ALL of the toys we brought for her after about an hour...so my cell phone it was.
She loves putting bracelets on her arms and wrists lately. This teether has made its' way into a new bracelet, how pretty!

Fun with the big kids

We went to see Lea and Zack again. Cadence just loves playing with them pretending to be a big kid with them. She wanted to play all of the games that we did...cards, jenga, hands down, hide and seek.

I wish you could have seen Cadence when she did this. It was so hot and Cadence has been teething a lot so I thought that a nice cold popsicle would do the trick. Here, Cadence actually grabbed Lea's hand and pulled the popsicle into her mouth. I guess she knows what she wants!

Showing Lea how to put your shoes on

Reading to Lea and Zack
Cadence was fascinated with Zack. She pulled herself up using his shirt and just stared at him.
"Listen here, mister"
Enjoying the popsicle!

Lindsey and Chris' wedding

We took Cadence to our friend's wedding a couple of weekends ago. Cadence had such a blast with all of the people. Let me tell you, she is such a little show off. Boy was she being the little 'ham-bone' that she is.

It rained almost the whole time we were there. Look at the bride's awesome golashes!

Chris and Lindsey have a daughter who is 6 months older than Cadence. This was the first time they've gotten to play together. Cadence was in awe of everything Haleigh could do!


She explored a new toy and loved it!
Dancing with Daddy.
Lindsey and I
This next one is a little blurry but here are the bride and groom...how cute! The man who married them told them that lots of people get sunshine on their wedding days but not everybody gets to enjoy rain on their wedding day!

I like to eat...sometimes

We've been trying all sorts of new foods with Cadence over the last couple of weeks. She was doing really well with her baby food (finally) so we decided it was time to introduce table foods. One of her first breakfast meals was chocolate chip pancakes...mommy's favorite! She had a ball trying to eat them herself, although I think more got on the floor than in her mouth. That's ok, it's all about learning :)