Family Time and a Birthday!

One of the benefits of having divorced parents is that I have lots of family.  All of my great-grandparents have passed away, and all of my biological grandparents, with the exception of my maternal grandmother have passed as well. Thankfully, all of my grandparents that I was blessed with via step-parents are all alive and as well as can be being in their seventies.

I have lots of great aunts and uncles, and every year my grandma's four sisters come to Ohio to spend a week or so with her. We didn't get to visit them last year as I was extremely sick at the time with my Crohns but this year I committed myself to visit and I made sure I stuck to my guns and went. I went with the girls without Daniel, but by golly, we went and I am so pleased that I got to spend some quality time with some amazing family.







Poor Cadence sustained a nice little head injury while we were there as she decided to nose dive off of the deck onto concrete, instead of walking down the stairs but the girls had fun playing with a few of my cousins and their aunt and uncles.




 Hopefully we'll get to visit with their great-great aunts again next year!

Group shot, this is our immediate family with the aunts, my step-dads girlfriend, my sisters boyfriend, and my brothers fiance.

Four generations.

My brother Steve with his soon to be wife, Jessica and their furry son Charlie.

Why do both of my sisters get to be so skinny? This is my baby sister from my mom's second marriage, with her main squeeze. Such an adorable couple.

We met up with everyone for this gathering a week and a half ago, and this past weekend something big happened to me. I turned 29!! When did that happen? Seriously though, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around that number. Something they don't tell you when you undergo a major surgery like I did, is that your hair falls out. My surgery was in April and my hair is still falling out. The hair that is growing back is coming in gray and wavy. Thankfully I have a lighter shade of hair anyway, so you can't really see the gray unless your up close, but every time I look in the mirror I want to shed a tear. Therefore to celebrate my 29th birthday, it appears that I'll be buying my first box of hair die in probably ten years...lol.

Splash Pad

I took the girls to one of the local splash pads this summer all.by.myself!! We had a few touch and go moments like when Addison refused to leave so I had to leave her playing while I loaded Cadence and all of our belongs in the Yukon. Thank goodness I parked in the front row and could keep my eyes on her, but still, I was a nervous wreck. When it came time to actually grab her I honestly had to chase her around the splash pad with a few mothers just sitting back and staring as if their child never not listened. It was so fun carrying her kicking and screaming to the car with just a wonderful viewing audience. I won't admit that I called them a few choice names in my mind while they just sat there and allowed their children to circle around Addison which made grabbing her even harder.

Cadence strutting her stuff in her water gear!

 For the longest time we had the splash pad with one other young boy and that was it. We stopped by Wal-Mart on the way there and bought new water shoes, a few pool toys, and a couple of snacks and drinks to get us through our few hours of playing. The little boy had the curliest hair that I've ever seen and Cadence was smitten with his mommy. She kept going up to her and wanting to be held. We obviously have to work on the stranger danger speech.

Addison and the little boy that arrived when we did. We opened up the place!

 I really enjoyed the fact that the girls had a blast, even if they refused to actually play in the water. They spent their time there running circles around the splash pad watching others play in the water and barely touched the toys that I bought them. Other kids had fun with their toys but they didn't care much to play with them. They much prefer playing with them here at home filled up with ice cold water straight from the well....lol. I got their water shoes on clearance for a few bucks each and wouldn't you know, after about an hour or so they both took them off...money well spent don't you think?

Still dry as a bone.

After about two hours and they are both still dry.

Playing with some of the new water toys.

Walking around the splash pad. 

They both had a really good time and I made sure we arrived as soon as possible that way we could go home and go straight to bed for naps. The park didn't open until eleven and we showed up about a quarter after ten so we had some time to kill while we waited. The first few minutes in the car going home were not fun because Addison was still screaming and crying which broke my heart, but a stop at Arby's for some lunch helped heal her broken heart. Curly fries in the car seat are always fun!

Crazy Hair

Both of my baby girls were born with a moderate amount of hair. Cadence had even more than Addison when she was born and it was jet black. Between the jet black hair and dark eyes she really threw us for a loop. Addison was born with light hair and blue eyes and that's what we were expecting when we had Cadence. It honestly took me a little bit of time to get used to the fact that I would have two daughters that looked completely different from one another. Cadence eyes did turn sky blue to match the rest of us, and her hair has lightened quite a bit, but it is still darker than Addison's.

They both have had their bangs trimmed a couple of times but I'm trying to let their bangs grow out at this point so that they can have one length of hair to pull back into pony tails. Between this and always fighting with them to keep their hair pretties in, it leaves for a lot of crazy hair in this house.

Bangs in the eyes as usual.

Addison's crazy bed head on Easter morning.

Bangs in the eyes.

Bangs in the eyes in the front, long and curly in the back.

I got a pony tail in for her bangs, but the knots were so bad I couldn't even brush it out. Isn't she cute eating her pudding?

I am seriously pondering chopping Addison's hair off to a little bob. The other night after rewarding her with a sucker for going potty on the toilet, she managed to get it stuck in her hair. We had to wash and condition her hair and even then to get the knot out I was brushing and pulling to the point where she lost a chunk or two of hair. I was trying to do it as gently as possible, but it still hurt her a little and I had moments of sheer panic thinking that I was going to have to cut it out of her hair and that she would have a horrible mess of a hair do. Thankfully it came out but I am constantly dealing with knots in her hair and its frustrating because she won't hold still when we're trying to brush them out. I have been conditioning and blow drying her hair after her bath and her hair is absolutely gorgeous. Long, silky, and the most precious little curls at the ends. I say I am considering a hair cut for her but in reality I don't know if I'll be able to do it. I love her long hair!

My baby is a food slob!

Cadence has a new name in our house. She is now known as Messy Marvin. Our dogs make less of a mess when eating than what Cadence does. We're to the point that we dread feeding her and Daniel has threatened on more than one occasion that from here on out she is only to be served sandwiches. After he threatened it the first time I served her a sandwich at lunch. FAIL...she still was a disaster. I just don't understand what is going on with this child. The bad thing is that when we try to correct her at the table, Addison starts doing the same thing Cadence is getting in trouble for because she always has to be the center of attention. I love this child beyond words, but seriously, use your utensils child and stop throwing food on the floor and dumping your plate and bowl on the table.

Pudding face. It doesn't look to bad but you should have seen her and her highchair when she was finished.

We're working on the keep your mouth closed while eating rule with both girls.

Holding her spoon but using her fingers to pick up her favorite side dish of broccoli and cheese.

This was her first birthday after her spaghetti dinner. Yes she was only a year old, but she still looks like this when she eats pasta and most of the time it's much worse than this.

I've already posted pictures of her with her feet on the table, kicked back and relaxed in her high chair, and I don't think I've been brave enough to take the picture of her after she has had grilled cheese and tomato soup. And while we're on this subject can someone please explain to me how she is able to get more food under her in her high chair than what goes into her belly? She is sitting on her behind for goodness sake yet when you get her down, there in the bottom of the chair is a pile of food. How does that even happen? She also had this fetish of just dropping food wherever she is at. I am constantly sweeping up dry cereal and other snacks around this house because she likes to just pour it out. She's so wasteful but boy do I love her!!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!!

Have I told you lately how awesome my mother in law is? She is one of the most generous people that I know and I am so blessed that she is a part of my life. How many people get to say that about their in-laws?

She knew we had been wanting to take the girls to the zoo for quite some time but money just wasn't readily available for it. She recently got some money back from the government for my father in laws death and burial and she decided to treat us yesterday to a trip to the zoo. I'm not sure who was more excited, me...her, or the girls?

Up close and personal with a different kind of flamingo.

Petting one of the reptiles...yuck!

Cadence peering in to the stingray pool. Mamaw paid for us to go in and pet them. It was so cool!

The flamingos were gorgeous.

The best family shot we got. This one had half of Daniel's head, the other had Addison's head hidden behind Cadence.

Addison in her new shoes. It was a shame we couldn't find the new shoes that would have gone better with the outfit but we figured the animals wouldn't mind. The child has shoes in the Yukon, and all over this house. I'm going to start hiding them.

Pressing the buttons.

The animals that I was most excited for the girls to see. We call them two bys in our house compliments of the Jungle Book.

The picture taking with the actual camera pretty much stopped at this point. It was a few moments prior when I realized that my ostomy bag was leaking. I was so upset. This surgery and ostomy were supposed to keep me from worrying about the bathroom and always having to go. Now I get to worry about crapping my pants in a whole different manner and it really upset me. There was no way I could completely change my appliance in a public restroom so I just cleaned myself up as best as I could and taped myself up to prevent it from leaking further. It worked until we could get home but I was constantly thinking and worrying about it leaking further so my time at the zoo was no longer fun.

We spent almost six hours at the zoo and didn't get to see a lot of things. It is a definitely a whole day adventure and we are thinking about getting season passes next year so that we can take advantage of everything they have to offer. We really enjoyed ourselves and I can't wait to return.

If you are in the Columbus, Ohio area I highly recommend going to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It was well worth the money and in my opinion, everything was reasonably priced...even the food and drinks!!