Connor

Super-Cadie

Here's Cadie playing in what our kids have named "the dirt pit." I love watching my kids play when they don't know that I'm there.

Of course when I opened the window to take pictures, she noticed me.

And then she ran over to the window.

And tried to climb in.

This must be why yesterday when I brushed Cadie's hair a bucketful of sand landed on my bathroom floor.

Chloe's second dance recital

Chloe had her second dance recital tonight. The video turned out awful, but the pictures turned out cute and scary. Will pictures of my little girl in make-up always be scary to me?

This is in the bathroom getting ready. She has the hair I always dreamed of.

Ready to go. Her costume was for a classy little tap number. I loved it.

One last check in the mirror.

Another photo opportunity for mom.

Backstage with the girls.

This was at the end when all the dancers came onstage together.

Happy night.

Cadie is now 2!

Yesterday was Cadie's birthday, and I took pictures all day long.

She started the day off with her first haircut (while still in her jammie shirt, even)...

This is the before picture.

And this is the after picture. You can see that I didn't cut it too short. I basically just trimmed an inch off the ends so it wouldn't be so crazy.

This is at her party. Doesn't the haircut look cute now after a bath and some mousse?

She couldn't believe we put a flaming cupcake right in front of her.

Then she had no problem blowing the candles out...

Or taking care of the cupcake.

Connor gave her some sassy little sunglasses.

You can see she likes the opening part.

And finally, Chloe decided to decorate their room just for Cadie.

Not the frolicking bash that Chloe got a few weeks ago, but Cadie loved it just the same.

Cadie has a new hairdresser.

A few minutes ago I heard Cadie fussing in my bathroom. I rushed in there, afraid that she had dumped out a bottle of shampoo or something worse... but Chloe was just getting done fixing Cadie's hair! Aren't those little pigtails cute?

Come sit by us!

Just in case you were wondering what it would be like to sit with us in church on Sunday, Connor grabbed dad's iPhone recently and started snapping pictures before we knew what he was doing.

Too bad there were no pictures of daddy.

Solar Cooking 101

Yesterday I baked some muffins using my solar oven and Carl decided that he wanted to make his own solar cooker. I helped him do some online research on different types, and then he sacrificed his cardboard house to make it. I wish I had taken pictures of the construction cause that was pretty cool. When Chloe came home from school she helped too. By the time we were all done there wasn't enough direct sun to cook anything (but Carl tried to boil water anyway).

too bright!

Today Carl got it out at 8:30 am and had some nicely done hot dogs for himself and Cadie by lunchtime. :)

max temp - 205 degrees

In case you're wondering, we got the plans here: http://sunnycooker.webs.com/

(this is a 1st grader version of the Suntastic Panel Cooker)