Birthday Bash: 2nd Edition.

This weekend I went to Saskatoon so that I could make the cake for Cadence's second birthday party. I hope that it will become a tradition for me to make this Little girl's birthday cakes. I made a cake for her baby shower and I also made her first birthday cake. I decided this year to make a two tiered cake for a two year old girl. :)

The cake

The kid and her cake.

The cake on the kid.

Opening up her gifts.

Making room for herself in the car.

Happy 2nd Birthday Little Girl!

It has been a long time since I have blogged about my all time favorite topic. Can anyone guess what (who) that is? Her name is Cadence and she stole my heart on the day she was born, two years ago yesterday. I reflected on this special day a year ago, and also included a picture from the day she was born and another from the day she turned one. I couldn't be in Saskatoon yesterday to get an "official" birthday picture but the one I've included below was taken last weekend when I was there. Isn't she cute? Everybody say "Aaaaaaaaaaah"! :)

This time last year Cadence wasn't walking on her own but now she's walking and running and getting into all kinds of mischief. She still doesn't say much at this point but she has her own ways of communicating her wants and needs.

While I was away in India I missed my Little girl so much. After being gone for 6 months I had become somewhat unfamiliar to her and that was a little hard on me. I'm glad that I've been able to spend enough time with her since getting back that she knows me again.

Happy second birthday Little girl!!!

Autumn Strolls By The River

I got to babysit Cadence and it was a beautiful day so we went for a stroll by the river. Her mommy met up with us after a while. It was an absolutely lovely time and I took some fun pictures to share.

Too cute for words.

Leaves are fun!

Look at those teeth!

A little tree hugger!

Love this picture!

Why did you put me back in here??

The smiles really came out when we met up with her mommy.

I love these two ladies!

And they most certainly love each other!

First Birthday Bash!

When I found out that Lisa wasn't going to plan anything special for Cadence's first birthday I asked if I could. So I got some decorations, baked a cake and told Lisa to invite people. I'm pretty sure she invited close to 2 dozen people but in the end only one couple came with their 5 month old son. At the last minute Lisa invited their "across the street neighbors." And so they came over and helped us sing happy birthday and eat cake. Lisa and Paul had prepared a lot of food but with the small amount of people we didn't eat much of it. Cadence loved the helium balloons, they were not only fun to look at but they were also fun to bat around. I think she got more amusement out of the balloons than any of the gifts she was given.

This is the beautiful birthday girl standing up in the kitchen.

I was having a little fun with static electricity. :)

This is the birthday cake.

She wasn't sure what to think when everyone started singing happy birthday.

Paul ended up blowing out the candle but she sure wanted to get her hands on that bear!

I guess it passed the taste test.

I didn't think about making a chocolate one in order to make her face look more messy. There are some crumbs there if you look close enough.

After eating cake she got to open presents. She wasn't extremely into it.

Lisa ended up opening this one. Cadence tore the paper but only a little.

Turned out the tissue paper was the best gift of all. The little blue shoes were part of my gift to her.

Happy First Birthday Little Girl!!!

It is so hard to believe that a year ago yesterday my little niece Cadence was born. In some ways it seems like just the other day. But when I look at how much she has grown and changed I can hardly believe that it's been only a year. The picture on the left was taken on September 5th 2006 and the one on the right September 5th 2007. The picture on the right might be a little deceiving. It looks like she could be walking but she hasn't hit that milestone yet. Currently she is quite content to get everywhere she needs to go on all fours. She is crawling very well and she likes to pull herself up on just about anything. She'll even walk the length of the couch while still holding on. She knows that the walker on the other hand is not stationary and so will only stand beside it and then sit down. I don't think it'll be long though until she's motoring around on her two little feet.

Cadence

I returned from Brazil on July 23rd. I spent my first week back in Canada in Weyburn hanging out with the worlds greatest grandma!!! Unfortunately I have no pictures to share of my time with her. Shame on you Pamela!!! Grandma and I spent a lot of time looking at photos. We looked at photos of Brazil and we looked at photos from when she was a little girl right up to when my mom was a little girl. Something I realized while I was with grandma for that week is that I am very much like her. For the longest time I have said this expression, "Lord love a duck!" and I've had no idea where it came from. One of the last times I was at Grandma's I discovered that she also says it! This time around I discovered that Grandma is jumpy just like I am. And something that I've known for along time is that she and I share a love for taking pictures. It makes me very happy to know that my grandma and I are alike. I couldn't think of a better person that I would like to have things in common with!

When I got back to Saskatoon one of the first things I did was go and visit my best friend Lisa and her beautiful little girl Cadence. I've said it before and I'll say it again there is nothing that I would rather post on my blog than cute new photos of my wonderful niece! And so it is once again time to share cuter than cute Cadence pictures. These pictures were taken on August first.

Cadence with the doll that I brought her from Brazil.

Kind of a fun pic I think.

Momma Little and the Little girl.

Cadence tried on one of the outfits I brought her from Brazil, a very cute summer outfit.

This dress is big enough that she'll be able to wear it next summer.

Trying to figure out how to get her brand new Brazilian Havaiana's free of their hanger.

Baby Havaianas, too cute!

This look is saying "Doesn't this woman ever get tired of taking my picture??" And the answer is, "No, I don't!" :)

She's cute and she knows it!

As much as she teased me with looking like she was going to crawl before I left for Brazil she never did. Now she is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on everything. As long as she's got something stationary to hold on to she'll walk around. She goes along the length of the couch quite easily. I give her another two months before she's walking without any aids. She's growing so quickly. My little Little is getting big!

Beautiful Cadence

I arrived home from Abilene on Sunday May 27th which left me with 4 days before leaving for Brazil on Friday June 1st. I spent those few days madly packing my life into boxes so that I could move everything to Saskatoon to store at my dad's place. On Thursday I took a little road trip to Saskatoon with my life packed into the trunk and the back seat of Joyce's car. I arrived in Saskatoon at around noon and went and had lunch with my mom. We had a really nice visit. I also had a good visit with my dad while I unloaded my stuff at his place. On my way back through Saskatoon I stopped at Lisa and Paul's. Cadence and I got to hang out while Lisa was teaching a piano lesson. Then all three of us got to visit for a while. It was so good visiting with Lisa and Paul and of course playing with my beautiful little niece. I can't believe how quickly she is growing! While I was there Lisa told me that she loves when I put pictures of Cadence on my blog. I told her that Cadence is the most interesting thing that I have to blog about. I may do a lot of things and go a lot of places but Cadence will always be my favorite blogging topic!!!!

She wasn't so sure about me when I first got there. She didn't cry or anything but she also wasn't giving out any big smiles.

She pushed her foot up against mine and I snapped a comparison shot.

This girl likes her thumb!

Now the smiles are out! I can't believe she is so big!

This is not only a great smiling pic but it shows a good view of her two bottom teeth.

The happy family...although Cadence doesn't look all that happy.

Baby Shower

On Saturday October 28th some of my friends from high school in Saskatoon held a baby shower for my friend Lisa and her daughter Cadence Mattea (aka my niece!) It was even more fun for me because I came as a surprose for Lisa. She was not expecting me...hehe It was definately fun to see the surprise on her face.

The evening was a great time of catching up between all of us. It is neat because this group of people who spent at least 5 days a week together back in higschool can get together maybe once a year and talk just like old times. Of course a lot of the conversation is now catching up on what we're all up to these days. Some of them are married and having kids now and some of us are still enjoying the single life:)

The highlite was of course getting to see my neice again! This was actually the third time I had seen her as I was in Saskatoon the weekend before when my roomate randomly decided to make the trip. This Little girl has grown so much since I first met her back in September!

Me and My beatiful neice!!!!

Cadence Mattea Wearing a very cute t-shirt and hanging out on the blanket that I crocheted for her.


This is Tamara holding Cadence. Tamara is one of the only other girls from our high school group who is still single and doesn't have babies...It make me feel better anyway!


Robin holding Cadence. Robin has a little boy of her own at home.


Jenna holding Cadence. Jenna is married and has two of her own.


This is Cadence and Spencer. Would you believe that Spencer is about three times her age?? You would never guess by the size of them! I took this photo because I think it will be cute to pull out some day at the wedding. ;) hehe Who knows!?!?

Here she is all bundled up and ready to head home. Bye Little girl!

Cadence Mattea Little

On Tuesday, September 5, 2oo6 at 2:53 in the morning my best friend of twelve years gave birth to her first child, Cadence Mattea (pronounced Mattía) Little. She was 22 and a quarter inches long and weighed 8 pounds 11 and a half ounces. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Saskatoon and stay with Lisa and her husband Paul and enjoy their company and well as meet my very first niece.

I remember coming back to the dorm last year and finding a note on my door telling me to call Lisa. I turned to my sister and said, "I wonder if Lisa is pregnant?" I was very excited when I did talk to her and she told me that I was going to be an aunty. I was excited for Lisa and Paul who were about to become parents for the first time but I was also very honored that Lisa and Paul would want their child to call me aunty. I am very thankful to be able to have that relationship with their children.

I spoke to Paul on the phone the day after Cadence was born. The first thing I heard was Cadence's soft cry in the background. That simple sound brought tears to my eyes. Tears were there again last Friday evening as Lisa placed this tiny little girl into my arms for the very first time.

The picture above and the picture below are both Miss Cadence napping on my chest during the first time I held her. The one below is taken at such an angle that you can see her mommy and Daddy on the couch in the background.



Here she is napping on her mommy's chest.


And here she is sucking on her daddy's thumb. Her mommy was otherwise occupied at that very moment and she was gettig impatient. :)

It was a joy to spend a few days with the proud parents and spend some time getting to know this little person. The proud new parents are both pretty tired as they ajdust to this new life of feedings and diaper changes. It was my pleasure to be able to help by changing a few of those diapers and assist with bathtime.

Here's the little munchkin after bath time. She did't mind the bath so much. Just the washing of the hair part and the getting dried of part.

As time goes by I'm sure there will be more posts dedicated to my beautiful little niece so you can all look forward to that! :)