Valentines Packages

If our mail lady had any doubt at all that a holiday is coming. I'm sure it is all erased when the packages start showing up at the Andersen house. This year it was 3 packages in 2 days - all for Cadence - along with lots of cards that I have lost count of. Shae LOVES to get packages so this always makes her very happy :)

The first one to arrive was from "yellow Gigi" or "grammie" (same person, multiple names, Ashleigh's mom)   She loved her shirt as well as the candy in the package. We're really having to pace her with the candy this year because there was so much of it. 

Here she is actually wearing the shirt. 

I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten who the monkey was from (either Kathy or my mom) but either way she likes to swing with it and has named it Alex. No idea where the name Alex came from, she just picked it and it has stuck :)

The purple stuff and gummi bears are from Aunt Connie. That's a given :)  We love the blanket because it's so soft and I love that it matches her room! It now has become one of the blankets that has to be piled up on her to go to bed. 


The dress from KayKay is adorable!  Her baby is already dressed in her dress and as soon I the start align and Cadence has fixed hair and the dress on, pictures will come :)

We've had some difficulty this holiday with Cadence being sneaky to eat the candy. in fact, on this same day, she grabbed one of the princess hearts full of chocolate and disappeared. Chris went looking for her and as he called her, she quickly slammed the bathroom door shut. Well, of course, then we knew right where she was and after getting the door open, Chris found that she had eaten all of the chocolates except one. She's not very good at hiding stuff like that and so she had one in her mouth and wrappers all over the bathroom. So, we're learning that candy has to be put WAY out of reach to keep Cadence honest :)  She has done much better asking for candy tho since this one episode. Hopefully she learned that lesson quickly...

Little Drummer Girl

There's another post below this so don't forget to look at it too!

This video is of Cadence drumming with Chris. It's a little loud and weird to start but at the end, the way she's actually on the beat, was the way she played with him for quite a while. It's a little scary to us how much rhythm she has :)  Click HERE to watch.

Cinderella

On Saturday, I (Ashleigh) took Cadence and one of her friends to downtown Charlotte to see a play. It was Cinderella and I thought that the girls would really enjoy it. So, as we're driving to the theater, I tell this what the surprise is and this is how the conversation goes:

ME:  Girls, your surprise is that we're going to see a play of Cinderella!

CADENCE:   I WANNA BE BELLE!

MARY:   NO, I WANNA BE SNOW WHITE!

Me: no, you don't get to BE anyone, you just watch it. Like a movie except with real people.

MARY:  I'm gonna kick that Beast and say NO NO Beast!

Cadence:  NO NO Beast don't be ugly!

and so the rest of the drive was the girls talking about various ways to "get" the Beast and me trying to explain that the beast wouldn't even be there because it was Cinderella and there's no Beast in Cinderella only the step-mother and step-sisters. 

We get to the theater, run in and find our seats, (me praying that no one says they have to go potty) and sit down. The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra is playing and thankfully the whole theater is full of little girls wanting to see Cinderella. So, after some music from the orchestra and some really cool explanations from the conductor that were completely lost on 2 year olds looking for Cinderella, the play began. Except it wasn't a play it was a ballet. So, lots of dancing with no words. However, the girls did great! and loved the whole thing. 

I couldn't take pictures in the theater so here are some I snagged from online of the performance. 

A picture on the drive there

Posing with the really cool art in downtown Charlotte

And some water that mary wanted to jump in

inside the theater

Snow Day

We woke up this morning to snow!  It had snowed last night around dinner time and we just figured it was a fluke and was gone because the weather men hadn't said anything about snow (and neither had anyone else). So, it was quite a surprise when Chris let Slang out at 1 am and there was snow on everything. The even bigger surprise was that it was still around when we woke up. Because there was snow, Chris got the day off! We had such a fun day. We went over to the Kale's house because they have a hill and a sled and spent some time playing in the snow. It was so much fun!

The Andersen Winter Wonderland

Cadence getting ready to go out in it the first time. She has just woken up and is thrilled. Can't you tell?

Chris helped Shae make a snow angel. She didn't like it because her "pants got all wet"

Slang's snow shoes :)

Ready to play at the Kale's house

Cadence's first sledding adventure. 

This is me (ashleigh) on the sled. Evan pushed me and I fell off. Chris is at the bottom of the hill taping my first ever sledding experience. I'm thankful for all the support. 

Hot Chocolate break. 

Sweet Baby Emily inside and out. 

Our snow man. He's really a sad little snow man but it was the best we could do. The first picture is him as a giant and the second is him for real. You have to look for him on the trampoline. 

      
Cadence and Mary had so much fun sliding down the hill on their bottoms. 

Cadence's snowball

Garrett and Evan were sledding too. They were better at it than us :)

SuperBowl Party!

Last night we joined the rest of America and went to a Super Bowl party. We went to our friends, The Hiatt's. Before the party, Chris, Cadence and I (Ashleigh) went to the grocery store to pick up some food to contribute. Cadence was pushing the cart (one of those little ones) and we were picking out some food. As we went thru the bakery section, there were cupcakes. Cadence immediately added them to her cart and since they were  buy one get one free, we didn't mind her getting them. We went thru the store, got our other purchases, and came home to get everything ready.

Cadence, putting 1 and 1 together in her mind, came up with 2. 

Cupcakes + party= "Happy Birshday" to Cadence

Here she is eating one of the 2 cupcakes that she had at the party. 

The rest of the food which she grazed on the majority of the evening. 
Taking a playing break to watch Elmo on Daddy's iPod
Watching the big kids play video games. 
Some of the people at the party. 
and of course, Dixie. This is Tim and Freddie's dog which Cadence loves. Dixie is just her size and so she loves to either carry her (like this) or pull around on the leash. 
Either way it was a super fun night, a really good game, and a "good time was had by all" especially the Steeler's fans :)