We had a whirlwind of a birthday week! Apparently this is how we celebrate Adelaide’s birthday…with week-long celebrations… This kid is going to get a rude awakening when someone explains that birthdays actually only last for ONE day…. haha!

In past years, we’ve done big parties for Adelaide (well mostly they’ve been for us, but Adelaide is the reason for the party). And big parties involve a lot of planning, money and people. Since we haven’t made a lot of friends here in San Jose, we decided to forgo the big traditional party and use the money instead to fly Adelaide to Portland to spend the day with her best friend, Emerson.

Emerson’s birthday is May 28th (Adelaide’s is May 30th) so Adelaide and I flew to Portland the morning of the 28th. We didn’t tell Adelaide anything until that morning and when we finally told her, she was so excited! In the eight months since we moved, Adelaide has asked about playing with Emerson AT LEAST once a week, and I cannot express in words how much joy it brought Matt and I to be able to make that wish of hers come true.

Emerson’s birthday party was Tuesday evening and Adelaide had a ton of fun meeting and playing with all of Emerson’s friends. After some ice cream and presents, the girls had the option of having their first sleepover…which Adelaide declined, choosing instead to share the hide-a-bed with me. <3

The next day was a “girls day”! We took Emerson and Adelaide to Sit Still, a specialty kids salon in West Linn, where they got a manicure, pedicure and special hair styling! Glittery pink and purple nail polish AND sparkles in their hair!?? What’s not to love?!

After the salon, we grabbed lunch from Bridge City Cafe, and then Adelaide and I were back at the airport that afternoon, making sure to grab a couple pounds of my favorite Stumptown coffee beans on our way out of town. It was a whirlwind trip, but both Adelaide and I had so much fun being back in our favorite city with our favorite friends.

Three days later we were still celebrating Adelaide’s birthday!

On Saturday, we had a small family party for Adelaide. Grandma and Grandpa Bauer drove down from Sacramento to join us in celebrating our four year old. Our good friend Alan came over there too It was a very low-key, laid-back afternoon—which was perfect, because Adelaide was super grumpy when she woke up from her nap…the presents from Grandma and Grandpa helped to turn her frown upside down though, and some backyard pool time solidified her good mood.

The party finished up with dinner and cake! Adelaide picked out a cake from her Princess Cupcakes and More book, so I did my best to recreate it. She’s been wearing her tiara ever since we took it off the cake!

We all enjoyed such a wonderful birthday week with Adelaide. Thank you to EVERYONE who thought of her, sent her birthday wishes, gifts, cards and more. She felt so very loved this week!

Grandma surprised the girls with an inflatable pool and matching pink tutu swim suits—they were in heaven! Matt’s parents live out in the country, south of Sacramento, and it’s always so quiet and calm there. I really enjoy the break from the constant murmur of activity of our little suburban life in San Jose. My favorite moment was sitting in the swing in their backyard, after dinner, listening to the birds chirping and watching the light change as the sun slowly sank into the horizon.

I treated myself to a rental from Borrow Lenses, so I could capture some of the beautiful moments this weekend. Here are a few of my favorites. Happy Mother’s Day!

You might remember her first little hair cut I gave her back in December for the same reason…too mullet-like for my taste. Well, we were approaching mullet status again…

I was holding out hope that I could put her hair into cute little pigtails and use that as her go-to style while we waited for the rest of her hair to grow in, but she hates pig tails…

So I did it again. I cut Cadence’s hair I gotta say, I love a toddler pixie cut on her! It frames her little face so perfectly. I think short hair really suits her, whereas I still miss Adelaide’s long hair and lack of bangs. Anywho! Here are the before and afters from her little hair cut today! Please forgive the totally zombie look she has in EVERY photo…I had her sitting at the table, watching Tinker Bell. She was into it!

And some more, super cute afters. I think she’s always going to be wearing a headband or hair clip now. It’s just too cute not to!

So there it is! Cadence’s new pixie cut!

I cut these limp and inedible left-over green onions down to where the white part started, the set them in this glass with some water. I did this on Friday, and now look at them! Crazy!!

NEVER BUYING GREEN ONIONS EVER AGAIN!

One of Cadence’s favorite things to do is put on Adelaide’s shoes (4 sizes bigger than what she wears) and walk around in them. It’s so funny—they look like clown shoes! When she does this while Matt’s home, he tells her she has a flat tire, because thats what it sounds like when she walks around (thwap…thwap….thwap)

She says “I love you” which sounds like “I lalala” and is super duper sweet. She also gives kisses—big, slobbery, open mouth kisses, but we love them all the same!

She loves to play Ring Around the Rosie with her sister and her favorite part is the “all fall down” part. If you’re walking past my house and you hear a series of rhythmic THUDS, don’t worry, its just my kids playing Ring Around the Rosie. LOL!

She’s getting really good at going up and down stairs and she’s finally mastered the whole turning-around-backwards thing, so she can crawl safely down the steps. She still reeeeeaaaaalllly wants to walk down the steps like her big sister, but if she’s motivated enough to get down, she’ll eventually sit down, turn around, and crawl backwards down the steps.

Cadence is my climber. She’s figured out how to climb up onto our beds, the couch, kitchen chairs, kids table chairs and outside chairs. We’re at the stage where she can get up, but she can’t get down. Wheeee!

When someone sneezes, she says, “bess ooo”

She uses the exclamations, “oopsie”, “uh oh” and “oh no” throughout the day.

She knows where her head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, thumbs, belly button and feet are.

She can identify and say, “Cinderella”, “Tinker Bell” and “Elmo”. We thought we heard her say “Adelaide” once, but we have yet to hear it again…

And thanks to the two week marathon of a head cold, she can now blow her nose when requested! Woo hoo! Parenting win!

Here are some pictures of our adorable 16-month-old:

Maybe it’s because my coming-of-age was during the Starbucks boom. Maybe it’s because I’m from the great Northwest, so coffee/caffeine is literally in my blood. Mostly though, I think it’s the one constant from the past decade of my life. I can always depend on it, always enjoy it, always look forward to it.

When I was browsing through Etsy looking for some new artwork I came across the quote, “This home runs on love and coffee” This could not be more true for our little household!!

I LOOOOOVED the quote, but didn’t care much for the artwork….so I made my own!

AND, because I am just that generous, I’ve decided to give you a copy too! That is, if you want one…

Download the 8×10 “Love and Coffee” printable!

You’re welcome

Just incase this particular print doesn’t excite you, here are some of my other favorites from Etsy:

featured image photo credit: Stumptown Coffee

This was Cadence’s first egg hunt, and I think she did really well! She got the hang of it pretty quick. We had Cadence specific eggs marked in easy-to-find places that Adelaide wasn’t allowed to pick up—of which she found all six! And then she found four more! They weren’t particularly difficult to find…but still, I was proud of her

Adelaide was an old pro—she knew exactly what to do and found a ton of eggs! She even shared some with her baby sister. I love that, for Adelaide, it’s still about the hunt and not the prizes inside the eggs. So when she discovered that there were goodies inside every egg she was off-the-wall excited

Here are the pictures from our egg hunt! Happy Spring!!

On their last day in town, we drove out to Santa Cruz to spend the day at Natural Bridges State Beach. This was the first time Adelaide and Cadence had ever been to a beach, so everyone was very excited about the outing.

Both of them were afraid of the loud crashing waves. Thanks to daddy, Adelaide overcame her fear of the sound and ventured out into the surf to splash around for a bit. At one point, she was looking down at the waves rushing by her feet and totally lost her balance and fell face first into the water. Other than being shocked and cold, she was totally fine.

Cadence preferred the sand to the water—probably because it was warm and quiet. She had a blast playing with all of the cups and buckets in the sand, and once we had some sand castles built, she was right there to knock them down.

The weather was typical spring weather—sunny and warm (about 65). Unfortunately, as the afternoon progressed, we also had wind and BRRRR! That wind was cold! We only lasted 2.5 hours out on the beach, until we were all too cold to play anymore. Except Adelaide who, despite shivering and shaking, still wanted to play in the surf and sand. Almost-four-year-olds are unstoppable!

Here are the amazing pictures from our first family beach day. Huge thanks to Nate and Amanda, for taking a lot of the photos and helping us with our kiddos all weekend. You guys are the best!

In honor of the fact that I’m FINALLY on the mend from this week’s doozy of a head cold, I’ve decided to share my go-to items for soothing all those horrible head cold symptoms.

Friday Favorites – Head Cold Edition

Clockwise from upper left:

OXO Good Grips Kettle – I am a huge, HUGE coffee lover, but I love my coffee with a lot of milk. And when I’m sick and phlemey, the last thing I want is a steaming cup of milk. When I’m sick, I drink tea, almost exclusively. A kettle is a must for day-long tea drinking and this gorgeous combination of design and function is my best friend. There are a million objects that can hold and boil water—hell, a paper cup in an open fire can even do it (camping science experiments FTW! Thanks dad!) but it never hurts to have a little piece of art on your stovetop.

TAZO Awake Tea – My absolute favorite black tea. I’ve tried lots and lots of black teas, and honestly, there aren’t any really bad teas out there, but this one stands out above the rest for flavor. It’s bold and rich and smooth—like drinking coffee, but without the coffee part. When I’m sick, I need all the energy I can get to keep up with my girls and this tea keeps me going!

Neosporin Overnight Renewal Lip Therapy – Hey guys. Are you listening? This stuff will CHANGE YOUR LIPS FOREVER! It’s amazing. Matt and I both used to be constant lip balm carriers (this stuff was/is our favorite). We each had a tube and carried it at all times. We were going through two tubes per month! I randomly came across this Overnight Renewal Lip Therapy in our local Fred Meyer and decided to give it a try. Within days my lips were healthier and more moist than ever before. Matt and I both use this before bed and I cant remember the last time I bought a tube of lip balm for daytime use. THIS STUFF IS GOOD! Well worth the $4 price tag. A stuffy nose makes me a mouth breather which means I’m applying lip balm more than usual, so maybe two or three times a day during sick days. I also use it on my nose to protect against chapping from all the wiping. Works wonders!

Puffs Plus Lotion tissues – Best tissues on the market, in my humble opinion. So soft. SO SOFT! Even after an entire day of nose blowing, these tissues still feel soft on my tender red nose. Plus check out the super cute box patterns! Worth the $$ y’all!

I sincerely hope that you are past the cold and flu season but incase a late little bug decides to rear its ugly head, may you find comfort in some hot tea, moist lips and soft tissues.