Anniversary

On July 23rd, Jody and I celebrated 9 years of marriage.  

We took Cadence to lunch to celebrate as a family.  She loves fresh flowers and manages to find and pick them wherever we go.  She spent most of the meal using sea shells to  crush the flowers just like the women here would use a mortar and pestle to grind fresh herbs for a meal.

We had 4 college girls with us from the US for two months this summer.  They were so sweet to offer to keep Cadence over night so that Jody and I could get away.  We stayed at a little dive spot, 1 hour down the beach from us, where Jody used his morning off to go diving, where he saw sea horses for the first time.  I used my morning off more wisely...to sleep in!  Cadence had a blast with the "Big Girls" as you can see from the chocolate on her face.

First day of Preschool

In an effort to raise a bilingual child, we decided to enroll Cadence in a local preschool where she would not hear English for 2.5 hours per day, six days a week.  We ordered her uniform and told her that she could not wear it until she turned 4.  So on the morning of her birthday she came out in her uniform.  School started the following week.

On the first day of school we ate cinnamon rolls with pink frosting!  The school was gracious in allowing the parents to attend school with their student for the first week, if we wanted to do so.  This helped Cadence adjust as she was hearing a lot of new language.

She got a new backpack for the occasion and was so proud of it.  

On Monday and Wednesday, she wears this uniform.  Tuesday and Thursday she wears the red plaid.  The other kids wear sneakers, but she insists that her pink sparkly shoes look better.  Friday she has to wear gym clothes.  I don't have a picture of her in gym clothes yet because every Friday she is crying on the way to school, begging me not to make her go "dressed like a boy."

Either I take her in the car at 7:30, or Jody takes her on his bike.  We are one of the very few families from her school who even own a car.  Most families here just own a motor bike and it serves as a family vehicle.

Then on Saturday, she gets to pick her own outfit.  All schools here go 6 days a week, but Saturday is the fun day when students get to do extra activities.  It may be the swimming lessons, or local dance lessons, but I think that the reason Saturday is Cadence's favorite day of the week is because she can wear whatever she wants.

Of course, as soon as she gets home, she has to take off her uniform so that it doesn't get dirty and she usually spends the rest of the day like this!

Miss Independence

Cadence's sweet friend Alana came to visit at the end of June.

They loved dressing up.  You can see how petite Cadence is, but still running circles around everyone else her age.

And of course we celebrated with another tea party.

For her birthday, Cadence enjoyed opening gifts.

She even talked Daddy into wearing stick-on earrings for the occasion.

She is becoming a master artist.

The college students took her shopping to pick out her own "Princess Dress".

We invited all of the Americans that we could find to help us celebrate the Forth of July!            

Cadence got a princess cake that took me days to make!

It was yummy!

I can't believe that my little Princess is FOUR YEARS OLD!