time to brag

i am so proud of the gift i made for cora that i had to share. spurred by the wear & tear cora was putting on our family photo albums and inspired by an idea in The Creative Family, i sewed a fabric photo book using fabric printer paper and fabric from my stash.

add one more to the list

boy oh boy, what a memorable Christmas. between a not-so-enjoyable case of lactational mastitis and a flooded kitchen, i think this Christmas was for the record books. we did enjoy some family time, chinese take out, and watching cora being her crazy self.

christmas is so much fun with little kid. speaking of kids...cora is finally weaned. that has to be the hardest thing that i have dealt with since being a mom. i know no one really wants to know the details, but cora is a champ and i am the one with issues. my body did not want to cooperate and i ended up with lots of pain and on a round of antibiotics which induced another allergic reaction. awesome. in regard to my allergies, the doctor's words were, "add one more to the list." we are all doing better and i am sure a year from now we will be laughing about how comical Christmas turned out this year.

we wish you a merry christmas

you're invited.....

........to 30 seconds of our family dance party.

looking back

I was just browsing through photos for a secret Christmas project and came across a few that I had forgotten about.

This one nearly brought tears to my eyes. I love how this picture shows how much Cora was immediately loved by so many people. Thanks Ryan P for this one.

This pic just cracks me up. I forgot how Cora had bug eyes for the first 6 months of her life. And how can you not chuckle at those giant cheeks?

Now, here is sweet baby Cora. I want to kiss those little lips. Seeing a picture of her sleeping bring back such good memories. (Cora is 17 mo and just now starting to develop attachments to things. She has lots of blankets, but the blanket pictured above is THE one.)

Now, I know this is not a very good picture but it show what she has been up to lately. Besides begging me to let her her watch youtube, Cora is always running to my closet to put on my shoes. Sometimes she'll even try on Ryan's, but they are a little to heavy to walk in.

ok, enough nostalgia. i better get working.

counting to 4

cora has an obsession. she likes youtube, but she is crazy about the THIS video of feist on sesame street. this is so funny to me because she can't sit still to watch more than 2 minutes or ANY show, but she can watch this video over and over again and dance to it each time. if I position the curser just right, she even knows how to click the mouse on the laptop to start it over when it finishes. (what a great mom, huh?)

by the way, she also likes the non-sesame street version of the 1,2,3,4 feist song.

the fun stuff continues

aunt jana and uncle mufassa and growing baby girl came down for a visit.

in between toasts of grape soda, hoagie and cheesesteak runs, fun walks, a not-so-traditional thanksgiving dinner, taking family pictures, and playing around, the boys accomplished some marvelous projects around the house. thank you very much. if you fix things every time you come, you are welcome back anytime!

backtracking

In October, we ventured back to DC to visit family, go to the temple, and have a little fun at the zoo. The flamingos were our favorite of the day. See, the kids can't keep their eyes off of them.

Cora was a butterfly for Hallween.

We even carved a pumpkin with some friends.

Cora and I went on lots and lots of walks playing in the leaves. Cora loves leaves.

We played at home lots and with other little friends at playgroup.

Of course, we made it to the library weekly. What kid doesn't love pulling all the books off the shelves?

Then our real adventure began. In November, Cora and I left Ryan to study and we went to visit family in Utah. Cora was greeted by two crazy twin cousins who were shocked to see that "baby Cora walks!!" We got to visit with family both on my side and on Ryan's side. I wish we were closer so the cousins could grow up best friends. (As a side note: trips to utah are awesome, of course, but at the same time it is also difficult to do everything and see everyone that i would like to. Most of my time was spent making memories with my family, but I would have enjoyed visiting with old friends. Don't feel bad if I didn't call you. Just know that I didn't call anyone.)

My dad and I wrapped Cora up all snug in the twins' coats and went on early morning walks outside until it got too cold, then we went to the track each morning (and when I say early, i am meaning 5AM early. can you say jet lag?)

Then, Cora did what Cora does best. Eat, explore, and play.

I even was able to celebrate liesl's birthday! She got a new old house for her birthday. it is so cool. i want to move right in with her.

I was able to catch church at the MTC on my parent's last week as missionaries. Church is always fun at the MTC, especially since it is only 1 hr. haha. I thought Cora was cute that day and this is the only photographic evidence that I was in Utah.

this post is long enough. the end.