Mamaw & Papaw

Bubbles!!

Thank you soo much for the money to buy my bubble mower!!  I went through two bottles of bubbles already and I just got my mower! (because Mommy and Daddy took FOREVER to get it for me!) 

It is a little hard for me to push by myself but I still love it, Mommy says that when I get the hang of it I will probably go through ten bottles of bubbles a day!  I think it's really fun and its the first noisy toy I've ever had that doesn't scare me :)  Probably because it makes bubbles, nothing that makes bubbles could be scary!!

Anyway, I just wanted to send you both a little thank you note to let you know that I got it, that I love it, and that I love you!

Love, 

Cora

Cora & Phoey

Boating at Kaneohe was so beautiful. We had a great day! The tide was low so we didn't see very many fishies but the turtles were around (they never disappoint!) so Cora and Sophia (Phoey) got to see them for the first time! We even saw a baby one!! We got a lot of sun, checked out some reefs, hunted for seashells, played in the water, and played in the sand. We all came home with big smiles and pink cheeks (and can't wait to go again!) 

Easter!

 

Happy Easter!! I woke up bright and early on Easter Sunday to Cora saying "Happy Easer Daddy!" He had gone to get her out of her crib and that was the first thing out of her mouth. I had no idea that our 21 month old would be speaking in full sentences! She is incredible. The Easter Bunny was very good to Miss Cora this Easter, she got a little flower shop, a flower shaped sprinkler for her backyard playground, and a basket of goodies! She made chocolate chip cookies with her daddy and then went to her friend Riley's house for an Easter egg hunt and dinner. She loved opening the eggs to see what was inside, money (meme!) was her favorite find. She loves to put coins in her piggy bank and give it a sweet kiss on the snout after she makes her deposit. 

We had a really good morning, but really, would it be "real life" if there wasn't a small catastrophe to attend to. Cora had a little meltdown because she was ready to go and Mommy and Daddy were taking too long to get out the door ... oops (my own childhood memories came flooding back in this moment so I had to get it on film.) 

Once we got out the door and on our way, all was fine. I'm afraid of the things that are going to come out of her mouth when her vocabulary expands to a place where she can verbalize her thoughts and feelings towards us (me, particularly) and the way I do things. She is very opinionated and I fear it will be a battle of wills from a very young age (no worries though, I have been prepared for her to hate me since before she was even born!) So yeah, Easter (Easer!) was good and I hope everyone enjoyed their celebrations as well.  

Other than that, school is good, work is good, the weather is improving and starting to resemble Hawaiian weather and not the Pacific Northwest! The rain is on my last nerve, I'm glad to see it dissipating. Anyway, enjoy the snaps of our day and... 

Happy "Easer" everyone!!

Snaps from Kauai

Sand and water fun...

Getting dunked!

Taking time to smell the flowers...

Kauai and Stuff

Hmm, things have been good (I guess.)  I always sit down to write with my head full of things to share and by the time I get here to do it my mind goes blank (Gingko anyone?) So, I guess I'll start with Kauai. We took a little vacation to the outer island for Spring Break.  Our first "official" family vacation so to speak.  We had a great time! We stayed at the Sheridon Resort and did absolutely nothing!  It was perfect. Cora played on the beach, swam in the pool... we ate great food and watched cool hawaiian luaus while sitting on our lanai drinking wine and eating creme brulee cheesecake.  What more could you ask for? 

I have to decided (after almost seven years of refusing) that I'm open to the idea of a king-size bed (not sure it was the size as much as it was the canopy that I fell in love with at the Sheridon, but still) (not that Mel cares why I've changed my mind, only that I have changed it) he's happy.

Speaking of Mel, we went to the pool the other day to do a little "meesa aw"... "Co-cor meesa aw" (which is "Cora wants to swim in the water" in Cora-speak) and Mel ended up getting offered a lifeguarding job on the spot. So that was kinda cool. He'll be working as well as going to school but it's a fun job for him and Cora and I can hang out with daddy while he's at work so it's not taking away too much time from us in that respect. The best part though, is that it saves us the 175$ that we were going to pay for him to get his lifeguarding certification. The company that hired him is going to pay that for us, so yay! School is going really well for him as well. 

Cora's gymnastics class is great. She is getting really good at following the coaches instructions with very little or no help from Mel and I.  I can't believe how fast she is picking it up. I'll try to take some video soon so you all can see her in action... 

speaking of Cora, she has woke up from her nap so I have to go (don't worry moms, I will put pictures up later this evening, so check back!)

Our Island Tumbler

So, we finally got into a gymnastics class! Cora had her first day today at Island Tumblers. I think she's going to have a ton of fun there once she gets over her shyness. Both the coaches are male (which is a bonus since she tends to like/trust men more than women) and they seemed to be great with the little ones and teach a pretty structured, fun, varied class. She learned how to do her stretches, walk sideways on the balance beam (walking backwards was a bit advanced for her) and jump down and yell "ta-dah!" (which might have been her favorite part.) She was apprehensive but by the end of the class she was willing to give her coaches a high-five and say "bye coach!" (she wouldn't get near them or talk to them at the beginning of class.) I'm hoping that next class she might be willing to let them touch her to help her do her skills!! I am so happy we decided to enroll her so young, she is going to love it and I can't wait to watch her begin to learn some skills (there are 2.5 year olds who can stand on their heads and do handstands!) Stay tuned for more photos and stories of our island tumbler!

Cora Lue

Here are some recent pictures of Cora (for those of you giving me grief about posting text sans photos) ... I hope you enjoy them!

Telling Mommy "No more Mommy, no more!"

What do you want?

Showing off her "treasures" (rocks from the flower bed)

She fell asleep coming home from Whole Foods (she had a cold and didn't feel well)

Playing in the rain water and couldn't be happier about it!!

There.  (All you cry babies.) There are your pictures. She's as beautiful and amazing as always.  

A little update: we went to our first St. Patrick's Day Parade today. After the first band went by she said "no more pease, mommy, no more" (her favorite thing to say right now!) And tomorrow morning is her first day of gymnastics class... wish us luck!!

Target!

Ok, I know its pathetic, but the biggest news in our world is that Target opened on-island!! It's just like a mile away from the house and I am soooo happy. We bought Cora a new doctor kit so she could practice playing doctor (and maybe not be such a little crybaby at her next appointment!) We also got her some new wooden puzzles and she has learned her numbers from them. She can count to four unassisted, then if we say "five" she will say "six, seven" and if we say "eight" she will say "NIIIIINE!!"  It's really cute. She loves to point out the number two. "Two birdies" "two turtles" whenever she sees a pair of something she loves to announce it to the world. Anyway, life is good here.  Mel has started his clinical at Po Hai Nani Retirement Community and is really enjoying school.  Cora will start gymnastics soon and we can't wait for that!  She is crazy and has no fear so it will be a great, safe, place for her to explore that side of herself.  More soon... I have to go color!

Valentine's Day

It's funny how when you have children Valentine's Day takes on a whole new meaning, it becomes more about familial love and less about romantic love (although we did find time for a few glasses of wine after she went to bed!)

We went to breakfast in the morning and took her to her favorite little play park to run around.  Then we went to Borders and got some new books (one for each of us.) Most importantly though, we took Cora out for her very first ice cream experience (a DQ cone!) To say she loved it is a huge understatement! She gobbled it down squealing "NUMMMMY" after every bite. It was so cute (and she didn't even make a mess on the little Valentine dress Gramma bought her!) She's such a big girl. We just love her, she was the best part of our Valentine's Day!

Honolulu Zoo

Zoo days!! So, it had been a few months and it was high-time we took Miss Lue to the zoo! She had a lot of fun. Her favorite things were the turtles, the fishies, the lions (kitty kitties), and the hyenas (ruff, ruff, doggies) She loved the lizards too and tried to give them kisses!

18 Months

Cora had her 18-month "well baby" appointment. She's 50 percentile in height and weight. And "very advanced" (according to her doctor (proud momma)) in both language and gross motor skills. He went so far as to "warn" us that if/when we have another child to not expect our next baby to meet milestones as quickly as Cora has. Whatev. He (or she) will be just as brilliant (how could they not be!) but anyway, we were so proud to know that Cora is doing so well, I really didn't think she was ahead of the curve, statistically.

Mel has started his clinicals. I think he's enjoying them (he has to physically assess some cute, young, co-ed next week!) and I'm trying to support him, but I miss him. Cora and I have gotten so used to having him around all the time, its an adjustment. Cora and I did bath and bedtime by ourselves for the first time in MONTHS. She did well, but when I was rocking her before bed she kept yelling for daddy. I just kept telling her "daddy is at school, you'll see him in the morning." It was sad, but she's adjusting pretty well.

She has fallen in love with the dolly her Uncle Everett and cousin Makayla got for her. She has to have her in bed with her to go to sleep. She carries her all over the house and feeds her and rocks her to sleep. It's so sweet. Anyway, that's it for now! Ta ta.

Godsmacked

Some days (normal, average, going-about-my-daily-routine days) it's easy to forget that I live in Paradise. So easy to forget I think, that God feels the need to smack me into consciousness sometimes.... 

Godsmacked via rainbow!!

But I don't just mean me and I don't just mean Hawaii.  All of us, no matter where we live, there are small (but glorious) reminders that life truly is beautiful, the earth is an amazing place filled with little miracles. We just need to take the time to notice (and appreciate) them.    

Rainy Days

Ugh. The days have been dreary. But leave it up to my daughter to make things interesting. She demands to play in the rain. Well, not so much "demands" as squeals with so much delight at the idea of getting to go outside in the rain that her daddy and I can't resist it. We have to oblige. But wind, rain, thunder/lightening, and warm nights make picking the right outfit a little tricky. This is what we came up with (she might look a fool but she's havin' FUN!)

And here are a couple more from the following day... she was trying to catch raindrops with her tongue.  

So. Cute.

Finally...

So Christmas is over, the decorations are down, and I'm almost done finding storage for the million new toys Miss Cora got for Christmas. Finally I can (kind of) relax. I had been jonesing for Christmas since September and then when it finally got here I was totally not jivin' with the whole Christmas Spirit thing. I procrastinated it all until the last day and then cursed my way through wrapping presents and making preparations. I was just in a weird mental state this year (maybe because we hosted our first Christmas Dinner which had me totally stressed out!)
The food though, was (like whoa) good! I was proud of myself for finding a fool-proof recipe for turkey and (not to brag) I think Mel and I made the best turkey I've ever had!  

Christmas morning Cora was a little uneasy and confused. Both Mel and I came to get her out of her crib in the morning (which never happens) and she didn't know what to think about that. She kept looking at us like, "what's going on here??" Opening presents was even more weird for her, probably because we'd been telling her not to play with them for a month (she's thinking, "geez people, make up your minds!") She opened four or five presents and then she was done. She just wanted to play with her new toys and couldn't care less about all those silly boxes under the tree. It took all day to get her to open them (and I ended up opening five or six that night after she went to bed just so I could throw all the paper away!) Don't worry though, I only opened the ones we got her, clothes and stuff. She got to open the fun stuff!

Anyway, at the end of it all we had a wonderful holiday, great food with great friends and lotsa cool loot (new iPhones, The Sims for the Wii, a mother's ring (from Cora), clothes, toys, toys, toys, electronic gadgets for the iPod, lotsa $$$, good books, etc.) What a blessing to have such wonderful and generous friends and family who give so much. I love you all!! Thank you!! And here's to a blessed and wonderful upcoming 2009!

Is that smile incredible or what?!

Merry Christmas!

ABCDEFG

Cora knows her whole alphabet!! We are so incredibly proud of her (and look how proud she is of herself!) She has letter puzzles, letters on the fridge, and letters in her bathtub and you can ask her where any letter is and she will point it out to you, she can pronounce almost all of them too (and although the N, Q, Y, and C are hard for her to say she still knows what they are.)  It's amazing to me how smart she is (and I know all parents say that, but really... in her case it's true!)

CHOO CHOO!

We went to the mall the other day to do some Christmas shopping and Cora was entranced by the "choo choo" so we decided to give it a shot and let her ride it (knowing she would scream as soon as it started to move.) We were so wrong. She loved it!! She cried and cried when the ride was over and asked for the "choo choo" the whole way home (and cried when we said no more choo choo for the day.) So we had to bring her back (of course) camera in tow. She rode twice in a row, she would spend all day on that thing!! I see many more choo choo rides in her near future and have no idea what we are going to do when Christmas is over and the "choo choo" goes bye-bye for the year!

Christening the New Home

We are still a long way from finished on the whole "moving" front, but it is starting to feel like home.  Here are a few shots from the past few days... christening our new home with Christmas.  It's a great time of year to start anew.