RUN OF THE PARK

Temperatures in the low 90's called for a morning at the splash park, regardless of our coughs and germs. Luckily, the place was vacant, so we didn't have to feel to guilty leaving the confines of our neighborhood. Of course, Cora fell asleep in the car on the way there. No idea how, since she'd barely been awake for 2.5 hours. And she didn't even blink when I transitioned her from the carseat to my arms to the park bench.

Were her wisps of hair and long lashes enough to disract you from the new, large bruise on her forehead (self-inflicted yesterday morning - she faceplanted the pavement not 30 seconds after I let her out of the car)? The nasty pavement-burn from her last trip to the splash park (2 weeks ago) is still healing. It's that nice, pink, fresh circle of skin up above her left eye. And she got another bump on the side of her head this afternoon, when James tried to shut her in his closet. Poor thing looks like a wreck!

James and Jay enjoyed having the run of the splash pad.

James didn't seem to mind playing by himself at all.

After 15 minutes or so, Baby Doll woke up and joined the party.

Just in case Cora wasn't fully awake from her nap, James made sure to shock her into reality with the cold water. 'Thanks bro!'

There goes my baby, taking off with both my water bottle and her brother's. She always has to have something in each hand...

"CHALK" PAINTING

This is another idea I found online (though not on the Play At Home Mom site - Pinterest this time). "Chalk painting" with homemade corn starch/water/food coloring paint. The kids loved it. And so did Jay!

He was a bad influence, and quickly showed James that it was more fun to paint each other than the sidewalk (well, carport, actually - we try to stay in the shade when the heat index is over 100).

So sweet! (Have I mentioned that Cora gives the BEST hugs and kisses - complete with a "Muah!" - lately? And here we thought she'd never be a snuggler...)

RUNNING!

Cora is running now. It's SO cute, because the faster she goes, the more she waddles. I need to get video... Here she is running after James and I on our walk this morning:

This girl cracks me up. Maybe I need to get her a purse so she doesn't have to resort to carrying her sippy cup in her teeth when she wants a hand free while also carrying other miscellaneous items!

"IT'S MY TURN!"

Fearless Cora and impatient James make for an interesting "My turn! My turn!" (James) and "Mine!" (Cora) on the slide these days...

No, he is not happily hugging her.

The phrases "Move Cora!" and "Go Cora!" and "No, no Cora. It's MY turn!" were flying...

HOSED

He knows how to turn the water on. And drag the hose around the yard. Thus, Cora and I got hosed this morning...

SHOPPING AROUND THE HOME

She's decided that fake food and toys are not good enough for her shopping cart anymore.

It's time to start collecting the tubs of snacks from the "kid drawer"...

SICKIES

What better way to start a Friday than with a family trip to the doctor?

I woke with a fever, and decided that my cough/headache/sinus pressure/runny nose/body aches were now something that wasn't going to go away on it's own. And since the kids are still coughing (James never really stopped coughing after his bout of croup, though it slowed dramatically and seemed to just be a cold, then picked up intensity again the other day - Cora started sounding like James and her mama yesterday), they came along. Turns out the kids need antibiotics (even though neither have had fever) and antihistamine/cough suppressant. I need those things and more, since I've got some sort of flu virus that's going around. As soon as my meds are ready to pick up, I'm going home to sleep it off.

We're bummed, because we've had to postpone our final meeting of the Ethnic Supper Club. And we have yet to meet baby Leo (Manu's little brother), since we've all been coughing for so long. Hopefully next week will be a healthy one!

(Kid stats: James was 31.4 lbs and 37.25", Cora was 20.6 lbs - so she's gaining again and is up a pound in the past month!)

ABOUT THOSE EASTER PORTRAITS...

I didn't realize that I never posted the Easter portraits that Jay took of Cora until I made it through April in her First Year album. So, about 4 months late in posting, here is our little Easter sweetie:

CLOTH DIAPERED CUTIE

BUDDY BUDDY

(They were playing "chicken" with my vaccum)

(James was teaching his Sissy how to "Spin FAST!")

INTO THE WOODS...

We finally completed our finishing touches on Cora's new room this evening. The photos don't do it justice (the colors, especially the green walls, are much more vibrant in person), but it was already dark outside and the flash made everything look blown-out with glares on the walls, so I opted to go without it. Perhaps I'll take new photos some afternoon this week when the sun is shining and I have some natural light to work with...

Anyway, what we did was 1) move all Cora's furniture downstairs and move the computer desks upstairs, 2) take the guest bed off it's frame (for toddler safety), 3) replace the bifold door with a real door (to prevent toddler finger pinches), 4) upgrade all the door hardware from 80's gold to matte silver, 5) relocate many of the toys from the living room (including Cora's kitchen), 6) hang her mirror at her eye level (perfect for kissing herself, a new favorite passtime of hers), 7) bring down her 2 pegged wall shelves and the letters her Auntie Taryn painted for her, 8) purchase a bookshelf (that we've already decided increases the desire to read, since all the books face out and are easy for little eyes to find), 9) relocate all the diapers to the changing table (well, we actually did this before we moved her into her new room, since James has been potty trained for almost 3 months now), 10) bring her pretty-in-pink rug downstairs (her floor is so squishy and comfy now, we often fall asleep there while laying down waiting for her to fall asleep in her crib), 11) purchase a new nightlight (in the shape of an owl), 12) purchase an iPod player so that Cora could listen to the RockaBye Baby music on loop all night long, just like her big brother, and 13) purchase a new set of wall decals to turn her room into a bird and owl-filled forest (which took forever to put up, but are absolutely worth it).

Here's the tour...

This is what you see when you walk in the door: Cora's crib and the guest bed (where Mama and Daddy take turns sleeping with Cora when she decides she isn't going to sleep through the night in her crib all by herself - at least one of us gets a good night's sleep upstairs these days! - plus the old black floating shelf, which holds an owl-shaped piggy bank and my old jewelry box)

Here is another view of the crib (and bookshelf), and the changing table beyond.

Looking at the opposite wall, you see the kitchen (that's a cute little wooden doll highchair in the corner that Jean scored for us), mirror, and shelves (housing her bird callers and many, many bows).

And finally, a view back towards the door, where you can see her doll cradle and the all-important baby monitor (strategically placed with a view down into the crib, so we can easily see whether she is fussing in her sleep or jumping up and down holding the rail and demanding to be appeased).

There are still a few things to do, of course. I want to do a collage of photos on the wall above her kitchen (probably white-framed pictures of her family members). I might make a bunting out of her old bumper and crib skirt (or maybe I'll even fashion some drapes to cover the brown black-out drapes leftover from the computer room). And we need to paint that black floating shelf an off-white color to match the rest of the accesories (and trim) in the room.

So what do you think? Any other ideas for us?

CRAFT BUCKET

I have been eyeing patterns and tutorials for craft totes and crayon folios for a while, but they all just seemed a bit girly to me. Then, the other day I came across a picture of a craft bucket on Pinterest (which, if you haven't checked out yet, you should - ENDLESS array of decorating ideas and recipes and sewing tutorials and anything else you could possibly think of, all arranged into "boards" to help you keep your thoughts and "to do lists" straight) and I KNEW it was the perfect thing to store all of James' coloring books and sketch pads and crayons and stickers and washable markers and chalk mat. With plenty of room to grow, once we deem him old enough (or trustworthy enough) to use colored pencils and paints and charcoals and anything else he (or we) come up with. Pretty simple. Get yourself one of the short all-purpose buckets at your local hardware store and a "bucket buddy" to go with it, then fill it with whatever you want!

PLAYING TOGETHER

The family that plays together, stays together. So we spent the morning at the Children's Museum, checking out their new exhibits (car racing and train table) and some of the kids' favorites (the water table and boat race, the archeological dig, and the harvest truck). We were pleasantly surprised to see James and Cora play together half the time we were at the museum. They really are becoming buddies! Of course, the other half of the time, we were thankful that we only have 2 kids and not 3, because seriously, how do those parents manage 3 kids all going in different directions? No, 2 is good for us. Very, very good!

(Working the rock ladder: "Whoa mommy. My do it! TWO rocks going up in the tunnel!")

(Planting corn and cotton - shape-sorting)

She went up and down this slide too many times for me to count. And EVERY single time she got to the bottom, she tried to turn aroud and climb up the slide. I lost track of how many times I said "We don't climb the slide. We climb the stairs." and redirected her...

(Pretty princess didn't want to sit in the "dirt", and she kept trying to shake off her shoes, which is not an easy task for a 14-month-old...)

(I told her not to put all her eggs in one basket...)

Unlike James, Cora has no fear of heights or climbing or big slides. After I took her up the platform steps, across the woven tunnel, and down the tube slide, Jay had to take her 2 more times before she was satisfied. Little stinker is a daredevil...

It was definitely a fun morning, followed by a good, long car nap on the way home. Hopefully Jay's 3rd semester in school (which starts on Monday) won't be as hectic and stressful as last semester, so we'll still have time to do fun family outings a few times each month.