Attitude!

I should be scared for when she's a teenager right? She can already chew me out!

Miss Kitty

For months I have left several small dolls/stuffed animals in Cora's crib hoping and praying she would get attached to one. With Eli, I discovered that until he had become attached to his beloved "doggy" I was his comfort object. Once he started sleeping with his doggy, I was able to get him weaned and sleeping through the night. I was thrilled when I noticed Cora taking a special interest in a purple kitty stuffed animal from her toy box (it wasn't one I'd put in her crib). I started holding it up against her while I was nursing her and when I was rocking her for naps. It worked! "Miss Kitty" as we've been calling it (from Eli's favorite books The Little Critter series by Mercy Mayer) is now Cora's sleeping/snuggling buddy for naps and at night. She likes to give Miss Kitty hugs and kisses and share her pacifier with it! It's so cute! I am hoping this will make the weaning process a little easier!

Easter

We had a fantastic weekend at the farm celebrating Easter. If Eli had his way, he would live there! He can't get enough of the farm and all the adventures he's able to have there! Here is a list of all the fun things we did:

1. Dyed Easter eggs (this was a first for my nieces and nephew)

2. Did a large Easter egg hunt with the eggs (6 dozen) around my parent's yard.

3. Got to hold the brand new kittens that were born the day before we got there (Eli held one all on his own)

4. 4-wheeler rides

5. Lots of swinging on the tire swing and baby swing

6. Sunrise service (had to get the kids up at 5:15 to make it there) at the Lean To (home church I was raised in)

7. Kids hiked up to the cross with us all bundled up.

8. Special Easter breakfast at the Lean To after sunrise service
9. Easter baskets (which of couse ALL the kids loved...and was a first for my nieces and nephew)

10. Lots of spoiling with candy and other treats from Nana

11. Created the secret garden club (only girls allowed) in the lilac fort my mom made

12. Played lots of marbles

13. Had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs

14. Had a great time celebrating Jesus! YAY!

10.

Eli

I can't believe that Eli has been potty trained for almost a year! I'm so proud of him...especially that it was his decision (not something I would have liked to do while caring for his newborn sister but I jumped on it anyway). Maybe I'll luck out and Cora will be just as easy (fingers crossed)! Over the past year I've still had him wear a diaper at night just in case. It was silly really because he always wakes up dry, but I couldn't stand the thought of having to get up with both kids in the night. Finally, I just decided to do away with it and he has NEVER had an accident in the night. Once again, SO PROUD! A month ago, he decided to ditch the little potty and use the big toilet. Now he is going completely in the big toilet and we put his little potty away! When did he become so grown up? We've been doing lots of Easter crafts (mostly about Jesus...but this one was an Easter basket) and he wanted to take a picture of his artwork and how he wrote his name on the back. Every single day he says something that is so hilarious we just about die. The other day we were feeding my brother's piranha and Eli said, "Go feed Uncle Will's banana?" Last night at story time we asked him what he wanted his story about and he said, "A squirrel named Jesus who bites." I love this whole talking thing! It rocks! The other day, Brandon said something about being stinky and Eli said, "Dad smells like poop!" He also said, "I LOVE Uncle Brandon" (proof cousin Korey is around a lot). The other day in Target he was so excited when he saw "Starbucks!" I said we weren't going to get a drink today and he said, "Dad would!" If Cora is mad he'll say, "Bora really doesn't like it!" Everything is "Five more times!" or "ONE more!" or "MY TURN!" Out of the blue on our walk this week he said, "Nana REALLY loves me!" His prayers at night are always hilarious and sweet. He'll pray for "flying cows" and other funny things. He also will pray for friends or relatives. A couple nights ago he thanked God for Nana and Bum. Then, he prayed for Jesus to "Give Bum a BIG hug!" He's my boy and I love him!

Happy Birthday Papa Buck!

We love and miss you!

Video featuring Korey Isaacs and Eli and Cora Judson :-)

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is one of my favorite days of the year! I love the excitement of Jesus coming to the city and getting a King's welcome. I was so thrilled for Eli to be old enough to experience such an exciting day at church. Last week Korey and Eli did a couple Palm Sunday crafts and we talked a lot about it, so they understood the concept. Sunday morning Brandon played the donkey and the kids took turns pretending to be Jesus while I waved towels at them. Both Eli and Cora loved it! Our church has the kids wave palms and walk around the sanctuary during worship on Palm Sunday. Eli got to participate! He loved it! In the lobby, he was waving his palm singing "Hosanna, Hosanna" over and over again. He walked in with all the kids and I was beaming with pride!!! Cora and I walked with him because he was a little confused at first ;-). He loved watching Dad lead worship. I love that Eli is getting old enough to experience all the wonderful aspects of life! We had a wonderful Palm Sunday celebrating Jesus and a wonderful afternoon with each other bike riding, walking, and just being a family.

Botanica

We finally started our membership to the Botanical Gardens right by our house! I am looking forward to enjoying many walks around the beautiful grounds and spending time as a family there! The kids absolutely loved feeding the fish and watched them for a long time, so I think we'll be there often! Both kids also love butterflies, and they have a big butterfly house you can walk through and see all the beautiful butterflies hatching and landing on you! I can't wait until that opens up! They are in the process of adding a children's garden that is going to be amazing. It will open up this Summer. It has forts and a little farm that Eli will love. Botanica definitely has a special place in my heart, considering that's where we had our wedding reception 6 years ago!

Riding bikes!

I am thrilled to announce we took our first bike ride as a family of four yesterday! I haven't ridden a bike in years because I've either been pregnant or stuck at home with baby Cora while the boys went riding. Cora is finally old enough to join Eli in the bike trailer and loves it! Eli was so excited that I got to go with them and kept saying, "Cora going too!" I can only go so far with the stroller, so it was nice to venture out into farther places in our Riverside oasis. The lame part was that I couldn't keep up with Brandon (and he was the one pulling the kids). I'm looking forward to many bike rides enjoying the beautiful weather and our lovely neighborhood! Eli's very into "building bird houses" right now. Brandon worked with him in the garage one day building a bird feeder and ever since then he gets his stack of wood pieces and builds "bird houses". According to him they are for "baby birds and mama birds". It is so cute! Once he's gotten them arranged to his satisfaction, we all have to look at it, then he knocks it over and starts again. He had a speech screening, and the woman agreed with me that he just has an articulation issue (not a language problem). We will go Tuesday for a hearing test and to talk with a speech therapist so I can get some ideas on how to help him improve his inunciation. I'm already seeing improvement every day just from working with him myself. Having miss Korey around has been great. He has a constant playmate and will copy things she says. The other day he said "dookie". I wonder where he learned that??? My sister went home for the weekend and it has been kind of quiet around here without the little chatterbox around! I miss them both already! I don't want another baby, but I want a 4 year old!

11 Months

Eleven months have come and gone since my little sunshine arrived! One more month and it will be a YEAR! Parenting Cora is just so easy...I feel so lucky! She is happy and sweet and brings a smile to my face all day long. At eleven months she:

1. Has started saying more words all the time. She now has added "dog", "tricked ya", "bippity, boppity, boo", "Eli" , "yeah", "yes" etc. to her vocab

2. Nods her head "yes" all the time and gets really excited for snacks, books, food, or music.

3. Loves music, singing, and dancing

4. Takes her bath with Eli now and sometimes laughs and tries to play bite him in the tub

5. Is getting a lot better about not eating things outside, but instead throws them and then claps for herself

6. Loves the playground. She loves running across the bouncy bridge and sliding

7. Is running a lot now.

8. Finally has all 8 teeth in...four on top and four on bottom.

9. Is completely on table foods and has to feed herself. She is eating things like lasagna, mac and cheese, waffles, eggs, casseroles, grilled chicken, steak, etc. It makes my life a lot easier to be able to make one thing for everyone.

10. Loves nursery at the church and playing with the other babies.

11. Has moved up to the convertible car seat and loves it!

12. Still puts everything in her mouth and has choked scarily several times on little things like dirt, carpet threads, or things tracked in (even threw up from choking this past weekend and the finger sweep has come in handy several times). I have to sweep ALL floors once or twice a day to be safe.

13. Still gives tons of kisses and hugs and will smack her lips now towards you if she wants a kiss!

Sesame Street Live

One of Brandon's coworkers was so nice in giving us four tickets to see Sesame Street Live! We took both kids and Korey. They LOVED it! Eli can't sit still for very long, so I thought it might be a disaster, but he did great. I was smart and immediately bought a popcorn for the kids to share during the first half, and then Brandon and Eli went and grabbed some sno cones for the second half. All three kids sat through the 1 1/2 hour program and clapped, danced, and had a blast. I was thrilled to see that we might be able to enjoy more kids programs like this now that Eli can sit for that long...with food. Cora loved it! She sat on my lap mesmerized, danced, and ate some of her snacks. I spent the whole time just enjoying the kids reactions to the show! The whole show was about being healthy (eating well, brushing your teeth, etc.) and was all singing and dancing with a lot of crowd participation. Eli kept saying, "REAL Elmo" and if Elmo was off stage he would say, "Elmo getting ready". Now if he sees a stuffed Elmo or poster he points and says, "pretend Elmo". Last night he wanted to sleep with the "REAL Elmo" and not his stuffed one. He gave his imaginary Elmo friend a big hug...so cute!