Cora and my baby clothes

My Mom pretty much saved everything from when we were kids. It has really been a blessing because my kids still get to play with all our old toys at the farm, and she's given me all my old dolls etc. for Cora to play with. She also saved a lot of our baby clothes that had stayed nice. A lot of them I am letting my nieces and Cora use as clothes for the dolls, but a few I kept out for Cora to try on. The other day I thought it would be fun to try some on her. It actually was a really neat feeling to see her in my old clothes. The knitted set was made by my Great-Grandma Lida Buck (Cora's Great Great Grandma). I wanted to post a few pictures of me wearing them as a baby too!

Thank you God!

If you know me, you know I HATE Winter. I despise cold, snow, depressing, gray, dull, sickness, dead, ice, frozen, blah. The only good thing I have to say about this season is that it makes me REALLY appreciate the rest of the year! I adore being outside, gardening, walking etc. I am so thrilled that we've raised Eli to be such an outdoorsman and appreciate nature fully like we do. Just when I thought I couldn't stand the cold any longer, God sent us three days of GLORIOUS weather. The kids and I have been outside for hours and hours the past few days. Yesterday was so amazing we seriously went to two different parks, a church playground, in the bike trailer with Dad, AND played in the backyard and sandbox forever. It was the first time that Cora was old enough to play in the sandbox. She loved it! She didn't even try to eat the sand. Now leaves and sticks, on the other hand, she would purposely try to put in her mouth and look at me for my reaction of "Iky!" She loved crunching up the leaves and watching Eli play with Rica. It was just what we all needed. Unfortunately, while we are all playing outside in short sleeves the city people are busy icing the streets for another snow storm that is supposed to hit Monday and Tuesday. Oh well! I'll savor every second out in the beautiful sun. Brandon and I even got a bunch of yard work done. Eli helped me sweep all the sidewalks/porch. He always ends up pushing dirt from OFF the sidewalk ONTO the sidewalk, but it's adorable. He's my helper! I know soon my Crocus will start blooming and that will help hold me off until Spring!

New hair

I FINALLY got my hair cut! I have

been dying to get it cut for months, but had to grow it out for my cousin's wedding. It has been driving me insane, so it was so refreshing to say, "ADIOS" and get a new do. Eli said I "looked pretty" so it passed inspection.

Learning Time

During Cora's morning nap, Eli has a "learning/fun time". It is amazing how much he is learning on a daily basis and how quick of a learner he is. He is literally a sponge just soaking up everything I teach him. We do all the things that are hard to do with baby sister around. He chooses an art/craft type of activity like playdoh, coloring, writing, cutting, etc. Then, we do some sort of fun game like Candy Land, Memory, etc. Then, we work on "school". He just loves it! Every day he says/does something that we just die laughing about. The other day our furnace went out and Brandon was down working on it. He saw something coming over his shoulder and looked back. There was Eli in sunglasses (because he'd heard me mention it was dangerous, so he put on eye protection) and he had a ratchet in one hand and a socket in the other ready to help Dad. He LIVES to help Dad. He just follows him around wanting to help him in any way. It's a beautiful thing!

Crawling!

Guess who is finally crawling at 8 1/2 months???? CORA ELEANOR JUDSON! She just took off this evening after supper. I am glad Brandon was here to see it! I am hoping this means she will be happy now that she can get to toys and all the things she sees but can't reach, instead of wanting to WALK all day (which breaks my back). You go girl!

Girly...

I've definitely enjoyed having another GIRL around the house. I still enjoy just sitting in her pink room amongst her dolls, dresses, and her one barbie and revel in the fact that I had a girl. The irony is that Brandon wanted to have girls, and I wanted to have boys. Let's just say after three years of active adventurous boy and playing with balls and other boy toys nonstop, I am thoroughly enjoying GIRL things. Cora oozes sweetness from every pore in her body. I lucked out on having two extremely affectionate kids! YAY! She gives lots of kisses and will grab her dolls or barbie and give them kisses too. It is adorable! She is our little dancer, as well. It doesn't matter what music it is (it could be cheesy baby toy music) she starts grooving and clapping. She really feels the music! It has brought me a LOT of smiles. Eli finds it quite amusing, as well. It's fun to see Eli finding her as "cute" and "funny" as we do.

Snowman

Eli has really enjoyed the snow! He built a snowman with Brandon, and Cora even got to join in on the fun. We're supposed to get more snow today, so he'll be thrilled if he gets to go sledding again (he's gone twice so far). A couple days ago the snowman started melting. I was curious to see how Eli would react. I cautiously told him that his snowman was melting. He peeked out the window and started laughing and laughing because the snowman's head was melting off and it looked hilarious. I kept saying, "Your snowman's HEAD IS MELTING OFF!" and he would laugh and laugh. What a goof! Today we had our first Parents As Teachers home visit. A very nice woman came and brought toys for the kids and introduced me to the program. She will come once a month and keep an eye on the kids development. Eli is going to be evaluated next month at our meeting. It's a free program through the school system, so I'm really glad they finally have a spot for me! Last night we went and got Eli's birthday present a month early. We bought him a year membership to the beloved Exploration Place. He asks to go all the time (he goes once a month to a Partents as Teachers play group for dads there). We will definitely be getting our money's worth! It will be a great outing on these cold miserable days!