best and worst of times indeed

A picture speaks a thousand words.  I will just say that this is from a playdate last week.  Mattie was delightful as always and Cora was being a stick in the mud- right here because I said NO T.V.  Love both of their little outfits though. Cora looks like a Diva and Mattie is a cheerleader.  Somehow fitting.

This morning I was awakened by Cora, who had her head in "her spot" (which means my shoulder) and her first words of the day which were:  "Mama, your heart sounds like it has a little drum in it.  It is like there is a song in your heart."

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Fast-forward 10 minutes after the sweetest comment in the world and we are downstairs, me dealing with the aftermath of Cora beating up her brother with a pillow because of him trying to share "her spot" (my shoulder) which caused him to fall off of the bed and then  she threw a royal tantrum due to me not being able to find the swan cookie cutter to cut her peanut butter toast.  Then Allen, who is being potty trained, pooped on the floor and our wayward dog tried to eat it.  Which made me almost throw up.

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(Relatively) New Motherhood:  The best and worst (I mean most challenging/ frustrating) of times.  But mostly best!

 Here are some of the better times last week:

Spontaneous zoo trip. We never miss a carousel.

!!!

Caught a lizard at the play park.

Came home and played dress up in an outfit Papa brought back from India.  Love it!

!!!

Random pic from the zoo trip of two monkeys napping together.  It just warmed my heart.

Pajama Party

After the exhausting (but worthwhile) ordeal of herding the whole family to Church looking reasonably presentable, Colin and I decided it was time to put the to-do list on the back burner and enjoy some R&R.

For Colin and our little neanderthal, that meant going tractor riding at Lowe's and who knows what else.

I indulged Cora in living out her ultimate fantasy- a Pajama Party- albeit with just the two of us in the afternoon.  She has never actually attended or hosted a PJ party, but ever since seeing the Angelina Ballerina sleepover episode she has been obsessed.

So I gave her a manicure (alternating light pink and royal blue polish), made hot tea and we decided to watch the old school Cinderella while brushing each other's hair-Cora just got her first blow out after Church and I am mesmerized by the silky voluminous mass of hair on her head. 

I guess what we are basically doing is enjoying a siesta- how decadent!! 

Cora's PJ party requests= Reading her first big girl book "Winne the Pooh" that I gave her for Valentine's Day and watching Cinderella.

!!!

tea time post manicure!

All Decked Out

Cora: "maiden" in Greek  (origin- Colin + Laura, my real name = Cora)

Therese: "late summer harvester" in French (origin- my Mom, Patricia Therese, named after St. Therese)

This seems fitting as Cora Therese was born in mid-August and is the perfect balance of a petite queen without a country and gritty Earth Mother. 

Her hobbies include digging for worms while gardening with my Mom, catching lizards, rolling down the hill at the "Apple playground" and planting flowers as wells as playing make-up party and "mommies", going to ballet class, watching Cinderella and wearing tutus everywhere.  In short, Yin and Yang- 4 year old style... she has kept me on my toes, which are almost always clad in ballet flats or running shoes due to the fact that I am usually chasing her.  We never know what our adventurous Cora is going to do next. 

Or wear for that matter.

Now that she is four (and a half as she keeps reminded me), I have been letting her pick out more of her own outfits (when appropriate, i.e. she is not allowed to wear tutus to Church or bathing suits on walks when it is 50 degrees outside).  Cora loves to have her nails painted- glittery purple of course and it always takes me an eternity and a nail brush to get all of the dirt of from under them.

Here is a collection of the Best of Cora fashion as of late.  Too bad there is not a pre-K best-dressed edition of Parenting magazine.

CT loves dressing up for play dates.  Thankful her friends' Mamas have a sense of humor.  And thankful for Santa (a.k.a. my Mom) giving Cora these sassy and oh so fashionable PINK FUR (!!!)  Sperry Rain Boots.  Absolutely iconic!!!

I have no idea from where she gets her love of dressing up, accessorizing and hanging out/ going out dancing with her Girlfriends  ;-).  She was thrilled when I came home with these glasses for her to play dress-up.

  

On her Half Birthday.  Which is a BIG DEAL in la familia Moore.  So she got to have a cupcake (a pink one) for breakfast (half-birthdays make me have terrible judgement) and dress-up.  Second best family tradition (after the going away every other Christmas one!).  I have been celebrating my half birthday for over 30 years now.  I knew Colin was a keeper when he remembered it and gave me a gift of a beautiful pewter mirror the first year we were dating.

Cora picked out her own outfit for "dress-up day" at ballet class.  She wanted to be an elephant ballerina so she wore the mask from Harley's Zoo Birthday party and the skirt Aunt Reese gave her last Easter.

On her way to Daddy-Daughter night at Chickfila, which involved a Limo ride, violin music and seeing the Cow.  My Dad filled in as Colin was in Miami for work.  Cora was thrilled and thank goodness Daddy was a good sport and escorted her as Cora had been anticipating Daddy Daughter Date night for months.

Dressed herself for Valentine's Day at her school.  Did a very good job!! My mom designs and sews most of her clothes. They are so beautiful and make me smile every day.

Decked herself out yet again for Allen's birthday party.  She wanted to wear a fascinator like Princess Kate but this headband was the best I could do for her.

 

Picked out her own dress for the Daddy Daughter Dance last weekend at her school.  Colin said she made him dance the whole night and they both came home absolutely beaming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

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Totally unrelated as Allen really couldn't care less what he wears, but as usual, I couldn't help but post the latest Allen news.

Allen's new best animal friend is his little bear puppet my Dad gave him for Christmas.  He carries him everywhere and makes the bear dance, bite us, hug, sleep, eat cereal, ect.  I actually think it has been good for his language development as we are always discussing what the bear is doing and how he is feeling.  This morning Allen told me that the bear's name is "Colin" which basically melted my heart and I nearly started crying when I told Colin about it over the phone (Valentine's Day makes women act crazy).  Colin-bear asked for chocolate before naptime and was generous enough to share all of it with Allen.

BREAKING NEWS:  Allen has not slept in a closet in over a month.  He has a big boy bedroom set now... but this is how I found him when I went to wake him up from his nap yesterday.  Apparently the floor is more desirable than the bed we spent three days spray-painting.  I can't complain though because at least he is low maintenance.

Allen is Three!

At his Mini-party with his guys from the neighborhood.  All five of them.  Oh and some balls.  Keeping it simple for real this year.

The Little Guy turned 3!  

Allen runs (like a duck), does puzzles (amazingly quickly thanks to Cora's help), climbs anything and everything (cars, trees, cribs, fences), dances (like the stars) and has even started to form sentences (thank goodness).  

Addy, as we still sometimes call him –a.k.a. the Happiest Person I have ever met in my life- has a contagious joie du vivre... shares with his friends, loves laughing with just about anyone, is still obsessed with trains and considers his Big Sister to be his best friend in the world.

I hope he never stops giving me his smoldering hugs and goofy smiles.  Thanks to Allen, I will get ridiculously excited every time I am stuck at a train for the rest of my life.

A few of his favorites things this year:

Outings: To any PLAYGROUND, the Zoo, “Tatsy’s House” or to see Mr. Josh at storytime, fishing with Daddy, to Lowes with Mama so he can sit on the tractors and the highlight of his day is picking up Cora from her playschool.

Foods: Blueberries, FRIES (he screams “FRIES!!” every time we pass a burger joint), mini-muffins, cheese, chocolate, pizza and every kind of fruit.

Sentences:  Daddy “gwerk” (translation:  Daddy goes to work).  He also calls Fireworks “fire GWERKS” which we think is hilarious.

Words:  GUNK= Milk, “WA-WA”= Cora, Tatsy= Patsy, my mom, which is an improvement from last year when she was “Ditsy”. "Quack-quie" duck.

Tuggy and Pierce!  They are like little bear cubs together. 

Loves chocolate!!

Who knew the top of the cake box could be such a fun hat to wear.  All the other boys wanted to wear Allen's "hat" too so he must be a trendsetter.

YUM!

Nothing to do with Allen's birthday but here is an adorable pic of Cora and Harley, our next door neighbor!