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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

***

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! 

Sunshine and Sandbars

Tree seat.

Since my kids are 5th generation Floridians, I believe it is my duty as their Mama to impart my appreciation for Old Florida and its sunshine.  So we have been taking one day a weekend "off" and doing a mini-road trip.  Recently we have been to Hanna Park, Jekyll Island, Silver Springs and Amelia Island.  Last weekend we went to Colin's all time favorite fishing spot- Matanzas Bay.

The weather was perfect and watching the kids play in the oaks and bound in the water and make "sand angels" was the best entertainment I have had in years. 

not surprised at all Allen thought the cannon was pretty neat.

Cora climbed up the ladder to the highest tower at Fort Matanzas all by herself.  Daddy was so proud.  Allen loved the boat ride to the Fort and seeing the Sergeant's weapon collection.

View of the beautiful trees in the parking lots during our picnic- which we picked up at the Old City Market.  Fresh calzones and spinach pies.  YUM!

Post-lunch frolicking.

Kids waded out to the sand bar with their Papa.

Pretending to be cats.

Sand angel making.

Always have to make a stop at the carousel in Saint Augustine.

Great Lengths

I just finished what has become Allen's naptime ritual:  a daily head and back massage administered by myself. 

Yes, I give my almost three year old son his very own deluxe spa treatment in order that I might get A Moment of Peace a day.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures, blah blah.

Don't get me wrong.  I let him play, then fuss, play some more, fuss some more and then I inevitably throw in the towel. 

yup, he's got me wrapped around his little finger and has since I saw his little dimples on Day One.

Day One! So buttery!

at least he falls asleep relatively easily in the stroller/car.

Almost every single day, I find myself stomping up the stairs, Moore scowl on my face (I always said I would never have botox but seriously reconsidering at the moment), headed in the direction of Allen's room.

He sees me come in the door, literally drops his little choo choo trains crashing to the floor, flings himself on his belly on his bed and he pulls up his own shirt and places my hand on his back so I can begin his massage.  If I take too much time, he has the nerve to yell "Mama!! Rub Ann!"  (yup he calls himself "Ann" due to being challenged in the L department of the English language) and proceeds to grunts loudly until I do it.

It takes anywhere between one minute and thirty minutes but he almost always falls asleep.  But I am so desperate so I will sit there and rub the little prince for as long as it takes.  

I go to great lengths. 

My thoughts when I see his little eyes close:  THANK YOU LORD.  (while feeling a little bit guilty and also a little bit like a sucker for falling for his little routine once again).

(In the spirit of blogging honestly, the truth is that this is very similar to my Very Own Bedtime Ritual: Basically, I fuss until Colin gets into bed and I put my pillow on his lap so I can have my very own head/back rub while we read/ watch T.V. until I doze off..)

Anyway, it is actually pretty sweet just staring at my son's face, feeling his little buttery skin and his soft breathing but just once it would be nice if he would fall asleep on his own, instead of on his own terms.


But I have a feeling it is too late for that. 

Lucky me ;-)



       

spontaneous bonding

So proud of Cora, the star of the week in her class! She led the pledge and Allen and I joined her at chapel.

We were in the mood to have a spontaneous adventure.  So we cleared our weekend schedule on Friday morning and headed out of town for time with just our little family.

After all, Life is too short to celebrate every little and big thing.  

It was wonderful!

Family dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

What a fun day!!! Kids were amazing.  Husband is too :-)

Cora and Colin on our first ride- Dumbo!

Cora met Belle.  Thank goodness.

Monday at Silver Springs, a gem of North FL. 

View of 84 foot deep Spring during glass-bottomed boat ride.

Another kind of boat ride.

I said OK when Cora wanted to ride the carousel 4 times in a row.. 'cause she is 4 years old... and you are only 4 once.

Love this bear.  Reminds me of Colin.

as good as it gets

Florida's answer to snow angels?  Sand angels!

 

 

Some pics from our family's beach excursion last weekend.  When the weather is this nice in January, it seems like it makes sense to skip Church and have family time at a beautiful place.  Followed by Dunkin' Donuts.  Because sometimes you have to break the rules and have some fun.  And sugar helps keep Baby brother from falling asleep in the car and skipping naptime.

Cheers!!!

I have been capturing Cora mid-air a lot lately.

always in motion

all you need is a shovel and bucket for hours of fun.  oh and a little brother.

Allen was "cooking" and offered me some "coffee".

Wave chasing

sand snuggling

no bird was safe from Allen.

Daddy snuggles. 

Who needs the town center when you have the beach?!

8

I woke up this morning due to heavy breathing in my face.  I opened my eyes and found Cora and her sparkling eyes about an inch from my droopy ones. 

She smiled and exclaimed: "Mama. You are a strong. beautiful. Woman."

(Me: Did Colin put her up to this?  Well, not a bad way to start 2013 although I wondered if there were any other 4 year olds out there who are as ??? as our Cora?)

Then I remembered that it is also our 8 year wedding anniversary and that Colin had gone to work at 5am (so he could have the afternoon/evening off and celebrate together) and I was on day #3 of being stuck in bed having a fever.  The last thing I was feeling was strong or beautiful, although I did feel grateful for being sandwiched between two beautiful kids and having a hard-working husband with plenty of work.

Cora: "Mama.  Today is your anniversary with Dada, isn't it? Because Patsy said yesterday that tomorrow is your anniversary so today is tomorrow, right? and Tomorrow is Today!!! (I will have to write a blog later called The Tao of Cora.)  So that means you get to be a Bride again and wear your pretty white dress!! And put on lots and lots of makeup!!!" While bounding on the bed to punctuate her enthusiasm.

I explained to her that Mama was not going to wear a wedding dress but I would be happy to dress her as a bride in honor of the occasion.  Which I did and she immediately proceeded to go have in imaginary wedding in her room with her husband, Jonathan II as the first one got fired for "telling her what to do all the time" (Cora and her future husband will definitely be in need of some pre-marital counseling someday). 

So the three of us headed downstairs, I made myself some coffee followed by a performance by Cora a.k.a. Ballerina Clara to one of my all time favorite move soundtracks "When Harry Met Sally". 

My favorite song from the album is "Our Love is Here to Stay" and somehow it always brings tears to my eyes.


It's very clear, our love is here to stay
Not for a year but ever and a day
The radio and the telephone and the movies that we know
May just be passing fancies and in time may go

But oh, my dear, our love is here to stay
Together we're going a long, long way
In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay
But our love is here to stay
Together we're going a long, long way
In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay
Oh, but our love is here
Our love is here
But our love is here to stay
To stay

  ***

What a year it has been. 

Full of blessings, challenges, surprises, new friends, reconnecting with old ones.

The highlights? Trip to Saint Maarten with Caroline and family, visiting college friends in D.C., Sea World, Asheville and Hammock Beach with Mom and Dad, dinners, parties and playdates with friends, visits from our family in Indy and Portland and getting to know our new home and neighborhood.

The challenges?  Nothing serious.  We have our health, our family and a home we love.  And few regrets.

***

Last night we kicked off our anniversary by me surprising Colin with a takeout dinner of pork, black eyed peas, collards, texas toast and fried green tomatoes (a homage to the plated dinner served at our wedding- pork tenderloin, black-eyed pea relish, collards, jalepeno chive cheddar biscuits and fried green tomatoes).  I was planning on recreating the dinner myself but barely got out of bed all day.  Colin brought the dinner up on trays and we ate it in our bed, fending off our wayward dog with the sounds of Allen wailing in the background. 

Yet somehow it had never been better and I knew that that moment was as good as it gets.

Our plans tonight?  If I am better, we are planning on seeing Lincoln and having champagne and a quiet dinner at the Wine Cellar.  Followed by Carrot Cake of course.

***

 

As for New Years Resolutions? Just one.

It goes back to the Our Love is Here to Stay Song.  One of my many flaws is to get caught up in things that simply do not matter at the end of the day and make me scowl and snap and brood.  The things? well my house is the last thing from a page from House Beautiful, there are bad hair days, tantrums, lost elections, crumbs everywhere, disorganized closets, those extra pounds, our UNlandscaped yard, ect. ect. ect.
None of it matters at the end of the day.

 Oh, but our love is here
Our love is here
But our love is here to stay
To stay

Colin, thank you for sharing your life with me.  It is a real honor.

Happy New Year!!