Besties

Miss Meghan and Poppy.  It was Poppy's first trip to the Splash Park! She did great! 

Ring around the rosy

we all fall down!

!!!

who says 3 is a crowd?!!

Discovered that my Double wide can be a triple if needed.

Lesson of the day= When it comes to motherhood, Strength in numbers.

egg hunt at Cora's playschool

Cora about to go hunt.  A shame we couldn't find her white sweater this morning.

What a cute class!!!

Allen decided to pretend he was a Daddy this morning and made his own baby carrier out of my old nursing cover.

Cora wearing the beautiful dress that our friend Eleanor sent us from London.  LOVE it!! absolutely ethereal!

in the tub.  Cora is pretending to be Santa.  Allen is amused.

footprints

I wasn't exactly thrilled when the kids got up at 6am this morning but had no idea what was in store for me.  

At least they let me have a cup of coffee first.

After breakfast, I told Cora it was time for me to go take a shower as I was touring yet another elementary school this morning.  So I asked her what she was going to play with while mommy was upstairs and she sweetly asked if she could color a picture of herself and her brother to mail to her twin cousins, Abby and Neela.  I gave her the crayons and stamp set she requested and headed upstairs, patting myself on my back for not letting the kids watch any T.V. and for raising such a sweet little girl who came up with the idea to draw pictures to mail to family members who live far away.  

As usual, predictably, I was about to be humbled.

When I got out of the shower, it was strangely quiet.  As any parent knows, this can be an ominous sign of massive destruction being done to one's house.  So I fly downstairs in my towel to discover that the drawing of Cora and Allen has turned into the kids mailing their cousins FOOTPRINTS using the jumbo Melissa and Doug stamp pad I recently gifted Cora.  My issue?  Cora and Allen had smashed their little feet in the stamp pad and ran all over the house with glee, tracking multi-colored footprints everywhere including the new dining room rug. 

!!!

A big deal, for real, punishment followed and I sent Cora off to school with her tail tucked and a Moore scowl plastered on my face.  She did, however, give me a genuine apology and oxiclean managed to get most of the stains out of the rug so I figured my day could only get better.

Hah!

The next stop was the school tour.  I will spare the grotesque details... but a mere 5 minutes into the tour Allen (who had never had an accident in public) Pees and poops big time on himself, in front of the school principal.

Now I am at home on cup of coffee #4 waiting for the plumber due to a major leak in the master bath.  Did I mention we had the electrician here last week and the washer/dryer repair dude the week before that?

But at least it is nothing serious.  Seriously.

Thank goodness for perspective.  And oxiclean.  And a generous pour of vino tinto tonight.

<Scowl>

Wearing the new jacket Poppy brought back from his ski trip.  She doesn't look as innocent as usual though does she?  Maybe that is remorse I see on her face?  Probably wishful thinking.

before dance yesterday.  I wish my skin looked like that.

 

most voluminous hair ever!

Cora with her "little girls" during a more innocent afternoon

a Sign

I believe that my Children and I (and all of us for that matter) are, and will always be, works in progress.   

But, Cora did something this week that made me think that despite being our first Child, our "guinea pig" so to speak, we must be doing something right, in the midst of our daily challenges with our very lovely but high-maintenance, strong-willed child. 

An encouraging moment in the midst of the daily grind of trying to raise a good person while being a good one yourself.  (not an easy task at all)

We heard through a friend about something very tragic that happened to someone in our Mom's group and so our friend asked us to string together decorated prints of our little one's hands to give to a lady that we all care about very much who is going through a hard time right now.

So I traced Cora's hand and told her to please write her name on one side of the hand and decorate the other side by drawing pictures of things that "would make someone feel better".  I left it up to her and sat and drank tea and read the paper while she occupied herself with the task I had given her.

When she was done and showed me her work, I found myself with tears in my eyes.  She had drawn and colored 4 things (since she was four and does everything in 4s now) "a mommy and baby butterfly flying together", a rainbow, a flower, and Baby Jesus laying in a manger. 

She told me that they were four things that always made her feel better when she was very sad.  Then she asked me how to spell Jesus' name so she could write it on the card.

Cora (who never misses anything) noticed the tears in my eyes and seemed confused... why would her pictures make mommy so sad? 

That was when I explained to her that sometimes Mommies cry when they were very, very happy too.

Cora, a little over 2 years old.  This picture was taken by my sister and it has always been one of my favorites.

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."

.***

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.

***

(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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

***

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.