Happy New Year!

Please forgive the lack of cropping - I can't figure out how to do so on my in-laws' computer. Anyhow, here we are seeing in 2009 at a party thrown by Stace's brother Dean and his wife Jenny. She also hosted her parents and sister, and sister's husband and children. Cora had fun playing with them, and dancing to the adults playing the Guitar Hero video game on the television.
A rather superfluous photo of Cora, but with her little pony tail, we thought she looked so grown-up. We just had to show it off. She really is growing up fast now, and understands so much of what we're telling her.
The lovely spread Jenny and Dean put on for us. Yum!
Also on Wednesday, we saw Dunc and Lindsey and their girls. The littlest one, Charlie, was a week-old when we last saw her eight months ago.
We took a very cold walk up Ham Hill with the girls. Cora loves being outside, despite the weather. We were all very bundled up, as you can see, though my feet hurt at the end from the cold. The frost was thick and there were ice patches in the mud.
Chelsea is just about exactly one year older than Cora, and they had a great time playing together.
Also Wednesday, we visited with some of Stace's other family, including 4-year-old Ben, who Cora also enjoyed playing with. Sadly I realized as I downloade our photos that I didn't take nearly enough of them playing together!

On Thursday, Sue and Gord cooked a big roast turkey meal for New Year's Day, and Nan and Dean and Jenny came over to help eat it. And on Friday, Cora spent the day with Sue and Gord, while Stace, Dean and Jen and I went into Bristol to shop and have a leisurely wander around IKEA. That's such an engrossing place, and especially fun without a little one tagging along. Stace and I are full of plans for our house for the new year. If 2007 was the year of Cora, and 2008 was the year of buying and selling real estate, it appears that 2009 will be the year of DIY.

More from England

We're enjoying our trip to cold - but not rainy - England. I don't think it's hit 40 for days, and the frost has been thick. Tuesday and Wednesday have been dull and dreary, but still no rain - and according to the forecast, we might make it through our whole trip without getting wet. That would have to be the first time I've been to England and not felt the rain.
At top, we have Stace spending quality time with Zig the cat. Zig, in his old age, has mellowed out to the point of even climbing Stace for some affection. And, he let Cora touch him. Amazing. There was a day when he would race out of the room whenever Stace came near.
Next, Cora enjoying her Elmo Christmas DVD. We've all enjoyed it, many times, as you can imagine.
The following photo shows our Cora the Super Eater! We went to a pub for lunch Tuesday and Cora ate nearly all of her child's portion - she ate all those peas and almost all the chicken. I didn't let her eat all the fries, but she did knock back quite a few. I am so blessed to have a good eater! There are things she won't try, and sometimes she needs coaxing, but normally she sits down and hungrily polishes off everything I put in front of her. She loves peas and carrots, and meat, and bread. The next photo shows us ladies outside the pub. Then we have us playing our new game - the Somerset version of Monopoly! We used Christmas money to purchase it, and I think it will really end up being money well spent. We didn't play through to everyone being bankrupt, but when we counted up our money after a couple of hours, Stace was far and away the winner. His strategy of buying up a set of properties and putting three houses on each made him a (Monopoly) rich man.
The next photos are from Cora stomping around in front of a little village green not far from the Pinnacle, a historic point of interest in Martock. She loves being outside, cold or not, and she also loved eating her sausage roll (next photo), a traditional English treat.
Cora is still progressing by leaps and bounds with her speech. She is putting three words together sometimes, and likes to say "upstairs" and "downstairs" when appropriate, being that we're in a two-level house. ("Up Steeahs" and "dow steeahs")
And in the video, Stace's Nan reads to her great-granddaughter.

Christmas in England

What a difference a year makes...

While our trip across the pond last Christmas was difficult, to say the least, this year Cora was a very good girl on the long plane trip (save for about 10 minutes of screaming on our descent and landing). She played, read, bounced between my seat and Stace's, and ate. On Friday night, our second night in Martock, she only woke up briefly a few times. I'm predicting a full night's sleep tonight!

Cora is enjoying all her new Christmas presents, especially the set of Duplo-like blocks from Nan and Pop. Above, she gets a gift from Father Christmas, AKA Pop. I think she knew it was him inside the costume, as she didn't cry "all done" like she normally does when she sees Santa. She does say "all done" to the Santa statue on the landing in between the flights of stairs, each and every time we go up or down the stairs.
Here I am with Mary, Stace's Nan, before we had our Christmas dinner on the 26th, or Boxing Day. Because we arrived on Christmas afternoon, we had our family celebration a day late.
Here, Cora watches Nan play on Auntie Jenny's DS Lite. Cora was amazingly well-behaved when the family was over Friday. Truly, I was amazed. After a not-so-easy few months this fall, I think we're entering a better stage. She is really enjoying speaking, and picking up new words all the time. She can understand concepts better, and it seems that my attempts at discipline are working (sometimes). For example - I'm using her bed as the "corner," and putting her there when she disobeys - like when she continues screaming to try to get her way. I can say to her, "Stop screaming or you will go to your bed," and sometimes she'll immediately stop and regain her composure.
The brothers, in their Christmas cracker crowns. Cora seems to be in love with her Uncle Dean. She giggles when he comes in the room, and likes to hide from him and then pop out, giggling. It is very cute.
Today, Saturday, we spent the morning at home and then went into town to shop. It was very cold, but nice and sunny. I used Christmas money to purchase some Clarks boots, my first pair of black boots, believe it or not! I'm hoping to use Christmas money Cora received to get her some new shoes too.

Great Gifts

A last post before we leave for the airport - send up prayers and good thoughts, we're boarding a long flight with a 22-month-old!

I've enjoyed some special time this week with my Kelly, my oldest friend (we met when we were 10). She is a big fan of Wicked, the Broadway musical that has had a very long, successful run here in L.A. at the Pantages Theatre. It's ending in early January, and we really wanted to see it together. Though the line was incredibly long, we managed to win the lottery last Tuesday, for $25 front-row seats! What a blessing, for me to see such a great show for the first time, from the front row! (Our buttons say "I won the Wicked lottery"!) We had a great Japanese meal at a cool restaurant across the street, and Stace watched Cora.
Then, on Monday, she gave me an early surprise for my upcoming 30th birthday, taking me to the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa for an afternoon of relaxation - and a massage! Oh, what pampering! We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and it was just a fantastic day.
The other photos are from celebrating an early Christmas at home. On Sunday we went to the Adams' house for dinner and a gift exchange game, where Cora won a little fiberoptic Christmas tree. And on Tuesday night we had my family over to exchange presents. The top photo shows Cora and Grandpa shortly after he and Mel read out of her new Nativity book. A quick story - Cora and I were flipping through it Monday, and she correctly pointed out the angel, Mary and the animals. Then we turned the page, to where baby Jesus is in the manger. "Elmo!" she proclaimed, pointing to the Holy Christ. Fabulous.
Maybe she was just being psychic, because Grandma and Grandpa later gave Cora an "Elmo and Friends" book for Christmas, to hopefully occupy her for a bit on the plane.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Getting into the spirit

Here's Cora following our very cold Stroller Strides session on Friday. At least, it was very cold by our standards. It was about 40 degrees when we started (4 or 5 degrees C), so we were dressed in layers, and we had to be careful on the paseo bridges because of a thin layer of ice. We had a cold storm during the week, which brought frost to our roofs, ice to Stace's windscreen and lots of snow to all the local mountains and hills.
After class, we headed to Starbucks for our annual Christmas party and gift exchange, where everyone brings one gift and we play a game to see what we take home. Also, Shelly, our lead instructor, gave out gifts, including the snowmen Cora and baby Brooke are playing with above. Now, Cora generally isn't a fan of snowmen, and at first when she opened it she said she was "all done." But after some encouragement, she decided he was "Cora's snowman" and he was OK.
With the cold weather, we decided it was time to go check out the Christmas lights on some of SClarita's most festive streets.
Cora handled it very well, considering how she is not-too-into many forms of Christmas decoration. She would name off things she likes - deer, rocking horses, Pooh Bear, Tigger - and say "all done" to the things she didn't, and walk on. Below, an example of Cora's all-doneness.

Our new house

At long last, I give you some photos from inside our house. We're close to settled - hopefully by the time we leave for England next week, we'll be "settled" and ready to start some projects in the new year.
Boy, does this house give us a lot of "opportunity" and "potential"! These photos, as carefully staged as they are, present a positive impression of our home. Just know that every wall is poorly painted, every baseboard (skirting board) poorly installed or missing, and every window and door in need of replacement. And I'm not showing off the bathrooms at this point. (Enough said.)
At top we have the living room, with the front door barely showing on the left. The TV is in the cabinet just visible on the right (remember that, Mitchum fam?) and the Christmas tree is out of sight, in the corner on the other side of the entertainment center.
Next is the dining room, with the new bookcases Stace and Cora put together. Then comes the kitchen, which basically needs to be gutted. But it is a nice size, and I am able to cook meals for my family, so I'm am blessed to have it. Off the kitchen is the play room, an addition that at some point we hope to replace with a properly permitted room, into which we'd build a new kitchen. Though the room has its faults (windows looking into it from the house, no venting for cooling or heating), we truly love having a nice big place for all of Cora's toys. Our lovely living room would feel small if her toys were in there too.
Next is our room, and then Cora's room and the spare room.
It is such a great gift from God to be settled into our own home. Wow. When I look back over the last eight or nine months, from when we began considering moving up, to now, I see the hand of
God all over things. When our first contract to sell our condo fell through, it was so disappointing, but in the end, the timing was perfect to be in our condo still when Sue and Gord came over in August. And, prices were generally a lot higher in April and May, so we would have paid a lot more for a house then.
And, of course, our house wasn't on the market yet, and we are so excited to have a place to improve ourselves. Plus, this neighborhood has an HOA pool and spa and playground for Cora, a two-minute walk from our doorstep; and a top-quality elementary school that's a 10-minute walk from here.
Though we were confident things would work out in the end, it was a bit stressful to sell a place we loved only to move into a tiny apartment, with no guarantee that we would find the home of our dreams in our target neighborhood.
I haven't mentioned this here before, but several days before we moved from the condo, I was reading in the Psalms and a verse I'd never noticed leapt off the page:
"My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I'm your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!"
That's from the Message, a modern-day translation, and it truly comforted my heart as we moved from our condo, and over the weeks and months while we waited to see where we would end up. (Especially when our bid on a different house was rejected, and when it took ages for things to move forward with our escrow on this place).

I'm so grateful for our home, and looking forward to however many years we are blessed to live within its walls.

Decorations and shampooed arms

Cora likes our Christmas tree. We've always had real trees, but this year a spectacular Black Friday deal at Home Depot enticed us into the fake tree world - $50 for a tree that was normally $200. Now, even in the years that we spend several days prior to Christmas in England, we can put up a tree.
Next, you can see our nice, simple Christmas lights and wreath on our house. We were fortunate in that a prior owner had installed hooks, many of which Stace was able to use, so putting them up was rather easy. It's a nice treat to have a house to light up for the first time, and a neighborhood of our own to walk around at night, admiring the displays. (Amusingly, Cora is scared of a lot of the decorations. Big blow-up snowmen? "All done! All done!" Animatronic waving Santas? "All done! All done!" She also was "done" with the cutesy snowman I put on our hearth and Stace's Burt Rutan bobblehead doll and England garden gnome.)
Cora is definitely speaking more words, trying out new words, and stringing words together. Stace has taught her "See ya, mate" and "Alright, mate," so she will fit in with the Somerset tots when we visit in a couple of weeks. Also, she can fill in the blank when you're counting (I say "1, 2, 3" and pause, and she'll say "4"), and with certain words from very familiar stories, even words she doesn't normally use.
So, for a couple of Cora stories. Sometimes when I can't find her in the house (it's SO big, 1,425 square feet might as well be an 8,000 square foot mansion for us!), I've learned to look in our shower. She likes to dig her fingers around the outside of our shampoo bottles, and wipe it on her arm - today, I caught her putting it on her sweatshirt sleeve. She calls it soap, and acts like it's a perfectly natural, reasonable activity. She also will open each bottle of body wash and shampoo and stick it to her nose, getting a good whiff. Additionally, she likes to do this with the shower door closed. I think she thinks she is hiding. (Hiding is fun for her these days - several times I will go into her bedroom after she's been asleep, and though she was calling for me a moment earlier, when I enter she is silent and hiding under her blanket or pillow.)
The photo with Elmo in the collectible car was not a set up. Well, I asked her to stand there and smile, but she put Elmo in the driver's seat and was pushing the car around, on her own. Stace was a bit worried when he saw the photo, as he got it as a gift some 15 years ago.
Lastly, a preview for those of you still hoping I'll show more details of the house... We made a trip to IKEA this weekend for some odds and ends, and furniture, which Cora helped Stace assemble (when she wasn't drawing on it with the pencil, dumping his container of tiny parts, or throwing the wood glue). I've been busy working on getting the rooms in better working order before photographing them for public consumption. This week I should be ready to post them.

Elmo Slide!

Cora and I were playing in the back yard the other night, kicking the little football around. She saw her Elmo doll and said, "Kick Ball Elmo" (well, it sounded more like "dee bah Elmo" but I knew what she meant). She proceeded to swing Elmo into the ball, pushing it along with the doll's body. It was adorable, so I grabbed the camera. She was done with the game by the time I came back, but turned her attention to a new game:

(For you not fully able to understand Cora-speak, we have her saying, "Elmo slide. Wheee! Slide! Wheee!" and later "Walk.")

Cora really loves her new house... I really do hope to have a nice house post up soon with more photos. Stay tuned!

SClarita Christmas Fun

We had a very fun weekend, full of Christmas activities. We started out by going out for drinks Friday night with our real estate agent and mortgage broker and their spouses, to celebrate our home purchase. They both worked so hard to get our sale to go through, despite the annoyances that come with buying bank-owned properties. Stace and I highly recommend them - let us know if you are looking for a real estate professional!
On Saturday morning we went to a holiday and literacy festival at Hart Park in Newhall, where they brought in snow for the kids to play with. Cora seemed to like it fine, though it didn't occupy her for very long. The festival had lots of booths with books and toys, and performers sang, read, danced and acted out scenes from literature on stage. What a great free event!
We then walked over to Heritage Junction, where Cora enjoyed checking out the 108-year-old engine that has been fully restored years after a fire at the movie ranch owned by Gene Autry. Cora loves trains, which she calls "tee tees," her version of "toot toot." She gets excited when she hears them nearby. A funny memory - Cora loving watching the train pass by while we were driving, and immediately asking, insistently, "More ta Tee Tee! More ta Tee Tee!" How great to be thought so powerful, that I can control the trains!
Heritage Junction features old houses integral to the history of Santa Clarita. The houses have been decorated for Christmas, and we really enjoyed seeing them. A lot of work has been done since we last toured the buildings, and it's really worth a trip if you've never visited. Cora and I are posing in front of the Edison House, one of several houses built in 1919 for the Edison workers who electrified the town. In the front parlor, volunteer docents offered cookies, brownies and hot apple cider - it made me miss my grandma, as she always made Christmas cookies and loved volunteering.
On Sunday, we went to Mountasia to attend the children's Christmas party put on by Stace's work. Cora enjoyed her pizza lunch, which she ate while sitting on a booster chair like a big girl for the first time. She ate one whole piece, minus the crust, and a couple of bites from the second piece.
Here's Cora in the fire engine brought in to entertain the kids at the party.
On Sunday afternoon, we walked the short distance from our house to the hospital, to watch the big Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. Also this weekend, we took family portraits at Sears for the first time, and in the evening we took photos with Santa through my MOPS group. When I say "we" took photos with Santa, I mean it - Cora wouldn't go near him without us there. She is still very much in her "mummy mummy mummy" phase.

Here's Cora entertaining herself before the Christmas tree was lit. (She started saying "yes" last week, so I wanted to get it on tape.)

Moving Day!

We have moved into our house! Praise God, all went very smoothly and it was great to have the four days to get things somewhat in place, and also enjoy ourselves and relax a bit with Cora...... who did very well behind the wheel. Cora likes her new digs, especially the outdoor space and the little nearby playground. Stace and I are thrilled to have so much more room than we've had before, plus an attached garage and NO STAIRS to climb. We're also amazed at the amount of work we have ahead of us. The house needs an awful lot of TLC. We're up for the challenge though.
Somer likes the house too - she likes running around, and finding lots of new places to sleep. When we first moved her into the house, she spent a number of hours hiding withIN the box springs of our bed. But she's happy and at home now, and has only escaped into the yard a couple of times.

This morning, Somer found a disturbing sight - the neighbor cat sauntering around our back yard, acting like he owns the place. He probably does. When we first moved in, the remains of two mice were on the patio, surely left by the black cat. When he spotted Somer, he came straight up to the door and they had a staring contest, both of the cats raising their fur on end.
Here's Cora helping Stace put up the curtain rod in our bedroom. About half the rooms lacked window treatments, including the sliding glass door in our room, which became very bright around 6:30 a.m. Thankfully, the curtains we had in our bedroom in the condo, which we used purely for decoration, are thick enough to block the light. Stace has been busy since we moved in - he had to replace the missing garbage disposal, hang three curtain rods, program new garage door openers and move tons of boxes around.
Cora, having her first nap in her new room. She slept well her first four nights, and then had a bad night on Monday. I'm so relieved to have no one attached to us to worry about anymore, when she's crying in the night. I'm also relieved to have the Internet back and hooked up at home!