Growing up, growing vegetables

Southern California is expecting a lot of rain this upcoming week, so Stace and Cora worked hard this week to get the seeds planted in our winter garden. The put in carrots, spinach and onions, which Cora helped with. Stace also planted turnip seeds during the week.

Cora also found it important to dump dirt on the flowers and into her car.

We're in the middle of birthday party season here. Today, it was Libi's turn to celebrate her third. Cora enjoyed playing with the kids and eating the frosting off her cake.

We've been having fun playing with Cora's Elefun game, a Christmas gift from Stace's cousin Karen and her family. The elephant blows butterflies out of its trunk, which we try to catch with the nets.

Cora is growing up in several ways: She now sits at the table with us at meals (meaning a lot more sweeping and table-wiping for me); she sits forward-facing in her car seat (she's about a pound away from that important upper weight limit, so what the heck); and she can open the refrigerator on her own.

The other evening, I was coming home needing to make dinner, and Cora was already hungry. She opened the fridge, got out the cottage cheese and took it and a spoon over to the table.

A big girl bed will be next! We bought one this week; well, a toddler bed, but our Cora is such a little thing, we're sure she'll fit into it for a long time, and then we could pass it on to her little sister. She hasn't noticed it in the garage yet... We're deciding when to make the transition. I'm excited for her to make the move, and yet a little nervous about how this might affect naptime and bedtime.

Finally, I'll end with a Coraism: Stace was saying good-bye to Cora the other night as he left to play tennis with Auntie Kelly.
Cora: "Where are you going, Daddy?"
Stace: "I'm going to play tennis."
Cora: "Are you coming back?"
Stace: "No, I'm never coming back."
Cora: "Can I watch TV then?"