Harvey, pansies and some jumping around

Here are some photos from our full and fun Saturday afternoon. It was Harvey's 2nd birthday, and lucky for him, it was a gorgeous day for a party at the park. Elissa and Frankie put on a nice spread of food, including the ice you see Cora and Harvey having fun with. Elissa made "ice cream cone" cupcakes, and Cora loved the frosting and sprinkles (or, hundreds and thousands, for our UK readers). Oddly though, Cora was just as unhappy hearing us all sing to Harvey as she was when the "Happy Birthday" song was sung at our party. She started carrying on, right there in the middle of the song.

I enjoyed dressing Cora up in one of her pretty dresses, since we have so little reason to get dressed up. On her own birthday party, the weather was cold and wet, and not fit for pretty dresses...

And, no surprise, Cora spent the majority of her time in the sandbox, happy as a clam with sand piling up in the lap of said pretty dress.

The last photo shows Cora reacting to me holding my friend Brooke's four-month-old son. How very short are the months that they are so little! It's been two years but it feels like a lot longer. I can tell that if we are blessed with another one, it will really feel like starting all over.


After the party we went to Lowes to pick up another ceiling fan. Uncle Dean and Auntie Jenny are coming next week to visit, and to work on our house. Well, Uncle Dean will work. I think Auntie Jenny and I will work on our nails, our tans, our shopping...

Prior to the party, Stace and Cora took care of some painting. Stace finished the inside of our front door; it is now a bright and shiny white.

Cora painted the ground and steps outside with plain water. It kept her busy for quite a while. I think this is a trick we can pull out of tool box for years to come!
I should say, it kept her busy until she decided to pull all the flowers off of three of our new pansy plants. She then brought them all to me as a gift. (Sigh.) She looked so thrilled with herself, it was hard to keep a straight face and harder to attempt to explain that she shouldn't pull off any more flowers.













And lastly, the video shows Cora jumping for the first time, this afternoon. Sure, she's tried to jump for months, but this is the first time she's gotten air under both feet at the same time. I said, excitedly, "Cora, you're jumping! Good job!"
She stopped, got very serious (as she had been giggling), and said, "No, Mummy. Bounce."

Looking older

A few shots to show off the length of Cora's hair...
Here we are at the park on a recent evening, after Stace got off work.
Tonight, Friday evening, he put the bike trailer together again and we rode along the paseos to Starbucks for a drink. We stopped at the same park in these photos on our way home, and Cora again impressed us with her sliding ability.

A Coraism I forgot to mention in my post last week: While putting Cora to bed, on a night before she became afraid of bees, Stace was standing next to me while I read her one last story.

She was in her crib, and she kept looking back and forth between the book and Stace, clearly irritated. (I have written before about what a mummy's girl she is...)
We are trying to integrate him more into the putting-to-bed process, but if I'm in the house, she strongly resists. Anyway, she interrupted my reading to state: "Daddy go playroom."
(sigh)

And, to update our progress with her nighttime fear, she has been better the last few nights. She still mentions the bees and the roar on T.V., but she hasn't been screaming about them.

So fearless ... and yet so fearful

Here are some photos from our return trip to the snow on Saturday. This time, we had Grandma and Grandpa's snow toys, which worked a bit better than the boogie board.

There was a lot more, and a lot fresher, snow this time around, which made the walking more fun but also slowed down the sledding ... making it perfect for Cora to go down on her own.

It was truly a moment for me, watching my baby seem to turn into a little girl right before my eyes! The next day, at church we said "bye bye" to the 0-24 months nursery room and marched into the two-year-olds' room. Watching her take her place around the circle for story time, I cried.

Anyway, back to the fearless Cora - she loved sledding on her own, and kept asking for more. She also now loves sliding down slides at the park, and even wants to go down the "big kid" slides, as long as she is certain Mummy is at the bottom waiting to scoop her up.

And yet... she is entering a new phase of being scared of lots of things. For three or four nights in the last week, she cried and cried after we left the room. She says she is scared of bees, and of the MGM lion that roars on our DVDs. She would immediately quiet down when I would go in, but get hysterical when I would leave again.
When I'd go in, the conversation would go like this:
Cora, trying to not cry: Dora scared bees. No bees in here?
Mum: No, Cora, there are no bees in here.
Cora: Bees outside?
Mum: Yes, there are bees outside, but they are not in your room.
Cora: Bees in playroom?
Mum: No, there are no bees in your playroom.
Cora: Bees make honey? ("uhh-ney?") Dora like honey?
Mum: Yes, Cora, bees make honey! (big smile) You like honey!
Cora: Scared roar. Scared roar T.V.

For the past three nights we've developed a new strategy, which seems to be working. After putting her down, I sit on her floor in the near-dark, and fold clothes or do something else silently, and after 5-15 minutes, she is just about asleep. When I leave, she'll wish me a good night and go to sleep. However, last night, at about 2:15 in the morning she woke us up, saying she was scared of her nightlight. (It's this one, which is sweet and casts a perfect amount of light. I hope she gets over this fear quickly!)

After the third night of her tears and fears, I went online and found that it's a normal developmental stage for ages 2 through 8. Hey, she's right on cue then! Turn two, turn scared! Poor kid. She brings up bees, and the roars on T.V., at random times in the day, but the tears don't come out until she's trying to go to sleep. And in case you're wondering, no, she's never been stung that I know of. I have no idea where this is coming from!

Perhaps because of the "roar T.V.," Cora is fearful of nearly all of our DVDs. At least she's not constantly asking to watch it, right? The Elmo's World DVDs are very scary now, because of the Mr. Noodle character, so she won't watch them at all. Our Baby Einstein DVDs are scary too - one scene has a finger puppet horse that she really is frightened of. (???) Interesting.

Amgen rides again (by Stace)

Saturday saw the return of the Amgen Tour of California cycling event to Santa Clarita.

This year's big news was that Lance Armstrong was competing, in his first competition in a long while. So, Lisa, Cora and I set off to the mall to see if we could get a glimpse of him before the start of the race.
It's not very often that you get the chance to see a living legend. How many people can say they won the Tour de France seven times, and walked on the moon? That's pretty impressive in my book.

Anyway, we didn't get to see Mr. Armstrong because we left the starting line event in order to get a position a few miles down the road so we could see all the riders go by at full speed.
Yet again, I must say, how well this city we live in organises and executes these events. I'm sure if this was back home, they'd figure out some way for you to pay.

Cora-isms

We're playing catch-up today with photos from the last week or two. At top, Stace monkeying around (what else could I say about that one?) at the little playground near our house.

Next is Cora playing with her new tricycle, a gift from Nan and Pop. She likes to steer, but that often means we run into things.

And then comes Cora, her face decorated with candle wax. Yes, candle wax. She found my small collection of unopened smelly candles, and had a lot of fun smelling them and playing with them. Among them was one tiny jar candle, which she decided to test out on her face. I guess she wanted to smell better!

And, in that same vein, I had a manicure a couple of weeks ago, for the first time in a long time. Cora immediately noticed my nails when I got home, pointing to them and noting their pink color. She then pointed to her own fingernails and asked, "Dora pink nail?" Not yet, sweetheart!

A few more Cora-isms: I was reading her a children's pop-up book of Bible stories, and one related Jesus telling Peter to follow Him. Cora then said, "Dora follow Jesus? ("Dora fo Jee?") That made me smile, of course! The next story was about Jesus being alive after the resurrection. Cora heard me say the word "alive" and started roaring. I guess she heard me say that Jesus was a lion.

A couple of nights ago, Cora was in her high chair and she watched me hold some pants up to my waist that I had just hemmed. She said, "No fit Mummy." Thanks!

At that moment, she was having a cereal bar for a snack, while I had was also in the process of reorganizing part of the pantry. She spotted a little package of pretzel sticks-with-cheese-product (Yes, I do generally keep her away from that stuff...). She said, "All done fruit bar. Dora like cheese!" She was really on a roll.

It's a lot easier now that Cora is old enough to explain things to, at least sometimes. On Tuesday we went to Burbank to visit with my dear friend Melanie. When she woke up, she asked if we were going to the park to see the babies - her phrase that means, "Stroller Strides." I told her no, that we were going to the Burbank Mall to play in the play area. She kept repeating, "Burbank mall, play area," and was very patient during our car ride.

Trip to the snow

We've had a bit of winter weather - SClarita style - the last few weeks, and our local mountains are again covered in snow.

We decided to take advantage of that by driving an hour north on the 5 to give Cora a real taste of the white stuff. On her first visit to the snow, it was several-weeks-old and hard-packed, but this was fresh and soft.

She enjoyed sledding (on a boogie board - note to self, buy snow toys when they're on clearance!), and she enjoyed her hot cocoa when we got back to the car.

We've enjoyed a nice, relaxing weekend. Stace and I had a "date" Friday night, with dinner at Wood Ranch and a stroll around the mall and a stop for coffee and chit chat. It was a really nice time, and nice to have a "real" date that didn't involve a home improvement store. On Saturday, we took our little mountain trip, and on Sunday we've mainly relaxed and worked on a few little things around the house. We should be well-rested to start another week!

Woman's work, in the garage

Cora's third Valentine's Day. Wow, doesn't that make her sound old?
Anyway, our Stroller Strides party was an intimate affair, so we moved to Starbucks. Cora had fun making her Valentine's Day bag and eating her cupcake. She then had a great time playing with our umbrella outside. We're getting another rainstorm this weekend...

Also, it's time to show off my "Mom's Work Station" part of the garage. Our new washer and dryer were installed two weeks ago, and so far I'm loving them! We ordered frontloaders from Sears during their excellent Black Friday sale (the big sales that take place the day after Thanksgiving, the official start of the Christmas shopping season); the deal was so fantastic, Sears got back-ordered two months! Many thanks to my mom for doing most of our washing during the interim; she even washed her granddaughter's diapers.
During the week, we picked up our new 7.2 cubic-foot freezer, also a Kenmore from Sears. Woohoo! I can really stock up during sales now, and get ahead on baking and meal preparation! I'm such a nerd to be excited about this stuff.
And, on the other side of the washer/dryer is my big storage cabinet, where I'm storing food and other stuff that I get great deals on. I really love having a garage!

A Bouncing Birthday Girl

Though Monday was a cold and rainy work day for most in town, it was a very special day at our house. Cora turned two!
We celebrated by taking her to Sky City Bounce House, a fantastic indoor playground with lots for an active toddler (and her parents) to do. It honestly was one of the most fun times we've had with Cora! She absolutely loved it, and laughed and giggled and bounced her heart out. She even got over her concerns about sliding, and went down the big slides with Daddy and the smaller slides by herself.
The price was right, too - just $10 per child, and Stace and I were free!

So... Cora is two. I find it easy to believe that she is two, since she is speaking and understanding so much. But, it's hard for me to believe that Stace and I have a two-year-old, that we have been parents for two years. What a blessing and a joy she is to us!
Anyway, a few tidbits from her life these days: She likes to be a part of things. A favorite phrase right now is "Dora show?" She means, show Cora what you're doing. She often uses it while I'm cooking, so tonight I made dinner with her in her high chair, watching intently. She also says it when we take a photo, so that we show her the camera (ahhhh, these kids growing up in the digital age!), or when I'm looking at something on the computer.
She can count to ten, and sometimes even to 20 with help. She can say most of her ABC's when we sing the alphabet song. She likes to pretend to count things, and she pretends to write letters when she's having fun with a pen and paper.

Her bedtime routine has changed a bit over the last month. Since we got home from England, she no longer wants music on as she falls asleep. So much so, in fact, that we've taken the CD player out of her room. She has a particular book she requires me to read last, before I leave her room ("Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack", AKA "the duck book"), and while I read it, she tends to (inexplicably) stand in her crib and bounce up and down, saying "bounce, bounce, bounce" and giggling.
She has fallen in love with her yellow blanket. She likes to take it out of her crib and carry it around the house, and even into the car (I won't let it go further than the car), and we'll catch her kissing it.
She also really likes the television. Since we haven't had cable service in months, she doesn't watch it very much, so it is a special thing to her. When we went into Sears the other night, she got very excited, pointing and shouting "TV!" at the rows of televisions for sale. She also was excited to see the TV in her pediatrician's office this morning for her two-year appointment. (Which went well. She is down to the 10th percentile in weight, at 23 pounds 6 ounces, and her 33 inches puts her in the 28th percentile.)
Also, medically speaking, Cora now has lots of "boo boos" on her fingers that require concern and attention. Sometimes I can see them - hangnails, usually - and often I can't see them.

Some of our fun time at Sky City...

Partying

Stace and I hosted our first big party on Saturday, to celebrate lots of things - a new house, Cora's second birthday, and my 30th birthday.
Thanks to all who came, in person and in spirit! We had a great turnout, and it was wonderful to see so many of our friends together in one place. Thankfully, the weather held out - though it was beautiful the last two weeks, it poured on Thursday and Friday, and was supposed to pour on Saturday. It was dry at our house all day, so the kids could play on the patio and the adults were able to check out the yard.
At top, we have the birthday cake Stace "commissioned" for me, which his coworker Wendy did a fantastic job making.
Next is Stace with Keith and Tracey, his coworkers and our friends. And then, we have Cora and Kelsie, who turned 2 a few weeks ago. (Click here to see how much they've grown in the last year!)
Then me and Mel, with the sweet Willow Tree gift she brought me.

Splashing Elmo, and some DIY

So this was the state of our front door when we moved in. What quality workmanship! Notice the huge patch missing, the white showing through on the door panels, the super-visible brushstrokes, and the drips.

Below, we have the door now. Great work, Stace!A closeup of the "before." Stace and I ask ourselves, what person in their right mind would finish something that looks like that and think, "Yeah. Perfect."
We ask ourselves that question about many, many things in this house.
Stace stripped it, sanded it, put on two coats of primer and three coats of red. Our house is a very neutral beige color, so we actually liked the red paint color, and took in a bit of the peeling paint to have it matched when we bought new paint.

Here are the "before" pictures of the strip of our property near our mailbox, next to our driveway. It had some small dying palms, some large agapanthus (which shoots out stalks with lots of little lavender flowers) and lots of crabgrass and other weeds in between.

And after! The gardener dug it all up very deep to get the weed roots, and then redid the sprinkler system. We kept one agapanthus out front, and had the gardener replant the others in the back yard. Then, he put in five bareroot roses, all red, though they look like sticks at this point. The flowers are pansies, to provide a little color for now, while we wait for the roses to flower. The tree by the garage door is an apricot, and we're told by the neighbor that we will be getting fruit from it! I'm excited about that! Also, in the back, we planted a grape plant that should produce red seedless table grapes in a couple of summers. At some point, I'm looking forward to putting in more fruits and vegetables in the back.



And, for your Cora fix, this is how she entertained herself the other morning in the puddle left on the patio by the sprinklers. (Thankfully, Elmo washed up well in our new washing machine.)

Cora modeling her personalized bathrobe, a Christmas present from Uncle Pete and Auntie Doreen... She was laughing and smiling, except for when I was taking her photo.
We were busy this weekend doing things around the house. I suppose I just shouldn't bother writing that - I probably will be able to write that about every weekend from now on! (Just kidding, we are determined to enjoy life and not just work on the house - but we're having people over this upcoming Saturday, so there are some things we want completed by then.)
Stace has been working on stripping and repainting our front door, and he also put up a screen door so that we get fresh air and don't lose cats and kids while the front door is in the garage for its makeover.
He also has been rebuilding the trim around the doorway between the dining area and the play room. Like most things in this house, it was trimmed out very poorly and Stace couldn't stand looking at it.

The last photo here shows my dad in his uniform, holding Cora, in the plant nursery at his work. We are putting in some new plants and I wanted to see the selection at the nursery there, so Grandpa came out and looked with us.




And here is our singing, dancing girl. This time, I can't quite translate the words to her song.