Weekend's work and play

A random photo from Thursday - I had a long, catch-up phone call with JT, and Cora was such a good girl. She played in the play room and outside for the longest time, and when it was lunchtime she asked to watch TV. I thought she had earned it, so I set her up with a picnic lunch of apples, cheese, red pepper slices and celery with dressing. It was Cora's first time having celery, and I was pretty surprised - she loved it! She ate it all. Guess I can buy that again!
So, after Johnny's party on Friday we were supposed to go out to dinner, but Cora had missed her nap. She was having such a great time partying, but then she started falling apart and it was obvious that dinner out was not a good idea. So, instead we ate at home and broke open Stace's birthday gift from my parents - the animated movie "Cars." Cora was really enjoying it - but as I came back in to the living room to watch the end with them, this is what I found. For Stace, not unusual - for Cora, definitely unusual!

But, the movie had quite an impact. Stace gave her the Lightning McQueen toy he had bought when I was pregnant - he was sure it would make a great toy for his future son. She LOVES this toy! All day, she has carried him around with her, talking about him and to him. Here, she was showing him her 'puter, and she said they were taking turns playing the mouse game. He needed to sit at the table with us at dinner, and sit with her on the couch. She even brought him her other quilt, so he could have a blankie, too. WOW. It's how I'd imagine little girls play with their dolls. Stace then got her dolls out, and tried to have Cora include them in her play.

Stace spent much of this weekend working in the garden. He dug up the old plants, and then worked in five bags of compost. We're hoping to have better luck with the amended soil. We had amended it last year, but our soil was so shot we just didn't get a ton of production. We plan to put in our winter crops soon - onions, spinach, carrots and parsnips.
And here's a few more improvements Stace made to the yard - he put up the plant pot holder my parents got us for Christmas, and my clothesline. Here's to the first of many planned DIY projects for the early part of this year! (As in, before Duckie arrives!) We also put away all the Christmas decorations.

First week of January

You, my loyal readers, know by now that I try to be nothing but honest in my writings in this space.

No sugar-coating, no glossing over the hard parts.

Just the truth.

It's in that spirit of honestly recording our lives that I post these photos.

Yes, it is January, and it seems most of the country is knee-deep in snow and ice. But here in SClarita, Cora, Ave and Johnny had a great time playing in the sprinklers at our park Wednesday after lunch.

It was the first time the trio had played together in a couple of weeks, and of course they had a great time. We weren't expecting water play, but the kids had a blast.

The fourth photo shows the girls pushing home Cora's new doll, a Christmas gift from Big Nan.

And on Friday afternoon, we all helped celebrate Johnny's third birthday by soaking in the great weather in their back yard. (Really, it's not always this nice in the winter - we do get our version of cold spells and rain. But not this week!)

The last photo shows Cora taking her turn whacking the Thomas the Tank pinata. (For my English readers, it's full of candy and must be burst open by many blows with a blunt object.)

Reunited, and it feels so good

Together again!

Stace and Cora arrived safely home Monday evening, and boy, was it great to see them again! Being apart for a week-and-a-half certainly made our hearts grow fonder again. I felt as full of anticipation and excitement as I left for the airport as I used to when Stace and I were a long-distance couple.

Cora was very good on the flight home, and Stace received compliments from three nearby passengers about her behavior. What a difference from our trips two years ago! And that was despite the fact that Stace and Cora boarded their plane early, when the call went out for travelers with small children, and then had to wait on the ground two hours for the rest of the people to board because of the new security measures. So ,the 11-hour flight became a 13-hour adventure. AND, Cora only slept for the last few minutes - Stace kept her well-entertained for all those hours!

The great news is, with her lack of sleep on the long journey, Cora slept through the night and didn't wake up until almost 9 a.m. Tuesday! Jet lag, going west, means you normally wake up WAY early; Stace was wide-awake by 4 a.m.

Stace took Tuesday off, too, and it was great to spend the day together at home.

Cora helped me in the kitchen a bit - notice my new apron, a Christmas present - it has coffee and tea cups, and says "Retrospectacular."

She then went out to help Stace with the leaves. You gotta love her ensemble. Cora apparently really liked wearing her warm hat in England, as she decided she needed to wear it here today (despite temps in the low 70s). She's also wearing her new rainboots, along with her apron. A classic look, truly appropriate for all seasons.

Notice the nice stack of leaves in her car. She was very proud of her leaf-stacking ability.

Happy 2010! Here's to an exciting and meaningful year for us all.

Happy New Year

Meanwhile back in Martock......

On Wednesday we had a visit from Wayne and Lorraine and their children Dean and Chloe. Dean, who is now 8, is getting to be tall and seemed to take great pleasure in telling me he'll soon be taller than me. Dean has also added to his list of hobbies. It's no longer football, football, football, but now also books. We had a good chat about snakes and history. He has a very good memory for names and facts. Chloe is the sweetest little girl I have ever known. She has become more chatty and was not as shy as other times we have got together. Cora enjoyed playing with them both and took a real shine to Dean. What is it with that name?

In the evening Andy and Jenny came over.
We had a lovely time chatting and catching up with one another. Although there was not a lot that they didn't know. Andy and Jen are regular blog readers and knew all that was going on with the Howards in America.
Cora entertained us all by serving tea from her new tea set to everyone apart from Andy who had to beg for a cup. He eventually got his imaginary cuppa after finally agreeing to pay for one. Cora duly obliged when the readies were shown.

New Years Eve
We spent the morning in Yeovil and Mum and Dad (more Mum than Dad) bought a new laptop from PC World. They wanted to take advantage of the lower sales tax rate of 15% before it was raised back up to the normal 17.5% rate.
After Cora's late nap we drove over to Dean and Jen's house for New Years Eve. We had a nice evening chatting and playing games with Jen's Mum, Dad, Sister Karen and her husband Lee and their 3 children Amie, Ellie and Matty. Again, Cora had a nice time playing with all the girls and playing against Matty on the Circus games on Deans Wii computer.


We were back at home to see-in the new year and watch the splattering of fireworks let off around the village.

Happy New Year to all our Friends and family.
We wish you health, happiness and love for 2010.

Kissing and dancing

Lisa here, back in SClarita...
Realized there are some fun photos and stories I haven't posted, with life being so full of photogenic Christmas events lately...

First up, we have Stace's Christmas present from Sue and Gord - they bought him a guitar, something he's been thinking of getting for a while.

He's had a great time the last few weeks teaching himself to play, and it's been fun to watch he and Cora together. Stace plays and sings, and Cora will dance to the music and sometimes sing along.
She's learned to dance fast and crazy when he plays loudly, and to slow it down when he plays quietly.

The next photos show Cora's new trick - kissing, WITH the appropriate kissy noise. For the last year or 18 months, Cora's version of kissing was to say, "Muhh" while putting her pursed lips to ours.

About two weeks ago, Cora asked me to come back into her room after I put her to bed. Since she's been going to bed very easily lately (at home, not so much currently, in England!), I went back in to see what she wanted.

She stood up and wanted to give me a kiss, and I got one, noise and all! I was so excited, she gave me lots more. It became her new hobby, for the next few days at least.

Christmas in Martock

Cora and I made our way home to England on our own this year. Saying goodbye to Mummy was harder for Lis and me than Cora, who took it in her normal 'yeh, what ever' stride.

The only thing I was worried about this trip was the flight. Would Cora behave with just her Dad? Would she keep asking and crying for Mum?
Cora was brilliant on the plane. She kept herself busy by reading her books, playing on her new 'puter' and watching the selection of children's programs on the seat back tele. I must say that the choices for the under fives programs was not as good on BA as it is on Virgin Atlantic.

Nan and Pop were waiting at the airport and took us home to Martock. (After two wee stops on the way, good girl Cora.)
Once back in Martock we stopped in to see Big Nan (my Nan (Gran), Cora's Great Nan) where Cora entertained us all with some singing and dancing. Where does the child get her energy from after only three hours of sleep on the plane?
The first night started off really well with Cora going to sleep in her bed after a few stories, but at 2 am it all went horrible wrong. She woke up crying and asking for Mummy, wanting to go home and wanting breakfast, eggs and soldiers. We chatted for hours until she finally went to sleep. We had a repeat performance last night as well.
Yesterday (Sunday), we were altogether again as a family, minus Lis of course. Dean, Jen, Euan and Nan came over for our late Christmas Day. What a beautiful baby boy Euan is. Cora was all over him like a rash and constantly wanted to hold and kiss him. She was really gentle and loving. It was magical seeing both together. Dean's a very handy fella but I have to say, Euan is the greatest thing he has ever made.
Mum and Dad created a wonderful Christmas feast after the normal kitchen bickering that makes the cooking process a lot of fun for us spectators and makes Christmas complete.
We had a full on turkey dinner will ALL the trimmings. At the end the only thing that wasn't stuffed was the turkey.
Just as dinner started Cora flaked out.
In the afternoon we all exchanged presents and played with Cora. Nan and Pop bought her a Tea Set that she won't stop playing with. We've all drank enough imaginary cups of tea to float a battle ship.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning!

Cora enjoyed seeing that Santa had enjoyed his juice and cookie, and the reindeer liked their carrot.

We then hopped back into bed for Cora to open a last present from Mummy and Daddy - a toy laptop computer! Climbing into the big bed altogether is what Stace and Dean as kids, so he was eager to start the tradition with Cora.

Cora loved her toy, and played with it all morning, referring to it has her computer. She was saying that I have my computer, and she has hers.

It's designed for ages 3 to 7, and helps teach letters and numbers, so we're hoping it will last her quite a while.

We then spoke to Nan, Pop and Nanny on the Webcam, and Cora opened her big gift from Nanny and Pop - an art table! She was very excited about it, and started coloring on the attached roll of paper right away.

Then it was time to finish packing for the trip to LAX. I was surprised at how hard a time I had saying goodbye to Stace and Cora, like biting my lip to hold back the sobs till I got back to the car. I've spent exactly three nights away from Cora, and all were one-night deals. I know it will go fine, and I'm really hopeful that Cora and Stace will be even more bonded when they return.

I'll let Stace post an entry when he has time to say how they are doing in England. I'll just say that they're safely there and had a very good flight over.

After I left LAX, I went a few minutes further south to celebrate Christmas with our dear friends John, Linda, and their two girls. John and Linda are Cora's godparents, and their daughters were our flower girls. We had a great time together.

Christmas Eve-ning

Our Christmas Eve celebration with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Mel started with the 5 p.m. service at Real Life Church.

For the special occasion, all children over 24 months were in with the adults for the main service. The children were all invited to the front while one of the pastors read the Christmas story from Luke.

Cora did pretty well for the rest of the service, considering she is used to her kid-friendly 2-year-old Sunday School class. The music and message were great, as always.

Then, it was time for food and fun at home. Trader Joe's catered our evening, and all was yummy.

We started with the English tradition of opening Christmas crackers - see top photo - and then wearing the paper crowns they contained while we read the silly jokes.

Then it was time for presents, with Cora playing Santa. Cora finished her Advent calendar, and found some very pretty bracelets along with her chocolate coin in the "24" pocket.

Before bed, Cora and Stace prepared a snack and note for Santa/Father Christmas.

A special Christmas Eve

Our family was blessed to have Stace off on Christmas Eve day, so we made it a special one, especially since our little family was soon to be apart for a bit.

We started our day with a yummy Christmas breakfast - Eggnog French Toast! I think we've started a new tradition, it was so good.

We then went to Magic Mountain with Grandma, with free tickets she got from a friend.

We last went about a year ago, and it was great how many more rides Cora could enjoy this year in Bugs Bunny World and Thomas Town.

Cora could even ride the little kiddie roller coasters, and she loved them! We adults were too big to get on the Percy roller coaster with Cora, but she was game to try it by herself. We were amazed to watch her going so fast, not a bit scared. See the attached video of that ride.

It was an ideal day for the park - cool and practically empty! You know it's a good day at an amusement park when the ride operators all ask if you want another ride rather than expecting you to get off. Very different than Cora's last few trips to crowded Disneyland!

We didn't get out of the park until 2, so we just had time for a drive-through lunch and got Cora down for a very late nap. She needed the rest for our Christmas Eve-ning festivities!

I'm putting these photos in very small, since there are so many, but always remember to click them to blow them up if you want to see them better.

Princess, Frogs and Parties

Quick recap on our weekend before we rush headlong into Christmas...

On Saturday afternoon we went to see a children's play, the Princess and the Frog, down near Universal Studios. The Prince/Frog was played by Iain, Melanie's boyfriend of a couple of months. They met while acting in the same college play, and funny enough, Iain is also from England.

Cora enjoyed the show, and it was ideal for her because there was no "bad guy" or "naughty lady" to scare her.

At the beginning, she kept asking to go up on stage, since she's now used to singing and dancing on stage at the beginning of Pioneer Club. About halfway through the show, the children were all invited up to sing along and dance to one of the numbers. Cora at first refused to go, and then walked up very s-l-o-w-l-y, and then stood in the front and picked her nose with an unhappy look on her face. Classic! (And, classy!) Finally, about halfway through, she started dancing around with a big grin on her face.

After the show, she bravely went up to the cast members to ask for autographs, though she mostly refused to pose for photos with them.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to our friends' house for a Christmas/engagement party.

For years, Steve and Linda have hosted a nearly annual Christmas gathering for their closest friends. This year, we had the added pleasure of celebrating the engagement of their daughter Casey to Bradley, her long-time boyfriend.

Casey and Bradley have asked Cora to be their flower girl next July, so it will be very neat to have a part of the big day.

The party was really fun, with great food and an entertaining White Elephant gift exchange.

Cora had a few real gifts to open - in the fourth photo, I'm holding a Santa set with a little plate, mug and notepad and pen for leaving a Christmas Eve message and snack for St. Nick. We tried to have Cora pose with us, but you can just see her escaping up the stairs.

Cora was very well-behaved, and every time I lost track of her, I'd find Casey walking around with Cora on her hip. They should get along very well at the wedding!