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July 14-16, 2010
We left my parent's house and drove back down to NC in our speedy red rental car. We stopped at the temple visitor's center in Washington, DC for a quick potty break. Since the girls enjoyed being out of the car so much, we stayed for a movie, ate our lunch/snacks, and got our picture taken with the statue of Jesus.
When we arrived at Taunja's, she tied a fancy apron on Ally and then the two of them got to work cooking and baking. I held Cora, chatted with T, and did my best to not stick my fingers in the pots. She made us a delicious upscale version of cut-up hotdogs in mac and cheese. I was in heaven. Chris is an awesome cook too, but only Taunja caters to my cheesy-creamy-fatty cravings. I still think she should move out here and be my personal chef; I ate so well (and so much!) when we lived together.
Ally enjoyed all the attention Brittany bestowed upon her when she was around. They sang, messed around on the computer, and talked and giggled. Here's Ally trying to explain "Hide and Go Seek" to a very patient B.
When Taunja wasn't at work, she was hanging with us and playing hostess. One evening we got to see Celsi and meet her new-to-me husband. I had a lot of fun catching up with them and reminiscing about when I was living the single life in Durham/Chapel Hill.
Cora loved taking naps on Auntie T while Taunja sang to Ally.
We were only able to spend a few days with T and B, but Ally remembers it well. She still talks about the Princess Bubble Bath and sleeping on the mattress on Taunja's bedroom floor. We also still giggle about her comment "Now we're just like a big happy family!" when we were all piled into T's bed one night. In my book, T has always been family.
We had a playdate in the park along the Columbia River a few days before Easter. Every time I walked away from the picnic table to help Ally or Cora on the playset, a seagull would swoop down and try to steal our lunch. One time he actually was successful and picked up our grocery bag full of food. He flew about 20 feet before gravity forced him to land. Then I swooped in and stole it back. A bird should not be able to fly while holding something 5 times its weight in its beak.
After lunch we moved to another area and fed the geese (and the gulls were fed, too). Thankfully my friend Jenn is smart and had us sit on the picnic table. Those geese were quite aggressive! Everyone had fun throwing the old crusty bread at their new feathered friends, although most of Cora's bread went into her own mouth. 
We dyed and decorated eggs the day before Easter. Here are the girls getting all creative in their jammies.
Easter morning, Chris made us a sweet bread (not "sweetbreads" a.k.a. calf brains) shaped like eggs in a basket. We ate that breakfast while looking for treasures in our real Easter baskets. The best part of Daddy's basket were his truffles. My favorite items were the masks. Ally did a great job of practicing self-control, eating a little of this and a little of that at a time. Cora, well, we discovered that she's a sugar maniac. She quickly learned how to say "chocolate", bite and/or suck her way through any kind of wrapper, and climb counters.
The Easter Bunny broke into the house while we were away at church. He left 6 eggs in Ally's room and 6 eggs in Cora's room so they wouldn't have to compete for the sweets. Ally finished her egg hunt in under a minute, while Cora took a bit longer. Once she realized her eggs were more than just great maracas, she had to sit down and have herself a little snack after each discovery. The girl never stops eating!
And then, for Easter dinner, we had homemade Thai food. That's when I dropped the camera and broke it, so we don't have a picture of the dozen crab rangoon I ate. But they were delicious!
1) A new helmet. She sleeps with it in her crib at night. She wears it a good portion of each day. Safety first! You never know when you'll wish you would've been protecting your noggin-- even on the toilet. (Thank you, Seattle Children's Hospital, for such a wonderful gift.)
2) Little piggy flannel jammies. It's gotten hot here (maybe I should turn the AC on), but she keeps picking them out of her drawer at bedtime. She has 12 pairs of PJs to choose from, so these flying pigs must be her favorite.
3) A sippy cup of chocolate milk. Her favorite drink. A girl's got to stay hydrated at all times.
4) Pooh Bear. Her favorite thing to cuddle on besides me. Who doesn't love Pooh? And his name is quite inspiring when you're taking care of business.
5) A froggy potty. Her new favorite game is to sit, pee, dump her output in the big potty, and repeat. (I'm just there to supervise and cheer.) She'll purposely squeeze out 15-30 mls at a time to keep the game going and going and going. . . She'll also say "poop it out", grunt and strain, and occasionally get some results. She then stands at the toilet, waves, and says "bye-bye poopy" as it flushes away.
Do you remember the beginning of April?
Ally's transition from being a "Big 3" to an official "Little 4" started with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, Mickey pancakes, and the obligatory glass of chocolate milk. Then we all got dressed and went over to the mall. The girls spent 2 hours making new friends in the play area and had a Dairy Queen lunch (corn dogs and french fries) in the food court, before Ally's big photo shoot at Sears. Ally was sure to tell everyone she saw that it was her birthday. When we got home, Cora and I tried to keep Ally happy by playing games and reading books until Daddy got home from work.
Ally chose the Emerald of Siam for her birthday dinner. (If you're keeping track of our special meals, that means Greek for me, Polish/VooDoo/Indian for Chris, Indian for Cora, and Thai for Ally.) Daddy's fondness for culinary experimentation and diversity seems to have made an impact. Ally and I shared a plate of non-spicy something-or-other. I took a picture, but forgot the name. We also ate some yummy appetizers which inspired our Easter crab rangoons.
After dinner we opened presents and had some dessert. Ally had requested another castle cake but after struggling so much with it last year, I wanted to do something simpler. I thought Cinderella would be easy, but not when I didn't bother to measure her long, long legs before starting. Or when I didn't have as much batter as I had thought. Or when half the cake stuck in the pans and/or crumbled, decreasing the achievable height as well. I thought about cutting the princess' lower half off to make her fit properly, but opted to have her ballet toes sticking out of the skirt to avoid any trauma to the birthday child. At least I know the frosting was yummy. If you look closely, you'll see that Cora was trying to help herself to some sweetness while Ally was posing for the picture. That girl just can't control herself around sugar.
Thank you for all the gifts and attention paid to Ally on her big day!
When the weekend came, we finished Ally's celebration with a family mini-golf adventure. Ally and Cora each have unique ways of golfing. Here are a few videos to give you an idea of their individual techniques and how pretty much each hole was played.
At least Ally learned to hold the club like a putter instead of like a cane.
I'm pretty sure Cora was practicing for the upcoming Easter Egg Hunt.
When we arrived at Taunja's, she tied a fancy apron on Ally and then the two of them got to work cooking and baking. I held Cora, chatted with T, and did my best to not stick my fingers in the pots. She made us a delicious upscale version of cut-up hotdogs in mac and cheese. I was in heaven. Chris is an awesome cook too, but only Taunja caters to my cheesy-creamy-fatty cravings. I still think she should move out here and be my personal chef; I ate so well (and so much!) when we lived together.
