Facetime with Cora

Cora has been going through a very defiant phase. We have had frequent power struggles-- great and small-- with her. Some of her most favorite times in which to assert her stalwart resolve to not do what is asked come while getting her picture taken. Cora's stubbornness (and expressive nature) has resulted in very precious and unique visual memories.

In the past month alone we have:

Fun at the zoo.

Contemplating our nation's monuments.

Don't bother me.

Enjoying the temple flowers.

Fidgeting at a hockey game with a $4 orange soda stain
around her mouth. (Go Flyers!)

Eating a snack in an effort to avoid the pic.

Eating a fork in an effort to avoid the pic.

Sad bunny.

Tonight, after I pulled out her ponytails and unbraided her hair, Cora begged me to take her picture. She finally decided to look right at the camera, hold relatively normal poses, and smile.

No dancing around.
No weird hand gestures.
No overly-forced smile.
No pouty lips.
No whining or crying.
No crazy head tilts or spastic eyeballs.

Just natural, unedited beauty-- once you look past the eighties-esque wild-child hairdo.

Enjoy!

Time Marches On

I blogged about St Patrick's Day (which is more than I can say for last year's March) and did a mini-Easter post but neglected the rest of the month. Here are March 2013's missing pieces:

Ally worked on some tongue twisters while doing an art project at our kitchen table (lest you think she always wears a smock while at home). She got the hang of them quickly.

We celebrated the first day of spring with popsicles. March 20th proved to be a warm and sunny day, unlike the rest of the past 90 days. Hopefully spring will come and choose to stay really soon, because I'm tired of having the heater kick on. This is not the North Carolina weather I remember from years past.

Our dear friend Taunja visited, so we took to her to play at City Lake Park in Jamestown. We unknowingly arrived while they were having their annual egg hunt, so the big playground was overrun with children. We made our way to the smaller playground at the back and had it mostly to ourselves. Chris isn't in any of these pics, but he accompanied us on the adventure.

Ally and Cora pretended to go on a seafaring adventure and then ran a few races around and through the play structure. Ally also flipped up-side-down while Cora did what she does best-- eat snacks.

Before she left, Aunt T gave each of the girls a prize from her Primary bag. We can't wait for her to return again. I can always use an excuse to devour more bacon cheese fries from Ham's.


Chris and the girls dyed eggs. They used crayons and a glitter kit with marginal results.

The Easter Bunny came on Sunday morning and filled our baskets. The girls wore their fancy fuchsia dresses to church (more pics in a previous post). Then we drove out to Selma for Easter dinner with Chris' family at Aunt Sarah's house. Ally, Cora, and I moved into Grammy and Grampy's house for a few days to have some spring break fun while Chris returned home to work (more on those adventures in an upcoming post).

Grammy was kind enough to spoil her grand- daughters with more Easter goodies just before bed on that last night in March. Then we tucked them in. When they awoke,
it was April.

An Extra Hole in Her Head, or Maybe Not (or Maybe Two).

Two weeks ago, on April 14th, Ally finally lost her first tooth. I say finally because the poor girl had been impatiently waiting for this to happen-- ever since the dental hygienist told her over a year ago, "I think this bottom tooth is starting to loosen. It will definitely be out by Christmas!" She was a little overzealous in her enthusiastic prediction.

Last known pic showing all her teeth.

Loosey-Goosey

Although the famed tooth was noticeably loose for about two weeks total, it only spent a day or two in the "just-pull-it-out-already-'cause-it's-only-hanging-on-by-that-last-bit-of-tissue" stage. (I'm very grateful for that. I have a hard time looking at dangling teeth.)




Ally had told me she was ready for me to pull it the night before, at Uncle Paul's wedding reception, but she chickened out during the process. So we stopped. The tooth came out on its own when we got home the following night and were eating dinner. A couple of soft, cheese raviolis did the trick!

Because this was her first tooth, Ally wanted to keep it. She asked us if we thought the tooth fairy would allow such an exemption. Ally told me that, although getting money would be nice, it was more important to her that she keep that tooth. We suggested that she write the tooth fairy a letter with her request and then see what happens.

Always curious, Ally added an important question on the back:

Ally put the tooth and the note in a jar, placed the jar under her pillow, and went to bed.

We weren't prepared with a special pillow or fancy tooth treasure chest, and we didn't want the fairy having any trouble finding the tooth or note. Maybe a tooth jar will be our family tradition by default?




Ally was very happy and surprised the next morning. Not only did the fairy let her keep the tooth, but she left a 2 dollar bill and a personal note, too.

A related story: Ally's 6-year molars came in about a month ago. She had been complaining that something felt "different" in the back of her mouth, describing it like "rough craters" that were hurting. I looked, and three of the four molars and completely erupted through and one was halfway there.

Someone asked her about her missing front tooth the other day. Ally acknowledged that she lost a tooth, but told them that she's not missing any teeth. She went on to explain: "I lost one, but I also grew four new ones, so I actually have three extra and not one missing."

The pumpkin stage begins!

P.S.-- For some reason, this original entry ("An Extra Hole in Her Head, or Maybe Not") didn't post this morning. The computer must have had a premonition that I'd need to add something more.

Ally only had one hole in her gumline when I picked her up from school this afternoon, but she had two by the time she was hopping out of the car at home. All Ally and I can figure is that she must have swallowed her 2nd loose tooth while munching on her Fritos. Now she gets to write another note to the tooth fairy. It's a good thing her fairy knows how to read and seems to be quite accommodating. 

Eating is dangerous.

Sassy Leprechauns 2013

Saint Patrick's Day was a little over a month ago, so I'm not too far behind in posting this, right? Here are some cute pictures of our leprechaun girls to start things off:

We met up with some of the Hoffmans at the Saint Patrick's Day parade in Raleigh. We hung out with Colleen, Nate, Maddie, Grandma, and Grampy while watching all the floats, dancers, animals, clowns, and cars go by. Here's my favorite snapshot of our little group. Can you tell who took it?

Normie tried really hard.

Thankfully she was able to redeem herself with this shot:


We watched the colorful street party while we ate our snacks and collected candy. The girls enjoyed all the Irish dancers and other groups of kids that participated. Cora is still petrified of anyone wearing a full costume and dogs, but she managed to hang in there. We were happily surprised to see Elena and little Zac marching along with a group of baby-wearing mommas. My only complaint was hearing the unedited version of "Thrift Shop" blaring from an adult dancing float; otherwise, fun was had by all.


Nate strutted around in his new-found bling and our big hat. Cora and Ally sported the new scarves Grammy had made for them. And Maddie was content observing the chaos. Aren't they all cute?


After the parade, we walked over to the museum to use the potty and ended up walking through the main exhibit on North Carolina's history. Ally and Cora pretended to work on a farm, walked through an old house, learned a little about the civil war, and contemplated what life used to be like a century as well as decades ago. Here's a pic of Cora ready to serve in the war; all I can think of is shrunken heads at the end of Beetlejuice.



The thing that left the biggest impression on Ally was a doorway labeled "Colored" next to a doorway labeled "Whites". Her basic comment was "Why would anyone tell me I can't go through the Colored door just because I'm not dark-skinned? That's just silly." We talked about how people thought differently back then (and that some, unfortunately, still do) and how grateful we are that we live now. And then she purposely passed under the "Colored" door. Way to be defiant for a good cause, Ally!

Cora and Ally both fell asleep on the way home. I guess it was too much excitement for one day.

Hippity Hoppity

Happy Easter! 

My Tap-Dancing Fool

Pretty good for never having taken lessons, don't ya think?

Our Disney Trip: Princess Dinner

After spending the day at Animal Kingdom, we had reservations with a princess at the Grand Floridian Hotel (for dinner, not to stay). The girls changed into their gowns and freshened up in the hotel lobby's powder room. Ally had chosen her fuchsia "Anastasia" ensemble while Cora dressed the part of "Cinderella-in-Dora-sneakers" for the evening's dining experience. Both played their parts perfectly and had arms and skirts outstretched as we were escorted to our table.

Happily Ever After

As we ate we watched the characters circulate through the dining room, waiting for our turn to meet the step-family, Prince Charming, and Cinderella herself. I think Ally was most excited about meeting Anastasia so she could point out that they were twins. I enjoyed the steps' voices and facial expressions.

The food was pretty good. I don't remember what we ate, except the delicious strawberry soup and the little desserts. One of Cora's favorite parts of the whole night was getting to eat a handful of jelly beans at the end of her meal.

Some kids got to dance with Cinderella and Prince Charming, but our children weren't so lucky. There was, however, a live band playing in the upper balcony of the hotel lobby. Cora and Ally both took the opportunity to strut their stuff after dinner.

Lucky Shot

The hotel was beautiful, and as with everything else, it was decorated for Christmas with multiple lighted trees, garland, a fancy birdcage, and a large gingerbread house. We walked up the huge staircase and explored a few shops before heading back to our budget resort for some much-needed beauty rest. Too bad we couldn't really ride the carriage home.