Its My Birthday

Its the BIG one. The big 4-0. No i am not depressed. I am owning this baby!!! Im in a great spot. I have a great job that i love. I have a great home. And most importantly i have a great family that is all safe and healthy. What more does a girl need?

TJ took me to Indy for the weekend. We stayed in a corner suite at the Canterbury Hotel with valet parking. I could get used to that! But it turns out I am content with cookies and milk or beer and chips; neither of us were too keen on the champagne although i enjoyed the strawberries. We had dinner at the Palomino and went to Crackers for a good ab workout. It was a fun night.

And the kids enjoyed themselves spending the night at Grandma Connie and Grandpa Jakes. They swam in the bathtub and camped under the pool table.

On my birthday, the folks at the office took me out for Mexican for lunch. They even brought out the Monster Sombrero. TJ made me tacos for dinner and an angel food cake which resembled Crater Lake but was delicious with strawberries and whipped cream.

And i got about a million well wishes on Facebook plus emails, texts and cards. It was a good day.

Kora is …

Kora is:

…starting to talk more. Her favorite color is “lellow”. And she often calls Tucker “ca-ca”.

…taking speech therapy with Angie and First Steps.

…jumping with both feet off the ground although her landings are less than graceful.

…a tomboy. She prefers to wrestle with Tucker to playing with dolls.

… a blue-eyed beauty.

…full of attitude.

… a choc-o-holic.  She LOVES the stuff and can sniff it out of a cupboard.

…sleeps with her Dolly and polka dot blankie. She is such a good sleeper, usually from 845 to 630.

…a good helper.  She picks up her toys and throws things away and sets the table.

… a silly kid.  She teases and has the BEST laugh.

…31” tall and 23 pounds.  My little shrimp.  But the Doctor has finally taken us off the watch list since she grew 3” in 6 months.

…still in a size 3 diaper and could likely wear a 2 still.  She is using the potty a lot but still not reliably.

…has figured out how to take off her clothes, all by herself. Now she shows up sans clothes randomly throughout the day and we find clothes all over the house.

…a milk lover.  Her recipe is half whole milk and half half and half.

We love you, my sweet!

I am obsessed with this stuff….

Papaw made the kids a play kitchen this winter.  Nanny got them some pots and pans and a tea set but alas they had nothing to prepare on them.  I found plastic food but I knew Tuck would be hitting Kora over the head with it so this, I think, is going to be so much better. 

This set is actually for a friend’s little girl’s second birthday tomorrow but I have a match set for T and K.

Here is the makings for the sandwich.

Here it is packaged for gift giving. 

And you can’t have a sandwich without a cookie for dessert.  These are light brown on the back.  The idea is that they will be light side up as you cut them and put them in the oven and then flip them over to the “baked” and decorated side when they are done.

And here is breakfast.  The eggs are my favorite to make.  And the sausage is only mildly offensive.  I may switch to patties.

And these are Tucker’s lunch favorite-quesadillas complete with cheese oozing out. These were the fastest since I used the sewing machine.  All the others are hand stitched but only take 15-20 minutes to finish.

I have plans for pitas/tortillas, pancakes, pickles, bowtie pasta, raviolis, pirogues, crackers, more cookies and maybe a cupcake.  I am ate up with this felt food and TJ just laughs when I present him with another course.  I hope the kids enjoy it as much as I have.

Kora is One

 

Kora is…

… one year old.

… on the move; walking; nearly running.

… jealous of her brother.

… only 16 lb. 8 oz. and 27 inches tall.  She has to gain 4 more pounds before she can turn around in the car seat.  Oh, my favorite little shrimp.

…prone to ear infections but getting tubes on the 9th.

… starting to jabber; more than just repeating a single syllable. And she expects you to reply to her inquiries.

…still looking bald although she really does have hair.  It’s just pretty light and pretty thin.  I think we could get enough gathered to put in a barrette but it would just look silly.

…developing and expressing her personality.  She is going to be one funny kid.  (It is the Hole in her.)

…starting to sign. She uses “more” and “eat” mainly.

… a climber. She gets into the wooden shelf and onto Tuck’s little table then has to call for help.  She can get into and out of the toy baskets but it takes work and lots of grunting.

…finally sleeping through the night, just this week. I think the walking is wearing her out more.

… a favorite at Missy’s.  All the kids love her and they all call her “Kora Jane”.

… a bull dog. When she wants to get somewhere she makes a straight line no matter what is in her way.  She just crawls thru it or over it. There is no stopping this girl.

… a biter, right now.  She has 8 teeth and working on getting a molar in.

…the angel that blesses us each day.

We love you Kora and are so proud of you.

Mommy, Daddy and Tucker

Kora’s First Birthday Party

On Saturday we had Kora’s birthday party.  All the grandparents and local cousins made it. Nanny had the date wrong but that was fine since it had been snowing so bad she should not have been on the road anyway.  And Aunt Mary didn’t make it for weather reasons too.  Darn winter birthday’s anyway.

Kora loved reading the cards. Even upside down and backwards.

And she was such a diva with her new clothes.

We all sang Happy Birthday while she tried to grab the flame on the candle.

And Tuck showed her how to get started on eating her cake.

She shared some with Daddy…

and with Papaw…

and with Nanna…

and with Mommy.

And then she licked the platter clean. I just love this picture!!!

She was covered in pink frosting by the time she was done but she was having such fun. She really didn’t make much mess on the floor since she consumed 95% of the cake.

Then it was straight to the tub. No one even wanted to give her sugars as we passed.

After a change of wardrobe it was back out to play with the new toys.  After Papaw put together the stroller he took her for a spin while Tuck cabbaged onto the pink horse from Uncle Scott and fam.

This stroller had a front rail but Papaw had to take it off because Kora was adamant that SHE was going to ride in it, not just her dolly.

Here she is trying to get in it prior to rail removal.

Tucker also liked Kora’s new Beauty and the Beast movie. He sweet talked Papaw and Gamma Deb into watching with him. 

He talked his way thru the whole thing: when beast told Belle she would have to stay in the castle forever Tuck looked wide eyed at Gamma Deb and repeated “For-ev-er?!” and when Beast saves Belle from the wolves he yelled “Yeah!  Go Tiger!” He was so sad when he thought the wolves had killed him but smiled great big and told us “He’s o-k.” when Belle was cleaning his wounds in the next scene. (Can you tell I have watched this 6 times in 3 days?)

The birthday girl with Daddy…

with Uncle Scott…

and with Nanna.

My Dear Kora.  I am just so proud of the little girl you are becoming and I treasure you so much.  We are so fortunate to have such an angel among us.  Happy First Birthday my sweet.