All grown up...

About a week ago, Greg and I were walking Cora to school. I asked her if she wanted to skip with me, so we started skipping...AND CORA WAS ACTUALLY SKIPPING!! She has been trying to skip probably since she was 2, but only ever got it with one leg! I said "Since when do you know how to skip??!!" She just looked at me with a satisfied little smile and shrugged.

Today the sun decided to make a little appearance, so we took the opportunity to get outside and enjoy it. Cora got a bike with training wheels for her birthday in November, but obviously hasn't had much opportunity to ride it through this wet, cold, looooong winter. Needless to say, she has been a little cautious thus far on her bike

rides. Well today when we went out I coaxed her into riding fast enough to keep up with me at a slow jog. She was really cruising! And smiling from ear to ear!!

Well this little girl was just on fire today, because she decided that today was the day that she could finally tie her own shoes. I don't say "finally" as in "it's about time", she's only 4 and a half for goodness sake! No, I mean she has been begging us to teach her how to tie her shoes for over a year. We have been trying. Working on it a little at a time because it can be awfully frustrating when your fingers just won't do what your brain wants them to! My girl actually tied her own shoes today. Several times. Completely unaided. Wow.

Cora finished off a wonderful day by giving me the biggest compliment of eating everything on her plate, AND a whole second helping. Sure, you're thinking we had pizza for dinner, right? WRONG! I made steamed new potatoes and peas in a cream sauce, and teriyaki chicken. And she loved it! What a lovely change of pace to not have to sit and coax every bite into her pretty little mouth!!

She just won't slow down. Before I know it she will be all grown up.

Fashion sense

My Young Women and I went to the WSU spring Fashion show tonight. We saw a wide range of styles that the students designed. They started out modeling recycled designs. No, I'm not talking about raiding your mom's clothes from 1972...they actually used recyclable materials and made clothes out of them. Most of them were pretty...well, STRANGE!

Then we moved on to the senior clothing lines. We saw some stuff that we thought we might actually wear. Each of the students had something that inspired the design of their clothing line being modeled. Some examples: Tropical scenery for a swim-wear line, old Parisian silhouettes, and our personal favorite? Madagascar Jewel beetles!!

I mean, who can honestly

tell me that they aren't getting

some fabulous clothing design

ideas from this guy right now?

Seriously though, I can see some fun colors, and flashy iridescent

fabrics being used for this.

Do you think that is what this senior designer had in mind? Oh no....she is a whole different breed of crazy! Here is what we saw (or something similar):

I told the girls I was most likely going to have nightmares tonight!

Oh and just a little p.s....go ahead and use your imaginations and add some bright, cotton wings on there. Yep, now you're getting the full TERRIFYING picture.

Happiness Party!

Cora came to me the other day and told me that she wanted to throw a surprise party for her Daddy. When I asked her why, she told me that she just thought that it would cheer him up a little!

Greg has been out of a full time job now for almost 2 years and that has been hard on him. Of course he doesn't give himself credit for the hardest full time job of all. You moms know what I am talking about!! Full time stay at home mom/dad is a big job and he has been doing a fantastic job of it. Cora and her daddy have grown so close and it has been wonderful to watch.

So back to the surprise party...Cora planned all the details.

What to eat: Hot dogs and chips.

What to drink: Apple juice.

Decorations: Party hats and balloons.

We sent Aunt Kimmie to the dollar store. They ended up not having any party hats so she settled for bunny ears!

When Kimmie got off of work later at 7, she called Greg and told him she locked herself out of her car and needed him to bring her spare key to her. As soon as he was out the door we got busy decorating! By the time he got home

the hot dogs were on the grill, the table was set, and we were hiding in the dark in our bunny ears ready to blow our noisemakers!! Greg was so surprised. Cora did a great job keeping a secret and I am so proud of her for her kindness and compassion. She often reminds me what it is to be Christ like.

What does it feel like?

I put Cora in a nice warm bath this morning before school. The only problem with nice warm baths though, is getting out into the cooler air. At this point in my life I have enough insulation to keep my teeth from chattering when I get out to dry off. But we all remember those days as kids, stepping out of the tub and as the shivering commences thinking that we will never be warm again! Well, on the days when I am feeling like an extra cool mommy, I like to put Cora's towel in the dryer while she is in the tub and get it nice and toasty warm for her. This morning I wrapped her in her cozy hooded towel and she sat on my lap to share some of the bliss with me. After a bit I asked her if she was roasting yet or if it still felt wonderful. The rest of the conversation was as follows:

Cora: I'm not roasting.

Mommy: Oh, so it feels wonderful still?

Cora: No.....it feels like LOVE.

Well, now we

all know what love feels like.

Abominable Snowman

Oh boy! It has been so long, and oh how I have missed blogging. Between working full time and not having internet at our house it has just been too much to think about. We now have a home phone and internet and I can't believe how much more connected I feel. No more phone conversations cutting in and out, no more dropped calls, no more trips to the parent's or the library just to check something out online!

So I guess the first order of business now that I am blogging again would be to tell about the AMAZING 6 foot tall snowman we built today. I wish I could find my camera so I could post a picture! The snow has been coming down all day and is perfect wet packing snow. Greg started us off with the first snow ball for the base of the snowman, and he started us off big. By the time I got outside I could see that he didn't have just any ordinary old snowman in mind!! Cora did great packing extra snow in to round it out and hold the sections together. She was also a great design director..."No dad, it's not done yet. We have more work to do!" I haven't played in the snow and had so much fun in way too long. I am so lucky to have such a great family to spend a fun day in the snow with.