Our week (so far) without Daddy

Sweet Hubby left on Friday for a mission trip to Haiti!  So it's just been me and the girls this week. I have felt SO blessed by my sweet friends and family who have called to check on us, come to visit, invited us over for meals, brought food, and told us about fun things to do.  We've really had a great week so far. I know it's not a coincidence either - I have many people praying for us and William as he is away telling those in Haiti about the love of Jesus!


Hugging daddy good-bye on Friday!


"Take me with you!"

It helps that the girls and I have stayed pretty busy! Here are some photos of our activities!


picking blueberries



playing with toys

Having fun at our church cook out! Cora was standing in line for the "slip and slide" (more like walk and fall down!)






Sweet Charlotte did so well being up past her bedtime so big sister could have fun!  (Ignore the left over carrots under her nose!!)


Sweet play date with Meredith and Berkley!  Love how the girls are looking at each other, like they are sharing a joke!


Cora picking out a sticker after obeying her sleep rules!



Trying to start crawling!

Yesterday, we even got a surprise card from daddy in the mail!  It brought tears to my eyes to read my man's message to each of us!  We haven't talked since he left, just a text message, so reading his words just reminded me how lucky I am to be his wife and also best friend.








Sweet sisters in matching strawberry shirts! (Thanks Casey Kiker for sending those!)




So we are hanging in there.  The girls are behaving so well and sleeping at night so that is a praise!  It helps that a friend mentioned to us about a vacation Bible school going on this week and I signed Cora up to go! She LOVES it!  Today they learned about "Noah's Ark" complete with a petting zoo.  I was told that Cora said she saw a goat! 

Dance Class

At the beginning of March, Cora started taking ballet lessons! She went on Mondays, for 45 minutes.  Her teacher, Mrs. Allison, is a sweet friend from Community Bible Study.  She studied dance in college and was interested in starting a 2-3 year old class.


On her first day of class.  She was SO excited to put on her outfit - black leotard, pink tights, pink skirt, and slippers. Her class started at 4:15 so as soon as she got up from nap that day, she immediately found her outfit and was starting to get dressed.



Her sweet class.  Can you imagine trying to get all these 2-3 year olds to dance? 


Fast forward to today, her dance recital!!


Stretching, getting ready to dance!





Cora's fan club!  Mema Bell, Charlotte, Aunt Kat Kat and Daddy!

They did a less than 2 minute little dance to "You are my sunshine".  I wasn't sure what Cora would do as when I watched her in class, she just stood there. We practiced a little at home, but she never seemed to excited about it and would only do small parts of the dance.


Look at her go!


This little girl stole the show! 

Cora did a good job!  She danced what she could and spent the rest of the time watching the above little girl run around :)! 



Cora getting her flowers and balloon from daddy.



Oh and a big pink cupcake!!

First Hair Cut

After almost 3 years, we had our first hair cut today!  Cora received the royal treatment as she got her hair trimmed.  I was a little nervous as to how she would react but she did really well.  We talked about it a lot. At one point, I was a little nervous that she might try to cut her own hair. Luckily she did not (at least not yet) and she was excited to go for her hair cut.  She wore one of her fancy dresses for the occasion.  She enjoyed sitting in the chair, holding her little snack, and seeing herself in the mirror.  She was not scared at all when Mrs. Laura started trimming her hair.  After it was all finished, she asked if she could do it again!  Maybe in a few months! 


The "before" shot!





The first cut!  I got a little teary eyed!







Getting a new hair clip from Mrs. Laura!



The "after" shot.  (yeah.. I can't tell a difference either!  But I have the locks in the bag to prove it!)

Sweet Sisters

This morning, as we were getting ready to leave for Bible Study, I had Charlotte sitting up in the chair in her room.  Cora comes in and she begins talking really fast, part English and part gibberish.  I made out a few words like "picture" and "cheese".  I asked Cora, "Do you want to sit in the chair with Charlotte and have your picture taken?" and she said, "Yes!".  It was a really sweet moment of Cora trying to make Charlotte smile and they both just seemed to enjoy sitting next to one another.  I look forward to capturing more moments like this!

Belle's night out!

William took Cora to the movies for a special treat- to see "Beauty and the Beast" in 3D!  I stayed back with Charlotte and let them have some bonding time, plus I got to spend some quality time with Charlotte.  (side note, my quality time was cleaning the floor after she threw up and then giving her a bath.. I'm thinking Williams time was a little better!)

It took some talking into but she finally decided to wear her "Belle" dress up outfit.  She did NOT want to wear it at first.  We had to make some major deals to get her in it.  So worth it for how cute they look!



William wore yellow to match!



It was pretty cold out so a coat was a must!



Eating her popcorn, while holding her hair brush!  William said she really liked the popcorn! Oh and she got a little scared when Gaston was chasing Beast so she crawled into his lap at that part and stayed there the rest of the movie.






Showing me her 3D glasses.  Super cool.



Glasses shot!  Love these two.


William loves his Cora.  I know he will enjoy taking both of his girls out, once Charlotte gets a little older!

The Last Potty Present

We took Cora to her favorite toy store to pick out her last potty present!  She has done so well this weekend, even staying dry during nap and night time.  I'm so proud of her!  Of course, I know we still have a lot left to learn but I feel like she got the idea and it has "clicked" with her! 

Checking out a new ride... unfortunately, this was not in our potty present budget!


She decided on a "Belle" dress up outfit and hair brush set!



Looking so beautiful!



Oh we spoil her! We got her McDonald's for dinner too!

Potty Training Take 2

I think Cora is finally ready to say "Buh Bye" to diapers and "Well Hello!" to big girl underwear!! We started yesterday by having a day at home, totally focused on using the potty and in her princess underwear. I asked her many times if she was still dry and if she was, she got a piece of candy (fruit gummies were her choice). She was really motivated to keep her "Belle" underwear dry. I also had a bigger prize out on display and she was told that if she was accident free ALL DAY she could earn it. The prize was.... Cinderella doll with a horse. (really small one. on clearance from Toys R Us.) My girl made me proud. She stayed dry ALL DAY, even during nap. I'm actually kind of surprised that she was able to do it but I guess when they are ready, they are ready. So she earned her big prize!!


Cora with her new, well deserved toy!

I had my doubts about this but we decided to go ahead and keep her in her big girl underwear even during the night, just to see how she would do. I moved the potty into her room, with a night light, and also gave instructions to her about if she had to go during the night, that she could go there. I also told her if she was able to keep her underwear dry all night, we would take her to the toy store for a new toy. I seriously doubted this was going to work. About an hour after she went to bed, she began calling out to us and I knew we were going to find a wet mess in her room. As we opened the door, there she was.. Holding her little potty cup, asking us to dump it for her since she has just used it. We heard from her 2 more times that night. Once at midnight, where she used the potty again, and then again at 2 am for a snuggle. Didn't hear from her anymore until 7:30 am. And she came out of her room, DRY!


We celebrated with a pancake breakfast!  William made some "special potty pancakes" for Cora!









Complete with Chocolate Chips! Yum!!


Cora immediately goes for the chocolate chips...




I would like to say we had a wonderful morning, eating pancakes and a fun outing to the toy store to pick out her toy but we did not. Cora was extremely fussy all morning and didn't even eat ANY of her pancakes.  When we tried to get her dressed to go to the toy store, she just cried and cried. So we skipped it. It wasn't until after a really short nap that we discovered she was running a fever, sigh.  So not sure how today will continue to go with potty training.  So far, so good.  We had one small accident but once she realized what was happening she stopped and we made it to the potty.  She really hasn't had to go since she is running a fever.. Better keep her hydrated!

Watching "Toy Story", recovering...

Super Fun Saturday

What do you do when it could be your LAST weekend before you have another baby? You relax and stay home and get the last few things finished up and just rest, right? This would be my answer but this is NOT how we spent our last weekend! We got down and partied. First up was a birthday party for Cora to attend! One of Williams coworkers invited us to celebrate her kids turning 3 and 1! We had a great time - it was great weather, wonderful food, great company, and lots to do. 



Scene of the backyard.  What would you play on first?


Cora went crazy over the bouncy house!  She did a great job climbing up to the slide, once she took her socks off.


After the bouncy house, she loved the trampoline.


Oh, and did I mention a candy bar?? Yes!  Sweet take out boxes for the kids to take home (okay maybe mom and dad ate most of the candy, sorry Cora.)


Cora with her take out box!  Looking at the bouncy castle.


The party was "Minnie and Micky" theme.  Very cute!





Waiting patiently for cake!


Happy Birthday Karly and Kolten!