See You Later, Alligator

We made Graham a travel coffee mug with this picture on it for Christmas.  The girls' favorite saying when someone's leaving the house.  

Christmas Fun

Had to be one of our best...time with family, good food, fun presents...

Girls, their stockings, and a not quite awake Mommy.

This has to go down as my favorite present for the year.  Addy made Cora a joke book.  If you know Cora, you know she loves the laugh.  And she has the cutest (and most silly) way of telling knock-knock jokes.

Cora:  Knock knock who's there Addy. (said all as one sentence, which at the end she then waits for your response)
Mom:  Addy who?
Cora:  Over there (as she points to Addy sitting across the table).
Then repeat, going all around the table to anyone who might be sitting there.

I admit to finding the idea of a joke book on pinterest, but Addy loved it and took over the project.  We went through the Internet and she identified 10 jokes she liked.  She helped me type them up and then we printed them out.  Then she illustrated each one.  Someday I'll make a blog post of just the book because the illustrations are the best part.  Addy was so proud and excited for Cora to open this present.

Star, with what has now easily become her favorite toy.

And presents from Santa.  A guitar and drum set.  Rock on!

And, handmade by "Santa's elves," a rainbow train per Addy's letter to Santa.  Each car has a special inscription like "Woodbury R.R" or "Net weight 12-25-2012" or "Cora Caboose Company."

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Pageant, Take 2013

One of our favorite holiday moments has to be the Christmas Pageant at our church.  There's no better way to connect with the spiritual part of this time of year than by being part of the retelling of the story itself.

This year, it was truly a family affair:  Graham, again, as Director; Addy, again, as an angel; Me, again, as angel and kings "coach"; and Cora, making her debut, as a cow.  Our precious wandering cow.

Some of my thoughts when watching this video:

• Graham makes the perfect director - the right mix of line coach and disciplinarian
• Cora must have been teething
• Addy and her friends make a darn cute angel chorus
• And why oh why do we give the shepherds staffs?

Our Christmas beauties, cheesy smiles included.

O Christmas Tree

Having fun at the tree farm

Found it!

Home and decorated.

With extra branches formed into our advent wreath.

"Dance Like You Think No One's Looking"

Graham said that to me as I'm wiping the tears off my face while watching Cora dance.

I love her.  Cora brings a smile to my face everyday.  And usually has me cracking up laughing at least once a day, too.  These dancing videos are just a snapshot into the love of music, expression and love of life that is Cora.

In our playroom, we have a radio/CD player that is there for the girls.  Cora loves to turn it on and crank up the volume, often to static, but just as often to her Kindermusik CD's.  These times, she managed to find what we're quite sure are the worst radio stations broadcast.

And with that, I introduce Cora.  The dancing queen.  Enjoy.

Part I: The Warm-up

Part II:  Jumping to the Beat

Part III:  The Interpretative Dance Encore

Addy's 5!!!

And what better way to celebrate than a Beach Party at Ben & Jerry's!  (In December, in Cleveland!)

With some of your closest friends.

They made ice cream from scratch.  Cookies and cream.

They played games.  Duck, Duck Goose and 

Freeze Dance

They even tie-dyed t-shirts!

And of course, a piñata.  A beach ball :)

Addy picked a tie-dyed design for her cake.  And her two ice cream choices - phish food and phish food.

Make a wish.

Cora approved of the cake.

Making her ice cream cone to add to the birthday wall on her way out.

Her 5-year-old autograph...keeping it real with the mix of upper and lower case letters.

Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for...

Family, friends, toys, corn, my girls...and the feathers went on and on.  Note that it even includes one feather that Cora wrote (if only we knew what it said!)

We got our turkey this year through our CSA.  It was "harvested" on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Doesn't get much more fresh than that.  Grandpa Russ enjoyed cleaning it out - it was a biology lesson with all the organs.  Yuck!  But after a little bacon, maple syrup, and sage, it was a beauty.

Grandma Carol and Grandpa Russ were here from Florida, Sean & Agnes, Grandma Sherry and Great-Grandma Thompson from Pennsylvania.

Normally, I have to remind Sean to behave.

I can't remember many other Thanksgivings in Cleveland when you could be outside dressed like this!

Don't ask what me they're doing.

And what has become a Shaker Thanksgiving tradition, a trip to the playground.  Usually with the adults have as much if not more fun than the adults.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Snuggle Time

Always time for a good snuggle.

Daddy & Girls Weekend

While Mom was away in Wooster coaching Notre Dame College's Moot Court team, Daddy and the girls hit the town for a fun-filled weekend.

Vader Daddy, Woman in a Binder, Princess Zombie & Rainbow/Princess/Skeleton Cora

Halloween 2012 - the year of the zombies and Frankenstorm.

It all started with carving our pumpkins.

What they think of the inside of the pumpkin.

Daddy even got to use power tools this year.

All done.  You can tell Hurricane Sandy was one its way from Addy's hair.
The three pumpkin snowman was built with the pumpkins from our garden - so cute!

School was cancelled on Tuesday because of the high winds and power outages that were already occurring around the city, so we spent the day doing some Halloween-inspiried crafts.  Here are the girls with their spider hats, waiting to surprise Daddy.

Well in advance of Halloween, the City postponed trick-or-treating until Sunday.  So when we otherwise would have been out haunting the neighborhood, Addy and Cora celebrated with a little Halloween tale.  Addy loves to read anything and everything she can get her hands on, and Cora sat so patiently and listened to her.  Then Cora picked up the book and "read" it back to Addy.  

Sunday came and preparations began for our costumes.  Daddy worked hard on Addy's makeup.  For weeks now, Addy has stuck with "I'm going to be a princess zombie."  The zombie thing is a shout out to Graham.  While Addy has no real idea what zombies are, and I'm happy for it to stay that way, she does know they're on the cover of some books Daddy has read recently; that they make scary faces; and they eat brains while saying "BRAIIINNNSSS."

The final product.

So, in true Cora fashion, "I princess zombie."  Sensing a theme?  Anything and everything Addy does, Cora must do.

Here's the beautiful princess, before any zombieness.  However, she then spilled water all over the front of herself, necessitating a costume change, which is how ended up with one very confused Cora (see the family picture below).

I was going to stick with my traditional witch costume, but then found these three silver rings and so was born the woman in a binder costume.  I could not pass up the opportunity to have a costume that I could accessorize with office supplies!  Notice the beautiful tabs I made for my binder!  Thank you for the inspiration, Mitt Romney ;)

I didn't end up with an individual picture of Graham's costume, and looking back, I think that's in part because it scared the wits out of poor Star and Cora.  When Graham was given an old gas mask from a family friend who was moving, the idea for his Darth Vader costume was born.  He even sounded like him.

So here's the family picture.   Complete with Cora in skeleton jammy pants, a princess tutu, rainbow fleece and polka dot hat.

We headed outside to trick-or-treat starting with our neighbor's house.  And for Cora and I, that's as far, if you can even count that house, that we made it.  The poor thing was just too tired (because of the day, Halloween also fell on the day of the time change, so her bedtime was quickly approaching) and confused about all these strange looking people.  She spent the next 20 minutes telling Graham Sherry all about the "scary people at the house."

Uncle Sean and Agnes joined for the festivities, too.  And because it was the night before his (& Uncle Chad's) birthday, we made him a little cake.

Yum!

Happy Halloween!

Tip Tip Dig Dig

Cora with what is currently her favorite book.  We love her ways of providing emphasis :)

Addy & Kyle

Here's what we know:

* Addy loves to swim.

* Addy loves her swimming lessons.

Here's what used to be true (and may still be a little bit):

* Addy is nervous when trying things for the first time.

* Addy is particularly nervous around men.

Here's what we now suspect:

* Addy has a crush on Kyle, her swimming teacher.

Addy started her third session of swimming lessons a few weeks ago.  She has been over-the-moon excited about swimming lessons lately, and can't stop talking about Kyle.  To further illustrate, because of a well-visit for Cora and a meeting, I haven't been the one to take Addy to her lessons yet this session. Two days ago, as I'm squawking with my laryngitis, Addy says kindly, "Mom, I hope you feel better tomorrow..."  Oh, how sweet, I think to myself.  Then Addy continues "...so you don't sound funny when you meet Kyle."  Otherwise put, Mom don't embarrass me in front of my crush.

Anyway, I met Kyle today.  He's cute, and nice, and by this time this session of swimming is done, Addy's going to have some serious endurance.  Watch this of her swimming by herself - and this was taken after swimming the entire length of this pool, with the assistance of only a noodle.

Monkey Need Diaper Change

"Monkey Need Diaper Change"

That's what I heard while washing my hands after just changing Cora's diaper.  Hmmm...I'll go find out.  Here's what I found:

P.S.  I apologize for my voice.  As you can hear, I've been sick.  Sounded worse than I really was, darn laryngitis.

Fall Fun - Part II, Fresh Fork Market Potluck

I just love these pictures of Addy.  They're from a customer appreciation potluck we went to with our CSA, Fresh Fork Market.  They roasted a pig, some of the Amish farm owners/suppliers were there, it was quite the experience. 

Addy and Graham decided to take part in the egg toss game.  Real eggs, mind you!  Look how gingerly they're throwing and catching.

Well, these eggs were super strong and before long, the rows were quite far apart.  After missing a big catch, Addy decided it was too far for her and wanted me to take over.  Sure.  No need to tell you how that ended...one egg-covered mom coming up!

This was from the same day, but not from our CSA harvest - this is Addy proudly showing off one of our three small, yet cute, pumpkins growing in our backyard garden.