Happy First Birthday, Elsa!!!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

  T-shirt from Great Uncle Dean!

Belated Birthday song...

Cora loves to sing.  Cora loves Birthdays.  And as you would expect she is always excited to wish someone a Happy Birthday!  For some reason I did not think I had a video of the whole Birthday song.  But, when I downloaded photos today it appears that Cora sang the whole thing before running over to see the video.

(A big challenge with pulling out a camera with Cora is that she really just wants to see what is being captured!)

So, a belated Birthday wish to Cousin Sarah (and Bella who got a live rendition!)


Enjoy!

Santa Makes an Appearance

Santa!

We went to a Holiday "sock Rock'en" party at a neighborhood friend's house.  Cora was sporting some cute penguin socks and ran up to play with the dozens of kids that were there.  At 7pm, Santa came by and let children tell him what they wanted for Xmas and take photos.  Our friend Rob snapped this cute photo when it was Cora's turn.

It has been a busy week.  Cora enjoyed going to see her second live performance of "The Nutcracker."  The first one she attended was just the second act and a vast majority of the dancers were under six.  Very inspiring to Cora.  This latest performance was a matinee for families but the dancers were either professional or pre-professional.  There were many roles for children -- mostly the mice.  Even thought the performance was during nap-time Cora was transfixed the whole time.  She wants to dance the role of one of the snowflakes.


Happy Holidays!

Cora's newly painted room!

Lower bed of a bunk bed we got for the girls.  Cora was over the moon when she get her 'big girl's bed' but tI think she was expecting a ladder and a top bunk. The other bunk is in the attic for a few years. 

We need to add a few more details, but the painting is done!  Basically it is an abstract mural of a green landscape , a lavender sky  and pail yellow 'clouds' with a few details like branches, butterflies and stars per Cora's request.  Cora has decided that her favorite color is light green.  So, light green it is, including the chest of drawers.  I must say it is a great choice for that room!  The crib is all set up and ready for the new addition in February, although we think she will spend a few months in our room.

Cora is very excited about the idea that she may help change diapers and put her little sister to bed.  We will see.

Story Time

Bedtime stories for two babies and a bear.  A little practice for later....

Halloween 2010

Our little ballerina!

Cora had a lot of fun with this costume.  When she went out with friends we added a leotard and legwarmers.  After she turns three we may need to sign her up for dance class.  The last photo is of her posing like her ballerina statue.

Cora has something to say ...

Enjoy!

Cheri's Wedding

The whole family flew out East for my good friend Cheri's wedding.  Cora was very excited to hang out with her friend Texas (Tex) who she had not seen in just under two years when she was six months old. 

They hit it off right away!

Two peas in a pod.

This was great because Cora was supposed to walk down the aisle as flower girl and Texas was going to be the ring bearer.  After running around, dipping their toes in the pool and a little practice they were ready.

 I think the promise of jelly beans did help.  As you can see below, Tex's Dad and I are sending them on their way.  They walked down the aisle all by themselves and Cora made it through most of the cerimony until she announced to Dad that she needed to go to the potty.

We had a wonderful time and Cora and Tex spent the later part of the evening with a babysitter in a room full of toys. We enjoyed the amazing food and a little dancing.  Cheri and Yariv looked so happy and it was a wonderful start to their life together!

I think it was close to midnight, Cora and Tex came up to say goodnight in their PJ's and danced a bit with the bride. (Thank goodness for time-zone changes -- to us it felt like 9pm :-)

PS. We actually got someone to take a picture of all of us together -- a very rare event.

Flower Girl - dress up

Cora is going to be the flower-girl in my friend's Cheri's wedding.  We tried on a number of dresses and we ended up with a the top one with a champagne sash and I made her a silver sage knit shrug like the one seen in pink here.  Each dress Cora tried on had to be taken for a test twirl.

New Orleans

Cora loved the music of New Orleans.  Here you can see her dancing and singing with the band that was playing at an outdoor cafe.  As you can see then invited her up to sing...

Cora was also a huge fan of the local food and could not get enough of the red beans and rice.

From the wedding in NOLA

My friends Heather and Grant had a wonderful wedding in New Orleans.  Heather and I went to school together for eight years, starting in the 6th grade.  Grant and I met performing in Bellevue Youth Theater's Hello Dolly (he played Ambrose Kemper and I played Dolly Levi).  He seemed a perfect match for Heather and I set them up.  Match-making went very well with the character I was playing --- "I've always been a woman who arranges things."

It is wonderful to see them together all these years later.

Cora enjoyed the wedding and danced with both the bride and groom.

Grant is one of Cora's favorite people.

Well wishes for good friends!

Cora, Bill and I are heading down to the Big Easy tomorrow morning to celebrate the wedding of long-time friends Heather and Grant!   Cora is so excited to be flying on an airplane and to see Heather and Grant.  She has been telling everyone that they are getting married.

Below is a wedding wish and the dancing portion of Cora's night-time routine.  Here she is dancing to some music the couple sent us to get us ready for New Orleans.







P.S.
Sorry for not posting in a while.
I got very busy organizing and participating in a show at Portland City Hall:
http://vimeo.com/10467204

I am very happy with how it turned out and glad that we are finished.

Rainbow hat

Cora wearing the hat I made her before heading out for a walk.

A trip to the Grandparents

Christmas day unwrapping presents!

Boxing day at the Kirkland waterfront tossing stones in the water and running around the public art.

Christmas Morning!

  Cora still can't believe what a lucky girls she is to receive so many books and toys. Thank you!

Merry Christmas

 

Cora was wondering why she needed to move her trains to bring a tree into the living-room.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!!

A picture from last year hangs on the tree.

Whoooo is Two?

Happy Birthday Cora!

Cora had six little friends over and two newborns (one who was 12 days old!) for her Birthday. Above are Ziza, Cora and Sofia all posing for a photo.

We made Great-grandma's much loved Hoot-Owl cookies and had carrot cup cakes large and small.

Cora really enjoyed having everyone over and of course opening all the wrapped boxes.

Happy Thanksgiving Birthday

Cora enjoyed her early Birthday party in Seattle.  When asked how old she was she precociously answered,"six".  Her doll was "two!"  She was excited by her new train set, but was beside herself when she opened her very own computer (with built in wireless).  We are not sure what she is going to do with it right now except enjoy her saying "O" when she taps the 'o' key and "C" when she taps the 'c' key etc.

The XO Computer from the one laptop per child program

  This year Cora is no longer afraid of latex balloons!  She was  thrilled to see them make an appearance.














Cake, who needs it?  Cora chose to have satsuma oranges instead.  We have a cute video of her insisting on more oranges "No cake, more oranges! No cake, more oranges!".  Seeing that she ate almost five servings of broccoli for Thanksgiving dinner, she seems to have a 'healthy' appetite.   Thank you to all the family and friends who joined us for Cora's early celebration :-)  Cora turns two on December 11th with little friends joining her for some "whooting fun" the following day.  I cannot believe it's been two years.

A Super Halloween!

Cora enjoyed dressing up as
Super Girl on Halloween!

 Along with Mom and Dad and her friend Sofia, Cora went to a few houses that were decked out for the holiday and learned how to say "Trick or Treat" to receive candy.  She then would say "Thank-you-you're-welcome" right afterward.  She did get a reward of a few MnM's when she got home, but we will save the candy eating tradition part of Halloween for next year.


(Sorry for the delay in posting, Mom's been a bit busy and we have had a little bit of a battle with a computer virus --  yuck!)

 

A Grrrrreat Trip East

We had a wonderful trip to visit family outside Albany and Boston.


Okay, we are still sorting though laundry and all the photos from our trip, so this is a teaser photo.  More to come after Cora's nap tomorrow.

P.S.  I changed the way comments were set up, so now family and friends can post without needed to log-in to anything -- try it ;-)















In other news... the Studio is move-in ready... so we have also been moving in!