Going Strong in March

Well, the thing about updating less often is that when I do, I really have a lot of pictures to share.  I don't know if that is good or bad, but here it goes. 

Sylvie's class celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday with a pajama party and program.  I got to go to school with her, make crafts, eat snacks, and enjoy spending time with Sylvie.  She had a great time, and her class is very cute.  She was very excited about wearing her Hello Kitty pajamas and slippers.  

Go Gators! (Cora photobomb)

 Cora has turned into a scavenger.  She is at that delightful stage where she crawls along the ground looking for tiny things to put in her mouth.  Due to Jens's very messy eating habits, under the table is like her gold mine.  She is almost as effective at cleaning up after Jens as Casey used to be.

Very pleased with her haul.

She is also loving stuff.  Any stuff.  She likes opening cabinets and drawers to explore.  She is definitely a more curious type--we might have to put safety locks on things, something we never had to do with Sylvie. 

Saturday bike ride with friends to Dos Coyotes.  Jens and Mike went and had a great time.  Maybe next year Sylvie will be riding well enough so we can all go!

 I got my hair cut.  It is the shortest it has been since college.

 Mike and I went to Priest Laurel prom (as chaperones, not to dance, although we did dance for a minute, once.)  It was fun.

Mike likes licking Cheerios and sticking them to Cora.  She doesn't seem to mind.  

 I put some Cheerios on the chair next to Jens so she could help herself to a snack.  She loved it.

 This year we participated in our first ever Pinewood Derby.  The joys of being 8!

Jens made a red racer.  Sylvie made a car as well, but because there were 32 boys racing, siblings didn't get to race their cars.  We went back a few nights later and set up the track with a bunch of families and let the kids race their cars to their heart's content.  Both nights were very fun.

 Bath time!

 March 13
We went to the park so I could be there for YW.  Cora and I watched the soccer game until the mosquitos descended.  Then we tried out the swings, which were very popular.  Mike and Jens brought their RC cars, so we all had a fun night.

She is just so cute. 

Cora likes to have me around, but occasionally she entertains herself.  This day she found a crinkly plastic dvd holder, perfect for waving, crunching, and chewing.  She thought it was so funny. 

She is going a great job feeding herself.  She seems to prefer eating left handed, but I think that was true of all of our babies at some point.  She is generous about offering to share, something I NEVER take her up on, strangely enough. 

Saturday Sylvie and I had a work day.  She power washed our patio furniture and I power washed the patio and cleaned up the yard so we could enjoy being outside.  We have had a few weeks in the 70's, and although I know we still need rain and I am hoping for it, I have to say we all enjoyed the gorgeous weather. 

More eating. 

Jens made some good Leprechaun traps this year.  A lot of tape was involved, and he was rewarded with some chocolatey gold.  Yum!  And Happy St. Patricks Day!

So sweet when she wakes up. 

 The Johnsons stopped by en route to their vacation.  We always loving having them come.  They are such fun, wonderful friends.  It makes me so happy that our friendship has lasted and gotten better with time--I just wish we lived closer together. We stayed up way too late, especially since they had to start their next day pre-5 am.

 Being shy.

Sylvie's school did a field trip to Techniques Gymnastics.  She loved it and had a great time, up until the end when she hurt her toe.  It was bleeding pretty badly, but she was very brave.  She didn't cry until we got in the car.  I could tell she really wanted to and was holding it in, so I told her to let it out and she did.  But it didn't spoil her attitude about the field trip, and she recovered enough that she and I were able to go to the pool and practice swimming. 

Jens went to science night and had crazy hair.

That night we did fancy braids so she would have wavy hair the next day.  It worked really well. 

Scavenger Cora:

Mike went skiing with some work friends on Friday.  He had to really dig to find all of his snowboarding stuff.  His bibs still fit--he looked just like he was 22.  The kids had a great time trying out all of the winter gear and playing around with his board and boots.

On the slopes:

Friday morning Sylvie and I did a photo shoot with Cora.  I was really good about taking the other kids to Picture People for 9 month pictures, but somehow that just wasn't happening for us this time.  Cora is difficult now because she doesn't want to sit still.  She did not like having her picture taken. 

Luckily Sylvie came and helped me get her to smile, so I think we got a keeper. The lighting isn't as good as Picture People, but she still looks pretty cute. 

Jens and Mike have recently been obsessed with RC cars.  Seriously, Mike has been to HobbyTown almost 1000 times since he got his car for his birthday.  He messages me almost every day from work that he is stopping by HobbyTown on his way home, and do I need anything?  He is mostly joking, but not completely.  Jens and his friend Colby have been developing a track in the backyard for the truck.  It even has a jump.  They worked very hard clearing pine needles and tamping the dirt.  

Cora has a new love: the dishwasher.  She likes taking things out of it, splashing in any puddles that might be available, and trying to climb onto the door.  Also, she apparently loves Sylvie's orange hair extension braid thing. 

 Jens's new skill is making macaroni and cheese by himself.  He wanted to know how to cook stuff in case of an emergency.  So now he knows.  He sometimes gets out the wrong sized measuring cup for the milk, but generally speaking, he can cook something!

Sylvie's photo skills at work:

 For school Sylvie needed to count out and take in 100 things.  She skip counted 10 groups of 10 almonds, then made the label, which says "Mis Debe 100 almins."  Pretty good spelling, I say.

 She also crafted this very cute and well fitting crown for Cora.  Sylvie made herself one as well, but couldn't wear it for the picture as her hair was in a braid and bun for swimming lessons. And check out those little teeth on Miss Cora Lynn!

 Sylvie was very determined to have her swimming lesson, even though it was pouring down rain.  She had a great time and didn't want to get out afterwords.  I had to stand on pool deck with an umbrella for ten more minutes while she cavorted around like a fish.  Crossing fingers we will be ready for swim team . . .