Modern art

Cara had a good time being creative on Sunday....

Note the pigtails - first time I've successfully managed to get pigtails on her. Such cuteness... I added this photo to my desktop today at work. It was hard to get anything done, cause I just wanted to look at the picture all day.

Cara tells us that the picture she painted is an owl and a circle. Here's the final product, proudly displayed on our fridge:

Come on now, can't you see it? The owl is the big blue-green blob in the middle, and the circle is the big blue green blob on the right. Geez. You need to learn to appreciate your modern art.

The happiest place on earth

We just got back from Disney World last night... Cara's first trip. May I brag a bit? I have the happiest, most easy going toddler on the planet, folks. She did great on the plane... great on the rides... great in the park... a mostly happy camper, despite a kind of crazy schedule and less sleep than normal.

We loved Magic Kingdom - easily the favorite of the four parks. Of course, Tigger and Pooh were there. What's not to love?

We even got to ride in Pooh's honey pot! And bounce with Tigger!

And Daddy bought a Tigger hat! Life just doesn't get any better than a Tigger hat, let me tell you.


The rides are great. The teacups are by far the favorite. Yup. We had to ride the teacups twice, they were so much fun.

Dumbo is pretty sweet too. (He flies really FAST and really HIGH, according to Cara.)
Of course, there's always REAL elephants and giraffes. They were awesome.

And fish! We like the fish! (Too bad they don't photograph so well)

We even like the ones with teeth!

Minnie Mouse is really nice...

But Pluto is SCARY.

We rode on a big riverboat with Mimi and Grandpa.

And wore crazy glasses with Mommy!

We ate some interesting food at the Biergarten in Epcot. They had a neat band and we danced a lot. (Photos of Cara the Dancing Queen to come - they are all on Grandpa's camera)
And we spent some quality time in the stroller. Thank goodness Daddy brought a blanket.


All together, we had a WONDERFUL time!!

Peek a boo!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good: my kid actually ate broccoli tonight and liked it!!! (Notice, however, the untouched carrots. If she accidently gets one in her mouth, she fishes it back out immediately, making a grand face. I think she takes after me. Carrots... yuck!!)

The bad: She woke up at 5:45am and wouldn't go back to sleep. And although I put her in bed early tonight and she was clearly tired.... she didn't actually fall asleep til 8:30.

The ugly: We both have a nasty, persistent, deep, medication-defying cough left over from anotherwise minor cold... I am listening to her, asleep, coughing on and off, right now.

Sigh. Do I wake her, give her honey and some water in the hopes of making the cough go away, and pray she goes back to sleep quickly? Or do I let her cough, hoping it will subside on its own? I HATE making these kind of choices.

I hate this stupid cough. Neither of us is actively sick anymore, but the cough doesn't want to go away. I have drunk more tea and honey today than a whole boat of British grandmothers. Cara is going to be addicted to honey, which does help a little, but doesn't last very long. Arrrrgggghhhh. The only saving grace is that my cough is much worse than hers, which is FAR better than the reverse situation.

Ah... she has stopped coughing... for now, anyway. Big Mommy sigh of relief. And if you tell me that I worry too much, I am going to throw the honey at you. : P

A month of posts, all rolled into one

I'm either a slacker or a super busy mom.... but I haven't posted in a month. Tim is protesting. Soooooo.... hang onto your hats - here's our entire December, rolled into one big post.

We spent quality time making ornaments... Cara cut them out, painted them (and herself, gleefully), and generally had a great time. They turned out really well.

We also made Christmas cookies at Mimi's, which was a LOT of fun. Of course Cara thinks anything involving Emily and Anna Kate is a good time, but throw in something that is both messy and tastes good... well you clearly have a winning combination.

Mmmmm cookies.Aren't the girls cute? They have a lot of fun together.

We played at Tristan's birthday party...

And discovered the joys of the merry go round... it is HARD to get a good picture of your kid on the merry go round... good job, Tim!

And of course we had a VERY Merry Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at Nona and Poppa's house...

Christmas Morning at our house, which for some reason I have no photos of her opening presents from Santa... hmmmm......

And Christmas day at Mimi and Grandpa's. No, we did not get her Guitar Hero.... it's Emily's.... but we do have a budding musician.... she busts out her drums whenever the older folks playing. Great fun for everybody.

And last but not least....... Emily and Anna Kate spent the night.... which was lots of fun for everyone. Our kitchen turned into a race track. Pretty entertaining.




Whew!!! Here's my new year's resolution: POST MORE OFTEN. This many photos in one post is really complicated.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Rock a bye baby

Nona had the day off today and picked up Cara. Such fun! I came over after work and we all had supper. Cara was a little pig tonight; she cleaned her plate and then some.

Nona brought down Meg's old rocking chair (I think it was Meg's.... maybe it was mine. Hmmm.) and Cara went NUTS for it. She had a ball. Mom had to hold onto her because she was rocking herself out of the chair. The pillow that she insisted on sitting on didn't help there either.... pretty funny.

She was so tired tonight that she got pretty upset getting ready for bed. Hopefully she will nap better tomorrow... it's been a tough week sleep-wise, but it's to be expected with the new daycare. And since otherwise she is doing great, I really can't complain.

I had a busy day... and a busy night ahead of me... no time for slacking here! I love Christmas but I always have too much to do. So off I go to finish cards and calendars and other such fun things.

Ponytail!!

This should have been posted yesterday but hey, better late than never, right?

So the good folks at Primrose have discovered that Cara can wear her hair in a ponytail! I didn't recognize her when I picked her up... I was looking for long blonde hair and had to do a double take. Pretty funny.

We went and did our civic duty and got a sticker for our efforts. Very exciting. Yup. Actually Cara charmed everyone at the polls by declaring loudly "Vote! Vote!"

We had a good dinner and then spent some quality time with a paintbrush. Always a popular activity : )