Army crawl

New dress

On Friday we received some packages from Grandma Madelyn and Grandpa Doug. Cora wore one of her new dresses to church today. Here she is after church and her nap, so a little rumpled, but still so cute. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the cute new clothes!

Downey

Yesterday Ryan and I went to a ranch in Downey for Ryan's Uncle Neal's birthday. It was a lot of fun, visiting with family, playing games, and enjoying the beautiful late spring scenery. We didn't take very many pictures, but we should be able to post more once we share with Ryan's cousins.

Fish face!

This was Cora's first time trying strawberries - pureed and mixed with rice cereal. I think they are a little tart for her taste. It was pretty funny. She just recently started doing this fish face when she was eating, but now she does it even when she isn't.

PS- follow up on the army crawl post from a few days ago - Cora had been doing the army crawl all the time recently, she is so good at it now. She also gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth, then falls to her stomach and drags herself by her arms.

Thrifting

I love thrift stores. Luckily there are a lot in Pocatello. Yesterday I checked out a local thrift store I hadn't been to before and they were having a $3.50 bag sale, meaning stuff all the clothes you can into a big bag for just 3.50 - they had several table and racks full of clothes, and I wound up walking away with 55 pieces of clothing in my bag, which comes out to a little over 6 cents a piece! I got about 10 pairs of shorts or skirts for Cora for the summer, including a Ralph Lauren skirt in perfect condition, and a lot of other items she'll grow into, plus a few things for me and several items that are going to be cut up and used for the fabric.

Favorite place to sleep

No I'm not growing dandelions

Here is my little planter made from a student desk with the top taken off. Mom bought it for me at Goodwill when she came for $2.50. She spray-painted it and I added the butterflies later. I have marigolds surrounding lettuce which is just starting to sprout. My herbs are thriving next to this planter too.

City Creek

We went for a short but nice hike along a creek in the hills right across the valley from our house - we could see our little end unit at from the trail head. Cora enjoyed herself until the very end, in her awesome, new (second-hand) carrier. Ryan is laughing at the goofy way I'm trying to get Cora to look at me. Especially since I didn't hear the other hikers come up behind us.

Cousin friends

Cousins Kaimana and Cora had fun playing together this weekend. Cora liked playing with/eating his beautiful soft blond hair, and he liked laying back against her. As you can see, they both very much enjoyed playing with the food storage while we ate Sunday dinner - steaks we barbecued during an intense thunderstorm downpour. Below, taking turns pulling hair.

Look what I can do!

No, I didn't learn when I was a kid. I don't know why, I just didn't. Ryan has slowly been teaching me since we've been married. We recently bought a $30 used bike for me, so I could pick up where I left off, over a year ago in Hawaii. There are a couple nice big empty parking lots near our house where we practiced today. I'm still not ready for the sidewalk (too narrow for my unexpected turns and wobblings) but I'm feeling pretty confident. Also, a little sore since I was gripping the handles so very tight.

Weekend visitors

Walk and picnic at Cherry Creek with Eric and his family, including his little "chimp off the old block." (see shirt)

love those piggies

Almost there...

So big

Well Cora is growing up before our eyes- She got two teeth in this week, she's been sitting up very well, and she started saying mama! I'm pretty sure she doesn't know what it means but she says it when she's playing on the floor babbling to herself. She's also started being quite the mommy's girl, and arching her back when she doesn't get something she wants. She growls and babbles happily all through church, unless we take her out to the foyer, in which case she is happy but quiet.

Grandma

My mom left today, after a nice but too short visit. It was so nice to see her, get mothering advice, and for her to see how much Cora has grown. She spoiled Cora with new clothes and toys, and me with new plants and furniture - a sewing machine desk and computer chair! I now have herbs - cilantro, basil and oregano, and chive seeds, and marigolds. Some people don't like how they smell but I do, it reminds me of working in the garden when I was young when we planted a border of marigolds to keep out small animals. Cora was fussy for the first couple of days Mom was here and just wanted me, but once her teeth came it (yes, two bottom teeth now,) she was happy and started getting to know her grandma, just in time for her to leave. Here we are earlier today - it is beautiful, warm and very sunny in Poky. The pics are just outside our door, with our summertime mountain view.

Jumping bean

We busted out the jumper today - hand-me down from Elise - Thanks Elise! Cora liked it. Here she is jumping/almost dancing.

Faux hawk

I am so happy to have a little girl and cannot wait til I can do her hair with pigtails and bows and such. Until then, the only way I can style her hair is with an awesome faux hawk. This pic is from a couple of days ago. You can see it better if you click on it to enlarge.

A Tooth!

Cora surprised us today with her first tooth! She is seven months old now and we've been anticipating this since she started drooling and biting things like crazy at four months. She's been slightly feverish and fussier than normal lately, but she's been sick so we chalked it all up to that. Apparently though, she had two reasons for not maintaining her normal sunny disposition. My mom, who is visiting, discovered the tooth this evening and we had to get a pic of it, even though it is not the cutest pic and you can hardly see the little pearl. (Hint: it's that little glint of white on her bottom gum that looks like just shiny slobber.) She didn't give up the view easily, with her little tongue always sneaking out. Hopefully she will get over her illness soon too, with the help of Dr. Grandpa Doug, and show my mom what a happy little baby she usually is!

Back from Boise

Well Ryan finished his finals on Wednesday so we headed to Boise on Thursday. While we were there we celebrated Alex's 11th birthday and Eric's graduation from NNU with a Masters of Education. We came back late last night and Ryan started his clinical affiliation at Bingham Hospital in Blackfoot this morning. Here are some pictures of Cora with her cousins - Madelyn, Cora's only other girl cousin, who shares her birthday and is two years older - don't they look like cousins? Notice Cora's new skill - sitting up on her own! Madelyn and the boys just opened a package from Grandma Madelyn and were all excited to try on their new clothes - Madelyn has both of her new dresses on, on top of her nightgown. Also Ryan and Eric at graduation. Congrats Eric!

@ the park

These are from last week - Cora and Ryan playing at the park, and one of the results of my amateur attempt at a 6 mo. photoshoot- notice the chopped-off head. Too busy trying to get her to stay still, sit up, look at the camera and smile.

Sleepy

Cora taking it easy after church. She got a new dress from a clothes swap - free! also, new pretty crib bumper from Goodwill - $3.

First Time!

Well, here is our new blog! Still learning and experimenting, so stay tuned for future pics and posts.