Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope those of you who have the day off have a fabulous one! I will spend the day packing, packing, packing, packing. One week from today we move everything out of our house. We are still going to spend the night in the house (camp-out style with no beds or anything) because it makes me sad to think that we could have spent an extra night in our sweet old house and we didn't.

It is all starting to hit me. We are about to leave the house that we lived in when we got married, when I had Cora, when she took her first steps, and said her first words. What makes this all even harder is that Cora is getting sad about things getting packed away or taken down from the walls. Every day, she points to where a picture of a llama hung on the wall and says "llama gone" in the saddest/ cutest voice you've ever heard. Then I say, "I know the llama is gone, but we will see him again." She starts nodding like she knows everything is going to be OK and says "Dav Dav" meaning we will see the llama again in Davidson. Then we repeat this process with the penguin, the duck, and the pig. Aha! As I am typing this I just figured out that she is talking about her piggy bank. I had been trying to convince her that there was no pig picture in her room.

And, now you know the three most important things in Cora's room. I didn't know they were favorites until they were gone.

We stopped by our new house to check out the progress for a quick second yesterday and Cora picked out where the llama, the penguin, the duck and the pig would go in her new house.

Here she is checking out the ceilings with Scott.

The good news for Cora about us taking everything off the wall is that the chalkboard in her room is temporarily at her height.

Here is one more Cora photo to celebrate Memorial Day (let it be known that this photo has nothing to do with Memorial Day). On the way up to see our new house, we saw a random dog in our neighborhood that looked like it didn't belong. So, I stopped and checked its tag. Sure enough, it was from a nearby neighborhood. The dog was SUPER DUPER friendly and Cora thought it was pretty fantastic that we got to hang out with the dog until his owner came.

ps this photo doesn't show off the dog's happy personality. I promise he was a sweetie.

The Memorial Day fun isn't over yet. I have a few shout outs:

Happy birthday to my BFF, Sandra Dee!!!!

Congratulations to my dad and my sister for finishing their walk on the Camino de Santiago. They went to Spain and walked about 200 miles in less than 3 weeks. You can follow the adventure on my dad's blog, Young Codger!

Here they are walking on the camino. They hit a bit of a snow storm, but for the most part they had pretty nice weather.

I hope to be back with a full post tomorrow!

My Favorite Cora Photos: Month 8-9, Part 1

This is the first third of Cora's 8th to 9th month. Play it cool, people, play it cool. Yes, I said there will be 3 whole posts about one month of Cora's life. Yep. I could not get it down any further. 

Look at that little standing cutie! I found that little jeans overall skirt situation in her closet and realized that she had never worn it and had already outgrown it. So, I stuffed those chubby little baby-fatted legs into it for a few adorable photos!

Ahhh look at that little smile. That makes me want to run up to her room right now while she is sleeping so soundly and wake her up to give her a big cuddle.

For about 4 months of her life she was completely obsessed with opening and closing doors and hiding behind them.

She was very good at the open and close game!

Here are me, my babytoddler, one of her baby toddler friends, and two of my very best pals!

It is a good possibility that Cora just came from a rodeo with that fancy outfit on.

Big eyes and her smiley cousin, Wren!

Big eyes and her wide-eyed mama make another appearance!

Cool hat girl and her dad- just playin' it cool.

Mama and her jazzercised-outift baby.

Sorry, teenage Cora... we were doing so well for so long with you always wearing clothes.

All parts covered nudie bath girl

The cutest little duck in the world!

Grandmamas keep babies equipped with some seriously girly things, including huge flower headbands.

Flower head and her dad.

Just hanging out, eating some dirt.

Here she is playing tic-tac-toe with her dad in the park.

Dirt is delicious, but everyone knows that leaves taste the best!

More park time with my babytoddler!

I cannot wait for that little baby to wake up so I can squeeze those adorable cheeks (and take one thousand more photos that you won't see for at least a year- when we finally get to Best of Cora at 18 months).

More Cora time:

month 1, month 2, month 3, month 4a, month 4b, month 5a, month 5b, month 6a, month 6b, month 7a, month 7b, month 8a, month 8b

Entertaining A 14 Month Old Baby With... Leaves? Part 1

Let's get into Fall! And let's get into some baby entertaining!
How about we start with a little leaf stompin'.
That's the way we get into Fall around here!

Disclaimer: This post is a Cora overload. Grandparents, if it causes you to jump in the car and drive to see her I accept that.

One of the suggestions in my 365 Games Smart Babies Play book was a "leaf stomp." Leaf jumping and stomping was one of my favorite activities when I was little. Actually, I still love it. So, I was on board with that suggestion right away!

See all the craziness at the top? Someone around here brings this book with her to the gym. Then, she puts stickers and marks on the pages she wants to do next. The people at the gym think I'm normal.

I broke out a box we had from a recent Costco trip and filled it with leaves. Then, it was time to insert my babytoddler. She loves leaves! Loves them... maybe as much as me. But this little leaf stomp wasn't doing much for her. Don't get me wrong- she wasn't turning her nose up at it, but it just wasn't driving her wild.

She did, however, take the opportunity to taste a few leaves. By now, she should know what every single variety of leaf tastes like.

One of the reasons that she didn't fall in love with the leaf stomp may have been that earlier that day we did a for-real-leaf-stomp with no box restrictions.

Don't you worry- she didn't miss this opportunity to give the leaves a good bite.

If you are looking for other ways to entertain your baby or your babytoddler check out this post.

Dear Grandparents and Aunt Kelly, I know you have enjoyed the mayhem of Cora photos that the last two days have brought you. I will not be keeping this up. The good news is... I have one more Cora-filled post scheduled for tomorrow. The other good news is... Skype should be up and running by this weekend! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my awesome, house-decorating, had-the-best-time-driving-to-school-with-her-every-morning, doctor-tastic, friend, Becca:

Becca is obviously wearing a beautiful birthday crown!

One last thing before the WYR. Walgreens is offering another free photo. This time it is a photo collage! Just enter the coupon code COLLAGEFREE when you checkout from Walgreens and you get a free photo collage! You have to use it by the end of Saturday, 11-3! Thanks for the heads up, Kelly!

And now the Would You Rather Election Question of the day!

WYR... elect Clarissa (from Clarissa Explains It All)
or 
Punky Brewster as President of the USA?

Halloweens Of Years Passed

Costumes, costumes, costumes.

I love home-made costumes. A few weeks ago I showed you some random home-made costumes that I particularly enjoyed. And now, I am going to show you some random costumes from my past.

I was Pippi Longstockings, a lifeguard (normal thing to be when it is 30 degrees out), one of the 3 blind mice, Santa Claus, and who knows what else. 

Lucky for you, I am pretty good at taking photos of my awesome Halloween costumes. Also, lucky for you... my mom takes photos like she is the paparazzi.

Look at those cute chubby cheeks that my sister (Oscar the Grouch) has! My costume is pretty awesome (Mom and Dad, it doesn't like you threw it on me at the last second at all)!

I inherited Kelly's costume from the previous year and Kelly turned into Strawberry Shortcake. FYI Cora inherited these costumes too! My mom held onto them for 30 years. Unfortunately, when you put on the mask it feels like about 30 cats are scratching your face simultaneously. It is the most jagged thing I have ever seen.

Also, if my dad was looking at the camera you would see one amazing mustache!

I am guessing you have no idea who we are supposed to be . I will give you some clues below. 

HAVE MERCY!
CUT IT OUT!

Angela (aka Angus is pictured at the end of this post looking a bit more normal) is supposed to be Uncle Joey from Full House. Mark (in the middle) is Danny Tanner (please take note of the cleaning gloves). I am on the end and I complete the trio as Uncle Jesse.
Danny has DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle in his brief case. I am holding onto Nicky and Alex.

The reason we decided to dress as the Full House boys is that we found those infamous stonewashed jeans at a Goodwill. They are about a size 55 waist and are amazingly too long for me (I am almost 6 feet tall!). We saw one pair and were dumbfounded. Then we came across a second and knew it was destiny. We knew we had to buy them and we would figure out the rest of the costume later.

I am sure Scott would like it to be known that it was his idea to be a Smurf. I decided to copy him at the last minute because I had not thought of a costume yet. He wasn't thrilled to share his silly idea with me but that is part of the deal when you get married... if you are going to be a Smurf and your wife wants to be one too you let her. (I will have to add this to my list of life lessons).

So, here we are... just a couple of 6 foot tall Smurfs.

A Smurfette close-up for you.

And a close-up of, what can only be described as a "cool player Smurf."

You might need to prepare yourselves for the next photos. Sit down. Grab a glass of wine. Turn on the WWF.

This is what you have all been waiting for. You may not have known it but, trust me, it is.

Not so much me. I am just Jem from Jem and The Holligrams. No one has been siting around waiting to see that costume.

RIC FLAIR! That is why you all are here. Scott is dressed as the most ridiculous person in the history of people. And, if at all possible, Scott looks 1,000 times more ridiculous than Ric Flair ever looked.

In case you don't know him... here is Ric Flair. His skin is a sweet, fake-tanned hue of orange. His hair is blonde as blonde can be and borders on mulleted. His outfits are insane. 

the most ridiculous photo I have ever seen from here

If you know anything about Ric Flair you should know that Scott is saying, "Wooooooooooooo" here.

How did Scott come across one of Ric Flair's original robes with beautiful gold fabric sewn all over it? Is that what you are asking? 

This will probably surprise you. But that is a home-made Ric robe. I took a stroll to my favorite costume finding shop, Goodwill, and I came across a plain, blue robe. I bought it along with the ugliest gold pillowcase I have ever seen. And I made the glorious WWF costume that Scott is wearing proudly here. Face paint was purchased. A blonde, princess wig was bought. A championship belt was hunted down and purchased. Gym shorts were hiked up and turned into whatever you want to call what is happening there.

And that is how an amazing Ric Flair costume was born.

On a much less exciting note... Just for comparison's sake, here is what Jem looks like from Jem and the Holligrams.

Truly Outrageous image from here

You can't quite tell because I am hiding behind Ric Flair but I had the microphone. I had the fanny pack-looking tassle situation happening at Jem's waist. I even had the star earrings. The earrings are key- that is what Jem uses to turn herself into a rock star!

Please feel free to copy any of these costumes. In fact, I highly encourage it. However, if you copy the Ric Flair costume you MUST send photos. The photos will then be promptly posted on this blog!

Just a week left until Halloween... you better go get your Goodwill on!

And now... The Would You Rather question of the day:

WYR... have to wear full scuba gear to your son or daughter's wedding (and you have no explanation why)

or wear clown shoes and a red, rubber nose to work every day for 1 year?

My Old Abodes

For as long as I can remember I've been involved in the decorating of my room. 

Before I was strong enough to start moving my bedroom furniture around by myself I would decorate my Barbie house with whatever random items I could find. A slinky turned into an elevator. An old raisin box was a chair. A scrap of fabric became a rug. And a picture of a flower from a magazine was now a print for the wall.

I was a very lucky little girl because my mom let me pick out what color I wanted in my room. 
I took that to a bit of an extreme when I was about 12 years old. That is when I started doing things like painting a rainbow on my wall, covering my ceiling in pictures from magazines, putting photos all over my furniture, and spilling paint all over my floor.


Here is a photo of my best friends, Christina, oddly playing a guitar like it is a violin in front of the rainbow on my wall. 

Please take note of her sweet bangs and the amazing spiral curl that comes down the right side of her face like a peaceful ocean wave.

Seriously, I cannot imagine letting Cora decorate her own room. I am very, very thankful that my mom gave me free reign over the ridiculousness that were my walls. I think that had a huge impact on my decorating style and it certainly gave me plenty of experience. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that every single day I would either change my furniture arrangement, paint something in my room or add new pictures to my wall.

As I mentioned here I love a bunk bed. I was lucky enough to have one for 3 or 4 years until I realized that it put a major damper on how many different possible ways my room could be arranged.


Here I am with my two best friends, Mali and Christina taking the bunk bed down. 

As you can see, I had wrapped magazine photos all around the outside of the bed. My favorite celebrities at the time were Claire Danes, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Jared Leto. If you look hard you can also spot a picture of Bill Cosby, a dinosaur,  the Seinfeld gang, Mork & Mindy, and Rosie O'Donell (strange, I know). There are about 3 entire walls that you cannot see in this photo that I covered with magazine clippings of my two very favorite celebrities, Johnny Depp and Leonardo Dicaprio.

The back wall of the bunk bed was covered with photos of my friends.

I had pink Christmas lights surrounding the bunk bed.

As I matured I realized that clouds on the ceiling, blue sponge paint around your bed, album covers and Ferris Bueller were a lot more sophisticated.

I turned the rainbow into a yellow wall with blue polka dots. Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio became green walls and a cloud poster.

My college roommate, Nicole and I decorated our dorm a bit but that mainly consisted of insane to do lists like I mentioned here and Swedish Fish and Tootsie Roll wrappers on the floor. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any photos.

I lived in an apartment in Arlington, VA with my two best friends, Christina and Kristen. Here is a glimpse of my fabulous room.

PS- I know I keep saying everyone is my best friend. I have a lot of best friends. I had 10 bridesmaids in my wedding and they are all my best friends. It is weird and I like it!

I moved to San Diego, CA with my best friend (there it is again!), Angela. San Diego is where I met my sweet lovey dear, Scott. It is also where I stepped on an enormous piece of glass, got a bunch of stitches, wore crutches and because of that couldn't work for about 3 months. I tried to find another job but it is hard to find a job in San Diego. It is possible that people just weren't interested in hiring the spazzy lady on crutches. Luckily, I had saved up some money and it gave me time to focus on perfecting the decorations in my bedroom. It also gave me time to watch the director's and actor's commentary on every single DVD I owned (I am a weird bird).

So, here she is... the ol' San Diego palace.

A big thank you again to Grandmama Ross for letting me go wild on my walls. 

Another thank you to all of my best friends for helping me take down bunk beds or help with whatever weird decoration project I happened to be working on!

PS I am calling this a LIST of photos from my old rooms!