Like Father, Like Daughter...

Just some fun pictures...


She is wiping the baby's nose.

Cora is changing her baby's diaper...she asks for wip-ees. She says 'yucky' when she does it too.

Sitting at the table like a big girl. This only lasted a couple of days...she isn't tall enough just yet, but it works in a pinch.

More fun pictures of Cora.

Sweet baby blues!

She was posing for me and following instructions - a rare occurrence, but I got some cute pictures.

She is just about to outgrow this dress and has outgrown the shoes, but I shoved her feet in them anyway!

Just like her Daddy does it...

Cora woke up early one morning and snuggled with Daddy while I got ready for work. When I tried to wake her up she crossed her legs...well Dennis does that in his sleep. Yikes! How do kids do this???

Well, while I am at it...here are some updates on Miss Cora Vallee:

*She moved up to the next class at school a few weeks ago. She is struggling in the mornings, but I think during the day she is fine. So far so good on the biting, but she has been scratched a couple of times this week.

*Cora is overly clingy to Mommy since our trip. I am working on it, but it is hard.

*She doesn't just say 'Mommy' it is 'My Mommy' and 'My Daddy'. Our friend's little girl climbed up in Dennis's lap the other day and Cora screamed 'My Daddy'. She didn't want in his lap, but she didn't want Baby Bella in his lap either. Very cute.

*She has started to say 'can't' in place of 'don't'. She'll say 'can't want it'.

*We are really working on Yes Ma'am/Yes Sir. She doesn't say it on her own yet, but she will say it if you tell her.

*She is getting better at using 'please' and has 'thank you' pretty much down.

*When she says a something that isn't a full sentence or says 'I want...', I teach her how she should ask for it nicely. Amazingly she is catching on pretty quickly. She is getting better and better each day, but still has her demanding moments.

*We went to the dr last week to check on her ears since she was so cranky. They were clear, but we concluded she probably had a sinus infection. She got her flu shot that day too. I distracted her while she read her book and the nurse gave her the shot. Wow - she was pissed! Poor baby. She is still hovering around 31-32 pounds. Last month or so I held a yard stick up to her and she was almost taller than it! She definitely had a growth spurt recently, but only shot straight up!

*She loves to play tea party. She will bring you tea, ask if you want 'more' or ask if you are 'done'.

*If you ask her if you can have something she is eating, she'll ask if you want 'more'. Or she'll ask if you are 'full'. And when she is eating dinner and doesn't really like what she is eating, she'll offer you some.

Galveston Weekend w/OJT

We invited the OJT gang to come hang out in Galveston for the weekend. Out of the 8 families, 5 made it for all or part of the weekend. It was a nice relaxing time for all of us. It was also nice not having to pack up a trailer at the end of the weekend!

Kayla and Alyssa hanging out.
Cora, Baby Bella and Brynna hanging out.

Daddy put on Bella's headband because Cora said 'Daddy do it'.

Cora wasn't feeling very well and didn't sleep much Friday night. She had her flu shot on Friday and was suffering from a virus or sinus infection. I decided Saturday afternoon after numerous meltdowns that it was a Sinus infection and she was getting worse. I filled a prescription the dr wrote me on Friday and she was already noticeably different on Saturday night! She still had her 'Mommy' moments, but she was getting better.

Cora found Bella L's socks on the floor and insisted on putting them on her feet. She got them on by herself...and they were inside out! She then proceeded to put her sandals on over them. Nice fashion statement for a two year old!

Another "I want Mommy" moment.

She wasn't cooperating with my picture taking...

Kayla, Bella, Abby, Ashley and Brynna

Baby Bella playing in the water.

The girls playing in the sand and water.

Cora finally getting her feet wet.

Bella, Monique, Cora and Abby

I was trying to get some good pics of Cora on the beach...they didn't turn out as good as I would have liked, but here they are anyway.

I did get a plane and boat in the background of this one though...

Chillin on the beach.

Daddy and Cora walking in from the water.

Miss Monique and Cora reaching for the seagulls.

Miss Alicia caught a huge dragonfly and brought it inside to show the kids. Cora got a big kick out of it, but wouldn't touch it!

Abby and Baby Bella checking out the dragonfly with Alicia.

Sunday morning chilaxin on the couch.

Bella and Cora

The guys watching the Texans game. Brian said the Texans needed them to concentrate on the game and keep mentally focused for the team. It didn't work too well...the Texans lost.

Cora couldn't do a back bend, so she crawled under all of them....Baby Bella was creative too.

The girls trying to teach Cora how to do a back bend.

She couldn't hold it on her own, but she'll be able to as soon as she gets better arm strength!

Sweet girls!

I love this picture...Cora is finally becoming one of the girls!Bella, Brynna and Cora singing Lollipop, Lollipop.

We were waiting on the guys to come back upstairs and the girls were being cute...

Paradise Valley, AZ

Dennis and I went to Paradise Valley, Arizona (near Scottsdale area) for 4 days. We left Cora with Nana & Grandpa and she visited Honey & Papa Wolford while down there. It was a hard trip for us to take since we were leaving Cora, but we needed to do it and we had fun. I didn't sleep late, but I did get a massage on Saturday morning that was awesome....and it was almost 2 hours but felt like about 30 minutes. I could of had that all day long!
Here's some pictures of our room - it was gorgeous.

View from our room.

One of the views at the resort.

This was the mountain that was right by our resort.

Dennis needed a hat and we stopped at a store on the way to the desert...they didn't have your basic baseball caps...so this is what he ended up with. Everyone kept telling him that it was a nice hat and he looked so good in his new hat! He wore it the rest of the weekend! Ugh.

Heading out Sunday morning on our jeep excursion in the desert.

A jail for sale...

Our guide telling us everything we could ever want to know about cactus plants!

Pretty landscape pictures...it looks pretty, but it was HOT! I wasn't prepared to be hiking in the desert and had on my usual flip flops. Well the little ball cactus really likes my foam flip flops and I kept having to get the little things pryed out of my shoes!

Dennis in his goofy hat and his new walking stick from a dried up cactus.

I was playing with my camera...

Alicia texting in the shade of a cactus.

Speed Limit & No Shooting Sign

Richard broke the windshield before the trip barely started! He was folding up the seat so we could get out of the back and it hit just right and cracked the windshield! Oopsie.

The highways have neat decorations on the overpasses and such. We don't see TxDot doing anything like this around here!

View from the house where we had dinner on Sunday evening. It was spectacular!

Dennis and his goofy hat!

Sunday night sunset picture...

Sunday afternoon we went into town to pick up some souvenirs for the kids and stumbled upon a cute little rustic bar....Rusty Spur Saloon...we ended up buying stuff there! We also went back after dinner, it was a neat place. Music wasn't that great, but it was ok.

Dennis and I really liked it because they had shirts with our camping group name on it (All Jacked Up).

One of the many license plates on the wall....

We had a wonderful trip and Cora enjoyed staying with the grandparents. She started missing us by Sunday, but we called and talked to her so she perked up. She is struggling with a major case of separation anxiety with me, but other than that we all survived! She isn't much for letting me out of her sight. If I open the door she freaks out that I am leaving without her. I hope this doesn't last much longer....

UPDATE: Here are some pictures from Dennis's camera.

Dennis driving the 'purple minivan'. It was really almost dark pink or maroonish, but the guys were calling it purple.

Us on Saturday night - it was hot as hell, but this is the only red I brought and had to wear it to support my Red Raiders even though they lost.

Friday night we took a limo to the casino. It was interesting.