Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
The Rockin Hula Luau!
We celebrated 4 in a "BIG" way this week! Cora's luau was a LOT of work. I did lots of" bossing around" the days leading up and Rob did lots of grumbling about how "this is the last party we're having at home." We both say that every time because it's hard getting and keeping, a house and yard clean, tables set, cake baked, games ready, treat bags stuffed, etc. with three little monkeys that undo things as quickly as you do them. BUT... it was totally worth it! This was one of my favorite parties thus far! It was a girls only party (except Cade). Which was a good move, because the girls were so calm and sweet and a few crazy boys could have thrown off the whole hula lesson thing pretty quick. Here are some pics of the big event! We sent out an ivitation of Cora dressed in a hula outfit with these words:
We're having a luau and you're invited,
Cora's turning 4 and we're so excited!
Fruity drinks with little umbrellas,
We'll have grass skirts for the girls,
And leis for the fellas. (even though we didn't invite any, it rhymed!)
Wear your bathing suit or swim pants.
You may even learn to hula dance!
As the girls arrived they made a stop at the "hula shop." Here they found a bag with their name that contained a hula skirt, a flower clip for hair, a flower ring, and a lei. Then Luau Lauren put her art degree to good use by painting a flower on the cheek of each hula dancer. They came out looking like this...
have you ever seen anything so cute in all of your life?
Even the littlest hula girl had a hula outfit (the smocked version) and a flower on her cheek.
We're having a luau and you're invited,
Cora's turning 4 and we're so excited!
Fruity drinks with little umbrellas,
We'll have grass skirts for the girls,
And leis for the fellas. (even though we didn't invite any, it rhymed!)
Wear your bathing suit or swim pants.
You may even learn to hula dance!
The decorations were bought, borrowed (thank you, Malena!), and set!
As the girls arrived they made a stop at the "hula shop." Here they found a bag with their name that contained a hula skirt, a flower clip for hair, a flower ring, and a lei. Then Luau Lauren put her art degree to good use by painting a flower on the cheek of each hula dancer. They came out looking like this...
have you ever seen anything so cute in all of your life?
Even the littlest hula girl had a hula outfit (the smocked version) and a flower on her cheek.
Then the girls were STAR STRUCK when a real hula girl came to teach them to hula! She was awesome with them!!! (thank you, Kelsey!)
They learned how to tell a story with their hands while they danced!
They were in awe as they watched her and mimicked her every move. They got in about 20 minutes of pure hula dancing. I made a video, but blogger hates my videos for some reason. (i'll keep working on it!) Cora the dancing machine was so enthralled by Kelsey she barely even wiggled!
Maybe next year for her birthday we can take them all to Hawaii to practice their skills if and only if we win the Georgia Powerball which is seemingly impossible since we don't play.
They learned how to tell a story with their hands while they danced!
They were in awe as they watched her and mimicked her every move. They got in about 20 minutes of pure hula dancing. I made a video, but blogger hates my videos for some reason. (i'll keep working on it!) Cora the dancing machine was so enthralled by Kelsey she barely even wiggled!
Maybe next year for her birthday we can take them all to Hawaii to practice their skills if and only if we win the Georgia Powerball which is seemingly impossible since we don't play.Next, we limboed!!!
Cade participated this time (he and daddy weren't sure what to make of all these little hula girls)
Cade participated this time (he and daddy weren't sure what to make of all these little hula girls)
Cade's got mad limbo skillz!
They worked up an appetite and ate tropical fruit and cheese sail boats with punch in fancy cups with flower straws and umbrellas!
Then came the cake! This is my ugliest birthday cake to date. It screams birthday party burnout louder than anything, but it was made by me! Cora wanted a hula girl. So I found a dollar store hula barbie, baked a cake in a bowl, iced it, sprinkled graham cracker crumbs (as sand), shoved the barbie in the center, wrapped a couple of leia around the sides, and WA-LA!!!
They worked up an appetite and ate tropical fruit and cheese sail boats with punch in fancy cups with flower straws and umbrellas!
Then came the cake! This is my ugliest birthday cake to date. It screams birthday party burnout louder than anything, but it was made by me! Cora wanted a hula girl. So I found a dollar store hula barbie, baked a cake in a bowl, iced it, sprinkled graham cracker crumbs (as sand), shoved the barbie in the center, wrapped a couple of leia around the sides, and WA-LA!!!
A hula girl on a deserted island. Ugly, but easy, and Cora LOVED it!!!
Making a wish!
Then saving the best for last, presents!
What's a luau without a dip in the pool? (even if they are blue and plastic?)
Making a wish!
Then saving the best for last, presents!
What's a luau without a dip in the pool? (even if they are blue and plastic?)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Time to Call MENSA
And no, not on one of my children. Cora got a new "baby" for her birthday from my mom that is an American Girl Doll. She LOVES her. Today as I walked around with Clara on my hip making dinner, Cora walked around with her baby on her hip and we had the following exchange.
Cora :"Mommy, you know what? My baby is REALLY smart. Smarter than yours. She can read like five books."
Me: "Wow!! Five books, that's great, but how old is your baby? Clara's only five months old and she can't even talk yet."
Cora: "My baby's just like two or three months old, but she can read because I gaved her that your baby can read thing that me and Cade saw on that commercial and now....(shrugging her shoulders,) she can read!!!......And mommy, you know what else she can do? Pull off bras!"
hmmmm. um, ok.
Cora :"Mommy, you know what? My baby is REALLY smart. Smarter than yours. She can read like five books."
Me: "Wow!! Five books, that's great, but how old is your baby? Clara's only five months old and she can't even talk yet."
Cora: "My baby's just like two or three months old, but she can read because I gaved her that your baby can read thing that me and Cade saw on that commercial and now....(shrugging her shoulders,) she can read!!!......And mommy, you know what else she can do? Pull off bras!"
hmmmm. um, ok.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Road Trippin
As I am sure you can tell from my previous post we just spent a week in Indiana with my family. Our trip was great we got to see my parents, grandparents, aunts, cousins, and old friends. This trip Indiana served as "home base" for several of my friends and family members who live in all different parts of the country. Our visit was great! I have so many great pictures and stories they will trickle out one at a time, so today I'm going to tell you about our "road trip!"
Sometimes I feel like I have total control of this 3 kid situation. Sometimes I am cool, calm, and I've got my act together. I feel like ,"These 3 have got nothing on me...I've got this!" And then there's the majority of the time when I feel like I am barely hanging onto control in one aspect or another as someone's throwing a fit, throwing someone else down, or throwing up. When I'm alone, in public, with all 3 of my kids I often feel like people are staring at me thinking, "Geez, look at this crazy girl with all these kids. What the heck is she thinking? She's got no business taking these loons in public!" I'm not sure why I feel like that. No one's ever said it and I never think that when I see a mom with 3 kids. I do VERY OFTEN get, "whoa! you've got your hands full!" To which my standard response is to smile and in my sweetest voice say, "Always!"
So now you've got the background, let's set the stage. A six 1/2 year old, a FOUR year old, a five month old in a carrier carseat, a daddy whose Italian short fuse definitely comes out on road trips (love you punkin!), a two year old husky, about 8 bags, a dvd player, videos, books, games, a plastic potty, and a crazy, unorganized, mommy attempting to keep all of these things in perfect order crammed into a Toyota Sienna (which still has dents and scratches down one side from the "bumping into the babysitter fiasco" because we can't seem to find 10 days to part with this vehicle to get it fixed! So we made it to our 10 hour destination fairly well. No blood, but some sweat and tears. The way home is when things got hairy. There was never a baby changing station in the bathrooms, the dog tried to jump out at every stop, the baby decided she hated her car seat, Cade and Cora wouldn't leave each other alone. They went from laughing hysterically to crying and back again every five minutes. They were SO LOUD and poor baby Clara couldn't have slept if she tried. Plus the DVD player decided to be selective about which movies it would play and which ones it wouldn't. (Rob and I decided a cheaper alternative to jail time would be a car ride with the Garola kids.) But THE BEST was this...
We stopped in Atlanta for the night to break the trip up. We stayed at a very nice hotel right down the street from Rob's parents. They allowed dogs for a small fee, had free breakfast, and a room on the first floor, so it was perfect. In the morning before starting the last leg of our trip, Rob took all the bags out to pack the car while I took the three C's to the main lobby to eat breakfast. We locked the dog in our room while we went to eat. So I fumbled my way through the line 3 times (for the 3 of us big enough to eat food) while Cade and Cora sat at the table and "babysat" Clara who was sitting in her Bumbo chair on the table. There was a young man next to us dressed business like who sat alone eating and watching the drama unfold. He chuckled at the kids, and gave me that "you've got your hands full" look as I tried to make everyone happy and stuff some rice cereal down Clara's throat. So Rob finally joins us and we're eating as a family relatively peacefully in a VERY crowded lobby full of food and tables. There must have been a family reunion or something because the man watching us was the only other one who didn't know everyone else. So then right through the middle of the people filled lobby at the speed of light LEIA (our dog) barrels through the middle of the whole scene and keeps right on toward the front doors of the hotel as if she's runing right into downtown Atlanta!!!! THE DOG OPENED THE HEAVY HOTEL ROOM DOOR THAT ONLY PULLS (not pushes) OPENED!!!! Who does that happen to?????
Rob saw her the same time I did and FLEW out of his seat and yelled, "LEIA" in his firmest voice and she froze in her tracks!!! good dog, Leia!!! She listened!!! I cannot believe she listened. He toted her to the car, we wrapped breakfast up, the man watching us couldn't even make eye contact amist his chuckles, and we didn't stop driving until we got home.
Sometimes I feel like I have total control of this 3 kid situation. Sometimes I am cool, calm, and I've got my act together. I feel like ,"These 3 have got nothing on me...I've got this!" And then there's the majority of the time when I feel like I am barely hanging onto control in one aspect or another as someone's throwing a fit, throwing someone else down, or throwing up. When I'm alone, in public, with all 3 of my kids I often feel like people are staring at me thinking, "Geez, look at this crazy girl with all these kids. What the heck is she thinking? She's got no business taking these loons in public!" I'm not sure why I feel like that. No one's ever said it and I never think that when I see a mom with 3 kids. I do VERY OFTEN get, "whoa! you've got your hands full!" To which my standard response is to smile and in my sweetest voice say, "Always!"
So now you've got the background, let's set the stage. A six 1/2 year old, a FOUR year old, a five month old in a carrier carseat, a daddy whose Italian short fuse definitely comes out on road trips (love you punkin!), a two year old husky, about 8 bags, a dvd player, videos, books, games, a plastic potty, and a crazy, unorganized, mommy attempting to keep all of these things in perfect order crammed into a Toyota Sienna (which still has dents and scratches down one side from the "bumping into the babysitter fiasco" because we can't seem to find 10 days to part with this vehicle to get it fixed! So we made it to our 10 hour destination fairly well. No blood, but some sweat and tears. The way home is when things got hairy. There was never a baby changing station in the bathrooms, the dog tried to jump out at every stop, the baby decided she hated her car seat, Cade and Cora wouldn't leave each other alone. They went from laughing hysterically to crying and back again every five minutes. They were SO LOUD and poor baby Clara couldn't have slept if she tried. Plus the DVD player decided to be selective about which movies it would play and which ones it wouldn't. (Rob and I decided a cheaper alternative to jail time would be a car ride with the Garola kids.) But THE BEST was this...
We stopped in Atlanta for the night to break the trip up. We stayed at a very nice hotel right down the street from Rob's parents. They allowed dogs for a small fee, had free breakfast, and a room on the first floor, so it was perfect. In the morning before starting the last leg of our trip, Rob took all the bags out to pack the car while I took the three C's to the main lobby to eat breakfast. We locked the dog in our room while we went to eat. So I fumbled my way through the line 3 times (for the 3 of us big enough to eat food) while Cade and Cora sat at the table and "babysat" Clara who was sitting in her Bumbo chair on the table. There was a young man next to us dressed business like who sat alone eating and watching the drama unfold. He chuckled at the kids, and gave me that "you've got your hands full" look as I tried to make everyone happy and stuff some rice cereal down Clara's throat. So Rob finally joins us and we're eating as a family relatively peacefully in a VERY crowded lobby full of food and tables. There must have been a family reunion or something because the man watching us was the only other one who didn't know everyone else. So then right through the middle of the people filled lobby at the speed of light LEIA (our dog) barrels through the middle of the whole scene and keeps right on toward the front doors of the hotel as if she's runing right into downtown Atlanta!!!! THE DOG OPENED THE HEAVY HOTEL ROOM DOOR THAT ONLY PULLS (not pushes) OPENED!!!! Who does that happen to?????
Rob saw her the same time I did and FLEW out of his seat and yelled, "LEIA" in his firmest voice and she froze in her tracks!!! good dog, Leia!!! She listened!!! I cannot believe she listened. He toted her to the car, we wrapped breakfast up, the man watching us couldn't even make eye contact amist his chuckles, and we didn't stop driving until we got home.
Next time we'll pay the $30 a night for a pet sitter!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Top 10 reasons that I love Indiana!
10 - Tastee Freeze Orange Pineapple Twist Cone 
9 - Corn fields (we tried planting corn in GA last year and it looked nothing like this corn. it looked...malnurished in comparison!)
8- Drive In Movies
7- Weeping willow trees
6- lightening bugs (we don't have those in Georgia, they probably got eaten by the palmetto bugs)
5- The Wal-Mart is clean
4 - It's very John Cougar Mellencampish
3- the memories, the memories, the memories
2 - if I get really lucky I can meet up with my best, best, best, girlies there (and their kiddos)!!!
1- the babysitting is FREE!!!!! (or it's where Gran and Pop are!)
9 - Corn fields (we tried planting corn in GA last year and it looked nothing like this corn. it looked...malnurished in comparison!)
8- Drive In Movies7- Weeping willow trees
6- lightening bugs (we don't have those in Georgia, they probably got eaten by the palmetto bugs)
5- The Wal-Mart is clean4 - It's very John Cougar Mellencampish
3- the memories, the memories, the memories
2 - if I get really lucky I can meet up with my best, best, best, girlies there (and their kiddos)!!!
1- the babysitting is FREE!!!!! (or it's where Gran and Pop are!)
Happy 4th Birthday, Our Precious Cora!
I can't believe we're celebrating 4 years with our big girl! Cora's gone through a lot in 4 years, but her spirit and gusto never cease to amaze us! We're so proud of her and thankful to God who's healed her body and allowed us 4 tremendous years with her! Happy Birthday, Big Girl!
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Monday, July 5, 2010
Clara's 5 month update
Today I am five months old! Mommy says she has a hard time even remembering life without me after five months. I don't mean to brag, but I am the sweetest, happiest, baby on Earth!!! I weigh about 14 pounds and I am in the 80th percentile for my length, 65th percentile for my weight, and 30th percentile for my head circumference. But people don't tell me I have a small head. Mommy and Daddy think I am perfect! I'm getting some baby chub that makes me that much cuter!
I can eat food now. I love bananas, apples, peas, prunes, squash, and carrots. I am not a sweet potato fan! They're the only baby food that I won't eat thus far. Feeding me is a bit of a trick because I have a really strong tongue thrust. It's a messy job, but I LOVE eating (just like the rest of my family!)! I love to be held sitting up to see what's going on. I can sit in my bumbo seat or between someone's legs. I roll all around on the floor, grab anything in front of me (I'm especially fond of hair and glasses), and smile and laugh any time Cade or Cora glance my direction. I'm really happy when I wake up in the morning or from naps, I grin ear to ear when mom comes to get me! I'm pretty much happy all the time as long as they feed me and give me enough sleep! I love to sleep with my pink blankie lovey and my pappy. I like to suck my index finger too, but mama's determined to hook me on a pappy and not my finger. (Cade still sucks his thumb, but don't tell anyone!) I'm starting to recognize mom and dad and realize when they hand me off. I will still go to strangers, but sometimes reach out for mom.
I may be young, but I've already learned that at our house the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so I'm making all kinds of cute cooey sounds. I go on these little tangents where I just goo and talk to anyone who will listen for like 10 minutes at a time. Mom thinks it's pretty cute. Sometimes I even talk myself to sleep! Pretty much I'm a sweet, happy, precious baby! My family's crazy about me! When we get back home mom will post lots of new pics of me!!! We're having a great time at Gran and Pop's house!
Love, Clara
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