Some "don't want to forget" Cora antics...

Cora-story 1: 

Driving thru Georgetown, SC. Passed an old mill, told Cora to look at all the old equipment. 
Me: I wonder what they make there.
Cora: I don't know. Castles?

Cora-story 2:

I can no longer use the phrase, "We need to go run an errand". For HOURS Cora followed me around announcing, "I want to go run with Erin, too". 

Cora-story 3: 

I mumbled, " this house is a wreck."
Cora said back, nonchalantly, "well the cleaning lady comes tomorrow."

Cora-story 4: 

For dinner I fixed quinoa, spinach, and cheese. It was delicious... Cora cried all through dinner and refused to touch it. After her bath, Cora picked up a random lid laying on sink, and started to put it in her mouth. 
Me: eeew! Yucky! Cora we don't put something in our mouth if we don't know what it is!!!
Cora: like dinner?

Boys have ovals

Landon and Cora were walking through the parking lot of our apartment this week. 

Cora (in a matter-of-fact tone): Boys have ovals. 

I wasn't there, so I'm not sure exactly how the conversation went, but Landon said that he had a little panic. WHAT was she talking about? Surely she didn't mean...

As they walked across the parking lot, he continued to ask questions. Ovals where? What kind of ovals? 

When they walked past his truck, she turned and pointed at the Ford symbol on the front. 

Cora: See, boys have ovals. Mommies do not have ovals. 

Ah-ha! You mean boys drive trucks with Ford symbols shaped like ovals; mommies do not drive trucks with Ford symbols. Allrighty then, carry on. 

Super Quinn!

Good-bye Canvasback!

It's official, we're no longer residents of Canvasback Court.

A good friend and neighbor has been kind enough to allow us to rent his family's furnished corporate apartment for the month. We'll likely own our new house by the end of the week, but the seller can't move for a couple of weeks (we all agreed to a crazy contract, since he needed to live there through June and we needed to sell our house...). 

Some funny Cora quotes from the past 24 hours: 

Cora: Is this our new house? 

Cora: This is an partment? It's like a house, but it isn't? 

Cora: Where'd our house went?

Cora: This is Zoey's Grandma's house? Zoey have any toys here?

Honestly, this is the way to move. We got to this apartment, looked at each other, and declared there is NOTHING we need to do. I thought I'd be more antsy for the move, but it's pretty awesome. After 3 months of house prep, constant house cleaning, and packing (on top of an already busy semester), I'm a bit relieved for a few weeks when there isn't anything I can actually do at the new house.  

Chicago!

Landon always deserves a "husband of the year" award, but he really earned it the first week in June. Jill, Sara, Leigh Ann, & I planned a trip to Chicago back in January to do a half marathon. In January, we weren't planning to buy a house until 2014. However, we found a house, sold ours, and it became clear that moving day needed to be June 10... my trip was planned for June 6-9. Landon INSISTED that I go on the trip, swearing that he could handle the final two days of packing on his own if I covered most of the details before I left. 

Grandma M was already scheduled to come to town for my trip, so she came and helped with the move (earning her mother-in-law of the year, of course!). 

Sara and I trained really well through February, but admitted we weren't prepared to run a half-marathon. We had an honest-to-goodness, uninjured-pride plan to run to the 7-mile turn, then grab a taxi, stop by a Starbucks, maybe grab some brunch, then meet Leigh Ann and Jill back at the hotel. Surprise! The 7-mile turn might as well have been in a forest in the middle of nowhere. We could see the city, but it looked like a 3-4 mile walk through a park before we could even think about getting a taxi, and our guess was that we wouldn't be in the best part of Chicago. So, the only way back was to run. We ended up running 11 of the 13 miles, which was a little nuts. 

On Sunday, I returned and immediately jumped into the hauling boxes routine. We aren't living in the new house until July 12, but our stuff is already stored in a couple of bedrooms there, so the hauling-box routine involved two flights of stairs. There is nothing like carrying boxes (albeit the light boxes) up two flights of stairs to work the post-run burn out of your legs. Ouch! 

I could eat her up!

Our week of being sick

I taught a Maymester this spring (12 straight days of class for 3.5 hours per day). It is nearly impossible to cancel class for a Maymester, as canceling one day is like canceling a 1.5 weeks of the regular semester. The final week of class, I had a child ineligible for daycare every single day of the week. We were juggling sitters, thermometers, and Children's Advil at the Messal house. 

Hand foot and mouth is NO fun. Don't let anybody tell you adults can't get it, because they can.

Cora and Alli.

Being sick sometimes causes us to have all sorts of fun playtime!

Alli and Cora made dinner (pat-a-pizzas, with watermelon).

Afterwards, we had a Messal family dance party. Someday, Cora will not think it cool that Alli has this memory!

Friday afternoon, Cora and I both in bed with high fevers, waiting for Daddy and Grandma M to come take care of us.

I loved watching her cute little bow-legged self walk around in this little dress.

On Lauren F.'s last day as a Charleston resident, she kept my baby Quinn. Lauren is one of our faves! 

Cora: I DO love a party!

We had a few neighbors over to grill for Memorial Day weekend, no biggie. When people started to arrive, Cora walked in and announced, "I DO love a party!"  She may have been confused. She also told people it was her birthday...

Cora telling her baby to smile for the picture.

These are Tracey Cangelosi's parents, the Snyder's. They come down every year for a 2 week vacation, and we love them. We were trying to get the girls to pose for a picture; it was going OK. Then, Cora reached up and ripped the paci out of Quinn's mouth. We captured one perfect picture before Quinn started wailing. Cora has learned what we do... Look in the pic below. You can see the paci in Cora's hand.

Or maybe this was Mother's Day?

We took Cora's pacifier at 12.5 months... Quinn is becoming more addicted every day. In this second pic (above), Landon ripped her paci out as I was taking the picture. That's why she is looking so tentative here. She was deciding whether that was a temporary removal, or whether she should start screaming.

Quinn loves her babies!

Quinn often goes over and sits down in Cora's lap. I love it.