Elves and Goldfish

This past weekend, we were fortunate to have an early visit from a Christmas Elf. The Elf wasn't dressed in red, she is 11, loves to try on dresses and jewelry, is into "Say Yes to the Dress", and is learning to play Gin Rummy.

The elf is our very own Elf Ellie (our niece).

All weekend long, Cora was entertained, I had an extra set of hands, and I had a partner for cards during the football game. Ellie even "babysat" Cora at the James Island Connector Run so Landon and I could volunteer. Life was pretty darn good.

On Sunday, we had a funny Cora moment. We were all sitting at the kitchen table eating biscuits. The Looney Tunes were on the Cartoon Network in the background. While eating, Cora started squealing and craning her neck to see the TV. She was reaching her arms (as if to say Hello), and she had turned on her flirty face. The subject of her affection: The Goldfish Commercial. There is a commercial on kids' channels for Pepperidge Farm Goldfish (I think it is specifically advertising for Goldfish Grahams). The goldfish are nearly the size of the TV screen and they are bright and animated. My child loved it! We've seen it a few times since, and she always stops what she is doing and reacts. This was her first "fan" moment. Although we watch Looney Tunes in the mornings and we sometimes put in a Smurfs DVD, we really do not have any shows that we put on for Cora (you are right - that means that we are watching Looney Tunes and Smurfs for Landon and I), but she doesn't seem any more attracted to the Looney Tunes than she does to a football game. I guess that we just don't watch a lot of TV at our house, and we certainly haven't started encouraging Cora to watch TV. But the goldfish - that was something entirely different!

An Ellie-ism that left us cackling.

We were driving, and a song comes on a country music station. Ellie pipes up with "Turn it up! This is one of my favorite songs!" The song was Ole Red (about a man going to prison because his wife cheated on him and he killed the man she cheated with, and then he escaped from prison after he trained the prison guard dog to fall in love with a pretty hound dog he kept up in the woods). Now that's funny!

There was also a description of her feelings about Red Lobster and other equally funny Ellie moments, but I'll keep those between us. If you've been around Ellie, then you already know how much we enjoyed having her here!

A few pics from the weekend.

Things I've "Stolen" Since Cora Was Born

Landon just came home and reported some news that will cause me to have nightmares tonight.

Here is a link to the actual story, but the gist is that a family was shopping in a Safeway grocery store. The family was traveling with their 2-year-old daughter, and the mother was 8-months pregnant. While in the store, the mother became lightheaded, and so she consumed a chicken salad sandwich from the deli while shopping. They paid for their goods, and then walked out of the store. Outside, they were stopped and returned to the store because the mother forgot to pay for the sandwich she consumed. Based on store shoplifting policy, the couple was arrested, spent about 3 hours in the slammer, and the child was in state custody for 18 hours. Holy Camoley I would be a complete and total wreckola!?!?!?!? And, Landon would throw such a fit that they would need to put him in a solitary confinement cell.

Given that I have a young child and am also approaching the advanced stages of my pregnancy, you can probably see why I sympathize. In addition, several regular blog readers have been with me for my "stealing" incidents since Cora has been born.

Three incidents immediately come to mind.

I was shopping with Jamie Burden Allison this summer at the outlets in North Charleston. She and I both had kids in strollers (Jamie with Annabelle, I with Cora), and I found a great deal in Old Navy. A small black purse and a pair of black flats with cute zippers (I wear these all the time!). I stuck the items on top of the stroller, continued shopping, a few minutes later Cora got feisty, I opened the stroller top causing the items to fall into the stroller folds, and you can see how this proceeds. Jamie and I were out of Old Navy heading towards our husbands when I closed the stroller top, saw the contraband, and screamed in the middle of the outlets, "Jamie, I just SHOPLIFTED!!!!!!!!!". After getting ourselves together from the cackles, I marched back into Old Navy where I again exclaimed, "I just SHOPLIFTED!!!!" The lady looked at me like I was nuts, asked if I wanted to return them or purchase them, and then sent me to the counter. To them, this apparently was a non-incident. Thank goodness! That could have been slammer experience numero uno.

Then, on my birthday, I was shopping with Heather Messal (Landon had Cora, so I cannot hide behind the frustration of having a child but I did have a slighly protruding belly that I was able to play-up). Heather has fell in love with that cute accessories store next to J.Jill (not Handpicked - I am blanking on the name), and since it was my birthday, I was treating myself to some new accessories, too (technically, Mom was treating me, since I was spending bday money from her. Anyways). Sometime while there, I also slid a bracelet on my wrist to try it out (it was a bit chunky even for me). I purchased about $70 worth of gifts for myself and others (including an adorable Mimaw Eb utility hammer for Summer for her shower), and Heather made a hefty purchase, too (I won't reveal how much she spent). But I will say that this dinky $10 bracelet on my arm would not have been a dealbreaker for either of us that day. We left, headed to Gap, and as Heather was making a purchase I turned around and (again) screamed "I just SHOPLIFTED?!?!?! I am still wearing this BRACELET!" The clerk at Gap smiled, and exchanged a look with his co-clerk that said, "This lady is a little C-R-A-Z-Y". Again, Heather and I had a good laugh, even went on to do some shopping at Belk, before I marched back into "Accessory Superstore" to laugh and say, "Ladies, I hope that this happens all the time. I managed to get out of here with one of your bracelets on my wrist". They were super nice, explaining that it had already happened several times that day, and were probably just glad that they didn't have to deal with Heather and I picking through their sale items for another 2 hours. Lucky break for me! Could have been trip to the slammer numero dos.

Then, just yesterday, I was paying for our goods at Publix and thinking that the total wasn't what I expected (I had a $5 off a $30 purchase coupon, so I was totaling in my head as I went). The bill was $30.12, but I expected to be a solid $5 over my goal of $30. As I was sliding my debit card, Cora proudly put her box of infant's Advil onto the check counter. Aha! Nearly stolen goods. If I had of made if 4 more minutes without noticing, and if we had of been at that Safeway, my baby would have been hauled off to the big house. They might have had a spot for me in that cop car, too. Whew, missed trip to the slammer numero tres.

Thank goodness! I am not sure what I would do if Landon and I both went to jail. The only local home number I remember is Tom Kent's, and that's only because he is the only person I know without a cell phone.

PS - Is eating while shopping taboo? I can't say I do it all the time, but I have certainly popped open a box of Wheat Thins in the grocery or a Gatorade in Lowes before paying, especailly while pregnant.

Daddy's Best Buddy

There is no doubt about it: Cora had a favorite parent this week, and it wasn't Mommy!

In several of these, Landon is Grandpa Thane. I've never before thought he looked so much like his Grandpa!

A Zoo, a Boo, and a Tooth or Two

Mom and I met in Columbia to take Cora to the zoo. It was a tad bit chilly, but she didn't seem to mind. Her favorite: the monkeys!!!

She was checking out a big grizzly bear.

 Cora, look, it is your lovey! She was entirely unfazed.

 The monkeys!!!

Trick-or-Treat! Our little bug.

 Buzzzzz! Buzzzz! Buzzzz! Cora was after "Sean the Mad Scientist"

 World Series Champs with our Little Bug

 This pile of fodder for the fire is very telling about Cody. I've never seen a campfire so oranized!

 Oh, little bug!

 Cora running around in some Vintage Mommy!

 Cora was once fascinated by the remotes, treating them like telephones and picking them up to say "Hello". Now, she has started finding the remotes and then running them to one of us (usually Landon). She is always so proud of herself.

 That's right - she's dressed for daycare in a tutu and polka dot leggings. Thanks, Stacey, for the Punky Brewster style duds. We love them!

 Grandma Lechleitner sent a box of cookies for Hall-O-Ween. This is Cora's first expereince of Grandma Laura's cookies. I think she was a fan?

 Oh, Mommy, I've never tasted anything this yummy in my life?!?!?!

 With her good friend Fred Bird! Cora was dressed in red to support the Cards. It worked! The Cards took the series that night.

 Who needs a trip to the zoo when we have our own animal kingdom in the backyard?

 Poor Landon - he was trying so hard to get her to laugh.

Just last week, I noted that Cora is still toothless on top. No longer true! Two new teeth popped through this week, and two more are on the way. She looks really funny because her new teeth are off center. That is, of the top four teeth, her two left teeth are in and her two right teeth are still buried. We should have dressed her as a little hillbilly for Halloween.

 Trying out Mommy's Bike.

 On Hall-O-Ween, my mom asked if we had shown Cora herself in the mirror while she was wearing her costume. Mom thought Cora might think it was funny. Landon's response: "How would she know anything is different? Carrie dresses her in ridiculous outfits everyday".

Fair enough. Especially given that the fur coat in the last picture has a matching Russian style winter hat.

I love having a little girl!