2014 begins...

Another year. Quinn has tough shoes to fill. Literally.

Post Christmas play

It was another Christmas whirlwind, though a bit less chaotic than last year's Christmas Break Tour.

Here, just a few Christmas break playing-around-the-house pics.

Quinny does everything big sister does...

Quinn insists on doing everything Cora does. In her best moments, Quinn tries to predict what Cora wants to do, then get their slightly before her to get it done.

So now when Cora comes running to me announcing, "I have to go potty", Quinn makes a beeline for the one downstairs bathroom, ripping down her pants and diaper and hiking onto the potty before Cora. She sits there and smiles. She makes a little water noise with her mouth. She reaches for toilet paper to wipe. She enjoys her spot on the throne as long as possible.

One time she actually managed to tinkle while sitting there, but it only happened once (maybe twice now), and we think it purely coincidence.

The good news is, it doesn't typically upset Cora.

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Last night, we had an impromptu neighborhood "party". It was REALLY cold for Charleston (like 30 degrees), and I declared that I really didn't even want to leave the house all day. I texted a few neighbors, found us all in the same boat, and I declared a potluck cookout at our house, with only the guys going outside to deal with the grill. The little Shellpoint kids (this time, 9 of them, all 5 and under) made a huge playground of the house. It was chaotic, but there was only bleeding once, and it was a legit nosebleed (imagine 8 mommies sitting back down at once - a nose bleed isn't an injury, afterall, so there was no justice to be doled out and no misbehavior to nip in the bud).

It's times like this when I am glad that we haven't put a dining room table in the dining room yet - where would all of these kids play?

Is the North Pole friendly to union workers?

Coming across the Don Holt after 10 hours traveling from Kentucky. I pointed out the BP Cooper River plant...

Me: girls... I can't be certain... But that looks a lot like Santa's workshop.

Cora: where?

Me: over there, those lights

Cora: it's the north pole?!?!

Me: I can't be sure that we can see that far, but it sure looks like it.

Cora: no it isn't! It's Santa's new workshop!!!

With charleston's ports and rite to work laws, Santa must have seen it as a great place to relocate.

Jingle bells

Cora's version:

Jingle bells

Jingle all the way

So much fun it is to ride 

In a one open horse sleigh, hey!

Hey daddy you want to hear a new one:

Jingle bells riding on a sleigh

Jingle bells all the way

[talking] then the reindeer had to sweat on a roof and the roof fell in so the reindeer just came on to our roof...

Hey!

Little blue truck rolled into the city

This year's multi-stop pre-Christmas family tour includes Charlotte and Kentucky.

Last night we stopped into Aunt Julie and Uncle Ts house for some dinner and gift exchanging and great company. Cora was adamant on the way there that her cat Hopey would be under Aunt Julie's couch (Aunt Julie has never had a cat) and that Uncle T has reindeer on his wall that Santa will stop to get (uncle T definitely has deer on his wall). 

Quinn with Ellie. Cora refused to participate. 

We were with the Gardners til nearly 10, so it was late when we headed to our hotel. We thought the girls were half asleep in the back, and we were goose chasing our GPS route due to construction, so we weren't paying attention to the girls or making a big deal of the buildings. When we turned the corner onto Trade street, with lots of lights and pedestrians, a little voice from the back said, "Wow" and an even more enthusiastic smaller person mimicked the "Wow" on repeat. My two small town girls were clearly impressed by the city lights.

Cora doesn't remember staying in a hotel. The last time she did was heading to Uncle Shew's wedding, and NO ONE slept. We hadn't tried it since. She was impressed but very concerned.

"Why are we sleeping here?"

"Why don't we live on Presley and Kate's street anymore?"

"But this isn't my bed."

She was much more impressed by the concierge lounge for breakfast this morning... And the endless supply of fruit loops, chocolate milk, and orange juice.

Quinn was mostly unphased, except for the helicopters and worming she did in the bed with me all night. I'm entirely sleepless from rescuing her from the bed's edge all night. 

This morning a family excursion to Discovery Place. The Messals were thoroughly impressed. 

There was a whole section of wooden blocks. Landon and Cora didn't build this...

But they did construct this mountain house.

And Quinn loved throwing blocks in the boxes.

At some point Daddy found inspiration.

But this wasn't it. He kept going.

The only way I could entice him away was to find these boys, who were happy to continue building on his vision and promised to build another level. 

We forgot to check in and see their final product... That's how impressed we were by all the exhibits.

A camouflage shelter building area.

A wind turbin area; in this one you put newspaper strips in the bottom...

And they came flying out the top. I felt like I was playing with the bank teller machine!

Cora loved this pulley exhibit. There were little beads that had to be shuffled through different stations all at once for the contraption to work.

She kept exclaiming,

"We're using TEAMWORK!" (A big buzzword for Cora right now).

Quinny loved walking across this bench that looked like a caterpillar...

... So much that she melted down when we left it.

She recovered with a view of the Poison Dart Frogs.

My girls were super impressed by this talking fly.

We loved the bridge in the rain Forrest. 

And we loved the size of these stuffed bears. 

Quinny snoozed through a 3D film. Cora was quiet, but not upset. We think she liked it.

Little Quinn sized chairs.

And THEN we found the room built for toddlers!

With blocks to build Rapunzle's castle...

A water play area (I know... Quinn shouldn't have a paci ... Don't judge... We're all sleep-deprived)...

... A toddler sized super cool wind maze..,

... Magnetic puzzles...

... Colors that match Daddy's shoes (Paul has the same pair further confirming that they're weird cousins)...

... And a house that's "really far away!" (as Cora kept announcing as she went down the path).

More and more everyday, little sister has to match every adventurous step big sister takes, especially balance-walking curbs on city streets. 

We loved our break in the city!

P.s. RT woke up with the flu this morning. Wish us luck!

Girl on fire

Quinn is getting a pretty bad temper. 

Tonight she wanted me to pick her up (shocker). I was cleaning kitchen and tried to distract her by giving her something to throw in the garbage. She refused, so I went to throw it away.

Quinn stomped to the garbage cabinet, flung open the door, picked the paper towel out of the garbage, then flung it back in, then slammed the door. The look on her face said, I'll show you.

Mostly she still looks like this tho.