Easter Morning Hoppiness

Easter morning at the Jeffers' household was quite fun. The Easter Bunny was very good to her. She got a Mr. Potato Head, 2 dresses, sunglasses, side walk chalk and candy. Grandma Brandis also sent her a dress, two movies (Tangled and Bambi), and more panties. The Easter Bunny must have been lightheaded after visiting our house because he also blew up 25 balloons! Cora is such a lucky gal. There were 6 plastic eggs hidden and she ended up finding 5 of them. Pretty good for a 2 year old.

Can you spot the Easter eggs? My ironing board has become a living room staple...

Cora won't take off the twirly dress from Grandma B. She didn't wear it to bed, but she had it on within moments of waking up.

She loves her sunglasses.

Already an outfit change!

Have you ever wondered what happens to a two-year-old on a sugar high? Wonder no more. Easter Bunny chocolate turned out to be a great breakfast for my favorite blondie.





Easter morning began around 6:00am MST. By 8:00am, the quiche was almost done baking, the toys had been played with, every new outfit had been tried on multiple times, and we were almost done watching Tangled. Lee and I also shared a pot of coffee trying to keep up the Sugar-High-Belle. It was a wonderful day.

Dying Easter Eggs

On the Saturday before Easter, Cora dyed Easter eggs. Lee found Easter egg dye that she could sponge paint on as opposed to dipping in vinegar dye. I think she had more fun because it was so hands on. As you will see from the pictures, Cora is a very serious artist. I didn't get a single smile out of her.

She didn't like having the dye on her fingers.

The pouty lip came out when she had no more eggs to dye. She has mastered the pout.

Scratch that. I got one smile... with her eyes closed.

Admiring her artistic work.

Chutes and Ladders

Mother Nature must have read my last post because she decided to warm up the temperatures and melt huge amounts of snow. We have now had temps in the upper 40's and lower 50's. This weekend has been the nicest weekend of 2011 so far. We took advantage of the long weekend and kicked off the holiday weekend with a walk to the park on Thursday evening. Cora ran the whole way there. This poor kid has been cooped up all winter. She used to be a bit cautious when it came to slides. She wouldn't go down unless we were holding her hand. Daycare recently bought an indoor slide that she loves to go down. This has cured her of her fear and she could play on slides all day long. It doesn't matter how tall, steep, or spiraled the slide is, she'll go down all by herself.

 The park by our house was under construction last year. There all kinds of fun things here now like these fancy swings.

 Weeeee!

 That was fun! Let's go again!

 Swinging is also a favorite at the park.

First time on the Merry-Go-Round. It was pretty fun.

Watch this last video until the very end. Cora had 5 minutes left to play before we started for home. She knew this and understands what it means completely. Before she went down the slide I had told her she was down to 1 minute left to play. As soon as she gets down the slide, she takes off running as fast as she can to get one more ride on the slide before we had to leave. It was so funny.

Go Away, Snow.

Here we are on April 12th, and we still have quite a bit of snow. Our back yard has at least 2 feet of packed snow. Ugh. The front might be worse though. The snow is gone however there is a nice layer of snow mold. I have a feeling this mold is the cause of my sudden allergy flair up. I think poor Cora is suffering from it a bit too. The temperature have been hitting the 40's most days, so we've been trying to take advantage of the sunshine as much as we can. Regardless, most days are still not very nice relatively speaking. I thought I would post some pictures of what we have been up to lately.

Reggie got a good spring brushing. It was unbelievable how much hair came off of him. It was also unbelievable how much easier it is to keep the house clean. With the consistent temperatures hanging out in the 30's, he'll be getting groomed here real soon.

Cora is really into these rain boots, if you can't tell.

We have also been having some fun with the tube.

Somehow, we both fit in there.

Cora is also helping me with my quilting. She is very good at pinning fabrics together whether they actually need pinned or not.

Reggie also likes to help sew. He is the designated comfort tester. He loves to lay on any and all fabric. This quilt is going to be 7ft by 7ft. We needed one the whole family could fit under.

Lee scooped the rest of the snow off the porch. We are trying to pretend it is nicer out there than it actually is.

Cora saw a bunny and decided she needed to catch it. Off she went. Her little body was able to stay on top of the deep snow.

Well, almost. She made it quite far trying to capture the snowshoe hare. She eventually fell through the top crust of the snow and couldn't get out. You'd think she would have been upset about being stuck. Nope. She was crying because the bunny left. She kept saying, "Bunny. Come here. Come back. Bunny." We had to spend the next five minutes explaining the bunny went home for dinner and she also had to go home to eat. She eventually understood. I think.

Can you see her in this picture?

How about now?

Surely you can now. That is her stuck. Lee had to go get her. Every step he took was knee deep in snow. I was laughing too hard to take pictures of that.

It turns out that afternoons of running in the sunshine make for a very tired toddler. Luck for me, I got to join in on this nap a few moments later.

I had high hopes for a really nice week of weather. The forecasted temperatures are quickly dipping. Boo. We still have Friday to look forward to regardless of the weather. Lee and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. A dear friend is watching Cora for us. We have dinner reservations at La Ronde. Lee took me there for my 26th birthday only a few weeks before Cora was born. I am quite excited to be going back. We'll be sure to take a couple pictures.

2 And A Quarter

Remember when I wrote that I wasn't going to be doing the monthly couch updates with Cora and instead do one every three months? Those three months sure whizzed by! On March 23, 2011, Cora turned 2.25 years old. :) That sounds so funny. A "quarter" birthday. And, I thought half-birthdays were ridiculous.

It is going to be a lot of fun to write Cora's milestones list this time. She's grown and developed so much since her 2nd birthday! Here it goes:

• Her favorite color is RED. Lee and I were surprised for two reasons by this. 1) We would have bet our life savings that her favorite color was pink. 2) Where did she learn her colors? She definitely knows red. I was on the bed indulging Lee in some of my favorite quilts that I would love to make someday. This, by the way, is Lee's most favorite morning conversation. ;) I was showing him this quilt
  
  when Cora jumped up on my lap and says, "I like RED!" while pointing to the red portion of this quilt. Lee and I instantly asked her what else was red on the computer screen and she pointed out every red button and picture on the computer. We were impressed.
• She is starting to enjoy different books and movies. This might seem kind of strange as a milestone, but it is HUGE for Lee and me. I had Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop memorized from reading it over and over and over again. Now, she'll pick a book out of her book case that she's never read! Huge, I tell you!!
• Her speech is really coming along. A lot of her words still sound like gibberish, but every day she is making more and more sense. Some of her favorite phrases are:
• I'm a MONKEY!
• I love you. (the best)
• Ewwww. Yucky!!!
• Mmmmm. Yucky!!! (She obviously doesn't understand the meaning of yucky)
• She is also singing and it is sooo cute! She is camera shy now-a-days so we don't have good video. The only video we have is Lee hiding trying to video tape her voice in the dark. Her favorite songs are:
• You Are My Sunshine
• Rock-A-Bye Baby
• Skitter Ma Rink
• Row Row Row Your Boat

• She is nearly potty trained! She is still wary of going #2 on the toilet. She instead asks for a diaper which is totally fine with Lee and me. She also still wears a diaper while she is sleeping because she doesn't have the ability to hold her bladder while sleeping. We started potty training over Christmas and it has gone really well.
• She is just shy of 36" tall and weighs about 30.5 lbs. She looks incredibly tall to me.
• Dancing is an every day activity in this house hold. Cora is learning how to move different body parts separately. She can wiggle her hips while moving her arms.
• She can distinguish between a moose and elk. You all have no idea how proud this makes her biologist mamma and hunting daddy.
• She throws the worst temper tantrums. She is incredibly "independent" right now. If she doesn't want to do something, she is not going to do it. Some examples are not taking her coat off at restaurants, not wanting to sit in the shopping cart, not wanting to wear clothes, etc. We have decided to choose our battles accordingly. For example, she always has to have her hair combed. Every morning she fights it, but I will not let her leave the house with her hair messy. Of course, it kills me that she doesn't want it pulled back all the time. I hate messy hair. However, I let her wear her rain boots to bed. She loves shoes and I really can't find a reason why it is awful for her to have her shoes on in bed. By choosing our battles to what is most important to Lee and I, I feel as though we don't sit and tell her no all day long. This strategy has certainly lessened all of our stress levels.
• She has two favorite outfits.
• Her hokey pokey skirt
• Her Cindy Lou Who halloween costume
• She is starting to "read" to herself. She will sit in her bed and read her stories to herself. It is the sweetest thing to listen to. 

Now, the part that most of you are waiting for. Cora's 2.25 year old couch photo session. She hasn't been loving the camera lately, so this photo session doesn't have a whole lot of smiles. It was also taken after her hair cutting incident. And, of course, she has on her favorite rain boots.