Thanksgiving 2012/ 91st Birthday

As is our usual tradition, we spent Thanksgiving in Birmingham. My mom just does such a great job cooking it is hard to imagine being anywhere else. We had 14 people this year. Not too big, not too small.

Colin sort of looks like a giant because of the way the photo was staged but we had to hurry - little ones were melting fast!

Nina's 91st Birthday party. I zoomed so this photo is blurry - arrggh.

Connor helping blow out the candle

Cora showing off her wave and party dress - I am in love with this dress. We need more parties to attend so she can wear it some more!

Piano Pretty

Warrior Run

This year Connor's school hosted another Fun Run for the kids. If you remember last year, Connor ran his little legs off, barely stopping for a drink of water. This year there were more kids (3,4 &5 year olds) and it was definitely more chaotic. Connor ran and ran some more -- only stopping to get his laps marked off on his shirt and occasionally for a sip of water or to dance to LMFAO music. Since my mom had Cora, I brought some Starbucks deliciousness (decaf for me of course) and took some 143 photos. I won't bore you with all of them because most of them are just flashes of white shirts. A few memorable photos though:

Bunny Hop Lap - Look at that Hair!!

15 Months

Cora is 15 months old today. Wow! She is getting to be such a big girl and of course wants to do EVERYTHING that Connor can do. I'll give her credit - she tries, really hard. Her language has really started to pick up and she is saying some new words. Shoes is still her favorite (she wakes up talking about shoes) - I got her some new black Mary Jane's yesterday for her Itsy Bitsy Spider costume and also to wear with dresses for the holidays. She loves them. Just looks and looks at them all shiny and new.

Some new words of note: Boo (a must for Halloween, of course), 1, 2, 3 (apparently she counted for my mom while stacking blocks), turkey, horsey, down (she will complete the Ride a Little Horsey rhyme or ask to get down), itsy (complete with hand motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider - this is requested approximately 25 times/day). Both the kids have a little cough and stuffy noses. Cora's 15 month appointment is Monday so I'm hoping if it is still present we can get rid of it then. It is going to be in the mid 70's this weekend so maybe that will help? I'm expecting Cora to be pretty tall so I'm excited to see how much she has grown. Connor has started to teach himself to read. At first he liked being able to read signs on the road and in stores (like 2 word signs). We made some Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares that I saw on Pinterest (they were ok. I didn't love so I'm not going to bother linking) and I asked him to try to find the Angel Food cake. There was only 1 box on the shelf of Angel Food cake and he patiently scanned through all the shelves until he found it. He is starting to recognize words. He will also read some full books. The Statue of Liberty is his current favorite to show off. Honestly, I think he memorizes some of it because he has a ridiculously scary memory -- but when has to read, he stops and sounds it out in his head and then continues. He really enjoys reading and I'm so thankful and proud. At school he has been learning some different prayers and he can now say Hail Mary and Glory Be. He is super proud of himself for this!