Beware!

This may be a random post, because I am in a somewhat random mood. I'm just warning you. Plus, I usually base my posts off of the pictures I put on them, and I haven't taken many pictures lately, so the ones I do have are completely unrelated.

First, a work of art by Josh. This is known as a Joshiecake, not a gigantic pancake. He put the fork on so everyone could gauge the size. He was very proud of this one; every other Joshiecake this large has fallen apart when he tried to flip it over.

Next, a photographic study by Cora. She LOVES to watch videos on our videocamera (and has even taken a few herself), and recently she discovered that she can look at pictures on the digital camera. So she was playing with it (yes, I was aware and most supervising her) and took quite a few pictures, most of her own fingers. Obviously, while she was able to discover the picture-taking button (no, I don't know the technical term), she never did figure out what the lens did. I kept this one because it has a Cora's-eye view of our game shelf.

And yes, of course, some actual pictures of Cora. Last week, I once again gathered my courage and attempted to style Cora's hair. Previous attempts involved lots of squirming and shaking of a certain cute little head, so it had been awhile since I tried. To my utter amazement, she sat still almost the whole time until I'd finished putting in her pigtails! Somehow or other, I started calling it her "cute hair," and she copied me. She touched her cute pigtails and said "Cu' hai, cu' hai." So we've done pigtails 3 or 4 times in the last week and every time she sat so calmly while I was doing it and didn't pull it out when I was done. This morning, when I was combing her hair after her bath, she even asked me to do "cu' hai"! I was so excited! So she's wearing pigtails today, too.

But anyways, these pictures are from Sunday. I tried to get a good smile, but the smile would never last through the flash. I like her pose in this second one, even though she has her sippy cup.

Cora is getting really good at identifying colors. She can pretty consistently name something that's red, orange, blue or green, and often yellow and purple, too. She sometimes gets green and yellow mixed up. I'm amazed at how much she knows. In addition to basic colors, she knows all her capital letters, many shapes (including obscure ones like octagon and wedge), can count to ten alternating with us (we say 1, she says 2, etc. It shows she's beginning to understand the order), and loves helping with small tasks like sweeping and setting the table. She even helped Josh make the batter for the pancakes earlier in the post. Her vocabulary is expanding exponentially every day, and she is an accomplished mimic. She "reads" several verses during family scripture study and says prayers with help. She's a real joy!

New apartment pictures

Yes, this post is long overdue. It's been in the works for two weeks. We're still not into a good routine yet, partially because I haven't motivated myself to do it, and partially because Cora hasn't been napping much. Over the past 5 weeks she's taken less than 2 weeks worth of naps, and several of those were short.So since she didn't nap, I didn't stick with my schedule.

Cute dress from Aunt Aimee's store

One of my dad's high school friends gave this to her. He lives near us, so when my family and visited last summer, we all went to see him. He has a daughter about a year older than Cora who had never worn this, so he gave it to us. Isn't she cute?

Current trend: Sitting in boxes, no matter how little room there is.

We went to the Houston Zoo again over spring break. Here's Cora admiring a pheasant (I think that's what it is).

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sleeping raccoon. Looks comfy!

Cora and her daddy posing with a bison statue.

She got ahold of my shoes one Sunday and started walking around in them. It was pretty cute. The cuteness was definitely enhanced by the pigtails.

And now, what I know you've all been waiting for, pictures of our new apartment! Here's the living room. We still don't have a couch, and we've lived here for 2 months now. I started looking on Cragslist about a month ago, and there were lots of options. A member of our congregation said we could use his truck to pick one up once we found one. We picked a day that would work for him and said we'd find one by then.

We found a couch that we liked, and he and Josh went to get it. It was a nice dark blue with really cool pillows that have circles and spirals on them. We were so excited to finally have a couch. They brought it back--and we couldn't get it up the stairs. Grrrr. Our apartment is on the second floor of a house built in 1918, and the staircase turns right before emptying into the hallway. We tried every orientation possible, and the couch was just a few inches too wide, tall, and long to fit. If it had been just a few inches shorter on any of the dimensions, it would have fit just fine. Grrrrr. So it's sitting on our porch until we figure out what to do with it. We'll probably just resell it. (That was Cora's bedroom in the picture, by the way.)

Our lovely, old-fashioned bathroom. (And Cora's face. She likes pictures.)

Kitchen, cabinets are updated.

I love the tile in the kitchen and bathroom. It's so classy. And here's our IKEA table and chairs. Our old table was way too big for the dining space, so we got a new one. Whenever we have anyone over, we move the table into the living room because there is no way to fit more than three people around it in here!

Cora enjoying her new kiddie pool. Grandma Stewart sent us some money to get her something for outside. We used it for the first time on Monday, and Cora had a blast.

Cora loves to color, so we had her make our Mothers' Day cards. She had fun coloring herself as well as the cards!

Another new addition to the home: Cora's own potty! She loves sitting on it. Every time the bathroom door is open, she goes in and sits on it. Before putting her swim diaper on her the other day, I sat her on it with no diaper f0r the first time. I went to get her swim diaper and suit, and she peed! I was so excited!

Yes, I am a mother. Pee is exciting when it's in a toilet and not on the floor.

The school year is winding down! We are excited. We have both learned a lot this year, and Josh especially. He's looking forward to getting a fresh start next year. He will be teaching fourth grade math at the same school, so he'll be moving up with his students. But I'm looking forward to having him home for a little while!