more from the 4th

My sister just sent me some of the pictures she took from our holiday weekend with the family. They are so cute - I just had to share.

happy 4th!

We celebrated the holiday weekend with my side of the family . It was Cora's first trip home to visit this set of grandparents (and of course I forgot my camera... among several other things) and a chance to meet some of the extended family, too. Olivia had a great time - she loves her grandma and grandpa and auntie "Eesha"

So when we got home, I grabbed my camera and threw Cora in a flag tee to celebrate her first 4th of July. Here are our little patriotic cuties!

good friends




sweet Olivia










and cutie-pie Cora




and Olivia again... 'cause she's cute




they do love to hug...




sorry - a little blurry, but who can guess what she's saying here?


Happy 4th of July!

agency picnic

Saturday we attended Cora's first adoption agency picnic! It was fun to spend the afternoon with other friends who had adopted. (especially friends we had paper-chased with. Never would have guessed we would be on this side of the process! Eventually, you do get to bring home a child - and we did!) It was a lazy day - we ate, talked, and played in the lake. Actually, the fathers took the kids in the water to play while the mothers sat on the sidelines, in our fold-up chairs dipping our toes in the water. In deep conversation - not to be disturbed! And of course, we took a few cute pictures!

celebrating three months!

Remember this girl?


Well, she's grown. (a little bit)


Her hair has grown. (Brendan and I laugh about it.)

(These are current pictures of her in her "Gotcha!" outfit. I'm trying to track her growth over the next year, with the best intentions, of course!)

And it's only been 3 months! They handed Cora to us at 18 months old. She seemed more like a one year old, or younger, at the time. Now? She seems more like a 2 year old! (I'm sure having a big sister has nothing to do with that! Ha!) Could she really have aged a year in just 3 months?

She loves to eat, to blow bubbles, to sing (if you want to call it that) to dance, to play with toys, to steal toys, to be held... She now adores her daddy (and that took time!) and deep down, I think she really loves her sister, too. (There is a whole lot of baby girl screaming going on here!) They play together, jabber together, squeal (in delight) together. They do everything together, including celebrate together!

I love butter cream frosting, and I'll use any excuse I can find to celebrate with it. So a party we had - with butter cream frosted sugar cookies from our little town's "famous" bakery. In all honestly, we really do have a lot to celebrate!








Hey - Olivia stole my frosting!


Oh yes I did!!! (She really did. Dipped that slobbery finger into Cora's cookie and scooped it right up. Yum.)









Thanks for partying with us!

day at the beach

We went to a local "beach" (a lake with some sand) last week with some good friends. We decided to take advantage of what was supposed to be a hot day, although it wasn't quite as warm as predicted, and the water was icy cold! Brrr!!! But the girls had a great time (most of the time!) And we had to document this trip with it being Cora's first to the beach! She was curious about the water, but certainly did not love it. (Who can blame her? It was cold!) She wasn't wild about the sand between her toes, either. That's okay. She will learn!

Olivia had a great time with her buddy. (The girls are about 2 months apart and they adore each other. I love it!) As far as her feelings for the water, she had no fear of it, unlike last summer when she started whimpering at the sight of a kiddie pool. (She's growing up so fast!) She fell down a few times, and the cold must have been shocking at first, but I think she got used to it pretty quickly. I never could quite get over the shock, myself. Oh, the things you do for the ones you love!








I think it's funny to take pictures of my kids crying:


But I also love it when they do this:

the park

My good friend, Kelli, just sent me this picture from a trip we took to the park. I believe it was during our 2nd week home with Cora. I absolutely love the expression on her face!