One morning

Evan, you are so special. You are smarter than we deserve you to be and you are sweet and silly. This one morning recently as you have been doing for a few months now, you brought your "green blankie" in our room while we slept, gently prodding us to wake up and let you cuddle with us. You were still tired a bit but you were obviously not interested in staying in your own bed. I'm so glad you did this and do this. Since you were a baby, you have been quirky with putting something under your nose while you suck on your (then) pacifier and now, finger. You suck on your index finger when you are tired or relaxing (watching a movie). It used to be a sock as documented many times, then you went to your 'little blankie' but since daddy bought your your beloved green blankie last November, it have been your favorite. Thank you for being such a sweet big brother. Tonight you played dueling toy computer songs with Cora Grace and asked her to dance with you, which of course she did. It was so so so so so precious and I unfortunately didn't take a picture or video of it, rather I'm relying on this blog and the picture in my head of you two holding hands and twirling around the room. You are so beautiful and full of life. You inspire me. I love you. Daddy loves you and as Cora identified tonight when I asked her who is her best friend, she pointed to you with a big smile on her face. She loves you too. ;) xoxo muah!

FOURTH

This was at Matt and Nanci's house for our annual 4th of July celebration (ironically, we are not allowed to shoot fireworks in the city lol but it was so dry this year, no one really shot them). As always, we had a great time with our family here.

Grandma is such a good sport!

Cousins

Tennessee Girl cousins.

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Daddy,

We love you. Thank you for always making time to play with us when you come home from a busy day and just want to sit down. Thank you for working so hard for us; selling houses and working for Tre. We love when you take us to the playground, read us books at night and play trains and tea party with us. We are sad you didn't feel well today and had to miss "Pie on the Porch" at church but mommy made sure to bring you a couple treats in case you felt well enough. Thanks for giving us a bite of your pie. :) We are so glad you love our gift we made with Mommy. We hope we see it on our walls for many years to come. Thank you for loving us so much and for loving our mommy too.

Love, Evan and Cora Grace

Fathers

35395, Children's Songbook, Home and Family, Fathers, 209

"1. The father of our home leads our family

With wisdom's light in all that's right;

My father's good to me.

Fathers are so special with a very special love.

They watch us and protect us.

They guide us and direct us

Back to our home above...."

Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl

Cora Grace is 2! You are a joy to us. Somehow you get cuter ever day with a new smile or added quirk. The dress and hair accessory you are wearing in this picture we also sent to your birthday twin cousin Juliet (posted at end). As with Evan we always ask you to perform; "All cute babies raise your hand", high fives, 'shake your curls', anything to hear you say 'thank you' aka 'dah doo' and etc. You have a love unmatched for your rain boots and it makes us smile so don't stop. You are growing way too fast but also getting smarter so it evens out. You are finally attempting to talk which is great. We'll have to see what words you decided to say first. Haven't had your check up yet but we know you are sooo tall and although slimming out, you're still heavy! Speaking of slimming out, you do not want to eat anymore. You will "ask" (point and grunt plus some crude sign language) for something then refuse it. grrrr. For the most part you still love bananas but you've layed off pretzels after a

3+ month long all day obsession. You are so rambuncious that you are starting rival Evan with all your scrapes, bumps and bruises! Biting bugs love you cause you are so sweet and you come and tell me "uh oh" while you scratch it. poor thing. The fact that you can reach and turn door knobs, open the refrigerator and flush toilets is beyond us. a less desirable attribute you have started to exhibit is your tantrums and 'new scream'. oi vey! You are a little wild monkey most of the time but you are funny and sweet too. You sure love your momma but daddy's been finally getting some sugar too which he loves. You love to swing and run and play. You love to be with Evan to chase him and be chased. You are called Cora Bora by your day care teacher Amra cause they all love you and your cuteness. We are grateful you are in our family. You bring so much JOY and happiness and we couldn't be without you. Happy Birthday beautiful baby girl. We love you.

Mommy, Daddy, Evan and Smokey

{Here's Juliet in California. We miss you Jules!}

Last but not least, here is an excerpt from an email I recieved from your birth mommy Cyndee on your birthday:

"We wanted to wish Cora Gracy a Happy 2nd Birthday, Give her a big kiss and hug from her birth family in California. We miss her and cant wait to see her agine.

Lila I want to thank you for everything, you have been so thoughtfull thru and thru, you truly are a blessing. Happy Late Mothers Day, Cora and are Evan blessed to have you as their mom. My family talks about how wonderful you are and how we could not have asked for a better mom for Cora. The joy you show of being a mom and the love you and Michael share for eachother and for your children. thank you so much,.."

 

Cyndee is very private so we are thankful she reached out to you on your birthday. She said a lot of kind things to us too and we are happy and honestly relieved she feels this way about us. She is a good woman and her life is being blessed for the choice she made to place you for adoption. She was not in a position to raise a little baby when you were born and now is able to focus on her health and mending family relationships. As you see, she loves you very much and is happy she was able to let us be your parents. We are honored. Happy Birthday!

I'm A Mormon

One of our missionaries stopped by last night and challenged us to construct a profile on www.mormon.org. With a member of our church running for president, there are a lot of questions about our faith. Unfortunately there is also a lack of truth to some of what is being said about what we believe. Some published articles by would be 'professionals' claim things like we are not Christians, which is not true. We follow a loving Heavenly Father and know his son, Jesus Christ is our Savior. I have made a profile on the site for the public to view and it is now displayed as a button on the right side of my blog. Clicking on it will take you to the site and answer all the hard questions about what we believe as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Fun Times

I took the kids to the mall today to find some various clothes items. After leaving JC Penney, you can't help but stop at an indoor playground they have there so we did. It's one of those soft sided climb on top of everything places with a very cushy floor. The kids were beyond excited, BEYOND. I told Evan he needed to take his shoes off first much to his dismay as he was already to the middle of the play ground. lol. He said he was going to take his socks off too and without looking at him, and starting to send a text to Mike, I told him to leave them on and proptly ignored him. :) I finish the text (we are the only ones there at the moment) and look up to see Evan Streaking across the play ground in underwear only AS happy as anyone could possibly be. He was exploding inside he was so excited as he dashed by me. In shear panic of getting expelled from the entire mall and in mortification that my child was practically naked in public. I yelled to him, "WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES!?" lol. I was trying not to laugh and cry at the same time!! I found them quickly and he didn't hesitate as he realized this was important to put the shirt and shorts back on and WHEW. no one saw it. I think. A minute later a woman came in with 2 kids and I couldn't help but tell her what happened before calling Mike to share with him. Fun times is an understatement. :)

Swingers

Here are those sweet babies of ours. They have so much fun on this crazy swing that is seemingly a death trap. (oh for the painted motorcycle tire swing of my dreams! mother's day... hint hint.) I am enjoying their joy and funnies, to be documented in my own time.