Cora's 1 year pics

Finally...got them edited and ordered...she's so stinkin' cute!

Productive Weekend!

Gotta love those weekends where we actually get a lot accomplished! We went and picked up the camper from down at Westland Camping Center in Westland. It was quite a drive, but it was a nice day with my hubby. Thanks mom for keeping the kids!

We also stopped at Ikea and bought a kitchen cart to put against the north windows. WOW, so much extra storage space we have. Not to mention, it looks much better than the old microwave cart. :-)

Still have lots to do, so gotta keep on moving. One more photo session to edit and then I'll be done until after the holidays! :-)

Love you mommy...

Tonight after I read Blake his bed time story and say our prayers (he can say the entire Lords Prayer, by the way!), he gives me a hug and says, "Momma, I love you VERY much! I had fun wrestling with you tonight...I had fun laughing with you momma." He melts my heart! :-)

Ears Glued On

Back a few weeks ago....in fact it was October 17th...the day of Cora's birthday party. I was sitting down with Blake, just relaxing and unwinding. I started to tickle him and pretend to bite his ear...this is our dialogue....

Blake: "Momma....you can't bite my ear off!"

Me: "Why not Blake"

Blake: "Because it has glue on it!"

Me: "Why does it have glue on it Blake?"

Blake: "Because Momma...everyone has glue on their ears....so they don't fall off!"

Too funny!

Wow, I knew I was behind, but didn't realize it's been 6 weeks already! Yikes...thanks for the reminder mom!

Probably the biggest excitement in the last 6 weeks was that my baby girl turned one! We had a nice party for her at our house. Everyone was able to make it - Grandma and Grandpa Arbaugh, Todd & Kristin and the boys, Jody & Brian and the girls, Jeff & Trisha & Robby, Grandpa Maya (my mom), Grandpa and Grandma Lynn, Erin & David, Grandma Regentin, Grandma Vogel and Virgil. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anyone! Cora got a whole new wardrobe of clothes, which was perfect because she didn't have much for the winter.

Cora has been walking for a while now...she's actually starting to run now! She isn't talking much...once in awhile she says "mama" or "dada" or "hi"....but that's about it. The doctor said that's normal though. She had her one year check up a on 10/21/10...she was around 21lb and 29.5" long. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight and 75th percentile for her height. So, she is growing just fine.

This was an extremely busy "picture" month... I think I did around 12 sessions. I guess that would explain why I've been so absent from this blog!

Other excitement....we bought a fifth wheel! It's a 2001 Jayco Qwest....here's a few pics...Ok...I guess the pictures are up top...can't seem to figure out how to move them down here.

Halloween was today.....we ended up taking Nathan and Braden along with us because Todd and Kristin had to go to a funeral for Sara Wood. Blake was a hunter, Cora was a chicken, and Nathan and Braden were Star Wars characters...couldn't tell you which ones! Those pics are still on my camera....They had fun tonight though. We went to my Dad's, Grandma Vogel's, Aunt Peggy's, Aunt Gail's and Aunt Diane's. They were SO generous and got TONS of candy. Thank you all!!

Aunt Diane even gave us homemade popcorn balls...brings back memories of trick-or-treating when we were kids and going to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Peruski's.

Tom and I are in another weightloss competition with Jody and Brian...it started 10/1 and will go to 12/31. This one is a little less intense, as we are really focusing on eating healthy and making this a lifestyle change. If we all meet our goals, we are going to start another competition focused on maintaining our weight.

Cora had another tooth come in this week....top right...She now has 3 on top and 4 on the bottom.

Blake has been doing very well with pre-school. He had one bad day, and it took awhile but we figured out that the problem was he had to go #2 and didn't want to go at school...so he threw a terrible fit and didn't want me to leave. We haven't had any problems since then, and he really looks forward to going to school. He goes 2 days a week. He is starting to talk a little more about it...and about the kids in his class. He talks about this "girl with the beautiful hair and beautiful eyes...but she has a mad face." Too funny! He also mentioned "the girl with the little head." I'm trying to put "a name with the face" now that I have his class photo!

That's all for now....I'm gonna really try to keep this better updated from now on!!

Walking & Waving & School

Well...last week Cora took her first few steps and started waving - all on Labor Day - August 6, 2010. Can't believe she is starting to walk at 10months already. Craziness!!

Blake started pre-school on September 8th. He goes to Peace Lutheran in Sandusky, 2 days a week for 2.5 hours each time. He has been looking forward to it all summer, and was very excited on the first day. When I picked him up from school, he almost cried because he didn't want to leave. He said his favorite part was going outside to play. He says he didn't make any new friends because they "all had mad faces." I asked him if maybe the other kids were just being shy, and he thought that might be it. Looking at his class list, he is one of only 4 boys in a calls of 14 kids! It's hard to believe my baby boy is in pre-school already and how fast the time flies. Even harder to believe that Cora is going to be a year old already next month!

I've been very busy with photography as well. I've been trying to cut back and am learning to say No to some people, just so that I can manage my time better and be able to spend enough time with my family. The extra money has been nice, especially in this economy, but it stinks being gone more and spending so much time on the computer when I am home!

Cora talking & Blake's 3 year check up

Cora was saying ma-ma and da-da by the end of July. Over this past weekend, she started saying "up" and "uh-oh". Not real clear, but definitely repeating after us.

Blake had his 3 year check up at Dr. Kramer's today. I was afraid that he was going to freak out about getting shots. When I told him he had to get a shot, he acted like it was no big deal. I told him it would hurt for just a second and then it wouldn't hurt anymore. He even picked which leg he wanted the shot in. He cried from the initial pain, but got over it very quickly. I was SO proud of my big boy! Speaking of big...he is almost off the charts for his height - 41" tall which is above the 97th percentile and 37lbs, which is around the 93rd percentile. So, he's definitely a big boy! We also went to get his new bike after the appointment (which was a great bribe). His daddy accidentally ran over his other one that he got from Grandma Bower for his birthday.