Daddy Daughter(s) Date

Every summer, the girls complain to me as Preston and Daxton ride off into the sunset on their way to the "Fathers and Sons Camp out."  To make up for it, this year the primary put on a "Daddy Daughter Day" sort of thing, and the girls were....a little excited.

So excited that they laid out their clothes the night before:

The sticky note says, "This pair of kind-of fashion close (clothes) are for the Daddy and Douter (daughter) night so don't touch them!  Girls only!!!!"  Silly girls.

Before the daddy-daughter day, Cora had a soccer game.  She scored a goal!  We are still doing the score-a-goal-and-you-get-ice-cream bribe.  Cora scored early in the first half in a couple of games this year, and I must admit that her intensity level drops significantly after she gets one in the back off the net.  Hmmmmm....I might need to revise my bribery.  Anyway, here is my teeny little girl on a breakaway.  Run, Corbie run!  Do you hear the footsteps?

Anyway, after we made good on our bribe, the girls and Preston headed off to the party, while Dax and I headed off to his soccer game.

(Side note:  Dax is not as prolific a scorer as Cora, although he DID score one goal so far in the first couple games.  He scored it while playing goalie.  Wha?  Dax has a mean drop kick, and he can kick it all the way down the field.  He kicked it so hard and so far over every one's heads that I think he surprised the other team's goalie who let it go past him in into the net.  Still counts.  Should count as 2.  Dax's team, bless their hearts, would still have lost.)

Here are some pictures I was sent from the big party:

I heard there was a hula hoop contest, games, crafts (see above) snacks, and all sorts of fun!  Dax was more than a little jealous when the girls came home with all of their little prizes, but he will get his turn soon.  I personally think the campout should be "Fathers and all the kids," but you know....I'll take what I can get.

Cora is Six!

It is birthday season at our house, and next up was Cora!  She turned six years old this year, if you can believe it, because I can't.  In my mind, Cora is still two years old, like this:

But somehow, this big, beautiful girl has taken my spunky little baby's place:

Whoa, she is really growing up, isn't she?  Look out, boys!

 She is still spunky, though.

Cora chose to go to Macaroni Grill for her birthday, she heard they give you cake AND sing you happy birthday in Italian (She wasn't quite sure what "Italian" was, but she knew she wanted it).

 She had her friends party a couple of days after her "real" birthday.  And, if this looks like a rerun, you are right.  She loved Arden's craft party at Michael's so much, she decided to have one too.  This time, we decorated little canvas bags/purses.  Here are a couple of the cute girlies who joined us:

 Some more of the crew:

 Here is the guest of honor herself.  Does she look excited? Pictures don't lie.

Arden and Dax came along too, of course.  Arden helped the other girls, and also decorated her own bag.  Dax did a T-shirt.

We did our craft, ate some cake, and then opened presents!  Cora LOVED each present so much, she gave each friend a big hug (whether they liked it or not).

Here is some information about Cora-the-six-year-old:

Favorite color (as of yesterday):  Light blue
Favorite song:  "Sugar" by Maroon Five
Favorite movie:  Teen Beach Movie (this movie is enjoying a resurgence at our house)
Favorite TV show:  Paw Patrol
Favorite food:  Steak
Favorite dessert:  ice cream or anything with frosting
Favorite things to do:  Whatever Arden is doing, play with friends, do crafts, score goals!
Least favorite things to do:  GO TO SLEEP!

Cora is still pretty small for her age, which is okay with me, it helps me pretend she is still little.  She still wears size 10 toddler shoes, so that means she is still a toddler, right?  I vote yes.  

Ticket to Ride

So, I live on a hill.  The side of a mountain, actually.  This cuts down on the whole childhood experience of "let's ride bikes" pretty considerably.  So, try to give me a teeny break when I tell you that Cora has never had a pedal bike and she is FIVE (almost six) years old.  

I know, I know.  Bad mom.  I finally realized what a slacker I was being and got Cora a proper bicycle.  Okay, okay, we got Arden a new bike, and finally gave Arden's old (and much too small) bike to Cora, but it was NEW TO HER and she was happy.  Last weekend we threw the bikes in the back of the Durango and drove up to the park, which has a (semi) flat path to practice on.  

Cora and I did a lap or two with my hand on the back of her bike, but before long she was ready to try it solo.  After about 15 or 20 minutes, she had it all figured out, and we were just doing laps:

 Go Corbiecakes, go!  She giggled like crazy around and around the track, although she would get off and walk her bike DOWN the little hill there was...she was still not so good with the brakes and didn't like to get going too fast.

While we getting Arden a new bike, we decided that Dax's old bike needed to be replaced too.  I don't know if you know this, but that kid is growing at a semi-alarming rate.  He is taller every day and he was starting to look a little comical on his old little bike.  We wanted to get him a bike that would last him for at least a couple of years, so of course we got the biggest one we thought he could possibly use.  Which was a little bit of a problem.

Dax man was used to being nice and low to the ground, and when we perched him up on top of his new tall bike, he became an acrophobic.  His feet could BARELY touch the ground, and he wasn't too sure that he wanted to risk falling from that great height.  After a day, we lowered his seat down to the very lowest level and headed over to the church parking lot to try again.  After a few practice runs, a couple of pep talks and a lot of "Mom, don't let go EVER"s from Dax, I let go.  Lo and behold, he was fine:
.

He does have to bend his knee CRAZY high with the seat lowered all the way, but he seems much happier this way:

The kids have been riding their bikes around and around in circles in our driveway (the only semi-flat surface on our little part of the street), and begging to go over to the church parking lot multiple times a day.   It could get old shortly, but for now I am still basking in the glow of their smiling I'm-so-proud-of-myself faces.

And if you are wondering why I don't have any pictures of Arden on her new bike, it is because EVERY SINGLE ONE IS BLURRY.  That girl is faaaaast!  Until, of course, she gets to a hill. "Mom," she said to me, "Hills are hard.  I don't like going up hills."

Preaching to the choir, baby.