Coulter's baptism

We were so excited to celebrate cousin Coulter's baptism this Winter!  The kiddos were relatively well-behaved in church, but really hammed it up at lunch.

Amara had been looking forward to mac and cheese all day :)

We ALL love this pic of Eric and his first "Young" nephew, Couter :) Such sweet smiles on Colt's special day!

Cora was happy to congratulate Coulter too :)

I love this pic of the three of them--they all did pretty well, even though if it all began to fall apart right after this pic, haha.

Proud parents and son.  Congratulations Coulter, we are so happy for you and your future with the lord!

Cora 11 months

Sweet Cora at 11 months!  Almost a year old, and such a sweet heart and smile :)

Beanie's preschool Primrose Teachers

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with Amara's teachers.  In January and February, Beanie's classroom teachers moved on to better opportunities, and she'll be having new ones soon.  She's enjoyed these guys so very much, the next ones will have huge shoes to fill, but we are so thankful for all they have given her.

Check in from Daddy

Daddy checks in with another one of his great stories:

One of Amara's teachers - the one she's been with the longest, I believe, during her story "education career" is Ms. Thompson.  Sweet lady, seems like a great teacher, and Amara really takes to her.  She recently had a child of her own, and I guess Amara and Ms. Thompson were sharing stories about "their babies at home" (I get the impression that Ms. Thompson likes to engage Amara in some conversations, not just "kid small talk").  Amara must have brought up Cora eating/nursing, and Ms. Thompson asked her, obviously tongue-in-cheek, "well, would you like to come home with me and help feed my little one?"  Amara took her seriously but had to graciously decline, "But I can't Ms. Thompson - I don't have big boobs."

I really can't add anything to that story.  Ms. Thompson had both herself and me in tears, relaying that story.  Ah, from the mouths (and minds) of babes.

funny faces

Cora has been squinching up her face in a sort of old man or bitter beer face for weeks if not months now.  We rarely can get a shot of it and now that she's WALKING, it's harder and harder.

In a moment of particular distraction at dinner, Eric got some good ones of her.

She's such a little ham and she knows EXACTLY what she is doing when she uses it.

First (grown up) food

So--not exactly a "mother-of-the-year" moment, but at dinner last night, i let Cora grab an eggroll that Amara wasn't eating. 

I really thought she might lick it, or maybe take a nibble.  She's such a good eater, I try not to "not let" her have things--I've always heard to let the kids have lots of different seasonings and spices, etc. to expose them to it. She had been eating plain white rice and a little bit of pork from dumplings, so I just thought she was curious...

...boy was she!!

She kept saying "mmm" and kind of gnawing at it.  All the bites were tiny shredded cabbage and carrots, so nothing she couldn't have, but Eric and I just kept exchanging looks and she had a death grip on it and showed NO signs of giving it up.

Eventually it started falling apart after all the gnawing and man-handling it, and she dropped it on the ground.  Ily was quick to snatch it up and BOY did Cora let us know that was NOT COOL!  She was so upset :(  not crying--just like REALLY???

Anyway, I guess our eggroll count is up to 4 now...maybe not every time, but she sure enjoyed herself, and so did we all, watching her.

Happy New Years!

...and another year is come and gone.

We didn't exactly go out as we went in, but even better!

New Year's eve was low key, and the same for New Year's day.  We made our traditional pork fried rice, and I made banana monkey bread squares *Yummy!*

My mom and dad came over and we just played and enjoyed being home--I think there was a little football on the TV, and Eric got to take a nap with his baby girl, Cora.

I'm hoping for the best in 2012--Cora is about to turn 1, Beanie will turn 4!!  Hoping for a great (SLOWER) year and just as much fun.  Dance and gymnastics don't start for a couple weeks as well as WeJoySing, but it will be good to see their friends and teachers again soon.

Happy New Year!