Nursery

Cora turned 18 months old today and went to her first day of nursery. Because these girls are exactly 2 years apart, I had Cora wear the same dress that Aubrey wore on her first day in nursery:

Aubrey. She looks so little! I like looking at this picture to see that Aubrey also went through the awkward toddler hair phase. I'm never quite sure what to do with Cora's while it grows out.

Cora. This is Cora's "say cheese" face. She is very willing, but it doesn't quite capture her real smile.

Sisters:

And... I was just glad that these pictures were taken at 9:02 am and we (mostly) made it to church on time. Steven had a 7 am meeting, so I was on my own. The girls stayed up way late with friends and getting us all out the door on time was a struggle. They both squished their fingers in the closet door and Cora had a blow-out in the tub. Of course. 

I was worried about nursery with Cora since she was such a clingy baby and loves her mama. But, she has really grown up lately, and she was completely fine. She played happily, didn't seem to care that her parents weren't around, and was just a sweetheart.

And speaking of growing up, along with that independence has come the 18 month-old attitude. I also have the wiggliest kids around and I'm dreading the flight alone with them to Utah this weekend.

At 18 months old Cora:

- Has mostly transitioned to one nap. Still takes 2 some days and she is great at putting herself to sleep. She sleeps 10-11 hours at night and about 2 in the day.
- Starting to fight me on her vegetables. She likes to throw her food on the ground and say, "I drop it" but I've caught on to that one...
- I'll try not to be a proud parent on this one, but her language abilities are really impressive. She is starting to put two word sentences together. I guess it helps that she has a sister who is always talking :)
- She is getting pretty tired of sitting through all of Aubrey's lessons, so I signed her up for her own gymnastics class starting in July. We did a trial class and she was beaming from ear to ear that it was finally her turn.
- She is a sweet, loving little girl. Always coming up and giving me kisses, and saying, "love you."

We love our Cora! Can't believe she is now closer to two than one.

Traditions

When we were first married, Steven and I had a regular Saturday date night. We would always go out for dinner, and for our whole marriage, Saturday is the one night of the week I don't have to cook.

Once we had Aubrey, for a while, we just continued our tradition. And then... Aubrey turned into a wild toddler, and we kind of turned into a public hazard at restaurants. Luckily, that happened around the same time Steven started working at LinkedIn.

So, for the past two and half years, we have been getting take-out and bringing it back to LinkedIn. The girls can be free, we get all the frozen yogurt/drinks/snacks we want to go along with our meals, and we have a great time. It has become kind of a family tradition and one that I will definitely miss if we ever leave.

 Steven at his desk. Aubrey loves to go up there and pretend to "work."

The exercise balls and beanbag chairs keep this little lady happy.

And, Aubrey is getting pretty good at the little rock climbing wall...

Another one of our favorite weekly events is Friday playgroup with all our friends. This last week, we went to the Emma Prusch farm park. Always a hit. 

Love these two. 

The big event Aubrey talks about was watching a pig do his business. Aubrey was very offended that he didn't wash his hands :)

She sat on this tractor for a reallllly long time. I could barely pry her off.

Park days with friends (Aubrey and her best little buddy Faith), swimming, gymnastics, and of course baking with mom are also an integral part of every week.

The big things are fun, but I love to remember the little parts of every week that make up our life here. We are blessed.