Smile!

In case you needed a little smile today, here is one furnished by Lil Ms. Cora Dora.


These days all she needs to see is a camera and she plasters her face with a huge smile and exclaims, "Cheese!" for as long as the camera is in sight.

Goodbyes and Hellos

For me, this has been a bittersweet week. Two of my dear friends are moving halfway across the country. One will be leaving and one will be coming. The blessing for both of them is that they are moving closer to home, especially since they are both expanding their families.

So let me start with the goodbye. When I was about 5 months pregnant with Reed, I met another pregnant woman in my yoga class whose due date was about 4 days before mine. We discovered we lived a few close blocks away and the rest was history. Benjamin was born a week before Reed and we started getting together nearly daily it seemed to take walks and talk. It was amazing to have a friend to navigate through this new-found state of motherhood that seemed at moments so natural and others so foreign. We seemed to be going through same things at the same time with our boys. Consequently, the boys naturally became friends over the years.

The challenge with this goodbye was it wasn't just me saying goodbye to a wonderful friend, it was also Reed's first goodbye to a friend. He wasn't pleased. He directed them to stay. No, he wasn't pleased, but he has come to terms with it. They left on Wednesday and the past two nights Reed and I have been telling a bedtime story about our family building an airplane in our backyard and flying cross-country to Idaho. Reed, of course, is the driver and he's always tickled about the part where he gets to drive home in his pajamas because it's getting late.

Best wishes to the Mellos! You will not be soon forgotten!

Benjamin and Reed - First Friends

Melissa and I with the kids

On to my hello! One of by dearest, bestest friends from high school will be saying sayonara to Washington, D.C. tomorrow morning and heading to the good old Land of Lincoln. Wes will be working for the FBI in Chicago (Am I allowed to say that? Is it top secret? Why did a black car with tinted windows just stop in front of my house?) They will be living in Chicago while they house-hunt. While I know they won't be moving in a few blocks over, I am thrilled that they will be in the Chicagoland area. I am counting on some playdates with Hadley and Jen in the future. I can't wait!

Safe travels and can't wait to see you all soon!

First Trip to the Dentist

We weren't sure what to expect from Reed's first trip to the dentist, but it was smooth sailing.

They counted his teeth. He has 20.

He got to pick his toothpaste flavor. He picked out Strawberry.

He followed directions like a champ. He opened his mouth like an alligator and he calmly let the dental hygienist clean his teeth.

A+!Reed's first time in the dentist's chair

Reed was thrilled with his goodie bag. He got a Sponge Bob toothbrush and toothpaste and his own berry floss. He got 2 Spiderman stickers (well, one for Reed and one for Daddy who always went to the dentist). He also got to pick a toy from the prize bin! How lucky can one boy get :)

Mid-week Greenville Trip

With Bob working crazy hours and Reed bringing up P-pa and Granny's house a lot, I made a quick decision to pack up the kids and take a little excursion down south. While we missed Bob, we had a blast!

Tuesday, I picked up Reed from daycare at noon. We ate lunch and hit the road. We rolled in at about 6 pm, just in time for dinner.

The next morning we headed to the St. Louis Zoo. It was a rainy, rainy day but the temperature was quite mild and we enjoyed having the place nearly to ourselves. Here are some of the highlights.

Playing in the Jeep at the Children's Zoo

Riding the Carousel with Granny and P-pa

Posing with Mommy and the Zebra

Cora, Granny, and the REAL zebras

Waiting for the train to arrive

The Train Ride- Reed's favorite part

Thursday we visited Great-Granny Maher in Brighton. We revisited the park down the street from her house, taking in the wonderful activities...riding the merry-go-round and swings, climbing on the caboose car and giant tire, dancing in the gazebo, and looking for and hiding treasure in a hollow tree. Next off, we headed down the road to Shipman to the Reed Family Farm. We stopped along the way to check out Uncle Pat drying corn and we drove by Uncle Chuck driving the combine, harvesting corn. At the farm house, Aunt Edith had just finished hanging wall paper and Cousins Kim and Molly stopped by. We sat outside on the patio on a beautiful fall late-afternoon, getting buzzed by hummingbirds. Awesome!

Friday we had a low-key day at home. We stopped at a yard sale and the thrift store where Reed and Cora got a few treats. We all took naps that afternoon and capped off the evening with dinner at Mario's Pizza. Yum!

Saturday day morning we hung out with Granny and P-pa until they were getting ready to go to a wedding. Here is some of the fun the kiddos were having with them.

It started with Cora and Reed wanted to join in.

Saturday afternoon we went to Andrea and Jim's house. Nathan and Casey came by too and the kids played outside for what seemed like hours (and probably was). Catching up with my siblings was fantastic for me and Reed adores his cousins, Owen and Willa. Cora proudly conquered their playhouse, which surprised everyone but herself.

Sunday was a rainy, yucky day for the drive home. Thankfully, the exhausted kiddos both slept for about 3 hours of the 5+ hour drive. We had a fun few days, but it was great to be home. Bob was home when we arrived. The kids ran to him with hugs. Sweetly, Cora curled up on his lap hugging him for several minutes. What a loved Daddy!

Cooperation

I love it when I get a good picture of the kids having fun together or being cooperative with one another. Overall I would say they have a pretty good relationship, although it does become a bit adversarial when they both stake a claim on a object...a toy, a parent, whatever.

Reed and Cora giving me their best cheesy smiles!

Our afternoon zucchini bread making activity

Tomato Eater

Cora has an affinity for, of all things, tomatoes. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since there are a lot of tomato eaters in the family. I never really thought of tomatoes as a toddler food, however. But why not?!

Yesterday I walked into the kitchen to this...

Caught in the act!

The other thing wrong with this photo is that she is standing on a step stool that is usually folded up and tucked safely behind the fridge so she doesn't climb it. Reed has a bad habit of pulling it out and leaving it out. In those instances, I usually find her pilfering on the countertop or actually sitting on the countertop pilfering in the cabinet. The latter is obviously the scarier scenario.

Nonetheless, she was obviously pleased with herself and her find.

Seven Years!

This weekend Bob and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. It's amazing how time flies. We had a great date night. Thanks goes out to Grandma and Grandpa Mihelich for babysitting.

Bob, I am hoping the next 50 are as great as these past seven have been. Love you!