Boys vs. Girls

There are countless differences in little boys and girls. Don't get me wrong, there are also many, many similarities. Cora likes typical girlie stuff and Reed likes typical boyish stuff without guidance from us, but Cora also loves trucks and trains and Reed has no problems playing family or with stuffed animals. One of the biggest differences I see is their default play mode; Reed is incredibly active often with kicking, punching, spinning, jumping and Cora is engaged in more quiet play, reading, mothering, drawing. Cora can whoop it up with the best of them and Reed can sit quietly for extended periods to draw or play Legos, but generally they play differently, especially when alone.

Here is Cora enjoying a quiet moment with Pink Baby. She's reading from her "Church Book," a little missalette that she managed to acquire from church. Cora has no problem pretending to read and telling stories. Reed seems too aware that he can not read the words so he won't even pretend. 

Pink Baby looks quite engaged

Pinewood Derby 2012

Mason and Porter are both Cub Scouts and what's one of the coolest Scouting activities? Yep, The Pine Wood Derby races. The events is mostly for the Scouts, but they do have an Open Division for siblings, relatives, and friends. Reed raced last year, and this year, both Reed and Cora participated.

 

Grandpa kindly made the cars and painted them, Cora's orange and Reed's red. We then decorated them. Cora wanted a lady bug and Reed wanted a dragon knight car. The cars turned out even better than I imagined. 

 

The Lady Bug buggie and The Dragon Knight mobile

Cora wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing at first since she didn't go last year. She inspected the cars and took everything in.

 

 

Three kids race at a time, and Reed and Cora managed to win each of their three races. Good designs, Grandpa! With each race, Cora especially got more and more excited. She and her bug became a crowd favorite due to her exuberant enthusiasm.

 

 

Reed was somewhat disappointed that he didn't win the Best of Show trophy for the Open Division. The winner is the crowds' favorite design. The winner? The Bacon car. Yes, just as it sounds, it was a strip of bacon on wheels. I had to remind Reed that he too had voted for the Bacon car and really liked it.

 

 Overall, it was a great day at the races.

Kate at Eight Months

My little girl with a big, beautiful smile. Petite, but active. A great eater. A big lover. A snuggler. I love that she shows us more of her personality each day. She is getting so mobile. Around Christmas time, she started standing. She is picking up speed in her crawling. Last week (to my dismay), she started climbing the stairs!



She is finally getting teeth. Her first bottom tooth is about half in and a second bottom tooth is cutting through. She won't be toothless forever, I guess.

One of the cutest things that Kate does is her "flop," as Bob calls it. It's her way of cuddling. She'll just be sitting there and then all of a sudden she quickly thrusts herself onto you. To me, it looks like suddenly she finds that her head weighs 100 pounds and she can no longer hold it up, so she has no choice but to fall into you head first. It's really hard to explain but once you've been the recipient of the Kate Flop, you know it is a sign of love.

Her biggest, most consistent sound that she's making is...drum roll, please....Mama! Reed and Cora both went for Dada first, but this girl likes her M sounds. Hooray for me!

I want to say that she puts much more stuff in her mouth than Reed or Cora ever did, but I think, in reality, there is probably just more crap on the floor now with two preschoolers in the house. I don't even know how many stickers I have pulled off the roof of her mouth or even where these stickers are coming from.

Kate finds Reed and Cora increasingly interesting and they both make her laugh. They have so much to teach her.

I'd say we are in a challenging phase with three active kiddos. Kate's moving around more, Cora's potty training, and Reed is just an inquisitive boy. Besides factoring in the potty training, alone each is not too much trouble, but they all seem to need something at once. That's when one feels, shall we say, challenged.

They do drive me crazy, but every single day after I have them all sleeping in their beds, I reflect on what great kids they are. From frazzled to blessed, it's amazing how your perspective can be transformed in one short hour.

Reed Christmas

I am entirely surprised when I look back on the photos from the holidays that I have almost no pictures from my family's Christmas. I'll have to pester Granny on that one. Anyway, we took a day to collect ourselves and to pack our bags before heading down to Greenville. We enjoyed a nice leisurely drive on the 27th. The weather was clear, no snow or slick roads.

We had a great time in Greenville. Bob and I both when to the eye doctor, me for contacts and Bob for a checkup. It was nice to get something off of our to-do list. Mom and I finished up some gifts for the Reed Family (Aunts, Uncles, Cousins.) The next day was the Reed Christmas at the Reed Farm, which is always a great time. Reed loves playing with his cousins (Willa and Owen) but is also learning to love his second cousins. He has a great time with Reed T. who just turned 6 yesterday. We also got to visit my Grandma Maher at her house before the party since we weren't able to make it to the Maher Christmas the weekend before.

 Sunday, the 30th, we celebrated with my parents and siblings. Poor Willa was getting over a nasty bug, but overall it was really great and relaxing.

While in Greenville, the kids really enjoyed a little snow. We hadn't packed the snow gear since it didn't seem to be in the forecast.  We did some digging and came up with some dandy outfits. I'm guessing Cora's snowsuit was about 35 years old or so.

Ready to hit the sledding hill 

Ah, they do love each other 

Reed building a castle with his new blocks from Uncle Nathan

Bob and I managed to squeeze in a movie on our own, thanks to my parents. It has literally been years since we went to the theater, but we both enjoyed "Lincoln" at the Globe in Greenville.

We wrapped up 2012 with a big meal at the Chinese buffet. Mmm. Then we rang in the New Year with Mom and Dad, all cozied on the couch in pajamas, finally totally relaxed.

What a delightful year it has been. Kate has been our biggest blessing, and our family continues to evolve in such wonderful, tiring, exciting, frustrating, hilarious, maddening, and precious ways. I have the best family in the world and while I think sometimes they are making me crazy, I know truly and deeply that they are the ones that are making my life right.

I can only hope to have 2013 be as wonderful as 2012. Here I am almost two weeks into it now and it's looking up.

Mihelich Christmas

On Christmas Eve, Grandma and Grandpa came over to celebrate with us. We had a roaring fire, a nice dinner and dessert, and wonderful togetherness time. It was just a quiet night at home and it was good to finally start to slow down after a month of constantly running around from one thing to the next.

The kids went to sleep in their own beds after we read The Night Before Christmas. Reed and Cora were both very excited for Christmas morning, Reed especially. He had been SO excited about receiving gifts that I was a little surprised how Christmas morning unfolded.

Excitedly, he rushed to the tree to inspect the presents. After he got a good look, he went for a special stash of presents that he had been hiding behind the tree. He had made a few presents at school and also, in the days leading up to Christmas, he had gathered small presents around the house and secretly wrapped them in white paper from the printer. He insisted everyone open the gifts from him first. It was so sweet.

The initial analysis of gifts

A school project (Reindeer) to Mommy from Reed

A school project (Snowman and Snowflake) to Daddy from Reed

Cora opening one of her gifts. The bow in her hair was also "from Reed." 

Kate playing with a train, gifted to her from Reed from the toy bin.

A sleeping bag for Father/Son camping

Cora's new dollie

Is it bad that I allowed her to wear the skeleton pajamas to bed on Christmas Eve? Didn't seem worth the fight.

After the excitement of opening gifts, we headed to church to celebrate Christmas Mass. Afterwards, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Mihelich's house to celebrate with Bob's side of the family.

Great food, great company, and lots of gifts.

Reed's 1st Christmas Program

One of our highlights in December was the Christmas program at Reed's school. It was for the Pre-K through 4th graders and was very cute. They had practiced the songs for weeks in Music class and it turned out great. We knew less than half the songs so it seemed fresh, although I'm sure we'd all be on the edges of our seats even if we knew every word of every song.

Even though we got there early, we were in the very back. We did get a seat though, which was better than for many. I'm guessing the parents of the older kids knew to get there REALLY early. Pre-K was in the front row and Reed was right in the center. I hadn't noticed that, but afterwards he pointed out to me that the music teacher placed him there since he was the tallest kid in his class, to which he was quite proud.

The day of the performance, he was having a little last minute apprehension about all the people "looking at him." We told him that it was normal to be nervous and we'd be there for him. Although we were way in the back, we stood up and waved at him for a moment. His face lit up and he waved at us really big and did that several more times during the performance when he would catch a glimpse of us. He was also really excited because Grandma and Grandpa also came to watch.

We were so proud of him. It was also nice to see the older kids there too. They seemed to be sweet, well-mannered kids. I think the experience made me more strongly consider St. Laurence School for our kids' elementary school. At this point, I'd say it's pretty likely that he will continue on with his Catholic schooling. 

The Pre-K through 4th graders from our distant vantage point

Reed with the Pre-K and Kindergartners

Visiting Santa

One of our favorite holiday traditions for the last three years is visiting Santa at Oma's House. Her assisted living facility throws a fantastic lunch with Santa. It's laid-back and there are very few kids there... a far cry from visiting Santa at the Mall. It's always nice to spend the afternoon with Great-Grandma.

Kate's first run-in with Santa, lukewarm, I'd say. There were no tears, but I could sense a level of uneasiness. She complied but wasn't too sure about sitting on his lap. 

Reed, on the other hand, couldn't get on to Santa's lap fast enough. He had a request to make, a big request. A Lego Police Station. Yes, Reed had already heard that Santa was out of the Lego Fire Station. Cool, he'd compromise and ask for an even bigger set.

Checking in the book to see if he made the "Nice List" 

Cora just flat out wasn't having it. Yes, she'd tell Santa what she wanted, but there was no way in the world that she'd be climbing up on his lap. Just in case, she had Daddy be there to protect her.

Her request? A Ladybug Castle. Afterwards, I googled it...yeah, it doesn't exist.

Oma with Mason, Porter, Kate, Reed, and Cora.