Already sharing secrets

It's not a lie

This morning I found on the wall, in a spot I don't look very often, apparently, the word "Cora" written in pen. I asked Cora why her name was on the wall. She replied, "I didn't write it, when I was five."

Another project finished

 All pictures on the left are before and all pictures on the right are after. The picture of the back of the house shows the new siding color better than the front picture.

Front




Back







Bedroom



Living Room



Kitchen



Bathroom



Ray tore down and rebuilt the bedroom and bathroom because there was no foundation under them. He also took out the tiny, weird room on the opposite side of the house for the same reason. He couldn't rebuild that because it didn't meet setbacks. So he split the living room, which was very large, and put in another small bedroom. It all turned out very nice. Lil is living there now.

She's ready to go

Just needs a vehicle.

Apparently,

my house is cold.

Eda tries so hard...

to be big.

First we rake

 then we play:

Eda

I got out my old infant carseat to give to a friend. I set it in the living room and when I came back I found it occupied.

I guess Eda remembered it although she hasn't used it in over six months. She made herself comfortable and played in and out of it until my friend came by. Eda was none too happy when my friend took the carseat away.

First ever painted faces:

Hair stylists

Ruby and Cora fixed each other's hair. Ruby is getting pretty good at braiding and Cora does a pretty good twist.

At least the sun isn't in her eyes:

The experiment:

 The result:

I finally found a way to curl Cora's hair! Ruby wouldn't let me style her hair, she wanted wild curls.

Birthday Fun

I let Ruby and Cora buy each other birthday gifts from the dollar store. These dolls are what they got. Let's just say they know each other very well. I took Ruby shopping first. She kept looking at the purple mermaid doll before finally picking the other doll for Cora. When I took Cora she went straight for the mermaid dolls, picked up a red one, then put it back and got the purple. I didn't tell her anything.

Are you hungry?

 There's even dessert:

Happy Belated Halloween!

P.S. Note the sprinkles on Lil's costume. Those are mike&ike candies, hot glued on. Eda just knew they were candy. She tried at first to pull them off. That didn't work. Then she went straight in with her teeth. Much more effective. I don't know if she ate any glue before we caught on, but she ate into quite a few of the candies. Luckily this all happened after Halloween.

I'm not the only one...

who gets their names mixed up. I overheard this today:
Ruby, "Eda, stop!"
Cora, "I'm not Eda! I'm Ru-I'm Cora!"

Super Negotiating Skills

After a disagreement over what to play with next, I overheard this gem from Cora, "Ruby, we need to talk about it and if I don't want to I guess you don't, either."

They DO grow fast!

Can you believe they're already turning five? I'm having a hard time with it, myself.

Reading with Uncle Roy

What my family does for fun:

Happy girls:

My apologies

to Jenn and Beth (and myself, since I don't look that great, either). But, I had to add this picture just because of Lil and Roy. So that's who you should look at.

Cousins

 The typical relationship of Daniel and Eda:

Daniel smiling, Eda leaning away and looking at him like he's crazy.

Untypical relationship:

Eda in near proximity to Daniel and actually sort-of smiling.

Gardeners

with big hands.

And I quote,

"I put a bow on my headband so people will think I'm a girl." -- Cora

Just in case the pink, skirt, long hair, necklace, and shoes don't get the idea across.

Eda's first horse ride

Family Photos

This one and the one in the header are my favorite. Thanks, Josie!

It's for babies, isn't it?

So obviously I should fit.

It's a parade!

The girls were sure excited to see Daddy in the parade. Eda was absolutely angry when he just kept walking past, though.

Who needs a booster seat?

I can eat the table better at this height.

Mud fun

Water fun

This may be

my favorite picture I've ever taken. Since I'm not a photographer that may not be saying much. But I really love the way this one turned out.

All ready to go

(and not wanting to wait for a picture.)

Hi, Grandma Jean!

Peas in a pod...

Clouds, Smoke, and Sun

The things Lil teaches my children

make for very entertaining pictures. :)

Every child knows...

what a phone is for.

On the corner of Ruby and Main

Hungry Baby

Okay, okay, she didn't really eat all of that. She just thought she needed a whole ear because that's what everybody else got.

Ruby and Cora, Hairdressers

Some time back I mentioned that Ruby and Cora like to watch hairstyle videos. They like them so much, they started fixing the hair of their dolls.

So we made their own hairstyle videos. You can watch them here and here. There are more, but these were my favorites.

I think the best part is that they name each hairstyle, although I couldn't get them to in the videos. Here are some of my favorite hairstyle names they've come up with.
From Ruby: Reindeer ears, Pig ears, Cake, House, Four-wheeler handles, and Hamburger sandwich.
From Cora: Seven pony baby, Bunny ears, Circle, Robots, and Tower.

What would you like in your hair today? Four-wheeler handles or perhaps a Tower?

For some reason...

 Eda doesn't cooperate for group pictures so well anymore.

I have no idea why...

Hair Fun

First look at how long Eda's hair is. I love it. I don't have very many pictures that show the length because I have to put it up to keep it out of her face.

Picture on the left: just a fun braid in Ruby's ponytail. My sister had a picture of a similar braid and said she wanted someone to do it in her hair. Since she is in Alaska, I did it in Ruby's hair instead. Close enough, right?

The last two pictures are Ruby braiding Cora's hair and the resulting braids. Not bad for a first try. Ruby did it all herself.

Daredevil Child

She climbs. Everything. Besides the step-stool, chairs, and wagon pictured here, she has also climbed up a ladder. She made it four rungs up the ladder, then she couldn't get back down. But does that stop her from trying it again? Nope.

The worst part about the climbing is that once she gets as high as she can go, she bounces. To see her in action you can watch here for the wagon and here for the step-stool. I also have videos of her standing and bouncing on the chair, but I haven't gotten them online, yet. The wagon video is very short, for obvious reasons when you watch it. :)

I think this is one major drawback of having lots of stairs in my house. I teach my children to climb stairs because they have to be able to, but then they climb everything else, too.

Awww....