Over the River...

Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we went!

This post is a little late but during the last snow, Cora and I ventured out... to Reidsville. Waiting for us were 4-wheelers,bedliners, sleds and snowboards. Soon after we arrived my Uncle Tom came by to pull us behind the 4-wheeler on the bedliner. We started out slow but once we dropped off Cora and my mom, he would go faster and faster until we were thrown off into the bean field. SO MUCH FUN!!!

It was really like old times though when my cousin Cori called me up for some midnight sledding/snowboarding. Cora was already asleep and my mom was more than willing to keep an eye on her. Off I went! It was such a beautiful night with a full moon and tons of stars. Eventually, we were all stretched out on our backs looking at the stars and trying to guess what the clouds looked like. It does not get any better than that. Well, maybe when Cora is old enough to join us. :)

It was so beautiful with the snow covering everything. This picture was taken from my mom's front porch. Enough fun for Cora- time for a nap.

WE LOVE SNOW!!!

We are so lucky to live on the best sledding street ever. Well, second only to High Rock Road in Reidsville. And I guess Boone had one or two... But at any given time we have had 30+ sledders on our 2 hills. So someone must think it is pretty wonderful. It really can't beat being pulled behind 4 wheelers, trucks and tractors but we're in Durham. Gotta take what you can get, right? Our hills are pretty good. Our house is at the bottom of two SLICK hills that are perfect for sledding. When the teenagers and adults come by our house on rudder sleds, they are going faster than we like to see cars go! Cora likes sledding but she also likes standing at the end of our driveway, waving and yelling "woah" at all of those zooming by. Our house is on the market to sell but we will certainly miss times like this when we move away. Coy overheard someone say that the scene was like a Norman Rockwell painting. We completely agree. Enjoy the pictures of our little snow bunny!

*There will be more to come if we can get to High Rock tomorrow!

Cora and her mama are in red and pink. Look at all of the people on our hill!

Cora and Coy

Our Hills. You can barely see where our house is. It is at the bottom on the right- with the for sale sign.
Wipeout!

Ready to go check out all of the action!

It is time for lunch! We'll be back out in a little while!

78 Weeks Old (give or take)

She loved hog jowl on New Year's Day. She ate about 5 or 6 pieces along with corn bread. Yum. That's my girl!
Look closely friends. That's an R.J. Reynolds blaze-orange hunting cap. Safety first! We don't want anyone to mistake my baby for a deer.
She insisted on wearing it out to see Cori's horse.

What to cook for dinner...


I can't remember when I stopped referring to Cora's age in weeks but soon I won't even be using months. She turned 18 months old today. I say this every time but I can't believe that the time has gone so fast! Happy Half Birthday, Sweet Girl!

More Fun Words

ssssNACK! - This is how she says snack- it is sooooo funny!


new milk... - this is what she calls milk- Recently she had a cup from earlier in the day and I told her that she needed "new milk" - That's where it started. She does not always call it new milk but she surprises us with it sometimes.


meh-cin -medicine, sad that she knows how to say it and that she knows to shake it up


soup- possibly my new favorite word. It is so clear. It is so cute the way she pronounces the 'p' at the end! The little things...


five- Until last week she pretty much stuck with two. Now it is five. I've included a video of Cora counting her animals.

Almost 18 Months Old

Playing the piano and singing, while holding a piece of sausage- multi-tasking
Cora with Jed, after visiting with Cori's new horse and JD the donkey

Cora will be 1.5 in one week! Her 18 month check up was today. Despite the fact that she is recovering from pneumonia, the doctor said that she looks great. That's right- pneumonia! We went to the doctor last week because of a cough and fever. She told us it was bronchitis but noted in Cora's chart that it was indeed pneumonia in her left lung. We think that she didn't want to cause unnecessary panic. Smart doc. She will take a couple of more weeks to recover from the cough but her lungs sound good already.

The Stats-

Weight: 25 lbs, 5.5 oz (75%)

Head Circumference: 47 3/4 cm (88%)

LENGTH: drum roll, please- 34.5 inches ("off the charts") height of an average 28 month old!

I figure that this is a good time to post some of the wonderful things that our sweetie is doing now. Of course, I can't list them all but here are a few of the cutest.

holding her hands together during the blessing and nighttime prayers and saying, "May-men" at the end
saying "no" a lot
counting to two, leaving out the one... :)
hiding things for us to find
saying "he-wow" every time the phone rings
playing in her kitchen and feeding us and the dogs gourment meals
renaming our dogs Sissy (Daisy) and Co Co (Chloe)
singing "Oh Shoes" over and over and over and over... She made this song up herself.
being OBSESSED with her "bank-ets"
pee peeing in the potty occasionally
saying ouch and requiring a kiss every time she says it
also kissing us when we say ouch
being so sweet to her baby dolls

Cora has a huge vocabulary. Here are some of our favorite words:
Mama
Daddy
bus
spicy
Papa
sit- I promise she is saying "sit" and not another word that has an h between the s and i, especially when we go by the row of couches at Sams...
banket (blanket)
paci

She is doing and saying so much now. There is no way to post it all! I'll be back with more pictures at her real half birthday!

The Great Grandchildren

left to right, front: Morgan (Brian), Cora (Mandi), Laurel-Ann (Misty), Carson (Jenny). back: John Marshall (April), Jackson (Jenny), Will (Misty), Tannar (David)

not pictured are Karah, Emily and Dominik (Brian) and Caroline (Eric)

This is a picture of all but 4 of my Grandma Cora's great-grandchildren. I took 19 pictures and this was as good as it got. Trying to take a picture of this crowd was hilarious! I could publish a book of the series of pictures leading to this one.

Just a sampling of what you missed with the outtakes: Will thought it was a good idea to keep his hands on Cora's and Laurel-Ann's heads. Cora and Laurel-Ann would not let go of the pacis. Jackson kept doing jumping jacks with John Marshall's arms. Tannar hit Carson so hard that he cried. Carson cried. Tannar cried. Morgan cried. Morgan lost a shoe. Will is wearing some kind of Star Wars costume... I could go on and on.

Merry Christmas, part one

We had another wonderful Christmas! We were very busy but loved the chance to visit with family. We decided last year that Christmas Day will be spent at our house. Everyone is invited to join us for breakfast, brunch or lunch (depending on arrival time)!! It was not a time to expect anything fancy though- we served Brunswick stew and grilled cheese for lunch and everyone in the host family was still wearing pajamas at noon! The day was all about watching Cora soak up Christmas. We had nowhere to go and all day to get there! Nice!

Thursday (12/24): Christmas at my Mom's house

Thursday (12/24): The McKinney Christmas April, John and John Marshall

Jenny's boys, Jackson and Carson Cora stood right in front of Anna as she read from the Bible. All eyes were on Anna and the house was silent. Cora insisted on standing there. It was so sweet.
A dump truck from Will and Laurel-Ann All of the little ones were wearing pajamas by the end of the night.
Jenny and her marinated vegetables- ugh!Friday (12/25): Christmas Day at our house. Look at what Santa brought!Chef Bed Head serving grapes to Daisy Cars! Beep Beep! Coy's surprise gift- a farm! yay!My little Hungarian peasant girl. She loves hats and scarves.

Saturday (12/26): Christmas dinner with the Paschals and a house-warming for my aunt who lost her home to a fire back in the spring.

My Dad and all of his brothers and sisters

Merry Christmas, part deux

Christmas started early.

Saturday (12/19): We kicked off Christmas in Farmville. Cousins, cousins and more cousins!

Tuesday (12/22 morning): My Dad and Rhonda came to our house for Christmas and lunch. Cora got a tractor, bath toys, pajamas and a book with her name in it!Tuesday (12/22 evening): Christmas with the Allens