Halloween 2007

Cora had her first Halloween this year. We had fun a couple of nights before Halloween carving pumpkins. Kayley did NOT like to get her hands dirty, so good thing Daddy was there to help her! Cora just sat by watching and enjoying the entertainment.
Here are the girls dressed up. We went to Liberty to go trick or treating with Ashlyn. Cora was our bunny and Kayley was our cow and Ashlyn was a bear. We had quite the animal collection going! We had lots of fun watching our cute girls trick or treating. I felt crazy holding a bag for Cora as I knew most people probably thought, "this baby can't eat any of this candy yet!" Oh well, we all got to enjoy it anyway!! :) It was a fun halloween!

Audrey's 2nd Birthday Party

Audrey had her 2nd birthday in October. We went over to Columbia to celebrate with her. We had fun on Friday night going to a pumpkin patch with the Felkers. The drive was a bit more than we expected so when we got there our time was limited, but we ended up having a lot of fun. I actually forgot to take any pictures of Cora even though it was her first pumpkin patch experience...must be 2nd child syndrome that Mommy has!! :) But, Kayley and Audrey had fun playing in the playhouse and seeing all the different looking pumpkins.

Saturday evening Tyson and Mary came over to have fun and help decorate cookies for Audrey's birthday party.

Sunday was Audrey's birthday so we all went to church and Kayley went to nursery with Audrey without crying for the first time!! I think it did the trick as she loves going to nursery now!! But afterwards, Mom and Otto and Mary and Tyson came over along with a few other friends of Andrew and Sarah and we had fun eating cake and ice cream and celebrating Audrey's birthday. Mom gave the girls their birthday presents since Kayley's was only about 2 months beforehand. They got matching fuzzy purses, fuzzy ear-muffs (displayed) and lots of necklaces and other girlie things! Thanks Grandma Jani and Papa Otto! It was a fun weekend with family!

Kayley & Cora Best Friends

Kayley loves having a baby sister. She is really a big help. She loves to bring me wipes and diapers and is also very willing to put away the dirty diaper in the diaper pail for us. Cora just loves watching her sister play. She is mastering a pretty cute smile now as she is now a little over 2 months old. She really is a happy baby and is already starting to sleep through the night for me. She's usually asleep in between 9 and 10 and then she'll stay asleep until about 6am and then I'll nurse her and she'll go back to sleep for a few more hours. I couldn't ask for a more perfect baby...plus she's just so darn cute!! We really are blessed to have such cute and fun girls!

Cora's Blessing Weekend

This weekend we were able to have Cora's blessing weekend. It was so much fun having family around and spending time with one another to celebrate this special event in our life and Cora's life. The first night everyone was together we all got together and had dinner at O'Charley's for dinner since they have free kids meals...with all the kids on my side of the family...this really pays off!
Then Sunday was Cora's blessing. It was extra special as it also happened to fall on my Mom's birthday...September 30th. So we also had a little birthday celebration with her as well. We all had tons of fun with all the kids playing together and eating pizza and eating cake and enjoying each other's company. Cora was great for her blessing and there were lots of people in her circle. Included in the circle were Nick (who gave her the blessing), Otto Hildebrand, Randy Bell, Jud Carle, Edward Felker, Andrew Felker, and Kendall Walker. We were so greatful for those that were able to come and celebrate this special day with us!

Cora's Blessing and as mentioned before, Nick was the one to give her the blessing: Parts of it are a bit choppy as the recorder was a bit fuzzy for part of the recording, so I've added what your Dad said to those fishy parts.

"Our dear Father in Heaven, by the authority of the Melchezidek Priesthood, we come before Thee at this time to give this child a name that shall be had upon the records of the church. The name which we give her is Cora Anne Bell. Cora at this time your Heavenly Father wants you to know that the sweet spirit you are and how much He loves you and appreciates you. He wants you to know how much joy you bring into your family's life....at this time He gives you a blessing that you will be able to be a strength throughout your life...that you will be able to be looked upon for guidance...so that you will be able to help those in need...that you have a special gift...we bless you with these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Nick said "you were blessed with a spirit to recognize the needs of others and that this was a gift you would use this to serve others and reach out to them throughout your life."

Cora Anne 1 1/2 months

Cora likes her swing...although she sometimes gets a bit top-heavy and slides to one side or the other. The blanket sometimes helps, but it didn't this time as she kept sliding over. But, she was still happy...so I snapped a shot!

Summer Hats

Sporting our new summer hats for this upcoming summer. Kayley loved wearing these new hats about every day for about a week. So, I took a picture of them. Although this picture shows the hat actually on Cora's head when in reality, half the time when she put Cora's hat on her it would be on her face.

Children's Mercy

At the beginning of September, we had to unfortunately take Cora back to the hospital for a urinary tract infection. We were there for 3 days, almost 4 trying to get her fever under control. It was scary, but amongst it all, Cora was still fairly happy throughout the entire visit. I had to get a picture of her splint for her IV, it was sad to see them put it in, but she survived and then after that it was kind of cute to see it on her. Luckily she just had the urinary tract infection, but they still had to do all the tests on her because of her age. They all thought she would have meningitis...luckily that came out negative and it was just a matter of controlling her fever. It was scary as I had to stay by myself, I know I'm a chicken! The first night Nick and Kayley actually stayed. Kayley was so good and just curled up on the extra chair in the corner of the room. The nurses actually didn't even know she was there until in the morning. But the next night they both had to go home. Cora was quite the trooper. She nursed great amongst all the IV chords and I got to enjoy some yummy food since I was nursing. My favorite thing was their oreo milk shake...it was to die for! We finally got to go home and have our sweet, healthy Cora back though!

Caught in the Act

"Caught in the Act"...I had to get a picture of her cute sleeping position. She's already looking and acting like a girl. Also, until we lost this one, Kayley always insisted on Cora sleeping with her (Kayley's) baby. "Baby" is a prized item in our house as Kayley can't sleep without her or without a binky. It was very grown up of her to share one of her babies with Cora. We now only have one baby left as the other have gotten lost, so she no longer shares her as much. I guess Cora isn't that special yet! :)

Purple Girls

I decided to dress all of us in purple this day. Kayley kept going around talking about her "back pants like Mommy" almost all day. It was fun, so Nick had to take a picture of his girls in purple.

Maggie Moos

Here is proof of how much our family LOVES Maggie Moos...even at such a young age! We went tonight and Nick let Kayley pick out her own flavor. She of course picked out the blue kind, which ironically ended up being one of Nick's flavors...wonder how that happened!!??!? But it was Blue Cotton Candy and boy was it BLUE!! Kayley got it all over herself and then had to of course love on Cora so Cora got some through osmosis I guess. I didn't have my camera with me, so we looked like horrible parents taking them out of there without washing off their faces so I could have them pose at home with the camera. Needless to say, I don't go anywhere now without my camera!