Random Round-Up

1. My sister is getting married in two weeks. Claire is the flower girl, Landon is the ring bearer, and I am the Matron of Honor. JP will be holding Cora in the second row, trying to keep her from crawling off to get under Val's skirt during the vows. I flew to Houston for her bridal shower last month and never posted any pictures, so here we are: mom, Val, and me in Ktown at a beautiful (and delicious!) shower thrown by blog reader and longtime friend Ms. Debbie:

My sister is actually 2 inches taller than me, but I was wearing 4" heels and she was wearing flats, so I got to dominate in that one.

I gave her and Billy two hand-engraved champagne flutes from Uncommon Goods (you can find them here). They're beautiful and the minute I saw them when Uncommon Goods reached out to me for the sponsored post, they reminded me so much of their life in Golden, Colorado and their affinity for artisans and unique items for their home. Billy is a welder and creates beautiful things out of metal, so I thought champagne flutes might not be something he'd be making himself.

2. Do you feel there's been too little Cora around here? Does my new favorite picture of her help?

I stuck her in the bathtub for a quick rinse a few nights ago while the big kids were still in the pool with JP and realized it was the first time she'd ever been in the tub alone. When I turned on the faucet to add a little more water, her face got this perfect mix of concern and wonderment at the water pouring into her space, and as always, she clasped her hands for comfort. It was all I could do to take the picture instead of snatching her up and giving her GIANT kisses. I just cannot even with this baby.

3. Cora again! I forgot I never posted these pictures either. In her 3 minutes out of the pen on Sunday, Cora managed to crawl at high speed over the playroom, get under/inside the big kids' coffee/art table, and basically discovered the Forbidden Playroom was EXACTLY as awesome as she always suspected.

OMG I'm here. I'm in the big kid room. This is awesome!

Yes! YES Big Sister, I have escaped from the mother and I am HERE!

Oh. Hi mom.

Once removed from the choking-hazard-filled playroom and put in the much more boring TV/Yoga room (and stripped of her drool covered dress), she protested by removing her headband and eating it.

I was distracted by her glorious thighs of thunder and found the whole thing adorable.

4. Flashback Friday- last week when it was time to get ready for work, I dragged my insomnia-suffering-self out of bed and went into Cora's room to discover this:

Remind you of anyone?

Traditions! I love when they happen on accident.

5. On Wednesday Landon cheerfully informed me that I looked like I had a baby in my tummy. When I exclaimed, "Landon! That isn't very nice!" he looked confused. "But we LIKE babies!", he replied, looking annoyed that he had to defend the compliment he'd just given me. I then tried to explain that no grown-up wants to here that their tummy looks big and really we just don't ever comment on people's bodies, ever, and we ESPECIALLY don't ever tell anyone that they look like they have a baby in their tummy, ever, EVER. Life lesson. And then I decided that maybe I didn't like that yoga top anymore.

6. Speaking of exercise, my favorite super hard barre teacher has decided that Friday morning is hot barre. Holy Mother of Pearl- no A/C and so much sweat pouring out of me I wasn't sure how my body had any water left, but I have to admit it felt pretty amazing, though next time I'm bringing a towel and a whole lot more water.

7. Also speaking of exercise, I'm now into yoga! YOGA! I've never really liked yoga, though I've pretended a few times in the past. Now that I'm a little more flexible and way stronger and can actually hold all the poses the way you're supposed to, I'm discovering it really is a good workout! And still somehow soothing. I joined www.yogadownload.com for $10 and get unlimited streaming yoga classes and I've been doing one every night and sometimes one in the morning when I wake up too early. Rather than lying in bed mad at the world because everyone is sleeping and I am not, I do 20-30 minutes of morning flow yoga and watch the sun rise out our giant TV room window. It puts me in a way better mood and I've been finding I sleep much better the next night because of it. Sometimes I think my body just doesn't need as much sleep as I think it does, and working with that, rather than laying in bed hating it, has been the most effective insomnia solution I've found in a while.

8. I'm taking all 3 kids to Landon's all-day swim meet tomorrow, by myself, an hour away. I volunteered to coach JP's swim lessons for him so he could go instead, but he said I didn't have enough training. I'm excited Landon will get to swim, but I haven't been this unexcited about a Saturday in a long time. We have to leave at 6 a.m. and Cora had a fever all day today. Makes me want to eat a headband in protest.