60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Hoedown

So Cora turned 2 on Thursday, I presented at Career Day at the big kids' school, and right now I'm home and blogging because I got super sick on Friday just as we were packing to head to San Antonio for a much anticipated family reunion weekend celebrating my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. So while I'm home and feverish, sniffly, and voice-less, I can at least catch up on some blogging. We'll go in reverse order and focus on the anniversary weekend first. Because even while feeling crappy and rapidly losing the use my vocal cords, it was super fun.

These two crazy kids got married November 26, 1955. James and I got married the year of their 50th wedding anniversary when they had a Hawaiian themed party near their summer home in Wisconsin. And so this year after James and I celebrated our 10th, they hit their 60th, this time around with a Western themed shindig in San Antonio where they live mostly year-round. Both places are special to them- my grandpa was born and raised in the tiny Wisconsin town, and San Antonio was the first Air Force base they were stationed at after they got married in Michigan and my mom was born in San Antonio precisely 9 months later.

At the 50th Anniversary Party in 2005; don't we look all young and adorable?

The whole Nordin clan descended- the four original siblings, their spouses, nine of the ten grandkids (we missed you Emily!), two of three of the grandkid-spouses (sorry Sean!), and all the great-grandchildren (all mine; though my sister is pregnant! I'll have a niece in May and the kids are very excited to get their first cousin).

We were mostly all at the same hotel, so I'm sure we drove everyone with rooms near the lobby crazy while we chatted and caught up on Friday night. On Saturday morning, my parents and my family of five headed to the Alamo downtown. James and the kids had never been, and since 3/5 of us were born in Texas, it seemed the thing to do.

Cora was unimpressed, though Landon enjoyed it quite a bit.

While Cora napped at the hotel with James, the rest of us stopped by the retirement community to visit the grandparents and chat before the festivities got underway in the evening, plus the big kids needed to feed the birds and the fish.

I followed along to capture this sacred tradition and just love this picture so much. My Aunty Kirsten got them the jerseys- my grandparents are HUGE Packers fans; my grandpa even has a share of the stock from their IPO and he has the Packers logo on every type of clothing that exists- and I just love this picture of them with L&C.

We also visited my dad's parents who live in the same community. We'd also met them for brunch after the Alamo and this time the kids walked out with some very awesome goodies they were THRILLED with. Cora also got a talking Elmo that scared the crap out of her, though they're friends now that I've switched off his battery pack. We'll reintroduce him slowly.

We went back to the hotel to wake up a crabby Cora who needed at least two hours more sleep and got dressed in our Western finery. My grandpa, who sent out the save-the-dates for this party TWENTY-ONE MONTHS AGO (funny store; he didn't put the year in the email, so I, being a normal person, assumed the February 2014 email for the November party was intended to take place in 2014, but no, a few weeks later I realized it was for 2015. I was holding a tiny snuggly 3 month old Cora and I remember looking down at her and thinking, my god, you'll be a walking talking 2 year old when we attend this thing. And yes she was!), wanted us all there by 5:30 for our briefing of how the 6:00 party would go down. I get my need for organization naturally.

They had a great band, about 100 guests, and a lot of boots and bolo ties. It was wonderful. I love being able to be around my extended family, most of whom we don't see nearly as often as I'd like, and even Cora warmed up to a few select individuals by the end. Landon and Claire adored everyone and danced like crazy, running my poor cousin Sarina nearly to the ground. She was a trooper and L&C loved every second.

My grandpa gave an opening speech introducing all the family and then he turned to my grandma and said something along the lines of, "and Mary, there are no words for how I feel about you. I love you so much-" and then his voice cut off and they both just looked at each other and she patted his shoulder and managed "I feel the same way" and they just kept looking in the other's eyes, unable to talk, and everyone got tears in their eyes and it was just perfect. They sing "You Are My Sunshine" to each other every morning, hold hands when they sit down next to one another, and I'm quite certain they make out when we're not looking. I love them so much.

I love James more than I can possibly describe and I know how much deeper and stronger that love is now compared to when we got married 10 years ago. I can only imagine what it could be at 60. We have great examples.

Cora spent much of the party eating the tiny hotdogs out of more than a dozen cocktail wienies, demanding books be read to her, and dancing with my mom. At one point the band was playing a slow song and she saw me dancing with James and immediately demanded to cut in, literally pushing me out of his arms. So I got some video instead.

Father Daughter Dancing from Lag Liv on Vimeo.

I had completely lost my voice by the end of the party, so I gave up trying to communicate with anyone and just drank my seltzer waters and laughed at the kids running my cousins and Uncle Phil ragged. There was a lot of dancing. I got a selfie with my grandma, who was perpetually surprised to see her face in the camera. She's a giant ball of love and optimism and joy wrapped in more love and I'm so glad they got the fun night with friends and family that they'd been planning for all 21 of those months.

Now we can look forward to #70! I expect the save-the-date any day.

My Community

Yesterday was Veteran's Day. It's always been important to me- my uncle served in the Air Force and both of my grandfathers were career military fighter pilots for the Air Force and Navy, and I always think of them and their service and the service of my grandmas and aunts/uncles in living the military life, but now that I'm a federal government employee, I must superficially admit that Veteran's Day is one of my favorite of the whole year. It's a day I have off work, but my kids don't have off school. And 6 weeks out from Christmas, that is a beautiful BEAUTIFUL thing. So I honor Veteran's Day, and we talked about what it means with the kids last night, but the rest of this post is 100% going to be about me and my magical Veteran's Day Off.

I got up with the kids, but didn't have to do my hair or makeup. I wore yoga pants. I took Cora to school. I got to be a student at the barre with one my favorite teachers. I came home and took a long shower, read some of a new book, and played with Cora's birthday party pictures. I went out on a sushi lunch with James. I sat on the couch for 2.5 hours watching the Food Network and completing 75% of my Christmas card shopping. I went to Target to complete another 10% and then went to yoga. BARRE AND YOGA! I haven't been to yoga in months, in part because my favorite teacher left my former studio, but yesterday when I searched for an afternoon class I saw her name on the 4:30 class of a different studio that I'd just bought a discount pass to! So I got to get back into yoga, back in Kaci's incredible, dynamic, super athletic class and it was AMAZING. I picked up Cora and brought her home to a crock pot meal I'd gotten to start at 11 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m. so the chicken wasn't dried out. We enjoyed dinner and books and tickles and cuddles and two more episodes of Orange is the New Black and ohmygod it was the BEST day.

But it was even better than that. At nearly every stop I made yesterday I saw someone I know. A neighbor at the grocery store, a fellow PTA Board member at Target, one of James's swim school families at lunch, a barre student next to me in yoga class, a former colleague walking out of the building next to the yoga studio... we've lived in 4 cities in 10 years. Everywhere we go I feel surrounded by people with decades-deep roots and lifetime friendships and family down the road. We meet people, but you're never the first phone call or closest friend. You're on the periphery. It's not that people don't want to let you in, it's that that often don't think to because they assume you're in somewhere else.

In January we'll have lived in Fort Worth longer than we've lived anywhere else. And slowly over that time--through the SEC, PTA involvement, barre teaching, and the swim school (mostly the swim school), we've become woven into the fabric of this wonderful community in a city we never imagined we'd live. Fort Worth is home. It's been home since the day we moved- home is truly anywhere I'm with James and the kids, but maybe for the first time Fort Worth the larger city feels like home. Like it's ours. And as I drove home from yoga, feeling more grounded and loose than I have in months (basically since I stopped going to yoga), I just felt overwhelmed and grounded in that feeling of community and the connections I never realized we'd made to so many- not one person I ran into yesterday knew each other, I was the link. I'm never the link! It was lovely and I'm going to try to hold on to it when I feel like I'm on the outside again.

Rainbows and Unicorns

Cora turns 2 on Thursday. I have thoughts and FEELINGS about this, but since none of my imaginary pagan sacrifices have slowed down her aging AT ALL, I decided to channel my energy into making a birthday party instead. I really love birthday parties.

My original plan was to keep it simple and let Cora do her two favorite things- color on furniture and eat pizza. Last year's rainbow theme seemed appropriate, and rainbow themes are my new favorite, so I stuck with that and added unicorns because I have recently developed a fondness for the noble imaginary creature and the tinyprints card above was too adorable to resist.

Then on Thursday afternoon I accidentally googled "unicorn party" on my phone and BAM. All these ideas exploded out! Next thing you know I'm downloading a template to make unicorn horns, hunting down Bugles to make a funfetti unicorn horn snack (I had to go to FOUR stores! Bugles have lost a lot of real estate in chip aisles), and getting weird looks from Children's Place employees when I ask for a dressing room to try on a sparkly rainbow unicorn t-shirt at 8:30 p.m. on a weeknight without any accompanying children.

But I love it- unicorns and rainbows! What could be better?

Except maybe a rainbow cookie decorating table. Cora, who stole a cookie while I was baking her cake in the kitchen, seemed to agree.

We still had Cora's coloring table (huge hit; I'm covering a table in paper on our next rainy day), and there was pizza, in addition to this ridiculously amazing Funfetti Bugle Mix, regular Bugles, aka Unicorn Horns (I had never had one; they are delicious), a veggie tray, and some rainbow candies. And champagne. And lemonade. And lots of rainbow colors.

Cora found this all to be super wonderful and decided birthdays were maybe the best.

Then our guests arrived- just four close family friends she knows well, sees often, and who have kids her age- and bam, she's clinging to my leg and crying if I manage pry her off and move more than 6 inches away. She just remembered that birthdays are actually the worst.

Pizza was served and she blissed out for a bit. Cora loves her some pizza.

More playing ensued, Cora allowed me to set her down from my now nearly broken arms, and everyone had fun- big kids playing outside, medium kids testing all the toys in the play room, tiny kids enjoying their open access to markers, and parents minimally supervising while drinking champagne.

Then it was time for cake. And the showdown began.

First, Cora decided my unicorn horn was freaking her out. I was quite attached to it and pretended not to understand.

Then, as I lifted her closer to the table, she seemed excited! Could cake avoid hurting our feelings this year?

NO. NO IT CANNOT.

Overcome with feelings (horror, betrayal, etc.), Cora took a TO.

She rallied and we approached with caution.

Then there was singing. Cora was not impressed.

No, no, DON'T MAKE ME EAT IT!

A birthday cookie was given instead and Cora ate it while judging everyone who took a piece of my delicious delicious cake.

At least now we know she likes cookies. Cookie cake next year for round 3!

We opened presents. She got a 64-piece crayon set and did not let go of it for a very long time. Not even to open it. Don't try to open it for her. She'll cut you.

Everyone played more and we parents reluctantly parted when all of our youngest children made very clear they really needed their now very late naps. And as the last car drove away, Cora decided she'd had a fantastic time and birthdays are the best once again.

It really was a super fun afternoon. Happy almost birthday you cake-hating weirdo. We love you so much- rainbows and unicorns (and pizza and cookies) forever!

Apartment C-Squared

We finished it two weekends ago, but I had important things like new rain boots and kids in costumes to discuss. But here it is, without further ado, in all its way-too-much-furniture-assembly-required glory, the girls' room!

Except, as I've mentioned, I LOVE HGTV and glimpses inside other people's homes, so in case you're the same, and to honor all my online shopping, obsessing, and nagging of James to assemble/hang things, we're going to break this down.

First up, we have the changing table that I bought as a surprise bonus Ikea assembly item even though Cora will be out of diapers in a year because we sold the dresser we used to change her on top of and I hate bending down to the floor and didn't want to use Claire's bed for her baby sister's poop elimination and diaper restoration process because it felt like that would kick off their roommate relationship on the wrong foot. So it's kind of in the way when you walk in, but it's temporary, so I've allowed it.

There's a tiny little corner between the closet and a low window I didn't want to block, so after much brainstorming, it's now a dress-up corner!

A sweet stand-up mirror, some hooks for their jewels, and a bin for their dress up clothes (and purses, except Cora was currently wearing all of them when I took the picure). I also got a new little piece of art to christen their new apartment.

Continuing on, past the giant closet doors blocking all the work I did cleaning out and reorganizing everything they own, we come to the new dresser (also Ikea! lucky lucky James!) and my absolute favorite spot in the room- the reading corner.

Perfect on a rainy dreary day and bright sunny ones too, I wanted to use the space, but didn't want to block the big corner windows that are original to the house. I decided it would be a perfect place for their beloved PBK chairs (Cora generally borrowed/commandeered Landon's, but she got a new one of her very own as an early birthday present). I'd ordered the canopy to put over Claire's bed, but once I got going, I knew this was the higher use.

Cora adores books but isn't so neat about putting them away, so a bin for the corner seemed perfect. A PBK sequin lamp bought for $10 off our neighborhood buy/sell page and a few frames I already head with new pictures seemed to round it out nicely.

The top of the dresser also got some repurposed items, plus a few bargain glass pieces (Hobby Lobby is awesome for this; the flowers, pink vase, and Eiffel glass cost a total of $12) and updated pictures. And a new piece of art (also Hobby Lobby; also $12!)

Next up, Claire's bed!

After much debate (all in my own head; with occasional one-sided out loud conversations with James), we decided we'd keep Cora in her crib for as long as possible and then use the conversion kit to make it a toddler bed for as long as possible, delaying the day for as long as possible the day we need to fit two twins or suck it up and get a bunk bed. Cora can't be trusted around one right now, and maybe not ever, but we could live in Colorado or Houston in three years for all I know, so this delays figuring out big girl bed logistics for a while longer. So, back to Claire's bed- I still wanted a bed for Landon for slumber parties and for when we have guests (his room is still the designated guest room), so we needed a trundle, but I didn't want a daybed because that would block part of the window, and I didn't want a footboard because that would ALSO block part of the window. So I solved world peace by finding a twin bed frame with pop-up trundle that we could just attach a cute white headboard to. Except it was all super complicated and I came in at one point during James's attachment process to request that he refrain from yelling "this is a total shit show." Muttering was allowed.

But it's perfect!

Another canvas (Marshalls!), a sparkly C (I bought it months ago at Ross; I knew no matter what I did in that room, this would somehow fit), and a ribbon board for Claire to display her favorite art and pictures, and she has her own big girl corner. There will also be a shelf above her bed- it's purchased but we haven't been able to paint it because it keeps raining every weekend. But every big sister needs a place for treasures her little sister can't reach and hers is coming.

I bought that little bookcase/toy bin on Amazon and it is super sturdy and looks really nice in person. It's perfect between their two beds. My hope is as the kids get a little older, more toys migrate to the girls room and the play room turns into a homework/arts and crafts space. There's always a project!

I made little scrapbook pages with their birth announcements and got to reuse Claire's nursery art from Austin that I loved so much.

The number cards are also from Claire's nursery, as are the butterflies. I love when you get to use things over and over in new spaces. Cora got some new crib sheets to coordinate with her big sister and Claire got a new sheet set or two, including one with rainbows and unicorns because I couldn't resist. The giant rug is 8' x 11' (the room is really big) and from Target. It's super soft and doubles as the girls' new gymnastics training area.

All in all I'm thrilled with the space. It's bright and warm and cozy and happy and just a little sparkly - just like my girls!

Halloween: Sir Landon, Queen Elsa-Claire, and Princess Anna-Cora

Halloween! It is the best. And Halloween on Saturday night is even better.

When we last talked, Cora, who is already anti-candy, proved herself to be super anti-costume at her daycare party on Friday. On Saturday, we knew the dragon costume was not going to happen, so my new goal was to get her to wear the sweet little cape that came with her simple Anna dress from Target. We had a party to go to at 5 (yay! It's take 3.5 years but I think we have neighborhood friends; this is very exciting) down the street and Cora naps till 5, so we were able to dress her while she was still in her post-nap fugue state.

By the time she was fully aware the cape was on and tried to get it off, we were whisking her out for pictures and ignoring her attempts to pull it off her neck. So she ignored my attempts to get her to look at or smile for the camera. I have a whole series of these where she kept flipping around to face wherever I was not.

She was mad at the candy bucket, and then it hurt her feelings when she threw it on the floor and it... stayed there? She rallied when I offered to hold her (mood meter switches to pure joy and all smiles-- "MAMAAA!!").

And then I got one of her by herself, but the big kids were NOT allowed to come near her.

We proceeded to the party where chili was eaten by all and then commenced the trick-or-treating with a horde of sugar-hyped children.

Cora stuck to the safe confines of her stroller and had her heart broken when I kindly suggested she come walk up to one of the doors (of a good friend/neighbor) with me.

We ended up back at the party house and the big kids went outside to watch Charlie Brown on a blow up screen and play some mysterious game that involved a lot of running. Claire immediately set up shot with her besties from Kindergarten and they discussed important things for the next 2 hours.

Cora hung onto my leg in the house while I conversed with adults while drinking beer, knowing the big kids didn't need a thing from me and our house was 5 driveways away. It was awesome. Every now and then Cora would yell "Mama!" with all the joy in her heart and everyone would laugh and then she'd go back to focusing on hugging my leg. It was the most grown-up focused I've been able to be at a party in years.

Claire came inside at one point and Cora ran over and gave her a hug, giving me the picture I was asking for in our front yard 3 hours earlier.

Anna and Elsa. Family forever. Love it.

~ ~ ~

P.S. Unrelated, but have you seen this bloggess thread? It is the best thing on the internet right now. I've been reading them to James and keep crying because I'm laughing so hard that I'm ruining all the punch lines.

P.P.S. I took this picture of Cora stealing candy from the big kids' (not awesome) hiding place yesterday afternoon. I considered stopping her, but thought it would be funnier to let her eat the candy and then spit it out in horror like she's done with ALL OTHER sugary delicious things we've ever given her. She pulled out an Almond Joy, the grossest candy ever, and I could barely hold back the giggles as I anticipated her reaction. She unwrapped it, toddled off to the kitchen trash can drawer to dispose of her wrapper, and sat herself in her booster seat at the table like the self-starting 3rd baby she is and took a big bite. I giggled, prepared to run over and wipe off her tongue with a paper towel like I had to do the last time she tried cake. She took a second bite. She threw her arms up in the air and yelled "YEAH!!".

I have never been more shocked. She ate a whole fun sized candy bar and loved it. She spits out cake, cookies, and anything sweet, but an abomination of coconut and almonds and milk chocolate has her cheering? It was a shocking moment for me. I've been forced to question all my candy prejudices. Obviously we haven't been meeting her sugar needs at all. What's next? Mounds? Banana flavored laffy taffy? Bit o Honey? The only thing more shocking was when I took this to facebook and my whole feed defended the deliciousness of Almond Joys. They're wrong, but I'm glad to have some ambassadors in this new world where we don't weed out the Mounds and AJ's and immediately put them out in the bowl for new trick or treaters to dispose of. We're a house that consumes coconut. I'm still wrapping my head around it.