Challenge

The kids have been painting a lot this week which is really messy when Cora is around.  She insists on participating and she is not the least bit careful.  She likes to squeeze paint directly onto the paper instead of using the palette like Nyla.  She picked up the method from Bohdin but he is old enough to not overdo it.  Cora did make some pretty decent art.  I'll have to take some pictures.



Nyla says that Cora is sleeping in this picture.  She set her up on this chair with a blanket while they were playing babies.  Cora's paint covered arm is visible in this picture. 


It's been a challenging week with Cora.  Her most common words this week were momma, me, mine, let go, and no.  She wanted me to hold her a lot.  She refused help.  She cried for at least 15 minutes when I wouldn't let her have anymore paint.  She doesn't want a new diaper put on or her dirty one taken off.  The list goes on.  The only thing she listens about is going down the stairs.  I have finally convinced her that backwards is still the best way for her.  On the other hand, Bohdin and Nyla have been a breeze.  They've spent the week immersed in Playmobil play.  The Romans and kids are doing something in the castle.

We sold the Civic on Thursday morning to the first person that came to look at it.  Overall the process was super easy.  We were really lucky. 

Friday evening was the balloon glow.  Nyla nearly missed it because she refused to take a nap despite waking up super early.  She wanted to play with Bohdin instead.  Once Cora woke up she said again that she was not tired but laid down anyway on her bed.  She was asleep in minutes.  Her timing was poor because Cora is not a quiet child.  She woke up numerous times even after I kicked Bohdin and Cora outdoors to play.  After dinner the kids and I went to the Expo center.  There were around 30 balloons there I think and they did look really pretty lit up.  We were able to walk around and get next to the balloons.  Nyla didn't like the fire at first especially when we were close.  Once we moved further away she loved it.  The favorite was the Energizer Bunny balloon.  It was the largest and was having trouble staying inflated.  Multiple kids and some adults were running underneath the shoe which was flopped on the ground a good distance from basket.  They were trying to push it up.  Bohdin joined in and eventually Nyla tried it out as well.  We wandered around a bit more until my contact lens fell out after I lightly rubbed my eye.  I've been wearing contacts for around 20 years and I don't recall that ever happening before.  I did my best putting it back in but it wasn't easy in the middle of a field.  The contact was really dry.  I couldn't get it in quite right and told the kids we would need to start heading out.  We had already seen the balloons glow a few times.  Every 15 minutes or so there would be a countdown and all of the balloons lit up at the same time for a few seconds.  It was a beautiful sight.  We rode the shuttle on the way back to the car which the kids loved.  It was one of the highlights of the evening.