She is THREE!

 Cora is EVERYONE'S favorite little girl.

(Except me--I remain completely neutral 

on the subject of favoritism amongst offspring.)

She always talks to strangers and quickly wins them over as friends.

She is HYSTERICAL,

and she knows that she is hysterical.

Right after Mitchell's birthday last month,

I told her that her birthday was next.

She laughed at me and said, "No MOM, my birthday is in MARCH."

HOW DOES SHE KNOW THAT?!

Let's get on with the CORA CELEBRATION!

The night before her birthday, I was cuddling with her to help her fall asleep.
I told her she needed to close her eyes because TOMORROW WAS HER BIRTHDAY!
She leaned in a said, "AND JOSE IS COMING!?"
remember him from Thanksgiving?
Well, Cora didn't forget.

Birthday morning in her favorite jammies! 

NINJABREAD MAN!

And one from this angle, MOM...

Anji's card had to be opened first!

Since it came in the mail, everyday I've had to tell her no.

NOW IT'S A YES! 

OPEN IT!

Then we had some dress-up time with Beauty.

She had only to choose her beast.

She's so enamored to play Bubble Bobble with Dad...

...Less enthused to take a picture in Great Grandpa Bud's armpit!

Don't let the awkward face fool you,

she TALKED HIS EAR OFF!

"You're old! 

My grandma is old too! 

I want to be old, 

just kidding, 

that's gross!

Do you like pie?

What kind of pizza are you going to have?

Will you assemble all my birthday presents?!"

And on and on...

Cora's very best friend is Grandma Jackie.

She can sneak down to Grandma's faster than I can blink twice.

Grandma never feels imposed upon though.

She's a lucky girl.

I would have loved to live with my Grandma!

It was a grand party in the new addition with our NEW couch.

A lot of flexing going on.

Time for PIE!

Cora's birthday,

(3-14)

coincides with Pi day,

(3.14)

which is the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter.

Am I over-explaining?

(That means I'm telling you things you already know.)

Well here's some things you might not know about Cora--

When I say she is funny,

I can't quite present in black and white,

the complexity of her personality.

She just has a presence.

Then she speaks in a wisdom beyond her three years,

and you always giggle.

One story I'd like to remember about Cora involved Goosebumps.

She usually watches with older siblings, but they were at school.

I needed to shower 

and I didn't want her watching it by herself.

But, she's the baby of the family,

so she need only ask repeatedly with an increasing whimper,

and her wish is granted.

Against my better judgement, the show was turned on.

When I got out of the shower,

I noticed she had come into the bathroom,

and was hiding her face in the door.

I asked her what had happened,

and she related this to me,

"HE WAS EATING BUGS, MOM!

BUGS!

AND THEN HE WAS EATING BUGS,

AGAIN!

IT WAS DISGUSTING!"

(Then as she very calmly wiped the tears off her cheeks,

she said in a normal voice...)

"LOOK!? I'M CRYING I WAS SO SCARED!"

Now, out of the blue she will look at someone 

and relate the horror of a show where a man ate bugs.

Another Cora moment was at church last Sunday.

Richard was on the stand because he was giving a talk.

Cora asked where Dad was, and I pointed to the front.

She stood up on the pew,

where everyone could see,

and put her hand up to her brow looking,

like a pirate for land-ho,

to find her father.

Once her Dad was spotted,

She proceeded to offer him this salutation from the movie

Raya and the Last Dragon

(pictured below)

Needless to say, it was the highlight of the Sacrament meeting that week.

If only the ZOOM viewers could have seen it.

Like she was worshipping at some pagan church!

She has been potty-trained for a couple of months now.

Except she started with bed-wetting this week.

I've never dealt with this,

which she probably knows,

so she wanted to give me the full parenting experience.

Being this cute and funny is just exhausting.

She speaks very well, and very clearly.

It has been observed to us that her speaking is very 

deliberate

as if English isn't her first language.

haha.

That's a great way to describe it.

We will sit and watch the YouTube videos

where the guy plays Line Rider to classical music,

and Cora will say,

"That is so satisfying!"

SHE'S TWO! (or was)

If you haven't noticed,

we adore her.

Even her siblings can scarcely remember a time

before she was here.

Because everything we did before that,

it was like she was watching along,

just waiting to jump in.