The Wells Family Blog

a “2, 4″

wellsblog — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:48:40 +0000

Back in the day, summer of 2002 to be exact, Andy and I were able to work in Missouri as camp counselors at a Christian sports camp. Great experience by the way. Anyway, at camp the counselors had a rare “2, 4,” that was what we called our 24 hours off. I say all of that to say to explain that yesterday I was given the rare opportunity have a “2, 4.” My mom volunteered to take Cora for the day and OVERNIGHT after listening to me complain about our last week of sleepless nights with our teething, soar throat, fever ridden baby girl.

The breakdown of my precious “2, 4″:

8:30-11:30 a.m.: Wave good bye to Mom, Cora & Andy. Throw on bathing suit and head to the Marshall’s community pool to vegg. out (thanks for the key Ali.) While lounging by the pool I got lost in some great scripture from the book of Isaiah, read a magazine, and fell fast asleep.

12:00-1:00: Lunch out with a GROWN-UP, full of adult conversation and uninterrupted eye contact. (Thank you so much Christy!!!)

1:00-2:00: Wandered through target with no one reminding me that they wanted out of the cart. I even used the rest of my target gift card from Christmas (thanks Dave & Kathe) and bought a new shirt and necklace for Andy and I’s big date

2:00-3:00: Pedicure, a real treat. Andy insisted. And I discovered a whole new level of relaxation when I turned my IPod on and listened to Jack Johnson while I had an amazingly long pedicure. Thanks Andy!

3:00-5:00 Came home, bought some new music on Itunes and blared the stereo as I slowly got my self ready for our date. This was a lot of fun in and of itself because so often when we’re home it’s because Cora is napping and I need to be somewhat quiet. Not this time

6:00 Andy and I were off for a date that didn’t have an end time like most do because of a babysitter waiting on us. Andy treated me to a progressive dinner. We started with Bruschetta at Stonewood, AMAZING. Then off to St. Armands circle for fish tacos and then over to Kilwins for ice cream. We too had adult conversation and uninterrupted eye contact. I loved our night!

Then the best part…a full night of sleep!!!!! Well, Chase has a cold too so he did wake Andy up for a a little bit. Other than that, it was a peaceful night of sleep. Wow, I woke up and Andy and I actually smiled at each other.

Now I’m blogging, sipping some juice and about to start packing for the women’s retreat that I leave for tonight. What great timing, I’m relaxed for my relaxing womens retreat weekend!

Thank you mom!!!!!!!!

Talking!

wellsblog — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:04:30 +0000

Well, maybe more babbling than real talking, but Cora is saying a few words pretty well. She was off to a good start a while ago and then seemingly stopped making any attempts at talking. We aren’t sure why she’s been a little behind, it could be the fact that she’s a late teether or simply that she’s really good at grunting and pointing. Either way we are excited that in the past two weeks she has started making a much more valid attempt at talking. Cora is saying “Hi, Boo, dog, Du (duck), Br (bird) Da-Da, Eassss (please),” and making a a very quiet lion’s roar, a cow’s mow, and a monkey’s oh-oh. It’s been really fun to hear her express herself a little more.

Cora & Mama at the Beach…

wellsblog — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:20:12 +0000

Orlando Family Vacation

wellsblog — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:16:21 +0000

Last week we enjoyed a wonderful family vacation relaxing by the pools of my parents time share in Orlando. We really enjoyed spending some quality down time with the family and loved not having much of an agenda other than relax and eat. We spent most of our time on the grounds of the time share enjoying the several pools, slides, mini-golf, and playground. Cora soaked up every minute big cousin Hunter’s attention and would run up to him at random and give him huge bear hugs. He tried to teach Cora the art of wrestling after having lots of demonstration with his Dad and Uncle Andy. Cora got a kick out of pushing Hunter to the ground and watching him over emphasis his fall. I think Andy and I enjoyed getting to eat out a few times and playing cards to the wee hours of the morning the most.

: Cora absoultly LOVED swimming with her swimmy’s on her arms. She would instantly laugh, kick, and through her mouth open in joy every time we let her have some freedom to swim on her own.

: I encouraged them to pose for a silly picture, Julie obviously didn’t hold back

: Cora feeding Andy pretzels

No trip to Orlando is complete without a trip to the Bass Pro Shop of corse. Cora got to touch a little gator!: Our family got a little competitive with “slide racing,” I think this is Ryan & Julie racing.

“Ughhhh”

wellsblog — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:30:20 +0000

Lately Cora’s favorite thing to do is show people her feet. Even if someone just gives her a quick smile at the grocery store she’s got her foot as high as she can and say “Ughhhhh,” as she points. It is really stink’n cute. I caught a few pictures that I had to share.

Our favorite summer pastimes…

wellsblog — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:26:44 +0000

4th of July (a little late)

wellsblog — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:37:56 +0000

Sick Family

wellsblog — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:51:32 +0000

The past two weeks our family has been sick. I, as usual, came down with a bad cold first and then kindly passed it on to my sweet Cora and my hubby. The fact that Andy got sick should tell you how bad this cold was since Andy NEVER gets sick. It was a little challenging trying to keep Cora busy while sick because she couldn’t really do much. We weren’t able to do our normal playgroup things and spent a lot of extra time in the back yard. Finally, we are healthy again and Cora and I have resumed some of our normal activities.

Andy swimming with Cora in her pool!

Cora didn’t sleep very well while fighting the cold. As a result she was never quiet ready to wake up.

At least Cora was still able to spend time with her best friend, Chase. Here she is picking up the scattered pieces of his food and feeding it to him.

Finally, a day at the beach with her friends Kaylie and Myla.

We are BLESSED

wellsblog — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:59:33 +0000

Lately Andy and can’t get over how blessed we are. God is so faithful to us! We pray, he answers. Sometimes we pray…we wait, he answers. Anyway, here are some ways we are blessed.

1. Cora. (The pig-tails are fake, but so cute.)

2.GOOD FRIENDS. And when I say “good,” I mean the kind that make you want to be a better person. The kind that you play with, laugh with, cry with, and pray with. Here’s a picture from our pool day at the Holher’s.

3. Can we say our dog is a blessing? I think so. He is incredibly good with Cora as you can see below!

4.We live in Sarasota. It’s a little ridiculous how pretty it is here. We are continually in awe of the scenery. We’ve also been taking advantage of it by going to the beach several times a week. This past Saturday Cora and Andy floated on the air mattress while I stayed on the beach and took a nap! perfect. Here we are at Bayfront park.

5.Free food, also a blessing around here! Chick-fla had their customer appreciation night last Friday and you better believe we didn’t hesitate to dress like cows for our 4 free meals. The best part is that my Dad was coming for dinner and when he got here, expecting a home cooked meal, I handed him his cow nose!

6.Saturdays. This past Saturday was a perfect summer Saturday. We first hit the beach where Cora soaked up the sun, the sand, and the water. We then did some yard work where as you can see below Cora again decided to soak up some more sun and water. Yes she’s fully dressed. The day continued after I changer her out of the wet dress pictured below with her in a mud puddle soaking wet again after we rinsed off our porch.

7. Family. Our Saturday ended with my brother and Julie coming over to grill and enjoy a summer night in the backyard with us.

Last week’s highlights

wellsblog — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:09:28 +0000

Cora has music class on Wednesday mornings this summer. And these are no “row row row your boat” type classes, this is pretty advanced for one year olds. The class is made up of about 12 moms & babies and a typical music teacher complete with bright clothes and crazy socks. We all sit in a circle on the floor and sing, dance, and play along to the music. It is a lot of fun to watch Cora interact with the other toddlers and the watch her play along to the music. She’s getting pretty good with the drum! Here is a picture of her showing Da-Da her latest skills.

My 10 year reunion for Port Charlotte High was last weekend and we had a chance to see some old friends and meet Ellen’s new baby girl, Julia. Here is a blurry attempt at a timed picture of us at my house for a play date & lunch!

Dinner before the reunion.

Here is a picture of me and my best friend from high school!! Awe

Spending time at Grandma & Grandpa Great’s house and enjoying their refreshing pool .

This was really cute. Andy was outside mowing the lawn and of course Cora and Chase kept hanging around the door trying to get out to him. I eventually just pulled Cora’s little wooden bench over in front of the screen door so she could have a front row seat at the lawn mowing show. She would clap her hands and say a heart felt “OHHHHHHH” every time Andy would magically reappear from the side of the house.