Christmas quatro

Trying to keep my mind sharp by practicing my Espanol in the title:)  This past weekend, my aunt was nice enough to bring my grandparents up here for Christmas.  We had a really good time visiting and eating lots of yummy food.  Luckily, I got a new workout tape that kicked my butt last night (plyometric lunges are the devil) so my clothes should still fit for Christmas number five on Christmas Eve!

Cole with Pop (my dad) and my grandparents. 

 Family picture...both my boys suffering from allergies :(

Cole with his new play food that he tries to feed to the dog (thanks Aunt Sue!) 

Slam dunk!

Christmas marathon

We have already done 2 Christmases so far with 4 more to go which is why I refer to it as a marathon!  The first Christmas I was a genius and left my camera at home.  I remembered the camera for Christmas #2 though with my grandparents in Houston last weekend so here a few of my favorites:

 Really tall with Uncle Ryan

 Uncle Ryan and Aunt Emily (aka "meme")

 

 Our best shot at a family photo with Mr. Wiggles

My cute matching grandparents! 

 Unwrapping presents.  I love how this picture caught him in mid-paper drop:)

A pillow pet bee!  Thanks Aunt Bay and Uncle David!

Thanksgiving pictures

Yes, I know it is almost to the one week countdown to Christmas and I am just posting Thanksgiving pictures.  Really there is nothing Thanksgiving-y about theses pictures, just that they were taken Thanksgiving day!

 Take 1: Girl with hand in mouth

  Take 2: Boy with hand in mouth

  Take 3: Hands out of mouths but with red eye...so close!

 Take 4: Cover up red eye!  Stylin'!

Christmas photos and ear tubes

I think I would be a skinny person if I opened a photo studio as I sweated my hiney off trying to take photos of these two over Thanksgiving.  Below is one of the silly photos where Cole is trying to remove cousin's bow that will be cute in a picture collage.  Christmas cards with a photo are already sitting on my desk to be mailed earlier than normal this year but sit on the desk they will stay for at least one more day. 

We are all pooped after a long night and early morning for Cole to have ear tubes inserted.  He has only had 4 ear infections over the last nine months which compared to most isn't that many but he had fluid last for 2 months this last time after taking several antibiotics, steriods and antihistamines (well, the medicine he swallows and doesn't gag and throw up).  He couldn't eat after 2 am this morning and was none to pleased being denied his organic pacifier at 3:30 am so we all got up.  The surgery thankfully was very short and went smoothly and after a 3 hour nap, Cole is running around like nothing happened.  Mama and Dada are not as perky as this parenting is rough!  Hopefully this will reduce the number of infections and get that fluid out quicker so that his hearing won't be impaired.  Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

 



A first!

We had our first experience on a coin operated ride at the mall with cousin a few weeks ago!  It was an ice cream truck in the mall that lasted surprisingly long compared to most other rides that last for 5 seconds.  Both of them thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Shoppin'

Here's some pictures I've been meaning to post for a while and haven't had a chance with our crazy schedule.  Be prepared for many back to back posts!  Everyone knows Cole is a big fella and pretty darn strong too.  We constantly work with him to "be nice" by using "nice hands" on the dog and everyone because his love pats can pack a wallop.  Most other kids get annoyed with him quickly when he tries to throw his weight around but not Miss Lizzie.  She's a year older and weighs less than Cole but she keeps him in line just like a future daughter-in-law should:).  I think they already look like a little married couple going to the grocery store!

A few weeks...

That's how long it's been since I posted which is horrible, I know, considering this is not only a blog to keep friends and family updated but as a "baby book" to look back on.  I had made the excuse of not posting considering most people want to see pictures, many of which have been the back of my active childs head, and not read the babbling of someone who hums the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song during the day.  Today I was pleasantly surprised to find several decent picutres from the last few weeks stored on my camera and have a couple in this post and maybe another post or two later today.  Many of you will be pleased to see that Cole actually owns clothing as many pictures I post here are of him in his diaper but, hello, it is in the upper 70s during Thanksgiving week!

 Mommy's big helper around the house.  He helps me hang up his clothes (aka take all the hangers out of the closet), take laundry out of the washer/dryer (aka through clean clothes on the floor), and sweep (aka through soil from the potted plant onto the floor to have an excuse to go get the broom).  Oh well, he stays out of trouble and I still get some chores done!

Going out to see cows in the country and getting a driving lesson from Dada. 

Trying to crawl into Baxter's bed... 

 Succeeding at crawling into Baxter's bed...

Wondering why Baxter wanted to go outside and not be in his bed anymore!

Fall photoshoot

We had some time to kill the other afternoon and the lighting in the front room was good so I thought I would try a photoshoot with our baby pumpkins.  Normally, I take 20+ pictures especially when Cole is in a good mood which he was that day.  However, he must have had ants in his pants and I got about 5 pictures that are ok with some being too dark because I was playing with my camera settings.  If I had the time, money and a computer that could handle it, I would totally get photoshop!  Here are a few alright photos for your viewing pleasure....



Halloween 2010 - Part 2

After the lunch, we can home, napped and then went to a festival at a local church.  Most of the games Cole will be able to enjoy next year, but he really loved the petting zoo!  We then went back to Nana and Pop's house to trick-or-treat as our neighborhood doesn't do much for Halloween (coming from the people who have never had their light on for Halloween...).  I am not a big fan of the gory, gross and slutty Halloween things but think dressing up and being creative is good for the imagination and we all had good, clean fun this year so I'm glad we participated this year!

 Wrangling goats...

 Saying hi to our buddy Darren, aka Woody!

 Trick-or-treating at Nana and Pop's neighbors house.  I'm totally blowing this up and sticking it on the fridge as motivation as why I need to run more as soon as I get off the phone from signing up at a tanning salon.

Checking out our loot that Mama doesn't think I'm old enough to eat yet... Yes, I've morphed into a total granola mom.

Resting after a busy Halloween on my new pillow from Nana...this is my favorite picture from the day!  Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend!

Halloween 2010 - Part 1

We began Halloween this year with travelling to Grandma and Grandpa's house to go trick-or-treating as we were attending a benefit lunch over in that neck of the woods.  Cole was dressed up as a golfer and cousin was a little lady bug.  They should have dressed up as busy bees as neither would stay still to have their photo taken!

 Here we are in our costume, minus the hat!

 I liked this photo because Cole's shirt was making his sweater pooch out like that but it still looked like he had an old man's gut hanging over the top of his pants!

 Here is the best picture with cousin before she ran off with the golf club!

  

Opening goodies from Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Dada

Happy belated* birthday to a wonderfully amazing and spectacular husband, father and best friend.  We love you very much, especially when you watch cows on the computer right after waking up in the morning!

*This note is for my future reference when I read this to know I wasn't a horrible wife as we are all battling colds, allergies, or some other snotty, sneezy, cough inducing illness this past week!

Pumpkin patch 2010

This year we planned better and hit the pumpkin patch earlier in October before all the pumpkins were picked over.  Actually we went twice (once in the evening and this weekend in the morning, hence the different lighting in the pictures).  Ironically, we wore shorts both times as it is hot and not very fall-like here and makes me wish we could visit my friend Didi in Oregon where it actually looked like fall in her pictures.  Despite the heat, we had lots of fun!  Next on our list is the Farm Patch in town that has a petting zoo and supposedly a 1,000+ pound pumpkin!

Our family picture...yes, he has "what" hands but we're all looking at the camera!

Nana and Pop (my parents)

  

With Grandma and cousin

With cousin in our matching outfits (thanks for all the help Mom)!  Grandma will FINALLY get a picture for her frame that we gave her for Mother's Day of both of them together, looking at the camera and smiling!

Running through the pumpkins after all the picture taking was over!

My boys

Watching cows (aka Baby Eintstein farm dvd) on TV

Looking extra handsome before church

Faces

Here are a few of the boy's many facial expressions....I have a video of his noises/sounds too that I need to shrink in size to post too!

Response to "what sound does a pig make" (snorting!) 

 

Stick-my-tongue-out-like-Michael Jordan concentration face (while playing with my camera download cord, that is now out of reach, while all these toys sit on the floor untouched...)

Happy because I see the dog run by face

Holy heavens!  I see this "I'm a happy boy" face a lot during the day but rarely catch it with the camera anymore...must have been magical effects from the harvest moon the other night!

Fall in Texas

Due to the blistering heat of the summer, I typically let Cole wear just a diaper around the house and when we play in the backyard.  However, the recent cooler weather has required an additional layer of clothing:)  We got this jacket in the early spring and only wore it once before it got too hot and now it fits without a shirt underneath.  Attention all Christmas present buyers of my child reading this blog:  most toys have an estimated fun time of 5-10 minutes while the activity he performed below lasted for 30 minutes and would have lasted longer had a taste test not been performed!

Fall attire 

Airplane! 

What's this? 

Cheap fun!