Thank God I'm a Country Boy!

Russell had off Monday since he is going to start working weekends so we headed out to the country. Cole had been out there a few times but it had been several months since our last visit so it was like a whole new world to him! He liked watching the cows and really liked riding in the tractor with Grandpa. Even though the sultry heat of summer is upon us, I think we'll definitely be making more frequent visits to the country now that Cole is older and has alot of things to point at!

Engineer Day

Once a year, the US Army Corps of Engineers where Russell works (not to be mistaken with the Aggie Corps) holds an Engineer Day where they provide lunch and games for employees and their families. For whatever reason (school, work, pregnancy), I have never been able to attend but could go this year since I am still at home with Cole. I was a little nervous as we have not been outside in the sun for that long with Cole yet so he had a bucket hat on and two applications of sunscreen (I didn't want him to get burnt period but especially not the day before his birthday party!). Luckily we stayed under the pavillion most of the time so no sunburns for us! Cole did really well on the trip to and from Stillhouse Hollow Lake in Belton (the water was beautiful!) which is a trend I hope will continue as we travel to San Antonio this weekend for Russell's cousin's wedding. I hope we can go with Russell again next year and Cole can enjoy some of the games that were set up for smaller kiddos!

Kids at party

We had several little ones at the party on Saturday which was lots of fun especially since Cole hadn't gotten to meet some of Russell and mine's friends little ones yet. Plus, they all showed Cole how to use his new toys as he watched intently (allowing us more time to open presents!). FYI, if you need a gift for a child under 3 years old, there was one that was a big hit (see pics below)!

First Birthday Party

Well Cole isn't technically one until next week but we decided to have his birthday this past Saturday due to a wedding this weekend and Russell having to work weekends the rest of the summer. I was a little stressed out (who would have thought planning a one year old's birthday party would be stressful?!) but everything turned out well. The room looked good, the food tasted good and I think/hope everyone had a great time. There are a ton of pictures so this is post one of two of the party. We definitely have a very blessed little boy!

I made this cake...yeah right! Amen for the awsome ladies at Kroger's bakery!

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday boy

MMM....processed sugar product (aka cake). I wonder why my weirdo health nut mama doesn't let me eat this more often?! (Actually Cole didn't eat very much of the cake so I guess he is a health nut too:)).

Clapping my hands to tell everyone thank you for all my gifts and making my party special!

Picture with my Mom-ma and Pop-pa (Cole's great granparents)

Picture with my Grandma and Grandpa (Cole's other great-grandparents). Need to get an updated picture with Cole's grandparents as we forgot at the party....need to make a mental note to have a list of pictures I want to take before the next big event!

Random phrases

Ok so a few weeks ago, I posted about the dolphin in the toilet. And not that anyone else finds humor in these, but I wanted to blog about a few more phrases just so that I have it documented somewhere for future reference! I started giving Cole bites of goldfish crackers last week and when going to put the bag up in the kitchen, I picked him up and he took a cracker out of his mouth and laid it on me (he takes almost all food out of his mouth and then eats it like he is a gourmet and has to taste it to make sure it is up to his standards first!). This resulted in my saying the very intelligent line of "I have a goldfish on my shoulder" like it was something exciting. And another saying I have been using frequently deals with the fact that our teething child (number 8 poked through today!) is part goat/woodchuck/cannibal (he bit my shoulder!) and chews on everything. Instead of saying "no" 8.4 million times a day, I have started saying things like "that isn't Cole's" or "Baxter isn't going to play with you anymore if you pull his tail" or "Thank you, I'll take that" or when he tries to bite on the coffee table (my favorite) "We don't eat wood in this family". I'll leave you with a picture of the boy looking angelic and not ntutritionally deprived to the point of gnawing on wood.

Cousins

For Mother's Day, we got my mother-in-law a Grandma picture frame and promised to fill it with a picture of her grandchildren soon. At my birthday last weekend, I tried to get a picture of them BOTH looking at the camera and failed...miserably. Here are a few examples:
And in case you are wondering what was so interesting at the window...

Buddies - playtime

Here is our wooden spoon eating weinie dog being an excellent playmate as Cole head butts him (yes, he is part goat) and plays fetch/tug-of-war with "puppy". Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend!