Featured!!

We once became friends with this great couple, Tyson and Julie. They had just gotten married when we met, we were recently married and child-less as well, and we quickly found out we had much in common - we honeymooned to the same place, attended the same university, we all loved meat, and Julie and I were both first grade teachers in the same district. And then we moved away to Farmington, and they ended up moving away out of state, and we really miss them! But we still keep in touch. And Julie has a terrific blog called teacher-2-mom.blogspot.com with wonderful ideas for moms from moms who used to be teachers. Anyway, I got to guest post on her blog last week and you can see it here: http://teacher-2-mom.blogspot.com/2011/04/moms-who-teach-mondays.html. Just a few things I do with Cole each week. It was fun! And made me want to do more.

Check back soon - on my to-do list for this week is to blog about Cole's first tball game! Adorable!

Spring!

Time for the monthly post! Tyler turned almost 30, Kate learned some new tricks, and Cole starting tball in a couple weeks would be the highlights. But we've also done a lot of other super exciting things such as changing diapers and cleaning up toys, so don't think we've just been sitting around :) I also registered Cole for preschool this morning which was an exciting thing for me. He'll start in the fall at Knowlton (where I taught for five years) and I am just bursting. It's such an amazing program and the teachers have been doing it forever together and are my good friends, they are great educators and do so many wonderful things. It's such a highly recognized preschool that they have had to go to a lottery system to determine who gets in, where you register and they draw names and you wait and see if you were lucky. But since I was a former teacher and still sub there, they let Cole bypass the lottery so we're in! Anyway, it's a big step for me and him and I'm excited.

Kate is 10 months old now! And doing so many adorable things. She is sweet and affectionate, she loves to put her head on my shoulder when I'm holding her and hugs soft things like soft animals and blankies. She waves bye/hello, claps, and does this adorable head tilt smile when she has a lot of attention. She loves taking baths and being outside. Hates getting diaper/clothes changed. She is our little sunshine and we can't get enough of her sweetness.

Mom came to visit and took us ice skating for Cole's first time! He was "so essited", he's beeng talking about wanting to go all winter. He loved it and my arms were soooooore after from holding him up the whole time :)
These two play so cute together, he is such a great big brother. We've given him "brother jobs" that make him feel important because it's only things that big brothers get to do, things like throwing the diapers in the trash or getting toys to give to Kate when she's bored. He takes them very seriously and never turns down a job as long as it's called a brother job. Last week we put the tent up for a couple days in the living room, it made for some great times.
Tyler's birthday!! He turned 29 and wanted to go for a hike so that's what we did. We got up early and it happened to be a beautiful day so we were pretty excited. We packed up the kiddos in the backpacks and headed up Davis Creek Trail looking for Pretty Valley. We never found it, but had a great time looking for it! The foot of snow made finding the trail difficult in some parts. We saw a cool waterfall though and enjoyed the sunshiney day. There's just something about being outside as a family with no other distractions that I just crave. We always feel more bonded after.
This kid loved the upgrade from the frontpack to the backpack :) And after about 30 mins....
She took a little snooze.
The boys having fun too.
I saw this on the hike back, I thought it was awfully romantic. Tyler thought it was awfully disrespectful. I think we're both right. (it says "will you marry me")
Birthday pie! A blackberry pie for my birthday boy, made with lots of love.
Cole showing off his new suit, how handsome are my guys?
The fam came over for a Sunday birthday dinner, Kate was completely relaxed with uncle Shane.
For the family birthday dinner we had regular birthday cake. We let the candles burn a little longer than usual, and when Tyler held up the cake in front of me to let Cole help blow them out, he blew candle wax all over my white shirt! Still trying to figure out how to get that out.
We were lucky enough to get to go home for 2 weekends this past month while Tyler did Woodbadge (a scout camp for leaders). Kate loved swinging in grandma's swing while watching the dogs chase balls.
Sorry, out of order...but we had to put the gate up. Kate is moving around so much and so fast it was starting to worry me so we put it up. Aren't they the happiest prisoners you've ever seen?
Just had to share these great rainbow cupcakes we made when we were working on the letter R with Cole, aren't they fun! And they were delicious and easy to make.
Okay, back to grandmas. Cousins Jackson and Josh were also in town on one of the weekends and the boys had so much fun hanging out together. Jack and Josh were so sweet to include Cole and put up with some of his "younger" behaviors like taking toys that he wants or, I guess it mostly was just taking things that they were playing with :) I loved seeing them interact and hope they can have a connection even though they live thousands of miles away.
Nominated for best uncle award!
It's fun going to grandma's because you get to do what you want and have whatever you want!
Dressing up with daddy's do rags.
Ready for tball!! Only 16 days till our first game. This kid can barely contain himself, he's so excited. As I type, he's napping in his room sleeping with his hat and uniform on! It's my dream to have my kids play sports and grow up loving it like we did, so to see him so excited just makes me smile. Of course, if he chooses to do something else, like music or whatever, that will be wonderful too. But I love baseball and am just as excited as he is!!! Go Sox!

Wanted to show you Kate learning how to wave a couple weeks back. What a sweetie!!

Just an update

After potty training victory and fun Christmas times, things have been slower and really "normal" around here lately so there is not much to report. Everyone is happy and healthy, so I guess no news is good news :)

Kate is now 9 months old. She babbles all day long and charms everyone she meets. She is content and low maintenance, just as Cole was (although he's still content and good-natured, I can't honestly call his toddler antics low maintenance). She loves to walk with help and try to keep up with Cole, and she loves her daddy too and has a special smile just for him. She army crawls all over and has just this week started up off her tummy and it's sooo funny. It looks like she's Pinocchio the way she bends her knees awkwardly and has one leg straight and one bent. I'm sure she'll get the hang of it soon :)

Cole is just an awesome kid and just fun to be around. He is BIG into pretending and will spend most of his days at home acting out something from his imagination, usually about dinosaurs, aliens, tractors/trucks, or dragons. He is extremely excited to start tball this spring, and randomly will say "I'm SO esscited for baseball to come!". I am really looking forward to seeing him do that, hopefully the beginning of many years of sport watching to come.

Tyler continues to work hard for us and be the best dad we could want. Just yesterday I was thinking to myself how lucky I got in getting him, he is SUCH a great dad, so patient and fun, and such a great example for them to look up to. I can't tell him enough how grateful I am he's ours.

He takes Cole on "man dates" several times a month, usually a snowshoe hike on a new trail he wants to try out. Cole beams about it for days. I can't wait till Kate gets old enough to appreciate daddy dates, I remember those with my dad still and how excited I would get.

On top of my usual mom duties, I've been subbing at my school once or twice a week which is great. I've also been running a lot which makes me happy :) I love getting out in the snow in the morning before anyone else. One morning on Lagoon trail a deer jumped out just a few feet in front of me and I thought I was being attacked. I'm glad no one was nearby to see me embarass myself.

Here are a few things we've been doing this past month...

It's amazing how much fun a little cornstarch and water can be. This is one of Cole's favorite things to do, and we thought Kate would like to join in as well.

Kate's doing great with her solid foods, she likes everything except the dinner ones with meat in them. I don't blame her, they really are yucky. She loves these puff snacks though, as you can tell.
She now sits up so well that she can take her baths with Cole, and it's the most adorable thing. I love bathtime.
Okay so maybe this was even more adorable than bathtime. One Sunday morning Cole decided he wanted to wear a white shirt (which wasn't hard, we do that often) and TIE, which unfortunately we haven't had one his size for a few months. Anyway, I tried to talk him into just the white shirt but no, he wanted to look like a deacon (his words exactly). Tyler found one of his older ties and worked it out for him. It was such a great day.

This is after church, the tail of his tie was tucked up under for most of church don't worry.
Letter time! Cole practicing his letter C in flour. We focus on one letter a week and do lots of different activities that go with it.
This guy loves his sister.
Chubby bunny! A whole marshmallow, wow.
Kate in the walker.
What I do most days most of the time. By the way, we really have gotten out of the house lately. I just realized all my pics are taken here at home. My next blog should be dedicated to all things we do outside of our home :)
Same couch, same helmet, different day.
One morning we woke up to a couple inches of beautiful snow and we just couldn't wait, we headed out before breakfast to play. It was gorgeous!


Kate loves swinging!
Later that day Cole had snow soup for lunch.
Here's my little climber, pulling her self up and standing on her own. She's so petite!
Looking at new snow.
More fun tub time. Cole's trying to get Kate to look at the camera. After taking a quick picture I made an amazing catch to keep Kate from drowning.
Notice the art work (pen)above her eye? The dangers of having both car seats by each other in the back unsupervised.
Another day playing in the tub, this time without water and at lunchtime, not bedtime. Cole wanted a picnic in the tub, I obliged.

Being an astronaut. The shotgun is to shoot aliens. The flag is to know where he's from, and the lines on his suit are the bullets for his gun. The things this guy comes up with. He also had an alien catcher (empty can) that is not pictured.
My favorite video of the year. I love these two!