18 Months

Cole baby turned 18 months a month ago. (I'm a little behind)
His stats are:
weight- 24 lbs- 25th percentile
height- 34 in- 85th percentile

He's still long and lean. He is a energetic little guy. At his doctor's appointment, the doctor was telling me to remember that at this age he'll start being curious and exploring new things. Right on cue Cole climbed on a chair leaned clear over, almost falling, turned off the light, and said "light". As we sat in the pitch black, the doctor said "That's exactly what I'm talking about."
He still loves to eat and finally has a few more teeth.
He's a climber, runner, jumper, yeller, and talker. Several people, including the doctor, have mentioned that he talks really well, and he really does. Some of his new words are up, bouncy, yellow, blue, three, butterfly, family, cheese (for cheese and camera), please, thank you, over there or in there, show, eyes, nose, belly butt (button), ruff (He calls dogs ruff, but I have heard him say doggy), he says Aniela and Avery (Hayden's friends names), but he refuses to say Hayden. He never has and always says no when we ask him to. Hayden and her friend Avery think it is hilarious to yell "darn it" over and over on the way to preschool. The other night at dinner Cole said "darn it" and just laughed. When I'm making dinner, he grabs a fork and stands next to me yelling "Ready! Ready!" There are a bunch of others. He is a gabber and rarely stops talking.
He loves to sing and knows quite a few songs. He also loves to dance.
He is super smart, if we say so our selves. He understands so much and will actually do it.
He is loud. In Sacrament meeting, when he sees the bread he yells "Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!" Wow. Nothing like distracting from the spirit.
He is a lot of fun. He loves to play, laugh and be silly.
He loves Hayden and tries so hard to do whatever she's doing.
We can't get over how cute he is! Ryan and I always say to each other, "He's so cute!"

He is a Daddy's boy. He talks about Daddy all day and then runs down the stairs when he hears the garage opening.

He and Hayden keep us busy, but thankfully he takes good naps and goes to bed at 7:30 ;)

We love you Cole!

Park and Projects

We had a couple of sunny, warm, spring like days last week. So, we hit the park!! We went with a bunch of friends one day, and then with Daddy on Saturday.
It was heavenly! I think I was as happy about it as the kids. I want to be done with being stuck indoors. Come on summer! Hayden was with us this day, but she refused to have her picture taken.

I got together with my friends Liz and Lacey for a craft day last week, also. I made a tie for Cole (thanks for the idea Mel). I think it turned out so cute and I want to make him more soon.

We had an activity with the Young Women at church and they made their own modest skirts. We asked them to wear them to church on the same day. Since Lacey and I are their leaders, we decided we should do it to. So, here's the skirt I made. It was super fast and easy. It turned out okay but it doesn't fit perfectly. Oh well, I made it!

I decided I need to start doing regular sewing projects. I enjoy it, as long as they are simple and fast. My sewing attention span is pretty short ;)

St. Pattys Day!

I always love holidays! Even the little ones. I planned to be an awesome mom and have a green breakfast and leprechaun hunt for the kids all ready to go. It didn't happen. We did wear some festive shirts, that counts for something, right?Hayden was not excited to show off her shamrock shirt (from last year). I love how her eyes are still trying to look at the t.v. while I'm taking this picture.

They did pretty well posing together.

Who knew pretend sneezes were so funny?!

As soon as Cole saw the camera, he was ready. He calls cameras "cheese." He saw the camera, sat down and said "cheese." So, I took a bunch of pictures of my handsome little man.

Then it was off to preschool. I was helping this week so Cole got to take part. They played St. Patrick's day games, ate green food, and made up for the fact that we did none of those things at home.

That night we switched modes from green to blue as we (mainly Ryan) cheered on BYU. Ryan is ecstatic that Byu's basketball team is doing so well and he wants to learn how to Jimmer ;)

Overall, it was a fun filled day.

Good Times

We went to a Kid's Expo with some friends a few weeks ago and had a great time!
The kids really enjoyed the turtles. Hayden loved to hold them and Cole loved to smack them!
We went inside the petting zoo and my kids both screamed until I got them out. They liked them from the other side of the fence, though.

Hayden was so excited to get her face painted and had to have a butterfly.

They got to pan for gold, try out the bouncy houses, ride a train and all kinds of fun stuff. Plus we got a bunch of toys and samples. Fun times!
Wouldn't you love to have this little guy for a Valentine. I'd take him, even with the drool hanging from his chin!! Valentine's Day was pretty low key here. We switched babysitting with some friends, so Ryan and I went to a new BBQ place for dinner. It was delicious.
We also went to the Jelly Belly Factory (warehouse) with friends. The train is always fun for the kids and shopping for candy is always fun for the moms ;)

I had to throw in this picture. I love that these two want to be by each other so much!

Singing Time

Blizzard 2011

We woke up this morning to about 2 feet of snow!! This is the 3rd biggest storm Chicago has ever had. Luckily, Motorola closed half day yesterday and all day today, so Ryan has been home. Cole has a cold and 2 teeth coming in, so he hasn't been his usual bubbly self, but other than that it has been a great day!!
We've been lazy and lounged in pajamas, snacking on poppyseed bread most of the day.

We built a fort and played pirates,

took a few rides on a train,

and made silly egg carton masks.

We all got in a nap (which we needed because both kids were up pretty much all night!!). Ryan and Hayden went out to play in the snow. We enjoyed laughing at multiple neighbors trying to dig a path out of their driveways. We had some family Wii time, and had homemade pizza for dinner. It really has been the perfect day! I love snow days!!

Maybe the plows wont get to us tonight, and we can do this all over tomorrow. Here's hoping :)

Snow Day

On Martin Luther King Day, we had some good snow and Ryan had the day off. So, we had to go out and play. We got the kids all bundled up and headed out.

Cole wasn't sure what to think at first... He didn't even dare move.

Then Ryan whisked him away on the sled, while Hayden tried out her snow angel skills.

Cole's final decision was that he did not want to be in the snow. So, we headed inside.

Hayden on the other hand, was in Heaven! She and Ryan stayed out to play a while longer.
This is her "enough with the pictures" face.

We did go sledding for preschool last week and Cole changed his mind about the snow. I'd take him down on the sled and he would climb back up the hill and immediately sit back on the sled to go again. I had a blast, too! We definitely will have to do a family sledding day soon!
We had preschool at our house a couple weeks ago, and the kids played with snow buckets. Hayden loved it so much we had to do it again.

Also, as you can see, Hayden got a hair cut! She got quite a bit cut off. We just took her to Great Clips. The lady asked how I wanted it cut. I told her and she said, "No, that's too drastic. Let's do something else." I politely asked her to cut it the way I had told her to. It turned out so cute. It makes her look older and so super adorable, if I say so my self, and I do ;)

In other breaking news, Cole loves lego blocks. In the last few weeks, he has really taken to building. He usually just builds with the single blocks but can get it pretty tall. It's fun to watch his little mind working.

For Christmas, I got Ryan Blackhawks tickets. We went to the game a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it took us for.ev.er to get there. It should have taken about 1 1/2 hours and ended up taking 3 hours. It took us 1 hour to go the last 10 miles because the road was so icy. It was miserable, and we missed the whole 1st period and 1/2 of the 2nd period. Luckily, they went into overtime and a shoot out. It was an awesome game and we ended up winning! This was our second Blackhawks game and we love going to see them play!