We Have a Little Action

Check out some of the action we have going on in our house recently.



Here are a few more pics of Kole playing. He received a new toy from Nanny and Papa's (ex) playroom last week. He's so excited about it. He likes to look and see where the balls are coming from. And so does Jersey. Kole can't play this toy when Jersey is nearby or she'll nab the stray balls and chew them.

Kole is so interested in books lately. This one is one of his favorites. It plays music and recites nursery rhymes.

Jersey has been pretty attached to Kole lately. Always following him around and trying to give him kisses. What good siblings!

Over a Long Weekend.

We had a nice weekend (plus a couple of extra days) in Bay City. Seth, Kole, Jersey and I drove over to Freeland for a birthday party. Our friends Brad and Lisa have a one year old, Bryson, who just had a birthday this month. This was Kole's first birthday party and he had a BLAST! He liked watching the big kids play and it was fun for him to play with Bryson's toys. He had some FUN toys too! Jersey had fun playing with a couple of other dogs that were there and played and endless game of fetch. After the party, Kole and I drove to Bay City for a visit over a few days and Seth headed home with Jersey. Seth had big plans to meet someone who wanted to buy his motorcycle on Sunday. He ended up being a no-show. Anyone looking to buy a Harley Davidson???? We did some birthday shopping for Kole as well as some birthday party shopping for Kole's big day that's coming up (sniff sniff). We went to church with Grandpa and a walk along the river later that day. Kole played and played and was spoiled by Nana and Papa (and so was I, really. I think I may have changed one diaper the whole time?). We came home on Tuesday afternoon. Here are some pics of our visit with Nana and Papa.





















Reading to Kole

Pointing at the light, of course. The light is ON, the LIGHT IS ON.

Playing with Papa Snoop

What a face!

Pointing again. This time, not at the light.

Having fun

Oh, the simple joys of playing in a cardboard box...

Beep Beep!!

Visit with Great Nana

Great Gramps reading a book to Kole

A Few More Random Things

Kole JUST started giving out kisses. Those kisses though are only for Mommy and Mallory the Monkey at this point (he's had a crush on Mallory since he was a newborn. He likes watching her hula skirt shake...). He does the "lean in" for a kiss. Seth claims he doesn't see what Kole is doing, but I think he's just bummed Kole won't give him a kiss. Tonight before bed, Kole squeezed my face with his hands and then did the "lean in" :) NO MORE watching General Hospital for Kole anymore; those soaps are teaching him too much at a young age!!!
We helped my dad and Deb at their moving sale today and Kole was a very good boy. He took a short nap and so did Papa. He played outside for awhile and had fun with Meghan and Maddie who were both over too. Tired baby tonight. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him totally cashed out from the long day.





CRAZY boy!

A beggar for food, just like Jersey!

Random Stuff

Here are some random pics and vids. I have more to post but am too tired tonight.... Kole is moving and moving lately and today decided to "climb". He stood on a toy to reach something out of his toy box and decided to stand on our register in our living room so he could reach something exciting on the ledge. Oh boy, good thing I chose the extra tall baby gate.
I'll post more pics and vids in the next couple of days.


Go Tigers!

Go Lions (football already??)

Reading a really good book. He sat in this chair and read this book for a solid 15 minutes.

He's so involved in this book!

Kole loves opening and closing Jersey's crate door

Decided to check out Jersey's digs.

Learning to brush his tooth with his baby toothbrush

Brush that tooth Kole!

SO big!

Peek-a-boo

peek-a boo again!

Mommy's banana boy

Good reader Kole. I remember my cousin Paul loving books when he was a wee one also; Berenstein Bears if I remember correctly...

Kole's "passion" for reading books hopefully impresses our cousin Melissa who is starting grad school at U of M this Fall and will study Information Science (Librarian) :)

Books must be in our blood...

Kole and Some Dinner Too

Kole stood up to his activity table and it tipped over on him today. It was kind of funny and I knew he wasn't hurt since he fell to his butt then on his back. The table came with him and he sort of thought it was funny too. I brought out his "new box" of toys out (just a batch of toys I'm boxing up and switching with his current toys to make him think they are new ones) and he was in heaven tonight!! He has a couple of choice places to play with his toys as well. They both seem to be "covered" type places. Hmmm....I wonder if he'd like to play fort some rainy day....??? The game he plays is to throw a few of his plastic rings on the laminate floor near the doorway or the kitchen and then pick them up and throw them again. This repeats itself over and over again for quite some time or until it's time for a meal or nap. I think he likes the noise it makes on the floor.
On a quite different note, I made a fabulous looking dinner tonight and I HAD to take a picture of it. It not only looked good but was very tasty as well. My harshest critic gave it a B (which is REALLY GOOD) and my smallest critic ate some too and liked it. It was Orange-Balsamic Chicken with Asparagus, Green Beans and Polenta. It was not difficult to make HOWEVER it was a lot of multi-tasking during the cooking. I am normally NOT good at that but measured everything beforehand and put it in separate bowls and such and arranged them on the counter by pot and pan I needed it for. Yes, lots of dishes to do and more work on the front end, but was not as stressful as I thought it would be. Yay me!! The picture does not do it justice though, it looked fab!!! Here's the link to the recipe; it's a RR dish.


Oops! I fell down!


One of my fun spots

Another fun spot to toss my rings. I think I must be heavy though b/c I'm tipping it part of the way over!

My yummy dinner!

Lots of Pics and Misc.Stuff

Nothing super exciting going on lately, just enjoying the Summer as much as we can. I bought Kole a baby pool a couple of weeks ago and fill it up in the front yard when it's pretty hot out. The first set of pics are from the first day in the pool. He REALLY liked it! He gets SO excited about things his face looks funny, like he's mad. Not the case---he's EXCITED!

The weekend was hot and steamy. We laid low on Friday night with our usual pizza and movies. I also worked on Kole's birthday party invitations (OMG, they are so frickin' cute, I can't wait to send them out!) that night while watching a really disturbing TV show called "Toddlers and Tiaras" (or somethign like that) about little ones in pagents. Ugh, disturbing! Moving on....We woke up on Saturday morning to rain rain rain. I went to my A.S.S. guild (Association of Sewing Sisters/Strays) meeting for a day of purse making. Since my sewing machine was on the fritz, Aunt Laura tried to troubleshoot the problems but to no avail. I will need to bring it in to be looked at :( I still was able to sew since A.L. has more than one machine. My new purse is super cute and was super easy to make (and will be a quick project once my machine is back). I took my time coming home stopping at MTO of course. My friend Kristen called Saturday night and we talked for 2 hours! I don't think I've talked on the phone that long since high school! It was good to catch up. Today was HOT (maybe mild for my Texas Family :)) but there was a nice breeze. I took Jersey for a walk this morning and errand running with Kole this afternoon while Seth took a nap. He was up at 5am this morning b/c he couldn't sleep. He told me later on that he was watching an info-mercial on the Cricuit (a craft machine) and he was going to buy it for me b/c he thought it was so cool. What a guy!!!!! But then saw how much it was and changed his mind. Bummer. We played in Kole's pool again today and he had a blast again.

Kole and Jersey have been getting along quite nicely lately. Playing well together with a few minor incidents. I need to monitor Jersey b/c she thinks that Kole's toys are fair game while they are playing together and tried to mutilate them. Kole takes one toy on a string and whips it around and wacks Jersey in the face with it. Jersey tries to bite it and take it away. Pretty cute!

We are official owners of a baby gate and now have our cupboard doors very secure with safety locks. Kole is seriously ALL OVER the place and he's REALLY quick!!!!

On a very misc. note I have a sad but funny story. Sad for me but funny to everyone else. I took Kole running errands today and went to a ghetto dollar store near our house. We walked in and he attracted the attention of the cashier. He was smiling and what-not and she was commenting how cute he was. As I'm lifting him into the cart to sit down she says, "Oh, and your expecting another one too!" Uh, no. Looks like a diet and exercise is in my immediate future. I won't be returning to that ghetto dollar store again.

Enjoy the pics and vids!!




Playing in his pool for the first time a couple of weeks ago







He's SO excited!





Splashing!


Having SO much fun!!







Chilling out at Aunt Laura's. He was relaxed like this for an hour. Seriously, it was strange!








He likes wearing my sunglasses. What a movie star!!






My cute new purse I made on Saturday





Eating/wearing a teething biscuit

From the pool today. Sharing his fish.

Tooth boy! Check it out!

Checking the bottom of the pool out

My movie star again!

Clapping. I think we might be singing

This is his "SO BIG!" He doesn't do it very often and I caught it!

All done mommy.

Playing in his tunnel (of fun). That's the toy he wacks Jersey with.

Dinner time!!!