Christmas in the Woods

Last weekend we went up north to Irons to have our Christmas celebration at Dad and Deb's house. All the kids were there and all the grandkids too. We went up on Saturday early afternoon and enjoyed the time before everyone arrived and the house was full. We went for a little walk while Kole napped, played with Jersey in the snow and both Seth and I went hunting (naturally, we saw nothing). We had a big dinner and then presents galore! The little kids were so excited to finally open the gifts!! Kole had a hard time staying awake; we had to put him down to bed, he was so tired!! We opened all of our gifts and we were all so tired after that!! More relaxing by the tree then off to bed for a sleepless night because Kole had a hard time staying asleep and being quiet. Morning came a little too early but we had a yummy breakfast of waffles (Dad's "special" recipe). We packed our car AND Rachel and Matt's car because we ran out of room. We left mid morning and Kole and I slept the whole way home :) Here are a couple of pics courtesy of Rachel.

Jersey Girl in the snow

All the grandkids: Meghan, Kole, Jocilyn, Morgan, Madison

Uncle Matt and his stocking stuffer

Random Pics and Vids

Here are a bunch of videos that we shot over the past week. A few of them were over the weekend. Seth actually stayed home this weekend and didn’t go hunting! It was a nice time to spend as a little family.
Kole saw Santa this past week as well. He thought the guy in the red suit was pretty neat. He liked touching his jacket and his beard. He clapped and gave Santa a high-five. It was so cute I had to spend the fortune on the photo. I scanned it to my computer so I could share it with everyone.

Getting some beauty sleep :)

A Few of Kole's Favorite Things

Well, Winter has officially arrived---last night to be exact. The weather has been pretty mild the past few weeks but today is another story. I measured 5 inches of snow on the deck today. I thought it would be fun to take Kole outside for some fun in the snow. I bundled him all up in his snowsuit and boots and out we went. Let's just say snow is NOT one of Kole's favorite things. You'd think I was torturing the kid the way he was screaming. Well, he better get used to the cold because we have quite a few months of this ahead of us!

Kole is FINALLY cutting his two top teeth! I was worried we'd have to ask Santa for his two front teeth! They are both coming in at the same time and it's obvious in the way he's been acting lately. Between his mood swings and mine, it's been a lovely house to live in the past week.

Kole has a few favorites lately and since we had the camera out today I snapped some pics of him with his favorite things or doing something he loves. Well, we ruled out that Kole HATES the snow, so that's not one of them. He loves playing in his bedroom. However the door must be shut when he's playing. One of his favorite toys is a metal box of magnetic letters and numbers I picked up on Craig's List for 5 bucks. He loves throwing the letters out of the box on to the floor then putting them all back in the box. He also loves to sit in his chair in his bedroom. He's really good at climbing in and sitting down on his bottom (Thank you Auntie Rae for teaching him this one). He climbs in and out and in and out. He also loves his toy duck. Yes, that light up duck is still around and he loves it. He calls it "guck". He hands it to me to "turn on" the lights. Kole LOVES chicken! He eats about half to three-quarters of a chicken breast for dinner when we have it and eats cut up chicken for lunch. He has a wonderful appetite now and I'm hoping it lasts. Most of you know this but Kole loves his Veggie Tales. He now understands me when I mention "Veggies"---he beelines for the living room and waits for me to turn them on. He also loves to run around the living room with his hands in the air and his head thrown back yelling. Our living room is more like Kole's living room. Filled with all of his toys and pretty well child proofed. Now that we have the Christmas tree up he likes to touch the tree and mess with the ornaments. Well, as you can see from the picture we now have a lovely gate surrounding the tree. Kole still loves to touch the tree but now it's over the gate and sometimes he tries to "climb" on the gate. Kole loves his books too. He likes to throw them out of a little yellow container in his room and pick out his favorites. He'll either go over to a little spot near the door and read it or bring it to me to read. And of course last but not least Kole's very favorite thing in the whole world.....Jersey. The dog and Kole are BFFs. Jersey sits under Kole's high chair waiting for something to drop and sometimes Kole feeds the dog if he's full or doesn't like what he's eating (like carrots). Kole yanks on Jersey's tail and she doesn't even care. They "play" with certain toys together and Kole just cracks up. He knows how to let Jersey out of her crate and does so each morning (and even when she's being punished in her crate). Jersey is sweet and likes to give Kole kisses---yesterday it was a full kiss from chin to forehead at least two or three times. Kole just laughs. He also laughs when Jersey is being a "space hog" and knocks him down on his butt. But just try getting a picture of them together....they are both far to quick and restless for that!

Here are a bunch of pics and a few vids for you to enjoy!! Most of it is from today (I was having fun with my camera, what can I say?)

HATING the snow

Still HATING it

What the heck is this stuff?

A bit of a smile

What did I do to deserve this?

sticking tongue out

feeling just okay...

Jersey on the other hand...she LOVES the snow!

CHICKEN!!!

Hangin' out in his chair

Kole's "guck"

Watching Veggies

Crazy man

Throwing out the books

Kole and our lovely Christmas tree behind the gate

His letters in a box

Kole "loving" the snow

Giving Jersey a treat

Jersey trying to get her own lunch

Jersey having fun in the snow!

I Heart Vacation

Sorry for the late posts these days. Here are some pics from our sunny vacation in San Juan, Puerto Rico!! We arrived on a Tuesday late afternoon and checked out our hotel at the Ritz-Carlton (super nice!) and the adjoining casino. We went out for an authentic Puerto Rican dinner which totally sucked. Up the next morning and walked to the corner for some breakfast and then off to the beach and pool for the day! Ahhh, so relaxing! It felt good to get my pasty white skin some sun too!! Didn't stay at the beach too long; it was super hot and the ocean was like bath water and not too refreshing. I found a spot at the pool and asked for a floatie and floated in the pool for awhile. Seth and I met up with some friends at the pool and decided to go get some lunch at the poolside cafe. We had the best jerk-chicken nachos ever!! Sounds gross but they were so delicious!! More fun in the sun for the remainder of the day until we had our group dinner reception later that night. Up the next day for some breakfast and a little sun before we left for our Bacardi Rum tour. Sort of lame. Especially for me who could not partake in the yummy looking rum drinks after the tour. Dinner that night at a place called Toro Salao. It's a tapas restaurant and holy cow were we FED!! I thought the food was delicious but Seth just thought it was "okay" (naturally). I think Seth may have had about 12 mojitos while I splurged on a diet Coke. Again, the food was so GOOD!! Off to the casino after we returned to the hotel. The next morning found me at the pool while Seth went on a deep sea fishing trip. I waited and waited for him to come back and two hours after the group was supposed to be back they arrived at the hotel with NO fish! It was a total bust AND Seth got sick over the side of the boat! Later that night we went to a hacienda in the rainforest for dinner. The whole group went to this huge estate and had dinner, dessert, games and such. We left early (I was so tired) but still had a a nice time. We got home and Seth found himself in the casino :) He did win a little bit, but considering that we've been putting money in with no return on the other times in the casino, we hardly won. The next day started out at the pool and then we decided to go into Old San Juan (the main part of the city where the "tourists" go) for some lunch and shopping. We had an excellent lunch and then lots of walking around the city going into the shops and browsing. A pair of earrings is the only thing I found that I wanted to take back home with me. Seth on the other hand found a really nice looking watch at a jewelry store and we went there a total of 4 times so Seth could be sure he was getting/making a good deal. In the end he FINALLY bought the watch!!!! We caught a trolley back to the hotel and had dinner at a local restaurant and then dessert with some friends at the hotel. Once again, Seth found himself at the casino and I packed up our things. I collapsed into bed and we left the next day. We checked in at the airport but interestingly enough, we didn't have to pay for our luggage to be checked AND our large suitcase was over the allowed 50 lbs. I didn't say anything to the lady checking us in but mentioned it to Seth on the way to our gate. We thought we lucked out! When we got on the plane I couldn't find our seats. I got a small pang of nervousness when I said something to the flight attendant but she just guided me to the opposite end of the plane towards FIRST CLASS!! Ah yes, Seth and I may have lost at the casino, but we hit the JACKPOT on the way home (which is why we didn't pay for our luggage to be checked---first class!). It was nice to sit in huge leather seats and to be greeted by name and asked what we'd like for breakfast. Ah yes, breakfast on real plates with real silverware and real glass for our beverages. A bloody mary for Seth, because he could and it was free of course, and because I secretly think he liked it when the flight attendant addressed him by Mr. Davis when she came by :) It was a lovely 3 hour and 45 minute flight!!
All in all it was a great vacation and very relaxing. Here are some pics:

View from my chair at the pool one day

Seth on the beach

The beach

Old San Juan

Old San Juan

Seth buying his watch--it's the one on the big poster in the background!

The store we frequented quite a bit for Seth's watch

The HUGE sandwich Seth ordered at lunch in Old San Juan

The Tapas restuarant we ate at on Thursday night

View from the fishing boat. I assume it's Old San Juan?

The fishing boat used on the trip--just kidding!

The LONG line at the free drink bar at the Bacardi Rum Distillery

Bacardi headquarters

A bartender showing us how to make a true mojito using Bacardi

The Bacardi Rum symbol---the bat represents family...

BBK

Don't forget to scroll down to see Kole's Halloween pics if you missed them. And by "if you missed them" I mean in the last two days since I just posted them. I'm a bit behind.
In any case I wanted to share with you Kole's new nickname. I think we call him everything these days: Koley, Koley-us, bugaboo, Mommy's Little Prince, oh you name it, we've called him that (of course only the sweet names). Well, another one came about: BBK. Can anyone guess what that stands for??? You can't get it? Okay, I'll tell you: Big Brother Kole :)
Yes, Kole will officially be a Big Brother this May. Oh and yes, you can call our house a circus because I'll be taking care of two kids under two, a 30 year old kid, and a 4 year old dog. We are on our way to having our own "ring" at the circus :) Naturally, I'll keep everyone posted on the progress of the babe. We've had one appt. already and the heartbeat sounded great. We are not going to find out the sex of the baby, sorry, you'll have to wait and be surprised along with us :)

Trick-or-Treat!

Sorry I'm so late with this one!!! I didn't get a chance to post it before vacation.
Trick or Treat, Smell my feet, Give me something good to eat. Remember that ‘ol saying? Well, let me tell you---it seems like the trick-or-treaters this year might as well have been saying that. We only had a couple of dozen kids come to the door plus one set of parents dressed up as ghosts who carried candy filled containers as well, but I had to practically beg them to say “trick or treat”. I held the candy hostage until they said the magic words. Some kids even rolled their eyes. Thank-yous were passed out more regularly though. I’ve heard the same thing from many other people as well this year. The kids seem “entitled” to “get” candy and it didn’t seem like a “treat” to them, just something they deserved. If MY kid ever acts like that, someone better tell me---I won’t have it! Geesh!
On a lighter note we did have fun this Halloween. Seth decided to leave for hunting at the last minute on Saturday so Kole and I were on our own. We left the house in the afternoon and headed for Aunt Rosie’s house. Auntie Rae was there as well and they both enjoyed seeing my dressed up little lion (Lily was on the fence, I think she may have been a bit scared). We then drove over to Aunt Paula’s house and got a chance for their family to enjoy the little lion as well. We drove over to Grammy’s house but were careful to hold our breath and stay about 5 feet away from her. It was pretty cute to see Kole get so excited to see his Gram, but unfortunately he couldn’t get too close b/c of her being sick. It was sad; he really did try to wiggle loose and make a beeline for the stairs so he could play. It was sad for Grammy too. Soon enough, they’ll get to play J Naturally, the little lion fell asleep on the way home but was wide awake when we arrived home to pass out candy. Kole had a hay-day playing with the Halloween candy we were passing out; throwing it, talking to it, digging in the bin, you name it! This kept him well occupied for a good 25 minutes. He spied a cute little pirate at the door and hurried over with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in hand. He gave it to the little boy and thought he was special. Oh, Kole---way to share!! Since we only had a few trick or treaters, I ended up giving out the candy by the handfuls---Score at 4848 Fuller!!
Enjoy our pics below.

ROAR!!!

making a mess with the candy

Digging for more

Hey, where'd that kid go?