Celebrating 6 years of God's goodness!

Me and my love celebrating 6 years of marriage. God has been so good to us and we praise Him for the joy, laughter, and everyday enjoyment he's given us in our marriage.

I'm a MAN!!

Cole talking again. People always say "what a big boy you are." I thought I'd show you that I'm not a big boy, I'm a MAN! I even know how to mow. First you go around in a circle like this:

Then when you get to the middle you go forward:

And backward:

Momma, please, let a man work without being distracted.

Enjoying the beautiful weather

Cole is 2 1/2 and loves to "fix" things, build things, color (more like methodically pull the paper off the colors), eat, wrestle with Daddy, play with Tyson, and talk about, think about, and wonder about Baxter, the dog across the street who is an integral part of our day.

Momma and Tyson representing our Bulldogs!

"It too tall!!" says Cole as he tries to reach the garage door.

We bought a used bike trailer that Thomas has taken Cole on numerous bike rides in. Yes, they wear helmets, and no, Tyson doesn't go yet. He's still a a bit too small but he did enjoy trying it out.

The weather has been so beautiful that we've eaten supper outside and sat until almost dark every night for the past week. Cole loves to "fix" (which sounds like "stits" b/c he can't say his f's) on his trike.

Cole at 2 1/2 years old

More pudding please!!

Momma, where's the playdough?

"I talk to Mimi and Grandpa!!" (notice that the phone is a calculator)

What Cole Says

I walked into Cole's room one afternoon where he's playing with his trains. Tyson is asleep in the other room. I immediately smell something funky.

Mommy: "I smell stink. Is that you?"

Cole (Looks up at me, smiles knowingly, and says): "Ty-Ty Stinks!!"

Good try, son.

A few days later I lay Tyson on Cole's bottom bunk about a foot from the edge (which has a rail on it). Cole loves to wrestle with Tyson and often rolls around on top of him while they play. I walk out of the room leaving Cole playing on the bed with Tyson. A minute later Tyson starts crying. I go to see what's the matter and Cole is standing a few feet from the bed, guiltily looking at Tyson who has slid down between the mattress and the mesh of the rail.

Mommy: "Cole, you didn't push him off the edge did you?" (Tyson hadn't really mastered rolling over at this point)

Cole stares at me silently.

Mommy: "Cole, did you push him off or did he just roll?"

Cole: "Ty-Ty just roll!"

We'll never know.

Today I was sitting outside with Cole reading books while Tyson napped inside. He has a "nature" book that has a page for fruits, a page for vegetables, a page for water animals, land animals, etc. On the vegetable page he was naming the vegetables and came to a pineapple.

Cole: "That's a....that's a....What's that?"

Mommy: "You tell me. What is that?"

Cole: "That's a...PORCUPINE!"

At least he's making associations :)

As his vocabulary explodes we are thoroughly enjoying hearing about what his little brain thinks about. What a gift!

Picnic in the yard

Today we got to eat lunch on the sidewalk! I'm pretty excited as you can see. What is that thing in the walker behind me, you ask?

It's Tyson wearing a ridiculous hat. The story I heard from Momma is that the hat she put on him the other day was too small, and being conscientous about the sun she wanted to keep him covered so she pulled out a much bigger brimmed hat. Keyword: MUCH bigger.

So big, in fact, that even after she inverted the brim it still looked like this most of the time.

That's ok, though. If his eyes are covered he can't see me eating this pudding that Mimi gave me in my Valentine's Day treat bag.

Exploring the walking trails

One of the features of our neighborhood that we love the most are the walking trails that lace through it. What a great place for a little boy to explore!

Seeing the "blue ducks." I've told Cole that there are "white ducks" and "mallard ducks" at the lake, but somewhere along the line he got confused and always asks to go "see the blue ducks."

His 2 favorite walk activities: Finding sticks and throwing sticker-balls in the water. He would do this for HOURS if allowed to.

And this sweet little guy will sit in the stroller for 2 hours happily as we putter along on our walks. His "bendy bunny" is his favorite toy.

When the trail widens away from the water and Cole can't throw sticker-balls anymore he likes to "push Ty-Ty". What a blessing to live in a "woodsy" place even though we don't live in the country. We LOVE exploring together :)

Do You Want to Help Momma?

Momma: Cole, you want to help me unload the dryer?

Cole: (sitting on the couch with a book) No.

Momma: (trying to tempt him) Are you sure? You can pull the clothes out by yourself.

Cole: Don't want to.... want READ BOOKS!

No, Momma, I READ!

Reading continues to be Cole's favorite activity. I read to him for 20-30 minutes each morning during Tyson's nap, and he looks through books by himself if I can't read to him right then. One of this favorite places to do this is at his little Lego table. His bookshelf is right next to it and he will stand and flip through books, talking to himself, for long periods of time.

Last night I had dinner ready so I called, "Come on Cole, hop in your chair, it's time to eat." "Noooo, Momma, I READ!" he pleads back. I laugh and say, "You can read later, it's time to eat, come on!" "Mommaaaaa, I READ!" he calls back. He finally grudgingly came to dinner but was sad to leave his books.

Current Favorites:

The Sailor Dog - Margaret Wise Brown

5 Pennies to Spend - Miriam Young

Ten Little Ladybugs - Melanie Gerth

Quiet! There's a Canary in the Library - Don Freeman

Harry the Dirty Dog -Gene Zion

What up Dawg!

Tyson, this is MY blog! Mom, he's on my blog AND he's wearing my hat!!!!

That's better. Here I am with my new MSU hat that Mimi gave me. After hearing "Mimi's hat" over and over, Daddy finally got it through my little skull that Mimi gave ME the hat so it's MINE! I have just become fully aware of what the concept of "mine" is and am now in the throws of claiming my territory - good thing too, this way I can show Tyson what's NOT his before he gets much bigger.

This is how you keep cooking manly - do it while wearing your hat backwards - don't I look tough? This is actually my first time helping Mommy cook - we didn't get much beyond this because after mixing the flower and salt Mommy realized we didn't have any eggs so the waffle-making came to a screeching halt and we had frozen pizza instead - pretty good back-up plan if you ask me.

I know, I drink a lot. When you look this good it's exhausting - I need nourishment.