Big Boy Bed

So we finally made the transition to the big boy bed. And quite frankly I think he would have slept in his crib until he physically couldn't fit any more. Luckily the transition went smoothly. He has been sleeping in regular beds when we travel and when he spends the night with his grandparents so it wasn't a total shock. Also, the bed is really comfortable so I am sure that helps.

Well the night went smoothly and when Cole woke up the next morning he literally said to Brian, "Dad, can I get a TV for my room." Do what? A TV? Are you kidding me? I mean, koodos to him for asking for what he wants but really, a TV?

And no, we didn't rush out to buy him one. I am just hoping to finish cleaning out the front room and make that part office, part play room. Wish me luck.

Shoe struggle

Cole has officially landed himself in the "terrible twos". Where he is not a terrible child, he is really strong willed and I think I will be purchasing the book, "How to raise a strong willed child." I love that he knows what he wants and I love that stands up for what he wants but there are a couple of things wrong with that. One, he is two and simply can't always have what he wants and two, when shoes have unintentional holes in them, they are old and need to be tossed and you may not wear them to school anymore. That is what started out our morning today.

Cole has had an opinion for some time now on thinking that you should be able to stay in your pjs all day. And I can not completely disagree with him on that, I would stay in comfy clothes (as Cole and I call them) all day. Well we have finally got him to understand that he has to get dressed (and he finally understand that getting dressed doesn't mean you have to wear a dress). Now one way of him showing me he knows what he wants is convincing me that certain outfits are similar to pjs and therefore are comfy. It is extremely clever of him and I can't disagree with him on the thought process but I am certain that school is wondering at this point why he is wearing a skull every day with a lightning bolt through it (Grateful Dead). Yes, I bought him a Grateful Dead shirt.

Ok, so back to the shoes.......He insisted on wearing his "new shoes". These are the shoes with the unintentional holes. I have about 4 other new shoes he could wear but no way was he interested. After Brian and I both locked him down and through a lot of tears we succeed in getting his shoes on. So off to school Cole and I went, tears and all. Finally made it to school and I let them know he was in a mood. Ms. Vanessa swooped in to the rescue and then Cole suddenly was my best friend again. Today they pulled him off of me (2nd time in his life) and I RAN OUT THE DOOR! But back to the shoes, I would have to say Parents - 1; Cole - 0.

It is incredibly hard to stick to your guns and maintain your cool. But it does work!!!

Summer Vacation 2010

We have just concluded our wonderful two weeks of vacation this summer making a trip up to Waynesville, NC for a week and then to St. George Island for a week, which was also for my brother wedding. It has been such a great July.


Trip #1

We took off out of town on Friday, July 2 and headed to Hampton, GA to the Daughtrys for a night before heading the rest of the trip. The Milgroms (Brett, Carolyn, Aydan, Annabelle and Anniston) also were making the trip with us to NC. We got to Waynesville on Saturday. Sunday was July 4th so we took the kids to the park and grilled out at the house. Unfortuately we missed the 4th celebration as they had it on Saturday. We were really bummed. Monday the boys played golf and the girls took all the kids to the park and then downtown to check out some shops and have lunch. Somehow all 5 kids made it through lunch without any major meltdowns.
Tuesday we all went tubing down Deep Creek. The older kids had a great time tubing down the creek and I can't wait for Cole to be old enough to enjoy it. Maybe next year. Wednesday the Milgrom went to Dollywood and the Daughtrys and us took the kids to the park, had lunch and the boys went to play another round of golf. We ended up heading home on Thursday which allowed us a quick visit with my mom and Susan prior to heading to St. George for Stephen and Susan's wedding.


Trip #2

Off to the beach for the wedding. It was a wonderful week and a beautiful wedding. The pictures tell it all.



One really neat thing that happened while we were at the beach was one morning on a walk we

June 2010

Somehow it is June and I completely lost track of time. I am so overdue for a blog update that I am not even sure where I should begin. So rather than trying to go back too far in time, I am going to start from the last few weeks and hope to keep up better on this than I have been.

Cole is 2 1/2 now and is acting his age. He may be testing us at all times, showing us his strong willed personality, and pitching unnecessary fits but that all aside, he is such a joy. He is such a funny child, understands humor and really likes to make people laugh. His laugh is contagious. He loves to sing as part of his funny side came out recently while singing 'Baa Baa Black Sheep.' We were driving down south and he starting singing that song. Then he started it over and I thought, oh geez, but he said 'Baa Baa Blue Sheep'. Where it got extremely funny was when he got to the end of the song and I had remember which color he had started the song off with. We went through Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green and Purple sheep.

So to back up a bit in time and to explain the series of photos below, I will take you back to our two beach weekends in May. One weekend we enjoyed a family weekend in St. George Island with the Daughtrys. It was such a fun 4 days at the beach. The following weekend was Memorial Day Weekend and we spent that with the Boones in St. Teresa Beach. The photos below are some from both of those trips.

Finally last weekend, Cole and I traveled to Orlando to surprise my mom and step dad for my step dad's birthday and got to spend the afternoon with them which was fun since they didn't know we were coming. Then we drove over and spent the weekend with my dad and step mom. It was such a great visit including mickey mouse pancakes, pool time and of course the dancing.

Sunday we made our way back to town in time to enjoy Sunday Funday and luckily were able to escape any rain although the thunder and dark clouds were around us, we were spared.

And so we continue with the photos. This one is from last year at the same time of Cole and Lily and the one following is from this year. Such a difference a year makes.

Lily likes to pose and she puts her hands on her hips, points her toe on her left foot, turns it in slightly and then ALWAYS closes her eyes! It is a stitch!

Always tries them upside down first........

Clint and Lily

Brian and Cole

Like mother like son.......he loves the Twizzlers.

The Milgroms also were down and the beach and came by to hang in the pool on Sunday. Here is Ayden and Anniston.

Heather, Carolyn and me

One thing I hate at the beach is people who feed the seagulls; however, the kids had more fun tossing g0ldfish at them. At one time there must have been 30 of them flying around.

They were putting the goldfish on the railing and watching to see which bird would brave it down to grab it.

This was it for Cole on the beach. For whatever reason he had no interest in hanging on the beach. He wanted to stay up on the porch in the pool. Luckily the next weekend he came around and did enjoy the beach itself a lot more.

It is a stare off.....Cole vs. the seagulls. See the next picture to see what he is looking at!

Heather got the kids fishing poles but as I said before Cole preferred being on the deck so he was catching fish in the pool.

Moving on to the next weekend at St. Teresa, here are the kids doing some morning stretching with Brian before he goes on his run.

Cole went from no beach to in the ocean. You never know?!?!?!?!?

Bradford, Cassidy and Cole waving to everyone on shore.

Cole fishing!

Bradford and Caroline were staying at Alligator Point with the Sellars so she and B came over Saturday morning for some beach time.

Enjoying the beach!

Jenn, Cassidy, Cole and me

Nothing mesmerizes these kids more than a Dora or Barney show.

Cole and Brian hanging in the yard. (oh and Ellie too)

I love this picture of Cassidy. What a cutie.

Last day at the beach.

Bye Beach!

And we are finally to last weekend at my mom's house. Cole was tossing golf balls into the pool and Emmy retrieving them. She did let him know that he could only play this 'game' at Emmy's house.

Jumping to Emmy!

PePaw and Granny had their pool filled in but luckily the local Walmart isn't far so we ran down there and picked up a pool for the boy.

Cole and Nana!

Silly Face!

Another Silly Face.

That is it folks. I hope to be better at the updates from her on out.