Alligator Point in March

This weekend we joined Bill and Michele with the kids at Alligator Point. Saturday we got out on the beach before nap time and played up and down the beach. After nap the boys enjoyed a movie and the girls played a mean game of Phase 10. Brian came in to assit the younger girls who ended up beat us girls who were slightly older. We had a great weekend and here are a few photos to show our fun.

The boys running from the waves.

String Cheese Smile!

Brian assisting the girls in Phase 10.

The boys enjoying a movie!

Cole looking very closely in the lens of the camera!

Kids on the beach!

Cousin Love!

Dad and Son Walk!

Cole-isms

Cole has become quite funny in his choice of words. Most recently was this.....This past weekend we actually made a giant leap for potty training so as a reward I had bought him a Yogi Bear cartoon movie. He saw the 2010 version of the movie before Christmas and loved it so I knew this would be a hit. And boy was it! As he finished up his dinner, I told him I had a surprise for him. "What is it mommy???", he asked. I told him to finish up and I would get it for him. I showed him the video and his exact words were "Now that's what I am talking about!!!!!" Cute, huh?

Happy New Year

I am determined, as one of my many resolutions, to keep up with the blog a little better than I did the second half of 2010.

To give you a quick update.....

Here is Cole helping me get ready for Thanksgiving. He would wash, or what I call just make a straight up mess, all the dishes I used in making my dishes. We went over to Jimmy and Delores' house of dinner and had a great time with everyone.
Here are some pictures of the kids driving around, chasing each other, chasing the adults in the backyard with the motorized vehicles.

One day we got out the golf clubs and all hit balls in the front yard. Cole seemed to enjoy it even though the club was bigger than he was.

Cole and I went down to Inverness the weekend before Christmas to celebrate Nana's birthday. We had a wonderful visit with them despite the slight tantrum that Cole had in Walmart.

He didn't want to take his picture with Nana but little did he know we got one!

Too bad Cole didn't have his shirt with us that matched Pepa's shirt. You will see it later on in the blog.

Now to Christmas break. Cole's school follows the county's schedule so they are closed for two weeks at Christmas. Here are just a few pictures from the holiday.

Appropriate-NO! Funny-YES!

It was so cold that we actually saw flurries this morning. The wind was whipping through and we were not able to be outside very long. Cole, however, had enough layers to withstand it.

Uncle Stephen, Cole and Aunt Susu

Now to New Years.....We loaded on on New Year's Eve and headed over to the Harrell's in Shalimar. NYE we attempted a party at a friend of theirs until we realized we were the only ones with kids, much less 3 boys 3 and under. So we decided to head back to the Harrell's and did dinner there. Saturday, Carly and I hit the outlets and the boys all stayed home and unfortunately didn't get to play outside too much due to all the rain. Saturday night the boy's teacher, Ms. Biz, came to babysit while the adults went out on the town. We had a great visit as always and need to do it again really soon.

Cole, Brody and Wade playing in the backyard and picking all the oranges off the tree.

A roller coaster at the Harrell's that Cole was a huge fan of.

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