Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. For the first time we all dressed up. It was a lot of work (for me, since I made all the costumes) but it was worth it. Especially when Cole said the next morning "Mom, I had a lot of fun. Can we do that again next year.) Made my day. Cole had the idea of us dressing up as Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy and the evil Captain Hook. So off we were to Neverland for the evening.We did go and have our pictures taken and JCP, and they turned out pretty good. Aunt Christi and Oh Andy also came over and went Trick Or Treating with us and helped hand out candy. We came home, got an extra layer on and headed out. The kids warmed up right away when the candy started pouring into their buckets. But by the end of the evening they were shivering. Luckily Captain Hook had his wagon and a nice big blanket, so they got a ride all the way back to the house. After Hot Cocoa and Candy, the kids were off to bed with dreams of sugar in their little heads. It was a really fun evening! One I think we will all remember.

Cole's First Day

Cole had a great 1st day of school. He was so excited to go that he told me it was too long to wait, he wanted to do in the morning. :)

We were all ready to go, gave lots of kissing hands to each other and were waiting excitedly for the bus. When it came, he ran up to me, gave me a big kiss and hug and said "I love you mom". Got me a bit chocked up.

As soon as he was on the bus and buckled in, he waved good bye. Alexis then said "When my bus come mommy?" She wanted to go to school too.

Cole is very proud of his tag on his backpack and name button for school. He wanted to make sure I got a picture of it.

Waiting for the bus to stop.

Waving good bye.

Coming home.

Cole got off the bus, ran into my arms and said "I had fun today mommy". Got to love hearing that one after the 1st day of school.

Today was day 2. He as still as excited, and had a blast. he has made a new friend (though he can't remember his name) but mostly is inseparable with his best friend Sy who happens to be in his class. They are two peas in a pod. :)

We had orientation on the 1st, and the two were so happy to see one another.

Back at the cabin

We are back up at the cabin after a quick 4 days at home. It was good to be home, though it was for such a short time it didn't feel like I really got anything done but laundry.

Cole stayed up at the cabin with Aunt Christi & Grandma & Great Grandpa. He had a great time and keeps telling me that he is NEVER GOING HOME.

It was different only having one child a home. And kind of fun. Alexis doesn't hardly ever get to spend any time with just Mom and Dad, so she got a few days of being the only child. As you can imagine, she was totally spoiled and loving it. :)

Here's some layouts I did before we left...but didn't have Internet that last week I was here. I especially love the photos of Cole and Alexis with Great Grandpa. I hope they will always be able to look back at them and remember him. I think they are very lucky to be able to know their Great Grandparents.

Saturday and more pages!!

So 3 more pages! The first one is of Cole and his big fish! he went fishing with Grandpa for the first time with a hook and caught this nice fish! We were all so proud. Cole of course can't wait to go fishing again!

Here's some pictures of Cole and myself tubing in the new tube we got for the kids. It has two nice deep "seats" so you don't have to worry so much about falling out. Cole thought it was a blast!

Miss Alexis. Need I say more. Here's a cute picture taken by Aunt Heather.

Not much else is new with us. Still enjoying our time at the cabin. We have Eric and Uncle Craig here this weekend. Craig leave tomorrow and Daddy leaves on Monday to go to France. We'll be enjoying our selves at the cabin until the 20th. :)

And like Cole keeps reminding me - I'm staying here "FOREVER!!!" Guess school can wait. :)

Day 15

So we have been up at the cabin now for 15 days (with a quick 24 hr to Phillips to freshen up the laundry). The kids have been having a blast. Though last Sunday was a pretty sad day since Aunt Heather, Uncle Allen & Baby Nolan left along with Uncle Mark, Aunt Brooke, Aunt Christi and Dad. Cole came up into the bunk house where I was putting Alexis down and said "Mom, I just wanted to tell you I love you" and gave me a big hug with tears in his eyes. It's always hard for him when everyone leaves at once.
But the week flew by and we did lots of playing in the water and running around. Then to Grandma and Grandpas for a quick trip which included dinner and then lunch at A&W!
Today we left late this morning to head into Duluth. We ran some errands and then picked up Daddy at the airport. After that we all (Eric, myself, the kids and Grandma) headed to the Lake Superior Zoo. It's a small zoo, trying to get back on it's feet. The kids had fun seeing all the animals. Cole's favorite animals were the Tiger & the Lions. Alexis liked the porcupine - he was rather silly sitting up in a tree.
We got back to the cabin with both the kids chanting "lake, lake, lake" as we drove down the lake road to the parking spot. We met Great Grandpa and headed over to the island.
Dinner was quick, PJ's were on, and they are now in bed (and suppose to be sleeping!)
Cole had to have me get Eric. He says to me "Mom, I need dad. I have to tell him something, something that isn't for girls to hear." He's so funny. Eric came out and they had a chat...and after Eric left Cole wanted to make sure that I didn't hear what they were talking about. Apparently it was totally top secret.
We have 10 days left up here before we are home for a quick 4 days. Cole told me today that he wants to stay at the cabin "FOREVER!!" And no, the all caps and exclamation marks are not over exaggerating.
I'll try to get some pix posted in the next few days. I need to really get moving on the scrapping...I'm SOOO far behind. But then do you ever really catch up?

FINALLY!

So I've been bad again...I know it. But I've also been up a the cabin...and just recently got a laptop and now have a trial version of Photoshop. So I did get 1 layout done. I've got TONS of pix, but only 1 layout. I'll try to work some more on that one.

But we are enjoying our time at the lake. We arrived on June 26th and will be here until July 20th. Then home for 4 days and back up here. the kids LOVE it! They had so much fun with the family this past week and weekend, especially cousin Nolan (aka Baby NoNo)

I'll try to post again later...

Weekend Update

We had a great time at the cabin this past weekend. I however didn't take many photos for some reason. But here are a few.

Cole is practicing casting with his new fishing pole.

Cole and Alexis get help from Great Grandpa on a puzzle.

Alexis helps Aunt Christi make some biscuits for the strawberry short cake. YUM!

The kids love being outside, and sleeping in their bunk beds (though they are side by side next to each other not up and down). Not too much of a fuss about food and Mickey mouse pancakes every morning! We also all went with Great Grandpa, Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Christi to the memorial day ceremony at the cemetery. Cole and Alexis decorated Great Grandma's grave with LOTS of dandelions that they picked. Cole thought that the 21 gun salute was very cool. Especially when Great Grandpa gave him a shell from the "real guns". He even got to meet some of the soldiers and see their guns up close. Alexis was all for the cookies and juice. :)

The weekend was short, but a nice way to break in the summer at the cabin. Hopefully we'll be back up there in a few weeks...for a much longer stay!

On the way back to the mainland we pass this very large and beautiful log home. Cole looks over and says "Look mom, a Lincoln log house!" He thought that was pretty cool.
Then on the car ride home he's shaking his "bullet" in this little M&M container he has. I asked him to stop 2 times. The third time I look at him and he says "it's not driving me insane"
Eric and I couldn't help but laugh at that one.

He's a character. He also told me today as we were playing in the living room "mom, you should really put these cords for the blinds up so Baby Doll doesn't play in them" Ok Cole.
But he does have many many funny moments, like the other day in the car. We are driving and he says to me "Mom, I have some bad news for you". I am a bit concerned because I don't know what bad news he has. "mom, my baby has just puked in the car" and Alexis is making these silly fake puking noises. I start laughing...it was too funny! Again I hear "Mom, I have some really bad new for you...my baby keeps puking in the car" they are just giggling back there going on with this whole puking baby thing. Where it comes from, I don't know...but they sure are good comic relief!

One of Alexis's favorite games to play on you is to wipe off your kisses. She will look at you with a grin on her face after you kiss her and wipe her face with her hands and yell "wipe off". She knows she's being a stinker too. But she is talking more and more all the time. Soon I'm sure I'll never be able to get the two of them to be quiet!

Just a day in the life of Cole and Alexis. :) Almost every day they like to dress us and "go" places. They travel around the house with their babies in strollers, shoes and hats on and little coolers full of their play food. This day they came to visit me and we all "camped out" in the den.

Cole and Kennedy having fun on the tire swing at our house.

Eric and Alexis. One of the few rare pictures of Eric with his baby girl.

Cole and Alexis riding trikes/scooters in the driveway. They love to race each other around. And now that we have 2 scooters, and 2 trikes...things are good. :)

Tulips

Here's a quick layout (using a template from Simply Yin) of the kids out front smelling and exploring the tulips. They love to go out there and check them out. It's so funny to watch and listen to Alexis "smell" the flowers. She sniffs in and out really loud...so cute. I remember Cole doing that when he was little too, must be a toddler thing. :)

We had a lot of tulips out back, for about a day. Then the deer decided to make a quick snack of them and ate every last one that was in bloom! But we've been luckier (and Eric has sprayed A LOT) out front and we've been able to keep them away so far.

2 new pages...of Alexis.

One of her taking pictures of me..."just like mommy". (quick page)

The other is of her sleeping on the bathroom floor. Don't ask...

(Created from scratch)

Enjoy.

Ok, I've been a total slacker when it comes to scrapbooking. Been busy with my latest hairbrain idea - Legos. But here are some pic from the other weekend & Easter.

A rare photo of Eric with the kids and little Baby Nolan. Well maybe not so little - he's almost as big as Alexis!
Alexis waiting - not so patiently for dinner.

Cole and cousin Nolan - aka Baby No-no

Cole and Great Grandpa from the Lake. :) I love this photo because G. Grandpa was in the living room and Cole went in and grabbed in by the hand and said "I have a puzzle ready for us to work on." He did this all on his own, and it just melts my heart.

Cole and Alexis dressed up for Easter. Cole in his new "picutre" outfit and Alexis in the little dress I made her for Easter.

Just wanted to post some pictures of the kids from this past weekend. Eric wanted to take a picture of them with the little Oak Tree we have next to the deck. And by little, I mean little. It's the funniest thing in the summer when it has regular sized leaves on this little tiny tree. Eric gathered some acorns from the island a few summers back and we planted them in a bucket. Out of that we had one survivor. It grew a little and after about a year we were able to plant it outside. It's really took off last summer, so we'll see this fall how big it is.

Our other exciting news is that Miss Alexis decided on Thursday last week that she was done wearing diapers during the day. We've been working with her on and off FOREVER and finally decided to just take a break. Then all of a sudden on Thursday morning she told me "Peeeeeee". I thought it was going to be more screwing around on the potty, but it was the real deal. She's been in "Nunnies" ever since. :) So now she's a big girl like her brother. YEA!! It just reaffirms her personality of "I'll do what I want, when I want." Yes...she will be a challenge. And she is very independent about the potty...I'll look over and she will have taken off down to the bathroom without even telling anyone. By the time I walk down there she's already peed and is ready to wash her hands. Amazing...Cole was so the opposite. :)

Yesterday they both took off, which they do when they play together. But it's quiet...always a sign that some thing's up. I go down to the bathroom and Cole's on the toilet and she's on her potty. Cole had turned on the music in the bathroom (the control panel is next to the switches by the toilet) and they are having a "Potty Party". It was too funny. He tells me they are learning about music. Then proceeds to ask me if I can shake my body, shake my head and shake my arms. I could, so I guess I pass.

Today we had a good day, windy so we didn't really get to play outside. We did hang out in the garage and Alexis rode the scooter around in there for a bit while Cole swept up dirt from the winter (I really hope he continues to like cleaning...hehe). We had home made pizza and bread sticks for dinner and then it was time to pick up. Well Alexis does NOT like to pick up. She's a total poo about it and it drive me nuts and really ticks off Cole. It was almost 7 and I told her if she didn't pick up she was going to bed. Of course she didn't. So I had to be the mean mom and take her to get her PJ's on screaming and kicking, then carry her to her room. It wasn't fun. 1 hr later, after Cole and I had watched some more of Narnia, she was still awake in her bed. Hopefully she learned it's no fun not to listen to mom. Ugh...

That's about all for now.

-j

Monsters...

Today was the big day! We finally got to go and see Monsters Vs. Aliens...in 3D. We all went with Christi and Andy and we all liked the movie a lot. It was very funny, and pretty cool in 3D. Cole thought it was pretty fun to wear the glasses and had to take his home. Even Alexis wore her glasses (after she woke up from a little nap in dad's lap).

We also had a little b-day party for Dad and Christi (unfortunately Craig didn't make it to the March b-day celebration). We had crab legs, salmon and tilapia...and of course CAKE from Linda's. Cole picked it out...Transformers. Mark and Brooke also came over for the feast. YUM!

2 more pages scrapped. I think I'm getting close to being caught up for March...only 69 photos not scrap booked. LOL.

Lincoln Logs

Busy day today. We met Sarah and Kennedy at the Children's Museum. The kids had a blast running around playing with everything. Then we all headed up to McDonald's for lunch and some more running around at play land. Alexis fell asleep on the way and slept for about 45 mins while we all ate. When she woke up, she ate the nuggets and apples we have saved her....then ran around like a little hooligan. A quick trip to Wal-mart, then home. Dad got home and we ran to the mall quick, came home for baths and then bedtime. Cole was sleeping within 3 mins, Alexis not long after that. Guess I have to run them around more often. :)

Only one layout tonight. Cole and his Lincoln Logs. He received a small set for his b-day, but things really took off when Aunt Christi brought him a whole bunch from her school. Now he's got enough to build all kids of fun stuff.
I'm off to bed...to tired since the kids got up at 6:15 this morning. They need to learn how to sleep in!
-j

So Cole is totally obsessed with my camera. (I know what he's getting for Christmas this year!). Here is some 29 photos he took throughout the house. I find it very fascinating what he chooses to take photos of.

Also, here's a layout with the photos from Cole's hammering adventure. Fun for Cole...not so good for my drywall. :)

Cole and Alexis are so excited about the new speakers in the ceiling in the living room and dining room (toy room) because now they can listen to music and DANCE! We all get in the action and dance around the living room...even Alexis' baby! Today they thought it would be cool if I recorded them because then they could watch themselves on the computer. SO here you go.

Otherwise we have just been hanging out at home since the weather has been rather icky. Today we did have to run out and even stopped by to see Great Grandma and wish her a happy birthday...a few days late. The kids had a good time, making a mess with all the "new" toys at her house. We then came home and had dinner with dad. Cole's favorite "poon roast". YUM!!

Yesterday Cole and Alexis made a "water park" in the living room. The recliner foot rest was the slide, and a pile of blankets and pillows were the pool. Cole told me "Mom, you've got to try it...just try. It's really awesome." You can tell he's recently see Bolt the movie. :)
Alexis is so cute, when we start the movie there is the whole BluRay pitch at the beginning with clips from a lot of different movies. One is Wall-E. She sits there and says "Oh, wall-eeee" It is adorable.

So once again it is late, and I'm off to bed. Eric being home means he HOGS the computer. Reason number 245 why I need my own laptop!
-j

So I know...I've been slacking on keeping up with what the kids and I have been doing. Seems like we are so busy. Amazing how busy you are once you don't work! We had a good week last week. The highlight being St. Pat's day. Alexis and I made Shamrock cookies, then both kids "helped" me frost and put sprinkles on them. We even set some aside for Uncle Craig since he asked last time we made cookies to make some for him. :)
On Monday Cole and I made our Leprechaun trap. We got the idea out of my Family Fun magazine. Cole cut out all the pieces and we put it together. There was slits in the top, covered with fake gold to trick the Leprechaun up there...then he would fall through. We made a nice little ladder for him to get up to the top. Tuesday night, wouldn't you know that Leprechaun came and boy did he make a mess! He put the dolls and animals on their heads, left DVD's and toys all over the floor. He even got out the Duplos to make a staircase from the floor up to the table. He ate the cookie we left him...and made a big mess. He also did fall into our trap, but cut a door to get out. Cole told me he did it with his sharp fingernail. So we were not able to get his "Gold of Pot" (as Cole says). Better luck next year. We did some shopping on Wednesday and got some GREAT deals on stuff for next season. Including a beautiful Christmas dress for Alexis that was $68 marked down to 10! Though, who knows if she'll grow before next year. hehe.
Alexis also got a new trike. It's smaller than all of our other bikes/trikes so she can reach the pedals. Being so little sometimes makes it hard to do all the stuff your big brother can do. But she keeps trying.
Eric got home after the kids were in bed on Friday, and they were SO excited to see him on Saturday morning...at 6:30 a.m. of course! This weekend we started installing our in-ceiling speakers and the system to run that. We completed the living room and dining room so far. Now we have to wait for more speakers to show up. Eric has the controls in both rooms working, and all the other techie stuff downstairs working so we can listen to music whenever we want. The kids thought it was crazy/funny to see us drilling holes in the ceiling.
Today we headed out to Linda's for breakfast. Alexis I think had her whole donut gone before Eric hardly had a chance to sit down. Guess she was hungry.
Later in the afternoon Cole said he wanted to have Sugar for dinner. Then he says "Nooo...sugar makes you fat, like dad". OUCH! Poor Eric. Cole did tell him that he is also a little bit fat, then puffs out his belly since he wants to be like dad. It's pretty funny.
Two quick layouts. The top one is from a nice template...makes it go a bit faster.
The bottom one is of Cole and his discovery of the Leprechaun's mess!

Saturday Night...

2 more pages (well actually 4 since they are spreads) from our Disney trip.

Today we all had a nice day together. Breakfast at Linda's this morning. Then ran a few quick errands. Home to hang out and have some lunch. Alexis had a nice nap (so did Eric). Then outside to play and go for a walk. And finally off to McDonald's so Eric could fill his Shamrock Shake obsession before they are gone.

So Alexis has said this "awwww...mommieeeee" that is just so adorable. Doesn't matter if you are happy or mad, you can't help but smile at her when she says it. Well it's kind of become a game between us (and Cole) where I say "give me an awe mommie" and her and Cole take turns saying it. Tonight - and it's not the first time - we were driving to McDonald's and I asked for an awe mommie. She looks at me and says "awwwww...daaadieee" What a stinker! Then she says "awwwww...Jillll" What's up with that?? Cole thought that was funny and started doing that and awe Eric. They were both giggling in the back seat inbetween their awes.

Well I must get to bed. I spoke to soon telling everyone that they both had slept all night long...they haven't done it since. UGH! maybe tonight. :)

Quick quick

It's been a busy week and I haven't had a chance to get anything out here...or to scrapbook!
Cole did tell me the other day while we were waiting for Eric to come home for dinner - "I'm tired of Dad going to work." Which I thought was very cute.
Here's one quick page I put together from a great template. I really need to get going on my 300+ photos from Disney. :) Enjoy my little super hero.

Saturday

Eric arrived home yesterday just after 3 and we all got out for a nice walk and some playing in the back yard. It was so nice to be outside! We then went out to dinner at the Olive Garden (Cole's choice). The food was great, service was awesome and the kids were good! You can't ask for much more than that. :)
Today we got up early (well the kids did, therefore we had to by default) and met Aunt Christi & Oh Andy at Linda's for breakfast. YUM! Then it was off to the movie theater for "Hotel for Dogs." Cole liked the movie, Eric didn't. I thought it was cute...and Alexis was naughty and then fell asleep. They have been rowdy ALL DAY!! Loud, not listening and just wild. Not sure what it is...if it's a full moon tonight or what.
I have had time to do some scrapbooking while I wait for the kids to fall asleep and go down to check on them every 5 mins. This is working good. They are usually asleep in 10 mins or so. Now if we can just get them to sleep through the night. They are both in their own rooms all night, so we'll have to be happy with that and work on the rest. Well I'm tired (something to do with the fact I never get more than 3 hrs of sleep without getting woke up I'm guessing) so I'm off to bed.
-j