Hanging Out With Clifford

Last week Cole had short days on Thursday and Friday so I promised him we would do something fun after school on Friday. We have an annual pass to the discovery museum and so that's where we headed. There was a new Clifford exhibit that we hadn't seen yet and it sounded like a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Here is Cole, Clifford and Emily Elizabeth:

Carson, Clifford and Emily Elizabeth:

The boys liked the doggy dress-ups. Cole is Clifford and Carson is T-Bone. They put on a show for me on this cute little stage:

Carson loved putting the giant Clifford sized doggy bones on the conveyor belt which Cole was turning so that the bones would fall into Clifford's big doggy dish:

When I asked Cole if they were having fun, this is the face I got. What do ya think? Looks like a fun time to me:

Hooray for the 100th Day!

Cole was super excited to celebrate the 100th day of school. He has a really fun teacher who goes all out and makes everyday a special day. They started talking about this day quite awhile ago and all of the kids had to come up with a collection of 100 things. Cole thought long and hard about his collection and with a few ideas from Mom he/we decided to "hatch" 100 little spongy vehicles. So we went to Michael's and bought enough packs of those silly little capsule things you drop in water and they turn into whatever the package indicates. In this case they grew into trains, planes, cars, etc. Cole and Carson gathered around the tub and had so much fun throwing in the little capsules and waiting for them to "hatch". It took a lot longer than I thought it would but it was a fun activity for both boys and good counting practice for Cole.

At school his class had a big party and the parents could come. Carson and I went despite my better judgement that it was naptime and Carson could possibly have a meltdown because Cole really wanted us there. He showed us around his room and the kids ate 100 day cake and played some games. As it was time for the kids to settle down and show the Moms and Dads what they were learning Carson decided to get crazy and so it was time for us to leave.

Cole said it was the best school day ever! Everyday I am grateful that we made the decision to switch schools. It has been such a huge relief to see him love school again and be a happy fun-loving Kindergartner.

What We've Been Up To

Well, since January is close to over I decided I better get caught up on this blog and let you know what we've been up to.

We had a fun New Year's Eve this year. My family decided to go out to eat early to beat the crowds and we thought it would be fun and different to try Japanese table cooking. So we went to Sushi Fever and had a fun fiery dinner. Our chef was just hilarious (in fact Cole told him "you're hilarious" at least 50 times) and he was really into lighting fires. Carson was not to keen on the fires but the other kids loved it.

We headed back to our house to play games and eat junk. We had a few incidents (the random exploding light bulb) but had fun.

Towards the end of the holiday break we took the kids to Mt. Charleston to play in the snow, (or Mountain Charleston as Cole refers to it). Dumb me didn't think to take sleds or anything fun to play with so we owe the kids another trip. We had fun eating lunch in the rustic old lodge which Cole informs us was built by cowboys a very long time ago.

Hooray, school started up again after a long and fun break. Cole was excited to go back. It took us a while to get back into our routine. The pictures below depict Carson's crazy bed head he always has when we pick up Cole in the afternoon and Cole modeling a Swedish fish mustache he made from his after school snack.

Playgroups have also resumed again. Carson really enjoys them. Last week's group met in the church gym and everyone brought their kids' bikes, scooters, 3 wheelers etc. Carson loved riding the other kids' 3 wheeler so I think I better find him one for his birthday.

Today we are home relaxing. Cole has been running a fever and not feeling so good since Sunday night and Carson is napping so I decided to finally upload pictures.

And that is our 2009 thus far!

My January Blogging Slump

Wow, I can not believe I haven't updated our blog once since the beginning of the year. I guess I'm in that post Christmas/January slump. I promise to get back in the swing of things soon and get this crazy blog current!

Since I can't leave a post totally pictureless here is a link to something I find incredibly funny. Anyone want to book a trip? Just kidding!

The Spiderman Potion Kit

Ok, I just have to share the photos of Cole's Spiderman bath he took Christmas morning. This silly little bubble bath kit came with beakers of bath beads and goggles kind of like a science set. He was in the tub mixing up potions until he had raisin fingers and toes.

Isn't this picture hilarious!?

Our Christmas 2008

Christmas with two little boys is so much fun! This year Cole was really excited and into every aspect of the holiday and Carson fed off Cole's energy so he was super excited too, although I'm not sure he entirely understood. He did say "ho ho ho" every time he saw a Santa Claus though.

This year at Cole's school they had a little Santa shop where the kids could bring money to school and shop for gifts for their family members. Cole had lots of fun picking out presents for me, Alan, Carson and a couple of his cousins. He was very thoughtful in his choices and got things people would like. He was most excited about his gift to me and had me open it a few days before Christmas. His entire face lit up when I opened this lovely blue "diamond" ring and I told him how much I loved it. Now he is always checking out my finger to make sure I'm wearing this special jewel. I love that kid!


Christmas Eve the boys dressed in their matching jammies and we took a few pictures by the tree before heading to my parent's house for our traditional dinner and nativity program.

Cole and I baked some cookies to leave out for Santa's visit later that evening.





Santa came!!! And he loved the yummy cookies!

The boys slept until about 7 am Christmas morning and when they awoke they found a lot of cool gifts (some that they asked for and some that were surprises).

Funny, one of Cole's most favorite things was this Spiderman bubble bath set, he literally stripped down and ran for the tub shortly after opening presents. What a nut!

I think Carson liked Cole's Star Wars stuff more than Cole. He calls it "star" or "star toy".

Carson got lots of "pat-pat" stuff (which is Rocket from Little Einstein's; Carson's favorite).

And he LOVES his new rocking horse from Grandma. At first he was scared of it but now he is quite a little daredevil.

Cole got some great new Star Wars jammies from yellow Grandma which he put on after his Spiderman bath. He has pretty much lived in pj's this entire school break.

The day after Christmas it pretty much looked like a tornado blew thru' our house depositing the entire inventory of Toys 'r Us. And can you believe Cole had the nerve to say he had nothing to play with? Wow! Kids!!!

It was such an awesome Christmas. We were really blessed this year. Thank you everyone for all of the lovely gifts. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday as well.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all of our family and friends a very

Merry Christmas!

Snow Much Fun

The boys had a ball playing in the snow Monday afternoon.

Cole kept telling me over and over it was the best day ever. On the way home from school he made plans to dress in his Pirates of the Caribbean hat and scarf and to make a snow angel and build a snowman. At first Carson was too mad at me for making him wear a hat to go out and enjoy himself but he got over it and discovered how fun the snow was to play in.

Cole in his cold weather POC gear.

An unhappy (but adorable) Carson in his snow hat, which stayed on maybe 5 minutes.

Cole's 1st snow angel!

A brothers shot.

A much happier Carson in his hooded compromise.

After the snow the boys had hot chocolate and brownies.

Well Carson had chocolate milk and brownies.

When Daddy got home it was time to build Mr. Snowman.

And this is my new FAVORITE photo!

I Looked Out The Window & What Did I See?

SNOW!!!!!

Remember this is Vegas, so we tend to get a bit excited by the white stuff!!!

Christmas Down Under

Cole had his school Christmas program last week and it was a little play called "Christmas Down Under". It was about holiday traditions in Australia and so they were supposed to look like "Aussies" which the music teacher interpreted to be khaki pants and white shirts. The kids were cute, they had practiced very hard to learn all of their songs. I was proud of Cole for learning his songs so quickly since he had only been in school there for such a short time. Cole definitely had the biggest entourage of any of the kids. Grandma and Grandpa came, as did Aunt Gretchen and his cousins Brett, Morgan and Ashley. Unfortunately the show was a tad long and got pretty darn boring, but it was worth the torture to see Cole look so handsome and sing his heart out.

A side note: The kid to the left of Cole was so naughty through out the show, he even got his candle taken away. Plus the music teacher had sent about 4 different notes home telling the kids to wear khaki. I guess he didn't get the memo. Apparently (according to Cole) he is the class trouble-maker.