What a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I am in reflection today as the message this morning was about Thanksgiving. Celebrating and praising the Lord year round for all the blessings He has given you. Our pastor wanted us to choose three things that we were thankful for. Mine were 1. Health 2. My marriage and my wonderful husband. 3. For our kids and our family. We have so much to be thankful for!

So in honor of this - here are some belated photos from Thanksgiving.

Cole in his new sweater from Grandma Linnea.

Katie and Cole
Katie, Mark, Cole, Marilyn and Barbara

Cole and Sydney

Our gift to Marilyn for her Birthday! (I was pretty proud of the way it turned out!)

Belly Laughs

This post/video is for my parents, who are missing Cole a lot while on vacation. He misses you guys too!

(The footage is a little shaky, I was distracted by my laughing son!)

Saturday Lunches

Melissa, the kids and I always enjoy getting together for Saturday lunches. Last week, we enjoyed the nice day and went for a walk.

Cole knocking over Ella and Jack - just like bowling pins going down.

Happy Birthday Mark!

To a wonderful husband and father. Happy Birthday Mark!

Happy 8 months Cole!
So far we have eight wonderful months with our adorable son. I am amazed at how fast time and life flies by. He is exploring so much and loving everything around him. As I am writing, I have the back sliding door open and he is trying to crawl outside. He keeps looking up at the sky and around the backyard. Fubu just walked right past him to get back inside and he looks at amazement at her.
What a bundle of fun!

Just playing outside in the grass on this beautiful day!

(You can really see his two teeth that came in)

Naptime...?

I put Cole down for a nap the other day. He willing went into his crib (which is normal), but after I came back downstairs, I heard some noise on the monitor. It sounded like crinkling paper. So I went in and peered in through a small crack - this is what I found!
So...Mark decided to show Cole how to nap! However, Cole wasn't taking any pointers.

Bathtime

Awhhh....

A pumpkin and a Jack O Lantern

Melissa and I had a fun play date today. Check out more photos here on Melissa's blog.

Halloween

Cole has had lots of fun as a pumpkin this year for Halloween!

Mommy group kids - a pumpkin, monkey, elephant, black cat and lady bug.

(Cole was a little scared of so many mom's singing/yelling/clapping to get the kids attention)

Fun in the leaves

Last night, we handed out candy with Cole dressed up. In between door bell rings we did a quick photo shoot.
Cole's reasons for why he should be able to eat candy:
1. Don't I get candy for posing for the photo shoot mentioned above?
2. I didn't think you would miss it?
3. I thought I could sneak some, just like Daddy did before beggars night.
4. Skittles are already bite sized pieces, so you would have any extra work Mom.
5. Just because it is Halloween!? Right?

Cole had fun chewing on the wrappers, some kids may have gotten some saliva soaked lollipops though!
Play date at Melissa and Jacks!

Exploring

Cole is loving crawling around the house, through the kitchen, under the table, you name it. If it is something to explore he is game.

My new favorite jungle gym!
I am not much help with unloading, but it sure is fun to pull myself up on!

Driving - this is too much fun! Much better view than the upholstery of the backseat!

Its a love hate relationship

Cole and Fubu have a love hate relationship. Cole loves Fubu and her things - especially her water bowl. Fubu pretty much stays away from Cole, thus the dislike part of the relationship. So far it has been fun watching thier interactions.

Fubu waiting patiently to see if Cole drops any crumbs or becomes disinterested in his teething biscuit.

The coveted water bowl. This is a story in itself. This is the one thing that has been off limits to Cole so far. Typically kept in the family room, it is just on the other side of the room from his toys. Mark and I decided that we need to teach Cole the word "no" and he needs to obey for safety and for other reasons. We started telling Cole "no" regarding the water bowl and he listened great at the beginning. We would say no and he would stop. The next week, he would crawl over towards it and stop right infront of it, look at us, see if we were going to say the magic word (which of course we did) and then he would lean closer, we would say "no" again, he would stop and think about it for awhile.... and then lean in again, at which point we would pick him up and divert him. Now...unfortunatley, the word seems to have no meaning, I think he has already discovered selective hearing. So we have tried moving the water bowl all around the house - poor dog can't find a drink when she is thirsty. Now it is back in the family room and we are continuing to try to teach Cole the word"no." We'll keep you posted, but so far...not good. ;-)

Cole also seems to think that if things are good enough for the dog, they are good enough for him!

Yummm.....dog bones!

New Teeth!

Cole cut two bottom teeth this morning!

My parents are visiting for the weekend and on the way to church, my mom and I were sitting in the backseat enjoying his presence and also looking at his gums, thinking that his teeth have to be arriving soon. Well...I dropped him off at the nursery and when I came back after church, they nursery ladies told me that he had cut two teeth! Sure enough, you could see where they split through him gums.

Funny story - when they said he had cut teeth, I expected two pearly whites to be sticking up out of his gums, and wondering how that could happen so fast! In just about two hours! Well...you could see where his teeth had cut through his gums, but they aren't sticking out of his gums like I thought they would. I guess teething doesn't happen that fast. Hmmm...first time mom syndrome.

Fun Rides

Cole loves to be on either my shoulders or anyone's. Its such a fun ride. He's also drooling like non other, as you can see. Look at the ring on his shirt!

Crawl, crawl, sit, crawl

Cole learned to crawl while we were in Florida, but he has gotten a lot better at it now. He learned when he was almost 7 months.

I will set him down by his toy basket in the family room while I am making dinner and he will crawl into the kitchen to see what I am up to. Its really cute-when he crawls around the kitchen corner and gets his first sight of me, he gets this huge smile on his face. Its really fun.

Mark just asked me the other day if I liked my life better now or before having Cole - I don't know what prompted the question, but it is an unquivering YES, I love my life now. Mark agreed as well. Cole has been such a blessing to us and is so much fun.

While he is fun, he is also patient. Last night we took the jet skis and docks out at the lake. He waited patiently for hours while we got things done. I held him some, but he also sat in the grass and just played by himself. He's such a good kid. Life is good.

Florida VII

Unfortunately, our trip came to an end. We had a wonderful time in Florida. We came home to winter weather - we had to wear coats the next day at home.

Here we are at the airport.

Cole and my mom enjoying one last squeeze.
Before leaving, my dad, Cole and I got up to enjoy the sunrise. Cole, just enjoying the sunrise and the ocean.

The sun just starting to come up.

Thanks Florida for a wonderful time! We look forward to it again - hopefully soon!

Florida VI

Cole just LOVED the pool. The pool water was nice and warm and we would swim in the late afternoon to avoid the sun. It was just perfect. We all had a nice time in the pool.

Cole loved to stand on the side of the pool. Master of his own domain, I guess.
Mark - fixing Cole's hat.
Mark taught Cole to jump into the pool.

Aww...this is the life. Why do we live in Iowa?

Florida V

During our stay, we had numerous sprinklings - one gave us a beautiful rainbow! You could almost see from beginning to end - I just didn't have a cool enough camera to capture it all.

I was very worried about his skin...hat, swim shirt, sunblock, sunglasses AND umbrella.....who says I'm overprotective!?

(I'm just Swedish and I think the poor kid got my skin type.)

Mark wanted to go fishing off the back dock and guess what he caught? A sting ray!

Thankfully he was able to unhook it and put it back into the water.

Florida IV

We enjoyed a visit to a marine life habitat. It was really getting hot out and so we didn't stay too long.

(am I cute or what!?)

Who needs toys? I like milk!

A beautiful view out the back porch.