Cole's First Birthday

We celebrated Cole's first birthday with our immediate family.  It was a snowy day, but thankfully all of our family were able to come and celebrate with us.  We are lucky to have such great family to love our children.  We made our special egg free vanilla cupcakes.  They seem to be our new tradition and are truly great! It's funny how things have changed over the years.  Huge parties with huge store bought cakes.  Now, we celebrate with our closest family and make our favorite cupcakes to share.  Cole loved all of his new toys.  Mommy loved all of his new clothes!

 

Christmas 2013: Recap

Our holiday season was sooo busy this year!  While it was a blessing, the New Year has been a breath of fresh air. We started our Christmas celebrations a few weeks early.  My mom's side of the family had a nice get together with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Even though we all live in the Des Moines area Christmas is the time that we all come together to reconnect.  Unfortunately, Cole and Daddy missed out this year.  Poor Cole was so sick with a bacterial infection and ear infection.  The girls had a blast playing with their cousins and wearing their new jammies.

 The same weekend we welcomed Aunt Libby and Uncle David into our home for a few days.  It's always fun when they come to visit from Texas.  We spend our mornings hushing the girls and keeping them from running down to the basement and waking Libby and David up...at 7am.  We celebrated for three days with lots of food, laughter, catching up, and presents.  Once again, the kids were spoiled this year.

Riley had a Christmas program at preschool this year.  The kids sang songs and wore their costumes to retell the story of Christmas.  Riley was the cutest little angel.  She did a great job.  She was the first in line and led all of the kids onto the stage. 

We visited Santa again this year.  Early in December I tried to get the kids to visit him while we happened to be at the mall playing on a cold day.  Riley decided that she wanted to visit the Santa at "my mall."  So that gave us more time to prepare their lists. The girls each had one thing that asked for consistently.  Riley wanted a fire truck. Harper wanted two oranges.  Only two oranges. We cracked up at that all month.  When we went to the mall to see Santa the line was too long so we rode the train instead.  I took the kids to see Santa during the day.  The line was short, but trying to manage all of them and get a picture was difficult.  Harper told Santa what she wanted and gave him a high five, but refused to stand next to him or sit on his lap. Riley did great and let Santa read her letter and sat next to him.  Cole wanted nothing to do with Santa, but did sit on his lap for a quick (and blurry) picture. 

Christmas Eve, we spent the night at Aunt Marilyn's.  She prepared a great prime rib dinner.  The kids love Aunt Marilyn and running around with the kids.  After Aunt Marilyn's we had a quiet night setting out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.  Riley was super excited for Christmas.  This was the first year that we could really see the excitement and anticipation in her.

Christmas morning came early for us.  Riley was in our bedroom at 4:20 ready to go downstairs to see what Santa brought her.  We have a gate at the top of the stairs so she couldn't just run down their on her own.  We were able to hold her off until 6.  We took the girls downstairs to see what Santa brought and to look in their stockings.  Riley received her fire truck, Harper her two oranges, and Cole some car toys.  Santa also spoiled them with a trampoline and tablet to share.  They couldn't have been any happier.

We couldn't start presents until Cole woke up around 7:30.  The girls had fun playing with their new toys, but Riley had a hard time not waking her brother up to get to her other presents. 

Later in the day we headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Burch's house for another Christmas celebration.  We had another great ham lunch and once again we were all spoiled with presents!

Such a great Christmas this year!

  

 

 

Cole Carlson: One Year Old

Cole baby is ONE!! Our sweet boy turned one on December 6th. Hard to believe he's a year old already. I'm a bit late, but here's what he was up to on his birthday:
- he weighed in at 17 pounds. He's just a little guy. :) he was sick quite a bit around his birthday and wouldn't eat much. I'm sure this is why he didn't gain much weight the past couple months.
- he wanted nothing to do with his sippy cup. He would drink whole milk, but wasn't a huge fan. Poor guy had terrible constipation from it.
- he still woke up at night wanting a bottle. We had him close to sleeping through the night and then it seemed he would get sick...a couple different times.
- he would stand and take a step, or lunge, and then crawl.
- he is a major mama's boy.
- He had three teeth.
- he is stubborn, impatient, and has a major attitude when he doesn't get what he wants!
- he is a total boy...loves balls, throwing, cars, wrestling, and is just overall a physical little boy.
- he loves to nuzzle his little forehead on your cheek. It's the sweetest thing.
- he will wave hi, good night, and bye.
- he loves music and wiggles and bounces his little body to the beat.

He is a sweet little boy and has been a perfect addition to our family!

2013 Holidays

We've been lucky to spend a lot of time with our family the past couple of months. Here are some pictures from our celebrations:

Harper Grace: 2 1/2 Years Old

A bit late...but that happens when your entire blog post gets deleted!!! I'm sure I can still find the words to explain our family comedian and ornery middle child! Here's what she is up to at 2 1/2:
* she weighs in at a whopping 24 pounds. She is a tiny little thing. Like her sister she has a long torso and short legs. She wears size 2-3t shirts and 2t pants. Most of her pants are held up by rolling them or putting a hair tie on the side of the waistband.
* she has a love for makeup and lipstick. Almost everyday she puts one or both of them on...herself!
* she is quite mischievous !!! She scratches and pinches when she doesn't get what she wants. She flat out refuses to do things and there is no reasoning with her. She has stolen candy out of all but two of the advent socks. She takes things and hides. She draws on the walls, tables, floor, toilet (???). Just plain mischievous.
* even though she can be ornery she is super sweet and lovable. She still gives the best hugs and kisses...always together.
* she hates bedtime and naps. She will fight them 8/10 times. I'm dreading it, but I think naps aren't in our future for long.
* she does the best somersaults...over and over again.
* she has been singing constantly. She has learned most of the words to the common nursery rhymes, children's songs, and Christmas songs. My favorite to listen to: away in a manger.
* she can count to ten and sing her ABCs. She still doesn't recognize her letters, and writes with circles.
* she loves crafts and play doh.
* she loves baby dolls. She has named them key-coot. I have no idea where that's come from, but she is very consistent with it.
* she loves her brother and sister. She will copy everything Riley does then turn around and bully Riley into doing something she wants. She is constantly trying to feed Cole.
* she always says her daddy is the best, but occasionally she will tell me, "mommy, you is best!"
* she loves to watch "the baby channel." I try to limit it to 5 minutes because it is pretty ridiculous programming.
* she will turn the TV off in the middle of your show and just grin.
* she will always tell me to take my hair out of my ponytail. The minute Brett walks in the door she will tell him to take his work shirt off.
*she always wants to know "what's our day doin?"
* she uses "ya" instead of "you" 90% of the time in any context.

She definitely keeps us on our toes and has created so many fun memories for our family!

November Photos

1- Swinging at the park!
2- Harper hanging out in the sun "warming up."
3- Little Hawkeye!
4- Riley roller skating!
5- Harper "warming up" by lying on the heat vent. (Apparently she thinks she's a cat these days)
6- Cole standing up!!
7- Yum!
8- Riley's makeup job. Pink eyebrows!