Riley Plays Basketball

Riley has been playing basketball through the YMCA for the past month. She has two of her good friends from school on her team which has been fun for her. The first four weeks they mostly worked on skills and drills. Riley is a good little dribbler and shooter. Since they've started playing more games it gets funnier and funnier to watch. At some point the coach told her to keep her hands up and to stay with the person she is guarding. So she is in constant defensive mode, unless it is her turn to dribble the ball up the court. It is both hillarious and cringe-worthy! I may have laughed myself into tears last week! She seems to really love it and hopefully the coach will tell her sometime soon about offense.

Gymnastics!

Harper still loves gymnastics! Every Friday she has a 45 minute class. Her favorite part is jumping on the trampoline. She also loves jumping into the pit and anything that involves sommersaults.

Cole Carlson: Two Years, One & Two Months

Time has seemed to slip away from me (maybe my mind too) and here we are two months after Cole's second birthday. It always amazes me to look back and see how much he has grown over a month (or two). He seems like such a big boy now! Heres what he's been up to:

* He weighs a whopping 23 pounds with his clothes on. He is wearing size 18month pants and 2t shirts. Most of his pants need to be rolled up.
* when we are home he is almost always running around without any clothes. It's a fight to get him dressed and keep him dressed!!
* he is hockey obsessed. We went to one Bucs game a couple months ago and now he plays around the house everyday  and is constently yelling "hockey", "puck", and "goal." He is now even watching hockey trick shot videos...and he is two!!! I will say that he does seem to have some natural ability.
* he describes people as "funny" all the time.
* his vocabulary has shot through the roof! It is so fun to listen to him talk and hear random words we didn't know he knew.
* his favorite thing to say is "no, I not!"
* he loves gum. No matter how many times we tell him not to swallow it, he does. And he will always insist on more, more, more!
* He eats like a bird. We have the hardest time getting him to eat a meal. He want "canny!" all day long. He pulls chairs over to climb on the counters to find "canny" and gum.
*He is so handsome! Everywhere we go I hear how cute he is. I love hearing that! 😂
* he is such a big boy and sits in the chair by himself to get his haircut. One of the biggest struggles for me since having a boy after two girls is getting his hair cut before he's way shaggy.
* he loves his sisters and is always following them around. They love that he will play any character they tell him in their games. Usually he's the shark in "ocean" or the baby or daddy in house.
* he still loves his sleep sacks! Even if 2/3 of them are pink and flowery!

Cole's Birthday!

Cole turned two last month! We decided to keep it low key and celebrated with family a few days early. On the day of Coles birthday Brett was sick so we stuck around home. I took the kids to Chic Fil A and we celebrated with a baseball cake back at home!

December 2014 Highlights

I can hardly believe that it has been nearly a month since Christmas. December was packed full and it really feels like such a blur. As much as we looked forward to celebrating the holidays we were really looking forward to the end of a hard year and the beginning of a new, hopefully more rewarding, year. Here are the highlights from December:

* Snowflake, our Elf on the Shelf, returned for another year. This year she didn't bring any funny business. She mostly watched, moved around the house, and wrote letters back and forth with the kids.
*One lowlight came with the arrival of Snowflake. Harper decided she no longer wanted to sleep through the night. It's rough going back to no sleep and being up for 3-4 hours a night. We calculated that the only night that she slept without waking during the month of December was Christmas Eve.
* Harper had her very first school holiday program. Sadly, I was the only one that witnessed it. She spent the majority of the program staring at the crowd and waving to her brother. No singing this time around.
* Brett and I both were able to volunteer at Riley's holiday party at school. She loved having us there and it was fun to see her interact with her friends. She is definitely one of the mature kids in the class. We helped get everything set up and then ran one of the stations. Kindergarten teachers are true blessings!
* Riley and Harper both sang in the Christmas Cantata at Hope. Sadly, I was sick and didn't get to see it. I'm impressed that they were able to stand in front of so many people and sing (or stand there like Harp)!!
* Aunt Libby and Uncle David were here for the week leading up to Christmas. The kids loved having them here. They kept us busy with a Bucs game, basketball games, brunch with Santa followed Polar Express at the iMax, and Christmas Eve service at Hope.
* A trip to see Santa at the mall. Riley sat next to him, Cole gave him a high five and hug, and Harper wanted nothing to do with him.
* We celebrated Christmas with the Consolver side of the family. It was fun to have my aunts, uncles, and cousins together and a reminder that we don't get together often enough.
* Christms Eve we did absolutely nothing and it was GREAT!
* Christmas! What a fun day. The kids slept until 7:15 which was an unexpected surprise. We decided to follow the four gift rule (want, need, something to read, and something to wear) and will definitely do the same going forward.

Cole Carlson: Two Years Old!

This boy!!! Cole is two years old. How time truly flies! I can hardly believe it when TWO comes out of my mouth, but the minute I'm in his presence I'm fast reminded that he is TWO indeed! Terribly two. :) We are in full swing of the fun 'terrible two' stage. But along with that comes his sweet, charming, and loving personality! Here is what he's up to at two years old:

* he is talking up a storm. He asks HOW in addition to WHY. Usually one after the other, repeated several time.
* Thanks to two big sisters he is identifying colors mostly as purple and pink. But more colors are starting to come along.
* He visited the dentist for the first time. The goofy front teeth we thought for sure would need some work, were normal for baby teeth. He hated the dentist, but loves his goodies.
* He is wearing  size 5/6 shoe. Size 18 months pants and 2t shirts.
*he almost always takes his socks and shoes off when he vets in the van.
* he is a little guy weighing in at just 22 pounds. He is a picky eater...he picks at everything unless it's a snack. Cookie, candy, chip, dip, and snacks are some of his favorite words. He loves to snack.
* he has an ornery grin that is so stinking cute.
* he still prefers to play with balls and trucks. He does still like to play with Harper's dolls.
* he likes to steal his sisters' toys and runs away laughing.
* he isn't potty trained yet, but does identify when going and will sometimes go on the potty.
* he is known to color on the walls with his big sis, Harp.
* he will do just about anything that Harper tells him to do...not good.
* he loves gum.
* he sleeps well. Two hour afternoon naps and sleeps through most nights. He still uses his paci when sleeping. We weren't ready for that fight!

He is such a fun boy. Even though we end each night exhausted and drag our tired bodies out of bed each morning, we are so glad to have him in our family!

Cole Carlson: One Year Eleven Months

Cole is just a short few weeks away from turning two. How can that be? He has grown so much this past month. He is ornery, funny, loving, happy, and just the best little boy for our family! We have had so much fun with our little boy. Here's what he's been up to:
- he weighs a whopping 21 pounds.
- His favorite word is why. I thought we had at least another 6 months until we had to answer to that with him.
- he still loves to play with balls. He also is starting to love his cars and trucks. He likes to play with Harper's dolls too. It is so cute watching him feed the babies.
- he loves to see the construction vehicles out and about.
- he still loves his sleepsack and paci. He calls his sleepsack "purple." He thinks the color blue is purple.
- when he cries he cries for Riley. We sometimes hears him saying her name in the middle of the night.
-He thinks that Harper is the funniest thing ever. He follows whatever she does or tells him to do.
- he has gone poop on the potty several times and peed on the potty quite a bit. Harper thinks he is her little doll and is constantly asking him if he wants to go potty. So, its not unusual to find her helping him onto his froggy potty several times a day!!! Ugh...
- he is on strike from his booster seat. He only wants to sit in regular chairs. He also wants normal silverware.
- he throws everything.
- he continues to be a great sleeper.
- he is talking up a storm.