Rodeos, Festivals and Birthdays!

Here are some pics of what we've been up to for the last couple months! Coleman turned 1!! He's only got his two bottom teeth still (Mo had at least 4) but he's up and practically walking - taking up to 4-5 steps now! And he is getting into EVERYTHING. Much more so that Morgan did.

Here's Coleman's birthday cake. We didn't teach him how to blow like we did with Morgan - his birthday kind of snuck up on me.. :(

Loot!! See the picture of him standing all by himself? He's getting so big! *sniffle*

We figured fair is fair - since we had the petting zoo and pony for Morgan's first birthday we should do the same for Coleman. He wasn't too sure about riding that pony though - kept looking at me like, why did you put me on this thing??!

How big is Coleman? Sooooo big!

Some gratuitous cute pics of Morgan - she didn't want to do her face painting on her face so she got it on her arm. And riding yet another pony at the rodeo....

Happy Belated 4th of July!

Mo and Coleman went to their first fireworks show! We were a little worried that they would be bothered by the loud noises (it was a symphony/fireworks) and we would need to run out of there with two screaming/crying kids, but they actually enjoyed it. Well, ok, Mo enjoyed it. Coleman watched it with interest for a few minutes and then, it being way past his bedtime, promptly fell asleep halfway through.

Coleman, who has been crawling like a champ for the last couple of months has just started being able to let go for a second or two at a time when he's standing. I predict he'll be standing/walking pretty quickly cuz he sure is motivated to get around quickly! On Friday he actually had a low fever for most of the day and we were debating on whether to take him to the show, but Saturday morning we found out what it probably was - he's starting (finally!) to get some teeth! I ran for the camera to get his "before" pictures, and once his teeth come out more, I'll take the "after" shots.

I also added some links to the kiddos splashing around in the bath.
The pictures are posted HERE.

Let me know if you have problems getting to the link.

- Carousel pics are when we went south to visit Heather and her family
(We had a good time - thanks to Heather and fam for putting up with us for a couple days. And extra thanks for FiFi for getting me hooked on Guitar Hero! Grrrr! :))
- Morgan in a firetruck (also trip south)
- Coleman practicing brushing - I guess it was a "shocking" experience - lol!
- before teeth pics
- splashing in the bath
- Mo goofing around with Mr Potato Head

turning 40 is a day at the beach?

Cole is getting pretty good at the "army crawl" and just in this past week have started to pull himself upright on objects. He only started being able to sit himself up from a lying down position it seems a few weeks ago! My baby's growing up *sniffle*! He'll be a "toddler" before I know it.

This weekend my friend turned 40 (better her than me - although I guess I'm next...grrr). She had a nice intimate party for a few families and rented a bus to take us all to lunch and then a quick visit to the beach. Mo loved the beach - and insisted on wading in up to her knees. Every time the wave would come up she would start screaming "it's a big one it's a big one!" and then give an ear-piercing scream (of joy, not of terror)! Brrr it was cold too! I didn't bring an extra change of clothing but baba let her wear his extra sweater. Enjoy the pics!

happy belated mother's day!

Mo's class had a mother's day party yesterday. Its moments like these that make mommyhood so awesome! :)

Plus i think the sugar from all that pineapple she ate before i got there helped... lol! No, really. She's the one on the food rush....don't ask me why I'm the one that looks a little psycho... :-/

The World has opened up for me!

Well. Taking the kiddos to the amusement park has been a breakthrough. I took them both to Costco by myself this past weekend! Granted that this time Mo was contained in the cart. And lucky for me I was able to ply her with enough food through all the tasting stations to keep her in the cart through the whole store. Yay for eating our way through Coscto!

So where shall we go, what shall we do next?? I'm going to Disneyland! Ok, maybe not....

What the heck was I thinking?

Now I get it. Those looks I'd get from mother's of multiple children when I used to freak out about how I would get *anything* done now that I had a baby when Mo was born. I get it now. And I thank all of them for not smacking me upside the head and telling me that one child was easy and what the hell was I griping about? On the other hand - why the heck didn't you tell me that one child was easy and I should stop griping and enjoy it as much as possible before having another one????

Up to now I haven't even so much as attempted to run chores like grocery shopping by myself with the two young'uns.

So I'm not sure what the heck I was thinking when I thought it was a great idea to take both of them, by myself, to the amusement park. Well, I know what I was thinking: Oh it's such a beautiful day it would be a shame to be cooped up in the house - I should take them somewhere outside! What I should have been thinking is: Is it illegal to keep one in the kennel at home while I take the other one out? Then I can come home and switch them out? Oh, and a leash - where is that leash?

Anyway, here are some pics of us having fun. What you don't see are pics of me chasing Mo around the park, leaving our place in line for a ride to go find my daughter, me scratching Cole's arm against a wall because I was too busy trying to keep my grip on Mo's arm leaving the ride, taking advil that night from a sore arm from holding Cole in my arms for what seemed like 2 days waiting in line, and finally me getting ready to stab my eyes out with a blunt object by the middle of the afternoon..... :) Thank goodness for season passes so I can just take them for an hour or two and not feel bad about "not getting my money's worth" next time....





Here are some other pics from Coleman's first trip to the beach, the kids sleeping together (Mo's holding Cole's hand....all together now...awwwwww!), and Coleman with a fitting bucket on his head...

Give Coleman a nickname!

So I still haven't figured out a good nickname for Coleman. We already have a hard time explaining why I named my SON "DeeDee". So I can't start calling him CoCo... if I use "coco puff" that defeats the purpose of using a nickname to shorten his name. So if you have any suggestions let me know!

Meanwhile, here are some pics of the nicknameless boy....
















101 pushups, 102 pushups, 103 pushups...

















Um, this hat's a little too big for me....
















It figures we'd end up with a drummer in the family.