Cheese!

I finally caught Tate's cheese face on camera. He usually says cheese as soon as he hears the camera turn on and then refuses to do it again. They were both "washing" their hands. Cole did manage to pump half a bottle of soap into the sink, so I guess they were clean!

Merry Christmas

From my family to yours, I hope you have a blessed Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve

I lied. It's snowing. A LOT and it's still coming down. Granted so far it's only been about 6 inches, but that's plenty. Normally we do Christmas Eve with my in-laws after church. This year, there will be no church and we were going to do gifts at lunch time instead so my sister-in-law could make it here and home again before the wind picked up. Instead Pat and his dad are hauling snow before we get another foot and it makes things a whole lot harder to clean up. So Christmas this year certainly won't be what I had planned.

On a positive note, it really is pretty and the boys, Cole in particular, have had a blast playing in it. Cole likes to go shoveling. It's not good snowman snow but we should have a really nice pile for sledding when it's all over with!

Cole going shoveling, as he says.

Tate enjoying the snowflakes.

He's standing, not sitting.

Tate showing me how he feels about having to put on all his snow gear.

Moving snow.

Cole going down the slide.

Have a merry Christmas! Sing some carols for me because I doubt there will be church around here tomorrow either. At least the world will look clean and new for Jesus' birthday!

Life With Boys

I don't remember these things happening when I grew up...

Yes, that is a real gun. It was only a pellet gun and they were shooting a pumpkin. You learn to choose your battles when guns are involved.

Tractor soup anyone?

The Big Brother

"Come here! You need to brush your teeth!"

"NOOO!"

"Hey! Let me brush your teeth!"

So helpful, isn't he?

Halloween 2009

We had a pretty good Halloween this year. Our school held a treat parade the night before, so the whole family, plus Grammy and Papa, headed there for supper and some candy. There were a lot of kids there!

Tate the Turtle and Cole the Fireman

We took them trick-or-treating on Halloween too. We actually made it to quite a few houses this year. Normally we only make it to about 6 by the time we hit all the neighbors. It's a lot of driving around and strapping and unstrapping kids in car seats. The kids made out pretty well and the candy has been a great potty reward.

A Day Without Rain

We've finally had some beautiful fall weather. I took the boys outside to play the other day to enjoy it while it lasts. I raked some leaves while the boys played. Tate wasn't too interested in the leaves, but finally got a shot at the cozy coupe without his brother interfering.
Tate is walking pretty good now. He loves to climb. He was in and out of that car for a good hour without a peep. Cole would have sat and cried every time he wanted in and out because he wanted someone to help. I just can't get over how completely different they are.

Cole had a blast in the leaves. He made a little course. He would count to five, run from the swing set and jump in the leaves. I have some video that maybe I will post later.

NICU Reunion

Every year in October the NICU where Cole stayed as a newborn does a reunion. We've never gone. It's always been something. First, it's in October, which is harvest so I'd have to go by myself. The first year it meant traveling with a newborn. The second year I don't remember what it was, but it probably involved harvest. Last year meant traveling with a newborn again, but this year I decided I was going. So I left after breakfast with the boys and started our 2 hour journey. We had snow the night before so the roads weren't great, but after about 20 miles they cleared up and except for the occasional waaay overly cautious driver, it was smooth sailing. We met my college roommate for lunch then headed to Toys R Us for a costume for Cole. Do you know the selection of costumes for a 3 year old boy is? Nada. We ended up buying a dress up outfit, which worked out fine.

We finally headed over to the reunion. It went ok. Cole was not a memorable baby, which was probably a good thing, but it made the reunion less fun for me. Cole enjoyed it. They had some carnival games, a bouncy house, an inflatable slide, and another inflatable climbing wall/slide thingy. He went down the slide by himself and even tried the thingy. I was nervous about that. He did the short wall fine, it was the big wall that he had trouble with. It started out ok but then a bunch of kids came in after him and that made him nervous. He finished it though and he was so proud and Mommy was too, of course. As for me, there was only one nurse I remembered and I didn't like her. She was loud and obnoxious. One of the doctors was there. I think he recognized me, but that's probably about it. A couple of the nurses recognized the name, but he didn't stick out in any one's memory. There were a couple of other kids there that were there at the same time. One was about 10 months at the time Cole was born, the other was there about a week before we left. The 10 month old was born at 24 or 26 weeks and she had a lot of problems, but from the look of her, she hasn't seemed to suffer any major issues. I of course forgot my camera, so here is the only picture we got.

Chid Labor

Odd coming from the child who used to tear up at the word vacuum.

Stepping Out

Tate has decided to attempt walking. He took his first uncoerced step on Tuesday, but I thought it was a fluke. Today he proved otherwise. While he hasn't managed more than 2 steps in a row, he doesn't go straight down to a crawl anymore. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Granted it will be nice when he can walk outside on his own since that's what he wants to do, but he is already into everything and now there will be more things within reach. Although he really doesn't crawl now if he doesn't have to. He cruises and then pushes anything he can, chairs, trash cans, boxes, large toys, to get across the room.

Earlier this week, the weather was gorgeous, so we took an opportunity to play outside. Tate had a blast going in and out of the playhouse. This was also when he decided to attempt his first solo step.
Other than that, this week has mostly been recovering. I ended up with a migraine on Monday and Cole has been sick since Tuesday. It was kind of nice having a 3 year old with laryngitis. He could still squeak and he didn't understand the concept of resting his voice, so it wasn't total peace. He did miss his preschool screening on Wednesday because of it though. He's been waking up every morning this week telling me he needs medicine because he's old. This morning he proceeded to tell me he was 3 and that when he was 4 he could go to church camp. Maybe I should tell him he has to wear underwear first...

First Day of Preschool

Cole started preschool yesterday. He wasn't terribly excited to go. He wanted me to go with him, then he wanted to stay at GG's house with Tate, but he went. I dropped him off and he did fine. When I picked him up and asked him what he did at school, he told me "I don't know." Then he told me how they had goldfish at snack time and he went pee in the potty. So all in all, I guess it was a good day.

A Little Too Quiet

Yesterday I was attempting to do some homework. Cole had gone outside to play so it was a chance for me to do something question-free. Tate had slept in, so there was no morning nap to be had, but he usually plays pretty well when big brother isn't around to boss him around. So I was thoroughly enjoying the silence. Suddenly it hit me. It was a little too quiet. So I headed straight to the bathroom where I discovered this:
At least he left all the sticker backs on!

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In other Tate news, he is getting oh so close to walking. He's starting to pull himself up and let go and the other day he actually went from the coffee table to the couch . It was more of a lunge than a step, but we're getting closer. Last night he was trying to stand up without pulling up. It was actually pretty funny watching himself try to lunge himself upwards.

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One more story for today and then I'm done! Last night I was on FB and the boys were playing. Tate was in his usual spot by the toy box pulling out all the toys one by one. Cole walked over, pointed, and said "Can I have that tractor please?" Tate kept right one pulling out toys and now was handing them to Cole who would take them, say "nope," and throw them on the floor. He was being pretty patient waiting for Tate to get the tractor for him. Finally he says "I said that tractor I want." Tate pulls out a few more toys, then gets to the tractor, hands it to Cole who says "Thank you Tater Tate" and walks away.

Weekend Warriors

Since I didn't accomplish much this summer, I decided to pack it all in this weekend. I finally got Pat's bathroom painted, a nice clay brown color. Since I was in painting mode, I decided to get at the downstairs playroom. I've wanted to get at it for a while, but wanted some fun colors down there. It's a low ceiling (about 6 1/2') and not a terribly large room. It does have some windows, so there is a little natural light down there, which helps. Anyway, the local hardware store was doing a 2 for 1 on paint, so I figured it was time. Plus I had a gallon of blue paint that we bought for our bedroom in the old house and never opened. So this is what I came up with:
The boys used their hands for the border. The main color is orange with the one big wall blue.

Here is a closer view of Tate after he laid his mark on the room.

A Dry Day

Coley finally made it an entire day, wearing underwear, staying dry! I'm so proud. He did very well. He spent the morning with Grandma and Daddy, which is usually when he has his first accident, because he's not at home. But he made it all day, including supper out! So when baby brother went to bed, he got to go play with his new Lego farm set.

He was busy analyzing all the little pieces, most of which I don't even have out yet. His favorite part is the grain bin which you can empty into the dump trailer. I'm so excited we are making progress. After he peed on a kitchen chair yesterday, I thought we'd never get here! I'm not sure what to do with him tomorrow as we are going to be gone all afternoon to look at a rotary dairy, but I guess we'll decide tomorrow! For now I'm enjoying the moment.

I Can't Leave My Children

alone with their father for a second. My sister called the other night and while I was talking to her, Cole came in and said "Daddy's cutting Tate's hair." Wha???
Tate didn't seem to mind. The top was getting a little long, but I was going to let it go. His hair isn't terribly thick. It apparently bothered Pat enough that he decided to cut it. After he cut Tate's hair, and Cole's hair, the boys turned on him.

Yes, we are trying to potty train. Again.

It's Going to Be a Long One

Ok, so this was going to be a long newsy post, but blogger apparently doesn't want me to download pictures for it, so phooey. Frankly, what good is a post without pictures? So you'll just have to wait. In the mean time, I start school a week from today! Aaaack! I am so not ready. I'm also putting my name on the sub list at our local high school. I'm not ready for that either, but financially I really need to. As much as my kids drive me nuts most days, I'm not ready to give them up yet. It's going to be hard enough sending Cole to preschool, although it works out that he goes while I am in class. Thankfully he doesn't start for about another month.

Ok, so if I load the pictures one at a time, it will work. So anywho. My sister came out with her 3 kids about a week and a half ago. The weather wasn't great, but it worked out ok. The kids got to play on their bikes, ride the gator, and ride Cole's little 4-wheeler. We took them to the Y to do some swimming towards the end of the week. It was nice to have them around, but I was exhausted. Cole is a very quiet, cautious, laid back kid. Tate is not, but he's only 1, so the volume level of our house increased quite a bit while they were here. It was fun though. Cole loved having his cousins to play with and Tova loved having Tate to snuggle, although he didn't enjoy that so much.

Cole and Gavin on the Kettler bike.

Cole and Tova on the Gator.

On Saturday my sister headed home and the boys and I headed to Rochester for a wedding reception. Tate was not a happy camper and his revenge for being stuck in the car was to throw his nukkers and blankie on the floor. I guess it backfired so he turned to his toes instead.

My summer project was to do more painting. I finally got started this week. How daring am I to paint while my children are awake!?! Tate thought it was funny and Cole kept wanting to help. I spent my birthday putting the final coat of paint on the panelled hallway that separates our bedroom from the bathroom. My goal this week is to paint Pat's bathroom. He even picked out his own paint color, and it looks pretty nice, in the can anyway.

Thursday night we are heading up to Pat's grandparent's cabin for a night away from the farm. Next week I start school and it's also our community fair. This year I've managed to put myself in charge of our church youth group, which means fundraising. I'm actually really excited to be getting a group of kids to go to the National Youth Gathering but it's worse than pulling teeth to get some of these kids and parents to commit to anything. I'm super excited about it though. I have Pat convinced that we can chaperon. I think it will be really nice to go away without our kids and I think it will be a really good experience for Pat since he never attended one in high school. This will be a first for our church so I'm hoping that it goes smoothly.

Well, that about sums it up for me. I'd say I'll try to update more often, but there are no guarantees at the moment. Things haven't been going well on the farm. We've had some problems with our cows, which means lower production and with milk prices so low it's been pretty stressful around here. We're hopefully getting things turned around, but it's been tough. No matter how hard we work we can't raise the milk price and that's really been stressful. I'm off to finish baking my cookies and maybe type up another post for tomorrow! Wouldn't that be special, 2 posts in one week!

Coming Home Days

So last weekend was one of the local "festivals." I took the boys to the kiddie parade as goat farmers. Creative, I know. They won 7th place, which was the last of the cash prizes. Benny was a little less than cooperative. Turns out he was getting too much "chickie" feed and not enough forages in his diet and was a little backed up. He's doing much better now, but he wasn't in the mood to be drug around a parking lot. At one point he flopped over and was being drug sideways. The next morning we went in for the kiddie carnival so Cole could spend his $3 prize. He had a good time playing games and jumping in the inflatable thing.

Walking with Benny.

Putting with Daddy.

Bean bag toss. At one point he walked up and pretty much dropped it in the bucket.

Happy First Birthday, Tate!

My baby turns one today! Can you believe that it's been a year already since we welcomed this little guy?
He sure has changed from a dark haired, blue-eyed baby to a blond haired, green-eyed little boy!

I always joke that he is a different breed of baby than his brother was. His personality is much more extreme, but he's still a fun little guy. He loves to smile and laugh, especially at his big brother. He also loves to eat and lets me know when the food isn't fast enough! He's come such a long way just in the past week. He's now decided to start scooting, is starting to get up on all fours, is sitting himself up, and also pulling himself up on anything he can find. He has no time for baby toys (too bad that's what he's getting for his birthday). He loves his brother's cars and tractors the best.

Happy Birthday, Tate! You definitely are "so big" and we love you very much!

Camping and the Cardiologist

After our trip to the zoo, we headed to the campground. We didn't really "camp" like I had wanted to, but I am so done with hotels. Nothing like spending $100 to sit on a bed and watch TV. No thank you. We were going to tent camp originally, but with the threat of rain I decided we'd rent a camping cabin instead. The bed left something to be desired, but overall, it worked out pretty well. When we arrived we grilled up some cheddar sausages for supper. Cole spent a good portion of his time chasing this little guy.
Then we headed off to the pool before it rained. I bought a swim ring for Cole and he loved it. He was comfortable in it enough to swim on his own, which was nice. He had a blast "getting that boy" that was also in the pool.

He also really liked climbing up to the top bunk. He slept on the bottom and could have used the railing. He made it until 2 AM before he fell out of bed. I woke up to a thunk and him trying to get back into bed. I made him sleep on the floor.

The next morning we made a quick visit to the playground. The boys both loved the airplane. Tate just sat back and giggled the whole time. I wonder what goes on in that head of his.
Finally a family picture before we headed off to the hospital.

Our first stop was to the hospital for some chest x-rays. Cole told the tech he had to get pictures taken of his heart. When asked how he knew that, he proceeded to tell her "cuz I'm smart!" I think he had a little coaching, but still cute. He made it through the x-rays like a pro. Pat said he was a little nervous with the x-ray machine, but did just fine. Then it was off to the cardiologist's office. After they viewed the x-rays and listened to him, they sent us on our merry way. Everything is still looking just like it should. They do want to see us again when he is 6, as that's protocol. But all in all, it was a good visit. No tears and no screaming equals success in my book.

After the Dr. we met my friend K and her little boy for lunch at Old Chicago's. Then it was off for a very little shopping. After that Pat wanted to go to the Toyota dealer. He still thinks we will be able to trade off my van next year, but we aren't sure what we want. That's another post though.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a special post on a special day! My baby turns 1!

Visit to the zoo

We headed to Sioux Falls on Thursday. Rain threatened all day, so we went to the zoo first. It was actually a pretty nice day for it. Not too hot, and very little sun. Cole had a good time and Tate, well, he didn't care too much.

There were some things I found a little odd.

"please"? What's with the quotation marks?
I have no idea what this is supposed to be, but I found it pretty inappropriate from this particular angle. Is he preg checking the whatever it is?

Oh, he's feeding? it. Still no idea what it is. We were hoping for a sign with an explanation but no such luck. I'm going with dinosaur.