18 months old today!

So sorry another post devoted to Coley! 18 months! Somedays seems like it has been 5 years others only 5 months. He is truly a blessing despite his kleenex/toilet paper eating habit. Clean or dirty doesn't matter...Kleenex that is. lol So he had his check up today with Dr. Moore and his stats are:

Weight 26 1/2 (60%) Height 32 inches (40%) Head 49 (80%)

He's doing great no concerns. Today he did start saying a couple new words: ALL GONE after finishing his drink and wanting more and ME just now as I was pointing to his picture above. He's not feeling well...congested and therefore isn't sleeping well. So I'm just waiting for the meds to kick in to put him back down.

The best part of today with Cole was watching him DRIVE THE GATOR all by HIMSELF. lol It was hilarious. He was playing in it after P got off he slid forward on the seat a bit and put his foot on the pedal and pressed. Off he went holding on to the steering will with a look of WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON it was priceless. By the time I ran and got my point and shoot with the video, the priceless look was gone. He had crashed into the neighbors garage as well. I did get some video of him driving in the front yard though. lol it was cute. Parker thought it was pretty cool that Coley can now drive...I on the other hand will be running faster than I already do after him to keep a watchful eye. I am seeing many disputes over WHO is going to drive in the future.

Coley Monster!

So Coley may not look like a little monster in these first few pics...but look at the last 2. See and you didn't think I was telling the truth. In case you don't quite understand the photos. He's up on THE COUNTERTOP in the kitchen eating the whole 2 spoons of oatmeal left over from Parker. I bought a small step ladder at a flea market about 6 weeks ago and well P and I painted it red the other day. Well since it's red now he thinks it is his and is "just my size!" lol so he brought it in the house yesterday. Today he used it to eat his oatmeal at the counter. Well Coley knows when there is food left and well he helped himself to it today. See MONSTER! Love his jeans and his Converse tennis shoes.
Look at this cute little gardner.
Notics he's still diggin in for more oatmeal. He knew I was there. (The ladder is the red on the lower right of the pic.)

Been busy the past few days. Doing what? Not quite sure but we've been keeping busy. Well actually we've been living outside in the backyard ALL DAY LONG. The other day I bought 8 bags of play sand to put under the swing set and the boys, mostly Parker, LOVE IT! Cole would rather play in the mud in the wheel barrow (see pic below). I'm not quite sure why I bother to dress them in the morning because they have to change clothes before they come in for lunch because they are covered in dirt, sand, or mud. Why do I set myself up for the challenge of getting MUD out of their clothes? And now because I am such a WONDERFUL mother and bought the sand I get to "try" and keep it out of my house to NO avail. Grrr. It's everywhere. Lesson learned NO MORE SAND...at least in a box that they can sit in and dig there little squishy little toes in. However, the beloved sand will continue to be enjoyed by the boys. I've been trying to "spruce" up the backyard as well because we'll be and are spending quite a bit of time out there. I scored some annuals on the clearance rack at Lowes for 50 cents a piece. The ones that come in their own little bucket of dirt. Not the six pack kind. So for $7 I have my flowers for my pots and a couple for the front. Not too shabby I didn't think...that's why Bill calls my FRUGAL FRAN. lol I have also bought some hosta and planted by the porch and we plan on buying a red flowering dogwood to put near the patio as well. So it will all come together soon, I hope. Still trying to decide between pea gravel for the swing set or rubber mulch. Pros and cons to both.
Papa Paul came to visit Saturday and had a blast with the boys. Daddy cut off one of his hockey sticks for P to make it "just his size." However, Parker says it's still to big. So they spent some time playing hockey.
Again, he looks so BIG here. I'm still wondering when he "grew up" because I missed it.

About the boys!

An update on Parker. He's now 3 1/2 and tomorrow he'll be exactly 4 months from turning 4. WOW! He's a funny guy and a lover, especially on his brother. However, his brother can only tolerate him for less than 1 minute most times. He's learning how to write his letters and has sucessfully written several lowercase letters all by himself by just trying. We've got all kinds of workbooks so he can practice. He's learning more about Jesus and talks about it quite a bit. Love it! Loves to sing and dance and has recently added quite a few break dancing moves to his routine. It's really cute. Still into cars, tractors, truck, planes, and helicopters. And DIRT...loves it. Still a picky eater but last night he actually ate Cherrios in milk and LIKED it...whoa! Baby steps, baby steps. He loves his new swing set and everyday it's something else. Today it was a package store. Yesterday it was a grocery store. I climb up there and "order" from him and he "gets" it for me. So fun! Oh and he LOVES to SWING. I swear he could swing for hours. Better yet he knows how to swing himself now too by pumping his legs. I tell you this kid is pretty coordinated. He's also into playing board games. We've got quite a collection now too and he's won every time at Chutes and Ladders. Today he had an appt. with the ENT (ear,nose,throat) doctor for his snoring and he has surgery scheduled on May 8 to get his tonsils and adnoids out. His tonsils are almost touching, which causes him to snore, which leads to sleep apnea, which leads to not sleeping well. I'm glad I got him in. I noticed when Bill was gone that he would quite breathing quite a bit and be restless at night. He's also been really tired in the afternoons lately. So my intuition was to get him in as I felt that something wasn't right. It's not and will be fixed. Doctors say he'll do fine and I'm sure he will. So we've scheduled it in between a trip to IL and a trip to GA. Oh and he can unbuckle himself out of his 5 point harness carseat. Yeah! We discovered this Monday as he was throwing a fit and I put him in his seat buckled as we were getting the last few things together before we left. I ran inside to get my shoes and then a minute later P was back inside. I was shocked...and my plan foiled. So yeah he does it now when ever we stop he unbuckles himself. Loves to push our buttons too and just see how close to MAD he can make us without getting a spanking. The joy of a 3 year old.

And Cole. He'll be 18 months next week. Really?! He's a comedian, climber (loves the top of the kitchen table, and monster (destructive (Coley monster,as we call him)). His laugh is infectious and is one of those really deep belly laughs. We love it and you can't help but laugh when he does. He LOVES to eat and pretty much eats anything except vegetables and peanut butter. He really loves whatever I have on MY plate though and if he's already eaten and someone sits down at the table to eat he'll keep going back for another course. lol He loves to dance by clapping (even tries to snap his fingers) and spinning in circles and even tries to jump, but normally ends up just throwing his hands up in the air. He's talking more now and has added TRUCK, GO, HELICOPTER (cop, cop or helicop). Hmm, that's all I can think of right now. He just started shaking his head for yes or no all the time. If you ask him a question he thinks and then will nod or shake. Yesterday he was walking around with his binky and his blankie after his nap and he wanted to go outside. So I picked him up and brought him to his room and told him to put binky and blankie in his bed so he could go outside. He didn't hesitate for blankie, but I had to tell him again to put binky in his bed and he thought about it and then shook his head no. lol I had to chuckle. Then I said well you can't go outside until you put binky in your bed. He took it out looked at it then tossed it in his bed. He wants to LIVE outside these days and pitches a fit when it's time to come in. Usually if food or a bath is involved it will go pretty smooth. He's still very much a Mama's boy...what can I say I'm lovable. lol When I'm not here Bill says he just walks around looking for me saying, "Mama, Mama" the whole time. So pitiful I tell ya. And lately he wakes up at 5 and if we are lucky he'll fall back asleep til 6:30. Makes for a long day.

Sorry about the randomness, but I typed as they popped in my head. lol

A few from the past few days!

Well the boys are well...FINALLY! I was better today but still slightly nauseated. Anyway, I wanted to share a few from the past few days. The first was taken on Friday as the boys were getting ready to prep the ground for the new swing set. Well P wanted to swing first and hopped in his swing and well got tired of waiting for Daddy to come and push him. Poor thing! Our new swing set getting finished up. The boys LOVE it! We actually have to tell them it's time to take a break from swinging which really doesn't go over very well. They could literally swing ALL DAY long. And they love to slide which is SUPER FAST. Thanks Grammy and Papa for coming and helping Daddy put it together. It really would have taken Bill and I 2 weekends or more. As we discovered yesterday someone has to watch the boys at all times very closely. I won't tell the story but it could have been very scary and involved my youngest boy. All is well though!
Dirt. My boys LOVE dirt. I do have to say that by the time Bill moves this wheelbarrow there
isn't going to be anymore dirt in it because the boys have already dumped a lot of it on the ground. Notice the above picture how full it was and well in the photo below they are pretty much sitting on a flat surface.
Oh my scrap event was very disappointing. It was all projects and lacked inspiration. Won't be going again. And quite frankly I'm sick of all things scrapping related right now. lol

I've got the yuckies!

I'm home early tonight from my scrappin' event because I'm just not feeling well. I haven't gotten sick like my boys just been nauseous for the past 3 days. And NO I AM NOT PREGNANT...remember my husband was gone for 6 weeks!!!! :) I've not been inspired by
this event at all and it absolutely INSANE paying 17.48 a day to park at the Opryland hotel. I guess that alone is enough to make anyone sick. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

A nasty bug...

is making it's way through our house. I believe Cole actually had it last week. He was out of sorts and threw up twice then started with the diarrhea Monday. Monday, Parker woke up vomitting and continued throughout the day. All was fine yesterday until the afternoon when diarrhea struck P. He takes forever to get over that. So anyway, he's still down today and complains of his tummy hurting. He even "rested" aka napped with me at noon. Bill woke up this morning sick as well. I woke up nauseous and have been all day. Bill did manage to go to work this afternoon despite his illness and isn't home yet so he must not be doing to bad. I've not lost my marbles yet but I do have the achy body. YUCK! It's not as bad as the flu we had a couple months ago, but still! I plan on going to bed in just a bit so I can rest up for my scrappin' event that starts tomorrow evening.

We could use some prayers for good health if you feel inclined to do so! Thanks bunches!

My young man!

Wow, is all I can say about this little man of mine. When did he grow up? He looked SHARP today for church and actually picked out his pants and HAD to wear his belt. He was so proud of that belt and the watch he wore today (it was one of Bill's old ones). Looks a bit like his Daddy here too. My little photographer took this of us at church today. I got a point and shoot camera for my birthday as well as the picture frame. It came Friday and Parker and I have had a blast playing with it. Notice my "new do", LOVE it. I'm blonde again too! I went a lot shorter in the back this time and it feels WONDERFUL!

Thats all here! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We stayed inside where it was warm!:)

A couple from today!

Two pics from today! Parker was outside and ready to play at 9...all by himself! I've made it clear that he needs to tell ME when he wants to go outside. And then of course there is Cole! I had to take a picture of him eating lunch. This is why they take so many baths and I have to mop and scrub walls every night after they go to bed. He loves to put his food on his head and laugh at himself...well really to get others to laugh at him. He is our clown. We can't wait til he gets in school. lol We'll be getting all kinds of notes I'm sure.

Busy, busy!

Today was a super busy day! Not only did we go to church today but we hosted our small group at our house tonight. So the afternoon was spent cleaning the house, grocery shopping, mowing grass, and preparing food. It's 9:30 and I'm finally able to sit and rest. Can you believe we actually had 17 people in my living room...sitting? lol Me either. I really can't believe that we actually had enough chairs for 14 people...yeah us and Pastor got the floor. We are all so nice aren't we?! ;) Good times!

My birthday was fabulous. A great day with my little boys and a FABULOUS evening with dinner at Longhorn with all 3 boys. They got me a digital picture frame and let me tell ya what it ROCKS! I'm thinking ahead at possible xmas presents for a few this year. {wink} So cool Bill plugged the USB into the computer and I dragged and dropped pics and done. So very, very cool.

Oh and another cool thing...my MIL is fantastic...couldn't ask for anyone better. She sent me cookies on my birthday from www.hopescookies.com Wow ,were they fantastic and I think only a couple made it until the next day without being eaten. Parker was disappointed though when he came home from shopping with Bill that afternoon and I showed him my "surprise." He started crying and said, "but I don't like cookies!" Silly kid! I did tell him that it was MY surprise.

Happy Birthday to me! I'm the big 30 today! Took this photo yesterday of myself because I need a self-portrait for the scrap booking event I'm going to in a couple weeks. Not the greatest but it works and also documents what I looked like on my last day in my twenties. lol
Thank you so much all of you that have called this morning! Sorry I had to cut some short as everyone called within the same 2 minutes and not to mention we were headed out the door to take P to school. Y'all are so very sweet to think of me today. Also a special thanks to my Mom and Dad for the beautiful flowers that greeted me on the door step when we got home. THANK YOU all for making my 30th so special!

My hubby...

since he's been home a week tomorrow I thought I would do a little post about him.

Since he's been home:

~he's given me a dozen red roses!

~ has made us all LAUGH and SMILE so much!

~ has been an AWESOME Daddy!

~contributed to more dirtly laundry...I swear I've done 15 loads this last week! I don't think I did that many while he was gone.

~wonders how I did it for almost 6 weeks with both boys alone...yes, he actually asked that (in a very frustrated tone) while dealing with 2 very fussy boys Saturday. While I on the other hand, for a reason unbeknownst to me, kept very calm through all of their fit throwing and constant whining.

~has made a much better sleeping companion than a 3 1/2 year old named Parker. He doesn't dig his toes in my back.

~I've realized why we always go to bed togther 99% of the time. I took a nap the other day so I wasn't tired so I stayed up. Well, I was up another hour after I got in bed because of his SNORING! Geesh!

~I realized I missed putting his shoes away everyday while he was gone.

~I've had to park on my side of the garage again...totally stinks trying to unload groceries and kids. Parking in the middle is so much nicer and I never had to move the van out to get the toys out, but I'd rather have him home. ;)

~I've had a break from the bedtime routine with the boys...much needed indeed! Thanks baby!

~I've had to cook which I missed while he was gone.

~made me realize I don't ever want to live a day without him!

I love you Bill!