Where you been, Blu's?

Have spent 45 minutes trying to fix the spacing...everytime I fix and save, it screws up when I hit publish. Any feedback? So frustrating!

2011 will apparently be my year of sporadic blogging. Sit down, this may be a long one...

On March 8th Miss K turned 18 months old! How did my baby grow up so quick? I am really enjoying this age with her. She is so interested in everything, talking up a storm and just really gaining her independence. What is crazy is that when Cole was her age we moved him into a big boy bed. I cannot imagine Sis being out of her crib. Shawn tells me I am holding onto the baby stage longer with #2. Cole really had to "grow up" quick when he was her age. She was on the way and he had to move on up and out of things so that he and we would be ready for her arrival. She had her 18 month check up and the stats are in:

Weight: 27lb 3 oz 80%

Height: 34" 95%

In comparing the kids, I think it's interesting that at 18 months K is already 4" taller than Cole was at 18 months. WNBA bound?

Hard not to smile back at that face!

In the past month, Cole has started playing T-Ball. We signed him up for soccer and when we told him he said, "no, I want to play T-Ball." Well, okay then! So far I am not convinced we made the right decision. He is easily distracted with practice at the park (people on the swings, flying kites and doing the things he would rather be doing), the Coach is a little hard core for me and my Thurday evenings and Saturday mornings are shot until he is about 18. Other than that, we heart T-Ball. :) #33's jersey...

Up at bat...then tried to run to 1st base, holding onto the bat! Then picked his nose while on 1st base. Oh well... Later in March we boarded the plane heading to Grandma & Papa John's house in Virginia! What an adventure. The kids did great on the way there. On the way home I considered drinking the whole way home. If I passed out, certainly someone else would have to take over for me, right? :) Here is a happy one on the way there. Check out all the teeth coming in!

Grandma & Papa John had so many fun things planned, including a trip to the Children's Museum. So much fun! Highlights included me making Cole pose with all the silly picture props, shopping in the grocery store, putting on a performance in the theater (and wearing 7 costumes at once) and the kids starring on the local news. "Mommy, I'm on TV!" He told us that about 50 times. Sooo excited!

Shawn, Cole & Papa John took advantage of K's nap times and explored more of Virginia. These are priceless photos and ones you could only get in the south. I had to giggle when Cole came home with his souvenier Confederate Flag stickers. Seriously.

Hard to get a good picture of all 5 of us, our best attempt (sorry Cole!).

Speaking of bad photos...this was taken BEFORE cocktail hour. Yikes! :)

We started off April with the celebration of our 5 year wedding anniversary! Here we are getting ready to head out to dinner. Miss K was not in the mood to be pictured, sorry.

Working with what you've got!

I've made no secret about Kenleigh's lack of hair. When she was little, I always commented on it before anyone else could. She was like an old man with long hair on the bottom and sides and nothing on top! Over the past few months things are looking up for Miss K. There is some hair coming in!

I always try and keep her super girly with headbands (like she wore in our Holiday pictures), etc. Just in the last few weeks we are wearing ponies! While I am getting her dressed in the mornings she always points to her head and says, "ponies! ponies!" She loves to wear them. Now, they are the ittiest, bittiest little ponies, but darn it the girl has ponies! We are rejoicing.

Here are a few pictures of my decorating K's little head and a quick side shot of the tiny ponies...don't blink or you'll miss them! Love you sweet sis!

First Heartbreak...

Cole has a friend at preschool, actually a "girlfriend." These were always his chosen words, not ours. Her name is Tessa and she and Cole are like peas and carrots. Since he started preschool in August they have been the best of buds. Tessa is the sweetest little girl and Cole just adores her!

We got the sad news on Friday that Tessa was leaving the school. I received a note from her mom letting me know that she wanted the kids to stay in touch and so we will be setting up a playdate with them soon.

Last night, Cole's teacher forwarded me this picture of Cole & Tessa from last week. I just love how he is all snuggled into her and they look so happy on the playground.

When I dropped him off at school this morning I asked, who are you going to play with today? He replied, "not with Tessa, Mom, she's not here anymore." SAD!

It's always hard to see your first love go...she was a cutie pie Cole...good pick! :)

Thinking Punxsutawney Phil might be right!

I can feel it...spring is coming, soon! We enjoyed beautiful weather in January. Amazing weather! Weekends at the park and the zoo and in the pool (heated of course) and just enjoying the sunny desert! Other than the cold spell we are having this week, I think that little groundhog just might be right, spring is coming early, at least in AZ!

Over the MLK weekend we enjoyed a visit from the Vo's! So good to see Truong and Candy and to finally meet Mr. Taison! He is adorable and was the perfect playmate for Kenleigh! We headed over to Shawn's parents house and the heated pool for a Saturday afternoon dip.

Here is Taison, all tuckered out after swimming at Al & Virg's!

Here is a sunny day we spent at the park. Cole had his first adventure with the monkey bars! He loved them and did an excellent job getting across, with me below to catch him just in case.

Then Sis tried to go up them. Sorry Sis, maybe next year! A weekend adventure to the zoo wrapped up the month. Another beautiful day, I think it was around 76 degrees! Warm enough that the kids got to wear shorts and teva's...in January!

Cole and Shawn mapping out our route.

Lunch break! Peanut Butter sandwich and a Capri Sun...lucky gal.

Only in Arizona does the zoo have a giant Saguaro Cactus slide!

Here comes the Cole man!

My pesimistic side must also note that I woke up this morning and it was 22 degrees. We don't even own clothes for 22 degrees. When I dropped Cole off at preschool this morning his teacher said during chapel they were going to pray and ask God to turn the heat back on. Only at the Lutheran Preschool do you hear things like this!

My babies!

Nothing baby about these 2...they are growing up so quickly! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids from our family photo shoot from December. Kacey Droz has been capturing their smiles since Cole was just 4 months old. She always does an amazing job and designs our Holiday cards each year as well.

In keeping with the no more babies post, I need to update on Kenleigh's 15 month stats. I am a few weeks behind. The big keep getting bigger. Sis is holding strong in her 90th percentile division!

Weight: 26lb 2oz (90%)

Height: 32" (90%)

Keep it up Miss K!

They came...and they went!

I am hoping this is the last time I have to start my blog with excuses as to why it isn't up to date! Holidays, they are just busy I guess.

We attended Shawn's Holiday Party earlier this month. The first time we have attended since 2006...ever since then I have been pregnant or taking care of an infant during Christmas. We had such a great time! Here we are all dressed up for the festivities.

We got a rarely captured picture with our friends Josh and Katie, too!

It's become a tradition in our family to go see it "snow" during the holidays. Of course living in Arizona this doesn't mean what it means everywhere else. Cole loved it again and I am sure next year Sis will as well. She was too tired so she just relaxed in her stroller.

It was then time for Cole's Christmas Concert. We were so excited for this event! Mom, Sis, Grammy, Papa and Emily all packed up and headed to church to see his preschool performance. Unfortunately Dad had to work and wasn't able to join us. Turns out he didn't miss much! Got Cole all dressed up for performance and I think he lasted about 3 minutes on stage. He then started crying and wanding off the stage saying, "Mommy? Mommy?" Yep...I had that kid! I have pictures, but really aren't worth posting. Who wants to see forever how sad Cole was as his friends sang, "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus?"

Holiday baking is so much fun, especially with the kids. They always want to "help" which is just so messy and ridiculous but what the heck...I let them help. Sis got her new apron on (the 3 of us have matching ones. Mine says "Goodie Maker" and their's say "Goodie Taker") she was ready to help. I then looked over and she had Cole's bike helmet on. I guess she knows was a messy and dangerous job baking is. Safety First Sis!

Speaking of baking, Cole insisted that this year we make a Birthday Cake for Jesus (thank goodness for Lutheran Preschool!). Here is the finished product and what was our dessert on Christmas Eve. Totally decorated by Cole! :)

Here we are at church on Christmas Eve...what is with our red eyes? Clearly there is a function on my camera I am not understanding?

We left cookies for Santa, but the Guiness was Daddy's! Santa got milk (not pictured).

Christmas Eve was spent assembling Sis' kitchen from Santa. Here is the finished product, it is so cute! Woo Hoo...he came, even without the chimney!Too bad for Santa he left 1 gingersnap cookie behind. Lucky for Sis...she snacked on it all morning! I think she is inspecting one of brother's presents here.Santa brought so many wonderful things, but as it turns out everyone had their favorites. Cole's was by far his DJ Lance hat and glasses. He hasn't taken them off, once again wore them to school today.

Miss K loved her kitchen! In action...making something fab of course!

Here is Cole enjoying Daddy's favorite present. The Kinect for his Xbox! They played all day going river rafting, bowling, boxing. Mommy and Daddy even played into the wee hours of the morning one day. Shawn got so into it that he actually hit the ceiling fan with his hand while "spiking" the ball during a game of beach volleyball!

We had a great Christmas overall. The absence of my dad was felt all throughout the season. He loved Christmas. He loved the decorations, the cookie making, the chex mix, the traditions, his family and the entire thing. Hard to believe I won't spend another Christmas with him. We will carry on his traditions in our house and pass them onto the kids. Lefsa doesn't make the man, but the man loved lefsa...so we will eat it! Love you Dad!!

My name is Cole...I like to Dance!

Yo Gabba Gabba! I have no idea what it means...what it is really about...but it is the current obsession of Mr. Cole. He really goes all in when he loves something (remember the Elmo craze of 2008-2009?). The kids nanny got him turned onto Yo Gabba Gabba and now we all know and love DJ Lance, Muno, Foofa, Brobee, Todee and Plex. I think DJ Lance is stuck in a time warp and has remnants of a bad acid trip from a rave in the early 90's. Nothing else could explain his outfit, dancing and relationship with the Gabba Gang. All that aside, my Cole loves it, so I am on board too.

Saturday Cole and I went to go see them live in Downtown Phoenix. I about fell over when I saw the price of the tickets, but like any good mom I hit purchase on Ticketmaster and then hit the cash machine on the way to the show knowing I would get suckered into major promotional merchandise purchasing. I was right! The overpriced t-shirts, keychains, etc. all came home with us. PS...we like Brobee the best in our house.

They give out DJ Lance glasses when you arrive. The crazy guy handing them out said, "don't forget your 3-D glasses!" When Cole put them on I noticed they had no lenses. Interesting 3-D glasses. Regardless, Cole loves the glasses...he put them on immediately. Wore them the entire show, took a nap in them on the car ride home and when I dropped him off at preschool this morning, he was still wearing them. I am sure parents were thinking all kinds of things seeing my crazy kid wearing oversized black cardboard glasses to school. Awesome! Here is a close up of Cole in his glasses.

I was so excited to get lots of pictures at the show. I pulled out my camera ready to snap away only to discover the batteries in my camera were dead. Not awesome. Luckily this day and age everything has a camera on it. I pulled out Cole's iTouch and snapped a couple of pictures. Loved this one and had to share. Cole, in a Brobee t-shirt, wearing his DJ Lance glasses, posing with Plex (the magic robot).

At one point in the show the Gabba Gang enters the theater from the back and each character comes down an aisle. Luckily we had aisle seats and Todee herself walked right by us. Cole got to touch her and I swear it was like a celebrity sighting for a 3 year old! As my sister said, "he'll never wash that hand again."

It was expensive and loud and total, total fun. I am so happy we went and I will always remember the excitement on his face seeing his Gabba friends so close up. In the words of DJ Lance it was truly....AWESOME!