Thanksgiving Part 1 - down at the farm

Today we went down to the farm to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Our original plan was to go down yesterday at nap time but Cole's ear infection changed all that. We decided it was best to get some of the antibiotic in him and get him feeling better and then make the trip. We left out about 6:30, headed to the farm, arriving by 10am. It was quite a foggy drive but luckily there wasn't much traffic and the boys traveled really well. Eli was so happy when we arrived and took off right away with Grandpa to check on all the animals. We made this trip without Belle since it was a day trip but she would have been right there with him running around had she come with us. Inside, Grandma & Grandpa had some new treasures (toys) for Eli to play with and Cole got some toys too. Spoiled boys!

We went to my Grandparents' (the boys great-grandparents) for lunch. It's always so great to see everyone and eat lots of yummy food. After lunch, Eli ran around outside, checking it all out with Grandpa and Daddy. We then went to my other Grandmother's to visit her for a bit. It was probably 2:30 or 3 pm by this time, Eli had not taken a nap and was WIDE open. After visiting for a while, we headed back to my parents' house to let Eli run around more before heading home.

The drive home was a little more difficult than the drive down. Cole entered into a spontaneous growth spurt on I85 (that's the only thing I can figure) and I swear he must have had three bottles in the 3-1/2 hour drive. I climbed into the back seat of Tim's truck (quite a squeeze for my bottom) and fed him. Once we got home, we got the boys to bed and put ourselves there pretty soon thereafter. Whew.....long day but wonderful to see my family. In a few hours, we're headed to the beach for Thanksgiving Part 2!

Cole loved playing with Grandma's froggies

Eli feeding the chickens with Grandma

Checking out the new turkeys in their pen

So much to explore

The traditional pre-lunch lemon lime punch - YUM!

Me & my boys - notice Eli is a blur, he's always in motion

Now who had too much turkey?

Eli and Grandpa

pal-ing around

Cole with his Great-Grandmother

After we left her house, Eli finally fell asleep in the truck. He probably took a 15 minute power nap and was then off again.

First Thanksgiving as a Family of Four

Eli in Niki's jeep - he got to sit inside my brother's girlfriend's Jeep and he was beside himself happy.

My brother Billy and said girlfriend, Niki

Hanging out with Grandma's Beanie Babies

Grandpa and his boys

Eli and Cole are loved so much - I'm very thankful for my parents, for all they have done for me and all they continue to do for me, Tim and the boys.

Rubber Ducky Time again

Cole has gotten too big for the baby tub so we broke out the rubber ducky that Santa brought Eli 2 years ago. Eli had fun blowing it up with Daddy with the air compressor and then playing with it before we gave Cole a bath.

Brothers

How funny is it that his shirt says "Dirt" and he's in the ducky tub

What is Daddy doing to me?

Clean boy

Cole's 1st ear infection - ugh

This morning I was busy running around, doing laundry and getting ready for our Thanksgiving travels when the phone rang and it was school. I always worry when they call about which kid is sick or what Eli did to get hurt. Today, it was Cole. They noticed some drainage out of his right ear so I took him to the doctor. Diagnosis: ear infection. He had been fussier than normal this past weekend and didn't want to lay down so this makes sense. I wish we would have realized sooner but he didn't exhibit any other symptoms. We got the antibiotic and have given him one dose. He's finally taking a nap (with Daddy) and will hopefully rest better tonight. We've modified our travel plans to leave very early in the morning instead of this afternoon but I think that will work out better. Daily I realize that I really don't have control over my life or schedule. I just have to roll with whatever happens.

BTW - he was almost 17 pounds today. He's got a long way to go if he's going to catch up to Eli's almost 20 pounds at 6 months!!

Does this look like a sick boy to you? Daddy playing "Mr. Cheeks"

Meet Sophie

Today Cole met Sophie the Giraffe. There's quite a funny story of Sophie's journey to Cole - bear with me. You see, today my jobsite had a pot luck lunch for Thanksgiving. Since I'm known as the baker, I was immediately signed up for dessert and I decided to try making carrot cake last night. I stopped by Harris Teeter and purchased the ingredients I didn't have and after Cole went to sleep, I started the lengthy carrot cake process. After about 2 hours, I had to deem my carrot cake a disaster and wave the white flag of defeat. The cake bubbled over my pans and created a huge mess in the oven. (Post-mordem: I think I figured out that my brilliant time saving idea of using pre-shredded carrots was not a good one. I think the water in them baked out and created a too wet cake that wouldn't / couldn't rise. This is only a theory and we'll see if I ever try baking one again.) Soooooo, I arrived at work today with no cake in hand and took off before lunch to Whole Foods to buy one. I had to park a little ways from the door to Whole Foods and that required me to walk by a VERY cool store - 'Twig'. That was where Sophie was waiting for me. I was so excited to see her as I had read lots of good things about Sophie and childrens love of her, especially teething children like Cole. Not only did I meet Sophie, I found several other cool gifts there. I had to get back to work so I didn't allow myself to spend too much time looking (my pocketbook couldn't have handled it!) but I did manage to make the $12 carrot cake cost $100 after all my purchases!!

Cole meeting Sophie

I think he knows what Sophie is for!!

Go Go Go

That pretty much sums up our weekend - go, go, go. The main objective (as it is every weekend) was to keep Eli busy. He is our super energetic boy and if he gets bored at home, he starts getting REALLY crazy and hard to handle. We did lots of fun stuff so I'll narrate through pictures.

Saturday morning, Eli & I went to my job site as it was going to be very exciting day. On Friday they had set up a 500 ton mobile crane (you don't see these every day, there are only a few in the US) to set two steel transfer girders that were just as tall as me! Eli loves putting on his vest and hard hat and being one of the guys on site.

On the bank of the excavation. The transfer girder in the background is literally 5' tall!

Eli at one of the outriggers for the crane.

Rob (my co-worker) talked to the crane operator and got Eli up on the crane next to the cab. Very cool, thanks Rob!

Eli & I at the crane. We look tiny next to it. The tires were taller than Eli!

Eli did not like when the workers were banging on the steel so he kept asking me to "hold his ears".

One of my favorite job site pictures - the mobile crane and tower crane looking up from the ground.

Eli, my mini-Superintendent, checking out the work

Inside the Superintendent's trailer, Eli found the Rubik's cube that I solved last week (with the help of the internet, I'm not THAT smart!).

Eli & Benny, my Superintendent

While we were at the job site, Tim and Cole hung out at home - a morning filled with play time (tummy time, play mat, exersaucer, bumbo, repeat), eating and napping. After the job site, Eli & I ran a few errands before getting home for lunch. The afternoon was quite enjoyable with both boys napping at the same time for about two hours. So nice! We had an early dinner and then took a family trip to BJ's to a) get it done and b) get out of the house. My facebook post before we left says it all "Eli is rabid - GOT TO GET HIM OUT OF THE HOUSE". The boy was literally running laps around the house!! Back home, it was bath and bed time.

Today started off kinda rough. I didn't realize but Tim was up for several hours with Cole in the night - apparently Cole was so fussy that Tim took him in the playroom for a while so as not to wake Eli. I felt horrible when I got up this morning and Tim told me that. We think Cole is teething because he is constantly shoving his hands / fingers into his mouth and loves to chew on anything you give him. After some yummy muffin making and eating, Eli & I went out early to buy groceries. He did pretty well and was so sweet and funny talking to everyone in the store. Then we walked over to the elementary school to meet Carol & Ryan for some outdoor play time - again, Tim & Cole hung out at home. The boys were so cute and did very well at the playground. I enjoyed hanging out with Carol and meeting some of her other friends and watching the boys have fun.

Future football player - one to watch!

I looked over and he was tee-ing it up to kick. I was quite impressed.

Down the slide - face first

Climbing the corkscrew to the platform

A snack with Ryan "at the top of the mountain"

Me with two very sweet boys

We made it home for a late lunch (like after 1pm!). Cole had been fussy for Tim and refusing to sleep so once we got Eli's lunch ready, my charge was to get Cole to take a nap. He made me work for it but he finally did go to sleep and slept for over 2 hours. Eli was tough to get down for nap as well but he gave us a decent one. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the quiet but some laundry, a shower and cutting out some patterns later, I had filled the time and I was back on Mommy duty.

Since I had the camera with me, there aren't too many pictures of Cole from the weekend. I tried to take some tonight of his new tricks. He has discovered his feet and loves to hold on to them and put his toes in his mouth. Such a cute little boy!!

Holding on to my feet - don't want them to go anywhere

Trying hard to roll over - using his feet for leverage

Hey cutie pie!!

Time to take a deep breath before a short work week and traveling for Thanksgiving. We're looking forward to seeing our family and spending time at the farm and at the beach. Watch out Grandparents - here we come!!

Have a great week everyone.

Sewing

Finally made some time (although it IS very late right now) to do some sewing. I had cut some material probably 6 weeks ago and tonight pieced it all together. It was my first "piece" made from a pattern. Simple but I think it turned out pretty well. Now I have a few other projects tucked away that need attention from me and my sewing machine.

Flowers for Mommy

Today when I picked Cole up from school, not only was he happy to see me but he also had flowers for me. Such a sweet surprise! Apparently Tim knew this was coming (school also sent me flowers from Eli when he started) but he wasn't sure when and since the girls weren't exactly sure of the address of my construction site, they had them waiting for me at school. The flowers are so pretty and have such beautiful fall colors. I have been picking on Tim that he hasn't brought me any flowers in a long time - it's a good thing that Cole (and the Primrose girls) are picking up his slack! Thanks Ladies!!

Ready to eat?

Look what I got Baby Cole - you want some?

I can feed Baby Cole by myself - what a great big brother

Coming up for air

Whew, busy weekend! Time to take a quick breath and then get ready for another busy week ahead. This weekend we were lucky enough to have Grandma C come for a visit and give us some much appreciated extra hands with the boys (not to mention she & Grandpa went on a cruise and haven't seen the boys in a few weeks). She arrived Friday night just in time to see the boys before bed. We let Eli stay up a little late to play with Grandma and as soon as everyone was asleep, I started pulling out clothes that had been stored as Cole has grown out of the 6 month stuff, is enjoying life in 9 month clothes and will soon be ready for the 12 month ones.

Saturday morning Cole woke up about 6am and Tim took him plus a bottle to Grandma so we could get a little extra sleep. When Eli got up, he went straight into the playroom where Grandma was and just hung out for a while. I don't think we got out of bed until 7:30am - AMAZING!! After breakfast, I took Eli to the Y to do a spin class (me not him) while Grandma C got some quality time and snuggles with Baby Cole. Home for a snack and then the boys, Grandma & I headed to the library down the street to meet Ryan & his parents for some play / hang out time. Eli & Ryan had a great time playing on the playground and running around. We did manage to go inside for a few minutes but as it was lunch time, that didn't last long. Eli took a very good nap and Grandma C snuggled with Cole for his afternoon nap. During that time, I managed to transfer some computer files and do LOTS of laundry. (I swear I think I did 10-12 loads this weekend) We grilled out Saturday night and enjoyed more time with Grandma.

Sunday morning was a pretty nice repeat of Saturday morning where Grandma kept the boys occupied and we slept until about 7am. I made coffee cake for breakfast and then Tim & Eli went for a bike ride. During that time, I kept doing stuff around the house while Grandma played with Cole. Grandma left a little before lunch and, although I was tired from busying myself with chores, I got a ton of stuff done and was very thankful for the time to do it all. Of course, my "to do" list is still a mile long but like I told my mom, I was able to make a little progress on my behind-ness. Sunday afternoon, Tim & I went to a memorial service for my neighbor Amy's dad who passed away last week (we had a babysitter come over). The service was a nice tribute to someone we were fortunate enough to spend time with over the past 5-1/2 years. It's so funny how sometimes you meet people and you feel like part of their family. That's how I feel with my neighbor Amy. We've always been so welcome in their home and welcomed by their family. Her dad was the same way. He cared about me, Tim and the boys and when we didn't see him, he asked how we were doing. It's hard to watch people you care about be sad but I'm glad we were able to go and support our friends.

When we got home, we found out that neither Eli nor Cole had really napped so by 4:30pm, they were falling apart. I took Cole to Target hoping that the car ride or cart ride would put him to sleep - eventually it did. Tim managed to get Eli down for a power nap (although he was grouchy when Tim woke him up) so that he could make it to bed time. We managed to survive the evening and everyone went down for bed fairly easy.

I think I've recapped the weekend pretty accurately. I stayed so busy trying to get things accomplished that I didn't do as well as usual with picture taking - I did get some cute shots.

Watch out ladies

Cole showing Grandma his skills with the grab apple

Eli jumping at the park - Ms. Carol on safety patrol

Cole hanging on the ropes like a big boy

Eli & Ryan LOVED running down the ramp at the playground

Grandma & Baby Cole

Grandma & her boys

Chop-It Chips

Eli is soooo my boy - he loves chocolate chips. And what's so funny is how he says it, it sounds just like "chop-it chips". He loves making cookies with me just so he can eat the chocolate and I have also introduced him to the yumminess of cookie dough. Tonight, as it was a rainy evening and Tim had run out of Oreos, we made some cookies. It's so hard for me to resist pictures of that cute face.

Happiness - hand in the chocolate chips

Yummm - cookie dough