Our weekend - farm, family and friends

This past weekend, we traveled down to the farm to spend some time with family and also go to the wedding of one of our friends. We left out about 8pm Friday and it was an ok drive down however, once we arrived both boys were ready to go and we had a hard time getting them back to sleep.

Saturday morning started outside - of course, what else do you do on the farm?! Eli wanted to go visit the animals as he had been talking about what he'd see. Mid-morning, we went to visit my Grandmother (Huggie Grandma as she is affectionately known) and had lunch at her house. Then it was back to the farm for a nap attempt. Well, Eli was having none of it and only wanted to run around. Grandma & Grandpa, of course, were up for the playing so they had a great time. Tim & Cole took a little nap while I showered and got ready for the wedding. Tim & I - dressed up and all! - left out about 4:20pm for the wedding. We wished my parents good luck, figuring Eli would fall apart with no nap, and headed out. The wedding was beautiful. Joel, the groom, used to work for me up here and is like a little brother to me. He & Lauren are such a great couple and it was wonderful to be part of their special day. We got home about 10:30pm and the Grandparents SAID the boys were great - I think the Grandparent perspective can sometimes be skewed - and everyone survived unscathed. Saturday pictures:

Early morning on the farm

Hanging with Grandma & Grandpa

Going to check for eggs

Belle loves being down on the farm - brings out the puppy in her

Watering the animals with Grandpa

My sweet little farm boy. He was outside before we could change out of pjs.

Saturday morning also brought some goodie bags from Uncle Billy and Miss Niki.

Cole had fun playing with tractors

and tricycles

and irons. He especially loved these.

Another tractor - Cole had so much fun.

Saturday afternoon Eli played with this fire truck - this was my little brother's! It is probably 20 years old and Eli loved it.

Eli also helped Grandma plant flowers. I wasn't around for this but LOVE how much of a helper he was. He looks so big.

Dumping out soil to plant.....

a little bit more......

digging a hole....

planting flower....

how pretty!

While Eli played with the fire truck more, Cole took a little snooze on Grandpa.

All snuggled up with Grandpa. So peaceful.

Cole with his Great Grandma - the huggie one!

Eli the tractor driving toddler.

He had so much fun driving it.

I think Grandpa had fun too.

Throwing rocks with Grandma. Eli had a BLAST throwing rocks all weekend. He wore himself out hunting for rocks and throwing them.

Uncle Billy & Miss Niki

Mommy & Daddy - dressed up and ready to go.

The beautiful bride and handsome groom

Me & Joel

Joel and Lauren

Sunday morning started off the same at Saturday. Eli wanted to go outside and check things out. We hung out for a bit with my folks and then headed to my other Grandparents to visit before heading home. We enjoyed some time with them and hit the road. The drive back was not as easy as the one down - the boys were awake most of it and Cole is a pretty demanding traveler. Travel woes and all, it was completely worth it to see our family and see our friends get married. Sunday pictures:

New farm addition - Lucy the donkey had a baby, affectionately named Ethel

other Great Grandma

with both boys - Eli's got some BIG eyes.

Eli discovered a big bag of popcorn and brought it to me sweetly asking to eat some.

The boys, me and their Great Grandparents.

My sweet Grandparents. They've been married 62 years!

Cute cookie lollipop from his goodie bag - good travel snack.

Sorry for all the pictures - I even TRIED to narrow them down. You should see all the ones still on my computer!

Quality Control

Cole's 1st bike ride

Last night we went on our VERY FIRST family bike ride. Yippeeee!!! It was also Cole's 1st bike ride. I pulled Cole in one trailer and Tim pulled Eli in the other. Because I'm nervous about bumping Cole around too much, we stuck to neighborhood roads. It was so much fun. Cole was kinda cranky when we started and quickly fell asleep - like in a half mile asleep! Eli had fun yelling at me. Every time we went up a hill, he asked me if it was hard. Then he cheered me on "Go Mommy". I couldn't do anything but laugh. He really enjoyed the new bigger trailer and Cole really seemed to like his trailer. Hopefully it's the first of many many family bike rides. If I keep pulling Cole around, I should regain my cycling strength pretty quickly!

Probably don't see a milk bottle in a bike bottle cage very often.

Starting the ride with a snack.

Post ride - Eli & Cole in their trailers. It will be interesting when we try both boys in the double trailer (the one Eli is in).

I love riding Mommy!

9 month picture time

9 months old - time for another photo session! Pictures were made this morning. I'm so happy with how they turned out. I know I'm partial but my boys (all 3 of them!) are just so adorable.

Sunday morning

(lost my) MARBLES!!!!

Today Eli & I went to Marbles Kids Museum for his friend Evan's 3rd birthday party. Eli had so much fun running around with his buddies from school. They started off the morning with cake and ice cream - horrible way to start right? It was a little hectic getting there as some roads were closed that I wasn't aware of and being late stresses me out. And Mr. Obvious was in the back seat asking me if we were there yet and where was Evan's party. We ended up being late but it was so much fun to be there. After cake and ice cream, the kids ran around the room throwing and catching beach balls. Lots of happy noise and happy kids.

Then they all moved out into the museum and had fun playing. We spent all of our time on the lower floor in the pretend play area. Watching Eli play WITH his buddies as opposed to along side them was so much fun to see. He didn't want to leave but after a few hours, we headed home to a pretty good nap!

Birthday boy Evan

Eli & Matthew - Matthew's party was last week. Yes, Eli is a party man!

Eli, Benya and Matthew checking out Nemo

All boys love a train table

Whoa, Benya - don't run us aground!

Eli plugging in the electric car, ready to ride

Uh-oh, the boys are off - Eli, Gray & Benya

This was the most fun to watch. They spent so much time playing post office / delivery.

Boys at work.

I think I have a future UPS man on my hands.

Stacking to perfection.

Eli seems to be enjoying Grace taking his temperature in the back of the ambulance. He has since announced to me that Grace is his girlfriend.

Sweet tired firefighter.

Cole's 9 month check

Had Cole's 9 month well visit at the doctor today. When I read back in the blog about Eli's 9 month visit, it's almost the exact same as Cole's today except I didn't get a spa treatment beforehand! I actually went to an early spin class before his appointment. Drastically different things!!

The stats - amazingly close to Eli's:

Weight - 23 pounds, 0.5 ounces (70th percentile)

Length - 29-3/8 inches (90th percentile)

Head circumference - 47-3/4 cm (over 95th percentile - big ole noggin!!)

No shots today but got a toe prick to run his bloodwork. His white cell count is coming down (thankfully, bye bye infection!) and his iron is still low. We'll run it again at 12 months and may have to look at an iron supplement.

Cole is doing great and is doing all the things your average 9 month old baby should be doing. He is developing his independence and not wanting us to feed him, preferring to do it himself. He wants to stand all the time but wants nothing to do with tummy time. Doc said that since he CAN roll over, although he chooses not to do so very often, she's not worried. And she said some children, especially with siblings, skip crawling all together. Earlier this morning we did some tummy time and Cole did scoot himself backwards enough to get off his blanket. He will figure out a way to travel!!

Hopefully our next doctor visit will be for Cole's 12 month check in July. Fingers crossed!!