On the back side of the weekend

Ok, now that we're on the back side of the weekend, it doesn't seem quite as bad as it felt going through it. Eli & Cole were a total handful; I mean an out-of-control wild and crazy handful. And I'm not exaggerating! I don't even remember Friday night but I know it wasn't that bad. Saturday started early......like before 6am early. I took the boys to the Y and my workout was interrupted by the child care folks coming to find me because Eli had an accident. Lovely. Once we got home, we started baking cookies and doing some things in the kitchen waiting for Tim to get back from his bike ride. The boys took short naps and then we headed out to two of our three possible social engagements for the night.

Stop 1 - We went to Brad, Tia and Maya's their annual Harvest Moon Festival. I was so excited to see them because we don't get together often. Fortunately we were able say hi when we first got there because we had to make a quick exit after about an hour. Sorry guys that we didn't get to say goodbye. The boys were out of control, not listening and just all over. Cole was not happy for anything. I felt bad because Tim didn't even get to eat any bbq. Brad & Tia did a great job getting ready for their shin dig. There were lots of games for the kids to play and a swingset to play on (our boys loved that of course!). We didn't even get to hear the Kudzu Ramblers this year. Tim & I were both bummed but what can you do? Oh well, next year.....

Stop 2 - Our friend Dave, his wife and daughters have a HUGE annual Halloween Bash. Last year we didn't make it but this year wanted to at least pop in and say hi. The boys were pretty good on the drive over and ok at the start but then they wanted to be all over running with the big kids. They weren't happy with the confines we put on them (you know keeping them from getting hurt!). So they got rowdy again. To which we packed them up and headed home - we didn't even last an hour at this stop. The party looked awesome with lots of food, games, bonfire and even a haunted trail around their property. We completely missed that this was a dress up party so I imagine had the boys been in costume, they might have enjoyed it and let us stay a little longer. Oh well, next year.....

Once we got them home, Eli ate dinner and Cole just went to bed. We were pooped and happy for some quiet. Fortunately, we were able to sleep in until 6:30am - woo hoo, how sad is it that 6:30 makes me happy - Sunday morning. Pumpkin pancakes and some play time later, we headed to the grocery store. The boys were pretty well behaved there, thankfully, but fell apart as we were leaving. Home for snacks and outside play time and then we ran to Moe's for lunch and REI to get Tim new shoes. That was a quick trip. I have learned that if you don't want to do something, you just whine and fuss and cause a scene until whomever is with you gives in. That's what children do. We did manage to get good naps out of them (too bad I had to spend it working) and by the time they got up, we had missed our window to go bike riding. Instead we did a long walk around the neighborhood, ate dinner, had baths and happily put them to bed.

I posted on Facebook this weekend that "parenting is not for the weak" and I truly believe that. I know our weekend doesn't sound THAT bad to some of you but trust me, it was tough in this house. Thankfully we survived and should be stronger for it.

Slightly grumpy Buzz Lightyear

Cole was all smiles practicing his spoon skills with yogurt.

He did really well, even though it was messy.

Silly Mommy & Eli.

On Maya's swingset.

Cole loved the little car hanging from a tree limb. It wasn't just a one-directional swing, it went in all directions.

So fun!

The swing has a great wooden glider.

Eli had fun on the monkey bar. He'd come off the slide, run around, grab the handle and swing. Then he'd declare "oh gosh!". It was pretty entertaining.

I forgot to mention that there were pony rides

and a great bean bag toss.

Eli had fun trying out their hammock. He'd never been in one before.

Eli bugging the girls about what they were doing.

Stop 2 - Happy Halloween!

Best shot I got of them on the hay trailer. We didn't stay long enough for a hay ride.

Eli's Number Book

We get wonderful art work and creations by the boys almost every day but I have to admit that this is by far one of my favorites. Eli's number book that they created this week. It didn't scan as well as I would have liked but the original is priceless.

Cover page - Eli has been practicing writing his name and I learned that his favorite number is 5.

1 House

2 Balloons

3 Snakes

4 Fish

5 Flowers

Eli's favorite number - 5

Weekend - Plan B in action

This weekend seemed to have a lot of "Plan B"s in it. All week long, Eli had been looking forward to having Noah over Saturday and then Noah had a fever so we had to go to Plan B - just a regular Saturday morning. The boys & I went to the Y where I took my first ever water aerobics class. After, we ran an errand and then headed home for lunch. The exciting part of the day was waiting for Grandpa & Grandma N to show up with their "bus". Tim's parents had been RV-ing in the mountains and stopped in for a visit on their way home. The boys were so excited to see Grandpa & Grandma it was tough to get them to take a nap. After naps, lots of play time outside and then a nice family dinner in the dining room.

This morning was an early morning. Eli was up at 5am and didn't want to go back to sleep (Sunday + 5am = Cranky Mommy). We finally headed downstairs a little after 6am and the boys ate their 1st breakfast of pumpkin waffles. Once Grandma & Grandpa came inside (they slept in the RV), we had 2nd breakfast of sausage biscuits. Plan A was that Tim & I would go for a bike ride in the morning and his parents hang out with the boys. Well, it go too late for that so Plan B, we went to Kohl's and Barnes & Noble just for a little break. When we got home, Grandma & Grandpa had both boys down for naps. They loaded up the "bus" and headed out leaving Tim & I with some quiet to get a few things done. After naps, we took the boys to Umstead for a bike ride - the hardest bike ride I've done in as long as I can remember. We rode a different route that was tougher than our normal route. Ended up with 12-1/2 miles. My legs will probably hate me tomorrow.

We had a good long weekend. I'm kinda tired tonight and trying to get my brain ready for the week ahead.

Waiting for Grandpa & Grandma N to arrive

Future NC State linebacker - Cole has started making lots of funny faces, such a ham!

Grandpa's future GPS - Eli plotting where he wants to go.

Cole checking out the "bus".

Tim was pushing Eli all over the yard - super fast - and Eli loved it.

The only shot I got of the boys still with Grandpa & Grandma - a little tv time Saturday night.

Playing outside this morning.

Cole hanging out in Daddy's truck under the bed cover.

I took this shot blindly - just aimed the camera behind me and snapped a picture of Cole napping.

Tim took this photo of me on Turkey Trot trail - proof that yes, I really do pull a trailer. =)

Cole is getting so big

Daddy with his boys - ignore Tim's closed eyes, the boys are adorable.

Mommy and her boys - happy happy.

This day - 6 years ago......

Today, exactly 6 years ago, Tim & I got engaged. It's such a great memory of mine and I'm going to bore you with the story. =) For MONTHS, I had been snooping looking for an engagement ring. I was dead certain that when we went to the mountains this particular weekend, that that was IT. Well, I continued snooping once we got to the cabin and searched his bags while he was in the shower. I didn't find a ring so I was not too happy when we went on our final adventure of the weekend - a hike to the top of Mt. Mitchell on Sunday afternoon. I decided that if he wasn't going to propose that we were going to power hike and get the hike over so we could head home. Once we got to the top, we climbed the Observation Tower and then had someone take our picture. When the guy took the picture, he said "that is so cool". I looked down and Tim (as you see in the picture) had held out a ring for the camera. I asked him what it was and his response was "What do you mean, what is it? You'd better put it on." Isn't that the most romantic proposal ever? He did then ask me to marry him but the first "proposal" will always be my favorite. Mt. Mitchell will always hold special memories for us. The tower in the 2nd picture is no longer there. It was torn down to make way for an accessible tower. We miss the old one but have already started making memories at the new one with the boys. There will be many more visits and hikes in the future. And our sweet little Belle in the 3rd picture, there will never ever be another dog like her. We miss her and treasure our memories of her.

Cole at 15 months

One day Cole is going to be mad at me for all the dirty face pictures I post. This was tonight after he thoroughly enjoyed an Oreo. Today I took him in for his 15 month check. The doctor gave him the once over - heart, lungs, eyes, ears, you know the drill - and all checked out great. He's our super duper healthy 15 month old. Doc did tell me that it looks like one of his ear tubes has moved so it may be working its' way out. Cole was really mad at me for the shots he had to get. I had them leave one off until his 18 month check but, including his flu shot, he still had to get three shots. My poor baby. He was soooooo not happy. Once we got out of the doctor's office, he was happy Mr. Cole again.

Today's stats:

Weight - 27 pounds, 0.6 ounces (75th-90th percentile)

Length - 32-1/2 inches (75th-90th percentile)

Head - 49-1/4 cm (90th-95th percentile)

He's not quite as big as Eli at 15 months but he sure is holding close. Now that Cole is walking (running) around and we're seeing his personality, we see so many similarities between him and Eli. These two are already a handful but I wouldn't trade it for anything. They both light up when they see each other. Mornings are especially fun. Usually they both wake up happy and it's a great start to the day - sometimes just a wee earlier than we'd like. They're going to be the best of buds.....and that makes Mommy very happy.

Weekends are fun (and exhausting)

Every morning when Eli wakes up, he asks me if it's a "school day". He loves school but gets so excited when it's the weekend and we get to stay home and play. Saturday was a very busy day. Eli's friend Evan came over to play all morning. Those boys ran all over the place - inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs. They had so much fun. And tired each other out in the process. =) After lunch, Eli & Cole napped at the same time and Tim & I took some lazy time for ourselves. Then we headed to Tim's work cookout for the afternoon. The picnic / pig pickin' was a lot of fun. It's always nice to see Tim's coworkers and for them to see how the boys have grown. We spent a lot of time outside "playing" Cornhole - rather Eli running around throwing bean bags and dancing to the music. The funniest thing was when he ran from cornhole board to cornhole board telling me that there was an "E" and an "L" but no "I". He couldn't spell his name! He was so adorable telling me that there were no "i"s.

Sunday we did an early family trip to the grocery store. Tim had both boys in a race car cart and they loved going all over the store for items on my list. It was nice for me because I got moments of quiet here and there to actually grocery shop. Cole started yelling "Mama" really loud in the store then Eli joined in and I could hear them from aisles away. They were so cute together in the race car and fortunately there weren't too many people in the store. When we got home, Tim took Eli to get a hair cut and I put Cole in the stroller to head the same direction for a walk. Well, it took us longer than expected to get out of the house and Tim ended up pulling back into the neighborhood just as we were walking out. I gave Cole to Tim and put Eli in the stroller and took off on my walk. Tim grabbed the wagon and started pulling Cole the opposite direction. When we finally met up, I couldn't see Cole anywhere. Turns out, he had fallen asleep so Tim put the wagon seats down and laid Cole on his jacket. Cole was on his tummy sound asleep in the wagon. I was hoping to get a picture but Cole woke up before we got home. He was so happy after his little cat nap. Then we managed to do lunch and real naps. Again, Tim & I took advantage of the quiet time to relax ourselves. In the afternoon, Carol brought Ryan over and he & Eli ran around the yard like crazy boys. They were chasing after the ball and tackling each other. They ran, laughed and got muddy - just what boys do!

I must admit, although we tried to take advantage of down time over the weekend, Tim & I were pooped when the boys went to sleep. I think we need two weekends - one with the kids at home and one with the kids at school. Doesn't that sound like a great idea?!

Eli realized he could climb under our bed and hide from us.

Evan & Eli - dress up Superheroes.

Cole had fun playing outside with the boys.

Eli & Evan had so much fun pushing each other down the slide.

Eli pushing Evan.

Cole loved being in the "fort" with the big boys.

Eli playing a shortened version of Cornhole.

Cole had fun running around at the picnic.

Eli dancing around.

Must have been a good toss.

Cole got his first taste of hush puppies and loved them.

Tim getting his company windshirt from the President of the company - they nicely gave the employees a logo'd windshirt to celebrate the 20th annual picnic.

I just love this picture of sweet Cole.

Eli just had to see if his head would fit in the hole.

Eli also got a chance to ride on the pegs of Tim's boss's son's bike (did you get that?).

Eli thinks I'm a playground. This started as him being on my shoulders.

Eli made himself a Frankenstein sandwich Sunday - quite creative I'd say.