Changing blogs

It's high time that Eli shares naming rights to this blog with his brother. Come on over to our new blog. Be sure to change your bookmark!

Eli & Cole - two boys, one big adventure

Last weekend update

Last weekend, we treated ourselves to a very laid back weekend. The boys have been asking to stay at home, especially Cole, so we tried to do just that. Hang out at home and do as little as possible. The one thing we did get accomplished was haircuts for Daddy & the boys. You can see their #4 clipper cuts in this picture. The cuteness just makes me smile.

Much better

I decided that I wasn't that happy with the matching blue background on the dinosaurs. Changed it up a bit and MUCH happier. Now to get them on the wall!

Weekend Crafty

I made dinosaur artwork this weekend for Cole's big boy room. I couldn't find anything that I liked so I decided to make it. I started by making color copies of a few of the dinosaurs off his new comforter. Then I reconstructed them out of felt. Amazing what you can make with felt and a hot glue gun! Including the frames, I have barely over $4 in each picture - can't beat that!! I'm so happy with how they turned out and can't wait to see them in his room.

Spring pictures

Took me longer than usual to post these but here are the boys Spring pictures from school. Disclaimer: I did buy these photos so I don't feel guilty scanning them to preserve them in my digital scrapbook - aka the blog.

He is growing so fast.

You may not be able to tell but it looked like Cole still had tears in his eyes. I don't think he was happy with picture day.

Even though Cole wasn't happy, I do think this is a cute picture of him and Eli.

Grandpa, Grandma, Elmo, Fish and Otters - our weekend

Sounds like a fun weekend doesn't it?! This weekend, we went to Tim's parents' house - Grandpa & Grandma N. I'm not sure if they were quite prepared for the chaos that we brought with us but they were great sports about it.

We left out early afternoon on Friday to head down - picking Cole up from school early and Eli had stayed home with us (Tim took him to the dr for a check up). They were both excited for the adventure ahead and to get to Grandpa & Grandma's house. We had a pretty good drive down - short naps, lot of snacks and one potty / stretch break. Friday night, Grandpa grilled burgers and hot dogs and we just hung out around the house. Tim & I ended up splitting bed duty with the boys - he slept with Cole in the sunroom and I slept with Eli in Grandpa's den. It's a good thing we did that because there was a massive storm Friday night - thunder and lightning extreme. Eli woke up scared and upset during it (I was a little worried myself about all the booming) so we snuggled the storm out. Thankfully, the boys slept until a reasonable hour Saturday (I mean after 6:30am).

Saturday was a super fun day. The big plan was to go with Grandma to see Elmo at a local specialty store for story time. Lots of kids were there and our boys loved exploring all the treasures that the store offered. Story time turned into Song and Dance time and the boys had fun. After, we were able to say hi to Elmo and get our picture made. Cole loved Elmo until it was time to go up to him. Then he decided he didn't want anything to do with him. Eli surprised me that he gave Elmo a big ole hug. Cole took a great nap when we got back to Grandma's house but Eli didn't want to. He hung out, played and watched some tv while Cole napped. Saturday night, Grandma made yummy pot roast for dinner - Tim & I loved it but the boys opted for chicken nuggets, no surprise there! Saturday night sleeping was much better than Friday - still had a little rain but no big storms. Eli, having had no nap, fell asleep laying on me watching Mickey Mouse.

Today, we went to the Aquarium. The boys had a blast looking at all the fish. Cole ran all over from tank to tank telling us it was "fishy"s - he was so cute. Eli loved checking it all out and took particular interest in a few things (I'll illustrate through photos below). My favorite animals were the otters. Both boys liked looking at them - they were just so fun, doing backflips for us and swimming right in front of where we were. We also got to see the divers in the ocean tank. That was very cool. One diver had a microphone and was able to talk to the audience about the animals in the tank. After a while, Cole wanted snacks but he wanted to have them in the stroller. So I put him in - he has never asked to get in the stroller before - and it wasn't long before he was asleep. He wore his little legs out. We finished our aquarium trip with a visit to the museum gift shop, Cole got a fun book and Eli got a rubber snake (that he then named Ryan after his best buddy). Back to Grandma's for lunch and then we packed it up to head home. The boys did pretty well on the drive back. Eli was wound up and loud at first but then he crashed and settled down.

It was a great visit. I'm sure Grandpa & Grandma were glad to have the noise for the weekend but also glad to go back to some quiet. Tim and I were both ready for a little quiet tonight!

Headed to Grandma's

Saturday morning, Cole LOVED eating oranges. Ok, he really sucked the juice out and handed me the rest. =)

Clapping and dancing with Elmo

Elmo Sing and Dance time

See how not-happy Cole was. Eli however loved Elmo.

Big hugs!

Both boys are all about their Grandpas. I imagine Cole had just seen Grandpa in this picture, shouted "Pop Pop" and ran toward him. And Eli, all weekend, would look at Grandpa and say "I love you Grandpa". So sweet!

Yes Mom, I'm cute and I know it.

Bubbles

Touchdown! Cole was pooped after Elmo.

Eli showed Grandpa the program from Monster Jam and told him all the truck names.

Watching a little tv

This cracked me up - notice Eli's shoes.

A little outside kickball time

Hanging with Buddha - couldn't get Cole to sit with him. He was too busy trying, like Eli, to push things in the water.

This morning, they were fixing a puzzle together.

Headed to the aquarium.

Ribbit!

My favorite, the otters!

This is a great shot of Tim and Cole. I told Tim that he'd better watch out b/c he actually might start smiling for pictures soon. He's getting better at them. =)

Looking for otters

Cole found him a frog buddy too.

Turtles - always a fond spot in our life for turtles.

Family shot with our new crocodile friend

The diver to the right of the picture was talking to us.

Cole the hermit crab

An Eli hermit crab (something happened with the setting on my camera, it's blurry)

And a Daddy hermit crab

The time we spent at this touch tank was amazing. The volunteer told Eli all about horseshoe crabs. Eli listened, asked him questions, touched one and later, even picked a plastic one up in the gift shop and showed me where his mouth is. I couldn't believe he listened to the guy and remembered some of it.

I always love photos of Eli holding our hands. Here he & Grandma are headed to find something to look at.

They found lobsters. Eli loved looking at them.

He must have spent 5-10 minutes watching the two in this tank.

Cool jellyfish

I had to include this picture because of the one in this post

Big mouth

They had a fun exhibit of fake creatures where the kids could touch. Eli (and I) thought this hammerhead shark was cool

Giddy up Turtle

Back at Grandpa's - checking out things in his shop

Cole trying to throw the football to Grandpa - he and Eli are both built like football players!

Love Grandpa & Grandma N! Thanks for the fun weekend.

Last week

Trying to catch up on some of our adventures from last week before I talk about this weekend. So here we go!

Last Sunday we met Ryan & Carol for a picnic at the Airport Observation Park. Eli & Ryan had a great time running around, playing in the sand and watching airplanes land / take off.

Digging for pirate treasure - Carol & I started a game where we hid items in the sand with an "X" marks the spot for our little pirates to find.

Fun picnic

Running on the "runway"

Also lots of playing on the climbing spider.

This is also a fun game we've started. In the mornings, we "make" Eli & Cole. Eli loves to lay the clothes out and pretend it's a Flat Eli and Flat Cole.

Thursday night was a big night after school. We went to Eli's friend Evan's 4th birthday party. All of Eli's buddies from school were there and it was total madness. Imagine a large room of wild and crazy boys running around like they've been inside all day bored (however we know they got to play outside, they just have so much energy!). They all had a great time playing and we also had pizza / cake.

Evan (red shirt, b-day boy), Colin (orange shirt) and Eli

Climbing up - these boys were rough, body checking each other on the way up

Cole was really happy swinging.

What a crew!

Pizza time! Cole was so happy to be partying it up with the big boys.

My little fire chiefs

The tire swing was a BIG attraction.

The boys loaded it with as many as they could fit and laughed so hard.

Eli & Ryan

I think this was that night. Eli decided to line up all the trucks and wheeled vehicles downstairs. And this isn't all! We have many more upstairs!