Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving was another successful one this year...

Thursday - off to Kathy's for lots of yummy food and for planning our Black Friday shopping.

Black Friday - this year we hit Walmart for their early sale at 8. We were there by 6 on Thursday and were able to scope everything our and get in all the lines before the chaos broke out at 8. Mom was in charge of video games with Cameron, Mike and Kim as back up. Good thing there were there since she got tackled by a 300 pound guy and Cameron had to rescue her. But the came out victorious with all the games were wanted plus more. 

Kathy took on DVDs and got lots of good deals there. I went to get a pillow and toys and was totally amazed by the craziness there was over some pillows and sheets. People were ready to fight to get the pillows and sheets they needed. The toys were easy to get and I doubt they even sold out.

Dad and Jerry stayed out of the chaos by waiting in the lines for TVs. Since they didn't go on sale until 10, those lines stayed calm and quiet while the rest of the store became a war zone. We also got some pjs for the kids even though I was threatened to be kicked out of the store for touching them before they went on sale at 8. 

After Walmart we stopped to fill up our tanks at Steak and Shake and headed to Kohl's to wait for them to open at midnight. We found everything we wanted there and were headed home before 1. 

All in all it was fun and successful, and most importantly (especially for Matt) I have gotten the Christmas shopping bug out of my system and he can proceed to finish our shopping online. I always feel like I need one big spree or it isn't really Christmas so this took care of it.

Sunday - Thanksgiving at our house!

We cook for Matt's mom, brother and sister in law and have for the past 3 years. Each year it gets easier and our turkey gets better. I tackle Matt's grandmother's stuffing recipe but that requires at least a 20 pound bird so that is always fun. This year our turkey weighed 24+ pounds, over 2 pounds more than our 17 month old turkey.

Our pretty bird this year!

Alex also enjoyed a special cupcake from Sage...

Here goes!

Poor cupcake!

On, On U of K....

Friday night we took the kids to the UK game and it was a night of "firsts". We found out that you could get tickets to the eRupption Zone for only $5 so we decided to take advantage and get a big group together to go. It ended up being Matt, Reagan, Alex, mom, dad, Sandy and John Cox and myself. We had our 2 regular tickets and then the rest of us got tickets to the eRupption Zone.

It was Reagan's first time in the eRupption Zone and she had a great time. She said it was the best game EVER! :)

Under the big UK flag that gets spread out at the beginning of the game.

It was also the first UK game for Alex. I had taken him to Big Blue Madness but we hadn't attempted a game yet since he requires a ticket to get in. Mom and dad took him up to our regular seats and I went to check on them for part of the first half. He seemed to really be enjoying himself and we even shared an ice cream cone. Another first for him. 

Pretty sure that looks says, "Mom, don't even think of taking this away from me!"

Just hanging out enjoying his cone and the game...

  

If you watch closely you can see Alex singing along with Nana to the fight song...

Practice and Coaching Pays Off...

Just a quick pat on the back for Reagan...

Last night Matt got an email from the coach of the Bluegrass Soccer Club inviting Reagan to join the team in the spring. Bluegrass is the select soccer club in Versailles so this is a big deal for her. And to make it an even bigger deal, she s joining the U11 team which is a year up from what she would normally be joining.

We are very excited for her. I know Matt was a nervous wreck when we went out to let her practice with the team last week and let the coach see her talents. But he was very positive, saying she did great, kept up with the team with no trouble and just needed to hone in on some technical skills.

I am so excited for her, and I know Matt is too. It will be weird having him on the side line as a parent and not the coach since he has coached every one of her teams but this is a great opportunity for Reagan and it won't be long until he is back coaching, starting all over again with a little 4 year old boy....

Halloween Fun!

Although this year wasn't Alex's 1st Halloween, it was the first one he could really participate in. We went down to the campground on Saturday for dinner, costume contests and trick or treating. Alex took home 1st place. But how could something that cute not win?? Especially dressed as a dragon!

Last night was his first time trick-or-treating. He walked right up to the doors with Reagan, held out his bucket and was thrilled to be getting things in it.

We quickly learned that we had to empty his bucket after each house because if we didn't, he was hesitant to hold it out, I am assuming he thought they might take the candy out of it.

It was a lot of fun even though it was cold and rainy.

Such cute kids!

Walking in the contest with Daddy.

Hamming it up for the judges.

The winners - 1st - Alex, 2nd - the lamb, 3rd - the butterfly.

Time for costume #2 - Thor. Goes with Sissy's Black Widow costume.

First time eating a sucker! LOVED it!

Helping sissy carve the pumpkin.

Touching pumpkin guts for the first time.

Not a fan. Pretty sure he was thinking "why in the heck are you doing that??"

Decorating the pumpkin Nana gave him with face stickers.

Ta da! Done!

Finished pumpkin (with help from daddy).

Reagan's finished pumpkin.

 **I have more pictures from Halloween night that I need to add. Stay tuned!

It's Madness!

If you know me at all you know I am obsessed with UK Basketball. So when I discovered that Matt, mom, dad, Kathy, and anyone else I knew was going to be out of town the night of Big Blue Madness, I was left with 2 options - 1) Stay home with Alex and watch on TV or 2) Take a 1 year old to a basketball scrimmage that doesn't start until 7 p.m. (keeping in mind he typically goes to bed at 7:30).

I am sure you know which option I went with. And to make things even more fun on myself, I took Reagan along as well.

It ended up being a great time. Alex got sleepy one time, didn't fuss, but just snuggled with mommy. We did leave before it was over and I am pretty sure he was asleep in the car before we got out of the parking garage. They both loved every minute of it and Alex was only concerned when the fireworks were the ones really close to us.

I will say, I was even more excited when they did a special moment with the banners. The one thing I hated to miss the most this year was when they raised the banner for the championship at Rupp. So when they brought out a player from every championship team, including Wah Wah Jones, and raised all 8 of the banners again, I was beyond thrilled. And it helped that we were sitting in the end zone where the banners were so we had an up close view of it.

Here are some pictures from the kids' 1st Big Blue Madness:

Only would have been better if Daddy was with us too!

Sleepy boy. Funny thing is, this was during the loudest part of the night - the boy's intros.

First Trip to Kings Island...

One of Matt's most favorite things in the world to do is to take Reagan to Kings Island. So he was very excited to take Alex there for the first time. We finally made it on October 7th and although it was chilly, we had a wonderful time. Alex rode rides with Reagan and then even rode one by himself! The lines were super short due to the weather and we were all able to spend the day together. Alex behaved all day and didn't even take a nap. But he sure crashed when we got in the car!

Hanging out with Snoopy!

On his very first ride, with Daddy!

Riding with sissy! He thought this was great!

Cute kids!

More fun!

So big!! So sweet!

The traditional picture of Reagan in front of the tower, now with an addition.

Riding all by himself! I will admit, mommy was a nervous wreck but it was great.

Having so much fun!

Calm and Gentle Child...

Yeah right!! Our child is nuts! Here is a prime example:

Fall = Orchard Fun!

Every fall we like to take the kids to the Orchard at least once, to play and to pick out a pumpkin. Last year Alex was really little so he didn't care much. He had a lot more fun this year on our visits.

Visit 1 - Boyd's Orchard

The trip to Boyd's Orchard turned into a family affair and was a ton of fun!

The whole crew!

Having a blast with pumpkins and gourds.

 

The traditional chair picture.

He was pouring food on the back of the goat and thought it was absolutely hilarious!

Tasting the apples from the Orchard.

Then I decided to take the kids to Evan's Orchard the weekend Matt was out of town for the UK/Arkansas football game. We had never been there but it turned out to be a great time. It was really windy so we didn't stay very long but the kids enjoyed the time we were there.

In the fortress made all of hay.

He couldn't pedal so mommy had to push him around but he still had a good time.

Walking in the big wheel!

 

Dancing Machine...

I know I have mentioned it before but Alex is quite the dancing machine!

Here he is just jamming to some of daddy's music. As soon as he hears it that little leg starts going...

This video is from earlier this week. His Nana bought him these 2 Snoopys from Hallmark and he just thought they were great!

Fun With Food...

I know, it has been an extremely long time since I last posted something to the blog and I have plenty excuses but instead of wasting time with excuses, I will just bombard the blog with new posts. :)

Life with a toddler, as I am sure you can guess, is extremely different than life with a newborn. One of the biggest differences in my opinion is meals. We went from feeding a crying baby whenever he was hungry a simple bottle, to a toddler that eats at meal times with the family, and eats what the family is eating, to an extend. However, our very stubborn toddler likes to do it all by himself. So that includes a much bigger mess than I had ever anticipated.

We have gotten lucky that he is not a very picky eater and has taken to most foods we feed him. He is particular about some textures - peaches especially - but overall it is not too bad.

I wanted to share a couple of the funnier good moments that I was actually able to catch with the camera.

Ravioli Fun:

I also like to call this one, "monkey see, monkey do" since he caught on to Matt and I blowing off his food when it is hot.

Here is the final result of him feeding himself raviolis...

He went straight to the tub after this!

And here he is eating butter noodles. Finally saying yes to something, for a while it was no to anything you asked him.

Another funny time with some turkey soup:

So good, it required 2 spoons!

Such a ham!

And I thought he was done so I tried to take the bowl away, guess I was wrong!

Finally, we will call this "like mother, like son" because this child LOVES his french fries, especially with ketchup.

A Boy and His Daddy...

I think I can say I witnessed the sweetest thing I have ever seen last night. Matt came home from soccer practice and I walked Alex outside to say hi to him. He wanted to mow the back yard before it got dark so I took Alex inside. He fussed a little that I made him come inside and tried to get me to take him back out. He even brought me my flip flops and his shoes so we could go out. I didn't want to get in Matt's way since he was in the back yard so I kept Alex inside. 

Then it happened. Alex went to the back door and would catch a glimpse of Matt every once in a while as he went across the yard. He would run back toward me, say "dada" and point out back and then run back to the door. Matt saw him standing at the door and when he would get in sight, he would make a funny face at him and Alex would just cackle and laugh. Matt said he could hear him laugh all the way outside. Then when Matt was out of sight, he would whine just a little. This got to me so I gave in and decided to take him out. When I grabbed his shoes the excitement rippled through him. It was visible how extremely excited he was.

So out we went and he just sat in my lap and watched Matt mow. He would still laugh when he would look at him and thought it was the greatest thing. There is nothing like seeing Matt with the kids. It makes me fall in love with him over and over again every time I see moments like this.

Indoor Shoes

Alex has become obsessed with wearing shoes. I think it stems from the fact that he would spend every waking moment outside if we would let him and knows he has to put on shoes to go outside. So he will bring us his shoes and want us to put them on him. He ran around one night in tennis shoes and pajamas until bed time. So we started putting "indoor shoes" on him to please him. The rest of the world calls these "indoor shoes" socks. :) But the other day while shopping with mom and dad I actually found Alex some indoor shoes - house shoes! He LOVES them. When you put them on him, he just giggles and thinks it is awesome. He actually wore them to bed last night and after he was asleep I went in and took them off so his feet wouldn't burn up. Such a silly little bird!

Rocking his new indoor shoes!

Random Cole Craziness...

I just wanted to share a few of the "every day" things we see around the Cole household:

Sleep animals galore!

I am sure in a previous post I have mentioned Alex's love of his sleep dog and sleep bear. If not, they are blanket type things with a stuffed animal head on them that he takes to bed with him and anywhere else he thinks he needs them. One day a week or so ago we thought we had lost sleep dog. Sleep dog is the favorite so this was a sad day. Sleep bear filled in the vacancy until we discovered that Alex must have thought sleep dog needed a bath because we found in him the dirty clothes hamper. Then 2 weeks ago Alex and Reagan went to spend the day and night with Nana and Poppy while Matt and I went to the UK football game. I received a call from dad saying they had no sleep animal. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal because they were at the Midway festival and could just run by the house to grab one but our garage door panel had quit working so they had no way to get into the house. However, I had just been to Tuesday Morning earlier that week and had noticed they were selling a new version of sleep dog there. So they stopped by and bought a new sleep dog which happened to come in a 2 pack with a new sleep bear as well. So now he has 4 sleep animals! We referred to the new ones as sleep dog and sleep bear 2.0. Alex knows the difference though, will sleep with any of them, but will always pick the original sleep dog if given a choice. And then some days, like this morning, he just wants all 4 of them even though it is really hard to carry 4 sleep animals.

Hard to tell but he has all 4 sleep animals. The dog you can see is the original best friend - sleep dog. You can see the heads of both sleep bears, the white head is attached to the green blanket and is the new one, the brown bear hanging over his arm is the original sleep bear. You can only barely see the blanket of the new sleep dog to the far left.

Silly Boy:

He is so random when it comes to his toys. Some nights he will play with every toy he has, other nights he ignores them completely. Last night he decided he needed to climb on top of his ball pit. Considering it is just a blow up, it just collapsed under him as he climbed it, and of course he just laughed. I had to laugh when I looked over at him playing the other night and saw him trying to sit and ride on a tiny little dump truck he has. 

You can barely see it but he is sitting on a little dump truck he has.

Rock Star:

Lastly I had to share a picture of Reagan on "Dress Like a Rock Star" day at school. She looked so cute with a crazy hair piece and fake eyelashes made out of feathers.

 

Foot Monster...

I thought I had posted a video of Alex and the foot monster before but I couldn't find it so here is another one. The one I thought I had posted was one day when Matt had made a tunnel between the couch and ottoman with pillows and blankets. Matt sat on the couch with his leg in the tunnel and would "get" Alex with his foot when Alex crawled in. Alex would squeal, crawl out as fast as he could and peer back into the tunnel to see if the monster was still there. Curiosity would get the best of him and he would go right back in and repeat the ordeal. It was really funny to watch.

Well, the other night, the foot monster returned!

And note his really cute long johns that he got for Christmas from Debbers. They have his name on the butt and are adorable!

Fun With Rakes...

I bet the amount of money spent on all the toys in our house is astounding yet our weird child's favorite toys right now are his plastic rakes, shovel, our big plastic serving spoons and some cheap tupperware. I had to get a couple of videos of him the other night with his rakes and tupperware because he was just having a grand time all by himself. He just walked over to the couch with rakes and tupperware in hand, climbed up and sat there playing. I think it is funny that he knows I am recording him in the second one and keeps looking up at me.

This video makes me laugh because of all the different things he does with the rakes.

Here is the second one where he notices me recording him.

Boys Will Be Boys...

Matt and I have talked before at how funny it is that boys have that desire to push trucks and cars around the house very early when little girls do not. Alex already loves all his trucks, cars, dozers, etc. You can't see the truck in this video but it a car hauler type truck that also signs after you push it for a while. I wasn't able to catch all of him pushing the truck, this started in his room and went all the way down the hall and into the living room. The funny part was that he would stop and dance when the music started and go right back to pushing once it stopped. Such a funny little boy.

And here is a picture from the last play date where he actually got down on his stomach to push around a little car. This is the first time he has done this and he was loving it.