Brandon- the mighty hunter

Brandon and Eric went for a "drive" and came back with a little surprise. Boy was Brandon excited about the pheasant they shot. He was talking as fast (and as loud) as he could when he telling me about it.

Brandon: "Mom, it was so cool. I was lookin out the window when we were going around a corner and I saw this bird by Granny's. I told daddy to shoot it. We followed the bird's foot prints and then we shot it in the neck. We just shot it with a shotgun. I carried it to the car by it's feet."

Mom: "Oh, poor little bird. What about it's kids? You shot their dad!"

Brandon: "You're silly mom, birds don't have kids. Let's eat it. First we have to take it's guts out. Then we can eat it. "

Hmmm. . . 3 years old. Is he to young for this kind of stuff?

So proud!

I do NOT like to eat wild birds. . . or wild anything for that matter. I think I'll have cereal for dinner. Eric and the kids can eat the "chicken".

Preschool Christmas Program

Brandon's preschool Christmas program was a few days ago. He knew all the songs and did such a good job!

What a handsome little guy, huh?

(Ignore the horrible quality of the video. I was out of tape for my video camera so I had to use my digital camera. )

Gingerbread fun. . .

Both the kids stayed home sick from school today. Brandon has impetigo (a weird skin infection that's super contagious) and Lexi has a nasty cold. Oh, and I'm getting over strep throat (day 3 of the z-pak and I'm FINALLY feeling better). Any way. . . the kids were bored so we got out the ginger bread house kit I bought a few days ago. They had lots of fun making their own little ginger bread village and eating lots of frosting and candy, which is the best part right? Any way, it was a peaceful day (except for waking up with no water because of frozen pipes and ending the day with a trip to the ER for staples in Brandon's head.) :)

Working hard. . . .

It's snowing!


All done. . .

Brandon thought it would be fun to use his train table as a bike ramp. He set the table against his bed and rode his little four wheeler down it. Not sure what happened but I heard a big crash and he came running out with blood all over his face. As soon as I got the bleeding to slow down a little bit I took a look. I could see his skull. . . so I knew he'd need staples. My mom braved the weather (9 below zero. . . YUCK) and hung out with Lexi while I took Brandon to the ER. He was so proud of him self for not crying when the Dr. put the staples in. Poor little guy.

My brave litte guy. Cute with impetigo and all :)

Well, every one is settled for the night. It's final's week. . . I should study, but my bed is calling my name. I better go see what it wants. Good night!

We did it. . .

After lots of debate, we decided to get the H1N1 vaccination. I was on the fence about getting the kids vaccinated. We get the seasonal flu vaccination every year. . . but with the H1N1 it was hard to get real information. There are SO many misconceptions about the shot that I have to admit, even I was a little nervous. (We got the nasal mist- do a little research before getting to freaked out by a "live virus").

I have to do community service for school so I signed up to help with the H1N1 vaccine clinic at the Public Health Department today. After talking with the public health nurse and reading lots of information I decided we'd better get it. So. . . it's done. Lexi, Brandon and I are all vaccinated. Eric doesn't qualify (he's not in any of the high risk categories) so hopefully he stays healthy. It's nice to know that my kids won't end up looking like this:

Another movie night. . .

That's right. . . another movie night. Once again, homework is piled high and I've been procrastinating my major research paper. So, I bought the movie "Up" and the kids are bathed and ready for bed with popcorn in hand. The only trouble is, I want to see the movie too! :( Any way, back to the books I go!

Nature Walk

I took the kids for a nature walk the other day. . . it was lots of fun. I printed a list of things they needed to find and each had a pen to mark it off once they found it. We're trying to enjoy being outside while the weather is still tolerable! I'm DREADING winter!

Looking for a spider. . .

Ahh- aren't they sweet!

Trick or Treat

I know- I'm behind. But here are a few pictures of Hulk and Princess trick or treating!

Eric LOVES to trick or treat and was really excited to take the kids. I wanted to go to the community Harvest Party where they have fun games and the kids win a little candy. Eric insisted we trick or treat "for real" so we went from house to house for almost 2 hours. The kids had a blast! At one point, Brandon started refusing candy saying that he had enough. We ended the night by stopping at Granny and Pappy's for some home made marshmallow popcorn balls. Yummy!!

Poor little guy- he was SO tired!

Carving time!

Of course the kids picked out the BIGGEST pumpkins they could find. It was lots of fun watching them scoop out the pumpkin guts. Surprisingly, Lexi really loved it and Brandon wanted nothing to do with it. I thought it would be the other way around. Since when does Brandon worry about getting messy!?!

I love Lexi's face. . .

Brandon "trying to be a man"- that's what Eric kept telling him :)

Pumpkin Patch

Ok- It's catch up time!

We headed out to the pumpkin patch Halloween Day. Eric was working 3pm-11pm and Lexi is in school from 8am-3pm. Obviously those schedules don't mix and we had no time to go to the pumpkin patch or carve pumpkins together. We were really sad to see that there were no good pumpkins left at the pumpkin patch. The most important thing is that we got some cute pictures right? We have taken the kids to the same patch for 3 years now. It's kind of a fun tradition. (We ended up getting pumpkins at the grocery store)

Look at how they've grown!!

October 2007

October 2008

October 2009

Rub-a-dub-dub 5 kids in the tub!!

I'm watching my sister's kids for a few days. . . this is what bath time looked like tonight! Aren't they cute?!

Seth (5) Lexi (5) Ashlyn (3) Brandon (3) Brenna (2)

5 kids under 5 years old. . . . the house looks like a bomb went off but we had fun! Needless to say I'm exhausted! Bed time wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. There are 2 kids in my bed and one in the playpen in my room. . . maybe I'll sleep on the couch. We need a bigger house!

Parent Teacher Conference

I went to Lexi's parent teacher conference this morning. Her teacher had nothing but good things to say about her. *Phewf* I'm happy that she's doing so well, I really worried about sending her this year. She's one of the youngest in her class. I worried about her behavior too. She can get pretty ornery and bossy sometimes. . . but her teacher didn't mention any behavior/social issues. She can name 26/26 letters in upper and lower case, knows all their sounds and is beginning to read. She can count to 38, has good fine motor skills, and is exactly where she should be with math. Any way, it's okay to brag sometimes right?

Smarty Pants

Lexi's starting to read! It's so cute to hear her sound out the words. The concept that letters make sounds. . . and sounds make words. . . has finally clicked! Here she is reading her first book. . . .

Brandon was begging me to video him doing something. I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "I can sing the alphabet". . . what?! I've never heard him say the ABC's before. He's tried a few times but has never gotten past "E"- he's just never been that in to learning it. He's been in preschool for about a month now and is finally starting to like it. He calls it "Day care school"-kinds funny. Any way, here he is. . . singing the alphabet with hardly any help. (Notice the Hulk gloves. . . once he was done singing, he got a mad face and was ready to go beat something up. . . he's such a boy)

The end is my favorite part. . . "next time don't sing with me. . . ." :)

Ahh! Aren't the cute?

Pocket treasures

I was cleaning out Brandon's pant pockets tonight and this is what I found. . . .

2 army men, a motorcycle, a rock, caps, a crayon, 2 plastic bullets, a target, an indian, caps, a dinosaur, a golf tee, a key and .47 cents. (at least I didn't find a frog right?)

I'm not sure how he fit all that into one pocket. No wonder his pants were falling down all day :)

Brandon's bedtime prayer. . .

Brandon's bedtime prayer. . . what a cute boy :)

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please help mommy not to get a ticket
Help her car not to be a race car
Bless daddy that he will not get burned welding
Bless daddy that he will not shoot his foot when hunting
Help me be nice and not hit
Bless sissy not to hit me
Bless the food to help me get strong muscles like Hulk
Amen.


I haven't gotten a ticket lately, Eric hasn't been burned or shot in the foot (thank goodness). Not sure where he comes up with some of this stuff. Now the hitting. . . this is something we're working on. They've been particularly bad about hitting each other lately, not sure what to do about it. Nothing seems to be working. Any ideas?!

Something I Swore I'd NEVER do. . .

You know how it is. . . you have a mental list of things you'd NEVER do when you had kids. For example: my kid will NEVER cry during church, my kids will NEVER have a nasty runny nose, my kids will NEVER eat hot dogs (do you have any idea what those things are made of? me either). Any way, you get the point. Well, one of the things I'd swore I'd never do is feed my kids T.V. dinners and let them eat it. . . that's right, in front of the T.V. I'm all about eating real food at the dinner table as a family. But. . . .

Today was not a good day. I'm piled high in home work, we have no groceries, Eric's working until 11pm and I'm tired. So I took a quick trip to get the kids dinner and a movie. They were SUPER excited to have their first T.V. dinner ever.

We got home, I heated up the Kids Cuisines. . .turned on the movie and dug into my homework. They are in bed now, fast asleep with garbage for food in their tummies. (I was sure to put some fresh veggies in Lexi's lunch for tomorrow) . Perhaps it's not normal to feel so guilty. . . at least I fed them dinner right? :)

Excited to watch "Honey I shrunk the kids" (a 1990's classic)

Yum! Yum!

I'm Back!!

We did it!!! we went 30 days Internet/cable free. (we turned it back on quite a while ago, but I've been too busy to blog) It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was a fun way to end the summer- lots of family time.

Any way. . . life is crazy as ever around here. Lexi turned 5, Grandma Cole came to visit, Brandon started pre-school, I started my LAST year of nursing school and Lexi started kindergarten. I have a lot to catch up on and tons of pictures to share. . . but not tonight. I have lots of homework, a load of laundry to fold and clinicals early, early, early in the morning.

Stay tuned. . .

It's time for a vacation. . .

It's time for a vacation- from internet and cable, that is :) That's right, we're going internet and cable free for 30 days. It's so easy to waste hours of precious time wandering around on the internet. It's even easier to waste time watching TV. We want to enjoy these last few weeks of summer with nothing to distract us. We'll be turning the internet back on in September, but only because I HAVE to have it for school- cable will be left off.

We've gone four days so far. (I'm at my parent's house borrowing their computer at the moment) At first I thought the kids would go crazy with out morning cartoons- the whining is getting less and less and they are actually beginning to play with their toys and use their imaginations :)

And as for my self. . . I get SO much more done during the day. I have to admit it was hard for me at first too. I've been making breakfast, playing outside, folding laundry, reading. . . . and when the kids go to bed, I do too! There's nothing else to do. Any way. . . call me crazy, most people could never survive, but I really think it's what's best for us- at least for now :)

In other words. . . blog post from the Cole Family will be few and far between for a while.

File Folder Fun

I have the file folder bug! I made 15 games over the weekend- my hand is still cramping from all the coloring and cutting!

Lexi LOVES file folder games :)

Brandon playing the animal alphabet game



Lexi using Brandon as a calculator

Subtraction Fish- My sister made this one

Matching Frogs

Wishing Well Alphabet

Vegetables vs. Fruit

Sunflower Reading

Shape City

Both kids have surprised me with how fast they pick up on new concepts. Lexi figured out subtraction in no time and Brandon knew fruits vs. vegetables the first time he tried. Any way. . . I just ordered a new book to make more. Fun Fun Fun!

Fun in the Sun

I got to work this morning. . . and was reminded I had the day off. :) I was more than happy to come home and play with the kids instead of work! We were out side almost all day. We played in the sprinkler and played with water balloons and bubbles. It was a perfect summer day and the kids had tons of fun.Filling balloons with a syringe- it worked great :)

I know- I know- I shouldn't let them bite the balloons but the picture I snapped was priceless!

Brandon running over his water balloon with his bike. . . he thought it was pretty funny

Mischievous little boy :)

Playing in the beach ball sprinkler. . . .