Christmas 2011

Halloween

The boys dressed up like Thing One and Thing Two again from the Cat in the Hat.

The boys dressed up as the same characters 2 years ago when they will still babies! I was the Cat in the Hat that year.

This year I couldn't resist having Thing Three on my belly! Baby boy #3 needed to be included too!

Our friend Nancy from church was the Cat in the Hat this year (I borrowed this same costume from her 2 years ago).

Michigan Trip

We went back to Michigan for our annual trip. It was a great visit with Matt's side of the family.
Cole family picture after dinner

We had so much fun at Imagination Station in Toledo, Ohio

In the space exhibit

In the crooked room

Silly daddy!

Pumpkin Patch

Jarin and I went along with Brady's preschool class to the pumpkin patch

The finished product: Pumpkin to Jack-O-Lantern!

Mountain Trip Pictures

This was the first time our little family of 4 had my family's cabin in the mountains all to ourselves. It was a wonderful trip. We went on tons of walks/hikes and enjoyed a lot of good family time back in the cabin. The weather was very nice. The only bad part was that there was a big fire in the area and so everywhere we went, it smelled like smoke!

In the picture below, Brady and Jarin decided that they were going to fight dangerous animals with their sticks. They were supposed to make mean, fighting faces but Jarin's turned into a smile before I took the picture!

Daddy took us all on a lovely canoe ride on the lake. What a fun memory!

More Mountain Pics

On our 2nd day there, we drove around in the Sequoia National Park to check out all the cool landmarks and try to find the base of the forest fire. We did end up finding it, it was mostly out by the time we came across it and all the fire fighters. It had started from a lightening storm! Here are the boys at the base of a waterfall.

A family photo in front of a different, much larger waterfall.

Even More Mountain Pics

A family picture on the back porch of the cabin before our hike on the last day. The boys are great hikers and can go for long distances!

On our way home we stopped to see the General Grant tree which is now the 2nd largest tree in the world.

Ahhh, brotherly love at last.

Baby Boy #3

We are very excited to be expecting another little boy in February!

13 Week ultrasound

Me at 13 weeks

18 weeks

Brady's 1st Day of Preschool

Brady started preschool a few weeks ago and this is him all dressed up for his first day of school! He is adjusting fairly well but still gets sad when mommy drops him off. I'm hoping that he will make friends soon and that it will help.

Jarin has been enjoying his time alone with mommy:)

Summer 2010

We've been busy this summer with trips, birthday parties, BBQs and just trying to stay cool! The boys did Vacation Bible School this year and had a lot of fun. At the end of June, we took them to Santa Cruz for a couple days to meet up with some friends from Oregon. We enjoyed the beach and had a low key time there. A couple weekends ago we joined some friends up at Huntington Lake at their cabin. Again, it was great to get out of the heat and have a relaxing get-away. I didn't take any pictures on these trips but I've included some funny photos of the summer.

My dad, "Grandpa" eating watermelon with 3 of his 5 grandkids.

The boys with some of the harvests from our summer garden. We are growing cucumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes, butternut squash, strawberries & carrots.

Jarin has decided that he's old enough to dress himself. However, this is what happens when he puts his own shorts on. It kinda looks like a miniskirt!

Our 2 boys are as crazy as ever!

Summer Video

Brady sings a lot in this video. If you don't know The Cheeseburger Song from Veggietales, you should probably check it out on the internet before you watch this. Brady and Jarin's versions are different but very funny, just the same!

Brady's 4th Birthday Party

We decided to have a dinosaur theme for Brady's 4th birthday party. When Brady and I were looking at different cakes on the internet, he saw one with a volcano on it and said that was what he wanted. I did my best to copy the picture. It was very fun to make (it is actually 2 cakes, one was baked in a glass cooking bowl). The rocks were crushed cookies and hard candies.

We were going to just have a family party but we ended up inviting some families from our neighborhood. Brady wanted a pinata but we couldn't find a dinosaur one at the store. A strawberry was close enough (who really cares what it looks like anyway, its the candy inside that counts)!

My niece Kate is rocking her sun glasses!

The big gift from us was a bike. His first bike! You can see that Jarin was a little unsure about his big brother getting one and not him. We can't get two of everything! Brady rides his bike almost every day since getting it. He rides it in circles on our back patio. Jarin rides the 4 wheeler so he can have something to ride too!

The party was a simple pizza dinner, pinata and visiting with friends and family! It was fun to host it in our back yard. We've never had that many people over at once but the back yard had plenty of room.

Brady's 1st Trip to the Dentist

I can't believe Brady is old enough to go to the dentist! A day before he turned 4, he had his first cleaning. His dental hygienist, Lisa, was very patient with him. Brady enjoyed the attention and didn't mind getting his teeth cleaned at all. Our little guy is growing up!

Monterey

The next day of our trip was spent in Monterey/Seaside
We had dinner on Fisherman's Wharf overlooking the bay.

The boys enjoyed the beach earlier that day

When we first got there Jarin had a run-in with a wave. It knocked him down and freaked him out. He also wasn't feeling too well so he snuggled in my lap until he fell asleep and then slept for 2 hours on the beach! He looks like a baby here.

What a great trip. So nice to get away and enjoy our little family. The boys are really growing up!

Gilroy Gardens

We had a great opportunity to get away as a family to Gilroy Gardens, a little theme park for small children. It was perfect for the boys since they could ride almost all the rides!

Here they are after running underneath a waterfall. Soaking wet!

Matt and Brady pretended to be scared of how high they are on the ferris wheel

Red tongues after sharing an ICEE