Not Me! Monday

It's been awhile since I've shared my "not me" moments. That is no indication, however, that there haven't been any :o) I did not let Cole continue eating his snack after he spilled it in the shopping cart at Target because it was keeping him happy and quiet. That is gross. I also never use unhealthy snacks to appease him during shopping trips. My children only eat wholesome and nutritious foods. So it goes without saying that these words have never come out of my mouth: "Cole I'll give you an M&M if you take a bite of your carrots." That just doesn't make any sense. Kellen's crib is not still positioned at the highest mattress level even though every time I go in to get him he is trying to climb over the edge. I mean, seriously, I always say safety first! I have not been known to make my lunch out of "scraps" left over from my children's meals. What's wrong with a half chewed hot dog, cut up tomato and a half a slice of cheese for lunch? Why throw away perfectly good pureed fruit that shouldn't go back in the fridge again when I can mix it in my oatmeal? So I guess I better also admit that I have NEVER taken food straight from Cole's tray and put it in the blender to make a meal for K. Not me! I could not possibly be that much of a tight wad that I refuse to throw away food. Justin and I did NOT wait in line for almost 2 hours at a childrens consignment sale to get some great deals on toys and clothes for the boys. I am definately not dragging my feet on getting serious with potty training Cole even though I'm pretty sure he's ready. Kellen has not literally doubled in size in the last two weeks (well, ok maybe not literally) and is eating us out of house and home. I do not ever find myself daydreaming about what we may name our next baby. I am not ready for another baby. No, I'm really being serious...I'm not. Enough of these double negatives and implied thoughts in these Not Me! posts. I'm saying I'm really NOT ready. Oh, but wouldn't a little girl just be heaven :-D Maybe we'll name her Grayson, or Mia. Or how about Rowan or Gabrielle, and call her Gabby. And if it's a boy, maybe he'll be Beckett or Asher. I just love daydreaming about names, don't you? Ok, maybe it's just me. I'm pretty sure my husband will not almost fall out of his chair when he reads this. I can already hear the thud. And last, but not least...I have not gone another month without getting one single solitary professional picture taken of my second born. It's borderline neglect people.

So here are a MILLION pictures of the beach. Justin stayed home because of his work schedule, but I think he managed to still have a pretty good weekend. AHEM. He MAY have gone fishing all night long on Saturday night. I'm just saying. Cole had an absolute blast, especially with my cousin Cassidy "Cass." He didn't let her out of his sight the whole weekend, and she was so patient with him.

What's new? Well, I'll tell ya. Cole counts to ten! Not necessarily in the right order, but hey I think an imagination is good for kids. He is also getting pretty darn good with colors. I think his favorite color is orange. Jeez, could he be any more like his Daddy? He is still absolutely undeniably clinically obsessed with all things truck/tractor/train/airplane. He loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse and is getting approximately 12 teeth all at once. Ok, maybe just 4 but it seems like 12. Kellen is on the move. Not crawling, but army crawling. Why my children choose these seemingly more difficult modes of ambulation, I don't know. It's pretty cute though. Like I said he is in a MAJOR growth spurt right now and is eating more solid foods than I am. He is totally fearless and loves the bath and pool. He puts his face right in and comes up laughing. When he's in the tub, he lays right down on his belly and splashes until he's worn slam out. He's still a Mama's Boy (and I still hate it :o)). Justin's job is going well. He is much happier. The hours and schedule have been a challenge, but you can't have it all I guess. Me? I don't know. Not really anything new. I'm pretty sure I have an obsession with making lists. It's out of control. "To do" lists mostly. Grocery lists, baby name lists, home improvement lists, future goal lists, what I'd want if we were rich lists.... I just like lists. Maybe there are meetings. I really shouldn't write these when I'm so tired, it makes me wacky.

To check out what MckMama (the creator of Not Me monday) did NOT do this week, head on over to her blog.

"Ma Ma"

Music to my ears. "ma ma." :) I love you KK.


We're back from the beach and I have lots of pictures to share. I'll get them uploaded soon!

Beach and family

My babies are growing up way too fast.

I say that in almost every post and verbalize it to them and to Justin almost every day. But really, they are growing up way too fast. Today, at Harris Teeter, C and K both sat, side by side, in the car part of the shopping cart and had a ball playing with the steering wheels. It almost made me cry looking at them sitting there laughing and playing WITH each other. Of course I didn't have my camera with me, but it was priceless. It sure made the grocery trip a heckofalot easier on me too! A mom totally designed those shopping carts. I must admit I just ate it up every time someone stopped and said how cute they were. I must agree :o)

I have a lot to catch up on. A couple weekends ago we went to Emerald Isle with Justin's parents and brother so Justin could shoot with them in one of their tournaments (do you call it a tournament...that doesnt sound right?). Anyway, we stayed at my aunt and uncle's beach house (Gail and Van) and made a nice beach weekend out of it. Here is a pictures of Justin shooting with his parents, and brother, Joel. Don't mess with that Roger's family...especially that there lady in white...she could shoot the hair off a flea!

Cole was dressed to support. Side note: is it too much to ask to get a 21 month old to look at a camera and smile. I mean serioulsy people.

The beach weather was amazing, and it was so nice to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. Cole had a blast with Justin and Grandpa on a boogy board in the ocean and Kellen enjoyed some snuggle time with Grandma. Mommy enjoyed laying, unbothered by children, on the beach. I did have to strategically position myself out of Kellen's sight a couple times, but for the most part he did great letting me take some time for myself. I got some absolutely priceless shots of C and Grandpa, if I do say so myself :o) There's that smile!

Before we left for the beach we spent some time with Justin's dad's family. Lets see if I can get this right... C and K's great great aunt Rebecca and uncle Ralph were in town for a visit, so Grandpa and his sisters (Peggy, Rachel, and Judy) and their families all gathered for dinner. It was so nice to spend a little time with aunt Rebecca since she has had so many kind things to say about our family, and is an avid reader of this blog. She and Cole share the same birthday, and as you can see by this picture, she and Kellen got along pretty well too.

We were also really looking forward to seeing Aunt Peggy, who was down from North Dakota. I haven't seen her since she visited us in the hospital the day Cole was born. She promptly instructed me as soon as we arrived that I had to "hand over the baby at the door :o)" She was so great with Kellen, even though he wasn't in the best of moods. Cole took right to her as well. As you can see, he wasn't shy a bit crawling up in her lap and eating her corn on the cob. Aunt Peggy (who also reads my blog, thankyouverymuch), I have to tell you that the sweet little blue blanket with the elephant head is Kellen's absolute favorite thing. He finds it in his crib every night and snuggles it under his arm. I'll have to send you a picture. Sometimes I find him asleep with the elephant nose in his mouth because he falls asleep chewing on it. Sweet boy.

Here is Aunt Rachel helping Cole with a puzzle. He's learning his numbers and colors so he was really intrigued by this puzzle. We're way overdue to buy the poor boy some new puzzles. His animal and shape puzzles are a bit outgrown.

We've been spending our days at the pool, park, or on our swingset a lot lately. C and K both love to be outside. We've really been enjoying getting to know our neighbors and their kids. My mom still talks about how great it was having the adult and kid friendships that we had growing up in our neighborhood, and I hope we will have the same memories. Cole has really taken to the little girl next door named Leah. She is the cutest little 3 year old girl and Cole just thinks she hung the moon. He talks about her non stop and points out the window at her house. We were outside this evening and when Leah came outside you should have seen how fast his face lit up. He hollered "Leah! Hi!" and started running up the driveway to see her. It's really pretty precious, but I can already see it....give it about 12 years and Leah's mom, Michelle, and I may not think it's so cute. They will be trying to sneak out of the house. Oh! I can't even think about it!

We also had a fun visit from Shelly recently. She is so sweet to drive so far to come visit us a few times a year. We took full advantage of her visit and went to the pool and the mall (I rarely make this venture on my own) and she and I even left the boys home with Daddy to celebrate our friend Maria's birthday. I can't believe these are the only pictures I got of her visit. I couldn't believe how my "mamas boy" Kellen took right to her. Justin joked that she had only been here for 5 minutes and K already liked her better than him. Not true, silly Daddy, but pretty funny because he really did seem to love her. Of course I've forgotten all the funny stories I wanted to talk about. I really need to start writing them down again. I know I've had MANY "not me" moments but I can't seem to think of anything right now. That's what I get for trying to do this at 10pm. One cute thing Cole is doing now is confusing his pronouns. He's talking a lot more these days and saying a few phrases. His newest is "help you." I ask him "do you want me to help you?" so when he wants help he says "help you mommy." So cute! The first thing that popped into my head to write about Kellen is how active he has been lately. He will roll and squirm and scoot clear across the room and literally climbs all over you. He squirms and moves non stop. I told Justin the other day that he is going to be our child that we find sitting on top of the refigerator. Cole is laid back and even keeled, and Kellen has the FIRE in him. I guess you could say Cole is much like his Daddy, and Kellen like me. Fire? What fire? I don't have a fire in me (hehe). I leave you with a sneak peek of my next wall collage.