Late November -- Mid-December

Well, we've been getting harassed for not updating our blog frequently enough, so I would like to provide some excuses for our negligence in this area. In the past few weeks, we have had two extremely busy work schedules, developed three cases of strep throat and a case of pneumonia, made four trips to the doctor, picked up four prescriptions, planned a baby shower, plowed about 20 inches of snow, organized and executed a major fundraising event, purchased and wrapped Christmas gifts for 63 people in local shelters, taken two sick days to stay home with a sick kid, attended two work Christmas parties, and still have somehow managed to purchase and wrap almost all of the Christmas gifts for our own family members...and a partridge in a pear tree!

As you can see from these pics, Cole had his first professional haircut just before Thanksgiving (finally no more unskilled haircuts by mom). The salon where I just started going is owned by our PTA president and she has this sweet race car toddler chair where Cole could sit while he got his hair cut. She also gave him a squirt gun so he could squirt himself in the mirror, but he preferred to squirt Mommy instead. She did a great job working fast and keeping Cole busy!

We are now preparing for Christmas...Have a wonderful holiday!!!


Now

Fall Fun

These are some gorgeous pics that Nora had taken by one of the kids' moms. Okay, so Cole's shirt is buttoned wrong, but Nora had a lot of kids to prepare for pictures that day!

We just got back from a wonderful Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Iverson's house...complete with early shopping on Black Friday!

Other than that, we are busy decorating the house and preparing for the holidays, as well as thinking about names for our baby boy, due to arrive in just four short months!

Costume Collage

Our little gonkey

The Haunted Hayride

Trick-or-Treat at Boo at the Zoo

Cole's first jack-o-lantern. Ryan copied a face from a jack-o-lantern decoration. Cute, huh? Cole is obsessed with his "gunkin."

Giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters with Grandma

Cole has gotten our money's worth out of this year's costume. He has been a monkey ("gonkey") four different costume events this October!

First he wore it to Evan's 3rd birthday party, which was a dress-up event. Then he wore it to Boo at the Zoo. Then we went to the Costume Ball at my school, and then of course, on Halloween.

We took Cole trick-or-treating for the first time this year. We decided to go to Grandpa and Grandma Sharrow's neighborhood. We have learned after two Halloweens in this house that it is not a trick-or-treating hot spot. We went to four houses in Grandpa and Grandma's neighborhood. Although it was nice out, Cole got tired of walking and we got tired of carrying him. Plus, we really didn't see a huge need for tons of candy. Cole ended up having more fun handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to the house anyway.

Fall Fun

Our driveway a couples of weeks ago....

Swimming with daddy....with earplugs and headband....hopefully the Bartons didn't judge us!

The waterslide

Okay, so these leaves had all fallen by the time I got these pics posted, but better late than never I guess! A couple of weeks ago our friends from college, Todd and Bridget, came up to visit. They have three kids now and invited us to their hotel Thursday night for pizza and swimming. Then on Saturday we all went to Boo at the Zoo. The Haunted Hayride was the best part.

The video of Cole falling asleep is from this Friday. We both had Thursday and Friday off, so we had some family fun. After a hike in the woods, Cole was having trouble staying awake during lunch.

The other video is from Grandma and Grandpa Iverson's house last weekend. They got Cole this "Retro Rocket" for Christmas last year, and he's been a little bit afraid of it...until now. When it blasts off, the seat vibrates and it freaks him out. However, Daddy has introduced a new element to the rocket, and now it's a hit.

Never a dull moment...

These videos were taken awhile ago, just in the interest of full disclosure. We're pretty sure that the jumping video is a sign that we will be spending quite a bit of time in ERs in the years to come.

Great Lakes Aquarium

Sunday afternoon we went to the Great Lakes Aquarium with Grandpa and Grandma Sharrow. Who knew it would turn out to be the Educators Open House during which teachers' families get to go for free? What are the odds? Anyway, Cole LOVED watching the otter, seahorses, and fish. He squealed every time the otter swam by him. There are places where kids can touch a stingray and sturgeon....Cole had no interest in touching the stingray (smart kid) but had no problem touching the sturgeon. I have a feeling we'll be going back pretty regularly!

Bayfield Apple Fest

Playing on the tires with Daddy at the marina playground

First Merry-Go-Round Ride!

Evan was so nice to show Cole which apples were ready for picking and which ones were not.


On Saturday we continued our tradition of going to Bayfield for their annual Apple Festival. We branched out and did some new things there this year, since it was our first year attending with our very own toddler. For example, we had never gone into the carnival before, but Cole needed to ride on the Merry-Go-Round with Evan. Also, we hadn't made a habit of stopping by the playground to play, but it seems is may now become part of our routine. Cole and Evan had so much fun playing together and talking about apples. After we all got back to town, everyone came over to our house to eat (more) and hot tub....except for Evan, Cole, and myself, who are not allowed in the hot tub. Bummer.

Catch-Up

Cole climbed into this bin and pretended to drive it like a car. Then he wanted
Daddy to get in too, but only his feet fit.

Wrestling with the big stuffed lion (and of course, juice)

Standing on the weird indoor lightpost at Tobies in Hinckley when we met Grandpa and Grandma Iverson for dinner one Sunday night.

Cole got his own potty chair! He's not quite ready to use it yet, but he is excited about it and we are hoping he will start thinking along those lines....

As the primary blogger in our house, as well as teacher, I apologize for the lack of September posts. September is always crazy for me, but things are starting to settle down a little bit. Of course our big news is that we are expecting to add another bundle of joy to our family in April! We are looking forward to expanding our little family to include one more member! We hope to find out whether Cole will be a big brother to a little sister or a little brother so we can prepare him (and ourselves, and the house) for the big arrival. Here are some random pics from September.

Spider Lake Golf Resort, Hayward, WI: August 14-17

Fun on the boat

Watching Uncle Brad tube








Steering the boat with Grandpa

Cole and Mommy tubing (very, very slowly)

Riding in the golf cart (although Cole kept calling it a tractor)

Cole didn't even seem to notice he didn't have his bath toys when he was in this gigantic tub.

Famous Dave's on Round Lake

Famous Dave himself with Cole and me (Cole looks ticked because I tried to make him sit on Dave's lap for a picture. Did not go over well).Famous Dave being filmed saying "Famous Daves: The best barbeque in the country" over, and over, and over, and over again. They took A LOT of takes of this.

Leaving Famous Dave's dock

Cutie Patootie

Last Thursday we spent time with Grandpa and Grandma Iverson and Uncle Brad at Spider Lake Golf Resort in Hayward, Wisconsin. It is the same place we stayed last year, and we are starting to catch on to the best things to do in the area. Last year we went out to eat at Garmisch, this really unique place in Cable. But this year, we had been out boating and didn't feel like getting all dressed up. So we decided to go to Famous Dave's. Turns out, you can dock your boat right at the restaurant. Perfect. To make our adventure even more special, who ends up being at Famous Dave's? Well, Famous Dave himself, of course! He was there filming some training video for the other Famous Dave's restaurants. And of course, Brad had to be "that guy" who asks him to take a picture with us (he lives in L.A. and does it all the time to random stars he meets, so it doesn't even faze him). Luckily, Dave obliged.

We spent the majority of the weekend relaxing, golfing (the guys), watching the Olympics, eating, and boating. Ryan was able to join us Saturday morning after Mark's wedding Friday night. It was a great trip, except that I had to ruin it by turning 30 on Sunday. Oh well.