Cole is Two at the Zoo!!

Looking at the animals with Grandma Iverson

Ozzie

Two big bellies. Ready....to....pop.

More Ozzie

Happy Birthday dear Cole....

Yummy! Cake!

Buzz, Woody, and Bullseye!

Magna Doodle

An add-on kit for Cole's train set

Looking at the animals with Evan and Grandma Iverson

Playing with Gabe

BIG bear and Uncle Todd

Cole is turning two this coming Friday the 13th, but we celebrated this past Saturday at the Lake Superior Zoo with family and a few close friends. We had a visit from Ozzie the tortoise and a chinchilla, ate pizza and cake, opened presents, and toured parts of the zoo. We had a blast, and hope everyone else did too! Cole got some great gifts and is enjoying playing with them. I can't believe he is almost TWO!!

Lutsen and Bluefin Bay Resort

Cole was not too sure about the gondola ride to the top of Moose Mountain.

What icky fogginess!

Little fishy. Hopefully those tubes will fall out soon and we won't have to mess around with the earplugs anymore.

To celebrate the big birthdays in our family, Ryan's 30th and Grandma Sharrow's xxth, we spent the weekend of January 30-February 1 at Bluefin Bay Resort in Tofte, MN so everyone could get in some good skiing at Lutsen Mountain. Well, most everyone. Cole and I were unable to ski, but we took the gondola up to the top of Moose Mountain to meet the others for lunch. Unfortunately, it was unbelievably foggy and a little rainy, so the skiing wasn't very good and the normally gorgeous view of Lake Superior as you ski down the mountain was indiscernible. We all had fun anyway, and Cole and I got to go swimming twice! Lucky for me and my self-esteem, we had the pool all to ourselves.

Christmas 2008 -- albeit, a bit late

Better late than never! But I refuse to admit where we found the camera cord....Christmas Eve at our house: the calm before the chaos.
Cole wore the suit that Ryan's Aunt Debbie made for Ryan when he was Cole's age!

This Christmas was so much fun. Cole loved opening his presents, although he is so spoiled that he actually got tired of opening them and had to be repeatedly reminded to keep opening. We had four Christmases, sort of. On Christmas Eve we had Christmas with Ryan's extended family. There were 21 of us, I think. After church we all went back to Grandma and Grandpa Sharrow's house for dinner and then presents. All of the people and animals (did I mention the four cats and four dogs???) were a little overwhelming for Cole at first, but he quickly warmed up to the large crowd and took over as the center of attention. Better not get too used to that, Buddy!! Baby Sharrow #2 is not far behind! Next year, I guess there will be 22 of us....scary.

Buried in gifts...what troubled economy?

Cole and Dana (and Curious George)

Oh my gosh!! A huge truck!!

And it's full of MegaBlocks!!

This thing is a crazy spinning snow globe thing. It is truly crazy.

Playing with Dana

and Jeff

Early Christmas morning, we had our own Christmas, just the three of us, at our house. We have decided we like this tradition. We started it last year, and it gives us a chance to be just our little family, enjoying Christmas morning together. More presents....it never ends. Poor kid.Ooh! A train set!

New DVDs!! One can only watch "Monsters, Inc." so many times.

Helping Daddy put together the train table.

Reading intently about the latest adventures of Curious George.

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A few hours later, long after we had opened all of our presents, put them together, played with them, eaten breakfast, and gotten dressed, we headed back over to Grandpa and Grandma Sharrow's house where the last few Sharrows were just getting up. Ahhh....I remember those days.....It has been nearly two years since we've slept past 5:30.....even on the weekend. Again more presents. Cole has it rough. Seriously.



After a filling brunch, we packed up and headed down to Forest Lake to spend the remainder of Christmas Day with the Iverson side of the family. It is so funny how different the two experiences are: 21 people and 8 animals down to six people and no animals. They are both fun, and it is nice to get to experience both, but almost like whiplash to have them on the same day.

Reading Dr. Seuss with Grandma Iverson....wearing the Santa hat that Grandpa finally got Cole to agree to wear....

Um, yes. That would be more presents.

Yes! Building blocks!

Opening the musical instruments from Uncle Brad: a drum, maracas, a
harmonica, and a tamborine. Very fitting gift from someone who lives hundreds of miles away and is therefore well out of range. Just wait. You know what they say about paybacks....

Cole had to settle for the Merry-Go-Round at the Maplewood Mall when we arrived at the Minnesota Zoo just one hour before closing time. Didn't anyone think to check the hours on the website before we left???

Cole didn't seem too disappointed after Grandpa continued to

shell out $2 after $2 for ride after ride.

Uncle Todd and Cole in their matching jackets

When we got back to Duluth, Ryan's extended family, most of whom were still in town, decided to go on a sleigh ride. We drove out to the country and had an amazing time being pulled by these two gorgeous, enormous horses. It was cold, but we had hot chocolate and hot cider afterward and then dinner out at The Sunset.

Our family of three.... for a bit longer anyway!

Sorry Jason!

Since I know Jason will harrass me for not having posted Christmas pictures yet, I will explain the trouble I am having this time: apparently during the chaos that was our Christmas holiday, we have misplaced our camera cord! That means, until we find it or buy a new one, there will be no new pics on our blog!! This is really unfortunate for those of you who check our blog regularly, as we have some really cute pics! I will try to remedy this situation and get some new pics up soon! Happy New Year!!

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!!!


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