Hay Ride? Dog Sled? Lawnmower trailer!

Does hauling your family around in a trailer pulled by your riding lawnmower make you trailer trash? What it comes down to is that Ryan likes to play with his toys. He got a new trailer this week (which conveniently can be pulled by the Jeep or by the lawnmower) because it will help him "when we reroof the house in June. We won't have to haul all of the shingles from the front of the house to the backyard." I am pretty sure roofs have been redone without the purchase of a trailer, but whatever. He is doing it with his buddies and their own physical labor, so I guess I can agree to the trailer if it saves us several thousands in labor costs! He thought Cole would enjoy a tour of our property, and gave us a very thorough (and very chilly) spin around the yard.

If you are free the first weekend in June and would like to help with the roofing project, we pay in pizza and beer.

P.S. That's TWO posts in one day, so I guess I'm trying to make up for neglecting it for so long!

LONG Overdue ..... sorry about the delay....

Okay, okay, we are bad parents. I promise, we have been doing fun things and taking fun pictures, but we have been SOOO busy, we have not had a chance to post them. So here is a collage of pictures from the past month or so...

In March we went to the Edge Waterpark again, and had a blast. We went to the zoo again, and have been very confused by this spring/winter on again/off again thing. We have packed away our winter things and pulled out our summer things several different times this spring.

Cole is a walking, running, full-blown toddler these days. He often makes requests (demands) for apples (appo) and bananas (nananana). Everyday he blows us away with something new. Today we found a long-lost pig that had been missing from Cole's farm truck. Ryan threw it in by the farm toy (you know, the barn we all had as kids; a totally separate toy collection), and Cole picked up the pig and brought it into the other room and put it on the truck where it belongs. We thought it was incredible that he was able to decipher pig from pig and remember where it went. His current vocabulary includes: up, please (up PEES!!); all done; eat (et); uh-oh; and apple juice. There may be more, as we seem to add to it everyday!

We are heading outside now where Daddy is going to pull Mommy and Cole around in the trailer behind the riding lawnmower. Fun, fun, fun!!! Maybe we'll even take some pictures and put them on the blog within a reasonable period of time!

Zoo Crew

On Sunday afternoon we went to the Lake Superior Zoo with Grandpa and Grandma Sharrow. We decided to buy an annual family membership, so we can go back anytime we want! Cole had fun looking at the animals, especially the turtles and fish. Since Mommy is on spring break (yippee) we plan to go back this week when Cole has had a better nap so he can fully enjoy the bears and other animals that we rushed through. We are also staying at the Edge Waterpark again on Thursday night! Then we will be heading down to Forest Lake to spend Easter with Grandpa and Grandma Iverson. Spring is almost here!!

Livin' on the Edge...

Here are a few more pics of our water adventures....

Splish, Splash!

On Thursday, our friends McKenzie and Gabe (who goes to Miss Nora's with Cole for preschool) had a room at the Edge Waterpark. Miss Nora came with us and we all got to play and splash until we shriveled up. Cole was not too sure about the water and excitement at first, and spent the first 15 minutes or so crying and refusing to let go of Mommy, but he soon warmed up to the fun and ended up having a blast. He wore himself out and started falling asleep in Mommy's arms on the lazy river! The earplugs are a pain and kept falling out, but miraculously we were able to find them everytime...stupid ear tubes! We have already booked a room for a night in March so we can go again. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Walking Wonder!!

Cole took it upon himself this weekend to finally start walking! He had taken a few steps before with some coaxing, but had never shown much interest. This weekend, on his own terms, he officially joined the walking club. Uncle Todd and Steph, here is your penguin pic! Thanks for sending me the sweet penguin for my birthday, Uncle Todd!!

First Birthday Party!

We had Cole's first birthday party on Sunday! It was intended to be a sledding party, but because of the extreme temperatures and wind chill, we had to relocate indoors. The only people to use the luge track that Ryan built in the backyard were adults....Anyway, we had a great time and Cole was spoiled with TONS of gifts! There were six boys ages 5 and under, and they kept things from getting boring. We had about 30 guests....and have decided that we may have to put the addition on our house before the 2nd birthday if we're going to keep having inside winter birthday parties! As you can see, Cole warmed up to the cake, and ended up getting more of it on his face and clothes than in his mouth. He cried through the entire "Happy Birthday" song because I yelled and scared him when he reached for the flaming candle....oh boy. Never a dull moment!

Wednesday is Cole's official first birthday. It is weird to think that one year ago I was on strict bedrest, as big as a house, and then exactly one year from tomorrow (Tuesday) night, we were packing up the car seat and diaper bag and heading to the hospital. I can't believe that the events of one day (well, okay, one night, nine months, and then another day) would change us forever into lifelong parents. A year ago Cole wasn't even here yet, and here we are with a beautiful one-year-old boy. Everyone told us he would grow up fast, but I had no idea how fast a year would go. Where is my newborn baby boy???

Our hospital gear all packed up in the kitchen at our old house, ready to go and get Cole!!