In the Jungle

OK, so this will be the last birthday post. We had Cole's jungle party the Saturday after his birthday at his favorite park, Tumbleweed Park. The week of his birthday we had very unusual weather, it was rainy and cold (60-70 degrees). The morning of his party it was still rainy, and I was so worried we were going to have to cancel. Luckily the rain cleared up a few hours before, and the weather was perfect.

I decorated the ramada with jungle/safari animal decor and was playing some of his favorite songs on the IPOD, like "In the Jungle" and "Hakuna Matata". He did the cutest dance I have ever seen to "In the Jungle". It totally cracked me up when he was shaking his toosh. All the family showed up, and we had a nice BBQ.
Lexie made the cutest elephant cake ever and an alligator out of cupcakes; she should be a pro-they were absolutely adorable.
Cole had so much fun with all the family. Here is a slideshow of some of the pics.

Cole's Birthday Week

Cole turned three on May 20, and anyone who knows me knows that I am a firm believer in a birthday week, one day just isn't enough!! It was so fun for me to spoil Cole a little more than usual and think of his favorite things to do. Cole's birthday week started the Saturday before his birthday when we went to one of his all time favorite places...the zoo. He knows his way around the entire zoo, and runs from animal to animal. Lately he really loves the sunbear forest and loves to dance on a flagstone area that he calls the stage. It was pretty hot, so he had a run through the splash pad, a very enjoyable day.

His birthday was on Tuesday so we went to another of his favorite places, Grandma's house. She made him a cake to decorate with Madagascar characters. He loved smooshing them into the cake. He made us sing happy birthday like ten times so he could keep blowing the candles out.Then we went to the mall and Cole got some books at the book store and an elephant at Build a Bear that we have named Richard.

Since he loves animals, we thought that Cole would love to eat at Rainforest Cafe; boy were we wrong. He was pretty nervous from the get go; he really didn't like the big dark rocks in the aquarium. I thought he would warm up to it while we ate, and we chose a place close to the elephants. I didn't realize that it was going to be so dark and loud, and Cole just looked terrified. He kept asking why the gorilla was sticking her head out. We were at the table for a whole five minutes when Cole said, "I just want to go. I just want to go to Haji Babas." I think he is the only three year old who would choose Haji Babbas for his birthday lunch, good boy.

That night we had the first of Cole's parties with the family at Chuck e Cheese. He loves that place, and Caden had so much fun too riding on the cars. Clint and Grandpa put on a little show in front of the play camera, and Cole did a little dance, very cute. He got his first round of presents, the Little Einsteins rocket was a smash hit.

LIttle Fishy

Cole has been attending Swimkids for about a month now, and he has improved so much. His first lesson, he clung to the teacher and was terrified of going underwater. Today he had one of his weekly lessons and he did so well. He is almost doing "airplane" (backfloat)by himself and he loves going underwater. He is still nervous and keeps telling his teacher Lorainne not to let go when he is floating. It is so nice to see his proud smile after he does something correctly. The first two weeks he had the look of terror the entire time. He is looking forward to getting a medal when he floats all by himself. He is really loving swimming now, and loves to practice in great-grandma's pool with Daddy. I am so proud of him.

Springtime at Grandma and Grandpa's

Now that it is spring/summer at grandma and grandpa's, the place is overflowing with baby animals; chicks, baby peacocks, and kittens. These babies keep Cole very entertained. He has a real sweet side to him and loves babies. When he holds that baby chicks and kittens he talks in a soft, high voice and says things such as, "its ok baby, oh your so cute, it's ok babes." He also loves babies and little kids. He melts my heart. If he sees a baby at the park he will kneel down, put his hand on their face and say in a soft, high voice "hello sweetheart." So cute! He definitely needs a sibling soon.
Grandma and Grandpa have a little flock of chicks in their bird cage. The hen adopted all of the orphan chicks that we found, and is such a good mama. We named Cole's favorite chick "Rudy". He was the only abandoned egg that hatched in the incubator, and is the total runt. He is about half the size of the other chicks. The chicks are getting so big now, and they drive Romi crazy because they eat all of the lettuce that she puts out for the rabbits. I guess today the chicks managed to get up to the swing that is for the parakeets that also occupy the cage and they were swinging on it, pretty cute. Cole loves to hang out in the cage and take turns holding all of the chicks.

My Little Wonder

Well all these pictures were taken after Mitch's graduation. Cole and I were in the car waiting for Derek to get a QT (as always:) and Cole was being so silly, so I snapped away. I think if you watch them fast enough it could be a movie. His newest face was inspired by Jason. We call it "the thinking man." He is so silly, and since he was strapped in his carseat I was able to capture all these expressions, which is nearly impossible when he is on the move. I love this Rob Thomas song, it totally makes me think of Cole-my little wonder.

New Blog...

OK Brindy...Its on!!!! So this is our new blog, Brindy walked me through setting it up, but I haven't managed to add anything, hence my slide show with one photo. Now my goal is to outblog Brindy :) I am very new to this, but it will be fun to show some of the thousands of pictures that I take, mostly of Cole. Watch out Brindy, here I come.