Fun with Santa

Elf on a Shelf

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Old Soul

Things Ryan has said to me today:
"My little mommy love" (as he gave me a hug sweetly)
"Ramone doesn't look very pleasant in this picture, Mommy" (while "reading" one of his Cars books)
"That just cracks me up when I see a little car like that" (when we walked past a VW bug in the parking lot at music class)

What 3 year old talks like this?

And just like that it was winter

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Grandpa reads courderboy to Ryan and Colvin plays dressup

Damn Squirrels

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Like REALLY cool

My uncle is cool

Slide

Girls

When I tried to get a better shot

Colvin fell in the mud.

A boy and his tractor

Train at Pitt airport

We made it! It was a long day full of exciting new things (like this lighted circle). Ryan claims he will work at the airport when he gets older so he can touch all the cool things he saw (that mean mommy wouldn't let him play with)!

One serious diver

Where's blankie?

Colvin loves her jewels

Perfect hair

Colvin usually wakes up with perfect hair so this is a rare moment

What a Difference a Year Makes

This is October 10, 2009.  A couple inches of snow fell at one of the earliest times in Minnesota history.

This is October 9, 2010.  85 and gorgeous.  Record temperatures.  What a difference a year makes.

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My Aunt and Uncle

We went over to my Aunt Jill and Uncle Greg's for dinner this past weekend for a get together before my cousin has her new little bundle (2 weeks to go!). Jill had some activities planned and whisked Ryan away to make play dough as soon as we walked in the door. It turned out to make for some hilarious costume play.

Lion's hair

Ryan continues to experiment with his artistic talent.

Buddies

Heaven for little boys

Ryan's first self portrait

Look Atter

I was opening the day's mail and Ryan told me I couldn't open it
because he is the opener and I am the look atter.

Sent from my iPhone

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Browndale on a beautiful fall day

Berry picking

We ventured out to find elderberries.

Sprouted wheat pancakes with beet

The kids loved these. Ryan ate 5!!

Ryan is off to work

So he claims

This reminds me of a game Marla and Kyle used to play

Gang up on mommy

A classic kid favorite.

According to Ryan

This guy has to drive everywhere: to nowhere and yeswhere.

This is How Time-Out Has been going for me lately

All the kids join Ryan in his time-out spot.  My parenting tactics are suspect.

Ryan was in time-out so all the kids sat with him

 

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Bluegrass for Breakfast

Let's try this again. This is a little experiment to see if I can get some higher quality video on the blog. I uploaded this to YouTube first and am now sharing it from there. This allows for better quality video (HD quality even) as well the ability to put the whole video up (so now you have 1:43 of Ryan singing instead of just under a minute). With the previous post, I emailed the video to Posterous and the iPhone only allows me to email about a minute at a time. This is a little more tedious but might be worth it to get Grandma and Namo to see the whole thing.

Ryan's new favorite song

Pure chaos

Vacation

Mn state fair

Like I said, the girl loves her drinks

Locked Out

Ryan has been the king of locking me out of places lately. Thank God Dan works from home, b/c I have been locked out of our house about 5 times now. Just today at the grocery store, Ryan locked me out of the car for the second time. Thankfully the car wasn't running and it is a more mild-temperature day today.

Fantasy Football

Dan had his first draft of the season last night. Ryan was very curious. He was asking many questions and was concerned to know if Dan would wear a helmet. The image of Dan drafting in a helmet had me in stitches. Priceless.

Fart noises

Who knew they would be discovered by my girl?!

Buddies

This is how things are in my back seat...typically.

Thirsty Girl

Colvin is extremely thirsty...ALL the time. She doesn't get enough water, apparently, b/c I found her drinking out of the catch basin in our washing machine today...GROSS!

Corn...yum!

Thanks Nonny!

My sweet niece Laina Marie

Love her.

Colvin can't get enough

If you take note, she is signing "again"

Getting ready for football season

The fight song makes everyone in this house just giddy.

12 teeth

Colvin now has 12 teeth (her four Molars came in before her I teeth about a month ago and all at the same time). Also, she is finally starting to walk a little more, still prefers crawling though.

Rollercoaster 3

Download now or watch on posterous

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Rollercoaster 2

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Rollercoaster

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IMG_0004.MOV (1253 KB)

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Day 3: things get better

Btw, Colvin LOVES watching her big bro and giggles and points the whole time

And that will conclude the bandages he got for his b-day

Swimming lessons

Day 1: watch. Ryan was the only one who refused to get in the water.
Day 2: throw a fit. See pic.

Ryan swims

Thank you uncle Kyle!

Lp zoo 2

Lp zoo

Candles

Uncle dennis, uncle Kyle, grandpa, great papa

Grotto

At the park

Colvin walks!

Oh how I miss thee

Cruisin'

Headed to the cabin

We are driving to the cabin right now and Ryan is so excited. My parents will meet all the Cooley's there so ry will get to hang out with all 4 grandparents. This morning I asked him what he wanted for breakfast (oatmeal or eggs) & he said, "that's ok I'm fine. I'll just eat when we get back from our trip."
He has NEVER turned down breakfast before.

Sent from my iPhone

My amazing husband

Dan got up this morning at 4am to stand in line and get me the new iphone. How lucky am I?!

Window sills

Newest Ryanism. "Mommy, are those window sills going to come on again?"
It was raining outside while we were driving in the car.

Colvin potty

Ok, so any of you out there have issues with your kids pooping in the tub? We do. It's a huge problem and one that really grosses Dan out. Anyway, we had two such episodes this past week...one, especially for Dan, on Father's day. The second time was a real doozy and even I had to admit she had gone a bit far. Dan scooped her up and put her on the potty where she proceeded to continue to go for about 5 minutes. Then, she raised her hands signaling to him that she was all done. All done with poop, that is.
Dan proceeds to get her cleaned up and set her on the floor to wash his hands while I am running around getting supplies to try and clean this mess up. As I am coming up the stairs, I look straight ahead into the kid's bathroom and my eyes fall upon a squatting Colvin. That's right. She is peeing right in the middle of the bathroom floor all squatted and proud.

All you can do is laugh.

Tonight I got wise to her routine and when she stood up in the tub and then squatted, I asked her if she had to poopie. She cooed, which is a yes, and I lifted her onto the potty. She went for a bit and then told me she was done. Back in the tub. I was impressed. Of course, it became a game after that and I lifted her out about 5 fruitless times thereafter. Outsmarted by a 1 year old yet again. At least I didn't have a tub to clean!

Colvin and the boys

We went to the park with some neighbors yesterday. There were 5 boys ranging from 2 to 4 years old (two of them being twins) and then Colvin. They dumped sand on her head, threw fist-fulls of sand at her face, and yelled at her claiming she was a pirate attempting to board their ship. I was impressed when she took all their harassment in stride. I guess that's how sisters with older brothers get to be tom boys.

I did not fare so well. It definitely bothered me more than it did her.

Something in my eye...

Ryan told me on the way home today that he had a bug in his eye and it was hurting him. He very calmly claimed it was an ant, not a spider or a worm. I couldn't help cracking up picturing a worm in his eye! For those of you who are a bit squeamish by all this talk, rest assured he had nothing in his eye.

Colvin's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Colvin's first time with pigtails.

Feel free to click on the picture to be taken to Flickr to see more from the party.

Colvin's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Trying to get every last drop.

Feel free to click on the picture to be taken to Flickr to see more from the party.

Colvin's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Again, a little late on the pictures - but better late than never.

Colvin's cake was frozen mashed bananas with a hint of beet juice to add a pink color in the shape of a heart with a little whip cream (sans sugar) on top. She LOVED it.

Feel free to click on the picture to be taken to Flickr to see more from the party.

Annie's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Colvin still isn't walking yet.

Feel free to click on the picture to be taken to Flickr to see more from the party.

Annie's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Ryan handling candle duties.

Feel free to click on the picture to be taken to Flickr to see more from the party.

Annie's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Happy Birthday Namo.

Feel free to click on the picture to be taken to Flickr to see more from the party.

Mother's Day

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Originally uploaded by Cooley-man

Colvin can't hang wrestling with the boys.