The Cole's: Labor Day Weekend

Saturday we had our open house again from 10:00 to 12:00. Dan took the kids to the park and to wash the van and I stayed at the house to welcome people and answer any questions that they had. We had two families come. It was kinda a poor turn out for what we had been having but I am just glad that someone showed up! At 10 minutes till 12:00 Dan comes home and lets Caleb use the bathroom and then we all went to the park again. I meant to bring the camera to get some pictures but I forgot it. After the park, we went and walked around at the Farmer's Market on the Bentonville square. We were going to buy some honey from a local farmer but it was so expensive and we couldn't justify spending $11.00 on some honey so we ended up leaving empty handed. We went home and had lunch and then Saturday evening we had Seth, Kelsy, Rylan and Cameryn over for dinner. I cooked Dan's favorite...spaghetti and meatballs, the Vannaman's brought the salad and then we had Lemon Bars for dessert. It was great having them over for dinner!

Sunday we went to early service at church. I sang in choir and then sat with Dan during the sermon. After church we went home and fed the kids and then put them down for their naps at noon. We had yet another open house at 2:00 until 4:00 so we needed to get the kids at least an hour worth of a nap. It took Caleb a while to get to sleep but Ariel went down right away. The open house went well for a holiday weekend. We had three families come and one family was a return from Saturday. We decided that we will still have open houses every weekend but only on Sundays from now on. Two days is just too much for us...especially with the kids.

I took the kids to the mall during the open house. I needed to get some gifts for Bunco since I am hosting this month and I also needed to get Kyle and Chiristie Huggins little twins a baby gift for their shower this coming weekend. The kids did excellent at the mall. Caleb even got out of the stroller in stores and stayed near me without touching anything! I was so proud! Dan ended up calling me when I was in JC Penney and as soon as I got off the phone with him I dropped my phone on the floor. This usually isn't a big deal, my phone gets dropped all the time since I have a three year old that likes to play with it all the time, but this fall sent the phone over the edge!! It cracked the screen and I can't see anything at all!! And now for some reason it's not even making or receiving calls. I have an old phone...one of the silver samsung flip phones with no camera that I got about 2 and a half years ago so I was in need of an upgrade!! Below is what my phone screen looks like now!

Today I was able to sleep in until 8:30!!! When I got up, Dan had fixed the kids eggs and toast for breakfast and it was so nice to not have to worry about cooking at least one meal for them today! I get so tired of cooking all the time. I mean I love to cook but since I don't buy many things that are already made I spend a lot of time preparing meals on my own. After the kids were done eating, Ariel went down for her nap and then I cleaned the kitchen and dining room and did a load of laundry. Caleb and Dan went to the garage and got started on building my dining room table!! It is going to be so pretty! I will have to show pics and tell you guys about it when it is complete. After Ariel got up from her nap, she and I went to Wal-Mart to check out the deals on their cell phones. I think Dan and I decided that we are just going to go ahead and get the RAZR phones. He really wants a blackjack but he is pretty sure that it can wait until the future. Ariel and I came home, I fed the kids lunch and then they took a nap. I watched tv for nearly 2 hours...something that I rarely do in the afternoons! When they woke up I got the elmo sprinkler out for them to play in...they hate sprinklers!! Caleb didn't want anything to do with it and when we put Ariel near it she just crawled away. I decided instead that I would just fill up the pool and then let them play in it for a while. I will post more pics of the pool tomorrow. The kids were dog hungry after playing in the pool and it wasn't quite 5:00 yet. I fed them some Velveeta shells and cheese and some carrots thinking that would hold them for a while. Well at 7:00 Caleb was telling me he was hungry again so I made hamburgers for all of us with french fries. It is 10:15 now and Dan is still in the garage working on the table. He is so excited about it! It will be gorgeous!