The Cole's: August 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

1st day of 1st grade!

This past Thursday (August 19th) Caleb started his first day of 1st grade. This year school is starting at 7:30 instead of 8:00 due to combining bus routes to save some money. I got him up at 6:00 and he did pretty well, not too sleepy and was ready to eat a good breakfast (banana bread and oj) and then did his chores, got dressed and did a devotional with me. I was able to leave Ariel at home with Dan so I could take him into his class, he was a little nervous but once he saw a few kids that he had in his class room from last year, the nerves disappeared!

I will be watching a friend of ours little girl (Malea) after school each day. So, I picked Caleb and Malea up from school and they came home, had snacks and played a bit. I could tell that Caleb was tired. He kept crying whenever Malea wouldn't play with him. I layed him down for about 30 minutes and then he got up and his attitude was a bit bettter. I am sure it will take some adjustment having Malea here everyday but I am sure after a few weeks we will have a schedule down and Malea will just fit right in!

It's going to be a great year!

A Day at the Lake

Braids!

My girl finally has enough hair to do braids! I realize that I need some practice with the whole french braid thing but I thought she looked adorable! My girl is growing up and her hair is finally growing!

Future Architect?

I bought Caleb Lego's about a year ago and my mom bought the kids a big set of Tinker Toys for Christmas and they had very little interest in either one of them until the past few weeks. Caleb spent a good portion of his last few days of summer building "Mummy Traps" ( side note...he called them bombs at first and he even had a computer that would detonate the bombs, but we both decided that "Mummy Traps" were a better option because they shot water and wouldn't kill anyone!...I didn't want him going to school telling the teacher he was building bombs and also had a computer to set them off with!) with Lego's and building towers with the Tinker Toys. He has a spot in his closet where he still has them set up so he can play with them when he wants...I told him he had one more week to keep them there and then we would have to take them down to build something else...I guess it's another way to say "get those Lego's and Tinker Toy's off the floor before they get broken!" I would like to think that Caleb would follow in his parents' footsteps and will have a desire for art and architecture. Looks to me like his interest may be developing...and I love it!

Choosing the best option...

I have to brag on my kids a bit. When the first of the summer started, the kids faught all the time. We set some ground rules and I basically told them that it was up to them how we celebrated the summer. Either they could get along and we could have a good attitude and get to do a lot of activies or we could not get along and stay home all the time. They chose the first option thankfully and for most of the summer they got along so well. They play SO well that there were several times throughout the day I found that they had played legos or tic-tac-toe or tinker toys for up to an hour or more. They would do one activity and then put that away and then get something else out to play. Very rarely did I have to seperate them. I am so blessed and I thank God daily for my great kids.

Freedom...for 4 days!

My lovely husband and I had 4 days to ourselves at home while Dan's parents had the kids. We had originaly planned to go on a small vacation together but since Dan's job situatuion was still up in the air we decided to just stay close to home. We didn't do much, I slept in everyday, watched some tv on the couch, cleaned the house a bit and had a few dinners with some friends. Dan and I took one night and went on a date to PF Changs and then went to see Inception at the theater. It was great not having a cerfew to get home to the kids, we went to a park after the movie and walked under stars and got frappuccino's at McDonald's since Starbucks was closed. By the time I got my babies home I was ready. 4 full days without them really makes me miss them!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

How Caleb Rolls!

Caleb got a new bike for his birthday and honestly he wasn't happy with it. He would have rather used his scooter rather than his bike any day. Last week he went to Granny's house and accidently left his scooter there. So, he decided that the reason why he wasn't a fan of his bike was because of the training wheels. He said that if he took the training wheels off then he would be able to ride better. Well, I was kinda skeptical!

On Sunday, it was hot...about 98 degrees hot without the heat index. Dan took the training wheels off, walked behind Caleb and told him how to keep his balance and how to stay "up" on the bike. Next thing ya know...Caleb is doing it on his own! That's right! He started riding literally in about the 4th or 5th try! I was SO PROUD of my boy! I told him about when I was a little girl and learning to ride my papaw let go of me and I crashed into a tree. He got so tickled with that story and he thought he was pretty cool about not crashing into anything like I did!

Here's Dan coaching him.

Little intermission with my sweet little blondie...we called her skeeter all last week because of those mosquito bites on her forehead!

And here is he is! He was proud of himself too! He said he wanted to be a professional bike rider!

Next step...driving a car!

My Green Bean Girl!

My girl and I snappin Green Beans! I love her!

Slumber Party

Caleb and Ariel enjoyed their first Slumber Party with their sweet friend Ainsley. For dinner we had rice, chicken and broccoli...Ainsley's favorite...really! For dessert we had yogurt with chocolate chips!