Johnny Jumper, Arm Holes and Work Glasses

We introduced the Johnny Jumper to Ariel the other day. She did exactly what Caleb used to do...she fell asleep in it!! It was so cute because she tried SO hard to keep herself awake but she did finally give in and took about a 15 minute nap in it. I think I may have started something new with Ariel. Since the day she was born she never did take a pacifier. She always gagged on it and then spit it out. Yesterday she wanted to nurse nearly every hour and then she would fall asleep and never get a full feeding in. I decided to try the pacifier and man has it helped. Today she has fed every 3 hours and I got her to take a nap in her crib. It is nearly 3:30 now and she has been sleeping since 1:30. I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of her having a pacifier but I don't think she is going to become dependent on it like Caleb was with his. We will see!
This morning I was trying to get the house clean and Caleb kept on playing in the closet and was trying to help me "clean up". He kept taking all the clothes off the hangers that were clean and then taking them into the utility room and putting them in the washer. I was getting so frustrated but then I caught him sticking his head in the arm hole of Dan's fleece vest...totally took the frustation away....well maybe for a moment anyway!

Caleb loves to help his Daddy work in the garage every Saturday. Today he had to have his "work glasses" as he called them and his Razorback hat. Too cute!

Recent Pics and Stuff!

Well we have been keeping it pretty low key the past week or so. Last weekend we had a huge ice storm that hit and there were several towns throughout Northwest Arkansas that lost power and some that still do not have power on even today! We were very blessed and only lost power for about 45 minutes one evening. Needless to say we have been inside A LOT due to the VERY cold temperatures. I have taken several pictures of the kids and the things that they have been doing over the past few days.

I have been working really hard to do "tummy time" with Ariel. I guess it is so much harder with the second one because I can't just lay her on the floor all the time without the fear that Caleb might step on her or throw something at her. He is always careful but he is a 2 and a half year old boy!





Caleb has been playing with his toys a lot. This is him upstairs in the play room...as you can see toys are everywhere!


I also got a picture of Caleb on the stairs...it looks as though he is behind jail bars!

My mom got Ariel a little lamb before she was born and its name is "Baabsy". Caleb has a lamb as well that he has to sleep with every night and his name is "Lamby". I also had a lamb when I was little named "Russ". As you can see there is a lamb theme here. I introduced "Baabsy" to Ariel the other day and this is the picture I got of her. Oh and I included a picture of when I introduced Caleb to "Lamby" the first time. Caleb was two months old and he is in the smaller picture.


I think she likes it...as far as Baabsy being her favorite, only time will tell!

Last Friday I put Ariel in the swing and this is the way that she fell asleep...she was like this for about 45 minutes just swinging away!

On Tuesday I watched my dear friend Allison's two little girls Avery and Eva for a few hours. Avery is 3 years old and Eva will be one in March. This is a picture of Caleb and Avery playing with his favorite Sesame Street puzzle and also a picture of Ariel and Eva.

Well I think that will do it for now. I will keep posting so keep looking!

A few moments with the Cole kids!

This is just about three moments of my life in any given day. Enjoy! (Sorry it's so big, this is the first time I have posted a video!)

Ariel is 3 months!!

Ariel is growing up so fast! It's amazing how time is different when you have two. With Caleb things seemed to creap by and with her it's like time can't slow down enough for me to take it all in! I am just trying my best to take every moment that I can to be with her and enjoy each phase unlike I did with Caleb...I think I wanted him to grow up too quick...and he is now 2 and a half!

I thought I would share some pictures that we have taken the past few days.

Here is Caleb, Dan and Ariel.

This was her with her big pink bow...she is so happy!

These were taken yesterday before church.
And here is Caleb with his sunglasses.

Here is one when Caleb was 3 months old...August of 2004.

It has been a while since I have posted anything. I can't tell you how nice it is to not be busy for once! I have had a head cold since last Friday so I haven't done much this week besides the normal house cleaning and laundry bit. Dan and I are in the process of transfering all of our home videos to the computer. It has been great to finally see all of our videos on something bigger than a 2 inch by 3 inch screen! Not sure why it has taken us this long to get this done but I guess it just wasn't on our priority list.

We got the ol' exersaucer down from upstairs a couple nights ago. I still think Ariel is just a little too wobbly for it but I have been trying her in it for a few minutes everyday. She really enjoys it while she is in there. I went through my files and found some pictures of Caleb at her age in the exersaucer and they do have a few similarities! She is on the left and he is on the right.




Well my time has run short and I need to nurse Ariel and hit the sack. I will check in tomorrow with more pictures!

Christmas 2006!

Well we had a wonderful Christmas! I can say though that I am glad that the holiday season is almost over. Things get a little hectic when kids are involved but oh man is it so much fun and so worth it!

Dan and Ariel smiling at each other after making cookies in the kitchen

On Sunday, Dan, Caleb, Ariel and I went to church. It was packed there because there was only one service but it was a wonderful sermon. It was great to get the kids dressed in their Christmas clothes and get a few pictures...once again we couldn't get all four of us together but we do what we can!

Sunday evening we let Caleb open one gift and he picked the gift that Aunt Debbie and Allison gave him. It had a Wiggles sing along radio and two Leap Frog books in it. He absolutely loved them! We made Christmas cookies and left them out for Santa and what do ya know, he came and ate all the cookies except for one little crumbly bite and left some presents under the tree for the kids. What fun!

Making Christmas Cookies for SantaCaleb and Ariel on Christmas Day! On Christmas morning we got up and opened all the gifts that we had gotten each other. Of course Caleb had the most gifts out of us all. Ariel got clothes more than anything because she has everything that she can possible need! My mom (Memaw) and Jim came over and had Christmas Brunch with us. We had the traditional Christmas Casserole with cinnamon rolls and ambrosia fruit salad.

Opening his first gift on Christmas morning
Caleb putting together his puzzle from Santa After Memaw and Jim left, Dan and I got things packed to go to Harrison to see Dan's parents. Once we got to their house we had more presents to open and more food to eat. We had ham, baked potatoes, salad and Red Velvet Christmas cake...my favorite! Caleb got a sesame street puzzle from his Aunt Amy and he spent about an hour with her putting it together and taking it apart.

On Tuesday evening we went to Dan's Grandmother's house to eat lasagna and open even more gifts and to set up the new computer. Dan's parents bought a brand new computer for themselves for Christmas. The main reason they bought it was to put all the slides that Dan's Grandmother had taken over the years into a digital format to use for slide shows and such. She has thousands of slides that have to be scanned with a special slide scanner and she is going to put her voice to all the slides to explain what was happening in each picture. This is going to be a huge project for her but she is willing to get it done bless her heart! Here is a picture of the kids with her at her house. Here's Caleb snoozing on the way to Granny's house

Caleb and his new John Deere attire for the farm

Working on his puzzle with Aunt Amy

Sitting in Granny's lap

Opening gifts with Granny and GrandadSleep in heavenly peace!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Pump it up!

Yesterday it was really breezy and rainy and Caleb hadn't been out of the house except to go to the store in 2 or 3 days so the mom's in our mom's group decided to get together and go to a place here in Bentonville called Pump It Up. Caleb and I have been invited to go on several occasions but things just kept coming up and we were never able to go until yesterday. It's a really nice place that has inflatables for kids to jump, climb and slide on. The only thing that I didn't like about it was the price...it's $7.00 plus tax for each kid and it only lasts from 10:00-11:30. But I guess it's worth going every once and a while, especially during the cold winter months!

Here's Caleb, Ariel and I right before we left...Caleb wasn't that cooperative!

Here's Caleb on the big platform in the large jumper.

And here he is again going down the slide...all you see is an orange blur because he was going so fast...this was his favorite thing out of them all!

On another note, Ariel had her 2 month appointment this morning with Dr. Hill. Dr. Hill said that she was a beautiful baby was VERY healthy. She weighed 11lbs 10 oz (50th percentile), 23 and a half inches (75th percentile) and her head was 39cm (25th percentile). All is well in the Cole house!!

Memaw and Jim's House

Last Saturday night Dan, Caleb, Ariel and I went to see my mom (Memaw) and Jim. They bad put up their Chirstmas lights on the house a couple weeks ago and we never had a moment to go and see them lit up at night. I tried to take some picture with my night mode on my camera and it didn't work so well, but at least I can say that I tried!

My mom and Jim have at least 10 fish tanks in their house and Caleb absolutley loves going over there and seeing all the fish. The tanks are all decorated so pretty and the water is always so clear.

Pretty Girl

I took some pictures of Ariel yesterday after church. She looked so beautiful in her little outfit!