Friday Fun Day!

We had another play date today with Kristin and Lizzie.  We met them at Rainbow Play Systems showroom to play on their indoor playground.  The girls had lots of fun and Kristin and I could actually sit in one place, talk to each other and watch them play!  The girls played for an hour and a half and then we went to lunch.

Alyvia picked Avanti's for lunch-yummy!  Then we went to The School House, a store that is geard toward teachers, but has awesome Mommy stuff too!  I got a sticker chart for Alyvia and we're excited to use it.  We sat down with her tonight and came up with 6 categories that she can earn a sticker for- talking nice (no back talk, no "sassiness), being nice to others (no bossing, no being rude, no making faces, pushing, etc.), being a good listener, and a couple of other things.  We started today and she earned 3 out of 6 stickers and had to take a couple off at one time!  She really didn't want to take the stickers off so I think we are getting our points across and making her "accountable" for her actions/words.  She'll get a prize when her whole chart is filled.
We had a low key family night, had pizza at home and watched "The Princess and The Frog" together.  At the end, the prince and princess kiss and I told her "no kissing boys!" and her reply was "I like to kiss boys!".  Uh-Oh!

5 months!

Colson is 5 months old today, I can't believe it!  He is so much fun to have and he is such a good baby (mostly!). 

What is Colson up to these days?

*He was 14 lb 8 oz. last month and I'm pretty sure he's well over 15 lbs now! 

*He still LOVES to eat.  He is eating Oatmeal cereal, apples, bananas, peaches, prunes, squash, peas, carrots, and green beans-we have yet to find a food he won't eat!  He eats oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and a veggie and fruit for dinner.  He has a 5 oz. bottle about every 3 hours in between and a 7-8oz.  bottle with oatmeal before bed. 

* He is rolling from his tummy to his back consistently

* He can sit supported very well and propped with a boppy for a couple of minutes

* He drools CONSTANTLY!  He usually has a fist in his mouth and will try to attack anybody elses fingers if they are near.  No teeth yet, but there is a bump on his bottom gums!

* He is reaching for things purposefully this last week.  He's not too quick yet, but he's going to catch us off gaurd soon!

* He LOVES Alyvia.  She makes him belly laugh like no other :)

* He loves his daddy too and really listens when he hears his voice

* Cole is sleeping better, but still not completely through the night.  He goes to bed around 9 p.m. and sleeps usually sleeps until between 4 and 5 a.m.  Occasionally he gets up around 2 a.m. to just chat for awhile :)  I can put his paci back in, re-swaddle him and he goes back to sleep.  Anytime after 4, we usually just feed him 3-4 oz. and he goes back to sleep until around 7-ish.  We're still working on it!

Sleeping or not, we love him so much and can't wait to see what he's doing in the next month!

Cutie Colson

I realized that I haven't had many pictures of Colson to post lately!  He smiles all the time, but whenever I get the camera out, he gets so serious and just stares at the camera or video camera.  He is rolling from his tummy to his back, when he doesn't get too mad at me for making him try :)  And he is soooo close to rolling from his back to his tummy.  He's growing up so fast :(  He loves his feet and thinks they are hilarious!  He still loves Patty Cake and If You're Happy and You Know It.  He laughs out loud every day and it's such a happy sound-love him!

Almost there...but nope he won't do it :)

Playing after his dinner

Playdate fun

After being cooped up in the house most of the week, my friend Kristin and I decided we needed a playdate for our girls to run off some energy!  So I packed up the kids and we headed out to pick up Kristin and Lizzie.  We then drove to the Quad Cities and went to the museum, had lunch at Old Chicago and hit up Monkey Joes again.  The girls had lots of fun and were definitely worn out after our day.  Colson was a good sport as usual and he has fun getting lots of attention from his "Aunt" Kristin and Lizzie :) 



Looking at the different germs with Kristin-ewww!

  

In the "submarine"

Sliding down on her tummy!

Good times with good friends, can't have a much better day!

Rolling in the snow

Today we were all snowed in as a family of 4!  The snow part kind of stinks, but being all "stuck" together is nice for a change.  Daddy cooked us a big breakfast this morning of waffles, sausage and bacon-yummy! During morning, we played with Alyvia and did some crafting.

our cards we made together :)

Before lunch, Daddy and Alyvia went outside to try to dig us out, at least our driveway :)

Bless her little heart, helping daddy shovel

Snow Angels!

  After lunch, Alyvia was so tired, she actually took a nap!  Daddy went back outside to shovel and Colson decided it was time to roll over!  He rolled from his tummy to his back 2 times....and then quit when i grabbed the camera and Alan :)  Silly baby.  After Livi got up, she wanted to hold Colson. 

We had a quiet night in, ate dinner and watched Despicable Me, which Alyvia LOVED!!   It ended up being a great family day.  Hopefully the roads are better tomorrow, my work doesn't close :(

BLIZZARD WARNING!

 Oh my goodness, let the blizzard of 2011 begin.  "Snowpocalypse" as some people are calling it.  Thank goodness I worked yesterday and I'm not scheduled to work until Thursday.  It's been snowing here since around noon and it's now blowing like crazy, the drifts are already probably 2 feet snow drifts!!  The snow and wind is supposed to continue through tomorrow, accumulation could be 24 inches!!!  Holy snow!  Here are a few pictures from tonight....


Immediately outside of my downstairs sliding door UNDER the deck!
Note the drift by the retaining wall so far!

Outside the downstairs sliding door



Retaining wall drift to the right of patio



I'm so thankful that we are all home and snowed in together.  Saying lots of prayers for all of my work friends either stuck at the hospital or heading to work tomorrow!   At this point I'm not sure I'll make it in on Thursday.  The kids and I stayed inside all day today, it was Alyvia's very 1st snow day off of school. 

What's the big deal mommy?

We did lots of puzzles and pretend play.  When daddy got home, we decided to move a lot of her toys downstairs and make her a little playroom.  We still need to get a carpet to go down there, but it is a great play area for her and frees up some space upstairs!  After dinner tonight we rented Despicable Me from the dish and had popcorn-so fun to do as a family :)  We'll be snowed in for sure tomorrow, hope we don't all go stir crazy!!