King Cole

Sometimes you look out the window, you see the rain, and think to yourself..... " I wonder how this day is going to go"

And then sometimes your oldest comes up to you and asks you to make him a crown. So you clumsily cut out something that kind of resembles one, let him decorate it with stickers and pens, then use way too much tape to secure it together....and without even realizing it, you have forgotten about the dreariness outside, because.....

You were standing in the presence of royalty all morning long.

Cole deemed himself the king, Bennett a prince, and I got to be a princess complete with my own pink crown. Please don't judge my crown making abilities, clearly I have boys, and crowns don't get requested around here very often, until today. What prompted it? I have no idea. But I liked it.

Especially when Cole broke out his dance moves...oh man, oh man, I wish you all could have witnessed this. It was like his own little "risky business", only with a crown, made out of paper.

And you thought Mr Gangnam Style had moves....

I swear that my kids own clothes, truly they do. They just don't like to wear them. But I guess they like to wear crowns....

At least this one did, Bennett ripped his to shreds shortly after. He also made this mama cry.

I cut his mullet.

I did, and I cried as I watched those sweet blonde curls fall to the ground. Thinking to myself, "why are you doing this" as I made those scissors snip snip across the back.

I also may have cried when I realized I have very old looking hands.....

I don't know why it was so hard for me, maybe because I was so surprised to have a baby with curly hair, and I fell in love with the sweetness of those little wisps. They represent part of his babyness that is slowly slipping between my fingers. He's growing up. He even has 6 teeth barging their way through his gums now to prove just that. He isn't going to stay my baby for much longer.

And then after I gathered enough courage to actually let those freshly cut curls drop from my hands, I find out that I was supposed to have saved them. :(

At least I documented them, old hands and all.

I didn't have the heart to take any off the top or the sides, I'm so not ready to see those go, even as unruly as they get some days. They are too sweet, they are my Bennett.....unruly and true to himself through and through.

My babies. Crowns, dance moves, curls and all.

These days hold so many moments that I wish I could capture more of, so that time could be still just for a while.  Sometimes I feel like the time is slipping through my finger just like the curl wisps.

They are such a joy in every way possible. Even when the rain pours down, they fill me and surprise me, and brings rays of sunshine in their own unique ways.

So much love for my King Cole and Prince Bennett.

How We Play

Welcome to our world, where the nights are way too short, and the days can be...well, sometimes a little long, but never dull.

And always filled with bursts of joy that resonate from two little boys, who think they run the roost.

Some days these two sweet little boys can be a bit mischievous, especially when they find my bag of cotton balls....

And then sometimes I just go with it....because really, how much trouble can one get it while wearing thomas undies, a life preserver, and tossing cotton balls over the railing?

Cole is going to hate me some day.....but then, I will just point to the mess that he is running amongst, and I think we will call it even.

And the best was when Daddy came home early and got to join in on the "snowball" fun.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!" Bennett said.

After picking pieces of cotton out of my eyes for the rest of the day, we headed over to my parent's house to spend time with Nana. This is always a highlight for both boys, especially since they manage to somehow convince my mom to either make her famous pudding or popcorn. She kindly obliges.

Cole finally is old enough to help, and really could not be any more excited.

He even browsed other recipes, I guess checking out what he will whip up next!

I think someone was excited to watch the pudding thicken up, which meant it was time to plop a big scoop of ice cream on top and dig in! That happens to be my favorite part too.

We love our time at Nana's, usually my sister joins us with her little one as well. And then Kara and Cole get down to business bickering like they were siblings. It's comical really, the amount of comfort they have with one another.

Yesterday we were actually able to get all of the cousins together since Na was on Spring Break, and along with Nana we went to check out the fish hatchery near our home.

Nana was able to score some fish t-shirts from her friend, and I have never seen Cole more proud of a shirt in his life. The day he received it he proudly lifted his sweatshirt to show everyone his "Bish" I also made the mistake of telling Cole that we would go see lots of fish with Na (Jenna) and Kara a few days prior. BIG MISTAKE, HUGE....every day was a let down leading up to it, and was the cause of many meltdowns and heartbreaks. Every day he asked to go see...um, "fishes" but it came out more with a 'b' in the front and a 'tch" somewhere in the middle....nice Cole. :) So I tried to avoid talking about seeing the "fishes" while out in public, for the sake of misinterpretation.

For a split second I thought the hatchery would be a dud. Then we found the correct area where all the fish were...and then practically fell into the feeding pond, which was by far, the highlight of the trip.

We kept loading up on fish food, letting the kids dump handfuls in for the fish.....and then on our third fill-up we noticed a nice little sign that said, "one handful per person please". Oops. We will make sure to obey next time.

I think they had fun, and it's pretty evident that they love to be around each other. Cole barged in on a sisterly hug session, and they embraced him with open arms of course.

 

She's still his movie star, seriously, he thinks the world of his Na.....who cares about the fishies when she lets him hold her hand.

And then we attempted a shot with me and my boys, I had Cole who was so not into it, and a Bennett who kept trying to slide down my leg....pretty much the norm.

And to wind up an already picture loaded post...i thought I would leave with our last attempt at all the cousins together..... "what were we thinking" comes to mind when looking through them. They were done, we were done.... Never were able to get Cole to even sit his cute little self down.

 

Aaaaaaand, they're done.

That's about the time we called it a day and gathered all our little fishies up to go home for some lunch. 

And that is how we played this past week. :)

What We've Been Eating

Well, it should probably be titled what "Caley, Kyle and Bennett Have Been Eating" because as of late Cole pretty much refuses anything at the dinner table. And I refuse to make two separate dinners. So we are kind of at a stand still, he refuses, I stand my ground....and then he eats some yogurt before bed.

I just can't do the whole, go to  bed hungry thing. Especially to a face like that!

So.....

Since Monday was St Patrick's Day, we celebrated by making green smoothies (that actually turned out more purple than green) and I made an all green dinner. It's actually called Creamy Avocado Pasta (follow this Link for the recipe). This stuff is good. Kind of reminded me of a fettuccine type dish, and you really don't need a ton of sauce on the noodles. In fact, both Kyle and I preferred it with less....it's pretty rich.

Yet there is absolutely no cream added, but it's so creamy and tastes like it's super bad for you. I didn't put in put the 8 cloves of garlic, only did 4 and used 3 avocados instead of 4....I was having issues with my "cados" as Cole calls them) Both boys helped whip it together, and were licking the spoon, the bowl, the pot....I actually thought for a split second this would be a successful meal in the Cole department.  I mean, he was soooo excited about it, and kept saying, "Mmmm, it good mama!"

He even insisted on helping me take the picture, and wanted to sit next to the plate....

And then went in for a little finger dip.

But the moment we all were dished and sat down to eat together, he wouldn't have a thing to do with it. "It's Bicy" he said, I tried to remind him that it was the same sauce he had been eating just  moments before..... he didn't care, once he decides it's "bicy" there's no going back. It's like a death sentence for his food.  Oh Cole, sometimes you confuse me to pieces.

Bennett, just dug in, and practically licked his plate clean. No surprise there. (How can it be that you can not even make it on the charts?! You eat like a grown man! Completely Baffling.)

So that was day one of my week.....Cole fail.

Tuesday wasn't much better, I made my favorite Tamale Pie as requested by the hubs..... Cole still snubbed his nose, and wound up with yogurt before bed--again.

Yesterday, I started craving a great big chicken chopped salad.....Cole hates salad, but at this point I didn't really care. I figured, it wasn't like he would eat something I tailored for him anyways. And we were way overdue for one, it's been at least 7 months! The main reason being, Cole. I know he won't eat it, and I would rather us all sit down to the same meal. So I tried my best to get him excited about it, and let him choose his veggies (he does love carrots!) and assemble them. And it seemed to be working, he chatted about his salad and how good it would be. Then together we made the yummiest Balsamic Vinaigrette. It is so good, I have been drizzling it on everything. The best part, no artificial anything, it's fresh, and I had every single ingredient hanging out in the cupboard!

It really turned out to have the perfect balance of sweet and tang. Much of what I look for in a good balsamic dressing. Check out the recipe HERE. However, it didn't help in the swaying of my picky child to eat his salad that he meticulously made.

Yogurt again.

Tonight I didn't even try, I threw together some baked eggs and called it a day...because it has been just that, A DAY...and maybe a half. Seriously, and it all started at 7 this morning over bananas, a smoothie, and major attitude...don't get me started. I think my 3 year old may have turned 13 overnight. Yeesh. Good thing we managed to pull it somewhat together, go for a looooooooooooong walk, play in the sun and squeeze some sweet moments out, regardless of the rocky start.

Oh, and for the record....we had to bribe him to eat two bites of his eggs....he loves eggs.

Apparently not anymore..... (ready to pull my hair out) 

Cole, you're a stinker, enjoy your yogurt. ;)

Weekend Joy

This past weekend was lovely, truly lovely. Saturday morning I was awakened by a very handsome man and a cute little boy bringing me fresh made waffles in bed. They tasted even better when Cole climbed up next to me and begged for bites :) What a way to kick off the weekend, I felt like royalty.

The weather could not have been better, the sun was out, the sky was blue and we played and soaked it up. Before naps, we headed to a St. Patty's Day festival at a local garden center.  Cole loved it, he got to "fish", pot a plant, make a wooden necklace, get a sucker, and watch an old fashioned train and carnival set up. Bennett spent his time split between hiding from people and wanting to run wild.

Complete with a hangnail fixation break.

And Bennett worked on his hand holding skills...something he would rather not do, and often results in him being carried instead of walking....so stubborn.

As a reward for Cole making it to each booth and getting a "passport stamp" he got to pick out a prize. This was a big deal, and he spent a lot of thought looking through his choices. At first he pulled out a sword of bubbles, and then carefully put it back, after thoughtfully digging through the toys again, something caught his eye.....a pink and purple My Little Pony.....I tried to point out the cool cars, the sword, the jump rope. Nope. He found his prize, and humbly I thanked the perplexed looking lady, and told Cole he had made a "cool" choice. He was so proud of his new friend, and was so excited to show "Na" the next day.

Unfortunately, something has happened to his new pony (no, I had nothing to do with it) and he asks for it every once in awhile, so we search and look, with no luck, then he gets sidetracked with blocks or trains....and I let it rest, happily of course.

After the festical we went home and convinced them to go down for naps with promises of parks and sunshine when they woke up.

We did as we promised, we played outside. And while I was busy helping Cole dig for worms, Bennett found his own thing to do....with his shovel....

Someone mistook his shovel for a giant spoon, maybe I should have fed him more for lunch....

I just prayed he didn't swallow any rocks with that dirt.

Bennett, Bennett, Bennett...you make me smile, all the time.

He basically stormed the park full force. I turned my eyes for one second and he scaled the rock wall to the top.

Piece of cake. Mr. No Fear marched himself over to the biggest, the fastest, the twirliest slide and without a moments hesitation shoved himself down, full throttle into daddy's arms.

Kyle and I about died looking at the above picture, Kyle said he looked like Bill Murray from Kingpin (apparently it's kind of a dirty movie, we have only seen the edited TV version, and it's been awhile, so please don't go and rent it on our account) But just so you can see what we found so funny... Sorry, Bennett...for the record, you are WAY cuter, but the hair!

Anyways, back to the park...

There were slide races

Cole showing Bennett the incorrect way to use a slide...

And brother caught on, as usual.

The only driving I allow him to do, even though he still insists he could drive us to Nana's and get us there all in one piece.

They LOVED the tire swing!

We wrapped up the park with some swinging and more sliding and then drug them away kicking and screaming, it's never a fun park day without hollering when time to leave.

Then we rounded out the weekend celebrating this precious little lady turning 2!!! How can that be? That means that Bennett will be following shortly in the two department, I might cry! They grow so fast, so so fast.

And how is it that the weekends always seem to be over just when they get started? They go by way too fast, we are already looking forward to next weekend, the boys just love their daddy being home all day! And so do I. :)