Thankful for Cole

My first born child (by a minute anyway!), Cole James or "Superman" as he prefers.  He's literally my little bull in a china shop and I love him to pieces!

I love that he loves to kiss and snuggle with me (I wish that this could last forever)

I love that he wears his heart on his sleeve, but hopes that he will loosen up a bit (Let me tell you how he refuses to talk to his previous teacher that he LOVED because he moved to the next classroom and is mad at her)

I love that his favorite activity is to run laps (and hope that his newly diagosed asthma will never prevent him from being able to be athletic)

I love that although just a little over a year ago he could only say 2 words and through the help of early intervention (which after 6 months of service he had improved so much that he no longer qualified for services) and beginning daycare you would now see no signs of that.  He is even able to SPELL his first name!

I love that he has an awesome relationship with his doctor and is such a good boy when he needs his breathing treatments.

I love that he has such a passion for animals, especially those that live in the zoo (he was even the cutest little zoo keeper for Halloween).

I love that he has been potty trained for over 6 months (except at night) and was able to move up to the big boy 3 year old room and is learning new things every day!

I love that you made me a Mommy and that we have been bonding since the moment you were placed inside me... my little pumpkin!

We fell into FALL...

Well here it is fall already... where does the time go? 

September finished up with a business trip which led right into a pre-planned vacation with just me & my hubby in the fabulous VEGAS!  Unfortunately that meant I was away from my pumpkins for 8 long nights!  It was very nice to get away and be by myself for a few days though.... I didn't turn the TV on once during this time!  Then Jimmy arrived and we got to have some much needed couple time.  We also had the added bonus of spending time with my Las Vegas family.  It was great to visit with my Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Kevin and my cousins, Kevin & Cheryl.  I even got to meet my cousin Cheryl's 7 month old GORGEOUS baby girl, Kylie!  This was defintiely the highlight of my vacation since we are so far away and do not get to see each other very often. 

Jim & I at dinner on our last night in Vegas

The weekend after we returned from Vegas we were all scheduled to go pumpkin picking withkin my twins club.  Unfortunately Cole was too sick to attend, so he stayed home with Jim and Summie & I headed out to the pumpkin patch for a one on one date.  She and I had so much fun.  Of course, we wished our boys could have been there, but the kids really seem to revel in the one on one time when they do get it. 

Summie picked a pumpkin for her and a pumpkin for Cole.  

Tuesday I took my sick kiddos to the doctors and half thought I was panicing and taking them too soon, but Cole was just not acting himself.  One sinus infection (Summer) and a walking pneumonia (Cole) later, we left the doctor's office and heading to the pharmacy with 4 prescriptions in hand!  Oh how I'm hoping that this winter is better then last, but it's not off to such a good start so far!  Luckily we are on the mend for now (fingers crossed!). 

This weekend, we decided to spend some quiet time together at the beach.  We headed down Saturday morning to Sea Isle City where Jim's Aunt Sis has a house.  We decided to check out the Seafood Fest that was happening in the next town over.  It was AWESOME!  They had an entire tent of food (mostly seafood of course).  We settled on a vendor that was selling grilled lobster tail... delicious and I got some of my favorite... Lobster Bisque! It was a fabulously de-stressing weekend.  The kids loved playing with their special toys at the beach house, playing at the playground, feeding the birds on the beach.  And did I mention that the weather was gorgeous!  Some of my family was coincidentally staying 1 street over so we met up on the beach and spent some time relaxing together.  Sometime life is just too busy and the beach is so calming to me more recently.

Fun with Daddy on the playground

another family had a Cole and we posed with their shells :)

The princess of the beach!

A visit to Sesame Place...

I've had tickets sitting around all summer to go to Sesame Place!  My cousin, Juli and I set the date to go for today and then Irene decided that she would visit.  She was a very unwelcomed guest over the weekend, that decided she would wreak havoc on the region.  Luckily for us she passed by a little quicker than expected and the weather today wound up being PERFECT! 

It was a little chilly when we arrived at the park... so we opted to begin on the dry rides.  First up was Summie's favorite, the Carousel! Then the balloon ride, the teacups, and the flying fish ride were next.  After changing into our bathing suits we headed for the water areas.  We started with the Count's Splash Castle which Cole absolutely loved and Summie absolutely hated.  In her defense, Juli & I both cringed at the temperature of the water upon stepping in and there were so many jets spraying water in every direction.  She started crying and told me that she didn't want to play anymore.  I saw that Cole had grabbed Aunt Juli by the hand and was dragging her up to the water slides so I quickly guided Summer out of the water trying to avoid as many of the geysers spraying on her as possible.  She decided she would be happier wrapped up in her pink princess towel sitting in a lounge chair then playing in the water.  Cole on the other hand, would have stayed plunging down the frigid water slides despite his almost blue lips all day, but Juli assured him that there were other water rides to get to.  Summie liked the lazy river a tiny bit more and then we went on the Sky Splash, which the rest of us thought was awesome and Summie cried the whole way down.  Cole quickly decided he wanted to go on Slimey's Chutes and Summer was having none of it.  Juli happily took Cole to stand in line while I comforted a crying Summie.  She decided that she wanted to sit in her stroller and she wasn't in there very long before getting stung by a BEE!!!  All of the sudden, she was screaming about a bug and I had no idea what had happened.  Once I realized... I stopped a very nice worker who sent me to the First Aid station.  They put something on her finger to numb it up nicely and gave her a special ice pack and sticker and she was over it quickly! Thank goodness. 

We had a nice little lunch and went on the carousel one more time and the kids were starting to get cranky, so we got some t-shirt souvenirs and headed out of the park.  We were lucky to get on all the rides that we wanted in such a short period of time because the park was not crowded at all!  On our way out we saw Zoey and the kids wanted to stand in line to meet her.  Funny enough when it was our turn they decided that they couldn't go near her on their own.  Once Mommy met Zoey all was ok and we were able to get this great shot!  The kids slept all the way home! 

When I told the kids tonight that we had to get ready for school tomorrow... Cole told me that he wanted to go back to Sesame Place tomorrow! 

Dutch Wonderland

At the end of the July we took a 2 day trip to Lancaster with our friends and their kids.  We had SO much fun!  The first day was spent at Dutch Wonderland.  We spent 1/2 the day in the water section which was so perfect for them at this age.  Summer stuck mainly to the toddler section, but when on the water slide that Jim could take her on a few times.  Cole was a maniac when he go to the water slides and was going on them for several hours all by himself!  He would have probably stayed their all day if we would have let him.  We had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel (it was our first time there!) and then went back to the hotel for some pool time.  The next day we went to Kitchen Kettle village for a bit and the kids got to decorate their own gingerbread cookies. 

Catching up in photos

July passed by in a blurr! I can't remember the last time summer buzzed by so quickly! The month started out with my 30th birthday and was filled with lots of day trips to the aquarium, zoo, beach, etc and tons of fun....

We went to the aquarium & the Pop Shop with our twin friends, Nora & Paige!

 I love getting the kids cute matching 4th of July outfits!

 Pool party at Nonna's (Aunt Patti's) for 4th of July

                       Cole & Summer                                                     Hannah (my 3 year old niece) & Summer

We've been making lots of day trips to Sea Isle City, where Jim's Aunt Sis & Uncle Len have a house where they graciously let us stay.  This picture was from the amusement park there.  Summer & Cole were ringing their little bell to their heart's content!  And the poor little boy sitting in front of them was none too pleased by the noise!

Here's silly Summie showing me that she can fit 2 pacis in her mouth!

Cole attended his first movie, Cars 2 a few weeks ago for his friend Joey's 4th birthday!  He was so excited about his special little snack box with the popcorn & slushie drink.  He made it through about an hour of the movie and then got up and decided it was time to go.  He fell asleep as soon as we got in the car.

Summer and Cole's daycare is having "Camp Splash" for the summer with weekly themes and tons of extra fun activities! A few weeks ago was holiday week, complete with Halloween dress-up day.  I dug out a hand me down dress up summery Tinkerbell outfit for Summer to wear (you wouldn't believe the this pink only wearing girl would be in love with GREEN Tinkerbell, but she IS!).  I had trouble at first thinking of what to dress Cole up as that would be ok for the hot summer temperatures, until my aunt said you need to get him a Superman t-shirt for him to wear.  For those of you who don't know... Cole believes that his name is Superman Hazlett and will tell you if you ask him!

This past week was pirate week and the kids made pirate hats, eye patches, treasure maps, etc.  Then on Friday they had a treasure hunt.  The kids were SO excited by this.  Here's how they looked...



the book store

This weekend for the first time ever, we took the kids to the book store and let them each pick out one book for new Baby Owen and one book for themselves.  Summer was really excited and picked up the first brightly colored book that was displayed upright on the table as we walked into the section.  We walked around with her carrying the book in search of books that Cole would like and other possible choices for Summie.  Cole found a few possibilities and we should Summie a few too, she shook her head and proudly held up the book in her hands and declared "Colwey!  I'm getting Chick n da boom boom (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom)!"  Here I had been trying to talk her out of the book because I never read it and she had been reading it at school.  Needless to say, I did not make another attempt to deter her from her selection.  After scouring the children's section we finally found some Toy Story books that were age appropriate (Cole actually got 2 of these since they were smaller than Summer's).  We also made a stop by the infant books and they each were proud to pick out a gift and later give them to their new cousin, Baby Owen!

We have now been reading these books quite regularly.  They seem even more excited to read these books that they picked themselves.  They are trying to recite the words along with me.  Summer grabs her "Piggy" (Ham) stuffed animal to show him that he is in the Toy Story books and Cole tells me all about what is happening in the pictures.  They love identifying the alphabet in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (if you haven't seen this book yet and have small children you should definitely get it!).  Summer also likes to read as if she is the teacher.  She pulls up a chair and holds the book in front of her so we can see it and "reads" the book to us.... SO CUTE!

Does anyone have any great children's book suggestions for me??

Tales from the bounce house...

We live in a townhouse and do have a yard, but are not allowed to leave anything out on it or put anything permanent on it.  I've been looking at different options to keep the kids occupied outside that can be easily removed from the yard when we are finished.  We do have a few playgrounds nearby, but they are not a walkable distance away and they tend to get overcrowded with bigger kids which kind of freaks me out when I'm by myself.  Oh and the fact that the swings which Summer likes and the slides which Cole likes are no where near each other.  I finally decided on a bounce house and was able to purchase a slightly used one from a member of my multiple's club.  Jim and I decided we would get it as an early birthday present for the kids and then be able to use it for their party.  I set it up when I got home from picking the kids up from daycare last night and boy was it a SMASH HIT!  It was so beautiful outside that I let them bounce until way after their bedtime.  In total, they bounced with virtually no fighting for over 2 1/2 hours!! I was really happy that I was able to set it up myself, which is a big bonus since Jim doesn't get home until 8pm usually during the week.  I really think that we will get a lot of use out of it and hope to entertain some of our friends' children in it as well.  My favorite part of the night was when Cole decided to take a break and sit by me and Summer beckoned in from inside the bouncer by calling... "Coley Boley wanna play bouncie house with me?" ... breaks my heart! 

A fabulous 3 day weekend...

We had a great Saturday night spent BBQing at our friends' house.   The kids played outside in the baby pool and on the swing set and had such a great time together.  It's so nice to be able to spend time with our friends and their kids. 

Sunday morning we got up and headed for our annual trip to Sea Isle City to celebrate Aunt Sis' birthday (Jim's aunt).  We got down first thing and the morning and the kids had fun coloring with markers with Aunt Sis and Aunt Judy.  After a bit, we walked down to the beach.  Cole was first into the water and it was rather chilly, but I happily accompanied him.  Summer decided that she would sit on the blanket with Daddy instead of running in the ocean with us.  We ran and splashed in the tiny waves and finally Summer was interested enough to join us. However she did not actually want to enter the water (she had already tested it out before sitting on the blanket).  She stood by the water's edge and handed me her water can to repeatedly fill up for her so that she could pour it into the hole she had found.  We were soon joined by Uncle Len, Aunt Kate, Jay, & Mom-mom.  Cole & Summer happily splashed and poured in the hole in the sand.  Do you remember when you could be entertained so easily for such a long period of time?!?  Cole would run to the water to fill up his bucket, Summer would hand hers to Mommy and then the water was poured in the hole and the whole process repeated, over and over again. 

We started getting hungry, so we headed back for the birthday lunch.  After lunch we had delicious strawberry shortcake and sang Happy Birthday to Sissy, as the kids call her.  They were so excited to blow out the candles, that you would have thought it was their birthday!

We headed back in the early evening so that I could visit with my Pop-pop who is not doing so well, so please keep him in your prayers.  

 Today when we woke up, I decided that I wanted to take the kids strawberry picking.  The season will be finished in a few weeks and I've been wanting to go.  Jim probably thought I was nuts, planning such an impromptu field trip for our morning but I guess he's learned never to be surprised with me.  We drove to Johnson's Farm which is about 30 minutes away and boy was it hot outside (about 90).  The kids were very excited when we told them because like me, they LOVE strawberries... Jimmy... not so much!  I was happy to see when we arrived that it was not crowded at all.  We took our hayride back to the strawberry fields and the kids each took their little basket in hand.  We gave them quick little demonstration of how to pick the berries and to only pick the RED ones.  Now mind you, I haven't been picking since I was a kid and Jim has never gone.  (I used to go with my Mom-mom, Mom, aunt, sisters, cousins.  It was a yearly tradition and we would get loads of them and make a huge batch of jam... maybe that will be my goal for next year).  The kids did great.  Summer would tell me as she dropped hers in the basket... "that's beautiful mommy!".  We didn't stay long, but they each filled their basket and I filled 2.  They were so proud and wanted to carry their basket out!  

It was a great morning... I've had a rough week watching my grandfather teeter at the end of his life and I just needed to do something to bring back those happy memories from my childhood.  Strawberry picking definitely fit the bill.  And the bonus is that the kids really enjoyed themselves and behaved so well.  The trotted up and down the rows and didn't squash any or try to eat them in the field.  And I actually think that my husband enjoyed himself as well doing something that he had never done.  It was so nice to bring an old tradition from my family, into our family. 

We ended the weekend with a BBQ at Jim's parents' and the kids had a great time playing in their baby pool.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.  I love you all!