Visiting the Carr's

Colden can put another pin on the map for visiting Connecticut. Following our visit with the Long’s in New York, we hopped a plane to LaGuardia and made our way to New Canaan to stay with the Carr family. Laurel, my closest friend from college, just had her second baby. It was so fun to meet little Nate, just 8 weeks old, and to see Audrey all grown up (age 3).

Audrey referred to herself as Cole’s 'big sis' most of the time… very cute! She was a great helper—she even plugged her nose when helping change Cole’s stinky diaper. My favorite was bath time each evening… my only purpose in the bathroom was to supervise—Audrey had the rest under control as she scrubbed Cole and made sure he smelled clean!

Colden had fun playing with Audrey’s toys, except for her newest Fancy Nancy doll which was off-limits. She shared really well, but couldn’t figure out why she had to share, but Cole didn’t. We also had fun at the play gym, aquarium and playing in the pool at the club ;)

Laurel and I managed to sneak out for a little time without the kids, which was VERY nice—especially the massage that followed our pedicures! I enjoyed our evenings after the kids were asleep and Kirk grilled for us. Barefoot Laurel was a great cook too ;)

Accross The Country

2 weeks ago, Cole and I packed a big bag and a lite stroller and headed to New York. Flying accross the country is not much closer than flying to Japan from Seattle... and it sure felt like we were flying to Japan! It was worth a long day of travel as soon as we arrived. It was so fun to see Christina, Brett and their new little baby Brenna. It was cute seeing them with a tiny little infant--but kinda strange too because I always picture them with the boys!
It was fun toting around 4 kids... made us both wonder how my mom did it with 6! It's a good thing that Brenna was so easy. She just slept until she was hungry again. We attempted to take the kids strawberry picking, but after arriving at the second farm, Josh got sick in the parking lot and we loaded up the kids to head home (it was quite a day!).

One of our most memorable days was our trip to Rochester to play at the Children's Museum. We stopped on our way for Tim Horton's donuts which was a fun treat. It was really fun for me to see all the cool play themes and all 3 of the boys had a great time. Brenna slept ;)

Christina and I left the boys to hang out on Saturday with Brett and we did a little shopping. Here is what happend while we were gone (yes, that is a gun in Cole's mouth)!We also got to see Josh graduate from his nursery school and put on a really cute show!

I had a wonderful visit with my sister and Colden just loved playing with his big cousins. I wish I could have stayed a few days longer and am so glad that I got to spend that time with Brenna while she was little.

Top 5 Things I Love About Dad

by Colden Martin

5. Dad burries me in pillows and I play peek-a-boo with him
4. Dad hangs me upside down like a monkey and makes me laugh
3. Dad plays cool music and taught me how to dance to it
2. Dad works very hard so that mom can stay home and take care of me
1. Dad loves me sooooo much

Happy Father's Day. We love you!

Neigh Neigh!

Yesterday morning Colden was busy playing with his new farm set... and did the most adorable thing he has done yet! He was making the horse whinny!

It's very cute and a little screechy... just like Nana's! Too bad I couldn't catch that on video!

Strawberry Picking

We had a fun day out at the farm picking strawberries with our friends! Its kinda funny to publish this post in June when all of our friends in Texas did this same thing 2-3 months ago!

In case you can't read Amy's shirt... yes, its says baby bump!

Liz - sorry to leave you and Gracie out... didn't know if you would want a photo of you picking (great butt shots!) on our blog! Here we are... feeding Cole his first strawberry. He started off with a sour face, but he LOVED the berries!

Summer Fun

We had a long winter then a chilly spring and then summer hit 2 weeks ago. Last week it was hot (90's)--this week we're back to normal summer weather and loving it.

Yesterday, we had a picnic with daddy! It was a nice treat to see Jeremy during the day... we're going to try and do this fairly regularly all summer.

Colden also got to swim in his pool for the first time... and eat his first popsicle!A summer day wouldn't be complete without some corn on the cob!

Thanks Gail!

Gail is Colden's 'adopted' grandma up here in Seattle. She loves him and he adores her! He gets to spend plenty of time with her because Gail and I share many crafty and cooking interests and conveniently are right accross the street from eachother! She also is so kind to help out when I need to get away without Cole (like my dentist appointment this week).

Here is a picture that I snapped of Cole and Gail at lunch this week (yes, Noodle Boat!)

Gail - thanks for being such a sweet friend and helping with Cole this week. We'll have to repeat our lunch date again soon!

Climbing Stairs

I've been watching Colden think about climbing up the stairs for the past few days. Well, apparently all he needed was a little candy ;) Yeah, my sneakers... thought I had put them out of the way so he couldn't get them, but shoes were motivation enough to start climbing!

Colden Turns 9 Months Old

This little boy brings so much joy to me daily. I am having such a wonderful time being a mom and watching him grow up (too fast).

We had another busy month adding Stroller Strides to our routine a few days a week. Cole is the only kiddo who is awake enough to watch, but not old enough to cry to go home. He's a good sport!

At Colden's 9 month check-up, he weighed in at 21 pounds and 12 ounces. I didn't expect that he had gained a lot of weight, since he is very busy moving about these days and stretching taller. He measured almost 30 inches tall.

He discovered yesterday that his climbing skills can be used in the crib... this is what I found today when I went to get him from his morning nap!

He has also become quite a good helper in the kitchen! He loves 'his' cabinets.

Monkeying Around

I love to hang upside down like a monkey when I'm playing with daddy!