Apple Picking Time

Riding the Ferry


Reaching for the perfect apple!


Wheres cole?


My favorite pic!


The boys!

Up here in the Midwest, apple picking is a fall favorite! When I moved here and found out you could go apple picking I was so excited. Yes, I made Dan go long before we were ever married...and no he did not enjoy it! Now that we have Cole, it is so much fun going! The best part is, Cole doesnt eat apples EVER at home, but ate 8 apples at the orchard! He would eat like 10 bites, throw it down and grab another! We went with Heather and Jay and the kids. Cole loved the wagon ride out to the orchard and then ate himself silly! He also rode ponies before we left! We took the ferry over to Illinois, but it was way too long of a wait on our way back so we jsut drove it. Now I am finding every way possible to cook our 20 pounds of apples!

Playdate with Abby

Cole and Abby in the bouce house.


Playing with all the toys he never plays alone!


Swinging together!

When Cole was just 4 months old, he began going to Mrs. Katy when I was at work. She watched him until he turned 3, then decided since her little ones are in preschool and school now, she wante to spend more time volunteering at school etc, so Cole no longer goes to her. Cole became extremely close with her girls Abby, and Katherine, who he calls "Hatherine." Mrs. Katy was so wonderful to him and took him places and treated him like her own....which made Dan and I so confident he was well taken care of those 2 or 3 times a week. Over the last 9 weeks with his new sitter, he often asks about the girls. We finally were able to get together last week and let Cole and Abby play! She came over and they had such a good time! We miss playing with you Abby and Katherine!

Girls Night Out

Us at the game


All five of us


Another group photo!

What a rare statement! I know...if you are a mom then you know its not often that you actually have your husband staying home so you can enjoy yourself! Well, finally we did! Me, Heather, Nikke, Rebecca and Kristy all went to the Cardinals game! I am pretty sure we only watched about 10 minutes because we were so busy talking! Of course, I watched when my longtime love David Eckstein (who no longer plays for us) was up at bat! We did have a great time. We really couldnt do much more than the game as Kristy, Rebecca and Heather have tiny ones at home! Thanks for a fun night girls....whew!

Shopping Mania

Dress up!

Nice necklace in the hair!

Who needs a double stroller?

Today Heather and I went over to the new mall in Lake St. louis called The Meadows. Its great because its the outside mall, so you can walk in and out rather than actually going "into" the mall. ANyways...we went in New York and Company so Heather could make a return and I could get some glasses. Of course, COle can shop all day with me, but add a friend to the shopping and its crazy!When we were checking out, I turned around and saw Cole wearing jewelry. He told me they were dressing up!

The Zoo

Welcome to the Zoo!

Climbing on the spider web!

Roar!

Giddyup Dino!

Nasty monkey buisness!

Today Heather and I took the boys and Tessa to the zoo! We had a blast! The boys loved the otters and sea lions the best! It was a beautiful day too which was great! They are having a dinosaur exhibit rightnow. It was really cool. The dinosurs moved and roared! Cole loved them and nervous Nelly Isaak was unsure! The gorillas were up to no good! Lets just say, the other helped him have a very clean butt! Cole shouted "thats disgusting!" It was a great time and Tessa was a trooper!

Bonfire

RIng around the rosey

All fall down!

Cheese boys!

HAving popsickles!

On Saturday evening I called the Hudsons to see what they were doing and so they told me to bring Cole over and the boys could play and they could se my new car. When I got there Jay was setting up the bonfire pit and pulling out camping chairs. SOme neighbors came out and they also have a 3 year old boy. We all sat around talking and drinking juice, and the kids played crazy! They played ring around the rosey which was precious and restled in the back of the truck. THey had a great time! I enjoyed spending a night with friends since Dan was wokring. Thanks Heather and Jay for having us!

Whisper

Stick Bug

Stick bug again

Dan swatting it!

So on Thurday night I am driving home after teaching all day and having 4 straight hours of parent teacher conferences and I get a call from Dan. He is whispering and says, "Where are you?" Like a dork, I think I need to whisper, so I say, "passing the farm why?" Still whispering he says, " When you come in, be quiet, Cole and I found a bug and we dont want to scare it." SO I come in and they are by the door and whispering to come see it. It was a stick bug in the house. It was up on the vault part so dan didnt want to smash it incase it left a mark. So he swats it and it flies under the fan and gets in the wind tunnel and is going in circles and we are all screaming and laughing. Naturally, I grab my camera when it lands on the wall again. Dan finally gets it and we laughed hysterically. No dull moments in my house!

Ahhh....the joys of Cycle Schedule!

Many of you know that I took a teaching position at a new district last year, 30 miles closer to home! I love my kindergarten position here, but left behind some of my closest friends from my old school...however....when I get to missing them too much, I just think......Brooke, you can visit them on "cycle break." The school I teach at starts in July and we teach 9 weeks, then we take a 3 week "cycle break." We do this every 9 weeks until June, then we are off for 6 weeks. This schedule is so fabulous because it allows me to spend 3 whole weeks with my husband and son. Since Dan only works every other day or so for 24 hours, we get to spend TONS of time together during my breaks! So yes....at noon tomorrow I will be on my 3 week break! So please, dont call before 9:30! ha!
This year will be our first time utilizing off peak travel times! Dan and I will be joining another couple in Ft. Lauderdale. We are going without cole (thats a whole other blog) for 6 days. (well, we are already missing him and are looking in to coming home a day early.) We are excited though to enjoiy some time alone, have several glasses of wine, escape kindergarteners, and take a break from the mind consuming fertilty drama! maybe that will be our 14 month answer!
So I say to you......I LOVE CYCLE BREAK, and get ready for lots of blogs because I have Dan and Cole and I booked for 3 weeks worth of family fun! If you know Dan, he dreads my "adventures" becuase sometimes they dont go as planned!

Monkey Joes

Peeking over the top!

Here is comes!
]
Make a wish!

Today was Megasn 4th birthday! Lou had her party at Monkey Joes. Thats an indoor bounce house place! Cole always loves these places...as do we becuase it tires him out! ha! THis place is really big so Dan and I do a lot of pacing and chasing becuase its much earier to get lost..or maybe its because we are overprotective at these places with big kids that are rude!
Cole had a great time and we loved watching her open all the girl stuff since we never get to do that! Happy birthday Megan!

My Little Mini Me!

Cole has begun to have the photography obession that I do! Everyone who knows me knows I dont leave without my camera, and usually take about 100 pics a week! The other night Dan, Cole and I were eatnig at a restaraunt and Cole put his arm around my neck and said, "Mommy, I love you sooooo much." I replied and told him how much I loved him too. Then with his arm around my neck he said, "Dad, take our picture." Dan and I laughed so hard! He is just like me! This is the picture Dan took as Cole told him to!

My Child The Monster Lover

Cole with a scream mask!

I think Dan said this was from Hellraiser. Im in it!

Weird trash can monster.

Scary gnome thing!

Nasty child monster.

For the past 6 months Cole has fallen in love with Scooby Doo. Thats all he wants to watch. Well because of the nature of Scooby, he is no longer afraid of monsters and now is obsessed with monster, goblin, ghosts and anything gory! I guess on one hand its nice not to be worried about him being scared, but he has been excited for halloween for months! He saw they were opening a Halloween store by our house and we had to check daily to see if they were open! Finally last week they opened! He ran in there so excited! They had the nastiest scariest lfe sized stuff all talking and screaming and yelling! Cole thought it was awesome! He made me put on masks, he put on masks and we were there an hour! He picked out his costume (a skeleton)and has worn it everyday since!
Cole now has a camera obesession as we all know I do, so now he asks all the time for my camera and he takes pictures of things where we are. So at the store, he says "mom, i need the camera. I need to take pictures of all these monsters to show dad!" I laughed so hard becuase that is SOOOO me! He proceeded to take pics of me, and the monsters! Needless to say, our house in decorated and we are very excited for Halloween. Just a little....ok...alot sad that he is old enough to pick his own costume this year and not let me humiliate him with the peacock that drew so much attention!

Old Friends

Two Preggos!

Laura and Mike

Kim and Trey

Us girls!

Comparing small bellies!

When I was in high school I had four really close friends in St. Louis. Me, Heather, Kim and Laura. We did about everything together. As girls do, we spent each weekend together and had a great time! As we graduated, we all went to different colleges and different ways. Obviously we made new friends at school and life took us different ways.
Dan kept in touch with his good friend, who right before our wedding told us he was dating Heather who had just moved back from California. So that put us back in touch. She and Kimmy were childhood friends and were still in touch, so we all three could hang out.
THen thanks to myspace, Laura after 11 years of not speaking, found me. She has been a traveling nurse and is married and living in Las Vegas. So we began calling and talking and she is now moving back with her husband! While they were in town last week we all got together with our husbands for some Fondue at THE MELTING POT! Kim and Trey are expecting a little girl, and Laura and Mike are expecting in the Spring.

Another Strange Hankism

Bog Ole Oaf!

Ears back.

More ears back.

I have already told you how odd and dumb our dog is, but I need to show tyou just another reason this dog "aint right." When hes nervous he folds both ears back over each other. I was vaccuming while he was in his cage and Cole was taking pictures of him. (Thats another story) You can see in the pictures his ears are folded back! What a weirdo! But thanks Cole for capturing it on camera! Hank is now about 80 pounds and 9 months old.

2008 Fire Truck Rally

Here comes "daddys truck."

Cole waving at the trucks!

Cole and Isaak on the arch steps.

Cole using the hose.

Cole in "daddys truck."

Today was the St. Louis Fire Truck Rally downtown. This year they moved the parade so it came right in front of the Arch, then they had all the festivities down under the Arch with the whole street lined one after another of fire trucks. Cole loved the parade part and seeing all of "daddys friends." We sat right in front they honked and waved and threw candy. Cole waved the entire time, while running back to check on Isaak and offer candy since he didnt like being too close to all the honking! Dans crew was on today so it was fun to see them drive by in the fire truck! THey had hoses set up so the kdis could hold them and spray water. They had a "live burn" also. They set two rooms on fire, one with a sprinker system adn one not. Obviously the one without didnt fair so well....as I know from experience....and let me tell you that smell of burned curtains and furniture was the EXACT same smell I remember frm when my house burned down in kindergarten. Very weird.
COle and Isaak had an awesome time playing on "daddys firetuck" and running on the arch steps and rolling in the grass! I am so glad we went and enjoyed a great day outside...and of course...KUDDOS to firefighters for the job they do!

A Golfer Amongst Us

First shot of the night.


Cheese mom!


Placing it precisely where it needs to be!

On Friday night it was absolutely gorgeous here in St. Louis so we decided to take Cole for a "surprise." We took him to play putt putt golf. Dan has taken up this new sport...(love you Dan, wink wink) and he and cole have been playing in the house. So this was his first metal club experience. He was so excited when we drove up! He did all 18 holes and was such a good sport, unlike T ball, this requires no real physical activity! He would hit it and hit it unitl it went in, then run back and do it again. If it took him to long he would just pick it up and put the ball right next to the hole! It was a really fun night! More putt putt to come I am sure!