first day of school

My oldest is now more than half way thru Elementary School. (SOB!) It kills me, especially when he makes comments about going to Junior High, or driving. AGHH!! 

These crazy boys were not at all excited for school. I suspected they just weren't admitting it. Or maybe they just love spending time with me WAY too much. ;) 

Actually one time during the summer when they were doing chores, Easton shouted out "You're actually making me WANT to go back to school!" Haha.

Now that they're in school they like it well-enough. At least the being with friends part. Homework- not so much.

 too cool for school

Took me forever to realize what was on top of his head. Don't worry they're just his sunglasses, he's not trying to make some fashion statement or anything.

(now that I've taken my photography class, I totally know that I should go in and fix the background a little so you can't see my shadow/silhouette, but my free trial of Photoshop expired so we'll have to wait a while until I do that) 

Handsome 2nd Grader!! :) 

(pretty cute baby in the background too)

7 is heaven

 Just realized I never posted anything about Cole's birthday. That was almost 2 weeks ago. Oops.

Cole turned 7!! Ahhh! That seems so old. He's now counting down to being baptized and being in scouts. Oh, I'm so old.

We had an Olympic Party with some friends. I actually really love how everything went. The kids designed their own flags and then competed in a Decathalon in our backyard. They seemed to enjoy each event and recording their scores. We then had lunch and cake. It all completely wore me out. But he loved it - so that's all that matters.

Cole is quite the comedian. Always making us laugh. 

He is also so sweet and loving to his brothers. Always concerned about their feelings and making them happy. 

He is also a math wizard. Constantly impressing me with the problems he can solve.

He has also recently become so great at listening the first time. I. love. it. (Especially considering it wasn't long ago that Seth and I were wondering if he had a legitimate hearing problem. Haha!) He has truly become quick to obey. What a great quality! :) 

We are definitely a lucky family to have him!

1st and 2nd

The older boys started school last Monday. They are now both going for the full day! Crazy! They both seem to enjoy it enough. Easton's teacher is a yeller, like a mom heard her yelling on the first day :(. However, when I asked him about it, he said "Yeah, she yells. But just at Kaden and the bad kids." So I guess she won't be yelling at him. ;)

Cole doesn't really tell me much about whether he likes or doesn't like things. He just tells me facts... so I guess we'll see when he finally reveals his emotions about it.

Here's some pictures of them on the first day-

Cole's Party

Cole wanted the easiest party ever. He only wanted to invite 3 friends and go to Chuck E Cheese. So here's two pictures to prove we did it.

We had lunch and cake at our house before.

I'm cheap or frugal. Whatever you want to call it. 

Luckily Cole didn't care at all.

The Birthday Crowd 

(One of Easton's friends ended up coming as well)

kindergarten graduation

Cole graduated from Kindergarten on May 26th. I can't believe we'll have 2 kids in school full days this year. Talk about feeling old!

squished between two Averies :) Good thing he thinks they're cute. ;)

shaking the principal's hand

the proud graduate

with his cute teacher Mrs. Crookston (talk about making me feel old again - since when am I old enough to be older than teachers?!) 

You excelled in kindergarten and we're so proud of you!! Thanks for being such a wonderful example to your brothers, us and everyone else! 

Thanks to the family that came up. That was so sweet and made him so happy! (Sorry I didn't get pictures of any of you with Cole. :( I've really got to do better at taking meaningful pictures.)

6 years old!

My Cole is 6 years old!!

Birthday Breakfast

(Crepes. In case you can't tell and may be weirded out)

Instead of a birthday cake (because we had cake on Sunday and will be having cake for his friend party) I made a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. Looked and smelled delicious but nobody liked it. Ridiculous! (So I have half a pie in my fridge if anyone wants to come try it out. :) This one in case you're intrigued.

Such a sweet, loving boy. Always wanting to give everyone kisses and hugs.

Such a smart boy. I'm constantly blown away at the math you can do in your head.

Such a funny boy. Always making your brothers laugh, especially when they are sad.

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

We love you Cole!!

first day of kindergarten

Cole started Kindergarten on Monday. He was nothing but excited for it. He did get a little nervous and was holding on to me once we got to the school (I think he thought I was just going to take him to the door and leave.) Once we got inside the class he found his name tag and chair and got right to work, he didn't even seem to care or notice when I was leaving. He rode the bus home the first day which just made him look so big as he was getting off of it. When he was telling me about it, he loved everything except that "it was SO long".  

waiting in his class line before his teacher came out to get the class (it was cold and I didn't think to have him grab a jacket cause who needs a jacket in August?!)

getting right to work on his worksheet

5 years old!

So Cole's birthday came and went and I completely forgot about doing a post. For some reason blogging hasn't been on my mind as much... oh well.

I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE! You keep us laughing more than anyone. You are so sweet to all your brothers, always so concerned about how they feel. You are such a stubborn little guy, and while now I don't always appreciate it (like when I know that I cut up an apple for a snack but you refuse to believe it's anything other than a pear), I know your stubbornness will help get you thru life, being able to stick to what you know and believe.

On the morning of his birthday, he walked out of his room, I sang Happy Birthday to him and then asked him how if felt to be 5. He said "I'm 5? I'm really already 5? It doesn't feel like I'm 5."

Happy Birthday Cole!! We love you!!!

Cole

Cole will be 5 in less than two weeks. He is definitely the comedian of the family. Yesterday after church he had all of us laughing so hard, multiple times. The way he was going on Seth and I wondered if maybe he was going to be in drama instead of sports. Watching him play soccer is like watching a comedy more than a sports game anyways. He watches everything but the ball and runs to where the ball was long after the ball is gone.
A couple weeks ago, the boys were eating some Spicy Nacho Doritos. Cole was hesitant to try them, but Easton assured him "They aren't spicy Cole. Well, maybe just a little at the end." So Cole said, "Then I'll just eat the end first so it's not so spicy" and proceeded to turn his chip around and eat it. As you can see in the picture, that didn't work so well.
We went to go visit their new cousin Ty a while ago and all the boys just loved him. Cole especially had the magic touch. He held Ty on his lap while Ty slept for probably an hour. It was so cute!

Here's some videos of Cole and Peyt dancing :)

helpful brothers

Trey had been taking a nap and I heard him cry. I asked Cole and Peyton to go check on him and just a few minutes later, this is what I discovered.

"We made him happy Mom!"

(he started out with just one small blanket in his crib)

monday moments

"A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often." -Author Unknown

monday moments

One morning Cole came in, sat by Trey and asked me to take their picture. (Just thought I'd explain Cole's funny hair.)

"There's no other love like the love for a brother. There's no other love like the love from a brother. " -Astrid Alauda

I've started doing Monday Moments, which was started by my friend Angie. You can check out her's here and join in the fun :)

Soccer Boy

Cole had his very first soccer game a couple weekends ago. On the way to his game he said "I can't believe I finally get to be the soccer boy!"
I realize they aren't the greatest pictures but he made it kind of difficult. It often looked like he was dancing more than playing soccer.

Happy Birthday Coley Cole!!

Or Co Co, according to Peyt

I can't even believe our second child is now 4 years old! How time flies!! What a sweet, smart, wonderful 4 year old he is!! He makes us laugh all the time and is constantly impressing us with his knowledge and memory.

One week in May the preschoolers were supposed to bring something that started with "Q" (the letter of the week) for show and tell. Cole came up to me that morning and asked "Does cute start with Q?" When I said sorry, but no. He said " Dangit! Cause I wanted to bring Peyton for show and tell!"

On the drive from Arizona to back home, Easton and Cole were telling us that they only wanted to drive to home and not drive anywhere again. Cole said "Only dad can go far places now!" (knowing that his work is in far off California). And Seth said that he would just make the boys go. To which Cole replied, "No! Cause I won't put my shoes on!"


Cole had a small birthday party on Friday with some friends at Chuck E Cheese. (I think he could go there every day and not get sick of it.) We had a lot of fun!
Batman cupcakes (I took the easy way on these ones)

Stuffing the pizza down so he could have frosting (yes, he only licked the frosting off and didn't touch the cupcake)

Normally, we sing Happy Birthday in the morning and they get to blow out candles on pancakes, waffles, muffins, whatever they choose for their birthday breakfast. Cole totally shocked me and picked cereal. So we had to sing to him at lunch with leftover pizza. :)
On his real birthday (Sunday) Grandma and Grandpa and TJ and Tara came over to celebrate.

Showing off his present from the TJs.
His Batman cake. He got up one night from bed, about a week ago, and asked "Mom, how many days till my birthday?" After I answered him, he got a huge grin on his face and said "I want a Batman cake for my birthday!" I told him that sounded awesome and then he turned around and went right back to bed.
Singing Happy Birthday
Blowing out candles
Eating cake and ice cream before we got forks to them