New Word

Cole chilling out helping Daddy with dishes

Eating ribs down to the bone. Annabelle fixing Brian's truck tire with her new tools. Brian found them at the Goodwill for $.69 and she loves them!

Annabelle learned a new word at daycare. Tonight at the supper table she was calling Charlie a "naughty puppy" and for once he wasn’t even doing anything. I asked Brian if he had ever used the word naughty and he hasn't, I am pretty sure I don't use it. I don't think it is a bad word but they must have some naughty kids in her room and she is starting to notice. We asked her if she is naughty at daycare and she told us no. Then we asked if she was a good girl and she said, "yes, good girl." Hopefully that is true :)

Horseback Riding

We went to a birthday party for the son of one of Brian's co-workers today. The party was at a park and they brought horses and bunnies for the kids to play with. It took Annabelle a little while to warm up to what was going one. When we first went over to the animals she wanted nothing to do with them. After a little while she would slowly walk up to the rabbit cage and look inside but if someone would take one out she would run back to me and want to be picked up. Same thing with the horses, she would let me carry her over there but wouldn't even touch them. Slowly she warmed up to them, she would stand a few feet away and lean over and touch them with one finger and eventually she would pet them when I was holding her and by the time we left she didn't even care how close she was. They also were giving pony rides and horse rides. Annabelle wanted nothing to do with sitting on the pony all by herself. Right before we left she agreed to take a ride on the horse if I went with her. Once we started she didn't want to stop. Cole slept in the stroller almost the whole time we were at the park. Poor little guy misses out on everything :)

Happy Mother's Day

We had a great day today! We went to Church and then just hung out at home. It was nice to spend a quite day with our little family. One of the greatest things that happened today was Cole rolled over for the first time. He is getting so big! Now both of the kids are in bed and Brian and I are going to enjoy a glass of champagne on the deck in honor of Mother's Day.

Mini Vacation

We were able to get away for a night and I would like to think of it as a mini vacation. One of our nephews graduated from college this weekend so we headed down to Wahpeton for the party. It was a good time! We checked into the hotel early afternoon and let Annabelle swim for a while. She loved it and swan for over an hour. We put Cole in his suit but the water was so cold we decided not to take him in. There will be lots of opportunities this summer for him to try out his swimming skills. After swimming we cleaned up and headed off to the party. Annabelle had a great time playing with her cousin Abi and the dog Libby. We left about 10pm to go back to the hotel and I was a little worried how the night was going to go. We had two beds and the pack and play. The plan was for Annabelle to sleep in one bed with Brian or I and hopefully Cole in the pack and play. It took a few minutes for Annabelle to unwind but Brian and I laid on either side of her and after a few minutes she was sound asleep. This was the first time she slept in a real bed so we were wondering how she was going to handle it but she did great. After she was out I fed Cole and he was down for the count as well. Brian slept in the bed with Annabelle and I slept next to the pack and play so I could feed Cole if he got up. Annabelle woke up once and ended up waking Cole up as well but after a few minutes they were both sound asleep again. We were all tired from a late night and a semi early morning but over all Brian and I consider it a success.

The oldest and yougest grandchildren on the Paulson side: Connor (26) and Cole (4 months)

Fire

We had an exciting night at the Paulson house. The evening was the same routine as usual: pick up the kids from daycare, bath time, play time and Brian was grilling supper enjoying the nice weather. After supper we started winding down and then Brian went to put Annabelle to bed. Cole was chilling out and I was getting things ready for this weekend. All of the sudden the wind picked up and I heard a crash. I assumed it was the grill because it wouldn't have been the first time it tipped over in the wind (it is looking pretty rough). I looked at the window and the grass was almost laying flat and leaves and the little pieces of garbage people leave laying around we just flying through the yard. I had an odd feeling and went out to asses the damage on the grill so I would know how bad it was when Brian came out of Annabelle's room. The wind was still blowing so strongly that with the walk in door of the garage open I could barely get the door to the house closed. When I got outside I saw the grill was laying on the ground and I saw flames. The grill had tipped over on a pile of dry wood next to the house and started it on fire. My first reaction was oh **** and I wasn't quite sure what to do. My first thought was to get it out so I went into the house and started filling up a tall glass of water. I thought about yelling at Brian but figured I would tend to the fire first and then get him. The first cup put out some of it and after the 2nd a majority of it was out. Brian happened to come out of Annabelle's room as I was coming back into the house after the first glass of water and I told him the grill tipped and started a fire. At first he wasn't very happy that I didn't come get him and ran downstairs to get the fire extinguisher (that never crossed my mind). Everything worked out just fine. We might have some melted plastic on the cover to the sprinkler system and some of Brian's gilling tools no longer have handles but the house is ok. That is the closest that I have ever had fire to a place that I have lived in and that was close enough. Brian said he has been meaning to move the wood pile and after tonight is has been relocated. What an adrenalin filled night.

3 months 3 weeks and 3 days

After 3 months we have finally moved Cole to his crib. When Cole was born we thought we would move him into his own room a lot sooner than Annabelle - turns out it was later and for a whole other reason. I was waiting for Cole to sleep though the night before we moved him. It is easier when he gets up when he is in our room we can just pop the pacifier back in and crawl back into bed - I was not in a hurry to walk all away across the house in the middle of the night. We finally decided to move him his crib because he is getting to big for his co-sleeper that we have in the pack and play. Last night he seemed to do ok - I woke up a few times thinking I heard him fussing and he wasn't and he did wake up once or twice before he was ready to eat. Overall I would call the night a success. I thought last night that is would be no big deal not having him in our room but it was different not being able to hear all the little noises that he makes when he sleeps or listening to him snore. He is back in his crib again and hopefully tonight will go as well as last night.

1913

Ready for church

Floor Time

Our Church is celebrating our heritage and looking back honoring our past. Today the service was similar to what it would have been in 1913. People were encouraged to dress the part and there were plenty of people that were dressed in clothing from that time period. The service was also done using some of the songs and liturgy that was used during that time period, it was very interesting. Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole service was the men sat on one side and women and young children on the other. I have recently been elected onto the church council as treasurer and we had a council retreat this past Saturday. I was telling people that if Brian thought he was sitting by himself on Sunday and leaving me with the two kids he had another think coming. We made a deal that he would take Cole and I would have Annabelle. When we got to church we sat across from each other....poor Annabelle was so confused. She had a good time running back and forth between us, I was a little worried about being stuck with both kids but will admit that Brian ended up with both of them quite a bit and did a great job. The rest of the weekend was pretty quite and we spent quite a bit of time outside enjoying the nice weather.

Walking around in high heels and pushing a stroller...just like mom

Cole loves this new look on life but his legs are a little short.

Supper Time

Tonight we had supper a little late and kept the kids up until we were done. Annabelle did well while we ate; Cole on the other hand barely made it through. By the end of supper he could hardly keep his eyes open and being the good parents that we are you would think we would have put him to bed. Well we didn't - instead we got the video camera and taped him. Every time he would close his eyes for a few minutes Brian would tickle his foot to wake him up a little bit and we would watch him do it all over again. Poor little guy - daycare wears him out. I will say the video is kind of funny.