Press for the kids

Annabelle and Cole are on their way to fame. Annabelle was on the front page of the paper for the 3rd time! Cole is apparently helping King's Photography with their advertising. We are lucky are kids are cute!

Sleep

The famous chair that they sit on together for pictures - although they don't fit together on there anymore.

Some people say she looks like her mama

We have been pretty proud of how well our kids do at night. I know I won't get a lot of sympathy from a lot of parents but the last few days have been rough in the sleeping department. Sunday night Cole was up almost every other hour for a while and I am not sure why. I would get up with him and we would rock and back to sleep he would go. I would put him in his crib and he would stay sleeping for a while and then about an hour later he would wake up and we would do it all over again. The next morning I figured that I can handle one night of that - not a big deal. Monday we went to Carrington in the afternoon. Brian's Grandma passed away on Friday so we were spending time with family and attending the prayer service and funeral. We knew going into it that it would be a late night and we were prepared for cranky kids on Tuesday. They both went to bed about 10:30 - which wasn't bad for all the commotion that was going on. Brian and I thought we were in the clear for the night - wrong. I don't know who woke up first but they were in the same room so by the time we got to them they were both up. Cole went back to bed just fine but Annabelle was a different story. She wasn't falling back asleep so we decided to let her sleep with us - bad idea. I don't know if it was Annabelle not being use to sleeping with us or us not being use to sleeping with her but the night didn't go well. The last time I looked at the clock it was 3:30 and Annabelle was still wiggling around. She did eventually fall asleep but then Cole was up around 6:00 - it was a short night. Tuesday night we were back home and excited to everyone to get back into the routine and be in their own beds. Annabelle did great - Cole on the other hand was a different story. I am not sure what was wrong but he fussed from about 4:30pm until he finally fell sound asleep at 2:30. He was running a fever so I know he wasn't feeling well. He would sleep just fine in my arms and as soon as I would make a move to put him down he would start to fuss. I started this post last night and was interrupted by Cole waking up. I can happily report now that last night was a very restful night! Cole and Annabelle both went to bed around 8:30. Cole did get back up for a little bit around 10:30 but then he slept until 6 this morning - I feel much better today with a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Poor Cole

We joke that since Cole is the 2nd child he is ignored more often and has to "suck it up" more than Annabelle did. Part of that seems true just because we can't give him our undivided attention like we could with Annabelle but we do our best to give both kids all the attention and love that they need. When Annabelle would reach each milestone we would have it posted for all the world to see almost as it was happening. Poor Cole - his accomplishments are posted but usually after the fact. Last week Cole got his 5th tooth. It is the top left tooth so pretty soon he will not have fangs anymore! He also has started using a sippy cup at supper time. He really seems to like it although I think he is getting his other front tooth and likes to chew on it. He is also a little mobile - no he isn’t crawling yet but he is rolling around everywhere! He really enjoys laying on the floor and wiggling around. It is so much fun to watch him do some of these things. Annabelle hated being on her tummy and never just rolled around the floor or really learned to crawl like most babies. It almost gives Cole something special, he is the first child we have that has done some of these things. I think we have continued to do a good job of raising our kids in a positive house. Annabelle’s first word was yeay and every time Cole does something (like roll over or finish his food) Annabelle will say “Yeay Cole!” Hopefully we can make that one of his first words, although I am thinking it will be either “no” or “mine” the poor guy hears that all the time.

World's Largest Buffalo

We had some company come visit us the other weekend. Some of my relatives from Washington were passing through ND on the way to MN and they were nice enough to take time out of their trip to stop and see us. We have a very nice visit with Sharon and Fran. On their way out of town we took them to see the world's largest buffalo. The 26-foot-tall, 60-ton concrete giant has been standing watch over Jamestown from his perch at the Frontier Village since 1959. Created by sculptor Elmer Petersen, he has proven one of the midwest's most popular roadside attractions for 50 years. In 2010, the World's Largest Buffalo received his name, Dakota Thunder.

Family Day

Next year Cole

We have had a wonderful day today - filled with a lot of family fun! We started off the day going to church. Actually I should say it started off with Cole waking up at 5:30 and having no interest what so ever in going back to sleep. After church we came home for about an hour. We fed the kids and prepared our dish for the potluck lunch at the church. We have had an interim pastor for the past 6 months and his last Sunday was today. We were wondering how lunch was going to go: it was getting close to Annabelle's nap time and Cole really hadn't slept all morning after getting up so early. The lunch went well - Annabelle played with some kids that were there and Cole ended up falling asleep and staying asleep once we put him in his car seat. After lunch we went back home and it was nap time for everyone - it was wonderful! It was a nice afternoon so we decided after nap time we would walk to the park and let Annabelle play for a while. She had a great time! Now we are back home and we are working on grilling some supper and then it will be time to get ready for the week ahead. The weekend go by to fast!

Once again too much excitement foe Cole