Memorial Day Weekend

I didn't end up with a ton of pics from the weekend, and the ones I did have were *gasp* primarily of Owen....I wish I would have taken more of everyone else too, but I know between Jen and mom Kole - they probably made up for my deficiencies!! I'll just have to make in this post work with the ones I have....

Our Memorial Day weekend began on Thursday night...since Scott and I both had Friday off, we decided to head up to the cottage after work on Thursday.

Grandpa was already up there when we arrived, so we all relaxed Thurs night. Then Friday afternoon, Grandma, Jen, Paul, Kenzie and Dylan joined us. We celebrated Kenzie's second birthday on Saturday, complete with Elmo cake, made by Grandma.

We all wore elmo hats to celebrate (even the caribou wanted to wear one!)

little man in his elmo hat!

sweet little birthday girl!

Saturday morning, Jen, Mom Kole and I spent some time hitting up some garage sales and scored some great deals for the kids! Saturday night we had a 'fire-pot' and made some s'mores, yum!

O and Mom hangin by the fire...

Sunday morning, Tim and Emily joined us at the cottage. Tim and Scott headed out for some fishing while Emily and I took O on a walk and to the playground. Later in the afternoon, we all met up at the State Park for a picnic! It was fun eating outdoors and enjoying the weather, too bad it was a little windy, but sure beats snow!!

Papa and O picnic-ing.....

Tim and Emily...

After our picnic it was back to the cottage for some relaxing - while the boys stayed out fishing. Later in the evening we had an awesome fish fry! Mom Kole prepared all of the fish (all 150 fillets, right?!? ha!) it was mmmm mmmm good!!

Monday, was spent just relaxing. Scott did some more fishing and O and I just hung out and played.

Playing with a little truck on the deck...

my little goober and his two front teeth!!

oh, and did I mention...the weekend consisted of a lot of fishing, one of Scott's favorite pass times!! Here's little man hanging out by the bench on the dock watchin his papa fish...

so cute....

I think we have another fisherman on our hands! Helpin papa by holding the wax worm container and lovin every minute of it!! When Scott caught a smaller fish, we held it up to see if he'd touch it and he thought it was the greatest thing in the world and laughed like crazy!

What a great weekend with family and friends! Thanks mom and dad Kole for having us up at the cottage and thanks to everyone else for the fun and memories!! But isn't it always the case that after a nice vacation, you feel like you need some more rest?! This definitely rang true for O man...conked out with froggy buddy in his carseat!

Randomness & Such...

Well, Tulip time is over, what ever will I do with all my free time?!

It was fun to partake in the fun this year I haven't done anything with Tulip time in a long time...and I'm really glad I decided to dance this year and plan to do it again in the future!

The Thursday of Tulip Time week, I got together with my friends Kelly (and baby K), Alyson, Jeanne (and baby P), and Jeanne's daughter, Livvy. A fun time was had by all! Livvy had never seen dutch dancers and I think she had fun taking it all in and even came to join our group out on the street at the end of our dance!! Of course we had to pose by the tulips - its practically mandatory!



...and what Tulip Time spectator wouldn't take advantage of the cutout dutch people - its a no brainer photo op!! The funny thing is - I have a picture from over 10 years ago of Jeanne and me posing by the same cutouts, I'll have to scan it and upload it - too funny!

Last weekend was, of course Mother's Day, and my first one! Owen's gift to me was sleeping in until 9:00 am!!! WOW, it was a welcomed gift, let me tell you! Owen also got me a really pretty orange flower (the name is escaping me at the moment)- and he had one of my all time fave pics of him and I blown up and put it in a nice frame - what a thoughtful little man! :)

To celebrate the day, we had my mom and brothers over for a cookout lunch of brats and hamburgers. It was kinda cold to sit outside, so we played Wii indoors!! Here are the uncles with Mr. O....

Later on in the afternoon, we headed over to Scott's parent's house to celebrate with his fam. It was a fun get together, with Gma VI, Gma & Gpa Kole, mom & dad Kole, Jen, Paul, Kenz, Dylan, Scott, Owen, me, and my mom too! The boys all cooked and cleaned up afterwards so us moms could relax. Yummy food and fun times! :)

What a fun and relaxing weekend!

This week seems to have flown by - Scott went out of town on Wed and Owen and I had a fun time together!! Yesterday, I had the day off so I spent some time garage saling and couponing and then met Kelly for lunch and girl time! It was nice to have a day to just do whatever!

Well that's about it - I'm all blogged out for now!

Bonus picture time...

...just waking up from a nap (I couldn't resist taking this pic!)

Coupon Mania

So what can you buy for just over $33 ?

I went on a couponing spree and saved a TON (thanks to some tips from friends and some couponing blogs I subscribe to) and here's what I bought....

Over 300 diapers

1 Glade lasting impressions air freshener with two refills

2 boxes Kotex liners

1 stick Deodorant

4 rolls Cottenelle toilet paper

2 pkgs Oscar Meyer hot dogs

2 jars Mayo

1 bottle Mustard

4 bottles BBQ sauce

2 bottles salad dressing

3 boxes Bagelfuls

2 pkgs Crystal Light

1 box Kashi waffles

Its so fun to save money! :)

10 months

Will have a fun post later this week, with weekend happenings - for now, here's Owen's 10 mo. update:

At 10 months old, Owen....

• Has developed quite the attachment to his froggy blankie - the other night it was left behind in the daycare parking lot - and we had a LONG night! We are on the hunt for a backup !!
• Started pointing his finger at things he wants or likes
• Loves to fall backward when he is standing up and knows you're behind him to catch him
• Is still not crawling (pure laziness?!) He has started trying to walk around things while standing up and is scooting around backward on his belly though
• Loves reading - he has started looking at books by himself and 'reading' them outloud
• Loves jumping on the bed (we just lowered the crib mattress down and he thinks he's so cool when he can stand up and jump on the mattress)
• Has two top teeth and three bottom teeth (and more on the way)
• Loves eating his cereal puffs
• Still has a favorite baby food - sweet potatoes with corn
• Has some new sounds: ducka ducka ducka and gugn gugn gugn
• Shakes his head no
• Wears 12-18 mo clothes size 3 diapers
• Says a 'k' sound every time he sees the cat
• Thinks sneezes are hilarious
• Has turned into quite the daddy's boy
• Loves walks outside
  

Seems these monthly photo sessions are getting more and more difficult, here is our attempt at froggy buddy pics for this month.....

totally not havin' it....

Snapped this one right after he threw froggy off the couch...what a stinker-face!...

So when it wasn't working out so well w/ Froggy, we tried to get a shot with Steggy - As you can see, Owen was so thrilled...

So it was back to froggy (who am I kidding, isn't trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result, the definition of insanity?!)

Yet somehow, I just don't give up - So, a little later in the day (after a nap and some food) I thought we might try it again, this time, I held up the phone in the air while taking his pics and was pressing the buttons - to get his attention...Owen is just too smart for that one and with his new pointing trick, demanded that he get to play with the phone!

But...somehow, he cooperated for a second and I ended up with this shot, and I think it will just have to do! :)

Spring has Sprung...

...finally! Isn't it about time?!?

I'm so glad that the sun is finally shining and the weather is warm! It makes everything a little nicer!!! It's been great getting Owen outside and the sun just makes you feel good!! :)

The weekend started out on a positive note - when Owen got a good report on his ears! His hearing tests were all within normal range and the tubes looked like they were still in place and doing well!! We're so glad we made the decision for tubes!!

Friday night we celebrated Alyson's 30th birthday with Alyson (duh), Greg, Emily, and Tim. We went to dinner at VI


Then we headed down to the fireworks...we had an awesome time!! It was a bit chilly, but it was worth it for a fun night out!




Saturday, Owen slept in until 8:45! It was a new record!! Granmuffin watched O on Fri night and must have had too much fun with him and wore him out (and what a welcomed surprise for him to sleep in after a late night out - well if you call 11:00ish late (for us, yes!))

At 9:30 - Dylan had a soccer game so we decided to hurry up and get dressed and ready and head out there to cheer him on! It was a bit windy - but it was so nice to get some fresh air and watch all the kids play - they're so cute at that age (I think the league is either 4 and 5 or 5 and 6 year olds) and Dylan and his team did awesome! Here's Kenz chillin out on the field while the team is playing in the background (silly girl!)

After soccer, Dylan went out hunting with Paul and they got a turkey! It worked out pretty well, Scott was just on his way out to his dad's house to go picks some stuff up when the phone rang and it was Dylan calling to tell Scott they got a turkey! Good job guys! :)

Saturday afternoon I dutch danced and there were SO many spectators!! There were only five groups performing and there was an art show in the park, so the dancers drew a huge crowd! Our group had a lot of people there to watch (gran, barb, aunt mary, tim, emily, emily's mom and step dad, scott, owen, jen's fam, robin's fam, and families of most of the other dancers too!)

what a fun time!! After we danced we figured we would take advantage of the nice weather and kid's good moods and try to get some cute pics by the tulips, since they were all in their costumes....

Paul and Scott were like paparazzi - taking tons of shots in hopes to catch one where all three kids were looking...This is one scott took - Jen and I were looking at Paul's camera though - but I think its so cute, Dylan looks like he's deep in thought, and Kenz is checkin out her cuz and Owen wanted to say hi!


Another attempt...

This one turned out pretty cute though!


Scott's two little dutch boys!


Sunday- Owen, Scott and I headed to Kinderplaats downtown to check out the fun...We parked way over on River and walked the boardwalk (which I never really knew existed) to get there - so we got a nice long walk in too!


It was fun to see what it was all about, but will be much more fun when Owen is a little older. Owen got a balloon, got to pet a pony, check out some pigs and goats and birds, and he saw a great big bulldozer, a police car, and lots of other fun stuff. Scott stood in line for awhile so we could get a caricature done of Owen.

While Scott was in line, Owen and I watched the group of Irish dancers - probably ages 5-15 on the stage. They were so cute! Later on, Owen even got his pic taken with Curious George! Though, I think Scott is a little more excited about it than O! :)

Sunday evening, Scott went out fishing with some friends and when Owen got up from his nap, we headed over to gran's and went on a nice long walk by her house (double exercise today, I don't think my body knows what is going on!)

What a great fun-filled weekend with family and friends!

On a random note, these are some pics from last weekend...Owen doing what he loves best (riding his little firetruck around (he can kinda make it go backwards)...and looking out the window in his new chair...