Christmas Morning and Then Some

We had a nice Christmas this year, even though we all had colds. Thank you so much to everyone that spoiled Cole. He really is enjoying all of his presents. He now owns the living room and plays with his new toys morning to night! Here is the link to see all of our new pictures that I just uploaded.

Christmas and More

The new thing that I can do with Cole is go cross country skiing at Bogus Basin. I rent the sled for 2 hours and Cole takes a nap. It is silent and pretty to watch the snowflakes fall in the mountians. Meanwhile, Willy is snowboarding and when he is finished, we meet in the nordic lodge for lunch.

Cole is in his new race car bed. He is already sleeping through the night in it. He has a lot of fun climbing and dive bombing his animals from the top.

Santa at the party. He pulled of the reindeer atlers from one of the good dogs. Santa overlooked the mischief.

Cole put his boots on by himslef and escaped to the backyard. He was cold.

New Pictures and Videos

We have some more family pictures and videos uploaded. I think that they are really cute and funny. CM is really out doing himself in the cuteness area if i do say so myself. The first pictures is Cole at the table. I don't know how he ended up with two drinks... Next, Is the monkey in his new jammies and bathrobe. He is clean in this picture: a rarity. It is cool enough to warrant wearing flannels! Then it is Daddy and Cole ready to go outside (Thanks Logan and Jentry for the warm jacket!). Hope you enjoy...

Hope Everyone had a Great Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful! Linda and Tom from California came to stay with us for a few days to eat and get to know Cole.


Wednesday, Linda and I did some cooking and we went for a snowy hike in the foothills. Evidently there are some hills in the bay area, because they where moving right along on the trails! It was awesome to breathe the fresh air. Then we went out to dinner at Cottonwood Grill.


Thursday, after the park, Linda and I cooked for at least 8 hours! I thought that she was going to kill me for planning such an ambitious dinner but it appears that she likes to cook. It was very nice and everything came out good. There weren't any gravy wars (miss you moms!) though... Linda was in charge of the turkey and the gravy and those come out perfect. We both had a hand in everything else and bonded while Willy learned about Helioseismology from Tom. Then we ate and ate.


Friday, we went sledding for a little bit and Linda and Tom tried on some snowshoes for the first time. They did a bit of shopping, coffee, then home for lunch. Then, Linda and I left the men to their naps and went fly fishing. It was so cold, my line was freezing and the pole had ice on it. We walked to the red bridge to get the blood pumping and saw a bald eagle fly low just over our heads while following the river. Awesome! Because it was to soon to return home, we had some cocoa and chit chat at Starbucks until summoned home.

After a whole lot of trash talk between Linda and Willy, Saturday we went to the go cart place. Here are the best times (sorry Linda, Willy won that round):
Thrilliam 24.632
Mech Chick 25.519
Helio man 27.643

The rest of Linda's pictures.

It was such a nice visit and I was very happy to have them over. Cole yelled as we were leaving the airport. He was sorry to see them leave. He is still playing the name game with their names!

Friends, Music and Coffee

Tonight I got to hang out with Jentry and her little brother at the Flying M Coffee shop in Nampa. It is in a converted garage. We went there to listen to her friend, Krist Krueger play some music.

The first band was a duo of electric guitar and drums. It was fun, and very loud and primal music. When our hearing recovered, Krist Krueger played next and I was surprised on how intellectual his music was. I usually don't care for electronic music, but they played behind a white sheet that they projected a black and white movie on it. The end of the song was dissonantly joyous. The next girl played the bass. It was a cool night.

I was so glad to get out of the house and to see what is in the outside world. Thank you so much Jentry!

When I came home, I found out the secret to Daddy and Cole time: cookies. Time for sleep!

My New Little Brother, Mac

I hope he is as awesome as my other little brother... Very cute Mom!

From Halloween to the Boise Art Museum

We had a very busy and fun weekend. Our friends from McCall stayed with us for a few nights. We went to the Corn Maize again this year on Friday night and Cole had his first pony ride and Willy got to be a kid again while jumping on the giant pillow with all of his people.

Saturday morning, Jentry and I, went on a nice jog through the neighborhoods and then Cole and I went to a kids Halloween party. He ate cupcakes and pizza and jumped on the trampoline with the other kids. Then we took a nap! Later that night, Jentry and I dressed up for a costume party and had some girl time while the guys stayed home with the kids.

Sunday, we took Cole trick-or-treating and I was amazed at how quickly he figured out the process. I loved when he knocked on the door and held out his bucket and as soon as he got the candy and said bye-bye he squatted in the middle of their yard to check the contents of his bucket. It was very nice.

Monday was a little rough because we were so tired. Tantrums (from both of us).

Yesterday, Willy and I took Cole to the Boise Art Museum. They have a toddler program on the first Wednesday of each month. Cole drew a nice picture with oil pastels and then played in the play room. I will be sure to do that again next month.

Our final bit of news is that after the museum, Willy bought a Vanagon. He will post some pics of it when he gets it all shiny.

Below is a video of Cole after trick-or-treating. When he kicks our seat we tickle him.

Cole's First Haircut

The other week we went to a manly barber shop where Cole got his first haircut with Willy. I regret that I didn't get the picture with both of them getting their haircuts. I was busy holding the curls of my sons hair and trying not to tear up. He looks nice and neat, very handsome. He did very well.

He has been very helpful around the house, too. The dryer buzzer went off and I went to empty it but then was distracted and when I returned to it, Cole was crawling in the dryer and putting the clothes in the basket for me. It was his first real helpful thing. I was proud and now it is also his first chore!

Last night I made a chocolate cake and he pushed up a chair to the counter to help. I showed him how to unwrap the ounce of unsweetened chocolate and put it in the bowl. He unwrapped it and ran away with it, handing it to Willy thinking he scored big. Willy was excited and broke it in half and they both set their teeth into it. Cole started to cry becuase it was so yucky! What can I say... I tried to warn them!

more Idaho pics

Silver City, ID

Thank you again John. Everyone is enjoying the pictures that you took!

Link to John's pictures

Here are the pictures from John

John's Pictures of their visit to Boise. They came out nice, thanks John. We are on our way to McCall!

More pictures

To see the whole album....

Chinese Food

Go Cart Racing

They talked me into joing them on the 2nd race. After a lot of smack talk I decided to do it. I didn't realize until my second lap that they only wanted me to join them so that I would provide a moving obstacle for them to pass. I was lapped at least 6 times. I had the satisfaction of running into Willy accidently once, although I thought it was John; it was all a blur!

Zoo with Grandma and Uncle John

We had a nice day at the zoo and the rose garden. John took Cole for his first carousel ride.

That's My Mom!

Smokey Mountains

Saturday's Adventure

We drove to a nearby park and rode our bikes the rest of the way to the zoo. When we got there, Cole was asleep in his bike trailer so Willy and I got some newspapers and and read in the park and ate our sandwiches while Cole snoozed. They were having Praise in the Park so we also listened to music while we were there. When Cole woke up, Willy took him for rides on his bike.

From zoo and garden

We went to the zoo so that Cole could run around and see the giraffes.

From zoo and garden

Then we rode our bikes home. It was a hot day and we stayed inside and cooled off until about 8 o'clock. Then we cleaned out our garden.

From zoo and garden

If you are interested, I put captions on our garden pictures. To see the album click this.