Valentines Day, the Zoo and Award

We had a good day of love here at our house!  Cole opened his present and his dad's and it looked a little bit like Christmas in our kitchen! :-)  We don't go all out for Valentine's Day, but my love language is giving (and receiving!) gifts so I never miss an opportunity to give to the ones I love! :-)

I got a NorthFace rain jacket since it rains ALOT here!  Jonathan also got me a magazine, a huge heart full of chocolate and a basket filled with goodies.

Cole was excited about his Captain American mask!

A few pictures before school. I got him his cute Valentine shirt off of Etsy.  Love that site!

Last Monday we celebrated President's Day at the Birmingham Zoo.  Cole has been wanting to go so he talked his Mamaw and Papaw into it and we joined along!  They bought a membership too, so I forsee lots more zoo visiting in our future!

The zoo was a success...Cole looked like this as we headed out! :-)

Last night he had his awards banquet for basketball.  They had pizza and gave out trophies to all the kiddos!

Cole and his buddy (who is also our neighbor) Asher.

Cole, Asher and Hayden

We have been super busy lately with activities, work and LIFE, but we are so thankful!

Weekend Recap

We headed to Alabama this weekend to watch my niece Maclaire participate in a local pageant.  My sister worked hard getting everything together so I was glad I was there to support her.  

We went home Friday night and stayed the night with Jonathan's parents and then headed to my sister's house Saturday morning.  

Cole and Papaw eating cherries!  These two share a love of cherries, bell peppers and other random fruit! :-)

A quick family picture before we headed to my sister's house.

Self-portrait

I love this boy and his oh so cute face!  :-)

My mom, stepdad, younger sister and Grandmother also came into town.  It was great seeing everyone!

Jayden being silly.  Apparently pageants aren't his thing! :-)

My stepdad and Grandmother.

Me, Cole and Courtney during the pageant.

Cheese!

Sisters!

Maclaire Ann...she is beautiful 6 year old!  She got first runner up!

Cole getting in a little sword fighting at Mamaw and Papaw's Sunday before heading back to Mississippi.  

We had a great weekend getting to see ALL our family! It doesn't happen too often that we get to see everyone in one weekend!

Sweet Friend

We have lucked out again and moved into another great neighborhood!  Ava is about 9 months older than Cole, but they play really well together.   And, playing with girls calms Cole down alot and he plays alot more gentle...no wrestling and rough housing with the girls! :-)

Playing outside riding bikes...

 She does play superheroes with him so that is good! :-)

Cole had his first sleepover with Ava too back in December.  Ava's dad had to have surgery in Birmingham so she stayed with us so her mom could go with him.  They both like to color.  

Ava even rides the four wheeler with Cole.   Cole knows to go slow though and she holds on really tight!

Ava also has a big brother Evan who is almost 9 and he passed ALL of his dinosaurs on to Cole the other day.  Here is Cole enjoying his new (to him) toys!

We have other great kids in the neighborhood too so it is such a blessing!

Silly faces of Cole

Nowadays when I ask Cole to take a picture he ALWAYS gives me a silly face (and then sometimes will give me a smile).  Just a few examples...

At home before heading to Tupelo for Chuck-E-Cheese...

At Chuck-E-Cheese...

Yesterday morning waiting at the doctor's office...

 I even joined in on the fun! :-)

And a real smile to end the silly face fun!

Cole is the silliest little boy I know!  He constantly keeps my laughing which helps keep things in perspective when life gets crazy!

Fun Times

We have been having some fun family time together! Last weekend Aunt Misty was in town from Montgomery to take the NCLEX so we met her up at Jonathan's parents so we could all hang out.

Here they are after their "parade" they put on for us. :-)

I also want to congratulate Aunt Misty for passing the NCLEX...she is now an official nurse! We are so proud of you!

Here is Cole being silly on Friday before we headed to the YMCA where I workout at.

He left his Batman sunglasses in his daddy's car so I let him borrow a pair of mine! :-)

Having some more Friday fun at the bounce house place in our mall. It is not the cleanest or nicest bounce house places I have ever been to, but beggars can't be choosers! We are just happy to have an indoor place to get some energy out!

We have been traveling around with Flat Stanley and documenting our adventures. Kaitlyn mailed him to us from Missouri. We are supposed to take pictures with him and then mail it all back to her on February 14.

Flat got to visit Ronald McDonald and enjoy and a happy meal and time in the play place.

We also went to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D. I'm loving watching all my childhood movies with my child!

Flat helped us put together a cool underwater puzzle that Cole got for Christmas.

And he went on a four wheeler ride. Cole's most favorite thing to do!

And last night Jonathan and I went on a date...this made two weekends in a row! He set this one up all on his own though and Cole had a great time at home playing with Ms. Laura. We met two other couples at Huck's (a local downtown restaurant) and enjoyed good food and fellowship!

Muddy day and Four Wheeling Fun!

So, it rains alot here...and I mean alot! But, at least it is relatively warm so we have learned to enjoy the rain and mud! :-) There is a large cotton field and horse farm at the end of our street. Cole loves to ride his bike down and see the horses. Sometimes when the owner is home he even gets to ride the horses. He loves that even more!

Having fun getting dirty!

Splashing in the water.

This past weekend we loaded up Jonathan's newly purchased trailer and took the four-wheelers to Jonathan's parents house to ride. They live on land and are surrounded by family land so it makes for fun riding.

Cole riding the big four-wheeler with his Mamaw and Papaw. They are great sports to ride him around!

Cole and daddy. Cole tells his daddy to "go fast!"

And I even hopped on for a ride. There were several areas Jonathan wanted to go through, but he said he would have to do those when I wasn't riding. Probably a good idea! :-)

As much as Cole loves riding with his daddy, he really likes riding his own four-wheeler. He is OBSESSED with riding it and it is a daily thing. At our house he can only ride through our yard, but at his grandparents he has lots of good riding space. He had a blast and I loved watching him (even though I got a little nervous at times too)! He has no fear which can be good and bad.

His cousin Drew (he is 13) lives next door and he comes up to hang out when we are there. Cole had fun riding him around.

Here he is at our house riding.

We also went with Jonathan's family to dinner at a local mexican restaurant. The chips and cheese dip were good!

Cole also loves Jamie (she is Jonathan's brother Josh's fiance)! They are set to wed next January and we can't wait to have her join the family!

We enjoyed our three day weekend and Cole figured a good bubble bath was in order Monday night!

It took forever for all those bubbles to dissolve after he got out!