What a Difference a Year Makes!

I have been trying to get some more snapshots of Mia and Cole together lately, because it seems like I only have pics of one or the other. It has been very difficult though since Cole is at that age where he just runs and runs and Mia is at that age where she is just stubborn sometimes. Getting the two of them to cooperate and actually sit and smile next to each other is nothing short of an amazing feat! :)

Anyhow, I was finally able to get them together on the sofa. I pulled out all the stops-singing, dancing, and jumping, and managed to get a shot where they were both happy (and actually in-focus). After pulling up this shot on the computer I was struck by two things. One, my children look way more alike than I realized and two, my children look nothing like me. :)

And, just for fun, I added a picture that was taken a little over a year ago of the two of them in the same place. They have both really grown up!

American Heart Association Heart Walk

This past weekend I participated in the American Heart Association's Start! Heart Walk, along with my family. Jen had organized a team for our family to walk in honor of my dad. About a month ago I had posted about raising money and I am so proud to say I reached my goal, plus some, as you can see by the thermometer on the side of the page! I have to say thank you to all my wonderful friends who supported me and made donations. I even had friends through facebook who I have not seen in 10+ years donate. THANK YOU all so much! It truly means the world to me that you would help me to honor my dad's memory this way.

I am also very proud of my family. Through our team (my sister, her husband Mike, Cort, my mom and aunt) we raised over $1,800 total! That is amazing and will go to such a great cause!! My dad was a very special, very remarkable man and I know that despite the fanfare (which he was not a big fan of!), he is looking down and proud of what we have done.

Also, Jen was honored with a lifestyle change award. She had written in and told how she had changed her lifestyle after having Noah and her entry was picked! She got to go up on stage and receive her award. Here are some pictures from walk.

Our Team

Waiting for Jen to be presented with her awardWalking for her Grandpa-Mia was still waking up, it was early!

Jen being presented her award

On the big screen :)

Walking

The kids hula hooping in one of the tents after the walk

My mom and aunt

Noah and Mia had the bounce house to themselves!

Our Family

The Pulins Family

Enjoying a post-walk snack

They've Come So Far....

From This.....

To This....

It is hard to believe, but Mia and Noah are already 3. I can remember like it was yesterday, when Jen and I spread out the white sheet in Mia's room, with my old little Nikon Coolpix camera in an attempt to get a pictures of the two of them (I would like to think my picture-taking abilities have come a long way as well after seeing that first picture-ha, ha!).

Now both of them are in preschool and have distinct little (BIG!!) personalities. They grow up so fast! This shot was from this Labor Day Weekend at my Aunt's house. Mia and Cole are so lucky to have cousins so close in age. It is something that Jen and I never had growing up and I am so glad they have built-in playmates. :)

Mia's First Day of School

Today was Mia's first official day of Montessori preschool. Not that she wasn't in a pre-preschool last year, but this year it just seemed different. First off, she is starting in the Fall. Last year, due to my maternity leave and Cort's paternity leave, she didn't start her center until January. And now she is officially 3-preschool age! :)

I have to say Mia was pretty excited and it seemed like school lived up to her expectations. She is going in the p.m. due to my new work schedule (I work 12-3:30), and she will now be missing a nap 3 days a week. I thought for sure she would be EXHAUSTED when I picked her up, but instead she was a total bundle of excitement, talking a mile-a-minute about her school day. She was so proud to show me some shapes she had traced and asked if we could put them on the refrigerator. Oh, and when I dropped her off the other kids were in line for the water fountain and that was about all it took for her to forget I was there. I had to ask her for a kiss goodbye. :)

Normally when she gets picked up, they will load her in the car but today I walked in to touch base with her teacher. Her teacher said she did great-ate great, went to the bathroom by herself, and played well. Her teacher even told me that when it was time to come in from playing outside Mia told her "It's not time to go in yet." Yep, that's Mia-not so shy I guess. :) On the car ride home I asked her if she liked her teacher and her response was "Yep!" Then a couple seconds later she added "A lot!"

It is so hard to accept my little girl is growing up, but I am proud of what an independent girl she is! Here are some obligatory first day photos....

Mia picked out this dress to wear for her first day (Thanks Grammy!)

Proud to have her backpack

In front of her school

And here is a picture of her in her classroom from her orientation-working with the dropper and her fine motor skills

Sweet and Sour

Sweet

Sour

So this sums up Cole pretty well right now. Poor guy is finally starting to get some teeth in. He got his first 2 (bottom) awhile back and while it bothered him, it didn't seem terrible. But when his first top one came in-look out!! He was not a happy guy. As soon as it broke through, he was back to his normal self. Well, top tooth #2 has almost popped out, and in the meantime we are dealing with some crankiness (not to mention drool-notice his chin and the collar of his shirt!). Either way, we still think he is as sweet as can be and that he rocks the Bears onesie!! :)

P.S.-Yes, I realize my son is suddenly blonde. It is the weirdest thing. I never thought I would have a blonde child! Cort was blonde as a baby, but I look at Cole and cannot believe I gave birth to such a light child. :) On a side note, I think the first haircut is coming soon...

Beach with ISU Girls

Today, thanks to Melissa, we headed into the city to Montrose Beach. She was awesome and organized an end of the summer hurrah for us. :) I had a Mommy-Mia day, while Cort stayed back and had some male bonding time at the park with Cole. The ISU-next generation kids had an absolute blast playing together, while we relaxed and chatted.

Despite the weather saying it was going to be 75 degrees, the temperature off the lake was MUCH cooler than that. It was comical for us all to be at the beach, but bundled up in sweatshirts and blankets (It was reminiscent of one of our spring breaks were it was so cold one day in Cancun, but we were desperate to be at the beach so we were huddled there in our Mexican blankets). The kids were braver and played in a little inlet of water (that was also inhabited by seagulls-gross I know, but the kids were having so much fun), but stayed away from the lake. I dipped my toes in and couldn't believe how cold it was.

After the beach, Pam took Mia and me to this adorable little shop called Pocket Puppies. They have all these small breeds of dogs that you can take out and play with. My little animal lover LOVED it. After that we hit up Molly's Cupcakes for a little cupcake for Mia and then we headed back to suburbs, worn out after a great day with friends. :) And now, enough chatter, here are the pictures...

This is my new favorite picture-Mia, Joey, Payton, and MikeyPam, Melissa, Kristy and Me (ready for winter in our sweatshirts!)
Group shot

Mia chasing seagulls

Payton digging

Mia, Payton and Mikey working together

Joey

Mikey and Mia (they were playing together so nicely!)

Melissa and Pam

Pam , Mia, and a friend at Pocket Puppies

Mia on a swing chair at Molly's enjoying her mini-cupcake

Pam and Mia

Mia and Mommy

Us in the Mirror

The end!

Happy 3rd Birthday Mimi

Today is Mia's 3rd birthday. I can hardly believe that 3 years ago we welcomed her as our first baby. From the start she was our little spitfire, and she still continues to be-just full of personality. :) I have so much I could write, and pictures to add, but it is late and I want to do her justice since this is pretty much the kids' baby books. :) Plus, I still have to finish Cole's 1 year post. I promise I will do both (and soon)!!

Until then, here is a picture of our 3-year-old birthday princess. We had a great day at Monkey Joe's (thank you Lisa for telling us there was one up here) and then opening up gifts later in the day. Although when we asked her what her favorite part of the day was, she said it was eating the cupcake Pam brought over. :)

More to come later...

Happy Birthday Mia!

American Heart Walk

Many of you have already received emails from me or seen on facebook that I am walking the American Heartwalk in memory of my dad on September 26th. I have to say I have the greatest friends because I have already raised several hundred dollars. However, I am still short of my goal of raising $500. Please consider donating to this wonderful cause.

Throughout my dad's life, he dealt with heart problems and both Mia and I currently visit cardiologists on a yearly basis for less serious problems (on a side note, Mia's condition seems to have corrected itself, so she will now get to visit a little less frequently). The American Heart Association dedicates more monies to research than any other voluntary health organization, and only the federal government funds more cardiovascular research.

If you would like to donate you can either click on the fundraising thermometer on the side of the page (this tracks my fundraising progress) or go directly to my page by clicking here. Again, thank you to those of you who have already donated and those of you considering!

St. Louis-Visiting the Faulkners!!

Last weekend Cort and I drove with the kids down to St. Louis to visit the Faulkner family. We had an awesome time!!! The trip started out a little rocky (as we anticipated) with the 5 -hour drive down. A certain someone who has become hateful of his carseat chose to only sleep for a 30 minutes and then spent much of the remaining trip unhappy. Mia on the other hand was amused for most of the car ride down with a 75 cent shark I bought at Target right before the trip and also occasionally shouting out "corn!!" at the millions of corn fields we saw. We pretty much drove straight through except 2 bathroom breaks. Those 2 bathroom breaks came within 5 minutes of one another-gotta love driving with an almost 3-year-old! Needless to say, we were relieved when we arrived. :)

Things quickly improved as we had a yummy dinner of pizza and Mia got to enjoy her first "official" sleepover, sleeping in Addison's room with her. It only took a couple of reminders to stop talking and the girls went to bed. We almost chose to leave Cole behind at Lisa and Bob's because he apparently LOVED sleeping in Lucas's room and slept much later than normal both mornings-yay for that!!

The girls started playing together right away :)

Saturday we headed to Lisa's parents lake house and went out on their pontoon boat. It was soooooo much fun. I was nervous how the kids would do on the boat, but they loved it! They both got in the water with us and seemed to really enjoy being in the lake. After some swimming, we all took turns tubing (us with the kids), and had a blast. Poor Cole was so worn out that he literally fell asleep in our arms on the boat the last couple rounds of tubing.

Cort and Mia (these pictures aren't great, it was sooo bright!) Mia and Me

Cole and me

Mia and me tubing

(I know I look like I am hanging on for dear life-we weren't even going that fast!) Lucas, Lisa, and Addison

Mia, Cort and Cole Addison, Bob, and Lucas

Mia hanging out in the tube Lucas

Cole exploring the boat

Mia loving being on the boat

Cort and Cole-getting sleepy

Lisa and Lucas-I love this picture of them Addison and Mia
Me and Cole-sooooo tired!

And he's out!

The girls watching a The Little Mermaid back at the house while the boys napped

That night after we got back Lisa and Bob cooked out for us, the kids did bathtime and stories, and then we went in the hot tub! It was a nice way to finish a great day.

Storytime with Becky (using that Master's Degree!)

And the night before with Lisa

On Sunday the kids had fun playing for a couple of hours before we headed to Monkey Joe's, an inflatable place with tons of jumpies for kids. Cole was pretty worn out so he was not as interested in the jumpies, but the older kids were running wild and having a good time. We left straight from Monkey Joe's to drive back home since it was already a bit in that direction. I am happy to report that the ride back was smoother, although the last hour and a half required a lot of passing back of toys, food and singing. :)

Cole playing at the house

Princess Mia

LOVE this!

And this-is this not typical??
Girls posing and smiling and boys watching TV

Don't they just look thrilled here?-I swear they had a good time! :)

Monkey Joe's-Mia on a BIG slide

And this is what her dress kept doing-hilarious

Cole in the toddler area

Last, hopefully Lisa will not mind me sharing a couple of pics of her family that we shot quick...

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Lisa and Bob for being such gracious hosts-giving up bedrooms, cooking us food, and taking us out on the boat-we had a great time and can't wait to do it again!

And if you made it this far-congrats!! This was a long one!!