Thanksgiving Break

The week has been:

 Potty training. My most stubborn one. Thankfully I'm not stressed about it, only cried once.

Cole doesn't seem to care about his incentive treats, even though they're things he begs me for every time we're at the store. Sigh...

Cooking! My grandma's sweet potato casserole was a big hit at Thanksgiving dinner. Made a small one for leftovers, too. Seriously might be my favorite food of all time.

Alicia Silverstone's no sugar cranberries are so good and easy.

Adam's favorite leftovers - turkey pot pie.

Baby snuggling - Molly, Matt, and sweet baby Spencer came to Grandma Tait's for Thanksgiving. We got our baby fix.

Took a beautiful fall walk in our neighborhood.

Letters to Santa are in the mail.

 Advent calendars made:

Decorations are up! No lights out front yet, but I love lighting up our back patio.

Pretty tree... my favorite.

We also:

Shopped a bunch - love Target's free shipping on everything!
Listened to lots of Christmas music.

Adam took kids to Penguins of Madagascar.

Cole's buddy Toby came to play.

Lazed around the house (Audrey wore pjs all day yesterday).
Worked on Tyler's Native American project.

Adam and I snuck in a date to the temple.

Ran with Brooke a couple times. Totally bit it running up a big hill, and now I have skinned knees like a three year old.

Lots of movie watching - X-Men, Maleficent, The Giver, Home Alone, Lord of the Rings.
Enjoyed a week off. Ready for back-to-everything tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are stuffed and thankful at Grandma Tait's house. Grateful for these three amazing humans and so much more. Wishing a happy and safe turkey day to all.

Audrey

The Purple Tigers won their last game of the season!!!! 2-1 was the final score. I had to miss it due to Ladybug, Grandma and Grandpa Tait came and Adam was sending text updates. He said the girls, and coaches, we excited to finally win a game! Great end to a great season, pizza party to follow and here's Audrey with her trophy:

Some good game shots - Audrey is quite our little athlete:

We went to our first girl scout meeting, and although I wasn't sure about it at first, this picture is pretty much why we signed up. Her first grade best girls - six of them friends since Kindergarten. Audrey always tells me she wants a sister, so maybe this is a good trade off. Nothing like good girlfriends.

Bunch of Photos

Pictures from our last week or so. Like a good ol' play date with Kallie. Her mom is starting a girl scout troop and pretty much every single one of Audrey's first grade friends is joining, so I guess we are too.

Girls only shopping meant Audrey finally got treated to an Icee at Target. She begs every time.

Cole modeling birthday pjs:

And climbing in Audrey's back pack. He really wants to go to school. (We start potty-training Monday!!)

Thanks to a couple connections Adam has on the show, we went to The Voice! It was so fun - we are big fans of this season with Gwen and Pharrell.

There was quite a bit of line-waiting to get to our seats, but worth it once the show started. Top 12 finalists sang live.

Took little Cole to the zoo! It made his day.

Amber and Carter, Rachel and Ella came along. Hit the petting zoo first. Zoo was practically empty and weather was great.

It was Baby Day at the zoo, at least it seemed. We got to see four baby chimps (including one not even a month old), and the baby hippo. Too cute! Gorillas were pretty cool this day, too.

I have a love/hate thing with the school pancake breakfast. It's sooo early, and crazy, and crowded. But the kids are happy and have a blast, and by 8:30am it's over. Great job Tyler and Audrey for hitting your reading goals!

Audrey and her classmate/teammate Kailey. Her dad is Audrey's soccer coach, so we've gotten to know them pretty well this fall.

Love these boys. Tyler, Dewy, and Timmy - hopefully friends for life.

Turned on holiday music for the first time today, and started Christmas shopping. Trying my best to not get too scheduled and busy so we can really enjoy this time of year.

Soccer Star

Photo of a photo, but you get the idea. This girl is too cute.

Audrey's had a great soccer season. These girls have a lot of heart and a lot of hustle. Their defense has gotten really good. They're all a little shy to shoot the ball, so they don't score much, but they play hard. Kudos to their coaches - it's been a really good experience for Audrey and I hope we do it again next year. Last game is this Saturday, followed by pizza party. Go Purple Tigers!

He's Three!

Cole's birthday lands on Veteran's Day so these two were off school. We let him sleep in, and opted for reading in mom and dad's bed:

Cole yelled at us when we sang "Happy Birthday" after he woke up - welcome three! Opening presents from grandparents quickly cheered him up:

Impromptu playdate/birthday party at Travel Town. Such an awesome crew. We brought ninja turtle cookies to share with our friends.

Gotta take a train ride on your birthday. Thank you Michalle and Amber for spending the morning with us, and making Cole's birthday extra special!

Napped, and played with birthday presents. Big kids had piano lessons. After dinner we had our birthday finale at Menchie's:

Cole's goals for three (according to mommy):

Potty train!

Sleep in a big boy bed

Start preschool

Try new foods, and less potty talk would be nice (thank you, big siblings)

Cole also went to the dentist and doctor this past week. He's in awesome health. Zero cavities. Weighs in at 32 lbs., 37 inches tall (54 percentile). Got his shots and didn't blink an eye. Our brave, big boy.

Happy birthday Cole. We sure love you a ton. Can't wait to see what three has in store!

Happy Early Birthday, Cole!

Tried for a 3rd birthday photo shoot in Grandma and Grandpa Tait's backyard:

Wanted one with just Cole and his mom and dad - our sweet boy, growing up a little too fast:

Cole is big-time loved by his big brother and sister. He has such a special place in our family. Love the scrunched up, little kid smile.

Celebrated our boy a couple days early with grandparents, Uncle Mikey, Veronica and Danny. Cole got all the ninja turtles and their truck from us (big kids were way jealous of this gift), transformer, matchbox cars and truck. He was one happy almost-three year old.

Love how excited he was for his cake and singing "Happy Birthday". He requested blue ninja turtle cupcakes.

Our favorite little guy officially turns three tomorrow! We'll continue the celebration with two of Cole's favorite things: Travel Town and Menchie's. Happy birthday our sweet, wonderful Cole!