Monday, December 14, 2009

From the Browns to all of you!

If you didn't, for some reason or another, recieve my email, here is the contents of it.

I ordered our christmas cards the other day and the estimated delivery date was the week of christmas. So I'm assuming that you will not be recieving the Brown family christmas card until after the new year. So to hold you out until then (I know you are all opening your mailboxes everyday in hopes to see a card from The Browns, right!?!) I have "elfed ourselves" I couldn't decide on my favorite dance so I posted them all below. The first is our hip hop routine, next is a little singing from the family, and lastly is our country dance. Hope you all enjoy. Connor's gotten a pretty big kick out of watching himself dance. It's pretty cute, and funny. Happy Holidays everyone!


momma cole
Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Friday, December 11, 2009

Tis' the season

We spent last weekend in Eau Claire with Ben's family. To do some swimming, relaxing, talking, and eating. On the way to Eau Claire we stopped at the Harley shop in NR to get the kids picture taken with Santa. We actually got smiles from both of them. But when Santa asked Connor what he wanted for Christmas, Connor went mute. He didn't move, and wouldn't say anything. Even when we asked him if he wanted that truck with the doors that open, he couldn't even shake his head yes.....So hopefully santa knows what he wants:)



Leyla wasn't too fond of Santa however. No smiles from her, just screams.

As we left the Harley shop we came opon this mini of a car with this ginormous of a tree on top. The picture just doesn't do it justice. It was seriously the funniest thing we have seen. On top of that, both Dane and I had rolled down the windows in order to take a picture of it and the lady in the passenger seat started to laugh along with us, but then I think she realized that she was more embarrassed of the situation. It still gave us many laughs.

We finally made it to the hotel, checked in, unloaded the van, and got our suits on to go swimming. We got to the pool and stuck our feet in and we were lucky there wasn't a layer of ice on top of the pool. It was ridiculously COLD. Since the whole meaning behind our staying at a hotel was to go swimming, this sucked. So Dane went and complained about the pool and they said they would crank up the heat on it. Well we sat for a few minutes thinking about what to do, thinking about how it would take all night to heat a pool that size, and decided we would see if we could get a reservation at a different hotel, with a warm pool. Ben found a hotel just down the road, and asked them to take the temperature of the pool for us, and he said it was high 70's and should be very warm because the hot tub and pool are connected and the water from the hot tub spills into the pool. So we then go see if we can get out of the reservations that we already have, that's when they decide to tell us that the heater in the pool is broken....Seriously, you are just figuring this out now, and were you going to come tell us. Anyways, we got out of that place and went to the new place, where the water was like bath water it was so warm! And we ended up getting a suite for the same price that we payed at the other hotel. So all in all, it ended up working out for the best, except for the fact that we waisted a few hours packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking again.

Here is Connor and Leyla getting ready to go swimming.

And Bella all ready, playing with her toes as she waits.


On our way home we stopped and finally got our christmas tree.

Look familiar.....I had to take a picture of what ours looked like as compared to the other car.

Connor was taking our pictures in the car on our way home. He actually managed to capture a pretty cute one of Bella. Usually he doesn't look where he is aiming the picture and just pushes the button and usually there will be just someones forehead or just their chin in the picture, so I was pretty impressed with this one.

And this one....


So we got home and unpacked from the weekend and then put the tree up. Here is Bella helping to decorate the tree.
And here is what Connor was doing while we were decorating the tree. Don't ask, I have no idea why, or what he was doing.
Finally he decided to help and even got to put the star on top of the tree. Which was not easy! But he is very proud of the fact that he got to put the star on top.




And the family in front of the tree.

momma cole

Friday, December 4, 2009

A seasoned pro....

Well it's official now...Bella is rolling over, and over, and over. You lay her down on her back and in minutes she is on her tummy, all smiles. She is pretty proud of herself when she rolls over too, probably because I pretty much throw a party every time she does it. But then the excitment wears off and she's had enough. At the beginning of the week she was rolling over a few times a day, but I never actually saw her do it. Then yesterday she did it a million times and I still never saw it. So when Ben was home last night we layed her down and the 3 of us watched as she made her way to her tummy, and again, another party for Bella. It was great that we all got to see her do it together, even if she's been rolling over for some time now.

Bella also has a new best friend....her feet. She loves loves loves to hold her feet and play with them. And now she's become a full time thumb sucker. Before she would only suck her thumb during the night, but now it's all the time. She won't take a nuk anymore except to calm down in her car seat (she has a hard time getting her thumb to her mouth all strapped in her seat.)

Connor also has become a pro at carrying around his sister (which still scares the crap out of me, but he really is so careful with her). Whenever I put her down, he's right there picking her up. He'll ask to just carry her around the room, just for the fun of it. He thinks he's pretty cool sh** when he's carrying her.

I am still working on my Thanksgiving post but still need to get pictures to explain all that happened that day. So if anyone out there has pictures from the family fun event please email them to me. (I forgot my SD memory card for my camera in my computer so I wasn't able to take any pictures....sucky!)

This weekend we are headed to a hotel in Eau Claire to spend some time with Ben's family. Should be a relaxing weekend by the pool. Hope you all enjoy your weekend as well.

momma cole

Monday, November 23, 2009

4 months old


Bella you are 4 months old today, I can't even believe it (I'm sure I'll say that evey month though). It's crazy how fast time goes, and how much growth happens in 4 short months.
You are such a happy girl. Every where we go, everybody always says, "does she ever cry?" "She is so calm" "What a happy baby". You've always got a smile for everyone, especially your brother. Whenever you are getting mad, all you need is one look from Connor and you are all smiles again. I think you could just sit and talk to him all day, or even just watch him play.
You have rolled over from your tummy to your back twice now, and I suspect any day you will make it the other way...you're so close. You love to play pat-a-cake, have your toes and tummy tickled, and just be talked to. You are full of smiles that break out into the cutest giggles.
The last few weeks you've been sleeping through the night 5 out of 7 days. And last night you even slept from 8:30 until 7:30 this morning!!!! You weigh 16 lbs (and have the cheeks to prove it) and are 25 inches long. You are already in size 3 diapers and have been for awhile now.
We are so blessed and thankful to have you and your brother in our lives. Daddy and I couldn't be any more proud of the two of you. You both make us smile and laugh so much. Our lives are so great because of the two of you. Thank you both for all that you have already given us.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy it!

Here are a few photos of Bella I took this morning.







momma cole

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend we went to Wisconsin Dells with our friends the Mattmiller's. When Ben was out in ND, I decided I wanted to surprise him with a trip to the dells for some much needed family time. Well so much for the surprise part as he figured out where we were going and who we were going with, and every little detail he could a long time ago. I'm not sure if I'm, just bad at keeping secrets or he is good at figuring them out, or a combo of both. Either way, there was no surprise, but we still had a lot of fun. (But there was a lot of convincing to do on my part as it is bow hunting season and I planned a weekend away with NO hunting....I've been told to NEVER do that again.) Anyways, we met our friends Brian and Terri in the dells with their 2 girls, Alexis and Laura. We stayed at the Chula Vista Resort (one I've never been to before) and we stayed in a condo...and it was gorgeous, pics don't do justice.

Here's the view from the front door.

The Bedrooms

The Kitchen

They have an underground walkway to the indoor waterpark. We were expecting it to be, well, pretty much a tunnel. Were we surprised to see how beautiful the walkway was. Here's a few family pictures we took on our walks to the waterpark.


Laura and Bella "playing" together

And a few at the waterpark....







Connor had an absolute blast. He was just tall enough that he was able to go on all the slides. He even went on the rollercoaster waterslide and just loved it. Saturday night I had to leave Ben and Connor at the waterpark because Connor didn't want to leave.....and neither did Ben, he had just as much fun. The two of them ran around the waterpark, running up the steps, sliding down the slides, spraying water at each other, and taking quick little breaks in the lazy river, ALL day long. When they finally came back to the room Saturday night, Connor said, "Mom...I'm just so excited to go back to swim tomorrow!" It was too cute. Bella also loved the water too. We floated around on the lazy river and swam around in the pools all day long and she just smiled and watch everything that was going on. It was such a great weekend and I can't wait to go back.
And here is the funniest part of the weekend. After many beers, the boys decided to get in the hot tub.....together....with little toy boats. Terri and I laughed so hard, it was so hilarious. I got some of it on video also, someday I'll figure out how to put video on here. Until then, here's a photo of the 2 of them......thoroughly enjoying themselves!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Rolling Over

Yeah that's right, my little baby has already rolled over...twice. Last week(at 3 1/2 months old) she rolled over from her tummy to her back two times. Unfortunately I didn't get to see either times. I'd lay her on her tummy, then when I came back to check on her, she was flipped over. And the question I've been asked..."Did Connor flip her over?" No, he's been at school both times she's done it. She's getting so big so fast, it's hard to believe it's almost been 4 months since she was born.
Here's a couple pictures from 2 weekends ago at grandma and grandpas house.
Connor built a fort and wanted Bella to join him in it.



BBD

Big Buck Down!
The boys have been waiting for this for a long time. And here it is. Last week Ben got the call that Dane had a Big Buck Down. Wish I could tell the story, but I'm not good with the hunting story telling. All I remember is that they went out to find it, walked right to where Dane thought it went down, and Ben spotted it and jumped on Dane and was screaming with excitement at how big it was.


Bella's Baptism

So I thought I had posted this a while ago, but I see I never did. So here are pictures from Bella's baptism (and Leyla's). We had her baptism on Monday night, November 2nd. Grandma Sandy had the honors of performing the baptism for the family. Thank you to everybody that came and celebrated with us. It was great to be together!

Connor got to help Grandma Sandy by pouring the water.

Here's Bella's turn. She loves water and didn't make a peep. Even though she was SO tired.

And Leyla's turn. She didn't mind it either.

My sister caught this nice face Connor was making

With the godparents, Ryan (Ben's BF) and Hailey (My sister)

My parents and sisters with us


The great grandparents. (except Grandma Toots who ended up in the hospital that day:(....Sad she missed the day, but glad she is better now)


With Ben's family
With Dane, Sarah and Leyla

My grandpa Jim and cousin Alisha with Bella
Dane and Leyla