Cole's First Field Trip

Hopefully, someone out there is still checking on my poor, little, neglected blog. Now that we are moved, somewhat settled, and establishing our routines again- I will be writing again.


During the move, my camera suffered a tragic fall from the counter top totally busting the lens cover thingy so it wouldn't open and obstructed the lens- meaning my picture taking abilities have been impeded. Abe was very kind and generous and got me a new camera for an anniversary gift (yes, in all the craziness of the last month we celebrated our 6th anniversary!), however- with the 50+ pictures/videos I've taken with the new camera, I've liked about 3 of them- meaning I am taking that camera back and will try again (gotta love Costco and their return policies!)

In sheer desperation for Halloween pics, I rednecked taped up the lens cover on my old one (I wasn't going to risk not getting good pics with the new one) and loved every picture I took Halloween night (but I'll post those later.) With that being said, I have also promised pics of the new house to the blog, but hadn't been able to. Now that I have my "jerry-rigged" camera, I will try to get a few pics of the house up this week sometime.

In the meantime, we have had a lot happen so I have some catching up to do!

Starting with Cole's first field trip...

Cole got to go the County Fair with his preschool, and I got to go too! Here are some highlights of the day:

Being that his preschool is through the school district, we rode the school bus to the Fair. Cole wasn't too sure at first, but ultimately loved it! (He even got the coveted back seat!)
Cole sometimes has a hard time getting "involved." He is more of an observer
fortunately, thanks to his friend Austin, he did get a little involved... Here we were on the hayride- in case you can't tell, Cole wasn't too sure about the whole thing, and I think he was a little freaked out by the old yokel driving the tractor (oh wait, that was me! haha)

They also had this super cute set up for the kids to be "Farmer for a Day"

They picked carrots...

and potatoes...

gathered eggs from the "chickens"...

and plucked apples from the "tree"...

They then had to take their baskets to the "farm stand" and sort them correctly (as you can see, corn was an option- they had "corn stalks" made from PVC pipe and the corn sticking out, but Cole would have nothing to do with the corn since it was swarming with flies! Smart kid!)

After they turned in their "harvest" they got a sticker and a ribbon that said "I was farmer for a day"...yadda yadda yadda- definitely the highlight for Cole, minus the bus ride of course!

On the way back to school, the kids wanted to ride together with out the moms. As you can see, Austin is definitely Cole's buddy!

Sadly, Austin moved away two weeks ago, and I think it has taken its toll on Cole. Since Austin left, I have fought with Cole every day about going to school (and I think Austin's absence is a primary factor.) Poor little guy! Supposedly there is a new kid in his class that his teacher think will be a good "fit" for Cole (yes, even his teacher(s) noticed the change in Cole after Austin left), but only time will tell I guess.

On top of that, Cole got his first gastro virus. Yes, that's right, for the first time since he was an infant, Cole was throwing up (absolutely the thing I dreaded most about being a mother- puke!) He hadn't been acting himself for a few days and at midnight one night, woke up crying, just crying- so I took him to the family room, turned on a movie, and hoped he would fall back asleep. About 20 minutes later he started throwing up, and I ran and got Abe ;-) Abe, being the awesome guy he is, spared me having to clean up (though I did clean up, change, and comfort Cole). Cole and I sat up till about 4 am with bucket in hand (only had to use one more time) and finally got to sleep for about an hour or so.

The next morning, well- lets just say I was grateful Cole was still wearing diapers and anything involved immediately found its way into the trash can.

Silly me, thinking that was the last of the viral cycle entertained Cole's idea for lunch. He wanted a quesadilla from Taco Bell, and since it was the first time he was interested in food for 5 days, I took him to Taco Bell. He ate about half his mini quesadilla and then we went to his color blindness screening at the preschool (more on that later). He laid on the floor at school, and I thought he was just tired. We then went to a very crowded Papa Murphys to pick up pizza for dinner, and fortunately, I saw it coming in time to cover his mouth and keep the damage to covering just us two.

We left without dinner.

I took him to urgent care just to be safe and make sure he wasn't becoming dehydrated. The poor kid kept apologizing and saying it was an accident (he thought he would be in trouble for making a mess) and also started to ask to go back to his old house (which is sound reasoning for a 3 year old, he wasn't ever sick at the old house, so if he goes back, he'll get better) Abe then went hunting, so I went and sought refuge at my parents'. By the second day there, Cole finally started to act more like himself- it was a rough couple of days for sure (I think what cured him was the giant tree truck Grandma and Grandpa got him- it was the first thing he had really played with all week- which was really abnormal for him to not be playing with something constantly!)

Well, that's enough rambling for now. Like I said, I'll post more now that we're settled and I'll get pics of the new digs up soon!

Cole's a School Boy...

...well, preschool boy at least.

Cole started Preschool on Monday. Here he is sporting his new school clothes.
And making a goofy, fake smile while saying "cheese"

Walking up to the school...

Mommy and Cole (again! Darn it, I should have got one of Cole and Dad. Abe met us at the school for the big day.) It was a big day for me, as well. This is the first time we've left him with anyone that is not a blood relative! I cried for quite some time in the car after leaving him.
In front of his classroom...
Putting on his name sticker and checking out what's going on. He spotted a car wash (right there in front of him) and so Abe and I made a quick and sneaky exit.
When I went to pick him up, I walked in the room, he saw me, immediately stuck out his bottom lip, which began to quiver, and then (BREAKING my heart) he said "Mommy, I wost you!" It took everything in me to not start crying again! His teachers shared with me that he had been pretty sad that day. So, what better remedy than an In-N-Out milkshake?
He goes three days a week (M-T-W, which is a schedule that I LOVE!!! I love that we can have 4 day, uninterrupted weekends). Therefore, day two was worse than day 1. The director of the school, who was helping out in his classroom, had to peel him off me and I left the room to the most heart-wrenching cry. Again, I cried too, but not till I was out of the classroom and had my sunglasses on- I mean, who cries on the 2nd day of dropping their kid off at school?. Oh, the joys of being a mother. When I picked him up that day, there was some small pouting and about a dozen "Mommy, I missed you" (but in the cute, adorable way only Cole can say it) before we got to the car. The teacher said he cried for about half an hour, but then was a great participator and was the best helper cleaning up the play-dough.

Day 3? Well, what do you know- Cole started crying and at this point I was kind of over it, until another mom said, "oh, he's so sad, stay strong momma" and at that point I left just in time to put my sunglasses on! 3 days in a row! ...both of us ?...I know, pretty lame. But we survived the first week. My favorite part about Day 3, was Cole started BAWLING before we even left the house. I had been explaining to him for days at this point that I will ALWAYS pick him up and its just for a short time. Knowing that it was the last day of the week, I wrote on a piece of paper that he went to school on M-T-W and then was home with me for Th-F-Sa-Su. After this explanation, he proceeded to tell me that it was Saturday, not Wednesday. I would laugh and tell him that it was indeed Wednesday, to which he would say "no, Thursday, mom, Thursday." He then told me he NEEDED to go to the airport, and get dad, and go to the airport. I can't believe he is already coming up with excuses for not going to school! His teacher said he only cried about 5 minutes on day 3- though I still got (and still do get, actually) "I missed you at schoo, Mommy"

On a side note, when asked by his grandma if he liked school he said "Yes, I do" and then told her about all he plays and does.


Little stinker- I swear this kid plays me like a fiddle.