New Family Pictures

So we had Korie take our family pictures back in October and I finally got them back and I am thrilled with how they turned out.  Now the only problem is to choose which ones I want to frame and put up.  Thanks again Korie for putting up with all the ideas I have and taking such great pictures.

I love the look on Noah's face, this is classic Noah with the scrunched up nose he does this all the time.

We were looking at some red ants, I know it is silly but it makes me smile and remember the day.

Jason and Noah's faces make me smile

Can you tell I am trying hard to smile at this point, I was thinking just take the dang picture already!
Ash is doing something weird with his mouth, but this is an awesome picture of Noah and he is usually the difficult one to get a good pic with. 

Leaves

So a couple of weeks ago I figured I better get out and rack up leaves before a storm came in to make it harder to get them up. It took me two hours and the boys were not much help, but we got the first batch of leaves raked up.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house as usual.  It seems like every year she asks us what we want to have for dinner and it is the same response every year: turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, Shirley's Rolls, cauliflower and cheese sauce, pickles and olives, sweet potato casserole the only new item this year was a Brussels sprout dish that has become a favorite with the boys.  I was in charge of the cauliflower and cheese sauce, and drink, at the last minute I decided to make some desserts.  I made a pumpkin cake roll, and a cheesecake with fresh raspberries for a topping.  I wasn't sure what there was going to be for dessert because Jami was in charge of that and I wanted to make sure that there was something that I would like to eat.  It turned out that the pumpkin cake roll was okay for Jason to eat which was a bonus for him. 


We forgot to take a picture when everyone was there so we were missing a few people. 

After dinner I helped clean up in the kitchen and then I was able to dive into the black Friday ads. I had to plan out my route and where I wanted to go.  Mom was kind enough to keep the boys overnight so I knew that on Friday I would be able to take a nap if needed. 


Mom has spent time on the scrapbook office and it looks amazing, we can actually go in there now and use the room :)  Way to go mom I am proud of you and love how it turned out.

  Of course it wouldn't be complete if I didn't try to get a family picture, Jason just rolls his eyes but he goes along.  The boys are getting better about cooperating for the picture which is nice. 

The surprise this time was while trying to get a picture Noah decided to slap me in the face it stunned me more than it hurt, but still Jason didn't need to laugh so hard about it :)

Once everybody left we finally were able to pull out some games, we played a couple rounds of Ticket to ride with Jason and I and mom and Myron.  We left mom's house at about 11pm, I was hoping to be gone by then and at Old Navy I was hoping to get one of the door prizes, but oh well it wasn't a big deal.  Jason and I got home and I changed my clothes and took out my contacts and got some warm stuff and off I went to do some black Friday shopping.  I hit up Old Navy first and got some great deals on clothes, then waited in line for about an hour.  After that I went to Kohl's, grabbed the couple things I wanted the lines were crazy long, but if you went to the jewelry counter and bought something from the case then you could pay for your stuff there.  So I bought myself a bracelet, it was $14 and totally worth only waiting for about 20 mins instead of 1 to 1 1/2.  it was about 2:30 am by this time and I was really tired, the next store I wanted to go to didn't open until 6am so I headed home to sleep for a couple of hours.  When my alarm went off at 5:30 I almost didn't get up but knowing I could have a nap I went for it.  I headed to Tai Pan, Home Depot, then Target.  I was home by 9:30 and felt pretty good about what I had gotten.  I was a little sad when I got home and Jason was still nice and cozy asleep in bed, but I figure this happens once a year. 

Boys birthdays

Okay so I figured that I had better write about the boys birthdays and parties we had, that is right there were multiple celebrations this year.  By the time the weekend was over I was done with birthday celebrations. 

We started with Ashton's birthday, he wanted waffles for breakfast so I put a candle in them so he could blow it out.  We gave him a couple of presents he could open that morning and the rest for his party.  Grandma wanted to come ans spend some one on one time with both the boys on their birthday so she came and got Ashton and took him to McDonald's for lunch then they went to the Children's Museum at the Gateway.  He had a blast and I think it was a great idea for him to get some undivided attention on his day.  For dinner I let him choose what he wanted at first he said McDonald's so I had to veto that one and we went to Chick -fil-a.  I am still in shock that Ash is 5 already the time has just flown by.

Friday was Noah's birthday and we started out the same way we did Ashton's but he wasn't hungry when he got up he just wanted to open presents.  Then we had to take Ashton to preschool so off we went and then Noah and I got to go to Target, I let him have fruit snacks for a prize and I quickly got what we needed.  We got Ashton picked up from preschool and then it was back home to wait for grandma to get here to take Noah for his birthday.  Unfortunately all Noah wanted to do was stay at home and play with the new Thomas the train book and little trains and map he got.  Grandma was able to finally talk him into going and they went to McDonald's for lunch then they came home.  I let Noah decided what he wanted for dinner (well I did only give him a couple choices)  we went to Panda and Noah ate a whole kids meal by himself, sometimes it shocks me at how well he eats.  All Noah has been asking for was a Thomas the train cake, but we were doing a pirate party so I wasn't going to make him a Thomas cake, well I caved and with two cupcakes I had left over I made him a small Thomas cake.  He didn't eat any of the cake he just ate the icing, that's my Noah! 

Saturday was the boys pirate party, I stayed up late Friday night to get most of the work done so that I wasn't so stressed that morning.

 We had 9 kids all together and it was pretty chaotic, but they had fun so I guess that is all that matters.  We had a table set up with bandannas, eye patches, swords, and telescopes for each kid. 

Once they had gotten on their stuff we started playing games first up was pin the eye patch on the pirate, only a couple of kids actually wanted to play so they played and then we moved on to another game.  They had to walk the plank, then they had to dig for treasure.  They were done playing games after about 20 mins.  I let them play for a bit then had them all head to the kitchen and sit on the floor to have some snacks.

 Once they were done eating it was time for presents, then it really turned crazy they were opening presents faster than we could keep track of.  They were lucky boys getting some fun presents from all their friends. The funniest moment was when Ashton opened the present from Jason and I, it was wrapped in a diaper box and when he unwrapped it and found a diaper box, he was a little weirded out.  I finally had to tell him to open the box and see what was inside.  Once presents were opened we still had an hour till parents were going to be back to pick up their kids so they just got to play.  Every time we have a party I learn something new at the end of the day the boys had fun and that is what matters. 

I have to say I loved having one little girl among all these boys, she is such a little doll!  According to Noah she is his best friend, it is so cute how much he likes Jerzie.

I wanted to get a picture of all the kids that came and was pleasantly surprised that they all came willingly and even all said cheese for the camera.

I left everything up because we were having a family party Sunday afternoon.  I made a bunch of appetizers for people to eat, we had little smokies, meatballs, chicken strips, a veggie tray with dip, and salad.  We finally cut into the cake and only  made a very small dent in it.  I do this every time we went up with way to much cake left over.  I was going to send it to work with Jason but I forgot and ended up having to throw it away.  After eating we opened presents and it was so funny watching the boys this time.  My brother had called and asked  me what to get them, they know how many toys they get so they don't like to contribute to that so I said to get them some clothes.  When Ashton and Noah opened the present and found clothes, they both looked disgusted and threw the clothes on the floor, they also got some fruit snacks but they didn't care about that either.  I guess you had to be there but it was pretty funny. 

So after having 4 days of celebrations it was time to be done with the birthday celebrations.  It is a lot to take. 

Happy Birthday Jason

Happy 36th birthday Jason!!  as some might say I am one lucky girl to have all my boys birthdays in one month.  It makes for a busy month around our house.

 We celebrated with the family yesterday with a meal of Jason's choice, Fajitas, rice, salad, and chips and salsa it was delicious.  I asked what Jason wanted for a cake and since he can't eat a lot of things he narrowed it down to 2 different cookies.  So I made him no bake cookies, which we discovered doesn't bother him, and a peanut butter cornflake cookie which did make him pretty sick :(  I did feel a little bad about not making him a cake but I did what he wanted.    I was nice though and only made him blow out 1 candle.

Some things I love about Jason are:

He is a wonderful father
He works hard to provide for our family
He is going back to school to set a good example for the boys
He makes me laugh, even when I don't want him too
He will watch chick flicks with me without too many complaints
He will indulge me and my need to take pictures of everything
He seems to know what I am thinking without me saying a word.

Happy Birthday my love I hope you have many happy days in the year to come!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I just want to wish everyone a happy and wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and lots of yummy food.

Love, the Kol Family

Dentist

So I took the boys to the dentist for the first time today, Jason had found this office online and we choose it because it had great reviews.  I made the appointment for them yesterday and was pleasently surprised that I was able to get them in so quickly.  I tried to prepare them for going by telling them they would have their teeth brushed and then the dentist will check out their teeth. 

We walked in the office and the boys were in heaven the waiting room was full of toys and a movie was going.  I had filled out the new patient info online which was awesome so we were all ready to go, we only had to wait a few minutes before we got called back.  We were taken to a room with two chairs in it so that the boys could be done together.  Ashton was a little nervous, but he was awesome and climbed in the chair and let the hygenist do what she needed to.  She took x rays of his teeth and then brushed his teeth.  He did gag a couple of times when she was doing the x rays, but I think that was because he would forget to bite down hard on the little cards.  I wasn't able to pay much attention to Ashton because I had my hands full with Noah.  But Ashton did amazing and the Hygenist was so awesome with him I didn't need to worry.

Noah on the other hand like always was my wild child he threw the biggest fit the moment we walked back to the exam room.  He didn't want x rays, he didn't want to feel the fun tooth brush they had, he didn't want to cooperate with anything.  I finally had to just hold him down and brush his teeth.  He didn't have x ray's done and they weren't able to do  a thorogh cleaning.  I had to sit down in the chair and hold him while the dentist looked at his teeth, he said it all looked good.  He did ask if he sucked his thumb or a binky.  I said yes to the binky, and he seemed happy about that, he said he would rather it be a binky rather than a thumb.  I thought that was interesting.

The office has a mascot Captain Molar, so we went online and watched a short little video and then remembered the code word and told the ladies there and both boys got superhero capes.  Each time they have a good visit with no cavaties then they will get another piece to their super hero costume.  I think that this a fantastic idea for the boys.  Overall I was thrilled with the visit and I hope next time Noah won't be so unhappy.

Happy 3rd Birthday Noah

Wow, the time has totally flown by I can't believe that my baby is 3 it seems like just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.  Noah you can be such a delightful child when you want to be, you can also be a very challenging child.  One thing for sure you definitely keep me on my toes.  But at the end of the day I love you  very much and only want the best for you. 

You and all that hair you had when you were born was so beautiful, I found myself having a hard time keeping my hands out of it most days.  All the nurses in the hospital also went nuts over it.

You were such a smiley little things.

It is funny listening to you talk, you are such a little talker, and as you are getting older it is funny to see things that you do that is so like your father.  In the last little while your personality has totally come out and you are totally your fathers child.  Its quite funny to watch. 


You and that binky, I love that I had a binky baby, but now that you still need it to go to bed at night I am also not looking forward to taking it away from you.

Three things I love about Noah:

1. Your funny little personality (its what I love and drives me crazy some days)
2. I love how are so good at using all things electronic (our iPhone, ipad, and leapster game)
3. You are such a good eater, which is a nice change from your brother who won't eat anything
 and one more for good measure, I love that you think that your name is No No's and not Noah

Happy Birthday my little No No's I love you !!!

Happy 5th Birthday Ashton

I can't believe that these 5 years have gone by in such a hurry.  Ashton you are such a joy to have around (most of the time, you do have that stubborn side of you that you get from both mom and dad)  but overall you are such a good kid, and I couldn't love you more.

 I will never forget being in the hospital with you and how terrified Daddy was he had never had much experience with kids and he jumped in with both feet and never looked back.  From the moment he saw you he was a goner, he was so in love with you.  It took me a little longer, kid you were not so easy to deliver, but once the pain was gone and I was able to focus on you I to fell head over heels in love. 

Now here we are five years later and still I am so in love, and I can't wait to see you  you change and grow!

five things I love about Ashton
1. You still love to cuddle with me
2. You are such a tender hearted child
3. You are so cute with Grey these days, you love to have her cuddle with you on the couch
4. You are so good at figuring things out
5. You love learning, and you soak up everything around you, even the bad things which isn't always awesome but you are still learning.

I love you Ashton and hope that you have an awesome day

New Chairs

So this weekend Jason was checking out KSL and came across these chairs, we thought that they would be fun in the family room.  I will be painting the legs and arms and recovering the main chair part, the fabric is awful and so doesn't go with our room.  The fabric is a mauve pinky purple color with a small blue stripe.   Not cool at all, and I don't care for the color of the arms and legs, it doesn't go with our room at all.  I am thinking about painting the arms and legs either black or white I haven't decided yet.  Then I need to figure out the fabric I want to use. 

I went and picked them up yesterday and got them home and in the family room.  I am liking how they look, I pulled my side table from our bedroom to put between them for now to get an idea as to what it would look like all put together.  When Jason came home last night he gave his stamp of approval, the only thing was he doesn't think they look bad in the condition they are in.   He is crazy I am  not leaving them in the state they are in, I am a little nervous to attempt to recover them, especially the tufting part but I guess we will see what happens.  The best part about all of this I got both of these chairs for $30, I love KSL.