touch a truck

i forgot at the end of september we went to an event called touch a truck. it was a fundraiser for max's ring of fire, a charity that raises money for childhood cancer research. the event was at qualcomm stadium. there were all sorts of vehicles there for kids to get in and "touch." the concept was really cool and it was for a great cause but there were huge lines so it was a little tough with a 2.5 year old. but here are some pics from the day...

fire truck

heading over to the emergency vehicles.

a nestle water truck

san diego's finest

nothing makes cole happier than to be behind the wheel.

army tank

driving a school bus

 

the fire breathing, car crushing robotruck. this was about how long we watched the show before cole took off to look at something else...

trick or treat

This was Cole's first year trick or treating. He was so cute!! He said trick or treat at each house and thank you when he got his candy. He was really loving it! We only went to five or six houses but we walked up and down the street to take in all the people and Cole still got a good amount of candy (that disappeared 2 days later). They were both dressed as punk rockers. It was the only thing I thought I would be able to get Cole into since it's not really a costume. In the morning we went to a Halloween party with our moms group. Cole decorated his pumpkin and ate lots of sweets. Stella just hung out. Here are some pics...



My little punk rocker.

hello pumpkin!

look at my pumpkin!

my other little punk rocker

our pumpkins

our other pumpkins. no carving this year - it was too messy and we were too lazy.

the fun make your own wreath project i thought would be a good idea with cole. it wasn't. i guess the box did say 6+ years.



two punk rockers and a rastafarian

ready for some trick or treating!

cole's first trick or treat house

I was worried about trick or treating because usually Cole just takes off running. But this night he held Vere's hand the whole time :)

some of the houses in our neighborhood went off! this house had scary music, a fog machine and ghosts that popped out in the front yard. it was too scary for cole but we took a good look from across the street.



...the next day

Here are some other pics and videos from the last week...

me and stella after we hit the polls for her first presidential election!

cole at the discovery children's museum in escondido. we built those trucks :)

me and c's first turkey day project!

 

 our little pianist

we may have a little musician on our hands. and we may also see potty training in our future... :)


October fun!

Stella had her 6 month visit at the beginning of this month. She weighed 17 lbs. 1 oz. and was 26.25 inches long. I can't believe how fast she's growing up :( She's sitting up on her own, sleeping on her stomach and eating solid foods. She's not crawling yet but somehow manages to scooch around and get her hands on things I thought were out of her reach. She watches Cole very closely and grabs his toys every chance she gets. Cole has really taken notice and because of that his favorite word is no longer truck, it's MINE!! And it's not limited to things that actually belong to Cole but includes anything Stella wants to get her hands on. We've also had the first blood drawn between siblings. Cole's weapon of choice? The toy lightsaber he got from Legoland last summer thrown at Stella's face. I'm sure it wasn't completely on purpose. I mean I'm sure he wanted to throw it at her but he probably didn't want to hit her face, draw blood and get in trouble for it. But Stella was over it 10 minutes later and happy to have something new to chew on.

Feeding Stella is a messy business. I don't know what happened. She was doing pretty good and then about 4 weeks ago she started putting her hand in her mouth after every bite and now mealtime has turned into this...

We went to Bates Nut Farm and our local pumpkin patch. Here are some pics...



Bates Nut Farm - one of about 20 pics of Cole running away from me



big pumpkins!!

Stella hamming it up!

Here's the money shot - a handful of m&m's, lots of screaming and hay throwing later. This is the best picture I got of the two of them.

 

Cole actually got on a pony and liked it!

The local pumpkin patch - picking out his pumpkins

 

a ghost at the pumpkin patch

it was just stella :)

I think we got enough pumpkins

 

c going down the big slide! i think he may have taken a tumble because the next time he went up he didn't want to go down and vere had to go down with him.



Cole and daddy going down a bigger slide!

Bobby and Chelsey's wedding - Cole the ring bearer. I forgot my camera so this is the only picture I have...luckily he has most of his outfit on :)  - Thanks Bobby for sending it to me! And thank you for asking Cole to be the ring bearer - we love you guys!!

Cole's school pics...

teachers are amazing... they can get kids to do anything! i wish i could get cole to sit and smile to take a pic.

double peak park, san marcos

This was a a month or two ago but we decided to check out the view at double peak park in san marcos. here are the pics...



Cole at the top of Double Peak Park



On the way down.



Happy Stella



checking out the amphitheater




exploring the adventure playground




s at the adventure playground



yelling all the way down the stairs...



.....



Cole's first day of school!

Cole's started school last week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am - 12pm. I am so proud of this little man! He didn't even cry the first day, only I did. I don't even know why, I guess I didn't want him to be scared and think I wasn't coming back. But he was totally fine and he loves his teachers, Miss Jennifer and Miss Jodi. When I picked him up last Thursday, Cole was sitting nicely at the table with the other kids eating his lunch. I almost didn't recognize him since he never sits and eats at home. I think school it going to be very good for him :)

Here are pics they took from his first day...

playing with cars

drumming

 

looks like he found a fire truck