Bella.
Play-do on cold rainy days.
Silliness.
Cuddling on Saturday morning.
Absolute perfection.
I just found this photo blog with a weekly contest via Amanda’s blog.
This is the first picture that I went searching for when I saw that it was a KISSES contest…of course this was taken in the summer with my point and shoot camera- it’s not the picture quality that I love, but it’s the girl loving her Daddy. In their favorite place: Outdoors. True love. True kisses!
I’m gonna have to backdate this one- Just a few pictures from Cole’s actual birthday. I kept him and Shelby home from school that day, but we went up to school after naptime to provide the afternoon snack- Cupcakes for the HoneyBees!
As always, Cole washed his hands like a good boy :)
And I love this pictures of Cole and his little food friend that I have mentioned before. They are totally in their own little world here in their seats.
Yesterday- what a day.
It was set to be an awesome day- Matthew and Gram had arrived, the house was clean, a turkey was smoking, and lots of good food in the works, followed by some Super Bowl watching. Nonnie, Poppy, Anna, Millie & Luke were going to come over in a bit, and I was prepping food in the kitchen with Gram. As usual, Shelby was begging to hold and pet Ruby, as she had been SO excited to show off her little hamster to Matthew and Gram.
Although we were all busy and the house was loud and hectic, we let Ruby into her little hamster ball to run around. Normally (well, ya know, for the past week) we are so careful and have the dogs put away in crates or behind gates before we do this, but for whatever reason we just weren’t careful this time. A few minutes later, Jeff calls me into the living room and Ruby was there, out of the ball…lifeless. Somehow her ball had opened and Mary had tried to play with her. There was no mess or blood- Jeff says probably a broken back or neck. What followed was one of the hardest times we’ve had as parents, to see our little animal-loving daughter’s heart break into. I walked in and told the kids that Ruby was dead. Shelby was shocked but wanted to see, so Jeff let her look at the little body he was holding wrapped in a paper towel. Then he hugged her and it was a long hug- when they let go baby girl’s tears were flowing. They didn’t stop for an hour. Through her tears, Shelby found a box for Ruby, and stood next to Daddy in the cold air outside as he dug her a little grave. I asked Shelby if she wanted to make Ruby a card, but she asked me to do it. She asked me to write “I love you Ruby.” So she folded up the little pink piece of paper and put it in the shoe box on top of her little hamster. When the grave was ready, Shelby put the box down in it and Daddy covered it up. Shelby was so brave but so sad. When I got her back inside to sit and watch tv, the sobs really started. It was heartbreaking to hear her tell me through her sobs “I don’t want Ruby to die” and not be able to do ANYTHING about it. She knows that Ruby is in Hamster Heaven, but for most of the day yesterday she still kept hoping that “God would make her better and she can come back.” She kept wanting to go check on her in her grave. During her prayers last night, she asked God to take care of Ruby until we get to see her again in Heaven.
These are some pictures from last week…during her short little life with us, Ruby was LOVED a lot.
What came next was a decision made by 2 parents who wanted to stop their baby’s hurt- we joked that if this leads to counseling one day, surely the root of some problems will be found here :) …We have a new hamster.
After Aunt Anna heard what had happened, she called and offered to get a new one before she came over. Jeff and I talked it over, and also talked it over with Shelby. Shelby gave us plenty of insight into rules we need to have to make sure an accident doesn’t happen again, letting us know for sure that she understands the seriousness of it now. She said that the little dogs have to go into their room behind the gate and Mary has to be outside with the doggy door closed or in her bed (crate) before the hamster is ever out of her cage. She knows that it is not only Mommy and Daddy’s, but her responsibility to make sure of this. Then she called Aunt Anna all by herself, and through tears and sobs, asked her to please bring a new hamster.
Aunt Anna arrived at the house with a new hamster AND a new pink cage! At the pet store, there was one hamster there who was up for adoption, because her last family didn’t want her- so Anna decided to rescue her for us. She came with a name and it is Bella. Bella is already full grown so bigger than Ruby was, and she seems to be very sweet. Shelby and I got to hold her and pet her last night and she was pretty calm and even crawled right into my hand, so I think she's used to being held and loved on.
It was so hard and challenging to see Shelby with such sadness yesterday, and gave me just a painful little glimpse into how hard dealing with these serious life issues is going to continue to be as a parent, when even harder and much larger hurts come along. There’s so much we don’t know, and so many words that we don’t know how to use- I guess we just do the best that we can. Shelby had lots of laughs and play time yesterday as well. What a life lesson to learn at 4 years old!
Rest In Peace, little Ruby.
Yesterday Cole had his 3 year checkup. I wanted to document it on here, though there is nothing to report except perfect, blessed, normal health!
Height: 38.5 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 35 lb 6 oz (80th percentile)
The percentiles surprise me because he is SO skinny and tall right now, so I thought his height percentile would be higher than his weight. Maybe ALL boys are tall and skinny at this stage ;)
The doctor asked all the “is your child on track” questions and she was very impressed (as was I) about how well he behaved. He sat in my lap and let her do whatever she needed to do. He stood up for her, bent over for her to look at his back, and even stood on 1 foot for her. The only developmental question I wasn’t a positive YES on was if he could draw a circle, since he rarely shows any interest in drawing at this point. So she had him do it on her chart- and sure enough, he drew a little circle. So I guess that means he passes being 3 years old! :)
He got his second Hep A shot. We could have waited until age 4 but they have to get FOUR shots at 4 so I decided to keep it at 4 and get this one over with. He layed there for the nurse, held my hands, and didn’t even cry. He winced and said, “Ow! What was that?!?” Haha. The nurse said that makes her job easy!
Cole’s about as perfect as can be…now if we could just get him to stop jumping off countertops, throwing objects into everyone’s drinks, and breaking everything he comes into contact with… :)
…on second thought, that day will come, too quickly, I’m sure. For now, we will embrace our little Destructo and know that he is our three year old who is normal and happy!
I never posted these sweet sibling photos that they took at the kids’ school in October.
Bad samples but cute pictures!
We saw one of these coolers at a garage sale several months ago but missed out on buying it ($60)
So…my handy man decided to make us our own…with scraps we already had or acquired from trash piles. (Free!)
Sunday Jeff played golf. After nap the kids and I needed to get out of the house so we set off looking for a place to get Cole’s hair cut. After we did that, I ended up accidentally driving through a shopping center and noticed PetCo, and remembered that they had our dog food on sale, so I decided to stop. The kids love to wander around PetCo and see all the fish, critters, and birds. We ended up at the checkout stand with a 40 pound bag of dog food, a hamster, and a “My first hamster” set-up kit.
Shelby has been asking for a hamster for a while but I have been saying no- then I saw THIS hamster. She wasn’t sleeping like the rest of them, or eating. She was running around and stopping to look at us. We could tell she had tons of personality, and she had to be ours.
Say hello to Ruby-doo:
She likes to climb
And the kids LOVE to watch her.
We also got her one of those balls to walk around the house for exercise and she LOVES that. She will go for a long time just circling the kitchen and exploring everything. (The dogs even leave her alone.)
The hike we took went halfway around the state park. It was about 1.5 hours and close to 1.5 miles. I was proud of Shelbs for hanging in there and enjoying it! Cole spent lots of time on Daddy’s shoulders :)
To get started we had to cross the river- it wasn’t impossible but was a bit difficult.
Jeff carried Shelby over then went back for Cole.
(Say hi to Poppy in the background!)
Our hero!
Across the river is one of the dino track sites. Here’s the only good picture I got:
The kids had no problem with getting wet or dirty!
Then, we started up the mountain…
She’s probably telling Daddy how to do something! :) Look at those hands on hips!
Mary LOVED it! She led the way most of the time.
Finally at the part of the trail where the map said we could cross back over the river…scared me a little.
It really doesn’t look that bad in this picture but we had to start over where that man is in the back, and that first curve before you got to the big rocks was kind of deep and slippery (you had to balance on rocks.) Jeff took Shelby, then took Cole, and I took my shoes & socks off and rolled my pants up to cross. It wasn’t possible to do it without fully submerging your shoe and I prefer DRY feet!
Still smiling kids after the hike!
Back in time to see the sun set. What a great adventure!
Sweet Mary got herself wrapped up just a few times! She is VERY good off the leash but we do have to put it on her some, since it is the rule there. Off the leash, she stayed right by us, always came when we whistled, and was very excited to walk with whoever went to the bathroom and wait for them. Good dog!
The kiddos enjoy kicking around a soccer ball.
And then all the relaxing! My FAVORITE part!
And the campfires! (And my man who builds them!) Another favorite.
Saturday it rained for a few hours. That morning Poppy and Jeff took the kids on the bikes and they were gone for a LONG time. The rain didn’t phase them at all…in fact our little hot-blooded Shelby wouldn’t even wear a jacket. They explored dino tracks and shoreline along the Paluxy river. Shelby even built a sand castle (which Coleman promptly destroyed.) Nonnie and I stayed at the campsite, I slept the morning away (now, maybe THIS is my favorite thing!) and Nonnie was bored to death. (Sorry, Non!) Later on, I went into “town” to fetch everyone Butterfinger Blizzards. HEAVEN! (Butterfinger Blizzards are my favorite!)
We have been wanting to visit this camping destination in Glen Rose, TX since we got our camper, but it is ALWAYS booked full through all the “camping” months. They don’t have many elec & water spots (40 maybe?) and it is a popular family/kid destination. So when I saw the forecast for the weekend and had wanted to do something fun for Cole’s birthday, there were plenty of spots open since it’s January, we booked it!
As soon as we got all set up, we used the last hour or so of daylight and set off on bikes to see the life-size dinosaurs.
The deer just stood by the road and watched us as we biked by.
The kids thought the dinosaurs were so cool! I can’t even remember which kind this is- starts with A, ends with “saurus.”
And this, of course, is T Rex.
Friendly, huh?
Turns out sitting on the fence wasn’t a good idea. Cole fell off flat on his face.
He cheered up when we let them touch the toes.
Shelby says, “It wasn’t me!”
As we checked out the dinos, deer looked on.
They let us get pretty close before they took off! (ps- do not understand how people can shoot these animals!!!)
Next up: Soccer/relaxing and a big hike with dino tracks!
I just called Jeff at work to ask him if he remembered something that I had wanted to blog about (I wrote it down at home.) He said, “No, sorry, guess it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. It is wordless Wednesday after all.” Good point, dear!!!
2 hints:
+
(is this picture even appropriate??)
I’m hoping to do a couple of posts about our weekend soon! IN the meantime…
Shelby got herself all dressed for school yesterday morning as soon as she woke up, to surprise Daddy. She knows that getting dressed means more time to watch her Tom & Jerry in the morning! She said she wanted to do it again today so we picked out her clothes and set them out last night.
This “morning,” she walked in to Jeff’s side of the bed and was very proud, all dressed, with shoes and everything. She said, “Look Daddy I’m all dressed and I want to watch Tom and Jerry.” The problem? It was 1:00 am. Poor little baby crawled up into bed with us and slept the rest of the night fully dressed and even left her shoes on. I told her from now on she has to check the clock and it has to start with a 6 before it’s time to get dressed! Made for an easy morning of getting the kids ready though! :)
Cole has been loving playing basketball in the driveway, and last night was hitting a baseball pitched in the air really well. He has an awesome stance! :) Can’t wait to work with him more!
Last weekend Jeff was getting Cole excited to watch football, and Cole said, “FOOTBALL IS MY FAVORITE! Is it your favorite sissy?” Sissy replied, “No, I like to play, like with horsies and stuff.” Such a girl!