Photoshop Collage

I am so excited about my new ability to use Photoshop!  I hadn't been able to do anything like this because I did not understand layers.  Now, I do, and I can do a ton!  I love these collages!  Portrait Innovations had us paying a ton for a picture like this and now I am able to easily do it at home...of course I need good quality pictures to do it so I need to step up my photography skills, but it is fun.  Is there any market in doing this type of thing for other people?  I wonder...  Well, at least next year our Christmas cards will be REALLY cool and so will Cole's birthday invites!  Walmart did a little of a hack job on our card pics this year, but we learned our lesson and we will make sure they are great next year!

17 Months!

Cole turned 17 months old today!

He's very happy we are finally settled.

Sitting in the snow.  His eyes are like Emeralds in many of these pictures...

Green eyes that melt my heart.

Handsome!

Moody:).

Cole is 17 months old and the word "toddler" describes him quite well aside from the "toddling" thing.  He still is not walking but we are quite confident that he is capable of it but for whatever reason refuses.  He can stand for a long time and if he'd just take a step we know he'd do it.

He says "words."  Dog ("Dah") and Juice ("Ju") are the two we hear most.  Also he seems to say the phrase I want that ("I wan da").  He will repeat sounds like Pop-pop or Da-da.  No Ma-ma for the most part unless he is very hungry or upset.

Cole likes to read a lot and he loves lining his trucks up in confined areas like rugs or a windowsill (so they are all together on the sill or the rug).  Cole got a shape sorter for Christmas and is very confident with the circles, but not much else.  He is good at putting his toys away when we help him.  He still scoots and crawls about 40/50 and probably cruises about 10% of the time.  He has a bunch of teeth...11 with one working it's way in.  He is appearing to resist his morning nap, so we may try one nap a day (or two later than he used to), but he is definitely tired by 10am so it is a struggle.  His biggest form of defiance is throwing food from his high chair.  Other than that he is a happy baby who listens pretty well.

The Christmas Post

The aftermath of the blizzard left drifts of snow that came up to Jonathan's waist in places.  Here's out our front door.

Here's Cole after opening presents eating a blind bead thing....they were promptly removed from the area.  They are normally tied up every morning to prevent this...

Cole looking at the snow.

Playing with toys...almost none of them are Christmas toys here.

His new stacking set.  We wanted to get him a tall one like Pop-Pop and Grandma have.  He likes it.  See the look of mischief as he is about to knock it over?

Watching Santa's present...Mickey Christmas movie.

Wearing the jacket that Uncle Chris got him from the Ronald Reagan library in California on a recent trip out there.  It is much too big for him, but it will look cool when he can wear it in a year or so.

Cole is in between coat sizes that we have for him here.  His black one he cannot wear if he has a couple layers or a sweatshirt beneath, so the green one comes out.  He was very impatient to get on with the show and go "sledding."

Cole and myself "sledding."  He really enjoyed it.

I quickly discovered there was no way to push the sled as you can see the snow is up to my mid-calf here.  I had to pull it and pull it on the side of me because my leg prints were so deep that a tipping sled was imminent if I directly behind me.

By far Cole's favorite part of the experience (aside from getting warm inside) was going down this huge drift by the truck.  I kept picking up the container and putting it at the top of the "hill" and letting it slide down (in a controlled fashion of course).

And finally, the straw that broke the camel's back...sitting in snow.  "It's Cold..."

IT'S COLD!!!

Jonathan shoveling snow.  A neighbor let him borrow the shovel.  He was doing it with a little narrow shovel for digging trenches.  We will be getting a snow shovel soon:).  The neighbors here are really nice, by the way.  A couple came down and brought us goodies and introduced themselves the other night.  Very nice.

Jonathan shoveled the driveway and as you can see the pile went halfway up the mailbox.  This is serious snow for Oklahoma.

The favorite Christmas toy, aside from the wagon from my parents, seems to be this shape sorter.  He can really only get the circle in consistently, but he does it well and he will probably pick up on more shapes soon!

Trains and Blizzards

Daddy got out the train and Cole just LOVES IT!  He was completely mezmerized and it got him too excited to eat dinner!  This was before his nap this afternoon.

Just after his nap this afternoon. 

Watching the train with Daddy.

Snuggling with Daddy in complete contentment.  He seriously wouldn't eat dinner after this.  He just wanted to sit and watch the train.  It was so cute!

We are in the middle of a blizzard here.  Our front porch looks like this.  More pictures to come tomorrow.  We plan on "sledding" in our back or front yard...maybe even the street...no one will be driving too much:).

Our office window.  Many of the windows on our house look like this, but the North side is the worst...Merry Christmas!

Vacuum Love/Hate Relationship

Last March Cole hated the vacuum.  Hated it!  We couldn't run it when he was awake for fear he would react like this...

Now things have totally reversed.  Cole no longer minds the vacuum running and it completely intrigues him.

However, if the extension wands are unavailable, he cannot get them out, or Mommy refuses to give them to him because "they are not toys" this is the reaction now.  (Note him pointing at extension wands in dire longing)...

"Mommy, give me the extension wands and accessory equipment or a complete and total meltdown will ensue...it will not stop until I have those things in my hand because I am very stubborn and we both know it!"  (Pick your battles, right?  Well, the wands got relocated and distraction methods were used because this was right before naptime and there was NO WAY he was going to sleep with the wands:).

BTW, can you believe the growth!?  Still the same miserable, pitiful, and yet-so-cute-we-have-to-laugh face.

Moving Out and In

Cole's final days of opening and sitting in cupboards.  So sorry, fella, but we aren't sad to see this time end.

Cole's new room!  No pictures up on the walls yet...finished pictures will come later.  Last night Jonathan and Cole put together the book case that Jonathan's parents got Cole.

"Dad, do you need this?"

Handy Cole.

Homeowners!

Well, we closed on our new house!  I went down and cleaned a little before closing.  They left it very clean, but we wanted to do the whole baseboard cleaning, etc.  Anyway, just thought I would update since we are probably staying there tonight and won't have internet for a few days!

Bass Pro

Right after Cole learned to feed himself Sunday (note the outfit change) we went to Bass Pro Shops which is just a really nice store to go to this time of year.

Watching the remote control cars.

Watching Slot Cars.

Riding 4-wheelers.

Gimme That Spoon!

Cole proves time and time again that we cannot force him into any milestones and he will get them "in his own time".  We had been suspecting for a while that Cole could use a spoon/fork.  Well, I was sitting with him Sunday feeding him some yogurt with antibiotics mixed in and he wanted more so I opened up this container and he basically fussed and took the spoon out of my hand.  I bought this spoon/fork set last week and told Jonathan it would be the last attempt at buying a spoon or fork.  They have thick handles and that may be why he likes them.

He forgot the order of things here.  He touched the yogurt and realized he left the spoon behind.

The dip.

The Delivery.

He didn't get too messy until the end and perhaps at that point he was just playing anyway.  We are so proud of him!  He almost tried to eat mac and cheese with his fork today, too!