"Reading" Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See?

So cute when they recite books! :)

Mobile photos from last week and today

Last Monday we went to Chuck E. Cheese with some friends who were on their last day of winter break.  We went to the aquarium first and then Chuck E. Cheese.  Cole got to ride in these vehicles like the ones in malls or at the exits of stores for the first time (as they were in motion).  The first one he rode on he enjoyed a lot so he wanted to try this monster truck.  I decided to whip out my phone and catch his gleeful expression....but it was one of horror.  That truck was scary and after I snapped this quick picture I allowed him to jump out into my arms.  The good thing is he probably will never ask for us to put money in the ones at malls or exits of stores since they may be wild and crazy like this thing....

Thursday I was going through some things for the upcoming consignment sales.  He found his 2009 Halloween costume.  I wish I had a picture of the pants because those were hilarious, but needless to say it no longer fits.

Friday we went to the aquarium with the Briscoe's.  It was a really fun experience!

Joey got attacked by this alligator though.

Cole bailed while Joey got eaten.  It was the only thing he could think to do :).  And I realized my camera doesn't take horrible outdoor pictures...not bad!

  

This odd picture has a story with it.  Saturday we had dinner guests and I made stuffed cabbage, mashed potatoes, and corn with carrot cake and some cupcakes (for the kids) for dessert.  Today I took the remainder of the cupcakes and the remainder icing from the carrot cake to a friend's house for a playdate.

Their middle child took a bite of the long awaited cupcake and sat there with a strange look on her face.

My friend: "What is it?"

5 year old:"Mommy, it tastes gross."

My friend (clearly embarrassed): "It is not nice to say that to someone who made something for you."

My friend helps her 3 year old take the paper off of her cupcake and takes a bite wondering what the deal is.

My friend: "It is gross...the icing is mashed potatoes."

Me (in complete disbelief): "What?"

My friend: "It is mashed potatoes.  You have to try it."

Me (clearly mortified): *laughing* "Oh my goodness!  It looked just like the icing I made for the carrot cake!" *trying a bite of Cole's* "that is disgusting...I am so sorry you guys even attempted to eat it!" *laughing so hard I was crying*

After tearing the "iced" tops of their cupcakes off they consumer the rest without complaint.  What an embarrassing and funny story.  

Needless to say my friend decided not to add any extra "icing" to her carrot cake I also brought.

We also reminisced about the Friends episode where Rachel makes a trifle with all sweet things and some ground beef or something like that because the cook book pages were stuck together...yum.

I came home and took a picture of the icing next to the mashed potatoes just to make her laugh.  I will probably always, for the rest of my life, taste icing or anything that could be masquerading as something else just to make sure this never happens again...but what a hoot!

New Washer

 Our washer finally had it's last day on Monday.  Jonathan awoke to a leak. The washer was really old.  So, we got a new one.  It is pretty "newfangled" with digital display, etc.  Cole was very excited.  When I first told him we needed to get a washer without a blink he said "we need a colored one with a circle in the front where you can see the clothes going around".  He must have seen one in an advertisement because no one I can even think of has one of the ones he described.  My parents have a white front loader, but the color thing came from somewhere else.  So funny.  I told him he can get one of those when he grows up and he replied "and you can come see it."  Sounds great, Cole, we will look forward to it :).

 Cole asked for us to take pictures with him.  That was pretty unusual.  They came out cute:).

 I love this!

Forte Visit After Christmas

 The Forte's came just days after Christmas.  We had our own little Christmas time and it was lovely!  We actually had snow while they were visiting!

 Cole got a train shirt from Granny.  Now his two train shirts are pretty much all he wants to wear.

 One of the coolest gifts he received was homemade by someone in Circleville.  It was an "i-spy" bag with small items hidden amidst plastic pellets.  It is very neat!

 Cole enjoyed watching his grandparents open their gifts.

 He got a new matchbox car and a whole slew of neat things! 

 Here Pop Pop is teaching him how to correctly show how big the fish you caught was.

 That i-spy bag...a huge hit!

 Loving his new shirt!

 On Saturday the Keen family had their annual train open house.  We have been there several times now and it is always awesome.

 Wow.  That is all that can be said and no picture or video does this layout justice.

 Children and adults alike are in awe of this layout made by Hugh Keen.

 You can even get under it and pop up in a few holes to get closer looks.

 Hugh and Virginia's granddaughter is one of Cole's friends.  Being friends with her parents is how we found out about this amazing place!

 Our neighbors from across the street go to church with Hugh and Virginia and showed up for the open house!  It was neat!  They brought their daughter's family and here is their grandson watching the trains with Cole.  They are a month apart in age.

Cole, Pop Pop, and grandma before church.  I think this shot needs to be framed:).

What we are doing today

We did school and Cole wanted to build a marble run so we did.  Then he wanted to do more and I also had many things to do today and was a little frustrated and out of ideas.  So, I read a blog very quickly and came up with this....

Threw all small things for crafting, etc in a box.  A "busy box".  A "texture" box...I had wanted to make one for a while and it didn't occur to me to just throw all small things into a box.  So far it has been 20 minutes of being entertained.  Hopefully it will go even longer:).

A few recent phone pictures

More good pictures coming soon from our Christmas and time with Jonathan's parents. I just haven't had a chance to even look through them yet. Actually the one of Jonathan's parents and Cole is from the good camera.
Yesterday we went to chuck e cheese. I wanted to snap a shot of him riding in the car that moves since he has never done it before buy this mister truck thing was actually quite terrifying so he tried to jump out. Maybe next time we are at the mall or see one of those cars he definitely will be more content to just sit in it and not even think of asking to make it move!
We set up a few really nice train layouts for cole since Christmas. The one here we added grand central station and it was Coles idea to make a "trestle" bridge out of the station and run trains under it. It is the first layout we have made that has that kind of thing.