It's not all about Cole anymore ...

Today is my due date and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby girl. Its such a weird feeling to know that she could come today or it could be as late as July 13th before we welcome her into the world. But we are ready to meet her when she is ready! Cole is excited to be a big brother, although I'm not sure he completely understands what that means. But he does talk about her a lot and likes spending time in her room, especially in her crib! With this new addition to our family, the focus of our blog will no longer be all about Cole as it has been for the past almost three years. And since the blog's address is currently colebadger.blogspot.com it only made sense to set up a more appropriate one that encompasses both of our kids. For future updates, check out badgerfamily.blogspot.com.

climbing

Our neighborhood park has two play structures - one for little guys and one for bigger kids. Cole often gravitates to the bigger kids one, although he is pretty cautious and knows his limits with what he can and can't do on it. Today he tried out the ladder for the first time, scaling up it quickly and even making the jump from the ladder to the play structure. I always love watching him be successful at something new. He was so proud!

My boys

Just a sweet photo of Cole and Cory reading together on a lazy Sunday morning. I love times like these ...

First wedding of the summer

A couple pictures from our first, and actually only, wedding of the summer. Our friends Jon and Sadie got married this past Saturday at Flinn Block Hall in Albany. What a beautiful wedding! I wish I had better photos of Sadie - she looked stunning. Highlights for Cole - exploring the building, playing with his buddy Caden, dancing and cupcakes.

picnics

One of Cole's favorite things of late, and mine too actually, is picnics in the front yard. We got these adirondack chairs a couple weeks back and they have been a fantastic investment. We use them every day that its sunny, which thankfully has been almost every day this week. Also notice the cheezy smile, which is what you get when you tell Cole to smile these days. I predict a lot more of these smiles in future photos :)

Wildcat Park

This was Cole's first week out of day care, so we had lots of time to enjoy the sun that is finally here. For a change of scenery, we headed over to Wildcat Park. I can't believe it was our first time there - such a cool set-up. Next time we go there I think we'll take a picnic. I'm sure there will be lots of park pictures this summer as Cole loves going and there are lots of parks to explore in Corvallis.

Day at the zoo

We took Cole to the Oregon Zoo for the first time last Saturday. I can't believe we've never taken him there! We had a baby shower in Portland in the afternoon for our dear friends Kristen and Scott, so it was the perfect opportunity to spend some time at the zoo. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, so my photos are very limited, but what I can tell you about our visit:

• If you ask Cole what his favorite animal was, he'll say "dinosaur." And he's serious! They have a dinosaur exhibit going right now featuring a variety of dinosaurs that move and make noise and even spit (that was a surprise!). Cole was actually pretty scared the whole time, but then as soon as we were done walking through, he wanted to go back again. They also had a cool dinosaur that you could operate via a remote control. Cole could have easily spent an hour with that alone.
  
• We spent the most time at the elephants. All four were out and it was feeding time, so that was cool. And it was fun to see the baby.
• The animals he was most excited about seeing were the giraffes, but sadly they were mostly hiding and we could only catch a glimpse.
• On a recommendation from our friend Brittany, we made sure to jump on the train and took it down to Washington Park, where we got off for a bit to check out the playground. Cole loved the train. This was probably a close second after the dinosaurs. The only photos worth sharing are both from the train ...

Fathers Day

Most of you know that Cory is the chef in our house. He makes some amazing food and I feel lucky to have such a wonderful husband who loves to cook. If it was up to me our menu would be rather limited ... heavy on yogurt and cereal :)

A few months back I had the idea to get Cory a new BBQ for Fathers Day (and an early birthday present). After much research I settled on the Weber Genesis. With the help of my dad and brother I had the grill waiting for him when we got home from Portland last night. He was super surprised and so happy. I should really post a photo of our old BBQ. It looks so sad and tiny next to this one! The first thing Cory did was to put the heat on high and see how hot it would get. Almost 700 degrees! He literally stood there with a big smile on his face (and beer in hand) watching the temperature gauge go up. Needless to say, he loves it! For dinner tonight he grilled up a pork roast for over 8 hours and did pulled pork sandwiches. Um, delicious.

Cole making his "funny face," which is what he says he will do for the baby when she is crying to cheer her up. Classic Cole.

Happy Fathers Day, babe! You're the best dad and husband. Thank you for all you do for us. We are so, so lucky. xo

new favorite things

Cole has been asking (begging) for a BIG Buzz Lightyear ever since he saw the one that our neighbor has. So yesterday we made a stop at Target and got him one. Wow, don't think I have ever seen him more excited about a toy! He has been playing with it non-stop for the past two days. Oh, and we picked up some googles while we were there, too, which he used in the bath tub this morning. These pictures make me smile ...

(playing around with my computers photo booth app)

Getting so big!

I took a few photos the other day and looking at them now I am struck by how old Cole is looking and how BIG he is! These photo also represent one of his most favorite pastimes these days -- "working" with dad on anything & everything outside (this day Cory was hauling gravel for our new path).

Sunny days

A couple photos from yesterday, our first truly sunny day in a LONG time! Cole and I spent the afternoon out and about in our neighborhood, enjoying the weather. First stop - the park!


This walk was all about Cole. I let him lead the way and choose our route, wandering at his pace. Stopping to find good sticks, throw rocks, hunt for bugs, etc.

And he insisted on wearing this winter hat that was stashed in the stroller. Silly boy.

Exploring in the trees, trying to avoid poison oak.

Dance party!

Cole is into dance parties these days. Shirts are optional. The socks and the leg kicks kill me.

Mothers Day

We celebrated Mothers Day with brunch at the Buena Vista House, one of my favorite places in the world. It was a wonderful (and sunny - yay!) morning, surrounded by family and good food. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Mom to this wonderful little boy.


Daughter to the most amazing woman in the world.

Golf lessons

After several days of rain (and even some hail!) it was nice to have some sunshine tonight. Cole is such an outdoor kid and Cory is so good about hanging with him outside for as long as he wants. Lucky kid! Tonight's outdoor activities included a few laps around the block on his four wheeler, followed by batting practice, a break for dinner, and then back outside for some golf lessons with Dad. To quote Cory "I think he's already a better golfer than me." Well, not sure about that, but he's getting the hang of it!

Side note - seems like Cole has just passed a developmental milestone. Taller, talking so much and just feels more and more like a little boy. Love all the funny saying these days, too. His current favorite - "4 more minutes" - his answer anytime you give him a heads up that we're going to need to transition activities.

Little Ms. Charlotte

Today Cole and I made the trip up to Salem to meet little Ms. Charlotte Rose Nass. What a doll! She was really alert most of our visit, so it was fun to get to see her checking out her new world. It's so amazing to hold such a little one! Its hard to believe we'll have one of our own in just a couple months. Cole was really good with her. He held her for a couple minutes before he asked to be done because "she's sitting on my feet." Then he spent the rest of our visit trying to get Sophie (their dog) to stay sitting long enough for him to pet her and then running like crazy all around their house. Ah, two year old boys. Certainly much different that a two week old sweet little girl.

Charlotte Rose Nass, 12 days old

Mama (looking SO fantastic) and Charlotte

Cole meets Charlotte

Favorite reads

Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox. We picked this one up at the library last week. Its a quick read, cute illustrations. Cole likes the last page the best. You'll have to read it to find out why!


Just a Mess by Mercer Mayer. Recently we got a new box of hand-me-downs from Caden, including a slew of books. There were several Mercer Mayer books, which Cole loves. Especially this one where the Little Critter is looking for his baseball mitt. My nickname recently for Cole is the little tornado since he makes messes faster than we can clean them up ... so its kind of perfect that he likes this book.


The Little Dumptruck by Margery Cuyler. Cole loves any digger, excavator, dump truck, crane, etc. Especially if they're "working." We read this book specifically for the page with the big excavator on it.

Umbrella model

Cory's parents are currently in the process of cleaning out his Grandma Billie's house as she has moved into an assisted living facility. What a collection! Cory spent an hour digging through cookbooks - she must have over 100! And Cole found this awesome vintage umbrella, which we brought home with us.

Time on campus

Cole and I spent part of our sunny Friday on campus, visiting my friend Jaimee at Gill (thanks, Jaimee, for the new OSU basketball!) and walking around Reser Stadium. We even got to check out part of the OSU football scrimmage. Days like today make me thankful to live in a college town!

Fun in the sun

Sun + sprinklers = fun


A couple of our many outdoor tools. The four wheeler is a favorite ... being replaced soon (this week, I think) by a much bigger, faster one. Thank you Daddy :)

Hanging at Madison Ave

Easter

Easter weekend was full of family, food and fun.

A couple pictures from our neighborhood egg hunt. While other kids ran to gather as many eggs as they could, Cole hung back with a familiar look of skepticism on his face. Honestly, I can totally see why you would be confused by this tradition! So, there are a ton of plastic eggs scattered about the playground. What's the deal with that?


He got into it enough to retrieve 4 eggs and then he was done.

And then he realized that there was CANDY in those eggs. If he had known that before, he would certainly have been a bit more enthusiastic about the hunt.



My mom took Cole up to the country club for their Easter party, where they met up with Nathan, Krista and the kids. Apparently there was an endless amount of fun (sugar) including a cotton candy machine, a bounce house, eggs and cookies to decorate and a special appearance from the Easter Bunny. Wow. The kids had a BLAST.

That afternoon we headed over to see Olivia and Ryan at Olivia's sisters house. While the highlight for me was seeing Olivia and Ryan, the new baby chicks (and maybe the cats) were the highlight for Cole -- sorry, Livs! The "fuzzy bottom girls" as Andrea nicknamed them, are actually pretty cute (and this is coming from a non-bird person). Cole was very interested in knowing exactly what are they doing, asking "what are they doing now?" every time they moved. And then there was the pooping. The boy has a bit of a fascination with poop.


Easter morning we hosted brunch here with both sets of grandparents and Krista, Nathan and the kids. Yay for family! It was a lovely morning. No photos to share, but a good time for sure. Yummy food and good conversation.

bubble gun

Just about the coolest thing, all you do is pull the trigger, and bam - bubbles! It's amazing how fast it goes through bubble solution. Thank goodness for the Dollar Store.

best buds

Cole and Quincy's play date at the Play Factory. These boys are best buds and so dang cute together.



Boys on bugs.

Expressing their artistic sides.

Field trip to the gluten free bakery for a little treat.

Nose-to-nose huddle.

Holding hands for safety.

Catching rain drops on their tongues.