Cole's 1st (well... 2nd, but 1st that mattered) Easter

It was nice that Easter fell on Conference weekend. When Cole woke up, we gave him his Easter basket. He had no idea what was going on, but he loved the new matchbox car and finger paints (which weren't such a good idea. I got the Color Wonder ones...but he didn't have the patience to wait for the colors. Oh well.).


The car came in an egg, and he loved that, so we knew the Easter egg hunt would be a hit! After Cole and I went down for a nap (I was sick and feeling lousy!), Jon "hid" the eggs. When Cole got up and saw some of the eggs he got excited. He quickly discovered that there was candy inside and would fill his mouth.


Then he would see another egg and he would run, the whole time exclaiming, "OOOO OOOO!" to the next egg, spit out the candy in his mouth and eat the next discovery! We had some cleaning to do that day!


All in all, his favorite part was the eggs themselves...and finding the candy. The next morning, I put Cheerios in one of the eggs....you should have seen the disappointment on his face!

Grandma is Home!

As we drove home from the airport, I was getting excited to see Grandma and Cole had no idea that she would be there.

Mom had been so worried that Cole would forget her while she was gone, but when we drove into the garage, he saw Grandma standing in the door and he got all excited and yelled, "DA DA!"

To say the least, Grandma was overjoyed to know that Cole hadn't forgotten her!

Cole meets his Wisconsin Cousins!

Cole and I went to Wisconsin to help Tara and family while she had her 5th baby! I was a little worried going from one very active Cole, to 5 kids! But Tyler, Scott, Tessa and Zach were SOOO helpful and awesome, they made it easy!

After a HORRIFIC plane ride (I will never give Cole Benedryl again!!), we made it to Verona and started a fun week!

Cole loved to be with so many kids and with all new toys!



He loved all of his cousins and made sure they knew it with all sorts of hugs!





He, apparently, also became nostalgic for his old car seat, and filled his need by sitting in Brynn's.





He was very interested in new baby Brynn. We have to teach him to touch softly and not to poke her eyes!

Jon joined us for the weekend and we had so much fun. We were sad to leave, but we also had a fun surprise waiting at home....GRANDMA WAS BACK!

Cole misses his Grandma and Grandpa

Cole loves it when Grandpa comes back from Houston for a week!



But when he is gone, he misses him too!



He also loves being able to talk to Grandma on Skype. So, as much as he misses her, at least he can see her! But he is ready to play with his Grandma again!

Maurading King

Cole is now trying to run, opens all the doors and cabinets and gets into everything he can. I have learned that there are some things that I just don't clean up until the end of the day...or else cleaning is all I would be doing!

Even Dad thinks that Cole is the King Marauder! So, Noah, Jonah, Luke and Isaac...you've been beat! Here are some examples of the fun I deal with every day! This might be all too familiar to some of you!










I realize that these pictures make it look like I let him do whatever fits his fancy. I don't!! I can't even begin to tell you how many times we have had an issue over me taking him away from the stereo and to not eat toilet paper and not to throw mom's eye shadow!

Cole is 1!!

We had multiple celebrations for Cole this year. We celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Hickman a week before his birthday, so they could celebrate before they went to Houston.




Jon and I made him a dump truck cake. He didn't care about the cake or the frosting, but he LOVED the M&Ms and Oreos!




And then we had a little party at Oma and Gramps (Dunning) house. Cole loved when everyone sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him! He liked it so much, we sang it twice!!!

Since we knew Cole wouldn't care about the cake, we made one for all of us!




We got him a kitchen for his birthday. We knew he would love it because he got to test it out at Trent and Wendy's over Thanksgiving (thanks Isaac!). He loves it! I have a video that I will try to put up...He used to dance every time the pot would make the bubbling sounds!

Cole's First Christmas

I know that Cole will have a better time next year, because he will understand the whole present thing better...but he had a pretty great time this year. Between the tree, ornaments, lights, and the train, he was good to go!





But more than the ornaments, he loved the beads that Mom hangs on her tree.


On Christmas Eve, Cole enjoyed the fondue....he would suck it off the asparagus that we would dip. But, I think that is also when he discovered that he LOVED asparagus! He liked the Martinelli's, but it was a little bubbly!


But most of all, he loves his Grandma and Grandpa!



Christmas morning was fun! I think Cole would have been just fine if he hadn't gotten any more gifts! He loved his Santa presents!