time out

Dale loving refers to time out as "T.O." and we are all very familiar with the time out chair at our house. We started putting Cole in timeout when he was around a year old because he had a little bit of a hitting problem. Well, turns out now at almost 17 months old, our child likes timeout and has become accustomed to sitting in his time out chair in the hallway for 10 seconds at least two times a day. What do you do as a parent when your child likes timeout? We have absolutely no clue.
This is how it goes down: Cole hits us or swats his hand near our faces and then takes our hand and leads us to his time out chair. We hold his hands down, count to 10 and then make him hug us before leaving his T.O. chair. However, lately he has been trying to hit us again so he can sit in time out for round two or even round three. He will also fake swat at us and then want to go and sit in time out and I have to tell him that he was not being naughty and he does not have to sit in time out. Frankly, it is a little complicated. Dale and I never thought we wound have a child that wants to sit in time out but I guess we shouldn't complain and we should just roll with it. Also, it is kind of the cutest thing ever and at least we know Cole listens to us...sometimes.

Playing in time out

 Putting his animals in time out

burlap style

I'm all about some crafting. I feel like I never have time between working 3 nights a week, chasing a very active 15 month old energizer bunny around, and having a well needed date night with my main man occasionally. I would not call myself an overly crafty person. I like to try new things and I am terrible at following really in depth directions. My good friends know that I have a very short attention span. I get distracted really easily if I don't understand something and I am really distracted when following directions. I like to skip to the end and just find a shortcut if at all possible. I am more of a watcher, adapter, and then a doer than a direction reader. The same goes with crafting and really complicated German board games. I like to sit down and make things my own when I find time which is a blessing and a curse because sometimes crafts turn out well and sometimes not so much. Oh well, the journey is always fun and my sweet husband always tells me the end result is "really nice", even if it isn't...swoon.

Anyway, I got 3 awesome coffee burlap bags when we went to the mountains with some friends in January for $2 a piece at a fabric store. I felt like I was practically stealing these awesome crafting supplies. I knew that I wanted to make pillows for Cole's playroom but I wanted them to be fun and colorful. I am not that great at sewing and I wanted to put a little spin on burlap pillows so I used yarn to stitch the pillows together. I had some old Ikea pillows that measured 18x18 that I just wrapped a piece of burlap that was 20x40 around and then stitched the edges. The project was fairly simple. I had to be careful that the yarn did not rip the edge of the burlap because it was delicate. I put the pillow inside the burlap while I pulled the edges close together and slowly stitched up all 4 sides. Each pillow from cutting the burlap to the final stitch took me about 2 hours. It was really fun and I still have 1 more burlap bag to use that may turn in to a dog bed for Rio, lucky girl.

The 2 matching pillows were on the front of the burlap bag and the "Cafes Do Brasil" was on the back of one of the bags. I still have one more "Cafes Do Brasil" pillow to make. 

Getting the full effect in the playroom. It looks clean but there are toys and ballpit balls everywhere beyond this picture.

I didn't try and match the yarn with the pillow. I thought it was more playful to just have lots of fun colors. 

The back of the "Cafes Do Brasil" pillow. I should have ironed them (if you can iron burlap). The stitching across the back is part of the original burlap bag which I thought was so neat. 

Little embellishment in the corner of the pillow that I thought added a little flare and it was too surprising to cut of when making the pillow. 

long hair don't care

Cole's hair is becoming increasingly crazy and out of control and I absolutely love it. I love his little whispy side wings and I love parting his hair and then ruffling it up over and over again. The first time someone calls him a girl I'm sure Dale will make me cut that sweet baby hair but until then, long hair don't care.
I couldn't resist some bed head pictures. Cole was less than amused.

destruction monster

Our little monster loves him some destruction. He can hear you stacking blocks from another room and he will hunt you down until no block is left standing.  Dale always builds the best towers for Cole. I have zero patience to build a tower and give it a nice pattern but Dale, he is the best. Here is a little glimpse in to Cole's favorite activity ever. He is all boy through and through...poor Mommy.

Hark, is that block stacking I hear?

 Oh, it sure is. Score!

Note to self: learn how to run

Got distracted

Oh, hey there other less important toys. I'll get to you later

Oh, Mama. Hi!

 Dad, you rock. You are so skilled in tower building. Permission to knock it over?

Nice craftsmanship, good arches. I approve. 

                                          And the hand goes out, and the crowd goes wild...

                                                 I missed but this is still the best day ever!

                                   I have to look at just one more time before sweet victory is all mine

       Oh, look...a surprise hidden archway. Nice touch, Dad. 

   The calm before the storm

 Sweet Victory!

Helping to clean up. What a sweet boy. 

2013

We have spent every New Years eve since 2006 at Red Robin with our friends, Grey and Heather. We added a new, and very cute, member last year with the addition of Cole to our little group. We started the tradition randomly in Raleigh in 2006 with Dale's college friends and ironically we ate at that same Raleigh Red Robin this past year. It is funny how you can never picture which direction your life will turn. If you asked me in 2006 if I ever planned on living in Raleigh I would have said no. We had fun eating with all the early birds at 5:30pm on New Years Eve and let me tell you, that place was packed. We all knew exactly what we wanted to order, no menus needed. Cole even enjoyed some delicious Red Robin fries and I think my husband loved me a little bit more for wearing flannel with him.

Later that night we lost our poor little Golden, Rio. Cole was in bed and we were all sitting around playing a really nerdy new board game when I noticed that the back gate was open and Rio was gone. The search was on in less than 10 minutes. We all walked around the neighborhood, hung up signs, posted on craigslist, and informed facebook that little Rio was missing. Now Rio is not that outdoorsy type and we were so afraid that she was going to just keep running and running until she came across people. She is not the type to run away at all. We don't usually put her on a leash if we are running around the yard and she has never run off. Hence, she did not have a collar on when she actually ran away due to fireworks. Anything loud and with surprise element is Rio's arch nemesis. We hunted for her until around 3:00am and we had to give up even though we were all so sad without little Rio. My sister and brother in law drove from Greensboro as soon as they heard Rio was missing to help look for her and I will be forever grateful for their love. We went to bed with so much sadness and all I could think about was she is gone forever and that someone had snatched her up and was going to keep her. Dale and I slept on the couch in the living room just in case she came home in the middle of the night we could hear her. We left her blanket on the back deck and another on the front porch along with her favorite soccer ball at the back gate to entice her home. Around 4:30am, Dale heard a scratch at the back door and it was Rio! We were overjoyed and mad at her all at the same time for giving us a heart attack. Dale and I hugged Rio so tight and even let her sleep between us on the couch for a couple hours. In the morning Rio woke everyone up by jumping up on the beds and acting like nothing ever happened. Cole was happy to see his doggie the next morning and he never even knew she was missing. We will never forget the New Years where we lost our sweet Rio. She is a important part of our family and we are so glad that she is home. 

This is an old picture of Rio and Cole but I couldn't resist the sweetness and mushiness. Plus, it just goes to show that Rio's ball is never far. 

bittersweet birthday

This post is a little old considering our baby turned 1 almost a month ago. It has taken me awhile to come to terms that our little guy is growing up. I could not even sing the birthday song to Cole before his birthday because I would cry. I have officially turned in to my mother. No one tells you that you are going to be sad on your child's first birthday. We have so much to be thankful for and I am so happy to have a baby who is healthy and growing but there is something about that first year that really gets to you. Dale of course thought I was being too emotional (no surprise) and don't get me wrong, I do not want to rewind but that first birthday is the first part of letting go of your little baby. We are so proud of little Cole and we really can't wait to watch him grow, talk, and boss everyone around...I just want him to grow a little slower.

Carnival craziness should have been his birthday theme because it was definitely chaos. My family and I went a little overboard creating a theme that Cole will not even remember.  Our house was complete with a ball pit, big top tent, circus take, and too many banners to count. Cole loved having so many people he knows in one room and was jumping from person to person just being our little ring leader. Happy 1st Birthday!