Happy Easter!

 Ben was so happy that the Easter Bunny found our house. Cole was just happy to be there.  Ben ran around like a crazy hunting all the eggs. He loved that there were so many. As usual the Easter Bunny overestimated. Oh well. They were happy.

 Oh look! Ben is being such a nice brother and showing Cole his basket. Oh how sweet!

 The moment passed. Back to torturing his brother. Poor Cole.

 Of course Ben hoarded all the Easter eggs. He claimed that his dump truck needed them.

 Cole loved his rattle toy the Easter Bunny brought him. It giggles when you move the ring part. He thinks it is hilarious.

 However the Easter grass was just too irresistible. He puts everything in his mouth. Obviously.

 Check out that dump truck!!

 Yeah, so I tried to take some cute pictures of the boys in their Easter outfits after church. Ben was NOT down. Cole tried to calm him down.

 It worked for 1/2 second. Then Ben pulled him over. Then everybody was crying!

 We went to Great Grandma Fowler's house for a delicious Easter dinner prepared by Aunt April.

 Then we had another Easter egg hunt with our cousins! Luckily, these eggs had toys and not more sugar. Whew. We had a sugar overload.

 Uncle Grant, Jason and Scott hid the eggs. Some were up in the trees!

 Oh little Weston. How he melts me. He couldn't figure out what was inside his eggs.

 Cousins!

Miss Adri.

Miss Sally.

 Mr. Calvin. Oh my. LOVE this boy.

 Happy Coley with his daddy.

Great Grandma Fowler and all the great grandkids.

7 months!

 I almost had a full blown panic attack when I realized that today was April 14. That means Cole is officially 7 months old! What?! Seven months is the saddest milestone for me because that means he is closer to one than he is to his birth. He is growing up so so fast!

 Sadly, he has been having a rough time sleeping lately for whatever reason: growth spurt, teething, constipation, who knows. He is still happy as ever all the time. He got hold of an asparagus spear the other day and he literally chewed it to shreds. He absolutely loved it. He was so mad when I had to take it away because it became a choking hazard.

 Poor Cole has had his first experience with suppositories. Just like mom and big brother, pooping is a problem. So not fun for anybody.

Since he is getting so big we had to move his crib mattress down. I hate watching his crib go down. One more sign that he is growing up way too fast.

my roley poley coley oley

 Mr. Grabby. That is Cole. Holding him is impossible because he is always lunging for things and throwing his entire body weight (which is a lot) into getting what he wants. He would much rather play on the floor with toys as opposed to being held. When I do hold him the only thing to grab is hair, and lets face it, I need to keep that.

 He adores oranges and pickles. He says "da da da da" and an occasional "hi." Why can babies not say "ma ma ma ma" first?

 Cole is a bottomless pit. He eats and eats and eats. Seriously. If you are eating something and he doesn't get a taste, watch out. He gets so so so mad. He will eat anything and everything. He loves his baby food, nasty green stuff included. If you can eat it. He is all about it.

 He is thinking really hard about figuring out how to crawl. He gets himself over onto his hands but usually looses focus due to a toy on the floor and then he topples over.

 Could he be any sunnier? He is always sunshine and smiles. He makes my day every day!

Lucky us there is still A LOT of brotherly love at our house. Sometimes a little too rough, but I guess love is love.

sunshine day . . .

Today was one of those rare days when everything feels right, and good, and real. The boys and I went for a run in the jog stroller.  It was so warm I even wore shorts and a tank top! Heaven. We stopped to throw rocks in the lake. As I was sitting there snuggling Cole and watching Ben I had a moment of clarity when I realized how good life is, not just life, but my life. This was a monumental breakthrough for me. I waste so much energy comparing my life to what I think everyone else's life is. I very rarely look at my own life as say, "Wow, this is great." Usually, I think, "Ugh. Not good enough." But today I saw it for what it was. A beautiful, sun shiny day with handsome lovable boys and the opportunity to spend every waking moment loving them. Too bad every day isn't a sunshine day.

Disneyland!!

 Amen to the happiest place on earth. Ben has been so so so excited to go. He loved seeing Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Cluto (Pluto) right when we walked into the park. All he wanted to see was Mickey. Wish granted. Shortly after we entered the park we realized we had to go back and get strollers. So while Grandma and Grandpa went back to get strollers, we bought Ben his first set of ears. I thought they would be a fun way to remember his first trip to Disneyland. What I didn't anticipate was that Ben would want to wear them all day both days we were there. Of course you have to wear ears at Disneyland!

 My Grandpa and Grandma Richens came with us on the trip. Somehow, my grandpa has never ever been to Disneyland! Crazy! At first he wasn't sure about the whole thing. But by the end he was thoroughly impressed and I think he wants to come back! My grandparents both rode Space Mountain and Indiana Jones! My grandpa loved Space Mountain. He was yelling just as loud as the teenagers! Grandma wasn't feeling so great after Space Mountain, but she rallied the next day for Indiana Jones! What cool great grandparents Ben has!

 Ben sat up on Grandpa's shoulders for Mickey's big song and dance with the band in front of the castle. He liked all the characters from a distance, but wasn't too sure about them up close. The first time he saw the castle was the moment I think he realized that he really was at Disneyland. He was so excited to "go in."

 As always Cole smiled through everything, even after clawing his face to pieces and spitting up all over his shirt. We discovered that Cole adores pickles. Unreal. Scott gave him one at lunch thinking Cole would flip but he sucked/ate the whole stinkin thing! Maybe that explains why I suddenly liked pickles when I was pregnant with him.

 Ben went on his first roller coaster in Toon Town. Ben, Grandpa Richens and Scott waited in line for 45 min for a 20 second ride. Ouch. At least Ben thought it was the coolest thing ever. I thought he would freak out and be scared! He loved it. Go figure.

 Disneyland was crazytown the first day we were there because it was the first sunny day after a long stretch of rainy miserable days. I have never ever seen Disneyland so crammed with people. Literally, you couldn't even move, and the lines were insane. Day two was much calmer.

I wasn't kidding when I say he didn't take the mouse ears off the entire time. 

 This was one of my very favorite Disneyland moments. Ben eating Mickey Mouse ice cream in his Mickey ears. How adorable!

 The funniest part was that everyone who was in line with us for Peter Pan was cracking up watching him eat his ice cream. Everyone kept saying, "He makes that look like the best ice cream in the world! I have to go get one after this ride!" He was eating it so slowing and clearly enjoying every second. Sadly for me he wasn't up for sharing.

 

 Andrew was kind enough to wait in line to see the real Buzz Lightyear while we rode on Autotopia. What did Ben do when he came face to face with his idol?

 Freak out of course. It was hilarious. He pulled his ears over his eyes and kept screaming until we got in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride for the third time. He loved shooting the "awee-ins" (aliens).

 Classic Ben face when I am trying to take a picture. Can you tell he was a bit attached to Chic while we were there? Can't blame him really. She is pretty awesome.

 Hooray for Disneyland.

 It was so hard to go home. We had so much fun. At least we got to ride home in an airplane. Ben adores airplane trips. He loves everything about them: taking off, the drinks and snacks, the window, the landing. Sometimes it is hard to get him off. We have to reassure him we will ride another one someday.