I have really been loving our weekends lately. We are in a phase right now where Cole is a lot more available and I am loving it! We have been able to be productive as well as have fun. I also feel like now is the time to get lots of things done because after this baby is born I am sure it will be harder! Just a couple things to document...
Cole and the kids sledding. They all equally enjoyed it. Rylee even went by herself.
We also got permission from our landlord to update some things in the house. We are totally new to this because we have never lived anywhere that allowed it. I was so excited because this house it in great need! We started somewhere small to see how it would go. This is our entryway.
Before:
During: removing wallpaper, painting walls, new hooks and light switch plate covers.
After:
Ahh. Much better. Obviously, it were my house there would be more I would do but this is a much needed breath of fresh air compared too to ugly peeling wallpaper.
I want to do better at documenting the little things. The everyday things that are easy to forget.
Although I think it will be hard to forget how much snow there is here and how often we walk in it to and from school. But here is a typical day of picking up Cade from school. Snow pants, snow boots, and lots of snow to tromp through.
Although it appears that Rylee is holding a wand and cursing Cade, she is holding a stick that she was poking holes in the snow with.
They love to pick the icicles off the house and eat them.
We have had 6 wonderful years of this boy! I love the phase he is in.
-He has such great understanding of things.
-He can think things through well and make good choices for himself.
-He likes to help me and Rylee whenever asked.
-He loves school and is doing well.
-He loves educational books.
-He is a collector-he likes finding treasures and rocks.
-His favorite colors are gold, red and blue.
-He is very affectionate. Loves to give hugs and kisses. (Although he is a little more particular about receiving them.)
He wanted a K-State birthday. Graduation was not that long ago so there has been a fresh new enthusiasm for K-State. He still thinks having a birthday the day after Christmas is so fun. Hope that sticks for a while!!
Traditional pancake breakfast
Birthday party!
You can't tell very well but he wanted purple cake with gray frosting, and white writing. The cake really was a great shade of purple!
The holidays are just so much fun! It was nice to have something to distract me from the fact that I am pregnant and it seems like everyday is hard to get through.
No need to worry about not having a white Christmas! It has been white for weeks and it is going to stay that way for a while. Cade loves to shovel the snow. He sees other people doing it outside and he wants to help. I wonder how long it will last.
On Christmas Eve we filled the day making sugar cookies. The whole family helped. We made a mess and had a blast.
So proud of her crown shaped cookie with pink frosting and sprinkles.
That evening we went to our friends' house, the Raricks, for dinner and acting out the nativity.
I was the angel, Cade was the star, and Rylee was baby Jesus......that is all she wanted to be.
Our captivating narrator.
Then getting ready for Christmas! It is so fun to be parents during Christmas.
Santa came!
Rylee really was happy. But when you say, "Smile!" she just likes to be difficult. Also notice Cade's festive choice of jammies!
Cade made Cole and I gifts. He made his reindeer antlers at school and then came home and made Dad a pair all by himself.
He made me a ring and a necklace!
Gifts they picked out for each other. Cade picked a pink bead set for Rylee and Rylee picked a pink ball for Cade.
Telling us all about her new unicorn.
I think Cole topped it all with his gift. I got a book from him where he had compiled love notes he had written me for the past year. One each day for a year! I was totally shocked. It is in a beautiful hard cover book. Each note is dated and signed by him and most have either a picture or illustration to go with it. I cried when I opened it. I still haven't finished going through them. There are 365 of them!!
Then we packed up and headed to Utah.
It is was fun to have our own Christmas morning and also see family that same day. Overall a fantastic Christmas!!
This last weekend was spend in Kansas celebrating Cole graduating with his doctoral degree. Woo hoo!!!
I can't even explain how excited, relieved, slightly shocked we are that it all happened. I only say shocked because the original plan was to graduate in May, but with the Idaho opportunity we pushed it up to December. And yes it was crazy busy and stressful at times but we did it. I mean Cole really did it. He pushed through and put in the time while going through a move, a new job and dealing with a prego and half functioning wife!! I told him if we went to Idaho then we were for sure going back to see him hooded. I am so glad we did. Not only was it a way to celebrate this huge accomplishment but also some closure with leaving Manhattan.
Now to describe the last few weeks leading up to graduation: I went with the crazy idea of making his robe and hood. Our friends that also graduated from K-State and are now working at BYU-I, The Raricks, did the same thing. So she walked me through every step. They are super expensive to buy or rent and even then the quality is not great. So it was really fun to buy real wool, velvet, and satin and know I was saving money and they will hold up well. (Today actually is BYU-I graduation so now Cole will get to wear his robes as a faculty member. Pretty exciting!!) So back to making the robes: It was so fun and rewarding but so stressful! I have been feeling so sick from this pregnancy that when I finally felt motivated enough I only had a couple weeks to do everything. So the morning before this ceremony I was still finishing the last touches!! And actually I ran out of time and didn't have the chance to make the hood. So he borrowed from the hood from the Raricks-I will have to make it later.
Sorry for the length of the post but I want to document everything!!
The actually ceremony was great. All the faculty came in and it was fun to observe their robes since that has been my life the last few weeks!
Here is Cole holding his hood with his major professor, who would hood him, in line behind him.
Here are all the graduate applicants. The commencement speaker was really good. He talked about the importance of never being the smartest person in a room and the importance of working with and learning from others.
Here is a video clip of Cole getting hooded!! Officially he has a Doctorate of Philosophy in Human Ecology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. In short, a Ph.D. in MFT.
Then of course tons of pictures to follow the ceremony!!
Blue velvet for a doctor of philosophy, purple and white satin for K-State, dark gold tassle for doctoral degrees
Once the formalities were over we needed to partayyyy! We went out to dinner at Famous Daves which was a little nostalgic (when we first moved to Manhattan we went out to eat there). We also went there after his Masters degree. Cole's major professor also joined us. Then we went to the institute which we have previously reserved for a little get together. We put up some K-State decorations and invited any and all of our friends in the area that wanted to celebrate with us. The previous Monday I had my 20 week sonogram and found out the gender of our baby. We thought it would be fun to have reveal the gender then when we were surrounded by family and friends. So at the appointment Cole found out the gender and I did not. He then ordered about 60 cupcakes. He had only two filled with either pink or blue frosting. After several friends had shown up we passed out the cupcakes and said, "Ready...eat!" Out of everyone there guess who had the two cupcakes?!
No joke!! My mom and I both got the blue cupcakes!!! How crazy is that (about a 1 in 900 chance)! It was so much fun!! And although I was wrong on the gender (0 for 3...Cole is 3 for 3) I am so excited for our little guy to get here.
So all in all Friday was like the funnest day ever. Graduation, baby boy, and lots of friends and family to see. Whew, it makes me exhausted just writing about it. Planning and getting everything ready for that day took some serious thinking, planning, and time.
I wish I would have gotten more pictures of the whole trip. We were able to visit lots of people, spend family time at the institute, go to church at our old ward and just be in Manhattan. Although we miss it it does feel right to be moving on from there. So now the goal is to make Rexburg into our next Manhattan.
The last day we were there we went to the bookstore and the let the kids each pick out a K-State prize. They love K-State. Especially Cade. Rylee picked a little purple stuffed bear (she has been so into them lately) and Cade picked a purple football. Ever since we have gotten home he does diving touchdowns onto the luv sac. He will run, then throw it up and catch it as he lands in the end zone (luv sac). It is so cute. Here are few airborne shots of him.
I will not be surprised if this kid chooses to go to K-State. His love for K-state is pretty ingrained. We try to throw in some pulls for BYU here and there, but so far to no avail. Although he likes BYU he openly says that he loves K-State more. :) Oh boy.
