New Camera and Haircuts

On Sunday, we took a trip to the at&t store to upgrade my phone! Cracked on both sides and way overdue for an upgrade, I now have the new iPhone. I was thinking about asking for a fancy camera for Christmas, but the new camera on this phone is AWESOME....crystal clear pictures of a moving toddler...I am so impressed. Here are my favorite first pictures :)
 

Look at those quads! Jillian Michaels does a body good.  Imagine what we could do if Cole would stop eating his weights.  It is pretty hilarious to watch Cole try to jump around and attempt lunges.  Always a good time. 

 

 
Outdoors + parks continue to bless our family.This is one of my favorites, Hardberger Park.  Kind of far, but gorgeous and perfect for jogging and playing after.

 This is how we cut hair around here.  Bumbo + snack + Daniel Tiger.  Works like a charm!!
 

 New haircut looks pretty good! And cost $0!

 Hmmm.  This outfit is too small.  Ha!! Cole had a great time at the mall on a rainy day this week.

Cole Henry: 15 Months!

Our little massive man continues to grow and entertain.  I can't believe he is 15 months old! He is weighing in at 25 lbs (80th percentile), his height is 33 inches (98th percentile) and his head is still massive and in the 90th percentile.  Whew! What a growing boy. 

These last three months are overwhelming with change and growth.  Cole is talking constantly, in a mystery language.  He shakes and nods and gestures to no end. Words we can understand/interpret include: banana (nani), doggie, mommy, daddy, no way!!, uh oh, mooooo, a dang good fire truck siren, hot-t-t (toward coffee or fireplace, not at pretty ladies), and help please (happ peee).

We look at every airplane, bird, motorcycle, truck, school bus, construction site and animal. Cole is obsessed with the moon, Swiffer, baseball bats, lawn mowers, playing basketball and watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. 

Giraffe picture days may be long gone...

He loves to walk (started taking steps at 13 months and full speed ahead at 14 months), especially in the street. He loves to show off his muscles, point to a few body parts, be chased and tickled.  He actually enjoys brushing his teeth thanks to this ridiculous song. And after many long months of fighting bedtime, the sweet kid points to his crib when it's time for bed. (Thank you LORD!)

Giving kisses and hugs are new and so precious, throwing tantrums are also new and less precious, but he bounces back pretty quickly. We love this stage and are so thankful for our Cole Henry!

 

  

 

 

 

 

Ten on Tuesday

 
We walk everywhere now and in every form. Cole loves pushing shopping carts more and more, and sitting in them less and less.  We were letting Tom pick out wood for a project, so I let the kid do whatever would keep him happy. 
 

 

I left my wallet at home and didn't realize it until checking out at HEB.  This is our second trip back.  Trying to keep it interesting.

 

We watched my parents' dog for a week while they were at the beach.  Cole was IN HEAVEN. 

 

 

Meal time continues to be hilarious.  Look at this kid.

 

 

Last year's hat is a bit snug, but still my favorite and takes a little more effort to pull off.  Score.

 

 

Playing at La Cantera with some mama friends. Cole looks like he is 6 years old.

 

  

House projects continue!! We painted Cole's room (finally) "Silver Marlin." The Cole Henry sign is made by Aunt Jean.  Also the owl mobile.  Love having her in the family!!!

 

 

Project Floating Shelves... coming soon!!!!!

 
 
 
 

Blog Facelift!

My free blog template expired...so I had to go (free) shopping for a new look.  Unfortunately, the free templates out there didn't grab my attention, so I went with a free background + banner.  I am pleased!! It was quite a headache, but now I feel like a pro after changing several things until it looked just right. 

Here are some of the tricks I learned...

I found my freebies here. They have a ton of great stuff!

Their instructions are pretty simple, but I kept ignoring the part about setting your blogger template to "Simple." That is key! The background didn't show up until I changed the template.

The banner (our title) opens as an image, so I just pasted it into Word and added text boxes to add the title.  I had to do this several times to increase the size and length until it fit just right in the blog. To place it in the blog template, I used the free software Snipping Tool (already installed on Windows 8) to screen capture the image with the words, and saved that image as a jpeg. Then I just uploaded that image "instead of title" for our blog!

The "Simple" template doesn't allow for you to change the text font, size or color.  You have to go through the html settings, which I will eventually do using this tutorial. I took two computer programming courses in college, but yikes.  I forgot everything, we didn't learn anything like this, and it definitely looks like a foreign language.

I also customized the template to increase the width of the posts.  I really like to place pictures next to each other, and the original settings aren't wide enough.

Bonus: The instagram feed is a free widget that you can get here.

Let me know if you need help!

Halloween 2013

We had a great time around here for Halloween.  Any excuse to see Cole in costume... he was precious!! Truckin' around with his dino tail and his neon green tennis shoes.  It was hilarious.  We were SHOCKED that he kept the hoodie on the entire time.  We just sat in the drive way and handed out candy.  We wanted to meet some more neighbors and watch all the kiddies.  It was so fun!

We also carved and painted pumpkins the night before.  Cole was not impressed with finger painting.  There were tears.

PS.  My free blog template ends on Nov. 7.  And I am NOT paying $15 to keep it! So who knows what it will look like after that, and when I will get a chance to look around for another free template.