This Is My 200th Post!!!!

Woah! 200 posts!

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I started this blog a little over a year ago.

But here we are 200 posts later

still going strong.

I was going through some old pictures the other day and

found these wonderfully silly photos 

from a zoo visit that we made before the girl was around.

I thought they would be fun to share:

We can't just take normal photos when there are

fun hippos around.

Yum!

This picture makes me laugh out loud.

I don't know what was happening, but it must have been frightening.

Look Mom, I have a bird.

I'm sharing this photo for 2 reasons, 

first of all, there is evidence here that Stella was 

at the zoo with us, albeit in my tummy.

And look at how much taller I was than Cole here.

Now he's taller than me!

And it wouldn't be a 200th post

without some other fun pictures that I've taken more recently.
Here are some other favorites from our 

Thanksgiving at my Mom's house.

Awwww!

Calyn really enjoyed tickling Stella.

I think they both enjoyed it.

Story time with Uncle Mike.

2 little Husker Cuties

Oh yeah, this picture.

Well, we get a lot of comments about Stella's hair.

It's curly, but it's actually quite long.

The only time we really see the length is when we're washing it

and the curls straighten out.

Oh, and here's just another cute picture

of our sweet little baby.

Although she's more of a toddler these days than I would like to admit.

Bean Bag Fun

At my Mom's this past weekend

Stella discovered the joy of the bean bag.

Behold:

Look at that smile.

She really liked when Cole would put the other bag on top of her.

Come on Kyley- it's fun!

Kyley's not so sure

and look at how Stella is looking at her.

She's like: "hey, what's your problem?"

"A little help Mom?"

Kyley finally got into it.

And this is not Stella's best look with her tummy hanging out!

Bean bags are great fun, but they're also nice for relaxing.

"Thanks for covering me up Uncle Greg."

Derby Cousin Meet-Up

Stella and I got to have dinner with

some of my cousins, aunts & uncles on the Derby side last night.

My cousin Josh and his wife Casey were in town over Thanksgiving

and so Casey arranged a dinner so we could all get together.

Despite this look, Stella really did have a good time

and by the end she was high-5ing and waving bye to people.

Here we are:

Nola, Lindsey, Josh, Angie, April & Nicole

And here we are with our families.

It was really nice to see everyone. 

We need to do it more often.

Stella & April

Food Challenge 2011

Warning: This blog post is gross.

It may give you a queasy stomach.

I have blogged before about a fun little holiday tradition

that goes on between my brothers and Cole.

It's the food challenge tradition

and it's particularly gross this time.

You see, my brothers think it is funny to

offer Cole various amounts of money

to eat odd and sometimes gross things.

Some past food challenges have been:

licking a plate of syrup

eating several boxes of Peeps

seeing how many saltines one could eat

eating various spoonfuls of condiments 

(that one ended up with a very upset stomach)

And this year's food challenge:

5 Cat Treats for $40.

One thing I can say for Cole is that his price has increased over the years.

So here we go: 

Food Challenge 2011

Take note at 2 things in this picture

1) The pure delight on Greg's face

2) Cole is picking cat treats out of his braces.

Here we have a good representation of the 2 sides of this challenge.

Pure delight

&

pure disgust

Again, Mallory is delighted, Mike is disgusted.

And Cole is doing his best not to lose it.

Focus Cole!

And thankfully at this point, someone saw fit to hand Cole a trash can.

Just in case.

It was at this point in the challenge

that Greg began to read the ingredients

which led to an even deeper gross-out factor.

But in the end,

to the victor go the spoils.

He did it- he managed to eat 5 cat treats and keep them down.

No more complaining about my cooking!

Husker Fans

Well, I don't know why,

but I'm having a little trouble with getting my pictures

to do what I want them to do today.

Of course with the holiday weekend I took a ton of pictures

with lots of different blog entries in mind.

This is not the one I thought I would post today

but it will have to do.

Jim's high school BFF, Murph, visited us over the holiday

and the fellas got to hit up a Husker game.

Cole got to go to the game as well

so Friday morning was busy with game-day prep.

Here are the fellas before they left the house.

Yes, they were all excited to be forced to pose for a picture.

Jim, in particular, looked happy.

Well, this was supposed to be a tough guy intimidating look.

Not sure these 3 have that look down just yet.

So we settled for throwing the bones.

Yeah, if I were Iowa, I wouldn't have been too worried.

Good thing the Huskers brought the intensity.

Licensed To Drive

Yep, he did it!

He passed his Driver's Exam.

See, he's already proudly displaying his Permit.

He took his test yesterday afternoon.

And then he drove us home.

Look at the concentration on that face.

He was very careful and did a great job!

I do believe this milestone officially moves us forward

into a new chapter on this blog-

The "teaching your kid how to drive" chapter.

Bless every single parent out there who had the patience to teach their child how to drive.

I distinctly remember learning how to drive and almost 

ditching the car with my Mom in the backseat

because I took a corner on gravel too fast.

And I also remember my Mom being a great teacher

and letting me drive every chance I got.

I plan to do the same with Cole

so that he gets lots of good driving experience

so that when the State decides he's capable of driving unsupervised

I can relax and toss him the keys.

For now, though, we learn.

Learning to drive in Lincoln is distinctly different 

than learning to drive in Scribner.

For now Cole will get his feet wet on the side streets and empty parking lots.

Cole really is a good student.

We have been talking for quite some time when I'm driving

about what action I should be taking

and I've been trying to get him to anticipate other driver's actions.

And he has good instincts.

But I'm sure we'll have stories too.

So stay tuned. 

I'm looking forward to sharing this new adventure.

Cole's 15th Birthday

Well, we've successfully made it through another year.

And here are the gifts to prove it.

We tend to have marathon birthday celebrations.

Saturday night was Cole's friend party,

and then Monday we celebrated his birthday.

With the holiday weekend upon us,

I'm sure there will be a bit more birthday

for our boy.

So here he is friends:

Cole is 15!

Since he still has to go to school on his b-day

we had to at least acknowledge his special day at breakfast.

Ahhh, the old candle in a toaster strudel trick.

And we did, of course, let him open one gift in the morning.

Yep, he's been wanting a new hoodie.

Yes, so stylish!

It was also important to get in the annual height measurement.

We knew that he had grown quite a bit. 

Last year on his birthday he was 5' 3 1/16"

And this year... 

5' 6"

Officially taller than Mom!

Taco.Dance.Party

It seems that the words

taco

dance

party

should be 3 separate words

but on Saturday night we mixed them up.

Cole hosted 8 of his friends for a

Taco Dance Party

We ate tacos & they played Just Dance 3.

I think they had fun:

Front Row: Sam, Paige, Emma & Cole

Back Row: Austin, Tanner & Robin

The kids in the back row are not even playing-

they're just dancing along for fun.

Here are some random pictures from the party:

The cake

It's a llama

The spread

Stella was not quite sure what to think of all of those

crazy, dancing teenagers.

Cole's pals enjoying some tacos

And again.

I'm not quite sure what this is.

I just keep quiet and take pictures.

The dancing was actually quite hilarious.

They just kept on dancing and dancing.

This is Doris, Sergio & Cole