Honolulu House Hunting

After a VERY exhaustive search on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we finally made an offer on a house Wednesday evening. There was a already another offer on it, but that couple had a contingency on the offer that they had to sell their house first, so after one counter offer and a 24 hour wait for the other couple to take the offer off the house, we're finally in escrow! We love the new place and we're very excited to move in. It's 3 bedrooms 2 baths and there's another room that will eventually be turned into a 4th bedroom (if there's another baby coming at some point) and it's in a very quiet neighborhood at the top of Pearl City and we have a gorgeous view of Pearl Harbor. Here's our new house (hopefully nothing terrible will happen and it'll be ours on June 18th). We're very excited for everyone to come visit and stay with us!

Front of the house

Livingroom

Possible 4th bedroom

Back of the house

Kitchen, which will eventually be renovated

Diningroom

Master bedroom, little office and bathroom

Master bathroom

(Ben loves the color, but it's a little too bright)

Cole's bedroom

Bathroom

15 Months

Cole had his 15 month well child check on Friday. He's as healthy as can be. The only slight concern is that he only gained a half a pound since his last appointment 3 months ago and now he's under the 25th percentile. The doctor wasn't too concerned, but it's something we need to be aware of and we'll do a weigh in in another month and see how he's doing. He's just too busy to sit down and eat!

Weight: 22lbs 5oz (20th %) Height: 31.25" (50th %) Head: 90th%
Clothes: 12 - 18 months, Shoes: size 4, Diapers: size 4, Hats: size 2T (hence the 90th % head size)
Teeth: 12
Vocabulary: Mama, Dada, Lola "YaYa", Dog, Up, Shoes, Please, Book "ook", Lovey Bear "Laba", Water Bottle "WaBa", Fish, Hat, Cheese, Duck, Ball. He knows the animal sounds for: dog, cat, horse, cow, gorilla (bangs his chest and yells), sheep, goat, fish (smacks his lips), monkey, giraffe (licks his lips like he's eating leaves off of a tree), duck, moose (puts his hands like antlers on his head), sea lion (he claps his hands together like they're his flippers and says "arf arf"), snake, bee, rhinoceros (he bumps his head against mine, we learned this yesterday) and his favorite, elephant. He can point out the following body parts: toes, feet, belly button, hands, head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hair. He is signing: more, please, milk, book, baby, bird, food, and drink.
Sleep: I think I can officially say Cole's sleeping through the night! 12 hours a night in fact. He sleeps from 7:30 - 7:30 and takes a nap from 1:00 - 3:00/3:30 everyday. We've come a long way. Now, I'm sure all of our traveling in the month of May will totally screw up this great thing I have going.
Favorite Activities: Reading (currently his favorite book is "Goodnight Gorilla" which we have due back at the library today), playing outside and digging in the dirt (I've just come to the realization that my floors are always going to be filthy), and playing with his Legos.

Here's a few silly pictures from my phone

Wearing Grandma's Shower Cap

Eating his first popsicle in Costco
(He was covered in Chocolate yogurt from head to toe
by the time we left)

Riding the horsey in Pottery Barn Kids

Riding on Dada's shoulders for the 1st time

Kansas City

This last weekend we had a little mini vacay in Kansas City to visit our friends, Josh and Amanda. We had such an awesome time!
So, we left on Thursday night at 8pm and I picked a late flight because I knew Cole would sleep on the plane...or so I thought. He didn't sleep until we got to the house at midnight!

On Friday, we got up and had Friday Starbuck's with Amanda and then we went to this indoor play area called Little Monkey Bizness. Cole had a blast playing on all of the toys and bouncing in the bounce house. Then while Cole napped at the house with Ben, Amanda and I went and got mani/pedis. After Josh got off of work, we picked up some Kansas BBQ from Oklahoma Joe's (which is inside a gas station) and took it to Josh's parents' house. We had a wonderful time visiting with Steve and Melinda in their beautiful home.

Little Monkey Bizness

Whee!

The Bounce House slide was a little steep

Bouncy houses are SO FUN!

Play castles are also fun!

Not quite sure who had more fun,
Cole or Mommy and Auntie Amanda?

Playing in Steve & Melinda's yard

While playing Mexican Train at Josh's parents,
we looked over and noticed Cole had climbed on to the
fireplace and was ready to have his picture taken.

Saturday, we took a little tour around town and saw Union Station (which Josh's grandfather helped build), the WWI monument, and Crown center. We played a mad game of Mexican Train, where I won the first 3 rounds, and then Amanda's mom came over and watched Cole so we could have a night out on the town. We went down to a really cool area of town called the Plaza and had a delicious dinner and then Josh and Amanda's friends met us for some drinks.

WWI Monument


Union Station

Putting pennies in the vortex and watching them race

Josh was holding Sammie like a baby and
Cole thought that was funny

Night out without a toddler. Yay!



And we're home at 11pm. Two words: PARTY ANIMALS!

Sunday, we went to Mama's 39th Street Diner (which has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) and then we walked off our diner food at the zoo. Cole was so exhausted that he actually fell asleep in Josh's arms at the zoo!

Ben's deep fried French toast

He really did like it, but you can't tell from this picture

Get your hands off my French toast, Dada!

So FULL! DDD never serves us wrong.

I love Auntie Manda!

I love Uncle Josh too!

Feeding a deer


Cole pets his first sheep

We are all exhausted and wishing we could sleep.
Oh and for the record,
Cole NEVER falls asleep in his stroller!

We had such a fun weekend with our friends and it was hard to say "goodbye" but it was time to come back and move on to our next adventure. Thanks Linnell's! We had a FABULOUS weekend and we miss you already!

Josh and Amanda's adorable house

Hoppy Easter!

Last year, Ben had to work, so Cole and I spent the majority of Easter alone, so we were very blessed this year to get to celebrate all together. We woke up and had breakfast and then we went to church at the Dugway chapel to celebrate with our community. Ben and I would have preferred a traditional Catholic Mass, but we thought it was important to see some people that we knew since we weren't with any other family this year. After church we came home and Cole napped and then we had a little egg hunt for him in the house (since there was stupid snow on the ground from the night before) and he got to open his baskets.

The Easter Bunny went a little crazy this year, but, I love shopping for Easter baskets. They're like stockings, just a bunch of little stuff. From Mama and Dada, Cole got: a bubble gun, 2 board books, a Gymboree ball, a mini shovel and rake, sidewalk chalk, a few little wooden animals, sunglasses, a dump truck with blocks in it, and a monkey backpack/harness. He also got more books, some summer shoes, a few outfits, and a singing puppet duck from the rest of our family. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa, Nana & Papa, Tutu & G-Paw, Auntie Joelle, Aunt Viv, The Browns and The Bennett's for sending Cole Easter surprises! We love you all very much!

Cole's meeting with the Easter Bunny...
He was very tired and ready for a nap.

Cole's overflowing basket from Mama and Dada (and Lola)

Mommy's two handsome boys!
Daddy had to wear his dress blues to church.

Cole was VERY excited about this dump truck with blocks!
What a goof!

Funny, I'm wearing the same thing I wore last year
because both years it's been freezing :(

That's a lot of presents to open for one
special boy on Easter!

Indoor egg hunt