What a weekend… and it’s not even over!

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed this Thursday when I found out that I hadn’t progressed any labor-wise from my last doctor’s appointment.  What can I say?  I am ready to meet this sweet baby girl that I have been growing for 38 weeks now!  Murray kept saying- God had Cole come at the perfect time… this time will be no different.  Well, Murray was right- at least so far.    I may change my mind if she doesn’t make her grand entrance sooner rather than later, but at least for this weekend, I have LOVED our family of 3 time. 

Thursday afternoon, we went to the zoo with Cole.  He is just getting so big, and (I know we are his parents) he is so stinkin’ smart!  I love that he not only knows all the animals, their sounds, unique features (elephant’s trunk, rhino’s horn, giraffe’s long neck, etc), but he also knows when we are getting close to each animal exhibit and gets SO excited to tell us what we are about to see.  Like everything else lately, the zoo is so much more fun through his little eyes!  Of course we hit up the playground too, and Cole really loved Daddy pushing him on the swings!

Yesterday we played in the backyard a lot while Murray was mowing, raking, cutting dead tree limbs, etc.  Cole is becoming quite the little athlete!

Last night we headed to one of the annual Derby time traditions here in Louisville… the Balloon Glow.  Basically, there are a ton of hot air balloons all lined up, and, when it gets dark, the fire that keeps the balloons inflated makes the balloons glow against the night sky.  We didn’t really know what it would be like, but it was at the airfield right by our house, and, with the perfect weather, we decided to check it out.  Our friends Emily, Kylie, and Will came with us too.  We had the best time, and it was really cool.  (Adam and Jackson were at a Cincinnati Reds ballgame so they missed out on our fun!)

When we first got there, they hadn’t started inflating the balloons yet so Murray entertained the kiddos with a dance party…

He and Kylie entertained a lot of people!  It must be their awesome dance moves! 

Next we found the toy man who had an amazing bubble blower.  Thank goodness Mrs. Emily had thought ahead and brought bubbles, or we would have all been out some money!

Kylie and the pegasus horses!

Here come the balloons!!!

And what is any carnival type event without some yummy fair food?!?!

The all glow… as the DJ said, pictures just don’t do it justice.

The kids faces do though!

And since we hadn’t gotten to hang out with the fun Hanauers enough, we met up with Adam and all 3 kids at the park today.  (Emily had to be at the house for a delivery guy… maybe we will get the whole family together sometime!) I’m telling you, after all this rainy weather, we are taking advantage of every second of sunshine!

Kylie was a little monkey!

Once again, thank goodness Adam came prepared.  The boys LOVED playing baseball!

In the tunnel…

Think they were enjoying being pushed by Daddy?

Love that our kids love each other!  Can’t wait for Baby Jordan and Baby Girl Hanauer to be best friends either!

Nothing better than the park, pizza, koolaid, & messy mouths!

Unless you are Will and get to chug Daddy’s leftover Pepsi!

Pretty Kylie and her bubbles!

Tonight Murray and I are going on a date to Churchill Downs!  We were invited by a couple of our friends to the night races.  Even though we have lived here almost 2 years, this will be our first time to go, and we are really excited.  Hopefully Cole will be good for the babysitter and let Mommy & Daddy have a fun night out before we are parents of 2!

And God said…

Here is your rainbow, Erin… in fact, have 2!

Murray, Cole, and I went to the zoo for a little while this afternoon.  Right as we were leaving, it started raining again, but as we were driving we noticed this double rainbow.  I have never seen one before, and it was so cool.  The colors of especially the lower one got SO bright and vivid.  I think I would have anyway, but definitely after having just written the previous post, I felt like God was saying… I love you and am taking care of everything.  He is so amazing!

Blue Skies & Rainbows…

Well we might not actually have rainbows, but the blue skies and sunbeams from Heaven today have this song stuck in my head.  After literally a week and a half or more of rain every day and night, you REALLY appreciate the sun so much more!  It is absolutely gorgeous here today, and, although rain is still in the forecast, I am so thankful for the weather right now.  We are truly so very blessed, but how often do we stop and thank God for the simplest joys in life?  After all, nature really is a work of our master we are supposed to be living for each day! 

Even in times when skies aren’t so sunny, this song reminds us that “nevermore must I be all alone since he promised me that we never would part.”  Despite our pretty day here, I can’t help but be overwhelmed by all the people so severely affected by the tornadoes that tore through AL.  My heart and prayers are definitely going out to them.  I pray that even in what must be indescribable devastation, they can feel God’s love and peace.  Our God gave up Heaven to be here on earth and suffer the unimaginable so that He could carry our burdens.  Today think about the words to this song that you have probably sung a million times and remember what a wonderful, loving God we serve!

The honesty of a child…

Cole has humbled me several times lately, but here are a few of my favorite stories…

The other day we were at Kroger.  Of course once we had one once, we have to have a cookie EVERY time we are at the grocery.  This time Cole had an M&M cookie, and he ate about a third of it before he said he was all done.  I asked several more times if he wanted more, but when he kept saying no, I ate the rest.  I mean- no need in wasting a perfectly good cookie, right?  So when we are finished, have loaded the car, and I’m getting Cole into his carseat, he asks for his cookie.  Uh-oh… I said “We don’t have it anymore… did you eat it all gone?”  Cole looks at me and says “No, Mommy eat all gone.”  Busted!!!

Cole and I went for a walk the other day.  He always makes things so much more interesting, and I love that I notice more because of him.  Our neighborhood is pretty fun too because besides the usual squirrels, birds, and dogs we often see bunnies and ducks.  Plus there are always airplanes!  Now we are noticing flowers, bugs, leaves, dirty water, rocks… you name it.  He also loves to climb anything he can- usually finishing with “Tada!”  On this walk, he decided he wanted to go night-night instead and asked me to pat his bottom…

Of course then he wanted Mommy to go night-night too.  I’m normally a pretty good sport about whatever he wants me to do when we are playing, but I decided I would spare the neighbors a heart attack this time from seeing a largely pregnant woman sprawled out on the sidewalk.  Haha.

A couple nights ago, I was sitting on the floor folding clothes.  Cole came up behind me, climbing on my back, and asked for a ride.  I may be almost 38 weeks pregnant, but , yes, I still walk around on my hands and knees giving my 21 month old rides.  Normally he says he is riding a horsey or a neigh-neigh.  Guess he has really  noticed my belly growth lately though because this time he said “Daddy, I ridin’ a hippo!”  Oh.my.goodness!  Needless to say the ride ended- from laughter!

And this isn’t necessarily funny, but how is my little boy big enough to drink out of the water fountain all by himself?!?!?  It’s the little things that catch you off guard!

Hippety, Hoppety…

We have had a big Easter at our house!  Cole is just getting more and more fun with holidays the older he gets.  I still don’t think that he really “gets” it, but he loves talking about it- especially if it involves candy or presents of some sort!  Here he is Easter Eve…

And Easter morning… (Think he might have been a little disappointed with the amount of candy in his basket.)

The loot…

Playing cars and watching Elmo with Daddy…

I was trying to show ALL the Elmo stamps on his body… they were EVERYWHERE!

All dressed up… It took a while for us to get him to smile in any pictures because he wasn’t too happy about ALL the clothes he had to put on this morning.  Murray said he might as well have been putting on an 11 piece suit.  Haha.

My handsome boys!

Me & my little man!

Group shot!

After church we were invited to spend the afternoon with a family from church at their extended family’s Easter lunch and Easter Egg Hunt.  There were close to 70 people there!  We had a great time, and Cole had a blast!  He had a lot of fun with the hunt, although he was pretty much done once he found a sucker.  Luckily the rain held off just long enough for the kids!

See… it was a legit Easter Egg Hunt!

Told ya he loved the sucker!

And this is when I was taking a picture because I thought he was dirty…

But then we started playing in the rain puddles…

Again- thought he was dirty…

And then…

This was the end result…

But he got right back out there!

Who knew being so dirty could be so much fun!

Needless to say, he was WORN OUT! 

Actually we all were!

I know we will all sleep very well tonight!  I definitely will because I am for sure feeling 37 weeks pregnant today… not bad- but definitely exhausted!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter and remembered that today is about something much more important that pretty clothes, Easter eggs, and candy!