Wacky Gorilla Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

Today, Friday Chris and I both took the day off. Chris has been super stressed at work this week so he took a day off to de-compress. I just wanted to have a day off this week and luckily Friday worked out so we were pretty excited that we were both off an extra day on the same day! 

We picked Cole up from school and wanted to treat the kids to something special....so we took them both to SubZero a very fun ice cream bar where they mix the flavors in a liquid state and then using liquid nitrogen (click here to read about it) the ice cream appears. It was SO. Much. Fun.

(the gorilla is just randomly stationed there in the parking lot at Sub Zero) 

Cole had Oreo of course. 

Keeping with the Smiths-not Kardashian style....

So last weekend we went antiquing. Chris and I used to do this all the time right after we got married. Primarily because we could buy furniture cheap and then I could paint it and make it look decent for our little house...after we had Cole we would still go occasionally....and in light of looking for something (anything) to do on the weekend we started going again. We made the decision to go to Pocatello a few weekends ago and in the rain and wind we had a hard time finding the antique stores. Alot of the stores we used to shop were gone and Pocatello has a suprisingly large amount of sporting goods stores downtown....anyways....we went to lunch too at our favorite spot and Carter to my delight decided he would scream at the top of his lungs for attention while in the restaurant. After a few attempts at ignoring him and noticing how annoyed the other diners were I took him to the car and waited for Cole and Chris to finish. Oh yes, it was a lovely day. Anyways...we went to the "old barn" this past weekend and while we were cruising around looking for treasures amongst the piles of junk we saw a series of steps and some a sign that said....

I laughed and said...oh it must be a joke. Alot of stores have jokes about kids being fed candy and caffeine if you leave them alone...so I figured it was something along the same lines....Oh no. There are SNAKES in this basement. Yuck. Can you imagine...reaching for a nice piece of pink glass and having a snake poke it's head out. I was and am still "heevy jeevied" out. I don't think the owners appreciated me taking a photo but I couldn't resist. I really do love this wacky kind of wacky stuff.

So Saturday morning...Cole made a clever creation out of his bendaroos....they are straw like clay sticks....

He made a priest behind a micro-phone and Jesus on the cross. Haha! What a goof ball.

So this is a pretty typical day for me. Carter thinks he needs to work and "help" me.

The last three weeks I've been working on our quarterly arts publication, Arts Alive and yesterday I went to do a press check on it and here I am with the press. It's SO cool. If you are geeky like me and love anything to do with print or type and design...this is heaven.....it even smelled like INK and I had to take some photos. The printing process on a press is so fascinating.  

Press guys were covered in ink and working on getting the registration straight.

Fun Pictures and Memories

I started organizing my photos this weekend and I had a fun stroll down memeory lane. Carter is 3 days old in the picture below and Cole was so excited to hold him. Cole still to this day tries to hold Carter when they are watching Sesame Street together. Carter however is a little more mobile now and he runs away...he thinks it's a game! 

Another funny little trait about Cole is he likes to put his favorite toys or items of the day on his headboard or he sleeps with them. Here is his Wolfman statue.

This was just a few days ago. He kept his new shoe box from his soccer shoes and arranged everything before he went to bed. Notice how the Spongebob watches are lined up perfectly next to him along with the beanie babies. He's such a funny kid.

And Cole lost another tooth so that's tooth #2. 

PRETTY AWESOME WEEKEND

The weather here has been pretty awesome for a few days. Yesterday it was in the 70's so we have been taking as much advantage as we can because I'm sure it will snow again because...that is how Idaho rolls.

We had signed Cole up for YMCA soccer after missing the deadline for AYSO soccer. (All these different things I am learning as a Mom) anyways....last Monday was the first night of soccer so in regular fashion we bought him new shoes, shorts, and socks for the first night of soccer and here he is waiting for his coach to arrive with his jersey...don't let the tee shirt fool you...he is a total monkey...

all the time! 

Carter also could not wait to run around...so Chris was busy chasing after him. 

Here the kids are playing....

So what we didn't realize upon registering for YMCA soccer was where they would be playing. My initial thought was "awesome, indoor soccer we won't be cold or wet" that was until we found the indoor soccer arena and even upon pulling into the parking lot...Chris and I were nervous. The parking lot was littered with glass from broken beer bottles and the building was a beat up metal structure. So keeping an open mind (trying not to be a total snob) we carefully found the best spot carefully and unloaded and locked our car. Inside wasn't much better but again.....thinking the best....the coach arrived and the kids played. It wasn't until it was time to go and my mom discovered her back window had ben smashed in and her purse stolen that the full view and feeling that we were in the GHETTO fully reared it's head. So after calling the police and assuring Cole everything was OK we went to pick up Whitney and my mom and Drew dealt with the police. 

Needless to say. Cole is cancelled out of that soccer league and I received a refund on the program. The YMCA did offer to let him play for free and promised me they would take measures to keep the facility safe (like...oh...um...repairing the numerous razor sharp pieces of metal inside the arena that children could slice their hands on...to name a few....) but we declined. I absolutely will not return to that arena and would not feel safe. What a shocking experience. 

So that was Monday..the rest of the week turned out pretty GRAND. 

Cole's school had a book fair at Barnes and Noble and we showed up 2 minutes late and dashed Cole in. Unfortunately the kids only sang for 3 minutes....but we ended up with a few photos. 

Sunday we had a picnic at Tautphaus Park and went to the zoo. Talk about a WONDERFUL afternoon. One of my favorite days ever. 

Why...he always has to make a silly face....goof ball!

This is Cole's bubble gun from Grandma and Grandpa Wyllie. Cole loved running around spraying bubbles everywhere and Carter was trying to catch them....

Then we went to see the animals. We have such an awesome zoo. 

The turtle was the all time favorite this time around....

Cole loved watching him crawl around....

and the otters are just cuter than cute. 

Cole's new "science experiment"

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bob had an amazing Easter egg hunt at their house. *amazing.

Cole found the golden egg and inside was a note from Grandma Kathy(that is on his magnetic board in his room now) and they gave him a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card. This is what Cole bought....and he was convinced it was a "science experiment". The rule when we go to B&N is if he's going to buy anything then it has to be a book or something educational. There are many toys and stuffed animals there so we have had to be very strict on this point. So Cole picked this little dandy out. Chris and he put it together and yes...it was pretty cool. 

Carter was just happy with the plastic eggs from the egg hunt...oh and the candy that his cousin, Henry (2 years old) unwrapped for him. Carter and Henry were eating chocolate faster than we could stop them. It's double trouble with those two little guys. 

Monday night

So I was soooo excited this morning to blog about tonight...until tonight happened and it was so not fabulous....so I'll blog about this after I finish some work tonight....have a freelance project to do.....bottom line there are very crummy people in this world who steal and break windows out of cars to steal purses....not my purse or my car...but my mom's and they missed the Micheal Bolton concert because of it and it was Drew's birthday present.....so instead of listening to why Micheal Bolton loves a woman...they were describing what my mom's purse looked like to a IF police office. Not cool.

More later. So upsetting. 

A Pretty Exciting Easter

We had a very fun Easter. Cole lost his first tooth. The tooth that he lost was his very FIRST baby tooth so I was a little teary eyed about it but also excited for him We'll get to that in a minute though. We have been busy trying to enjoy some of the "Spring" weather here and we took the kids to the river to feed the ducks. I love feeding the ducks and Cole laughed so hard chocolate milk came out of his nose! The ducks are just crazy and Carter told them all that they were his "babies". Carter just loves animals. Animals on TV. Animals in magazines...he just goes crazy and tells anyone around that they are his babies. So here are the photos from the greenbelt. This is pre-haircut for Coley...his hair was pretty long...but still super cute. 

Ah...Chris is such a good lookin' guy.

After we got home the kids love to watch Sesame Street and drink out of their sippy cups so here are the boys relaxing together. Carter likes to hold Cole's hand while they do this.

Easter 2010! 

Here is Cole (peter pantless) checking out his basket.

And the search for eggs is on!

Sadly, this is the only photo I got of the kids Easter morning actually dressed as we got out of the car at church. The church looked so beautiful. I absolutely LOVE all the stained glass windows. Holy Rosary is one of the oldest churches in IF and it's just gorgeous. 

And Carter was totally pooped after mass. 

So...the other BIG news is Cole lost his first tooth as I mentioned above...so here Chris and he are preparing for the tooth fairy and Cole was making sure his tooth was in the baggie ok. Then he went straight to sleep so the tooth fairy would come. 

The grown up teeth are already coming in behind his lower teeth so we were anxious to get the baby teeth out. He still needs to get the second lower front tooth out....

The note the tooth fairy left for him. 

And in other news. I made meatloaf and I took a photo of it to prove that I did it. Chris has been asking for meatloaf for a long time and I just wasnt too sure about how to make it and it's actually very easy. Chris is very particular and he had specific directions (i.e. how to chop up the onions etc.) so I was a little nervous it wouldn't be as good. Aparently his Grandma LeeAnn makes the BEST ever meatloaf...so the next time we see them we'll have to get her recipe. Mine turned out ok. I wish I had the right pain to drain more of the drippings out...but Chris was happy and took leftovers to work the next day. I thought it was pretty good. I am just shocked I could make it. I'm still learning how to cook and make yummy food. It's alot of work! I love it though.