Nothing in Life is Free

The other day, we responded to Cole by saying "nothing in life is free". His response was, "except for some free apps on the Apple store and free puppies". He is doing great in school. Except for one thing. TALKING. It's still a problem. His teacher loves him but we just can't get him to keep his mouth shut. She even had to pull him out of "Challenge Math" class one day in hopes of teaching him a lesson. Math is his favorite subject and he is incredibly good at it. So good, that he was put into an advanced class. This teacher is the 3rd teacher that has told us that he would be a public speaker or a politician one day... Cole is also part of a "Bike Club" at school. Once a month, we have to take his bike to school and the Principal and several kids get to ride around the neighborhood. Cole has known how to ride his bike without training wheels for a long time, but our neighborhood has rolling hills throughout. He was telling us about his first "Bike Club" experience and he said "As I was riding my bike, I thought to myself: howwwww did I get myself into this situation!?" I guess the hills were a little steep for him. haha!
We have now had 2 snow days in a 3 week period although we are loving this recent 70 degree weather.  Here is a slideshow the Principal sent us that day.  They got to go to recess early, so they could play in the snow. These are some happy kids! http://animoto.com/play/ToVw5LaoH8cOf5K22ILsZw

Our Reido is doing awesome. He is doing really well in Pre-K. I can't believe he will be 5 in 3 months. Just like that- our youngest will be 5. Augh. I'm struggling with them growing up so fast. This little guy pays attention to so many little details. He is such an artist. He draws better pictures than the ones Cole draws. I'll have to keep Cole from reading this entry. ;-) It's not mean, it's just that art is not Cole's forte... According to Reid's teachers and his Brackens test results (Bracken School Readiness Assessment) he is more than ready for Kindergarten. We are very happy with his school and thankfully, Reid has adapted very well socially. He tends to be shy, which is why I bring up the social aspect. We are still trying to get him to play a sport but he refuses. He wants to play so bad but can't get over the "stage fright" when the coach and kids show up to play. It's so hard to watch him struggle with it because he is very good at sports. One day, this kid will play sports and we won't be able to get him to stop. :)

Our besties (Adam, Tiffany, Rylee and Parker) came up for my birthday and we had a blast! The boys got to play golf in the morning while we stayed with the kids. In the afternoon when they were done with golf, Tiffany, Amy and I got to spend the afternoon (and night) shopping, eating the best food at some great restaurants, drinking cocktails, getting manicures and shopping some more.  It was honestly, one of the best birthday's I've had in recent memory. :)
Here are 2 pictures of the babies from that weekend. I need motivation to blog again. I am not sure why I'm missing that spark about blogging. ;- / Suggestions, anyone?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful 2013!
xoxo ~ Urs