Honestly? I dont blame him.

Cole had some of his little friends over for his birthday party last night, and we had cookie cake with bright blue frosting. It was delicious. This morning, as I was changing Adison, I heard him shouting up the stairs, asking for cake. I told him yes (unfortunately, one of my weaker qualities as a mother / person is that I have no problem eating good cake for breakfast after birthdays....) and that I'd be down in a minute to get it for him.

Well, why wait for Mama to help you when you can help yourself? I came down to find he had been neatly putting his finger in the bright blue frosting and enjoying it already. You can't help but laugh....

Daddy's pretty good too.....

Kevin pried the camera out of my hands and got some cute pictures of Adison Sunday night. Not bad.... :)

Lazy.

Not so much lazy as sick, I think. Bou took her turn digging for gold in the trash 2 days ago, and the bounty she found is so rich compared to her ultra-bland dog food, I think she's paying for it now.

I do love this picture, though. You can see Bou's grey hairs on her snout. She will be 7 years old this August and has been the sweetest dog, accepting her move from the only 'baby' in the house, to now 4th place.

GUILTY

The dogs have recently discovered that we have a trash can in the pantry with no lid and they are like vultures whenever the pantry is left cracked open in any way.

The above picture is moments after I caught Irbe with his snout stuffed in the trash looking for gold.

No. No. and No. (Part Deux)

Cole has been battling a cold all week, so his mood is already somewhat sour. And while the novelty of my new camera will most likely never wear off for me, Cole is tired of having his Mama pretend she is a photographer.

He's on the couch, watching a Clifford to "make me feel better" (so says Cole) and I decided to try to snap his picture. His non-verbal responses speak volumes:

Stop.

Don't.

Go Away.

(but they're still cute pictures, right? i LOVE this camera.)

No. No. and No.

Adison really isn't taking to solid food. If you can manage to shove it in there (good luck), she responds by simply holding her mouth open until the foreign taste drools out of her mouth.

Then, while the mouth is still a gaping hole, I ready the 2nd bite which is when she catches a glimpse of the spoon (now refilled) and promptly closes her mouth tighter than a vise.

Daddy Visits Preschool

Cole goes to such a great preschool. His teachers are so great and loving and he's done well for his first year. At the end of the day they have story time, and Kevin volunteered to come in and read. Cole, of course, was thrilled to see his Daddy in his class in the middle of the day. That day's selections included "But Not the Hippopatomus", "Click, Clack, Moo", and "Go, Go, Go!". Cole happily chatted along as his father tried to read.. :)

The Big Boy is 3

Hard to believe. I find this time with Cole very fun. He's a little boy who likes to run and throw and yet has a sensitive side, that I personally love. He is so articulate, he talks about so much. He is a happy boy! He is curious about how things work, and love to do things with a purpose. He's not just lining up his trucks, he's placing them JUST SO.

Today we are going to Target to pick out a special birthday toy from his Great-Grandma & Grandpa Mattix, then it's off to lunch. Kevin got him a truck with tools that you can take apart, and if I can tear him away from that we'll go have donuts for breakfast.

Tomorrow is the big celebration with his cousins, aunts and uncles, ALL of which will be in town, so that makes it even more fun.

I'm In LOVE.

After literally a year of shameless begging, sweet Kevin relented and bought me a new camera. It went down last night when I casually said, "it would be nice to have that camera now since Cole's birthday is tomorrow."

Maybe it was my pathetic tone.

Maybe it was the sad eyes.

Maybe it was because Pittsburgh and Ottowa were playing and he wanted to get back to the game.

The point is he said yes, and after phone calls to 3 Wolf Camera shops, I was off to the mall to pick up my new Canon Rebel Digital camera. And let me tell you, this is one fantastic camera. Only down side, is that picture files are so large, I can only store 2 on my computer at a time. Kidding....but not too far from the truth. :)
Here's a picture of Adison.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter sunday with family. We drove to High Point to go to Kevin's parents house for easter service. Cole and Adison lasted about 10 minutes. :)
After that it was back to Fletcher and Nancy's for a wonderful easter lunch including the BEST deviled eggs around. I'm infamous for shoving several into my mouth before they hit the table. But I remember life with 2 brothers....so when the 3 Spillman boys are around, you need to move fast. :)

Back in Raleigh we met up with Mom and Dad and Kevin cooked us an amazing pork tenderloin. It was a wonderful day with family.

Sassy Boots

Adison was given these boots after she was born, and since we're having a 2nd winter in the middle of April, I put them on to run errands this morning. :)

Ma-Bekah and her Sisters

Cole had a spring break at preschool this week, so the kids and I decided to use it to go visit Dean, Chris and family in Virginia Beach.

On the whole, the driving and stopping part went surprisingly well! The only down-side to our drive was that I was not able to use a drive-through Starbuck's that was between here and there. The timing was never right. Sad.

But, our visit was great! It was so great to just catch up with Dean and Chris. They fed us some amazing food, and Dean was kind enough to make me a mocha each morning, despite the fact that I forgot to bring reinforcements for his dwindling Cup-A-Joe espresso supply.

As seen in the pictures, the girls were just a huge help. They fed Adison, Cole latched onto "Ma-bekah" and had a blast launching cars down their staircase. As for me, I enjoyed lots of chatting with Chris and she was nice enough to take me to the H&M in town and keep an eye on the kiddie-poos while I shopped there. Basically, we were all spoiled! We had a wonderful time, and back to the norm next week.

Girl Time

Today Kevin and Cole did man-things, like dig up a flower bed, rent a tiller, and stomp around in their boots. Cole just loves loves loves to help Daddy outside. As a matter of fact, while Kevin was working, Cole was watching from inside and looked at me and said "I really love Daddy, Mama."

Well, during all their errands Adison and I got some time to just hang out. It's pretty much all sunshine and rainbows with Adison -- until it's time to eat. New developement for her, during 'tummy time' (I hate that phrase, but it's the best way to explain it....) the other day, she started sticking her little bottom up in the air and moving her legs. She wants to crawl! She managed to scoot about a quarter of an inch by working her legs and pulling the carpet. It was pretty cute.