its fall yall

we have been in full swing around here as usual. lets start with labor day. we basically had a friends /family reunion at pops and kitty's house in heber...and i mean at one point there were 12 kids playing! we cooked ribs and drank plenty of cold beer and caught up with friends and our dallas cousins too. airey and campbell got a chance to hang with them for the 1st time and he and andrew hit it off. they both loved sports so they were fast friends. we had a couple boo boo's on the trip poor mckinley busted her lip {right after the 9 hour car ride no less} and campbell got his 1st shiner, lol. its was all in good fun. the house was set up like an outdoor play land so they took full advantage of 5 ride-on's 2 golf carts...2 bouncers and every toy on earth and snow cone machine to boot.

after labor day we have had soccer in full swing. airey has really taken to it .it may have something to do with daddy as the coach :). He scored 3 goals at one game! we have also been enjoying weekends around memphis including chuckie cheese, cedar hills farm, pumpkin patches,putt putt,go carts,birthday parties and play dates with the cousins! its been a great month. we even saw disney on ice with our neighbors.

on our front :a lot of frames ...a lot of frames....a lot of frames and Rog being out of town twice and we looked up and its almost halloween! hope to be blogging more soon! until then...the coles

 ag center

 cousin rivals

 labor day kiddies

 disney on ice!

 c o u s i n s

sneaking in a date night at widespread no less....we are old....lol

the coles month

well we are in full on school mode now after our official first week. airey is going 5...Y E S...5 days a week now. i can . not. believe. it.   How has my lil man grown into a full time school boy already? He is just loving it too. Mrs. Nicole is so sweet and he actually has his assistant teacher form last year Ms. Angela who he loves..{and side bar she was a fighting okra, so you know she IS good}. Campbell is in 3K now and has Airey's old class room and he thinks that is just the BEST because he use to beg to go into Braa, Braa's class room. Oh course i tried to prepare Clair how different they were, but i think it still surprised her  just how much...First day he had a major meltdown {over scheduling conflicts} he wanted lunch 30 min before lunch time and essentially he cried until i picked him up at 2:30...hehe....gotta love his little dramatic heart. This week has been better, only slight meltdowns....meltdowns non the less...but we are hoping he gets acclimated to a REAL schedule. I have really enjoyed the one on one time we have on Monday ,wednesday and friday.He is my lil running buddy. Im so excited to have this time with him and have him realize that he can choose things to be into and not have to copy everything airey does, so im anxious to see.....

Airey started soccer this year and our very own Daddy a.k.a Coach Cole is his coach. We had the first practice this Saturday and he was ALL over it. He is so sports obsessed and jumped right in. Cant wait for the 1st game. Campbell stood sideline begging to get in so we may have to look into signing him up sooner rather than later.

Also We have been super busy the last month: I had my girls weekend in Nashville and it was U B E R fun and no short of gossip, shopping and wine...a girls favorite things. We tried all the yummy restaurants and even slept in, ordered a pizza and pay per view Bridesmaids...I have to be honest it was the 1st time i can remember getting thru one whole cup of coffee before it getting cold {re-heated in the microwave, my daily ritual}. Props to my hubby for taking great care of the boys.

Roger had his turn the next weekend for his guys trip to Pickwick with all his high school buddies...as im sure you know they don't really tell us what they do but the gist is: poker, beer, poker,beer,lake,beer, poker, movies,lake,beer and oh did i mention beer and poker? anywho, they had a great time catching up because they come from literally all over the country and its great for them all to get together and talk about how much they miss their wives of course ;) ....all of us{wives} did confer and we all got flowers out of the deal...so not bad :)

In bigger weekend news August 14th Campbell turned 3! We had a pirate themed par-tay for all his buddies at the YMCA pool and boy they had a blast! Its so great to see them all swimming around, joking and actually playing with each other now :) Campbell loved all his pirate themed everything...and ate 1,247 cookies in one day plus 34 cupcakes. He had a sugar high like i have N E V E R seen. We are so proud of our TWO big boys now and the next chapter of no babies and big kids.. so far so good. We love our boys and they love each other....life is good! Until next time

 argggggg im 3

 holding up 3 with mimi and gigi

 at 3 years old he swims like a fish, so PROUD

 the fam!

 because yelling at them will make them go our right?

our little stinker

night and day

i have always said my boys were different and have always said Campbell want to be and do everything like his big brother, well.... not until i was just filling out the form for prek registration last night did i realize how different they are...hence the title of the post.

st. louis sent home a blank sheet and said describe your child and include special qualities and personality info etc....as i am writing out Campbell's here is some of what it entailed:
* campbell is a character
* he is very funny and has never met a stranger
*he loves being a Ham a.k.a. center of attention.
* he is very dramatic
*He loves to wine and cry when he doesn't get his way but EASILY stops at a quick glare from Mom
*He goes from 0-10 on anything at all, play time, cry time, nap time,etc... wide open
*He is such a snuggler
*He responds so well to positive reinforcement
*he will steal you heart
*He is our little actor
*enjoy our little man antics

Then i move onto Airey's form and start filling it out and it doesn't dawn on me until the 4th sentence
{remembering the details i JUST wrote about CJC} how DIFFERENT these two are. as i write I am starting to realize it is a flipflop of campbell's form..here is a snippet of Airey's:
*Airey is such a sweet boy
*He is shy and timid when in new surroundings
*He will warm up after a little while
*He doesn't like doing things in front of large groups
*He is  tenderhearted
*He wants to obey and do the right thing
*he loves pleasing his elders
*He responds well to discipline and is very adaptable
*he loves people being proud of him
*he is a sports NUT and obsessed with the outdoors

Ok it doesn't take a psychologist to figure out these boys are night and day different. i think i just didn't realize until it was written out...just how much. it makes me such a proud mom to see how different they are and to have the parenting challenges for two very different personalities... a lot of people say... Campbell is me and Airey is Roger, as this is written...i agree!

mcbeach

boy oh boy did the cole's and johnstons have a fun vacation at mcbeach: for starters mcbeach is a house that i found out about from a blog that i advertise on and an avid follower of hers, so i completely trust her opinion. its a house she and her family go every year so when we found out they were opening the rentals up to the public this year roger and I jumped at the chance. i cant even describe how it lived up to my expectations...it has to be the most charming kid friendly home on the beach. when i say we just packed our clothes for 8 days and nothing else...thats what we did! It had all the toys inside and out a kid could want, beach towels and beach toys galore and even a pantry fully stocked with all your cooking supplies! needless to sat we will be spoiled from here on out! mcbeach was any family home come true. it was built for kids!!!! i never had to worry a second they might break something or spill something b/c thats what kinda comfort you felt and lets face it thats what makes or breaks the relaxing,lol....am i going on and on???...yes...well we loved it! haha.

the kids had such a fabulous time together with alex and reed...i mean 4 boys....and no broken bones or split heads...we did good. they all know how to swim and all are potty trained etc so it was the 1st vacation of literally just chilling out and letting the good times roll. we woke up and cooked breakfast,  hung out on the deck and then spent the afternoons beach side with our toes in the sand and a cold corona...life was good. the boys took great naps and so the adults lounged and read books and magazines. kristy and i took turns cooking dinner and it was great! we took all the boys out one night to a great place with a pirate ship playground that provided the hour dinner wait with pure entertainment. The adults even got to have a night out in Grayton beach at the RedBar...yummy. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and the couple mornings it was a little cloudy we took the kids into town a few times. They had a carnival in walking distance, bouncers and tons of yummy ice cream places too. We ventured to rosemary beach for a little Sugar Shak and shopping as well! If you are ever in PBC i highly suggest Buddy's Seafood steamed seafood... honestly it was the best shrimp i have ever had... perfect for a take out too for your 1st night when NO-one wants to cook {thanks for the info Miki}.
Airey and Campbell were obsessed with all things Alex and Reed and enjoyed having the BIG kids to play with. The boys loved all using the boogie boards and building sandcastles. Expect a minor incident of me and a skillet and a 2nd degree burn...all was perfection{thank goodness for my internist on call saving us an e.r. trip}...ill be wearing one pieces form now on... ;).Having such a relaxing trip has really been so great for both of us and the kids, we all got to unwind and enjoy each other. enjoy the pics below....counting the days until next year! 

 the car ride was scary easy! our boys really were a dream, only stopped once!

 the boys!

yes i know campbell needed a haircut...

 our family beach pic

this pic sums up the silliness

 love this pic of rog and his boys after a game of beach football

 all the cabinets and furniture and walls were written on with cute sayings, this was one of my fav's

 and yes we did leave our worries at the beach....

 adult time

 airey riding the waves

 the owner of mcbeach's brother is a childrens author and has this book Tim and Sally's beach adventures signed for our boys...too sweet!

 our boys bunks

 gotta love a clothes line

until next year....

4th of july....a lil late

we had such a great 4th weekend, it started with a road trip down to jackson to stay at uncle terry and aunt whitney's and the whole fam was meeting up there for fun, games, the lake and cold beer of course. on the way down we stopped in at my cousin sarahs to see gigi and have a little fun pool time. Our newest cousin baby ava was there and airey just doted on her non stop. She is such a doll! So glad to have a baby girl in the family now! airey completely swims like a fish on his on, jumping from the diving board swimming to the ladder. Such a big boy! Campbell will put his head under and kick but the "swim nazi" aka miss donna {side note im not being racist, literally that is what everyone calls her}, scarred him a bit with her tough love so we are working on over coming that ;).

 loving baby ava...

 boys will be boys! this pic will resurface one day i have a feeling....haha

once we got to Terry's the fun began! Rog got out the slip and slide and of course had to show the youngsters how to use it so......we ALL {the adults} went slip and sliding! Later we had a huge crawfish boil and enjoyed uncle tip's homemade onion rings and games of shuffle board.

Sunday we made a trip into town to see papa pete. the boys loved singing songs they learned at Holy Spirit summer camp for him.

Afterwards we met up with my friend Nicole, her hubby and little girl Ella. It was great catching up and her lil girl just stole my boys heart of course. Now they constantly say i want a sister!....im wont go into why thats not in the cards...lets just say its not in the cards, unless that is God's has a plan for us. Later that day we hit the lake and soaked up the sun. We cooked out later and the boys were spoiled by their Pops and all the "uncle's" Brad, Terry, Kevin, Dave, and Nick. Campbell calls Uncle Brad, uncle "Bread" too cute. All the guys are so good with our boys and they eat it up!

We are so lucky to have such a big and fun family! Hope you all had a happy happy 4th!

Until next time....The Coles

golf and parties...

st. louis had the annual HOLE in ONE golf fundraiser for the school and boy we took advantage. We went two nights. the kids love going to play with all their friends on the playground and eating hot dogs and snow cones. Airey got to hit balls with Dad after he got finished volunteering at the Ball table. WE are so proud Roger has joined the Men's club and this was his 1st duty. He and Brian Johnston worked together in the tent and they actually loved it, they are all geared up for next year!

enjoying the bouncer at the Hole in One!

 hitting balls with Daddy

 

this is what they looked like by the end of the night, haha

roger has his annual father son golf tourney this weekend. the guys love to battle it out before hand and argue over who gets how many shots, who the "grips" of the year will be, and who will Melt like  Klondike. the smack talk continues through the entire year...boys....well roger and his dad had a good chance against their own partners Maness and his Dad coming into the home stretch of their "Amen corner" at MCC...aka Glenn eagle in Millington and imagine my Jim Nance voice..."Roger is 90 yards out on a par 5 in the middle of the fairway. I think this is another chance for birdie and the Title...." and well they both sailed it over the green and no up and down form there...so bogie...Which meant they finished out of the Top 3. oh well they had SO much fun together and that really what its all about and so Dave took the trophy. lets hope {for God's sake} we can live with out Dave's utter ridiculous rants about how unfair the Father son is and he will HUSH up for at least a year, LOL.

well the boys and i had birthday party relay race {two in one day} which actually made for a super fun day and a complete day of cupcakes and ice cream for all three meals...which is just fine in my book and the boys quite frankly. our little georgia who came into this world a little over 2 pounds turned 2 years OLD! such a miracle to see her now! I will never forget that tiny diaper though...We celebrated at the big back yard and the boys and kiddies favorite spot was the wadding creek. boy oh boy these little girls gave our ALL BOY boys a run for their money ;) Next was little Hazies birthday full of sweet treats! every kind of candy imaginable and yummy pink lemonade. the boys wore out more energy in the bounce house and on the swing-set. I enjoyed catching up with the pattersons and their family and Lewis and Airey enjoyed a game of catch.  after the boys took a long nap they were still ready for an early bedtime so i got a sitter and met roger and all the gang up for a post golf outing with all the spouses at east end....that about wraps it up....great fun, great friends, and great weekend!

sunday afternoon FUN consisted of Popsicles and Water Balloons!

roger trying to get one to bust on Airey's head, LOL

YUMMMMMM...... Happy Week!