Mr. Koley is 2!!

Where has the time gone? Our baby is two and isn't a baby anymore! It's hard to remember what life was like before we were blessed with him in our lives. Here are some of the things Kole is into right now!

Kole loves all things having to do with wheels. Buses, tractors, semis, trucks, loaders, etc...... Grandma DeGroot made him this cake for his birthday. It was a big hit!!

Kole also loves anything having to do with animals. He gets very concerned with the birdies in our yard. Trav watched him pull his chair to the door and just sit and watch them. I have also witnessed him trying to sneak up on them. Several times a day I hear 'BIRDIE, BIRDIE!'

For Kole's birthday we took the kids to the indoor waterpark at the Lakes. Kole loves being in the water. At this point his lips were blue and we asked if he was cold, but he assured us 'Nice, nice' because he wanted to keep playing.

We used some of Kole's birthday money to get him his very own bike. His feet aren't long enough to reach the pedals yet, but it won't be long and it gets along fine without using the pedals.

Kole also loves anything having to do with balls. Basetball(as he calls it) is one of his favorites. I moved the hoop close to our steps so I didn't have to hold him to shoot. Look at that follow through!! Throwing baseballs over our retaining wall has also become a favorite pasttime.

Finally Kole is starting to talk a lot more. He doesn't talk as much as his sisters did at this age, but he gets his message across. No is his favorite word right now, but he also loves to make animal sounds. One of our favorites is the rooster!

Frozen Pizza

Last night the girls were asking me what we were having for supper. This is a common question so i answered with frozen pizza and moved on. A little while later Ella says to me Mom I'm not eating frozen pizza for supper. Surprised I asked why not? She very seriously informed me that she would be eating her's warm!!

Our 4 year old!!

Well I am finally getting around to doing birthday posts for the March birthdays. Things have been a little crazy at our house with Travis doing school, getting water in our basement, and all of us going through illness.

Can't believe Ella is four. She is the clown of the family. She is quick to smile and is always ready to give hugs. You also never know what is going to come from her mouth. On her birthday she informed me she wouldn't be 4 until she got to eat cake that day!

Ella loves skirts and dresses. She would wear them everyday if she got the chance. Riding bikes or crawling under the trailer it doesn't matter what she is wearing. We make sure she is wearing tights or leggings because we are still working on being ladylike. She is playing what she calls deans under the trailer. Most people know the game as Sardines, but no matter how many times we tell her the right way she insists it's called deans! Speaking of insisting Ella has a mind of her own and isn't afraid to tell us what she thinks. If she is thinking something it will often come out!

Ella was very excited about this birthday gift. She received a play vacuum that she 'helps' me vacuum with.

Here is our big girl with her latest accomplishment. She is now a bike rider without training wheels. Look at that grin. Finally Ella has her own time table to complete things. As Daddy likes to say Ella will never die of a heart attack, she is too laid back. We are blessed to have her as part of our family.

Another Bike Rider

After taking the training wheels off last fall and not really getting the hang of it we decided to give two wheel riding another shot on Friday. Ella can now ride without training wheels and she even learned how to stop(another very important skill!) She can't start herself yet which she seems perfectly ok with. That means that either Mom or Dad is walking down the street behind her. She will stop when she gets to where she is going and wait for us to help her start and she is on her way again. Travis and I both got quite a workout in the last couple days helping her do this.

Reader's Theatre

A week ago Addi's class had their reader's theatres. This is something that Trav started with his first graders many years ago. It was great fun for him to finally get to see his daughter participate in them. She was part of the chorus in The North Wind and the Sun. Then she was the narrator in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Dry Ice Experiments

We are taking part in a family time challenge. The point is to get us to spend quality time together. One of the challenges was to experiment with dry ice.

We put soap on it and watched it bubble. We also poured hot water and watched it steam.

The girls favorite activity was to put some dry ice in their juice. Which made it carbonated. Addi really enjoyed hers. Ella ended up putting some soap in her cup and didn't get to try hers.

Spring Fever

At the Popken house we are very thankful that the weather has finally turned warmer. Yesterday we discovered that our daffodils are popping up and we can now see more yard then snow. Here are somethings we did during the past few weeks to get us though to this point.

We got out many outside toys and were playing in full winter gear. The good news is that it doesn't hurt so much when you fall off our bike when you are wearing snowpants and a wintercoat. The bad news is that it is hard to get down on the ground to play. Kole resorted to crawling around because it was so hard for him to get back up. Thank goodness we don't need the snowpants and gloves this week!!

One day we were so ready for something different that we got out bubbles and Trav blew bubbles for the kids inside.