4 month birthday on 7/24/08

I happened to dress Cole and Ella in the same clothes as when they were 3 months old. If you take a look on the blog at their 3 month pictures, you'll see how much they've grown. Gramma Debbie gratiously took some pictures on the day.

Gramma Debbie is watching the kid's throughout the day and will continue to until she goes back to school for the year now that Ashley is back to school teaching (she's at a year round school, so they start mid July).


Happy kids!


Ella was excited that it was her 4 month birthday!


Cole was swinging in his seat and holding on tightly.

Rice Cereal

Cole isn't quite sure what to think about rice cereal at this point. He puts everything in his mouth he can get his hands on and chews it, so I think when the spoon goes in his mouth he just wants to chew on it and the rice cereal happens to go down.


Ella's our eater, so she isn't bashful about taking in the rice cereal. When she sees the spoon coming, she'll open her mouth as wide as she can.


Cole loves to grab onto things and put them in his mouth, so when I wrapped his hands around the handle of the sippy cup, it instantly went into his mouth. He hasn't quite figured out how to tip the sippy back and make the water/milk go down yet, but we're getting closer.


Ella's also a natural with the sippy cup. She's such a little cutey and is looking (and getting a personality) more and more like her mom each day.

Trip to Lacrosse, WI

These are the shades that Cole borrowed from his cousin Luke.




This picture is shortly after Cole and Ella enjoyed their first swim in a hotel pool. They weren't overly excited about the swim, but weren't terrified of it either.


Each night at the hotel we stayed at they had happy hour from 5-7 and you could enjoy two complimentary drinks. We only made it down twice and this is one of the nights.


Our trip to Lacrosse was for Ashley to get her Masters from Viterbo University. This is a picture of a few girls that Ashley had class with.

Trip to Lacrosse, WI

This is a picture we took while relaxing along the Mississippi River and a ferry happened to go by. They have a really cool park and walkway right along the River.



Ella is getting good at putting her head up now and trust me it won't be long before she's crawling all over the place.


Good family picture with the Mississippi and some of the Wisconsin bluffs in the background.

4th of July pics

This is Cole and his cousin Eva. Eva's parents, Brandy and Josh, recently bought a home in Forest City and we checked out the new house while back home in Garner.


Cole and Ella in their 4th of July swimsuits. This is shortly before we checked out the new Garner water park, which by the way is very impressive.


Cole and Ella chillaxin outside on the 4th of July.

Family picture at annual 4th of July party at Rick & Nancy Kaduce in Rockford, IA.



This is Papa Denny and Grandma Jill's family with their kids (Andrew, Brandy and Bree) and kid's spouses (Ashley, Josh and Brad) and their 7 grandkids (Ella, Cole, Alyssa, Luke, Kaley, Eva and Chase). The picture was taken at the annual 4th of July party held at Grandma Jill's sister, Nancy, her home in Rockford, IA.