Nashville, Easter, check ups, and soccer!

Us at the museum of country music

A really pretty park our tour bus stopped at

monument

A picture of the capital

Grandpa and the boys

Cool bar

Us at the grand ole opry

Graceland

When we got back to Memphis we saw Graceland

Nick's parents came out for a visit so we headed down to Nashville for the weekend. It was really fun and I thought it was a nice city and really pretty. We did a lot while we were there and I hope we can go back more often just for a change of scenery. When we got back we went to Graceland which I really liked. There was a lot of Elvis history there and surprisingly Dylan was really into it too. Everyone always asks us if we have been there when we travel and people know we are living in Memphis. Now we can say we have been!

Easter Sunday

Easter was pretty good this year. After Church I wanted to get some pictures but Jaxson fell asleep on the way home. He didn't even wake up when I put him on the coach for a picture! Unfortunately after Jaxson's nap I didn't get any nice pictures since it started pouring rain outside. My friend Starla invited us over as well as a few other families for easter dinner. It was fun spending easter with all of our friends and playing games afterwards!

Easter Egg hunt at Dylan's preschool

Ready to collect some eggs!

Jaxson figures out what to do pretty fast

Jaxson was scared of the easter bunny but Dylan was willing to let me get a picture!

Easter Egg Decorating

Dylan showing off his finished Easter eggs!

Dylan had fun coloring Easter eggs. Unfortunately I thought it might be a dangerous idea for Jaxson to participate. I actually got some dye on myself trying to help Dylan. Maybe Jaxson can get his chance next year!

Doctor check up and shots!

Hiding from the doctor

Playing around

Happy to get some stickers and a pencil after the dreaded shots!

Bowling that evening as promised for cooperating at the doctor!

Dylan and Jaxson were both due for check ups and immunizations. I was really nervous for this visit. The last time Dylan needed a flu shot we had to hold him down and he freaked out big time. I mean he was screaming like the nurse was cutting off his leg. So I knew this time he needed like four or five shots and I didn't know how to get him to be good. I heard a couple horror stories from friends which made me even more nervous. One friend had her little girl try to grab the needle which cause the needle to slice her and she needed stitches. Another friend's daughter actually kicked the nurse in the stomach! I decided to warn Dylan this day was coming a couple months in advance. I told him if he was good which meant we didn't have to hold him down and if he didn't start screaming we would take him bowling that evening. We talked about this a lot and he was excited for his shots until it was time of course. I reminded him he was allowed to cry but that was all. To my surprise he sat still and allowed the nurse to give him his shots and he was upset of course but I didn't have to restrain him or make him or worry about screaming. Jaxson did really good too. The funny thing is in addition to the shots he needed a finger prick which he was not prepared for. I had to sweeten the deal by throwing in a milk shake after the visit. I guess bribery is necessary sometimes! I plan on doing this next time he needs shots!

Go Hawks!!!

Dylan excited to play

Jaxson on his "leash" is the only way to get through a game

Dylan and his buddy insisted I get a picture of the back of their shirts!

Spring soccer has been going on since March and Dylan's team is called "The Hawks" I love their uniforms and we actually had to buy Dylan new cleets cause his feet grew a couple sizes since last year! The problem with spring soccer is nearly every game gets rained out! Practices have been rained out too! I guess that just goes with spring time. At least there are make up games!

PS: I can't believe I slacked on my blog so bad. I mean my last post was two months ago! I felt like we have had a pretty busy past couple months so that will be my excuse! I now need to check everyone elses blogs and see what I have missed. I can't believe we have been here a year already it has gone by so fast!

Who are you and what have you done with my child?

Dylan has not liked any green vegetables since he hit the toddler stage (except for peas which he barely tolerates) and he is usually pretty outspoken about it too. We have tried to get him to eat salad before but he usually gets a repulsed look on his face and then spits it all out. Well today I was eating a bowl of salad for lunch and he suddenly began asking me if he could have some too. I sprinkled some cheese on there and poured on some ranch dressing (his request) and gave it to him. I have to admit I was skeptical. I thought he might try and find a way to eat the ranch but not the salad. To my surprise he took a big bite and said "I love it!!!" Besides the green veggies he has always disliked eggs, any kind of melon, and peanut butter. In the past few months he has decided he loves eggs. So now we are just down to melon and peanut butter. Maybe there is hope for him after all!

Quick Recaps

Snow Day!

A couple weeks ago it actually snowed quite a bit here in Memphis. When I say quite a bit that means a few inches that actually stuck around for a day instead of melting instantly. Dylan really wanted to make a snow man and luckily Nick was home to help him out. I didn't buy Dylan any snow boots so I put my boots on him. He was wearing so many layers of pants the boots didn't fall off when I zipped them up! Dylan was so proud of his snow man but it unfortunately melted away by then next day! I'm glad we got at least one good snow day here in Memphis, so he could play in it!

Bowling

A couple weekends ago we went bowling with our friends James and Kara. We hadn't been bowling in a long time. Besides the fact I sucked worse than normal it was still a fun time. Nick took a bowling class at Utah state so he is decent at bowling. I really need to learn how to bowl so I don't embarrass myself next time we go with other people!

Party!

A couple weeks ago we planned a birthday party for my friend Whitney. It was supposed to be a surprise but that morning Whitney went over to Emily's house and she was in the process of baking her cake. Whitney smelled it and knew what was up. We had a great cake and played a few rounds of a game called Spoons. Her and Emily's sue dates are a day apart and we were trying to figure out who has the bigger belly. Those things on their chest are Survivor buffs (from the show) and no I am not sure why they are around their chests lol. Anyways just thought I should explain that picture! We had a fun night!

LOSER!!!!!!!

Jason Mesnick (total jerk)

Wow I was really disappointed by this season of the bachelor.  I really liked this guy when he was on last season and felt so bad for him when Deanna dumped him.  Who would have thought he could turn everyone against him overnight?  First off I feel really bad for Melissa and I was rooting for her after Jillian got axed.  I can't really understand why he would choose Melissa, and then dump her and hook up with Molly all at the same time!?!  And where is Molly's pride?  She just takes him back and they are all over each other when he barely broke off his engagement to Melissa.  The entire "after the rose" show was staged.  The only one being real on there was Melissa.  Jason is a terrible actor and Molly did a better job at acting surprised but it was obvious they had this thing planned with abc.  Shame on abc for allowing this to go down for ratings!  I have been watching the bachelor with friends every week at my house and we were all so unhappy last night!  We all had some choice words for Jason after that!  I need to watch the final "after the rose" tonight even though I can't stand this guy now!

Dylan's Birthday Bash

On Monday we had a birthday party for Dylan. Nick was on call all weekend so that is why we had it on Monday. There is a McDonald's near by that has a really good play place and plenty of tables in the play place. A couple of Dylan's friends couldn't make it, but other than that we had a good turn out. The kids had fun running around and Dylan loved all his presents (thanks everyone!) I put together some goody bags for the kids and got a bunch of balloons from a party store. When we got home Dylan told me "That was the best birthday party ever!!!" Dylan's cake caused some drama for me that night and I posted about it below. Good thing 5 year olds don't care how bad looking a cake is, and at least it didn't taste bad!

My Cake Rant

Here is what Dylan's cake was SUPPOSED to look like

And here is what they gave me!!!

So I went to Walmart to pick up the cake right before the party. I have ordered cakes from Walmart before (in Omaha) and they have always turned out great. First off I waited at the bakery forever waiting for assistance. (welcome to Memphis customer service) and finally I made someone who worked in the Deli go find my cake. Besides the fact it looks like crap I couldn't even believe someone would write "Happy Dylan birthday". Obviously what happened was they forgot they had to write Dylan and when they realized the name needed to be put on there they just decided to write it in front of birthday. I worked in a bakery in high school and when an error is made on a cake it is really not difficult to scrape off the lettering and fix it. Seems like this person was too lazy to fix it! So here I had this screwed up cake and no way to have it corrected because Dylan's party was starting really soon. The cashier I vented to told me to go to customer service and they should give me my money back. Well here is the real kicker. A nice lady did refund me my money and then when the manager showed up she told me I could not leave with the cake since I got my money back. She said if I wanted the cake I could get $5.00 off and pay back the difference. More than anything I wanted to say keep your cake I don't want it. The only thing that kept me from saying that and few expletives was the fact Dylan was with me and had already seen the monster truck cake and I really did not have the time to get another one. The manger actually did not think the lettering was messed up and had the audacity to tell me to "calm down" when I was complaining. So I paid them, took the cake, and called corporate head quarters the next morning. They were very appologetic and the issue was resolved quickly. I received a full refund for the cake. I will never order another cake from Walmart as long as we are living in Memphis!!!

Dylan is 5 years old!!!

Dylan Nicholas Coles was born February 19th 2004 in Logan Utah

This afternoon we went to "pump it up" so Dylan could play with his preschool buddies

Jaxson wanted to do what all the big kids were doing

Jaxson had a mouth full of animal crackers and couldn't give me a smile.  If you look at Jaxson's shirt the monkey has one tooth just like Jaxson (Jaxson has his one tooth on the bottom though) I still need to get a picture of Jaxosn's snaggle tooth!

We went to Dinner at Red Robin

Great picture.. Notice the chocolate on his teeth!

The boys

How can I have a 5 year old???

Dylan had been so excited to turn five!  This morning he woke up asking if it was his birthday yet.  I let him open his presents since he had been patient and not opening them when they arrived in the mail this week.  He got some good stuff and my mom sent him a remote control helicopter which I am hoping will last a while.  My mom has sent Dylan two other remote control items which didn't last long.  The first, I actually broke, and then the second... Dylan  was upstairs playing with his remote control truck and he steered it too close to the stairs, and down it tumbled.  So I am hoping for better luck this time or Dylan will be devastated.  He also got a Nintendo DS for his birthday.  We are suckers and caved.  Our friends little boys have one and Dylan has been asking for one since.  I didn't even know it is a real gaming system like the xbox or wii.  At least he can take it wherever he goes and it doesn't need to be hooked up to our tv!   We went to a place called "pump it up" today.  It is like the kangaroo zoo in Utah except for this place is usually just for parties.  Dylan has a classmate who's mom runs it, and she has a play group for the boys in his class to meet there once a week and play.  This was the first time we went and it was great.. Especially cause Dylan and his preschool friends had the whole place to themselves and it was free of charge!  Once Nick got home we had dinner at red robin.  I am hoping to do a party for him on Monday since I couldn't do one this weekend like I had originally wanted to.  Dylan actually got to dinner and was like "where are my friends???"  He thought his birthday party was going to be at red robin!  He is a funny kid.

I really can't believe he is five.  I couldn't have asked for a better kid or big brother to Jaxson.  He has always been such a good natured kid.  He never hit or bit other kids or went through "the terrible twos" stage.  As a baby he was content to just hang out in his car seat or swing forever and never woke up at night for anything other than his bottle and he would go right back to sleep as soon as he got it.  When Jaxson came along he never even got jealous.  He just loved him and would always look out for him.  He always has an eye out for Jaxson and has saved him from falling off our bed, or any other potential hazards.  He has been such a good helper and has such a fun personality.  Of course he still has his "moments" in which he drives me crazy but that comes with the age ; )  Happy birthday Dylan we love you!