a little anniv

Five years ago, we looked like this....
So happy, so in love, so excited to have our special day finally come.

Fast forward to our fifth anniversary.

Still happy, still in love.

But now, we're excited to share our special day with our awesome kids.

In our pajamas, and the enormous cookies they made us :)

I love you, B....even more today than I did on our honeymoon.

{Whoa, we look young!}

little snoozer

I'm fairly certain she fell asleep....what do you think?

{crap-tacular photo compliments of my crap-tacular phone}

snowball fight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what you were doing this weekend, but we were making sure our kids were outside as much as possible.
Seriously, HOURS.
It got up to 40 degrees...WOO HOOOOOO!

We played, we sledded, we even ended up on the swings for a couple of hours.

But the best part? When Finster was sleeping, we decided to have a good old-fashioned SNOWBALL FIGHT!

 

the reading corner

There is a new favorite spot on our house....the reading corner.

It consists of my two little lovies, sitting in the corner of Jack's bedroom, books in hand and a big blockade of pillows and chairs.

No adults allowed.

Simply put - they're scrumptious.  Until one of them decides to steal the other's book.

smellovision

OK, so no, this isn't a TV....but I bet you wish you could smell through your computer right now.
Why?  Because this little man smells like Baby Heaven.

Last night, we got to meet Mr. Carson Ryan Swanson.
A little bit of perfect, a whole lot of little cuteness.

Bitty Baby....you are so handsome, even at two days old.

Look at all of that little blond hair all over.  He even has long blond eyelashes already!

Oh, how I am such a sucker for the towheads.

Such proud "aunties"

I'm pretty sure our ENTIRE dinner was consumed with baby talk.

And this Mommy and Daddy...words can't explain how adorable and proud they are of their little man.

Welcome to the club, guys!

Which brings me to a point:
Of my college girlfriends, 5 of the 8 of us have had babies.
ALL five of us have had boys first.  I sense a trend.
My little Fifi is going to have plenty of boyfriends to chose from. :)

Now up on the baby countdown, my BFF from high school, who we get to see tonight!! Yippee!

she'll kill me when she's older

What, it's not normal to whine until your Mommy lets you run around in your hat and sparkly shoes??
Don't tell Baby Gal.

And I have no words for the size of her belly. She may be tiny, but she's got quite the Buddha Belly on her.

She'll kill me someday for the GREAT genes I've given her. 

Short legs, big belly. Sweet.

Oh, Fifi, I apologize in advance.

pocket full of sunshine

Just when you feel like God gave Minnesota the 'ole sucker punch this winter, He wakes you up to a morning as beautiful as this.

Thank you, Jesus, for a light at the end of the long dark tunnel.

pretty pretty

Isn't she so PURDY!?

I tell you one thing, she may refuse to wear a bib and love to rub food in her hair, but she sure does love her Daddy.

 

Every day she's becoming more and more a Daddy's girl.  Maybe it's becuase her Mommy has been following the rules and letting her cry it out at night {she's been going through a little thing where she thinks she needs to be up again} and she knows Daddy will come to her rescue....hmmmmm... 

party hardy

Saturday afternoon, Jacks was pumped to be going to a friend's birthday party.

The party was at Kiddywampus, and we weren't sure what to expect.
We knew he had to wear clothes that could get dirty and paint was involved, but aside from that we thought we could all be surprised.

 Brad made it a boys day and took him to the party, and snapped a couple of photos.
The kids had a BLAST, can you tell!?

Jack (the birthday boy) and Jacks.

A few of his pre-school buddies.

The party was an "Action Jackson" party, for Jackson Pollock. They threw paint, got to be full-on boys, and had a perfectly fun time.

Happy 5th birthday, Mr. Cook!!

{un}clearly getting older

A couple of weeks ago, I took a day off for appointments.  You know, fun ones, like going to the dentist, physical, and the eye doctor.

Well, nothing screams getting older like getting told not only do you need A ROOT CANAL, but you also have to wear glasses every day.

Seriously - a ROOT CANAL!?  It wasn't as bad as I thought, only thanks to Kelley who gave me great tips I had plenty of gas and my iPod in tow...and if I have to hear Brad say it's because I don't brush my teeth one more time, I may punch his front two out.
{He's obviously kidding since this OCD gal OVER brushes on occasion.}

Now the glasses thing...I have had to wear glasses in the past.  I got headaches when I was preggers with Jacks and they thought it was because I needed readers.  Fine. When I'm at work if I've been looking at the screen for too long I MAY throw them on.  This is on a whole new level.  Every.Day!?

Ah, I digress...I put them on and I honestly had no idea how much I could NOT see before I got them.  It's like a fourth grader who had no idea that the teacher was actually writing words on the board.  I'm not a fan of wearing them, but MY WORD I can SEE, people, I can SEEEEEEEE!!

I took this before B and I went on a fun date Friday night...


Now, my only question is...who is going to buy me that much needed BOTOX for my birthday!?  Any takers??

up north

Last weekend was our annual trip up north for Christmas with Brad's Dad.  

It was {thank God} warmer than it has been in the past, so we could spend more time outside!

Here's the gift opening...

And I'm not sure WHY I even attempt to take pictures with my kids.  This was the best one out of about 20 pics...

 

Watching fireworks

 

I love how well the girls got along this year.  It looks like they're telling secrets.

The boys

Saturday night we stayed at a hotel, and Jacks was MORE than a little excited that we had a great water park to hang out at!  Since we didn't think it opened until 10, I was a bit worried about what to do with the kids for a good four hours to occupy our time...but to our surprise, the kids both slept until 8:00.  That is like 2:00 in the afternoon for most, let me tell ya.  And the park opened at 9:00, PERFECTION!  Sometimes God sends you a smile, seriously.

I really should have taken another picture after Fin got the hang of going down the slide, she looks so scared!

You'd never know she went down it about 50 times after this.

I couldn't even get a good one of Jacks, he was too quick!  On our way home he said it was the best day ever, so I'm fairly certain he had a good time even if there are no pictures to show of it.

And after we were all worn out, it was time to warm up with a little lunch...

Gotta love the Cheetos hands!

riddle me this...

What happens when you have mischievous four year old, and a baby-obsessed one year old in the same house?

A baby conveniently placed in a Daddy's back pocket, that's what.



And is it just my house, or are babies de-clothed more often than not!?