Kolson's Korner

Out with the Old and in with the New

2012-01-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

Our first home

Well with the beginning of the year brought big changes for the Kolson family and the very first thing that happened was the selling of our first home. I won't get into the long (very long) and terrible details but when we got back from Poland in June we decided that it was time to sell our home and look for something bigger. We bought our first home in 2007 right before we got married and it was perfect. It was a 3 bedroom house very close to my mom and both of Jonathan's parents as well which was great since they were all so close and would come to see Connor often. Well in 2007 it was just Jonathan and I, shortly after we got married we adopted 2 dogs and already came with 2 cats. Chris moved in at the end of 2007 and Connor was born in 2010. Our perfect little home for 2 suddenly became too small for 3 adults, 4 animals and a baby. We (sadly) got rid of the cats and since we couldn't get rid of Chris (and we tried, ha ha just kidding) and Connor, we decided that it was time to move to a bigger home.

So we are now currently in this home which has so far been perfect for us. We have gone from 3 bedrooms to a 4 bedroom with a loft and it is just perfect. This is the only picture I have right now since we are still moving in but we just love being here. We are about 10 minutes away from Colette now and within walking distance to Jonathan's cousins, aunt and uncle. We are finding that more and more people actually live up here. I am saddened by the fact that I'm not so close to my mom anymore and that Jonathan's parents are farther away now, but mom watches Connor during the week while we work and Connor spends Wednesday nights with Andrew and Jola, and Gina usually comes by every week so we still get to see everyone which is nice. Moving can be dramatic, especially when you have to do it in a hurry. I'm so thankful that I can work from home part time for this house is now a whopping 51 mi (82km) one way from my work. Jonathan was tired of our old house so he was very excited to move. The flu hit us really hard last weekend so hopefully this weekend, we will be all moved in and we can start having people over, and I can post more pictures of the house.

Happy New Year!!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-13T18:57:00.000-08:00

What the heck is THAT?

So Christmas finally got here and I was SO EXCITED! Last year for Christmas Connor was only 3 months so he didn't get to really get involved but this year he could at least start to get involved. So on Christmas morning we all got up, got the tree on and presents ready, made our way into the room to get Happy up, brought him out here and. . .he wanted nothing to do with it. He just stared at us like we were crazy or something. He spent a good 15 minutes standing by the door, practically crying. I had to convince him to come over and helped him unwrap some gifts, once he saw what was under the wrapping, Christmas was a hit!

Formula 1 car, MY FAVORITE!!

So after Christmas at our house, we headed down the way to my mom's house for the annual Christmas Breakfast at her house. It is always so good that by the time we get there we are starving!!

Messy messy

After a breakfast that always starts with laughter and good conversation, leads to full tummies and presents. The kids are always so excited to go to Gammie's house to see what "Santa" has left for them.

Two little munchkins

Gammie got both Connor and Toni Dyson vacuums that look just like mine. I'll admit that at first I wasn't so sure if Connor would be into it, but it is FAVORITE gift! Still to this day he still vacuums all over the house. Too bad it doesn't pick anything up :)

Toni and her vacuum

Connor and his vacuum "Cheese!!"

Almost all here. Christmas 2011

So after the morning we went home and began to get ready for Christmas Dinner at our house. My family has always been very casual about the holiday's and Jonathan's has always been more formal, so its nice to have a mix of both. Connor got to dawn his first little man suit!!

My handsome man!!

Gina came over and brought alot of wonderful Polish food, we were also joined ny Lidia and Vince as well who also brought wonderful food. I have grown to love all the Polish food they make and I hope that someday I will be able to make it as good as they do, because it is wonderful!!

The best one we got, Connor just moves too much :)

What a great year this has been! Seems like we did so much in such a short amount of time. We hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and New Year, to always remember the true Reason for the Season, enjoy time with family and friends and to start off the new year right.

We love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Jonathan, Courtney & Connor

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

2012-01-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

Connor and the Christmas Tree

I was SO EXCITED for Christmas this year as this will be Connor's first Christmas that he could actually be a part of! He was such a good little boy as we put up the decorations around the house and playing so nicely with them, there was one Christmas accident where a village person lost his head, but otherwise it was pretty uneventful with regards to breaking things.

My "Polish" Christmas Tree

Mommy says I must still this far away

A few weeks later we all got together at Colette's house to decorate Christmas cookies. We have been doing this for a few years now and I love doing it. This year my Aunt Pat got to join in on the fun, as did Connor and Toni. I helped Connor decorate his first cookie, then he ate it right up!

Connor and his first cookie

Aunt Pat, Colette, Courtney & Kathi

Then came Christmas Eve. This year was a bit bittersweet as my grandmother had passed away in October so this was our first year with out her. We had a small gathering at my dad and step-mom's house and it was just great. The kids had a great time and were able to hang out with Papa and Grandma, along with Great Grandpa Smith as well! Such fun!

Connor and Great Grandpa Ken

Connor and his new car transport from Papa

It really is more for at Christmas when there are kids around. What a great time we all had! The picture below, is what I found Connor doing one morning, he had his pants off and he was running around with Uncle Chris's shoes on. Silly munchkin :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2012-01-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving

This year was actually a very simple Thanksgiving as we had only 1 place to go! It was very nice for a change. We spent Thanksgiving with the Van Horns and my cousins Ansel and Sheryl were so nice to open up their home for everyone. It was nice outside, a little cloud cover but it was great to still be able to eat outside. Connor got to play with some cousins he hadn't seen since last year, and over all it was a nice and simple Thanksgiving.

We are so thankful for all our wonderful friend and family that God has so blessed us with. We have a happy home, a beauitful and bright son that I'm not sure what else a family could have asked for. If you are reading this, we are thankful for you as well and we hope that your Thanksgiving Holiday was just as blessed.

Connor and his cousin Tristian

Happy Halloween

2011-11-13T11:31:00.000-08:00

Connor as Yoda, Toni as a Cat

I will be the first to admit that Halloween had never been my favorite holiday. I'm not sure if its because I live in a neighborhood with not alot of kids, the greediness of the older kids who don't dress up, come around with a pillow case and give you the look of "are you kidding me just one piece?" or what, or maybe its because it crashing into my birthday (which is the following day) but Jon and I would either hide in the back of the house watching movies in the dark or we would go over to Colette's house to watch Waylon trick or treat. I'm going to say that all of that changed this year because we actually went to a neighborhood that everyone was involved and because we got to dress up Connor.

Connor and his first pumpkin

Flash back a few days before when we picked out Connor's first pumpkin. I was so excited to carve this with him and he wanted nothing to do with it. I let him have it and he wouldn't even stick his hands in the pumkin. So Daddy ended up carving the pumpkin while Connor had dinner. I made some great pumpkin seeds with it though and at least we had a simple yet happy little pumpkin.

Connor giving his pumpkin kisses

Happy Halloween!! 10-31-11

So a few days later we headed out to the Pickards for the annual Trick or Treating. It was SO FUN since Connor and Toni were older now and were able to be involved. Alot of family gets together for this night as not only is it Halloween, but it is Uncle Jake's birthday as well (and they usually throw mine in there as well since it's the follow day :) Waylon this year went as Jake the Neverland Pirate, Toni was a little kitty cat and Connor was Yoda. I wanted Connor to be Yoda last year for Halloween but he was only 7 or 8 weeks old so he was still too small. But THIS year...he was PERFECT!! I couldn't get over how cute my little Yoda was!

What was so funny about Halloween this year, was that Connor was just in awe of Toni and Waylon who were dressed up. He knew that he knew who they were, but he wasn't sure as they were wearing funny clothes! Little did he know that he was dressed up too :)

Happy as Yoda

Colette and I took the kids around the neighborhood and I have never expierenced Halloween this way. In her neighborhood it was a full on family affair. Everyone was out with their kids right as the sun was setting, nothing scary out, 90% of the kids were under 6, all the houses were lit up and people who didn't have kids sat outside with candy, it was the perfect summer evening. I just pulled Toni and Connor in the wagon while Colette took Waylon around (Toni and Connor are still to young for candy) Papa and Grandma were there, so was Grandpa Smith and Aunt Jeannine, it was so good that they came out as well. We had such a great time just being silly. Although we don't celebrate the real reason for Halloween, it was nice to be silly with the little ones dressed up so cute.

Papa and his munchkins

In a few short weeks we will be coming up on Thanksgiving!! Aunti Nicole was also here for a short visit this week which was awesome. Connor always loves hanging out with her. I will put pictures up of her visit once she sends them to me in an email so I can place them on my blog (wink wink) Until then, enjoy this little video of Connor on Halloween!

Love Jon, Cort & Happy :)

PS - Yes, Connor has had his little hair cut since then so he doesn't have that huge "Puckerman" mohawk coming down the front anymore. It was hard to have to start cutting my little man's hair :)

Schnepfs Farm

2011-10-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

Connor at the Pumpkin Patch

***Disclaimer*** Schnepfs Farm is no where near as cool as Young's Farm. People say I'm biased because that is my family's farm, but it is really just a cold hard fact. But, since the farm is now in Oregon, Schnepfs will have to do. The end.

So we took Connor out to his first pumpkin patch this past weekend with his cousin's Waylon, Toni and Kylie. Let me start out by saying that summer is not over here in Arizona and it was crazy hot out. I'm pretty sure it is because I am going to be 35 in a few days but man, I can't take this heat like I used to (but no, we are not moving)

The drive out to the farm, was well just that, a drive. I would say it was the same distance we would have to drive to go to Young's Farm in Dewey. It took us about a hour and a half to get out there. The kids had a great time. We got to see a dog show, the bigger kids got to go on some rides and Connor ran in the pumpkin patch, through the mud (as boys do) and took his first merry-go-round ride. He did pretty good! I think that Connor and Toni were still a little too young for the farm but next year they should be ready to go! Here are so pictures from the fun day!

Connor loves sitting on Daddy's shoulders

"Help! I'm lost in the maze!

"Not sure about this horse"

All done - Happy Boy!

Playing with his cousin Toni

Connor always wants to hold hands! So big these kids!

He he he. . .Pumpkins!!

Happy Kolsons!

Can I take them all home!

It is starting to cool off here now in Arizona and next week is a big week! Halloween is coming and Connor will be dressed as Yoda from Star Wars. Then we've got birthdays and gatherings and Aunt Nicole is coming to visit from Indiana!! Boy is she going to spoil Connor :)

Next up! Halloween!!

Let's visit Chase Field

2011-10-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

On the field

So this blog will be fairly short, but Jon got invited to tour the baseball park in hopes of us buying season tickets (yeah right!) But we got to go around the park and the best part was we got to hang out in the dug out and on the field! Here are a few shots from that fun day!

Put me in Gibby! I'm ready to play baseball!

This is "Big League"

Yeah, give my JJ, I gotta close this game out and get to bed, its passed my bed time

The Diamondbacks did SO WELL this season! It was heartbreaking to see them lose, at the bottom of the 10th inning in game 5 to the Brewers. Oh well, there is always next year (and the Brewers lost to the Cardinals so that made me happy)

Dbacks in 12!!

Connor Andrew Turns 1!!!

2011-09-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

He made it!! Connor turned 1 on 09/09/11! Or I should say Mommy and Daddy made it! I can't believe that our little guy is now a TODDLER! He is a full on walking and eating machine!

Einsteins

So Jon and I took the 9th off of work to celebrate Connor's first birthday. We started by having breakfast at Einsteins which is something we used to do all the time before Connor was born. He ate a whole muffin himself! We half of it ended up on the floor :)

Jon and Connor with the biggest Bass in the world

After breakfast we went to the Musical Instrument Museum. Its been open for a few years and it is a very interesting place! They had the instruments from a lot of different countries. Connor did pretty well but did fall asleep when we got to Europe. We didn't get to see it all but still saw alot!

I hear the music mommy!

Couldn't make it to the Poland section :)

So sleepy!

Playin on the Chinese Bells

Happy Birthday Connor!!

Papa and Connor

Papa and Grandma came over on Saturday to give Connor his first birthday presents!! He got some clothes and his first toy Earth Mover truck! Connor loves pushing it around the house!

Connor throwing his food on the floor. Awesome

On Sunday, 9-11-11 we had Connor's 1st birthday party! It was very simple, just had some family and a few friends over. Connor made out like a bandit with all the toys and clothes he got! Thank you everyone who came!! It meant so much to us that Connor is so loved!!

Happy Birthday to you!

First bite, not too bad

Ok now we are getting a bit messy

Ok now we are out of control!!!

What a great day!! Thank you everyone who came and helped out!! We love you so much!!

Grandma and Grandpa with Connor

Grandma and Grandpa Kolson were out of town for Connor's birthday, but they came over a few days later to wish him a happy birthday. He was so happy to see them and Grandpa got Connor a race car that looks just like Grandpa's! Now he can race around the house and pretend to be Grandpa Andrew!

He sure does love it!!

My little Happy
What a joy and a blessing you are to not only me and your dad, but to everyone you have come in contact with. From your grandparents, friends and family here in Arizona, to your Aunts and Uncles in Oregon, Indiana and Minnesota, and all the way to your friends and family in Warsaw and Jelenia Gora, Poland, everyone has always said how beautiful you are, how you are always so happy and just what a joy you are. I hope you know how much we all love you, are so happy that you got to be part of our family and love to watch you grow and learn your world around you. Happy Birthday Connor, you are truly the answer to our long awaited prayers.

Kocham Cie Connor!! (I love you Connor)
Mommy and Daddy

Connor Walking!!

Some fun things that the Kolson's did this summer

2011-09-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

Amy and Connor

So I have a few entries that I have to catch up on so I'm going to do them in 2 different blogs. So first things first. I'm pretty sure it was the hottest day EVER (not really) but I took Connor the Children's Museum to help my friend Amy celebrate her daughter Chloe's 2nd birthday. Connor had a great time crawling around here and playing with Amy (see above) He wasn't walking yet and was still a bit small to be here but none the less had a great time. We went on a hot, weekend, free day so it was a bit over crowded but as long as everyone had fun that's all that mattered!

Chloe reading to Connor (so cute!!)

1 year later

Can't believe it has already been a year since these littles were born! Here is our annual mom/kid picture. This was the best one out of 6 or 7 that we took. Funny because a crime in about to happen here, Connor is about 3 seconds away from stealing Olivia's binky and Toni was the witness. I had no idea till I moved Connor and noticed a green binky in his mouth (his is red ) So great to watch all these kiddo's grow up together, wish Ahna T lived closer, but we know Oregon is cooler than Arizona :)

Toni - 14 months, Olivia 13 months, Connor 12 months

Can't have a blog without the cousins!!!

There she BLOWS!!

So this summer has also been filled with these nasty dust storms. The first one was cool, second one was even ok, but come on, 7 or 8? This is a bit ridiculous now. Love watching a pile of dust come dumping on the valley, to be followed up by a "Sprinkle" of rain, just to turn everything into mud. Annoying.

I LOVE MOMMY!!

Its THROW BACK night!!

Can you believe it has been 10 YEARS since the boys in purple won the World Series!!! And we are on track for play offs right now!! (magic number today is 6!!!) So in honor of the 10th year, they did a throw back night and the whole team busted out their Purple & Teal (and better) uniforms! Don't get me wrong, the Red. . .excuse me "Sedona Red" and Tan are fine, I like them well enought, but the Purple and Teal belong to my team, the first Dbacks, the "BabyDbacks." Watching them play that night in the old uniforms just brought back so many great memories of my beloved 2001 team, and they even brought the WHOLE team back! We played San Diego (which I must say has lost some respect in my eyes for the dirty way they played that night, they were pulling crap that SF or LA would) And came back to beat them 6-5 with 2 (yes, I said 2) Back to Back home runs!! This game has to be the 2nd best game I've ever been to! (First being the 2nd game of the 2001 World Series) We had 3 of the 4 girls at this game (Colette you were missed!!!) But we had Jon there and it was just as fun :)

The 2001 Team (including my pal Alex)

David. . .my first favorite player :)

Jay - My mom's favorite, and probably one of the most honest and "I play because I love it" ball players you'll ever see

The main men (Minus Craig)
RJ, Curt, Damian, Mark, Danny, Steve, Matty, Luis, Jay, Tony and Bob

I love my Diamondbacks!!! Let's take it to the post season boys! 10 years sounds like a great time for a repeat!!!

Busy Summer!

2011-08-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

Lil C - 11 months

What a busy July and August we have had! And August is not even over yet! So much has gone on I'm afraid this will be a long blog, but I will try and keep it simple.

First and for most, Connor is now 11 months. In a few short weeks our baby boy is going to be 1 year old! He is getting into everything! He took his first steps to Jonathan in July but we have yet to catch them on film. He does great at walking with help, everything short of running. He will take a few steps on his own but prefers to crawl as he knows he can do that faster. I have no doubt he'll be walking before I know it. He is pretty much eating everything we eat (awesome!) but won't drink out of a cup yet and still won't transition to whole milk yet (not awesome) But I know he will get there soon.

Since our house is slowing packing up, I found Connor under some chairs with Piper the other day. He just hung out there and was having a great time. Connor gets along great with animals.

Happy Birthday

For a great girls day/mom's birthday, we all got together at my house for a light brunch. It was great to have all the girls over with no little munchkins, its very rare that we get to do this. We had long time neighbors and friend Nancy and Lori over, along with Aunt Pat and of course mom, Colette and I. Happy Birthday Mom!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa

This past weekend we had abirthday celebration for my grandfather who just turned 90! Doesn't look at it! Here is Connor with Grandpa and Grandma. We had the whole family here (minus a few in Oregon) and it was so nice to see everyone. Our nephew Carson also came down from Oregon who was born on Grandpa's brithday, he turned 10! Yikes!!

Smith's in the Pope's Room (time for a bigger room!)

Cousins Carson and Connor

Papa and Toni - showing all her teeth!

     Things with the house are slow moving. We are still just hanging out here but haven't really heard anything yet on whether we can close on it and move on. Love how the banks and mortgage companies work. At least they aren't bothering us by phone anymore (small victories)

    All vehicles have now been fixed and look brand new! Jon's truck was in the shop for about 2 1/2 weeks getting repaired from all the damage the storm did in early July. My car was in the shop for a few days replacing the bumper that a nice 17 year old decided to run into. Never a dull moment in the Kolson house!

   Sadly on Monday we have to place our cats in another home. We have been having a really hard time trying to find a new place to live with all our animals (2 cats 2 dogs) and honestly the cats really hadn't been the same since Connor was born (fighting all the time, destructive) I have never had to do something like this before and even though we did this 4 days ago I'm still very emotional about it. This will be better for them, and for us. Its amazing how now that they are not here, how much we catered to those animals (closing doors, hiding things, not have certain furniture out). This will be a better life for all of us.

Well the next blog should be Connor's 1st birthday!!! I can't believe it!! Where has the time gone!
Till next month!

Love
Courtney Jonathan and Connor

Connor turns 10 Months

2011-07-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

My little man

So Connor turned 10 months on the 9th. Hard to believe that in a few short months our little munchkin will be 1 year old! He is growing so fast and is learning so much! Such a little happy guy!

I love bananas!!

Connor is getting so good at feeding himself! His favorite foods are bananas, hot dogs and mac & cheese. I can't get this food down fast enough for him to eat it! He is doing really well at picking up the pieces and putting them in his mouth. He likes to pick up 5 at a time but only 1 or 2 make it into his mouth, the rest end up on the floor. We have bought him some sippy cups for him to try and start learning how to use a cup but right now he wants nothing to do it with. We have tried to get him to drink water but again, doesn't want that. He will take 1/2 apple juice and 1/2 water but again that is struggle. We are still working on it though.

Yikes!! 4 little teeth!

He was a bit cranky last week and here is why! Connor heard that his cousin Toni was busting out a front tooth, so he decided he better get on it! Not with just 1 though, all 4 of his front teeth. He has actually been pretty good but there were a few days there that Connor was very cranky, had a bit of a fever and just wanted to be held. We are slowly getting out of that phase though for the teeth have now at least all broken thru the skin. Poor little happy :)

Connor 10 months, Toni 1 year

We had a play date last weekend with Colette and our friend Jody, Jody's son Liam, Toni and Connor are all the same age. I just love watching Connor and Toni play together, I am so happy that not only do these little munchkins get to grow up together, but my sister and I get to raise our kids together. I was raised with my cousins (Eric and I are 6 months apart) and I had a great time with them, I know Connor and Toni (and Waylon) are going to love growing up in the Pickard/Kolson household just as we loved growing up in the Van Horn/Smith household.

Connor and his friend Liam

More swimming!

My cousin Eric came down from MN this week with his kids and it was so nice to seem them. I wish they lived here so not only would we have Eric here, but we would have Sawyer & Ethan here too so they could play and grow up with all their cousins here in AZ but its ok, when they come to visit we all have a great time! Ethan is now 5 and Sawyer is 2. Here are some pictures of all us playing around in the pool!

Im not even in the pool yet and Sawyer attackes me :)

Toni Roni and momma

Sawyer and Eric

Uncle Barney teaching Connor how to float

Connor loves riding on daddy's shoulders

Catch me mommy!!!

Connor playin with Daddy and Uncle Trevor

As always, our visit with Eric and family is always too short when they come to visit. They have been up in Payson with family and will be heading back to MN this weekend. I know they will be back around the holiday time :)

Babcia & Connor

We had a nice little visit with Babcia this weekend before she left for Poland. Connor loves to visit with his family and has nothing but smiles for his Babcia. He is getting to the point where he is just all over the place so its hard to keep him still and to get a good picture of him. This was the best one we got :)

Well we had alot go on the past few weeks, tree's blowin down, huge walls of dust, families coming and going, Connor also celebrated his last "1st" holiday which was the 4th of July. Before we know it our little guy will be 1 year old! Here is a little video below of Connor swimming. Enjoy!

Dust Storm of the Decade

2011-07-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

City of Phoenix on July 5th, 2011 before it is engulfed by a wall of dust

     This is more for my friends and family who either do not live in Arizona or were not in Phoenix when this happened.

    For those of you who don't know, this wall of dust, also known as a "Haboob" (I know, weird name) is very common in the Middle East but also in Arizona as well. During out Monsoon Season, which can range anywhere from June to September, we can get heavy thunderstorms with very powerful lightening, rain, wind and of course, alot of dirt. I believe the weather man said that the monsoon season offically started on July 3rd this year (when the humidity is above 55% for 3 days or longer) and it certainly start started off with a bang. On the evening of July 3rd we had a great thunderstorm, lots of lightening and rain, but not too much damage. Of course we had another storm on July 4th and if you didn't know what happened there please see previous blogs. This wall-o-dust hit on the evening of July 5th, right after we had cleaned up that mess in our front yard from the tree that fell the night before.   Here is video that was taken of this storm rolling in. You will see Sky Harbor International Airport and of course Chase Field. Alot of people were nervous about this wall of dust since the All Star Game was this week (July 12th) but we had no issues with weather and in fact it was only 103F (40C) out. Ha ha, only. I did not film this video, this is courtsey of YouTube from RussiaToday. And no, it was not a DoomsDay as everyone was calling it, it was just a very nasty wall of dust that stayed around for almost 24 hours. Only bad thing about these types of storms is of course the layer of dust it left behind and people and animals tend to get sick with Valley Fever because of everything that gets stirred up. Swimming pools were filled with dirt and the valley just looked nasty. Rumor has it this wall of dust was 100 miles wide (161 km) and about 1 mile high (1.6 km)

Now that you saw the profession video of this storm, you can see what it looked like at my house. Yes it was light out and then it became black as night when it rolled in. I knew it was coming but didn't think anything of it because we get these every year but when I came outside after it hit, I was suprised at how dark and erie it was, when the sun wasn't all the way down yet.

This is my parking garage at work. Covered by the way and the wall o dust swept thru the entire thing. These are tire tracks from people driving in the next day. My work is about 45 minutes from where I live and was hit before it reached my home.

See the layer of dust in the air? Covers the mountain tops, almost like fog but its dirt in the air. This was 8-10 hours after the Wall-O-Dust hit.

Monsoon season is officially here!

2011-07-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Ugh this tree

Ok so its no secret that I have never been a fan of this tree that is front of my house. Yes it is very big and provides alot of shade but it is messy, drops pods, very teeny tiny leaves, needles and teeny tiny branches. Well last night it dropped a LARGE branch, on Jonathan's truck.

We live in what I like to call "The Vortex." Because very rarely does anything every happen in the Vortex. All around the valley the storms hit and by the time the get to us, they are done. Well we had a storm on Saturday night that wasn't too bad, had some good rain and thunder. Last night though was another story.

Looks worse than it is

The storm hit around 10 last night (22:00) and it was coming down pretty hard. Alot of wind, rain, thunder and lighting. There was one point were it was pounding pretty hard that I actually looked out side to see what was going on. Only in the back though, not the front. So when I get up this morning I'm getting read to leave for work and as I'm opening up the blinds, I see this branch in front of my window. Pretty sure that branch was higher up last time I checked. I quickly ran to the garage to try and open it. . .nothing. This tree fell on top of Jon's car and was COMPLETELY blocking the garage door. Jon and I are now both trapped.

Split, right down the middle

Guess I'm not goin anywhere today

I called my office in a panic for I seriously had no idea what I was going to do. After I got myself calmed down, I worked for a few hours and then I went out to help Jon and Chris with this mess. Let me just say that the 50% humidity did not help either. We had someone do an estimate on how much it would cost him to haul it outta there and it was WAY more than we could afford, so it was the team of Kolson Cubed that took care of this one. Jon and Chris of course did the hard work but I was out there doing the little stuff. This was TERRIBLE! Ugh! Would have MUCH rather been at work than dealing with this garbage.

At least the truck is out.

We managed to get the truck out. Thankfully it just had some scratches and a cracked windshield but the rest was ok. Jon made one trip to the dump to get rid of this stuff and this is what is left. I'm sure the HOA will send us a lovely note that we've got garbage in our front yard and then I will tell them where to stick it. This will take a few days with Jon and I work and the dump is not very close. It blew our lawn chairs to the other side of the yard and I'm pretty sure all the fruit on the trees is now gone. But Jon, Connor and I are all safe and sound, we have cleared a path for me to get out to go to work tomorrow. Now we just have to worry about the other side of the tree now, for it is SERIOUSLY unbalanced. When are we moving again?

Happy Birthday Toni & America!

2011-07-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

Toni - 1 year old!! Born 07-01

Yeah for 3 day weekends!! First of which was a Happy Birthday to my special niece! Toni turned 1 year old on Friday and this was her at her birthday party eating her name-sake's prized birthday cake! No birthday would be complete without Grandma Toni's birthday cake. This is actually a clean shot of her but after this this kid got crazy!

Grandma Toni's Girls

Here is a picture of all of us with the birthday girl! My grandma Toni's daughters Kathi and Pat, with Colette and myself and little Toni in the middle. Although my Grandma Toni never got to meet Colette or Toni (I was two when she passed) I have no doubt that she is looking down on us today and is very happy :)

Here are the little munchkins in the pool. Toni and Waylon were having a great time! Connor wasn't so sure about all the jumping around the Waylon was doin. Toni loved it though!

This one just looks funny :)

I'm swimming!

So we really didn't have any plans for the 4th of July so we headed over to a family member's house to do some swimming! Connor was placed in the floaty and had a GREAT time in! He was kicking all over and splashing around. Little Happy just loves being where ever mommy and daddy are :)

Here I come mommy! I swimmin!

Connor and his first sparkler!

We weren't able to make any fireworks this year. Connor started to get a little sleepy (as you can tell in this photo) and once the sleepiness comes on, then the cranky comes on. So maybe next year.

Happy Birthday America! Thank you to ALL the men and women who have and are serving this great nation, and the families that support them.

Happy Birthday Toni Roni!! Aunt Corty loves you!!

Feeding and first Baseball Game!!

2011-06-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

Quick hands!

So this has been a busy week for Connor! Many things have been happening, so we decided to wait till the end of the week, to do it all in one big blog.
First things first. Connor has his 9 month's check up this week and he did great as usual. Our big (yet tiny) boy weights in at 17 pounds so he is a light weight but the doctor is not concerned at all. She was very happy to see how Connor had been growing since the last time she saw him (we see many doctors at this practice, so the last time she saw him he was only a few days old). She said he is right on target for growth, is happy that he is crawling, standing and learning to feed himself, as well as starting to form sounds. He mostly will say "lalalala" or "dadadadada" or "mamamamam" but they are never really short enough to mean one thing. I could have sworn the other day he said "Hi Daddy" but I'm sure it was just a fluke. He did his vision test and passed with flying colors, it was so funny to see him with his little eye patches on (so they could test one eye at a time) that mommy cried with laughter. He also finally passed his hearing test! He would never stay still long enough to get it done, but he managed to this time. He also got one shot, he cried for a bit but was pretty good after that.

Im eatin!

So this week I decided to let Happy try and feed himself and this is what happened. Pure messiness. He is able to pick up his Puffs carrots and sweat peas, but he has trouble still with the slippery fruits but he loves to eat bananas. He is still on his baby food, but we are trying to do half and half. He started on some pasta and meat today (which he actually started in Poland) and he loves it. I think it smells terrible be he eats it right up!

Go Dbacks!!

On Friday, Connor go to go to his very FIRST official Dbacks game at Chase Field. We got some tickets from work (then lost them so we had to buy a set, ugh) So we loaded him up into the car with all his Dbacks gear on and headed down to the park. The roof was open, which I thought was funny because it was like 100* out. He made it till about the 4th inning and thats where he started to get crazy. We had to leave in the middle of the 7th and miss the firework show, but he still did great!

A "True" fan begins in diapers.

Field, Crowd, AllStar Sign, Connor :)

These were probably about the only good pictures we got, he was pretty cranky at this point. Alot more to come soon! Connor will be celebrating his first 4th of July and Toni turns 1!! Can't believe it! Where does the time go!!

Till next time, enjoy Connor attempting to feed himself ha ha!

Connor feeds himself

Connor is 9 months!

2011-06-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Connor Andrew

Look at my little Happy! 9 months old today! I still look at him and am just in awe that he is my baby! He is such a great little munchkin that I can't even image how it could be any better. Watching him discover his world is such an amazing thing! He is getting bigger, smarter and faster everyday!

Hi Mommy!

This is his new favorite thing. He loves to pull himself up onto things. He started it in Poland by pulling hiimself up on luggage and then when we got home he was pulling himself on his crib and in his play pen. He sometimes gets stuck and will just hang on, standing there, until he either lets go or cries till I come help him down. He is a fast mover on his knees and everything is an adventure to him. He has started to wave a little bit which is cool because his cousin Toni has been doing it forever! (ha ha) We are slowing trying to move him to finger foods, we first started with peaches and that seemed to be a bit slippery, so tonight for dinner we will try some bananas.

Daddy and I love you so much Connor. You bring such joy to every life you touch. Your family both near and far can't get enough of you. Know that you will always be loved and will be supported in whatever you do. Love you Happy!

Connor in the morning!

What Connor learned in Poland

2011-05-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

Connor - 8 Months

My goodness!! Did my little Happy grow so much while he was in Poland! Its amazing what he has been able to do in the last 2 weeks! Here is what our little guy learned while traveling abroad.

1. Sleeping on a plane - This little guy has inherted his mom's ability to travel like a rock star. He was so good while traveling on planes, trains and automobiles.

2. Crawling - Before, Connor was an army man crawler, now he is full blown crawling on everything you can think of! And he is crazy fast!

3. Picking up food - He wasn't so good at picking up food and getting it to his mouth. Not so much anymore, now he is get things into mouth like crazy, time to watch out for small things!

4. Sitting himself up. We found him one morning just sitting up in his tent! Just like he's been doing all along!

5. Pulling himself up. He is pulling himself up on luggage and baby gates like a pro! Only thing is getting down from them :)

Our little man is growing up so fast! I can't believe in a few short weeks, he'll be 9 months!

Love you Happy!!

Visit our Poland Blog!

2011-05-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

If you didn't know already, the Kolson's are in POLAND! Come follow us on our journey thru the land of Jonathan's people! This will be our vacation only blog, once stateside, I'll be back over here :)

http://kolsonsinpoland.blogspot.com/

Till we chat again!
The Kolsons :)

Cort and Jon in Poland

Easter Baskets, Phoenix Zoo and crawling!! OH MY

2011-04-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

He started at the mat, and this is where he ended up!

Well we will start with the dreaded news first (ha ha!) Connor is yet again, on the move. This time our little man in crawling!! He is more doing the army man stomach crawl but non the less he is mobile. He is not super fast yet but I have no doubt that in a short amount of time, he will be flying thru this house with the greatest of ease! We have bought him some baby gates so he does spend some time in his little "baby prison" but so far that seems to be enough for him. But he is such a self entertainer that he just sits in there and crawls around and plays with his toys. So much for waiting to crawl till after Poland!!

Since we had Good Friday off and Colette had free adult passes to the Zoo, we loaded up the kiddos (after a crazy time adding a carseat to Colette's truck, don't ask, if you know Colette and I, you know it was something silly) and headed out to the Phoenix Zoo (the long way). Waylon had a great time and I'm sure Toni and Connor did too. They were too young really to really pay attention to anything, but Connor and Toni got to go into the petting zoo and also got a drive by on some of the other animals. It started to get hot though by 12 and by the time we reached the Lion Cave, Connor and Toni were out :)

Petting Goats

"Im tired Mommy"

"Is this what Aslan looks like?"

"Ha ha! Monkey's"
"Stop taking my picture Aunt Corty"

Then we come to Easter. We went over to Dad and Laura's house for a nice visit. The got great Easter Basket's from them and Connor got a spinning toy and a blue Easter Bunny that he thinks is really cool!

Look! I'm on the basket!

Papa and his Kiddos

Can I unwrap it?

All of these fun milestones that are coming and going for Connor are such a blessing! I feel like broken record sometimes but he truly is one amazing kid! We have only a few short weeks left before we take him over seas to Poland to visit family! What an exciting time that will be! Until Mothers Day!!

Love
Jon, Cort & Happy

Connor Crawls!!

7 months!

2011-04-09T13:11:00.001-07:00

FEAR ME!!!

So our little man has turned 7 months! Like his new face he has created? Yes it is quite the spectical this little guy. He likes to scrunch up his nose and make weird faces and noises. Here he was eating and I guess he was full and was tired of eating. Hence the ugly face and food all over him. No matter how fiesty he gets, he is still always a happy baby and mommy and daddy can't help but laugh.

Connor - 7 months, Toni - 9 months

Not too much going on in the land of Kolson. Chris was here for a bit during his spring break and its always nice to see him. Connor really likes his Uncle Chris (he wasn't too sure about him the last time he visited) so its great that Connor is starting to know his family. Connor and Toni are starting to play together. Here they are at Aunt Colette's house earlier in the week. Connor is getting so good at sitting up on his own! He still only has two teeth but with the amount of drooling thats going on, I wouldn't be surprised if another tooth in in route!

   Connor also went to his first "Birthday" party this month. My best friend from high school, Jessica, her son Luke turned 3 in March so we went to visit with them in the park. Connor was by far the youngest there so he couldn't really do much, but he got to sit in the grass for the first time and he really enjoyed it! He also had a great time flirting with Jessica and all the other great people at this party. Lock up your daughters!!

Connor is also start to scoot a bit across the floor, almost like an Army man. He isn't crawling yet but I have no doubt that before we know it, he's going to be mobile!

    As for Jonathan and I, we are doing great. Jobs are both going well and we are preparing for a 2.5 week trip to Poland in May. We are slowing getting everything together that we need, including Connor's passport (SO CUTE!) its amazing how much STUFF Connor needs for this trip! Thankfully there are so many travel things for babies now that not only will it make it easier to travel, but easier for him to be away from home, but to still have the comforts of home. My Polish, is getting better but I'm still terrible at it. Would probably be alot better at it if I did my lessons everyday but as a working mommy, sometimes its just not possible. My goal is to at least get thru it, I'm half way there!
   Below is a picture of him in his travel bed/tent. It has an air mattress in it and it can zip up so he can't roll anywhere We have been taking naps in it so when we get to Poland it wouldn't be a completely strange place to him. I also had it out in the back yard with me the other day while I was pulling weeds and it was great!!

Night night baby

Well I know there will be more to come soon! Alot of fun things are coming up! Including Connor's first plane ride and vacation, and my first trip to Germany/Poland!! Very exciting!!!

My 7 month old "Happy"

Till next blog!!!
Jon, Cort & Happy, aka "Connor"

A week of FIRSTS!

2011-03-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

First 2 TEETH!

So not to long ago, a little boy was running around in his walker, running down everything in his path. One day, while mommy was taking a video of this little munckin, he came running to her and began to chomp on her fingers, as he loves to do. Mommy this time, noticed that this little mouth, seemed alot sharper and to what do her wondering eyes should appear . . .not one but TWO little teeth in her little boys mouth! This drooling machine has finally cut his first 2 teeth. He has been a bit cranky but not too bad at all! My little guy growing up so fast!

First time sitting up and wearing his Converse

After the excitement of new teeth wore off, Connor was not satisified with his lack of attention (ha ha!) So, he decided "I'm going to sit UP!" and sure enough he began to balance himself and was sitting up on his own! He still falls over and is not quite 100% there, but he is awful close! In the above picture he is also wearing shorts and his converse shoes for the first time!!

Connor 6 months, Olivia 7 months

The Wards were in town from Oregon and they brought their little munchkins as well! Here we have Connor and Olivia. Connor was being a little cranky on this night and here he is holding his rally monkey. Olivia really liked this monkey and played with a few times. As you can see from above, she has her eye on it!

Can't believe how time is flying by! Connor is 6.5 months now and is growing so fast! He has entered a "stranger danger" phase so if he sees someone he is not quite sure about he starts to cry. He seems ok around women but men tend to be a little more frightening. His Uncle Chris is here in town for the break and Connor is not scared of him at all! So that is a step in the right direction! Another first, we got Connor's first passport ordered, for in 6 short weeks we will be taking him on his first plane right to Poland! That's right, we bought our tickets and the Kolson's are heading to Poland. Im really excited for this is the first time I have been to Poland and the first time I think I have been on vacation for longer than a week. We will be there for 2.5 weeks and even better news, Chris gets to come too!! What a great adventure we have in store!

The half year mark!

2011-03-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

Im 6 months!!

Today Connor is 6 months old! We have such a happy and healthy baby that we couldn't ask for anything more. He is growing and growing and watching him discover his world around him is truly amazing! He has done so much in such a short amount of time!

He is doing really well with his eating. In addition to his oatmeal, he eats squash, sweet potatoes, pears, apples and bananas. We have tried green beans but I got the "gag" face from him, so he was not amused with it. We will try it again in a few weeks. Next on his menu will be mangos, and peaches and whatever else comes on sale :) He used to struggle with the eating, he didn't have control of his tongue so the food got everywhere, but he has gotten better at it. Not sure how much he weights but I'll say about 16 to 17 lbs. We go for his 6 month dr appointment on Friday.

While mommy and daddy are working, Connor hangs out at Gammie's house! He has such a fun time there! I put him in a purple Dbacks outfit that Gammie got him when I took him to her house. As you can tell by the picture, he loves his Dbacks and his Gammie!

Toni 8 months, Connor 6 months

Last weekend and this coming weekend, we also had the joy of having my niece Toni stay with us while Colette and Jake were on a much needed vaction to Costa Rica (lucky!) I must saying having two kids to take care of can be alot of work. But thankfully these two were great! It helps that Toni can hold her bottle on her own. I have to laugh when these two are together, Toni is quite the talker and Connor not so much. She is also a loud talker so sometimes he gets scared. Sorry son, its just the way us girls are :)

Connor loves walking around in his walker! I call it his "vehicle" he will spend hours in it just walking around the house, back and forth! I have posted a little video of him below. I must admit the last part is a bit funny, for he took my finger and began to chew on it when I felt something sharp! Perhaps a tooth??
Stay tuned!!!

Spring Training!

2011-02-26T17:41:00.000-08:00

Kolson's at Spring Training

The day finally arrived! Baseball season has BEGUN! We have been looking forward to this day since Connor was born! Not only was this Connor's very FIRST baseball game, but it was his first Spring Training Game, and it was for the Dbacks at their new stadium in Scottsdale aka Salt River Fields - Talking Stick. It was a little cooler than I would have liked, but the weather held out for us and we were able to enjoy a great day at the park.

Mommy! He's out!

Connor did so well for his first game. He was all decked out in his First Dbacks hat and t-shirt, had a matching bib and dbacks socks. I was so excited to get him dressed this morning you would have thought it was Christmas.

15 minutes before game time

We had to get there pretty early. This game was sold out being that it was the very first game in a brand new stadium and the Dbacks were finally up in Scottsdale with all the other spring training teams (I think we may have 12 teams here now?) We sat on the lawn so that we could stretch out and have the stroller there with Connor. He was asleep for about the first hour after we fed him but he was pretty much up for the rest of the game.

Baxter, Connor and Cort

Gammie came with us to the game which was awesome, because I always enjoy going to the games with my mom. My Uncle Barney and Aunt Pat were also there too, we were sitting in the grass and they were in some seats on the other side of the field. Connor got to meet Baxter the Dbacks mascot and he also got a ceramic ticket showing that he was at this very first game! How cool is that! It will hang on his wall for sure!

Ceramic baseball ticket for Connor

I can't wait to take Connor to more baseball games. We all had such a great time. We left in the middle of the 7th inning being that it was starting to look nasty outside and we were losing 7-1 to Colorado. But right after we left they turned around and tied it up 7-7! Just goes to show you all my years of "Never Leaving Early" is a cardnial rule I should always stick with! But its harder now when there is a munchkin now. They ended up going 10 innings, but the Dbacks eventually fell to the Rockies, 7-8.
What a great stadium too! We hope to go back one day and just walk around during practice, it is so big and there are alot of things to see. In fact. . .mom and I saw the big man himself! Luis Gonzales! I was within hugging distance of him and I walked right past him and had to do a double take! Then mom and I about lost ourselves. We weren't able to get a picture with him but we were just inches away from the great Gonzo, savior of the 2001 World Series :)

View from the middle of the outfield

There will be many more spring training events to come. March is such a great month for spring training! We love seeing the Dbacks but are partial to the Padres as well since that is who we always saw before the Dbacks left Tucson (ugh Tucson). Here is to a better year for the Dbacks!!

OATMEAL!

2011-02-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

mmm, oatmeal

So Connor started his first solid food today. OATMEAL!! Not sure if you'd really call it "solid" it looked more like thick formula (mommy put too much formula in it) but daddy was very excited to give him his first meal! He took it in the beginning pretty well, kept reaching for daddy's hand for he wanted to grab hold of the spoon, but after a while he was not so sure about this stuff, but below he looks pretty happy!

Yeah food!!

We will continue the oatmeal for a few weeks before we add fruits and veggies. We shall see how it goes. In addition to this "first" for Connor, we have another first, his first cough. Poor thing started coughing on Saturday morning, its not too bad right now and it doesn't seem to happen all the time, just when he is crying (thankfully that is not often) He slept great last night with a little help from baby Vicks and the humidifier. We will call the doctor tomorrow for suggestions on what to do. He acts fine, doesn't have a fever, just has a little baby cough :)

Enjoy the video of Connor eating!!

Connor eating oatmeal

Connor Andrew is 5 months!!!

2011-02-11T21:33:00.000-08:00

Walks are AMAZING!

Can you believe it! I know we can't. Connor is now 5 months old! I can't believe how time has flown by these past few months. It seems like forever ago that he came screaming into this world, and now look at him, a man on a mission!!

He has done so much in such a short amount of time this month. A few weeks ago in a blog that was sent out, Connor rolled over. Now he is a rolling machine! He is quick to roll to his left and then he "get's stuck" and gets upset, but when he is in his crib, he goes right to sleep on his tummy! Such a good llittle sleeper !

Hi Mommy!! I'm playing!!

Silly boy, sleeping at the top of the crib.

Connor also went on his first "big walk" a few weeks ago. We walked over to my best friend from high school, Jessica's house who as crazy as this sounds, lives about a mile and a half from us (after all this time!!) We walked over there and played at the park with her son Luke (almost 3) and had lunch with her and her husband Joe. It was a nice long walk and Connor did well. He was all ready to go and was excited (hence the look on his face on the top picture) He got a little wind burned so that just meant he had rosy cheeks for a week.

In his big boy bath seat.

Connor also got too big for his infant tub so we had to go and buy him a bath seat. This works GREAT and will work even better when he can sit up on his own. As you can tell from the picture above, he slides down after a few mintues. I have since put a towel down so he doesn't slide as much. He is starting to kick in the water and I'm sure in no time, I wont be able to get him to stop.

Om nom nom

Connor loves sitting in his walker while mommy makes dinner. He pushes that thing all over the kitchen and living room. Mostly backwards right now but he gets those little legs going and he can get himself moving forward, but usually this is how he looks in this thing. He always has to have his mouth on something

My mommy is funny!

. Enjoy the many pictures below that I took of Connor while trying to take is "5 month" shot.

Gimmie this!

I want to play with my feet!!

Next up . . .OATMEAL :)
Love,
Jon, Cort & Connor

The Roll Over

2011-01-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

Connor - The roller

   So Sunday morning, as usual we hear Connor chatting with himself in his crib in the morning. After a bit I went in to get him so I could feed him and after his excitement that someone had finally come to get him, he rolled over in his crib. To mommy's surprise, I thought it was just a fluke but later that evening when I put him to bed, he tried again, a few grunts and he wasn't able to get himself over so he just gave up.
   The next afternoon while he was at Gammie's I received an email that Connor had rolled over. It wasn'ts a fluke after all! Connor, is on the move. So far only Gammie and mommy had seen this, so now it was time to show daddy.
    In our excitement of watching our beloved TV show Castle, Connor was lying on the bed in between us and he threw his legs in the air and finally rolled over for daddy. Daddy was very excited and Connor was too, that he rolled back and forth for a bit.
   Now its time to show the world, that Connor is rolling over! He'll lay there for a bit, as if to prepare, then he will throw his legs up, grab his feet and roll right over!! He's not happy when he gets there, but he'll get used to it in time.
   Enjoy the video of our little Happy, who is rolling over :)

Connor is 4 months!

2011-01-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

Connor Andrew - 4 months

Hard to believe that Connor is 4 months old!! He has started to become his own little person and he is SO FUN! He is making alot more noises now and its great to hear him "talk" when he is in his bouncer or in his crib. He has discovered his little feet and not only does he have control of them, he has TWO of them. He is very excited about that. Some other milestones this month, alot of 1st holidays, he finally got to meet his Uncle Chris (who he wasn't to sure about in the beginning but totaly loves him) and he also met his Uncle Eric and cousins Ethan and Sawyer when they were in town for the holidays. What is so great about Connor is that his world is amazing! He looks at everything with those big brown eyes and is always so excited to see you. The minute he sees you, that tooth-less grin comes right out and melts your heart! As we always say with his pictures "This is AMAZING!!"

Toni 6 months, Connor almost 4 months

We spent out New Years as always at the Pickards. It was great because we could just put the kids down and then hang out. While the boys were crazy enough to hang outside (it was 25*!!!) The girls were inside doing dance dance revolution on the wii. In watching the video that was taken (and no you wont be seeing it lol) I am amazed that Colette and I ever passed auditions for show choir.

Oh so sleepy!

Connor had his 4 month check up today. He is getting to be so big! He weighed in at 14 lbs 3oz and is 24.5 inches long. He is in the 35% for his weight and length and 50% for that growing Kolson brain of his. Doc said that he is holding his head up great and its nice and round (so worried about the flat head!) He has been drooling alot and chewing on his fists and Doc said that we may have an earlier teether! Nothing yet but who knows when! He can roll to his side but I know before I know it I'm going to find him on his tummy. He did get his shots today and was such a good boy. He did cry a little but after a cuddle with mommy and daddy he was fine :)

We are so blessed that from start of pregnancy to today, Connor has been the blessing that we have been praying for. I'm so thankful for my little "monster", my partner in life Jonathan, and everything else in between.

I have been working at home for the past month and I must say that I love it. I love not having the long drives into work everyday. I still go into the home office on Monday's and Tuesday's which is nice. Everyone at work has been awesome with this change so I can be closer to home, plus I hate driving :)

Love
Jon, Cort and Connor :)

Connor Giggles!

2010-12-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the video of my little man starting to giggle!! He has giggled for Daddy a few times but Mommy had yet to hear this giggle, but this afternoon I was playing around with him and he started to giggle! So I put the camera on and had at it! Enjoy his cuteness!!! I also added a picture of Uncle Barney with Connor from Monday's family dinner. We should have gotten a picture of all the cousins kids together (there would have been 6!!) But I didn't think of it till Trevor's daughter was already gone. Oh well, Eric, Ethan and Sawyer will be back again, but not soon enough!!!

Connor and his Uncle B

Connor's First Christmas

2010-12-26T15:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas is AMAZING!

Our favorite time of the year FINALLY arrived!! Christmas!! And what a blessing it was because we had Connor to share it with! Christmas week started off great because Uncle Chris finally came home and got to meet his nephew Connor for the first time! Connor wasn't so sure at first of his Uncle Chris, and after a few starles he finally knew that Chris was a good guy, as well I know him to be.

Uncle Chris, Babcia, Daddy and Connor

On Christmas Eve we went to my Uncle Mike and Aunt Donna's annual Christmas Eve gathering. We have been doing this for as long as I can remember. What is great is that this year, my brother and mother in law came with us! They are above in the picture with Jon and Connor. We usually do church after but Connor was not in his happy place so hopefully next year :)

2010 Family Photo

Christmas morning we headed over to Mom's house, another tradition we have had for years. We all had her wonderful breakfast and just got to hang out as a family. Its so great to see Waylon get so excited about all his gifts he gets, and tells us what Santa brought him. I can't wait till next year when Connor and Toni are big enough to be fun at Christmas!

Connor 3.5 months, Toni almost 6 months

After Mom's we headed over to Wujek Peter and Cocia Margaret's house (that would be Uncle and Aunt in Polish) to visit with them for a bit. Our cousin's Victoria and Kasia were also there with their husband's and its always great to see them. Cocia, Victoria and Kasia just love Connor, as do he with them. Its great because in addition to Babcia, Cocia Margaret also speaks to Connor is Polish which is great since he will be learning it too.

Then we headed to Babcia's (grandmother in Polish) for a FEAST of wonderful Polish food. She always makes SO much but it is always SO GOOD! It was great to finish out the day with her and visit. Connor loves his Babcia so much and he always gives her big smiles when he see's her.

Connor and Babcia

This Christmas was the best so far. This year was such a blessing with my little guy, my wonderful husband and my brother in law is also staying with us while he is on furlong from NMMI. His girlfriend Tana is also staying with us who is such a great girl! Chris got himself a good one this time :) She will be heading back to New Mexico on Sunday and we will sure miss her around here. Chris will head back to NMMI on the 9th. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that they were as blessed as Jonathan and I were this year.

Merry Christmas from the Kolsons

Above is a video of Connor on Christmas morning. Its a bit dark but very cute :) Enjoy!!

Goodness me!! He's 3!!!

2010-12-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

Look at our little man who is now 3 MONTHS!!! I can't believe how the time is flying. He is such a happy boy I can't even stand it! His colic is pretty much gone now and he is just a big bundle of happiness. He's sleeping thru the night for the most part, he loves being in his swing and his is bouncy chair next to me when I'm on the computer. He smiles ALL the time!!

He has been doing great at Gammies! He spends most of his time there while mommy and daddy are at work. Thankfully my rotation of working from home will start part time next week so I can be closer to Connor, but he still gets to spend alot of quality time with his Gammie. He really loves his daddy too! Unfortunately Jon has been really the sick the past few weeks so he hasn't really gotten to see his daddy too much, but Jon is getting better and Connor is very excited about that. We did have our first 2 day stint without daddy when he went down to Tucson for work. I must say to all you single parents out there, I have no idea how you do it. I'm so thankful that I have a partner I can count on because there is no way I could raise this little guy n my best friend.

We are currently preparing for Connor's first CHRISTMAS!!! We've decorated the tree and put all the decorations up and he loves the lights! Im so excited for Christmas this year with my little guy! We've got alot of people to visit and places to go!

The best thing . . .Connor finally gets to meet his Uncle Chris when he comes home for Christmas next week. He's pretty excited if I do say so myself.

More too come soon!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2010-11-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

Connor @ 11 weeks

Well Thanksgiving came and how busy it was!! We usually do only 2 Thanksgivings each year since we usually have four to go to and we can't fit them all in, but this year we ended up doing ALOT of Thanksgivings and we aren't even done yet as I write this!

We started off at Dad and Laura's house which was really great to actually be able to go, and sit and eat. Connor was really good and pretty much slept the who time. After that we made a quick stop over to see great grandpa Henryk who has never met his great grand child Connor before. He was so excited to see him and just kept telling him what a beautiful boy he was, in Polish. Connor gave him big smiles and I'm sure that he was really happy to see him. We also made a quick stop over to Andrew's so that everyone could see and meet little Connor. Andrew is always so excited to see Connor. He took him right away and fed him as we visited. Connor always loves to see his grandpa. Then we headed out to dinner with Babcia which was nice because we went out to dinner. I have never gone out to dinner before on Thanksgiving and I must say that when you have so many places to go, its a nice change of pace. Next year though since Connor won't be so 'new" anymore it will be back to only 2 families for the Thanksgiving. Its just too crazy to do 4 in one day, no one gets time to chat or see anyone, and we always feel like we are rushing out the door.

Today we were to go up to Payson to have Thanksgiving with the Van Horns, which was nice since it was on a Friday we didn't have to rush. We were to head up around 11, spend the night and then head down the hill on Saturday. But as fate would have it, their house caught on fire (everyone is fine and there is not too much damage) so it was touch and go there for a while as to if we would even go up there, but we all made the trip up to Payson and had a wonderful Thanksgiving as we always do with them. Even though it was a bit cold, there was a bit of damage to the home and some smoke in the house, it didn't matter to any of us because we were all safe, all happy and all Thankful. We'll head back up the hill when Uncle Barney and Aunt Pat get the house fixed and stay the night so that Connor can see his first snow!!

We still have a few more Thanksgivinges to hit. Tomorrow we head over to the Mihaljevich house for left overs and then Sunday its the 4th Annual Mother-Daughter brunch. What a busy 4 day weekend, I'll need a day just to recover from it!

This year was such a great year to be Thankful. I have a wonderful family who is all healthy and happy. Great friends that make me laugh, a job that lets me work from home so I can be closer to my munchkin, a husband who is not only my best friend, but my soul mate and father to my precious little boy who came screaming into this world 11 weeks ago. Its amazing that this time last year, my heart was so heavy for I so wanted to have a child of my own, and I wasn't sure that was going to happen. But here I sit, tired with formula spit up all over my clothes knowing, that my little man is fast asleep in his warm bed and truly happy, all in which, I am truly thankful for :)

Thanksgiving, Van Horn style!

Connor meets Santa!!

2010-11-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here it is!! Connor met Santa for the FIRST time! He did so well. Mommy was so excited to take Connor to meet the big guy that I could hardly STAND IT. Christmas is my favorite time of year and its going to be even better becuase this will be Connor's first. Taking Aunt Colette's advise we went before Thanksgiving, on a weekday, in the evening. We walked right up to Santa, Connor went right to him and didn't cry at all. Not really that Connor would he is pretty good with everyone. He is wearing his "I love Santa" outfit that I got him. Connor will be lucky if he doesn't go thru the entire month of Christmas without some sort of Christmas outfit on. Yeah Christmas will soon be here and Connor can FINALLY meet his Uncle Chris! More to Come!

Mommy goes back to work

2010-11-21T16:33:00.000-08:00

Connor at Gammie's house

    Well the time finally came that I would have to leave my baby boy behind and head back to the trenches of Edward Jones. I went back to work full time in the office on Monday and surprisingly did really well! The drive to Chandler (from my house to Jones is about 45 minutes/35 miles one way) seems alot longer than I remember and clearly still sucks. One because its so far and two because since it winter now, its dark out! BOOO!! I have taken a bit earlier schedule for 2 reasons, one so that I can pick up Connor from Mom's at about 4:15 and 2 because Connor is usually up around 5/530 to eat so its easier just to feed him and then go to work. So I work about 6:45 to 3:15 (roughly). The first day back I had a lovely 720 emails waiting for me so that took about 5 hours to go thru, resulting in the deletion of almost 650. I offically started processing my own work on Tuesday which was probably not the best idea since that is our busiest day and I had forgotten pretty much how to do my job (ha ha!) But luckily I remembered by Wednesday. Sorry to those companies who I sent emails to, without the attachment. Luckily not alot of changes occured buring my 10 weeks off and the changes that did happen were for the better. I hope to be working from home part time starting Dec 6th (crossing fingers).
     Connor did GREAT at his Gammies. It was a bit rough at first since he was at a new place and wasn't ued to seeing his Gammie everyday, but he quickly got into the swing of it. He slept thru the night for me almost everynight and had almost all great days with Gammie. We can't expect to have perfect baby days everyday. I'm so glad and thankful that I can take Connor somewhere that I know he will be cared for as I would, that he is safe and will turn out a great little man!! Plus he has 2 other babies with him that were all born the same week as him so they will all grow up together!
    Thankfully this week is a short week but will have alot to do with all the Thanksgiving Festivities starting on Thursday. We'll be at my dad's house this year in the afternoon and then will be having dinner with Gina in the evening. We'll behaving dinner at Black Angus which is something I've never done on Thanksgiving before, but it will be nice since Jon and I can't cook dinner (being that we are all over the place, not that we are unable too lol) and since Chris wont be here for Thanksgiving (he'll be in New Mexico with his girlfriend Tana) its just be better that way :) Then Friday we head up to Payson for Thanksgiving with the Van Horns which I'm really excited about for it will be Connor's first traveling spend the night!! Then we come back down the hill on Saturday and head over to the Mihaljevich house for some left over turkey and so that Connor can get spoiled by Aunt Sara and Uncle Joe. We made a quick visit to them yesterday to pick up some world famous pasta sauce and Connor already loves them as we do. Then Sunday its brunch with mom, Colette, Ahna and Nancy in our 4th annual Mother/Daughter brunch. We usually do it at Christmas but since Ahna will not be able to come down for Christmas this year (they moved to Portland earlier this year) we'll be doing it for Thanksgiving.
   We've got a busy week ahead but so thankful we do! More to come for Connor's first Turkey day and then its off for CHRISTMAS!!!! YEAH!!!

Love the Kolsons

Look who's 2 months!!

2010-11-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

We can't believe our little guy is 2 MONTHS old already!! Where has the time gone! He is becoming such a little person now. He is starting to look more and more like a baby instead of a newborn and his features are coming out. He definately has daddy's hair line, brow and mouth but he has mommy's eyes and dimples! And look below!!

All though this image is a bit blurry (the kid moves around like crazy!) He has started smiling!! When he gets up from his nap is when he smiles the most, and in the mornings when you get him up and change him he smiles the whole time! He is such a happy baby! I think it is safe to say we are out of the colic phase and he tends just to get fussy now if he has gas or is tired. We are slowly moving him from the colic formula to just the gas formula which will save mommy and daddy alot of money. He is now up to 5 oz every 4 to 5 hours. He is sleeping at night anywhere from 5 to 7 hours which is great! He has been in his room since he was 6 weeks and he is doing so well in there!! You put him in there and he doesn't fuss very much and usually falls right to sleep! He wakes up around 4 or 5 to eat and then usually goes right back to bed.

This last appointment he got his first round of shots and did really well. He cried but then slept the rest of the day. He offically is 10lbs 13oz and is 23.75 inches long and is in the 35% percentile. Doctor says he looks great and such a healthy boy! He is starting to twist and roll to his side a bit, but no rolling over yet!

Connor is getting used to his bath time. 95% of the time he loves it, unless mommy is taking pictures and he gets cold. Here he looks like he is about to fight me :)

Here is Toni (4 months) and Connor (2months) hanging out on Saturday! Toni is a talking machine and Connor is just a moving machine. Here they are both smiling at Colette. Such cuties!

Well I'm on my last week with Connor before I go back to work. I have mixed feelings about it. I'm ready to go back and get into the swing of things, and then I don't want to leave my baby boy behind. But for the first 2-3 weeks I will be in the office full time and then sometime during the first week of December I will be at home for 3 days and in the office for 2 so I can be closer to the little guy. But I know he will be in good hands with Gammie.

Connor had his first babysit with his Babcia so that mommy and daddy could go out for mommy's birthday on the 1st. They had such a great time and Connor did so well. He loves when his Babcia comes over to see him. He will have his first overnight with Gammie this weekend when we go to our family friend Carol's wedding. Connor has also had lots of visits from his Dziadzio too, he loves when Dziadzio comes to see him as well, he falls asleep right in his arms.

More posts will be coming soon as more holidays are coming and I can't WAIT!! Plus he will FINALLY get to meet his Uncle Chris when he comes home for Christmas. Yeah!!

The Kolsons, 10-31-10

Connor when he gets up in the morning :) 11-10-10

Happy Halloween!!

2010-11-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here is Connor is his Halloween outfit! This was his first holiday and he was such a good boy! We weren't able to get a costume for him this year for I couldn't find any that I liked that would fit him being that he is only 7 weeks old, but this was too cute! He hung outside with us for a while and then we came in for it was a bit chilly outside, for both mommy and Connor. Mommy was a bit cold because someone threw up on her so she had a wet shirt on :D We spent the evening down at the Pickard's for Jake's birthday and Halloween. Jake took Waylon around trick or treating while everyone else stayed at the house. I wish my neighborhood was like Colette's with alot of famlies and kiddos for it was so great to see so many people out for the real reason of trick or treating. My neighborhood doesn't have very many kids so we usually head over to Peoria. Stay tuned for Connor has his 2 month check up on Thursday and he turns two months on the 9th!! He has done so much in such a short amount of time!!

Introducing, Connor Andrew

2010-10-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here is the next video in my "Kolson Adventures" series. The first video was of our wedding three years ago, and now this is the second chapter, introducing Connor! Enjoy!!

Connor hits Arizona!

2010-10-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Connor has done alot of traveling the past few weeks meeting a bunch of new people!! Last Thursday we made the trek out to Sun City to meet Connor's Great-Grandparent Hazel & Ken. Connor was such a good baby with his great grand parents. He slept most of the time which was great, I'll admit I was a bit nervous because with his colic you never know when thats gonna hit. Lucky for us its every 3 or 4 days, and this was an off day for the colic.

Great Grandma Smith

Great Grandpa Smith

While we were visiting with the great grandparents we also got to see Great Aunt Jennie (who was a bit nervous to hold him since he was so small) and also Aunt Jeannine and Uncle Gary were down from Oregon so Connor got to spend time with them too!

Aunt Jeannine

As we continued on our travels thru out Arizona, Connor and I also made a trip out to my work for Jessica's baby shower. It was nice to get out and see everyone and it was so great to Connor got to meet everyone at my work as well! He was such a good boy! Everyone stopped by to see him and meet the little guy who made mommy silly for 9 months. He was first known as the peanut, then "lil fatty", for a short time mommy called him Lucy (for I was sure it was a girl) and then Connor! I don't have any pictures right now but when I get some, I'll post them :)

Connor has also seen many visits for his Babcia Gina, Cocia Lidia and Dziadzio Andrew too. They have come by almost once a week since Connor was born. We had lunch yesterday with Gina and Connor was such a good boy! And Babcia sure loves her "Wnuk" :D

On Saturday, Gammie also came over to watch Connor so that mommy and daddy could go out on their first date night without the kid! This was a celebration of baby, alone time and anniversary since that hit about 2 weeks after Connor got here. We went to the Ocean Club and saw the move "Red" which was very funny! Date nights are now back in full force for once a month again thanks to the babysitting of Gammie and Babica. Next date night will be for my birthday on the 1st and Carol's wedding on the 13th, that is going to be one crazy time!!

Connor & Toni

Connor also got to meet his cousin Toni offically for the first time! Toni is exactly 10 weeks older than Connor and they both did great! I'm so excited that Connor will get to grow up with Toni and Waylon, I grew up with my cousins Trevor and Eric (Eric and I are 6 months apart) and I wouldn't trade it for a minute! So I know Connor and Toni will have the same adventures that I did with my cousins. I spent alot of time with the Van Horns growing up for holidays and camping and many other fun adventures and so excited that the tradition of sisters (My mom and Aunt Pat) hanging out with their family will now pass on to Colette and I. I can't WAIT to take these two camping and quadding!!

We also got our first family photos taken by Jaqi. She did such a great job and was able to get a few pictures in of Connor in between his "tired" fits he was throwing. I have a project I'm working on so when its finished I will post it so you can see all the beautiful pictures she took. Here is a sample one below!

The Kolson Family

More to come!!

Cort, Connor & Jon

Look who's already a month old!!

2010-10-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Can you believe our little monster is already a month old!! Its hard to believe that he has been here for a month! We can't imagine nor even remember what it was life without him here. He has come so far so fast and before we know it our little man won't be so little anymore.

As many of you know, life with a newborn can be challenging and fustrating, but in the end its all worth it. We have sleepless nights, endless crying fests (Connor has developed an alert ego, known as Sgt. Meltdown) getting pooped on, peed on, barfed on and whatever else you can think of but at the end of the day I can't help but smile at our precious little boy.

Connor is doing great! At his one month appointment he weighed in at 8lbs 11oz and was 22 1/2 inches long. He is in the 23 % and the doctor thinks he looks great! We do believe he has a touch of colic but thankfully that only seems to come up every few days and mostly those melt downs comes between 6am and noon. He is sleeping most of his time, and at night he can sleep about 4 hours before he needs to be fed. We have him up to about 4oz now on some really expensive formula for his colic and gas. We pretty much have it under control and are so thankful that colic only lasts a few months so the cry fests will stop as will the expensive formula. He has started to find his voice and its funny to hear him grunt and coo while he is in his bouncer or bassinet. He is such a joy to have!!!

Jon has gone back to work and is working from home which is great. He'll be home for 2 more weeks. I'm still on leave and will be returning to work around mid-November, just in time for the next employee to go on materinty leave. I'll be working the first 2 weeks in the office and then after Thanksgiving I will be part time at home and part time in the office. We have ventured out a few times, having dinner with family and friends, and we have had alot of visitors. Tomorrow (10-10) will be my first day out of the house without Connor when I head out to a bridal shower. I think I will enjoy some girl time. I have recovered GREAT from his birth, I was pretty much back to normal about 10 days after he was born and am already back into my pre-maternity clothes. I look at some of the clothes I wore before he was born and I can't believe some of that stuff was too big!!

Well, there will be more to come as Connor grows!! Stay tuned!!

Love, Cort, Connor & Jon

And Connor makes 3!

2010-09-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Sept 2010

Well the day finally arrived!! All the girls finally had all their little ones! It seemed like it was just yesterday (actually Dec 26th) that Colette announced she was about 3 months pregnant. At the same time as if on que, Ahna too announced that she was pregnant, 2 months along. As funny as this may sound at that VERY moment when they both announced they were pregnant, I knew right away that I was too! I used to get upset when people would announce they were pregnant because I wanted to pregnant too but for the first time, I actually felt excited!! And here was the end result! Even though it was way too early to tell back then, I just had that gut feeling that this time it was right! How could it not be! 3 girls, who grew up next door to each other and have been family friends for over 20+ years not be pregnant all at the same time! Colette (L) had her daughter Toni July 1st, Ahna (C) had her daughter August 4th (I think) and the myself (R) had Connor on September 9th. What an exciting journey we all get to be taking!! Also in this picture, Waylon (on the floor in blue) is Colette's 3 years old and the cute little blonde in the middle is Ahna's 2 year old Cooper. We all managed to get a quick get together while Ahna was visiting in town from OR and I'm barely a week here with Connor (it was a bit of a struggle for me physically but well worth the small trip). So excited that these great kids all get to grow up together!

June 2010

Welcome to the world, Connor Andrew!

2010-09-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

   So look who finally showed up!! Connor Andrew is officially here!! And we couldn't be more excited.!!

   As most of you know, last week was a bit rough for me with all the doctor visits and disappointing news but the day finally came.
   We were on the list at Scottsdale Healthcare to be induced on 9/9/10 and to our amazement we got the call at 1:30am to come in and get induced. So after a silent and nerve-racking ride to the hospital our journey began.
   We were admitted and they started the IV at about 3am and it took 4 hours for my contractions to become really quick and stronger. At 7am we were rolled into labor and delivery dilated at 3cm. After I received the wonderful drug called Epidoral, in 3 short hours I was already dilated to 8cm and when 11am came it was time for the push. And boy did we push. For a little over 2 hours we pushed and pushed for this little guy to come out. I will admit it was a bit weird because at Scottsdale they do not have you give birth in a "operation" type setting, it was an actual room. My Dr arrived around 1 to help with the serious pushing and I will admit I didn't think I was going to make it thru the pushing. We determinded that my Epidoral probably wore off around 1 because the pain was just terrible. But I managed to get a little bit more of the drug and gave my last push at 2:18 and out he came. Connor weighed a whopping 8lbs, 1.6oz, 21 inches and I'm proud to say I'm the first (in our immediate family that is) to have their child naturally. It was very difficult but I could not have gotten thru it without Jonathan. He was there with me every step of the way, coaching me, telling me to breathe, praying with me. I would have never made it without him. Both my sets of parents and Jon's sets of parents were there to see hear him arrive.
   We had so many visitors come and visit that I can't even begin to name everyone who visited, called, texted. We also had excellent staffing at the hospital as well, the expierence was great.
   We came home yesterday (9/11) and are still working on getting used to each other. First night was a bit rough, alot of feeding and crying and gas, but today has been great. We are getting on a schedule now and Jon has been great today about getting Connor to sleep in his bassinet. Im still in a bit of pain but dr says that should be cleared up by the end of the week.
   Thank you everyone again for all that you have done for us during this journey of pregnancy, now comes the fun part. The journey of parenthood :)

Jonathan, Courtney & Connor

10 Thoughts on my Last Day of Pregnancy

2010-09-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

So as I lie here in bed, exactly 40 weeks pregnant and on the even of my induction, I though I would update my blog. But I began to wonder, "What should I write about?" I mean of course there is alot of excitement going on but what should I really say? I was surfing around my friends blog and I was reading one friend who was listing her "10 on Tuesdays" (What a great read Amanda thanks!) So I decided to write one similar to hers, but it would be more of a "10 thoughts on my last day of Pregnancy". I decided to be completely honest in my thoughts as I sit here with my son, wiggling snuggly in his little home for possibly his last time until he is born.

1. I'm scared to DEATH about giving birth. I cried myself home today after my doctors appointment today because of the pain I endured to "get labor started" which after two attemps didn't even get done. If I can't even go thru that, what makes me think I can have a baby. This scares the crap outta me. I know I will survive, for I have Jonathan and a strong line if drugs awaiting me.

2. I can't WAIT to see Connor's face!! I have felt him kick, wiggle and flip for the past 4 months. Now I get to see him do the same thing, just safely in his crib and not in my belly. I can't wait to see his cute little face and hold him for the first time.

3. I couldn't have done this without Jonathan. I couldn't have done this alone, nor would I have wanted to. He has been there for me thru thick and thin, thru mood changes and food cravings and he never complained once about it. My prayer for Connor is to learn from his father, on how a man should be.

4. I'm excited to get my body back. I know it won't be overnight, but I'll be glad to stop wearing tents, my feet won't swell up anymore, I wont have to have the house at below freezing and I'll be able to bend over to pick things up again. Awesome.

5. My pregnancy has been a blessing. Alot of you know the road to our pregnancy was not an easy one. But the time finally came and we became pregnant. I can honestly say that this pregnancy has been a blessing and I haven't had ANY issues. This pregnancy has been ideal. Now if I can't just get thru the birthing process, we'll be good.

6. Is thankful for all her friends who have been pregnant before her. Alot of people don't want to be told what to do when they are pregnant or what they'll need once baby arrives. I was very thankful for everyones advice and will continue to recieve it will gratitude. Only thing I didn't like was the comments "Oh you just wait till this happens" usually followed by some horrible statement meant to be helpful but masked as a scare tactic. Luckily I didn't get too many of those last ones and thankfully what they "warned me about", never happened :)

7. Is thankful to God. I did alot of praying and reading of my Daily Pregnancy Devotional. It was amazing how my daily devotional was right along were I was, with an insirpational story and verse. I pray that we as a soon to be family of 3, can find a church were we belong, since we are currently without a church home at this moment.

8. Is scared about becoming a parent. You can get all the advise and help from everyone you know, but it in the end its just me, Jonathan and Connor. I know God would not have allowed us to be parents if we couldn't handle it so Connor, be patient with us, this is our first time as a mommy and daddy.

9. Hoped to have gone into labor naturally. Most women in our family had to be induced, I was hoping that I could break that trend, but as of right not it doesn't appear that will happen. I also hope to have this kid naturally since everyone also seemed to have c-sections, but after todays doctor appointment, I kinda hope I have a c-section now, not only because of the pain, but I get 2 extra weeks of disabilty pay for it :)

10. I can't wait for Connor to meet our family. We have so much love to give this little guy and I hope he feels as lucky to have us as family as we are to bring him into our family. He will have great grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends that I hope he doesn't go one second without feeling loved.

Well, thats pretty much all I've gotta say for now as I feel like I should get up and start moving around since Connor is flipping around too, hopefully getting ready to move out :) Next post. . .the arrival of Connor Andrew!!! Stay tuned!!

Cort +1

Connor's Baby Shower

2010-08-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Can't believe the day finally arrived!! Jonathan and I had our baby shower for Connor and what a great turn out! We didn't do the tradition baby shower just for women, we just had a simple gathering with our friends and family and everyone showered us with love for our future new addition Connor Andrew.

We were excited with all the people that attended that included both my parents and Jonathan's parents. My grandparents even made the trek out from Sun City in the heat for the shower of their latest great-grandchild! This baby is very special for not only is it the 3 grandbaby for my parents, but it is the first grandchild for the Kolson Family! Thank you to all who attended, and to those who sent gifts who were not able to attend. It made the day even more special.

To add to the surprise, my work also threw me a surprise baby shower and it was at complete surprise!! Credits go out to Cathy and Lindsey who planned it (and anyone else who planned it that I didn't know about) and my leader Jason for hiding me a conference room and making me believe that I was actually in there for a reason. Below is some of the girls I work with who came all the way out to my house for the shower, which most of you know is really far from my work. Thanks Amy and Jessica, meant alot that you were there.

The next day after the shower Jonathan and I went and bought out Babies R Us with the remaining stuff we didn't get at our shower. Thankfully it was just little things like bottles and bibs and what not. Thankfully with all the credits we had, gift cards and cash and coupons I had (thanks Colette!!) We ended up not spending a dime of our own money. Now thats what I call saving money!!

Jonathan with his Babies R Us loot!

Hard to believe that as I write this, we are T-4 weeks till Connor arrives (or at least his due date anyways) We are so excited to see this little guy and excited at all the great people he will have in his life. What a lucky kid!!!

Courtney

Connor's first images

2010-06-26T20:22:00.001-07:00

Take a look at Connor's first photos!! Its AMAZING what they can do these days with ultrasounds. I want to thank Diane and Tracy who work for an OB who was willing to take a few shots of our little guy. He struggled a bit, not wanting to show us his face and always putting his hands in front of his face but he eventually let us take a quick look at him. It was truly amazing to see what he looks like and that he has a chubby little face already!! He is still only 3 pounds and still have some pounds to pack on and develope those organs, but he continues to be a active little guy! So cute!!! Below is a small video of him moving around while in his home. As I said before he is a bit shy so we got him for about 15 seconds before he put his little hands up and was done with us pokin around. But mom, dad and baby are doing great! I'm on my two week schedule now for about a month to 6 weeks and then it will be every week until he gets here! Its going to be an exciting time!!

Babymoon 2010

2010-06-20T19:16:00.001-07:00

Well Jon and I took our last offical vacation alone (for a while at least) to Pinetop. It was a trip well needed. With the craziness of work for both Jon and I, the house, some "behind the scenes" family craziness it was time to get outta Dodge! Jon and packed up the dogs and headed east to Pinetop. Jon has a co-worker that was nice enough to let us rent her cabin for a few days and we had a great time. The weather was perfect, we did a little fishing, some laying around, the dogs got to be let loose in the water and what more could someone ask for! It was definately too short of a trip but at least we know of a great place we can sneak away for a great vacation. Thanks to the Hayes family for coming in and saving the day with their lovely vacation home!

Love -
Jonathan, Courtney, Korbin, Leelu and Connor :)

6 1/5 months!!

2010-06-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well here it is! Finally a belly shot that everyone has been asking for! I am sorry that I haven't been able to get one up sooner, but with the house under chaos since March, I couldn't find my cord to the camera. But here we are! Connor is 6 1/2 months along and is doing GREAT! He is such a happy little baby. He is actually measuring a week ahead of my chart but we are still shooting for 9-11. Dr says he has a nice strong heartbeat (last one was 140 bpm) and mommy is has put on 20 lbs if you can believe it. Only complaint is my shins/calves seems to hurt all the time. Dr says thats due to extra weight and walking on tile. I've been in my sneakers though for the past 3 months and that helps alot. He loves to move around alot when mommy is getting ready for bed and daddy talks to him every night. His movements are getting bigger every day and he looks like a little fish moving around in my tummy. Some of his movements have been so big that it kinda freaks mommy out :P I have started to feel him on the sides now and I think this morning I might have felt him playing by my rib cage. You'll also notice that my hair is shorter and darker now. Its funny how every month, my hair gets darker and shorter but I promise you, this is as short as it will get, but I will admit it is a very easy hair cut to take care of. Love it!!!

Chris graduates from high school

2010-06-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well he did it! Chris graduated from NMMI on May 14th. Jon and I made the trip (our only traveling far trip since Connor is on his way) to Roswell via an hour plane ride and 3 hour drive to Roswell. I'll admit I was a but nervous traveling 5 1/2 months pregnant for I've never done that before, but Connor did great as did mommy! The 3 hour car ride wasn't bad either, surprisingly we only made one stop each way.

We got to see some ceremonies at Chris's school, like the students who will be going into the military next year. It was very cool to see them up on stage, getting their pins and stripes, especially since it was their families that go to do it. And to top it off, once finished the cadet got his or her first salute which was usually by a family member who was in the service. That was very cool.

Chris graduated on a very rainy weekend, but luckily the skies remained clear for his graduation.

Chris we are so proud you!! You have come a long way since the little "rat" who was dropped off at NMMI with that baby fat and not so sure if you wanted to stay there or not. But now you have become this man who knows what he wants to do with his life and it pointed in the right direction. Where ever you chose to go to college Chris, always know that you will always have Jonathan and I (and Connor) supporting you 100%. Congrats bro!!! We love you!!

Jon and Chris. . . "legit"

And the verdict is. . .

2010-04-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

A BOY!!!! Can you believe it!! Jon and I are going to be parents to a little boy!! How cool is that! I must say that I was very shocked for sure that it was a girl and it took a few days for it to sink in but I'm totally excited about all the things we get to do with our lil man! He has been growing well lately and is moving around alot. I feel him mostly when I'm relaxing and as he gets bigger, he moves around like a little alien in there. No hard kicks or anything yet, but when he rolls it almost feels like a little wave! So cool!! I will post a picture of myself soon, as today I have offically hit the 5 month mark! Half way there and feeling great! House is coming along, slowly but surely but we broke down and hired someone to lay the tile so this weekend he'll be by to put it down. then next week is painting the "yet to be named" Kolson's room and carpet in his room and then DONE! Just MAJOR cleaning after that. It will be great because Jon has been working so hard so I'll be glad when this is done so he can get a little rest :) More to come soon!

Cort & BBK (baby boy Kolson)

Opening Day

2010-04-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come again for another opening day! This year we were minus one of our original party members for Aunt Pat was off the week before when Eric and his family were here so Jon went instead. We also has two stow-aways this year (Toni & Lil fatty) and despite sitting in seats right in front of the speakers (which I don't recommend) The game was great! The roof was open for perfect weather and the Dbacks beat the Padres 6-3 (no thanks to the two homers the Padres hit in the top of the 9th) None the less we win!! It was a great way to start of the season. Go Dbacks!!

The Pit

2010-04-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Oh to the computer room or "The Pit" as it was so loving known. The room was once a place of peace and happiness, but once more than computer came in here it because the room where you hide everything that you don't know where to put (don't laugh, you know you have a room like this.)

Well, with lil fatty coming the house is on a major overhaul (sorry, no guests please) and we decided to start of with this room since it was really the most terrible. We got rid of the big gray desk, took down all of Chris's computer (since he will be taking that to college with him in Aug) and we moved the iMac over to the other desk and took down its bench. We also got another book case which we desperately needed, and a new filing cabinet. Now the room has so much room since we are more organized now! This may be the room I work in when I become a work at home but that is still months away. We will get a futon (sp?) So that when Chris does come home for his week breaks, he at least won't have to sleep on the floor. But until then this room. . .is clean :)

And no, there is nothing hiding in any other rooms or closets. The drawers are pretty organized and we have a nice Goodwill pile going. Its amazing what a pregnant woman and her partner in crime (aka Baby Daddy) will clear out in her "nesting"phase. More to come!!!

Cort & "lil fatty"

New Floors!!

2010-03-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well Uncle Sam was kind to us this year and instead of going on a trip to Poland like we had planned, we have decided that new flooring was more important. Uncle Sam wasn't too kind so we can't really afford to have someone come in and do it, so Jon is going to take on the project bless him! The carpet wasn't that big of deal, just roll it up and out it went. Tile on the other hand was a bit tougher. Jon has alot ahead of him but he is being a trooper, probably because he hated the carpet so much (thanks to devil kitties that destroyed it) But we will keep carpet in the bed rooms. For now the only room we will re-carpet will be "lil fatty's" room, unless Home Depot can make give us a smoking deal on the other two. Oh the joys of owning your own home :) More to come!

Spring Training

2010-03-24T17:07:00.001-07:00

Spring training is finally here! This has to be my favorite time of the year! We had to shift to plan be which sucked but what can you do. We try to go to spring training every year, it doesn't matter what team since the Dbacks are in Tucson, but it just so happened that the Dbacks were playing the Mariners in Peoria on Saturday so it worked out perfect! Yeah, not so much. We've always gone to a spring training game about 3o minutes before, bought out tickets (usually good ones) and enjoy the game no problem. Yeah well enter the Dbacks. When we came upon Bell Road is when the line started. It was backed up so far that we went the back way to get in that after we finally in and parked (paying mind you, never done that either) walked up to the booth and completely sold out! Standing room only! Here Jon and I are on date day in all Dbacks gear and we can't even get in. No standing room only for this prego. So we turned around and headed down the way to see the White Sox and Padres play. Wasn't NEARLY as busy as Peoria. We got to sit on the grass and enjoy a great afternoon of baseball, watching the Padres win :) Sucks that we didn't get to see the Dbacks play but thats what is awesome about Cactus League Spring training, there is always a game going on somewhere else in the Valley. Opening Day is April 5th!!! Go Dbacks!!

When baby comes, so does baby friendly vehicles

2010-03-09T20:03:00.001-08:00

So of course when baby comes, baby requires alot of care, especially when traveling. Most of you know that of course I was prepared for this. I had a 07 Xterra which I loved, aka "Monster Truck" and had it for 3 years, picked out specifically for when a baby comes I wouldn't have to get a new car. Well Jonathan thought a bit differently. He had a Tahoe at first, then moved to an Accord..but some how in that mix he came out with an RX8, yes a little two seater that is not baby friendly. Well we also owed alot of the RX8 so it made it near impossible to trade in so it came down to the fact, if we are going to get a new baby friendly car for Jonathan, monster truck had to be sacrificed at the alter of bad decisions. But I must say I didn't come out too bad I don't think because now I'm the proud owner of a 06 Murano and Jonathan has a 04 F150. He really likes his truck and I'm glad because it can fit the baby in and now we don't have to take my vehicle EVERYWHERE. Plus the Murano actually has a lot more room and is more baby friendly than the Xterra. So I must say, I am happy. So here they are! Serious truck and mommy mobile.

And yes. . . I am keeping the Dbacks plate. Don't ask silly questions.

Cort & "Lil fatty"

Introducing to the World . . .

2010-03-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

Baby Kolson!

Oh yes the time has finally arrived where we can share with the world that Jonathan and I are finally becoming parents!! After what seemed like a long and disappointing road, we got the surprise in January that Baby Kolson is happy and healthly and growing strong!!! I first thought I was pregnant, as funny as this seems, when my sister announced she was pregnant in Dec at 3 months and then her best friend said she was pregnant at 2 months! So I knew right away that I had to be pregnant too!! (if even only at 1 month) I just felt it! So we waited until the 5 week mark and got tested and sure enough! Positive! I immediately went to the Dr. since I was considered high risk and he wanted to test my hormone levels. He wanted them to double over a 48 hour period. Well they TRIPLED!! We went back a week later for an ultrasound and sure enough! A little peanut was in there growing strong with a excellent 120 BMP heartbeat!! Dr took us right off the high risk and said "your good to go! See ya in at the 2 month mark!" All went well and we came back for month 3 and the ultrasound and here is our first picture of our little munchkin! They were moving all around and as most of you know, the only ultrasounds I've had were for either non pregnancy related or not good news, so to see it bouncing around, waving its arms and legs and even swallowing was nothing short of AMAZING! The peanut wouldn't keep still! But we could see the heart beating and got our 1st trimester blood screening done and Dr is happy! As is mommy and daddy!! I must say that this pregnancy so far has been a blessing, despite suffering "pregnancy brain" in the first month or so, no sleep and a very small touch of morning sickness, that all seemed to go away around week 10 and its been great ever since! We are currently in week 14!! So exciting!! We are truly blessed for all the prayers that we have been getting over time and how God will let both Jonathan and I help in creating this perfect miracle. Colette is due in the beginning of July and I in the beginning of Sept. As sisters we've always seemed to do things together so why not have babies at the same time! So Cool!!

Despite the baby looking like some skelton creature from the black lagoon, below Baby Kolson is waving to everyone! You can see their 5 little fingers on their head! Or they could be being dramatic like their mommy and placing their hand on their head. "No more pictures please!" Get used to it baby, your entire life will probably be in print :)

Winning the "Jersey Off His Back"

2009-09-28T19:28:00.001-07:00

So this blog is for Ahna T, who says I never blog about anything (ha ha). I did blog about going quadding a few weeks ago so I dunno what she's talking about but I think if we went back to 2006 B.C. (before Cooper) I don't think she has a ton of blogs either :D I don't really have anything cool and exciting to say. . . of course until now!

As you all know, Mom, Colette, Aunt Pat and I all go to the first and last home game of our beloved Dbacks. It first started out as just mom and I, then about 5 or so years ago Aunt Pat and Colette started coming. For those of you who don't know, the final weekend of the year is call "Fandamonium!" and they give away just about anything you can think of from cars to little key chains. The most sot after prize though, is the "Shirt of your Dback." The United Way sells scratcher tickets and you scratch to win prizes, hoping for the big "you win!" A few years ago, I got a "win" that ended up being some POS prize that I don't even remember. But this year, I got the big win! I at first forgot about it, for I was starving, but when I scratched it off, it said "you win." Colette at first was alot more excited then I was for I had seen this before. So we made our way down to gate E and sure enough the man told me "Congrats! You won a jersey!" I had to make my way back to gate E at the top of the 6th inning so we could get ready for our jersey presentation. This had to be the longest 6 innings of my life. I had to go down there by myself which kinda sucked but I was still getting in a jersey. They walked us through the bowels of BOB (or Chase Field if you so want to call it) We got to see the locker room and dug out entrances and a view cool plaque presentation of every first line up of the season. They had us in a small room were we could watch the game and then they called us up one by one to draw, at random a player. I was 30th in line to draw a player, so you would hear names being called off, excited who you didn't get it (Upton) or wishing you had (Tracy). My turn came and I drew Clay Zavada. Who? My thoughts exactly. My mom is a die hard dbacks fan and she wasnt even sure who that was and she watches the games all the time, I follow by the written word. So we had to wait until the game was over (which I missed) and then they led us out onto the field. So cool getting to stand on 3rd base line!! Looking at the crowd, I could see mom, Colette and Aunt Pat, I was so excited and nervous! They started calling players one by one and mom pointed to who Clay was and then I remembered. The one with that mustache! How could we have forgotten! For those who don't know, you can look him up on dbacks.com. They announced his name and he came out to the field, shook my hand, took his jersey off and handed it over. He was very nice and polite (as rookies should be!) So he will definately be my player to follow from now on. My mom and dad had made a great points that this was his first year playing in the majors. So I have his rookie jersey. When he makes it big, its getting framed!! Colette took some video so when I get that from her, I will upload it here.

Fun times! Dbacks '10!

Showing off my Jersey

Great shot! Thanks to my friend who works for the UW :)

Time to get dirty!

2009-09-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

L-R. Gavin, Jen, Heather, Hudson, Travis, Colette, Waylon, Jake, Jon, Cort, Pam,Waylon, Larry & Hailey

We just got back from a 5 hour quad ride in Sedona. We had such a great time! The weather was perfect, depsite the fact of the weather man stating that there would be pouring rain, we managed to avoid it. Jon and I drove up to Sedona to meet the Pickard family and go quading. The picture above is all us when the ride was almost over. The boys did great. They were all stapped into the back of the Dinn's rino and they had a great time. Jon and I really want to get one of these quads. Some day :)

Oh to my AC

2009-07-09T18:45:00.001-07:00

Do not be afraid! your eyes are not going bad. This is IN FACT what my house read yesterday at 4:30 when I got home from work. The left side is what it is supposed to be in the house, the right side is what it actually is in the house. The whole debacle know as the AC started when we got back from San Diego, the next day the air went out. We managed to stay that night in the house but the next day they couldn't fix it in time so we ended up on my mom's couch. He came back the next day and fixed it (not sure what the problem was) but it was done and we were happy. So we though.

This week when I came home on Monday, it was 88* in the house again. So we called the guys and he couldn't come back out till Tuesday. It actually kicked on as the sun went down so we were able to stay in the house Monday. But Tuesday the part they needed to be ordered, they couldn't get out to us till Thursday. So we headed back to my mom's house. The picture above was taken on Wednesday when I came home from work and it was time to take serious action. I had 2 cats and 2 dogs that also needed to be saved so we packed up the cats and the dogs and headed over to the Pickard's. The cats were scared out of their mind and have been under the bed since we got here, the dogs could care less they are just happy to be in the house with AC. The men came over on Thursday at 1pm to do a 4 hour job and found out they ordered the wrong part. So, at 7pm I write this, still in Colette's house with my 4 animals while Jon is sitting in the hot house waiting for them to fix it. I took Thursday off since Colette's house and my work at almost 60 miles apart and I didn't want to make that drive at 5am. But it will take the house many hours to cool down so, we are still staying at the Pickards and I will have to make that 60 mile drive to work tomorrow. Gotta love the heat waves of AZ!! But I would take this over a blizzard any day, you can at least escape the heat, you can't escape snow :)

San Diego June 25th - 29th

2009-07-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Oh San Diego. The city that I have spent so much time in. San Diego is probably the 2nd city I have spent more time in, the first being Phoenix of course since I live here. Jon and I headed to San Diego as part of our summer vacation. We drove over there on Thursday and really just hung out there. We visited so many places that I had been on vacation and on tour, that memories were popping up all over the place while I was there. I couldn't believe how much I forgot and how many places I performed with with TAAS!

We visited Sea Port Village. The day was perfect while we were there. Took some great pictures of Coronado Bridge and the boats. Of course I got my Christmas Ordiment for the year.

And of course we had to stop by Anthony's to get our seafood fix. This was the first time I got something other than shrimp. What I had was great! But I missed the shrimp. Jon got it and it was still as great as I remember!

We also saw some seals on the beach in La Jolla and went to Balboa Park which was so pretty! It had so many flowers and garden's there that it was too bad we only an hour or so to spend there before we went home. We also had a great Italian dinner at this little place in Hillcrest, the area was a bit shady, but the food was perfect!!! I love little Italian places.

We also got to see my friend Andy. Andy is a long time friend from my TAAS 2 days, and I hadn't seen him since in wedding in 2000. He's still living in Cali and has two cute children named Jared (6) and Ceclia (5) It was great to see him, for I think he is the first tour pal I have seen in over 5 years. We had a nice lunch with him and hopefully we'll be able to go back to Cali soon and watch him kareoke, its his favorite I guess :) Jon and I had a great time, didn't spend alot of money (which I was surprised!) and I can't wait to go back to the land of my childhood vacations :)

Gone Camping! June 18th - 21st

2009-07-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

We recently went on our first camping trip of the year. This was alot of firsts for us, first time with the Pickards (and Waylon too) first time using our camping stuff we got 2 years ago for our wedding and first time with the dogs.

We sepnt 3 days up there and it was really nice up there. It did rain one night we were up there which really wasn't too bad. Jon and I were in a tent (hey! we're newlyweds still) and sleeping bags. At night it got really cold which you all know is a favorite of mine, but the sleeping bags we had did really and I wasn't cold at all. We spent most of the time quading, which is alot of fun. Waylon and Kylie did really well camping too. Its amazing on how kids will just find dirt. The dogs did GREAT! They loved being in the open area and had a blast getting dirty in a near by lake.

They were wiped out for 3 days after we got back from camping. They were able to run along side the quads a few times while we went on short rides. Hopefully we will be able to go again sometime this year. Definately makes Jon and I want to get our own quad someday. Start saving our pennies!!!

The dog run

2009-05-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know, this backyard has been a thorn in our side since we moved here. We when moved into this house, it had a beautiful backyard, then Korbin and Leelu came along. We let them roam free and that proved to not be the best thing. They first destroyed everything in site. We have since replaced all the plants and the bush is slowly coming back to normal but is still recovering. We decided to cut them off from the back yard and create a "run" for them by the patio. First we left the rocks in. Well Korbin thought it would be ok to eat rocks at this point, which of course we know is not good for puppies. We then took out all the rock, put down some chicken wire and cedar. That worked of course until it rained. That cedar all though smelled good, turned the whole backyard into a giant toilet bowl and after it rained it was a muddy and pee smelling mess. So we took out the cedar and then put down actual real grass. Well then of course the dogs though it would be ok to dig, and being that there is no sprinkler system back there, the grass eventually died, it happened after Jon stopped taken care of it and Courtney out of protest, refused to water it. So that dead grass became a dirt hole which became the thorn in the side of the Kolson household.

So one day when Courtney was cleaning the house, she had had enough. The dogs had been digging that dirt pit of hell and dragging it into the house, causing dust to fly and stick to everything after she had just cleaned. She told Jon to find the grass, within our budget and to get it asap. Because mind you that this dirt hole, when it rained, because a mud hole and pit of dis pare! Causing the us to have to let the dogs outside to do their business. So, we ordered the "fake" grass, few weeks later and a near death experience from Jon in the Arizona heat, Jake and Jon got the grass down. Doesn't it look so great! Wife is happy again :) Dogs are now less messy and house is a little bit cleaner :)

Oh the prom.

2009-04-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

Remember those carefree days of old? Dressing up nice for a dance, feeling uneasy and unsure about yourself and your date? Thank GOODNESS we are all over that right? Ha! Well, our young future air force pilot Chris came back to AZ this weekend to take his friend Anna to her senior prom. The two of them shall be the talk of the town. Chris came all dressed up in his color guard uniform to make not only all the girls, but all his former teachers at NCHS very jealous of how our younger brother has turned out! This is Chris and Anna in front of our house, of course posing for pictures. The main reason why I chose this picture is because it was cute. But also Anna's friend bailed out at the last minute on doing her hair. And what I mean by last minute is when I came home from shopping at 3pm, here is poor Anna sitting on my couch crying because she had no idea what to do with her hair. So, I took Anna into my room, locked the door and 90 minutes later, alot of bobby pins, a gallon of hairspray, my clips that I wore for my wedding and some random stud earings I found in a jewlery box, you get the young couple (who are strickly friends by the way, just so we get this straight, ha ha). Not too bad huh. Happy prom you guys!!!

Opening Day

2009-04-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

April 6th, 2009. Yeah for Opening Day! It is by far one of my favorite days of the whole year! Its right up there with Christmas and my birthday. It is the time honored tradition of mom, Colette, Aunt Pat and myself to bust out our Diamondbacks gear from the back of the closet and begin another year of fine baseball. This year opening day was actually home so we got to take off work and all head down to the park. We had great seats, got to see the roof open, the pilots fly over the "BOB" and the watched that Diamondbacks beat the Rockies 9-8. We barely beat them but hey all that matters is that we did. We started of the season with a bang so lets hope we can keep the rest of it that way. Go Dbacks!!

Our visit to NMMI

2009-04-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

We took the weekend off to fly over and visit Chris at his military school in Roswell, NM on the 27th of March. It was quite the adventure. Flying over to New Mexico only took about 45 minutes, but it was the drive from ABQ to Roswell that took a long time. There is a lot of vast nothingness while driving that 3 hour drive, and there is no where to stop when someone has to use the restroom every 10 minutes (not me, and not Jon) None the less we made it to Roswell without issue.
Chris was really excited that we came, they were having a freak cold front so it was a bit chilly when we got there. I have never been to NMMI (New Mexico Military Institute) before so I found it very interesting to see what goes on in the day in life of a NMMI Cadet. In the picture above, Chris is walking with his regiment. He is the one to the left of the 3rd flag all the way to the right (does that even make sense?)
In the video below, Chris is "Changing the Guard" Ever hour (they don't do this every day, only on special occasions and for 8 hours a day) but they do a "changing of the guards" in front of the flame. Chris will come out and change the guard since he is the captain of the flame guard. The guard will pace back and forth in front of the flame, guarding it. There is a short video below so you can see Chris bringing the old guard to the center, to relieve him, the new guard is off to the left.

The trip over all wasn't too bad but we were definitely glad to be home. Roswell, NM is not the most exciting place on the planet. In fact if it wasn't for the school, I'm not sure what else there is to do in Roswell, except maybe look for aliens. We are so proud of Chris and how far he has come over at NMMI. It is with great excitement we watch him finish his junior year and head into his senior year over at NMMI starting in August. As Chris would say, "Go Air Force, Beat Navy!"

Cort :)

Just cause

2009-03-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well freakin A I just wrote an entire novel of a blog and I went to post and it all erased! Now I'm in pain, tired, nauseated and pissed... of which the first three was what I was writing about in the first place! Grrrr. I guess this is now going to be a short story about how I woke up feeling like crap and how I'm wondering if its allergy related. There was also something about a boy and a girl and their crazy dogs sleeping in their room and keeping them up all night till the girl snapped after two weeks and kicked the dogs out. That was the funny part of my blog, especially the part about the girl freaking out about all the noises after the dogs were kicked out (clock ticking, house creaking, fan clicking). The boy had to go destroy all of the noises and the girl finally slept till 1pm the next afternoon. I tell you it was a great blog, but now you get this short version. Screw you blogger for ruining it for the viewers!!! BTW, Cort I love you.

Peace out :P

Valentine's Day

2009-03-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

Jon and I decided this year that since Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday, that we would do ours a bit differently. Since Valentine's Day seems to be a rush of things to do on the actual day, we did ours this way. On the actual day, Jon and I just hung out at home. We decided to play Mario Kart Wii and do all 8 levels (mind you each with 4 races) to see who could be crowned Mario Kart champion. I won, but barely. We had take out from Pei Wei and then decided to put up our camping tent for the first time since we got it for our wedding. It would have worked out great but at about 3am Jon's back was killing him from the air mattress that we were sleeping in so we moved back into our room. None the less the actual day was great.

The celebration though was to be had on last night. Jon and I woke up on Saturday Morning and since it was such a beautiful day we walked the dogs down to the Coffee, Bean and Tea leaf, about a mile from the house. Then we came home and did the usual running around and then we went out to dinner to a small little Italian Place that was great! Jon says he has found his new favorite restaurant. After that we went to see Cavalia. Which for those of you who don't know is the show with the performers and the horses. Jon loves horses so I knew that this would be a great show for him to see. I had seen it with Mom a few years back and loved it so I was so glad we got to go again. The things they can do on these horses and get them to do is nothing short of amazing!

Picture Tag

2009-03-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, like Ahna I cheated a little too (lol) I went from oldest folder to newest, instead of how it was listed, because my 6th folder and 6th picture was a picture of Waylon at Chirstmas at Aunt Pat's house this past year (ha ha!) Also, I'm not tagging anyone because I only know Ahna and Colette who read this, and they both already tagged me!

So this picture, was taken of Jon and I earlier this year on my first trip skiing up in Flag. While Jon and I were on Christmas Vacation in 2008, after a good snow in Flag, we packed up the truck and headed North! I have never been skiing before and Jon grew up skiing so he really wanted to take me. This picture is taken of us on the mountain before we came home. I actually did pretty good. I only had a few minor spills but Jon says I was a natural. I'll admit that the speed of skiing does scare me a bit, but once you got the pizza/french fry way of skiing down, its pretty fun!! I hope to go again because I had a great time! Mind you my shins hurt for about 3 days after that so it was good I was on vacation but still, we had a great time at Snow Bowl!

See ya!

Cort-y

I did this

2009-02-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

Well since we are jumping on this band wagon and it is in fact the Kolson's korner, I feel it’s only right if I also post something. So Cort told me today that she signed up for this thing, and I figured, hey, that might be fun. I know this is something that she's going to be much more involved in, but it’s cool to think that I also have a chance to write something. Anyway, the purpose of this post is to announce that because of Corts admission that we now have a blog, I spent several hours trying to find a freakin template to apply to this blog. I can't tell you how aggravating it is to try to find good code and then spend the time analyzing the code to actually make it work for you. Why do it then? Well if you have a blog or myspace, you know exactly what I'm talking about. IT SUCKS YOU IN!!! LOL I admit it. I couldn't stop, regardless of how frustrated I got with it not working for me. And finally finding a template that you like only to find that for some stupid reason you can't get it to work on your own blog, just shoot me now. All of the comments online about your template and how cool it is and how easy it was (yea right) only frustrates you more. Come on, you know what I'm talking about... but oh the feeling when you finally get it working. YYEEESSSS!!!! :) So I hope you like it. I'm sure Cort will find something that she likes more tomorrow so I know I'll just be changing it anyway. Go figure, and if you know Cort you probably already knew that. It won't prevent me from relishing in the sweet victory of making something I picked work for me though. I did this, heeeellll yeeeaa!!

Yes I know I'm retarded,

Band wagon jumper

2009-02-20T15:56:00.000-08:00

You know everyone is doing it. So I might as well too. At first I wasn't sure what I would write about here, being that there is not really much going on in the world of Kolson right now but that doesn't mean nothing won't happen in the future! So! Here I am, feel free to come and check us out to see what we have been up too! I will do my best to post as often as I can. Have a great weekend everyone!!