A Merry Christmas To All...

I procrastinated our Christmas card this year and ended up throwing this together last minute. It was too late to mail it in time, so to everyone who reads our blog this one is for you :)

We are so grateful for our Savior and all that he has done for us. We are so blessed to have two beautiful children who bring so much joy into our lives. And we are grateful for our wonderful family and friends. We love you all and hope that you have a wonderful holiday season!

Ellie's Blessing

We were able to bless our beautiful baby girl while in Utah with all of our family. We got together Sunday, December 20 in the evening. Her daddy, both grandpas, and her uncles were able to use their priesthood to give her a beautiful blessing. Afterward we had a dinner, because eating is Ellie's favorite thing to do :) She is so lucky to have so much family who love her to pieces, and we are all blessed to have her in our lives.

Elise is my angel baby and I can't imagine life without her.

You are the princess of our family and we love you Ellie bug!

Snowed-in

What did I sign up for? We got hit by a crazy blizzard last night. It was so bad that all of the schools and a lot of businesses were closed today. We were warned to not leave our houses unless it was an emergency. When we woke up we were literally snowed-in! Our car was buried...there was no way we were going anywhere.

So we decided it was a jammies day :)

By 2 o'clock we had 16 in of fresh snow and a 5 ft wall in front of our door. We were definitely not going anywhere for awhile.

Ben manned up and decide to attack the wall. It took awhile, but he managed to dig us out.

It was too windy to play in the snow, but it was fun to have Ben home all day for our Snow Day!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We got our first big snowstorm today. It's been snowing steady all day, and it's supposed to get worse tonight. Of course the snow comes on a day that we had fun plans. We were all ready to go to the mall to ride the train, and then I looked out the window and all I saw was white. Cole was set on leaving the house, so I bundled up the kids and we made the trek two buildings down to play with Mindy, Rykker and Brigham. Cole wanted to walk in the snow, what two year old wouldn't? The sidewalk blended in with the grass and the street so he kept drifting off the sidewalk and getting stuck in knee-deep snow. Next time we'll remember the snow pants! Or just stay home :)



Why is snow so appetizing to kids? Cole ate it off the ground outside, off his coat, off the stroller, and off the floor inside. I know it's gross, but it won't really hurt him. Sometimes you need to let your kids be kids!




I'm not a fan of the snow, but who doesn't love the first big snow of the season? The world blanketed in clean white snow is such a beautiful sight! It really is a winter wonderland.

2 Months

My sweet baby girl is 2 months old! I can't believe how fast she has grown. At her two month checkup she was in the 100th %ile for weight (13lb 12oz) and the 90th %ile for height (24in)! She is way chubbier than the other babies her age here...and we love it! We wouldn't want her any other way.

Even though her cheeks way about 5 lbs each she still smiles all the time! She loves to talk and smile, and sometimes she even laughs. Ben always knows how to get a smile out of her. He says it's because he speaks her language, but I think she is just a daddy's girl.

She loves her mommy too (even if it just for my milk). She starts crying every time I leave the house, even when I leave her full and asleep. Somehow she knows when I leave. It makes it even harder to leave her when I have to.

Cole still loves Ellie and he is an awesome big brother! He loves to talk to her, hold her, and take care of her. He is really good at getting us diapers and wipes, and he even wipes her mouth when she drools. I hope that this isn't just a phase and that he always loves his "baby sister"!

Elise is starting to sleep better at nights. Finally! She is a night owl like Ben and Cole, but when she finally goes to sleep about 11 pm she sleeps until about 4 or 5 am. She hasn't been doing it long, so I hope I didn't just jinx it :)

We all love our sweet baby girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family!

Funny Little Man

Cole is a crack up! He is always saying and doing the funniest things out of the blue that make me laugh. He is such a clown, always trying to make us laugh and laughing at his own jokes :) I was just taking a trip down memory lane of the last few months and thought I would share a few funny moments.

Cole will never look at the camera if he knows I'm trying to take a picture. I could never catch him looking and smiling, which was odd because this kid is constantly smiling and laughing. Something about the camera makes him frown. One day I asked him to give me his biggest smile and this is what I got:

I thought I was on to something...I had finally figured out how to get a look and a smile! So I tried it again, and this is what I got:

So much for that idea. What a goofball! He may not give me the biggest smile anymore, but he does give some pretty hilarious faces :)

He has been fighting me on naps for the past few weeks, but he still needs them so I enforce them. He always plays for awhile before finally giving in. I went in to check on him one day and this is what I found:

Yes, his head is in a box. As long as he's asleep, who really cares? I got some peace and a good laugh!

The other day I was eating something and Cole said "Don't eat dadda's silly momma!"

Cole came up to me one day wearing red oven mitts and said "Look, I'm a lobsta!" I don't know where he comes up with his crazy ideas, but I love them!


He often tells me "I'll be right back mamma, stay right here" when he goes to do something.

The other day I said "Cole should we get you dressed?" and his response was "No thanks, I'm not ready to go bye bye". I learned a valuable lesson: Don't ask a 2 yr old if they want to do something and expect the answer you want.


This morning he asked me where a toy was and I said I thought it was downstairs and he replied "Actually, it's not." This kid hasn't learned yet that moms are always right :)

Just thought I would share a few of his funny moments. I wish that I had them all on video so I can remember them forever. There are so many moments that I thought I could never forget that are already hazy. He is a funny little guy and I love him to bits and pieces!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun filled Halloween this year. Cole is finally old enough to understand what's going on and the festivities go on for about a week here in Iowa! The Friday before, we went to the neighborhood Halloween party for Fun Friday (and I forgot my camera!). DMU had a kiddie party for all of the students' kids, with pumpkin painting, games, prizes and food (and I forgot my camera!). Friday night was Beggar's Night where everyone goes trick-or-treating, so we took the kids out in the freezing weather (and Ben remembered the camera!). Saturday night our ward had a Halloween party followed with a Trunk-or-Treat in the parking lot (and I forgot my camera!). Did you catch a theme her? I was a big ditz and never remembered the camera for all of our fun parties. Luckily Ben remembered to get it out for Beggar's Night and we got a few pics, but still not as many as I would have taken. Although we have little proof, we had a fabulous, sugar-loaded Halloween!!

Cole was Dumbo (again) this year. I don't think he remembers last year anyway and, as some of you know, he has been on a Dumbo kick so he was pretty excited to wear it this year. We'll see how many years we can get out of this one :) Luckily his coat fit inside the costume, because it was FREEZING when we went trick-or-treating. I never dressed up Ellie because it was so cold that we just left her bundled in the carrier the whole time.


Since we didn't get any pictures of the baby I'm throwing one in so everyone can see her chubbers! I swear she gains about a pound a week...and I love it!!

Pumpkin Time

Last night for FHE we carved our pumpkin. Well, Ben carved it with Cole's "help", and Elise and I watched :)

Cole got a pen instead of a knife to carve it. Cole wanted a "Happy Pumpkin, not a scary one"

Happy Halloween!!

As Requested...

Here are a few pics of our little angel for those of you who have asked:

Look at those cheeks...Yum!

I know she's not supposed to have real smiles yet, but that is not a gas grin if you ask me.

Here is a shout out for GG and Grandpa Green: Thanks for the cute outfit and Thomas the Train!

She is definitely Daddy's Little Girl. Elise smiles all the time when Ben talks to her :)

Cole is the best big brother!

He's always playing with her and giving her

loves...especially when she's asleep

Elise will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, and as of yesterday was 10 lb 2 oz! She obviously loves to eat, and we love her chubbers :) She is such a good baby and we can't get enough of her!

Elise Cathryn Coombs

Our precious baby girl finally arrived on Saturday, September 26 at 2:25 PM. She weighed 8 lb exactly and was 20 1/2 in long. The labor and delivery were easy breezy and she has been a great baby! Now, if we can get her sleeping better at nights she will be a perfect baby!!

We love our Ellie Bug!!

Cole loves to look at "Baby Sister" and play with her and laughs at every noise she makes. He doesn't like her very much when mommy holds her though :)

Ben can't get enough of his "Baby Girl". She already has Daddy wrapped around her little finger!

Life has been a little chaotic since we came home. She sleeps great during the day, but not so well at nights. This has made med school really hard for Ben. And I wouldn't be surviving if my mom wasn't here to help out so much. Cole has been pretty jealous. He has also been throwing up since we got home, so that doesn't really help because he wants me to hold him all the time and gets mad when I hold Elise. Every day is a little better though and we are all really happy. We are so blessed to have this sweet angel in our family!!

One Last Hoorah: Take 2 (AKA Geisler Farms)

As some of you know I was supposed to be induced today. Ben had a big test and we wanted to wait until after the test, but make sure we had the baby while my mom was here, so the plan was to induce me after his test today. The dr. on call decided that she didn't want to induce me on a Friday afternoon so it got postponed until tomorrow morning. We were a little bummed so I tried to make myself go into labor yesterday by painting our living room, but I ended up with less contractions and feeling better than usual.

We decided to make the most of the postponed induction and we had one last fun night out as a family. My mom took us to a yummy dinner at Red Robin, then we met up with some friends at Geisler Farms.

The only crazy animals running around this time were Lucielle, Cole and Jazzlyn

This is an aerial pic of the corn maze...isn't that amazing?!

Making our way through the maze...We found all 11 numbers in the maze!

Cole kept asking the whole way through the maze to ride the tractor. When we finally got through it was dark, but the driver took us for one last hay ride behind the tractor. It was so bumpy I was sure it would put me into labor...but no such Luck. As usual Cole wanted to sit by the girls :)

In the end, we were really glad that I haven't had the baby yet. It was such a fun night, and just the break that all of us needed (especially Ben who studies non-stop). Thank you to the Worthams for helping us have one last night of family fun before our lives our turned upside down!

One Last Hoorah (AKA Howell's Pumpkin Patch)

I've been pretty lazy lately, being 9 mo pregnant and all, so Cole and I have been taking it easy. I started feeling like the worst mom, depriving my child of all the fun because I didn't want to do anything that took energy. So, thanks to Jamie, Friday I caved and we went to Howell's Pumpkin Patch with the group for one last adventure before the baby. It was too early to pick our own pumpkins, so we didn't take the tractor ride to the field/corn maze...but there was still a ton to do.

There were small farm animals everywhere: goats, bunnies, ducks, etc. Cole was brave (with Mindy by his side) and hand fed the cute little goats wandering around.

There was a whole row of tractors to play on...so of course Cole was in heaven!

There were cute little wagons for the pumpkins, but the kids loved them too.

Cole used them to get to the girls:

Here he is taking the twins Kylie and Kaitlyn for a ride...followed by him sneaking a smooch for Adalee :)

Cole and Rykker had a ball playing in the pumpkin wagons...

a swingin' time on the horses...

and didn't want to leave the messy sand box filled with corn. (Note that Rykker's pants and Cole's shoes used to be blue and are now white)

There were the cutest tractor bikes, and Cole's legs could actually reach the pedals! But he decided it was easier just to pull it :)

It was such a fun place and Cole had a hey day the whole time. What could be better than animals, tractors, wagons and lots of dirt & dust? It was little boy heaven. I'm really glad that we were able to have one last hoorah for Cole before baby sister comes and his life is turned upside down.