Quick Trip to Visit Grandparents

Two weeks before Thanksgiving we headed to Washington and Idaho to see Grandparents and Great Grandparents. The first stop was at Grannie's house where we stayed for the weekend. Here's Izzie and Grandpa Alan checking out their horses on Friday morning.


After breakfast we loaded up and drove out to Worley, Idaho where Great Grandpa Bill and Great Grandma Hazel live. They hadn't seen Iv yet, so we were both anxious for then to see him and for us to see them. Here's Iv-Guy visiting with his great grandma.


Here's Izzie hanging out with Uncle D and Papa Alan as we visited. She just couldn't get enough of Uncle D.


After we had lunch we headed outside to do some exploring. We eventually made it around to see grandpa's turkeys and chickens. Here's Izzie and I checking it out.


It was fairly cold out, so we didn't last two long. Back inside Izzie couldn't resist playing with Uncle D again.


Izzie eventually got tired and crashed on grandma's couch.


Meanwhile Grandma couldn't get enough of Iv.


And Grandpa Bill decided to join Izzie.


We hung out for a little bit longer and then headed back to Grannie's for the night. On Saturday we loaded up and headed to Idaho to visit everyone else. On our way through Coeur d' Alene we stopped in to see Great Grandpa Paul and Great Grandma Chris. Grandpa Paul is Joseph Paul Leo Cote the first, and he hadn't seen number four yet, so it was very fun to be able to see these two together.


Here's Grandma Chris with the little guy.


Here's Izzie sitting on Grandpa's lap having a good time.


Shortly after we arrived Grandpa Joe showed up so that the four Joe's could get a picture together. Here's four generations.


We couldn't get Grandpa to smile, so he made a ridiculous face in that one, but funny nonetheless. Here's a better one.


Another picture of Iv with his Great Grandpa Paul.


After we left Grandpa and Grandma Cote's house we headed to Pinehurst with Grandpa Joe and the Auntie's to have dinner at Grandma Shirley's. There was a cartoon marathon on which hooked Izzie and Irelynn for about two minutes. Then they were off playing again.


We stayed Saturday night at Grandpa Joe's in Smelterville. Here he is showing off his newest pet. It's a prairie dog... of course.


He's a cute little guy, but Izzie wouldn't have anything to do with it.



Here's a ridiculously horrible picture of Izzie, but I still find her cute.


Sunday, before we headed back to Helena, all of the kids went outside to play for a while since it was unseasonably warm.



Then we headed home. It was a quick trip, but we did a lot and saw a lot of family. It was a good time.

More Family Visits

November brought the return of the Grandparents and more. First Grannie came over to visit for a few days one week. Here she is Izzie in her freshly made princess crown and of course the Minnie Mouse dress I told you never came off.


Here's a horrible picture of Lynnell, me and our chins, but since I rarely post pictures of the two of us I thought it might be a good time to throw one in.


Of course more family means more carousel. A lot more.

Here's Nell and Izzie having a screaming time.


After Grannie left Grandpa Chuck, Grandma Shirley, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kim and cousin Irelynn came over to visit. And of course we took all of them to the carousel too. Here's Kim and Irelynn having the time of their life.


And the Grandma took them both.


Then Grandpa and Grandma and the girls.


Here's Uncle Mike and Irelynn.


Here's Grandma and Iv.


That evening Irelynn had the joy of taking a bath with Izzie. This picture exemplifies how most of the bath went.


We also had a new roof put on last week. Here's a couple pictures of the process.



Here's Iv having a good time. He's pretty much the only one that will laugh at my jokes now.


Here's Izzie and Iv with smiles and all.


We had a couple short roof delay due to snow. Here's Izzie admiring it.

October 2009

Here's what happened during the rest of October.

Izzie used her super powers of resourcefulness to get high enough to reach into Iv's crib and cram his binky into his mouth when he cried.


We got a tiny bit of snow one afternoon, and the first thing Izzie wanted to do was go out and check it out for herself. She didn't make it far. She got the bottom of the porch and stopped at the small patio table and started eating the snow. When her hand got cold she came in.


Here's Izzie trying out Iv's new (well, loaned from a friend) baby seat.


It's hard for a very pregnant mommy to keep up with her two year old daughter, so after Iv was born Nell and Izzie had a lot of catch-up playing to do. Here they are playing princesses in the living room.


Iv graduated from sponge baths/wipe downs to full on water up to the ear hole baths, and he wasn't too fond of it at first, but now he doesn't seem to mind too much.


One fine day while we were downtown Helena walking and window shopping with Grannie and Uncle D we stopped in at the General Mercantile for some coffee. Izzie found the fish tub and was mesmerized for the next few minutes by the fish swimming around in it.


Here's a couple more pictures from our lunch with Grannie and Uncle D. My beautiful wife with her new found growth sucking the life out of her.


And my beautiful daughter using her mad engineering skills to custom build a dice tower. Looks like all those block building parties are working out.


Here's a couple of pictures of the Iv guy hanging out. He loves tummy time and just laying on his back looking around and cooing.



And of course his loving big sister love spending time with him, so usually when he's laying on the floor she'll take a few minutes to lay down next to him and chat it up. It's always a one sided conversation, but man does he just stare. Occasionally Izzie will get a smile out of him, and it warms her heart just as much as it does for Lynnell and I because she always rejoicingly says "baby brother smiled at me."



Little Iv Guy got his first piece of mail. His social security card. Now he's officially part of the system.


One afternoon Iv and I were sitting around talking about cars, guns and mom's boobs when I realized that he had green on and was wrapped in a green blanket. With that realization I grabbed my camera and did the only sane cheesy thing that I could do in that moment. I took a picture with my color accent turned on.


Here's Izzie and I hanging out. She discovered that my feet work perfectly for supporting her head.


My family.


And then it was Halloween. It was Izzie's first one (well, that she was big enough to participate in), so we decided to throw caution into the wind and see how much candy we could get. Costco was out of Snow White dresses, so Izzie was Mini Mouse instead. She wouldn't stop and stand still for a good picture, so all I got were ones of her running around or walking. Here she is with her black nose all ready to go.


And here is here very first trick-or-treat incident. Turns out it was a treat.


Here's my wonderful wife holding the baby as she helps Izzie down the stairs while I stand around and take pictures. That's not true; I was pushing the stroller.


Here's Izzie being told by our good friend Chad that she can take as much candy as she wants.


Here's a couple of other cute shots.



Here we are coming out of the Gerneral Mercantile where we scored some more candy.


And that was the end of October. We finished off our trick-or-treating and headed home.

I know this might be hard to believe, but after Halloween Izzie has worn her Minnie Mouse dress almost every day since. She says it's her Minnie Mouse princess dress, and apparently that's enough to turn a little girl into a princess. I'm not kidding you; that dress is torn in 20 places and has more food stains than a Chucky Cheese door mat. It's horrendous, but she doesn't care. She still wears it to the store, church, friends' houses and anywhere else her little legs will take her. It's quite hilarious. Luckily Thanksgiving is on the way, and that will give us a nice opportunity to trash the Minnie Mouse dress and get her a new less disheveled one.