The Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Cole had a wonderful birthday! In fact, the entire week was full of fun for him. On his birthday, he went out to breakfast and enjoyed some "Horton Hears a Who" pancakes from IHOP. Then he and Luke and I went to Petco to get the present he wanted more than anything...a pet tarantula! We purchased one along with a little cage, a log for it to hide under, a water dish, and 10 large crickets for it to eat. It finally ate one today, or sucked it's blood out rather. Cole really likes showing it off to people and I must say that I'm quite fond of it myself. For some reason being a mom has made me grow in my love and appreciation for all little creatures. That evening we went to grandma and grandpa Larson's where Cole enjoyed some swimming, playing with their new kittens, opening presents and eating donuts, which was his choice of dessert.
On Saturday, we had his Bob the Builder party at my parents house. We made construction signs, hung up yellow caution tape everywhere, set out some orange cones, and displayed all of Cole's tools and Bob the Builder toys. Per Cole's request we played "pin the hard hat on Bob", pass the tool box (where there's a prize inside and whoever is holding the tool box when the music stops gets to keep the prize), and we did a little craft with those little one dollar wooden model sets from Michaels--the girls built and painted very simple birdhouses and Cole made a bulldozer. Cole had a great time. Again, anytime there's cousins involved, he is in heaven. Throughout the party though, I felt increasingly sick, and by the time it was over I was ready to collapse. Feeling much better now.
On Sunday Clay and Cole drove to Orange County for cousin Calla's blessing. They had a wonderful time and Cole especially enjoyed having his aunt Sara as his Sunbeams teacher.
Today we went to the park for a Memorial Day celebration that was put together for the young couples in the ward. There are a lot of nice people in the ward here, but Clay says that our new ward in South Pasadena has lots of great families too.
So now that Cole is 4, which by the way, took him days to come to terms with, he has aquired new toys, meaning that we have been spending a lot of time doing what he calls, "introduce-
ments." Introducements are very important. It is where old toys meet new toys. The old "Cars" characters meet the new "Cars" characters, his old backpacks meet his new Lightning McQueen backpack, his old playdough meets his new moonsand, etc. Introducements usually go about the same each time and are very much inspired by "Toy Story". All the toys are very excited to meet, the old ones are concerned that they might be replaced, the new ones don't want to believe that they are only toys, but in the end they all agree that being a toy is an important job. The new ones are told what plastic bin they will be staying in and that Giant Cole will be taking care of them. We had an especially big introducement this week between the new tarantula, who has been named Goose, and all of Cole's toy animals (see picture.) It went well, and ironically, the big T-rex was the only animal who was scared of the tarantula.
I love the play world that me and Cole and Luke live in. It's been a great 4 years with that boy!