Memaw's for the Day.....and Night

Collin and I went to Memaw's Thursday for what we thought would be for the day.  He packed a few of his new toys including all 3 of the marshmallow guns.  When we arrived, he was shy.  It only took him 10 minutes to warm up to everyone there.  Samantha, his 7 year old cousin, and him were inseparable for the rest of the day.  He played with her so much, you would think that he could remember her name.  Nope!  He kept calling her Savannah or Hannah....which is how we started to refer to her also.  This did not help him with remembering what her name really was.  Besides playing with the toy guns, his favorite part was petting Memaw's four donkeys outside.  He especially loved it when the male donkey would bray really loud.  He even covered his ears a few times.  The kids hunted for shells outside (no, Memaw's house is not near water or the ocean....but, hey, let's hunt for shells) and then played on the swing set.  Most of the time, Collin wanted to stay inside because it was a warm day.  He was having so much fun that he did not look tired for me to make him take a nap.  At one point, they did rest and watched a little TV while I was gathering Collin's toys up to leave.....or so I thought.

It was dark by then and no one, including Daddy, wanted me to drive the 2 hours back home.  So.....we spent the night.  Collin was set because I brought his PJs for him to wear on the ride home.  He even had a change of clothes in case he needed them.  Me, I did not have anything except what I was wearing.  Thank goodness, cousin Michelle had at least a spare toothbrush and paste for us to use.  We slept in one of the beds which Collin loved.  He woke up a few times to check and see if I was still laying next to him....and put his hand over my hand at one time.  That's my sweet little boy.

The next morning, Memaw made us eggs and biscuits before we left.  It was still early so none of the other cousins were awake.  Collin wanted to tell "Savannah" bye but we did not want to wake her.

Samantha, Memaw and Collin

Marshmallow Wars

Collin is LOVING his marshmallow gun.  If he is not playing with his new cars, he is ambushing Daddy or I with the gun.  Thank goodness that the mini marshmallows don't hurt or that it does take a few pumps to load the chamber with more marshmallows.  We have marshmallows all over the floor around the house because he is playing with it so much.  Glad he is enjoying his presents and being a boy.

Toddler Photography

Collin took his camera everywhere with him today even to Saige's house to play.  While looking back through the pictures he took tonight with him, I could not help laugh and smile at the types of pictures he took and what he wanted to take pictures of.  It showed me what he was interested in throughout his day today. 

He first took pictures of his stocking stuffers dumped out on the ground.  His marshmallow shooter gun was in several pictures...all by itself.  On the way to Saige's house, he took pictures of me, himself and the cars on the road.  While at Saige, they both took turns taking pictures of each other, the TV, and them playing.  WAAAAYYY too cute.  I was impressed at how centered and focused most of the pictures were.  At least now, he can take pictures with his camera and not using mine.

Here is Collin's first photo album:

Taking a picture of me

Some of his stocking stuffers

Mommy!!

Self portrait

Saige and one of her many faces

Collin did not want to be outdone

Taken while watching The Little Mermaid

Not bad, huh?  I did find out that the camera memory is 100 pictures.  He reached that limit while we were at Saige's house.  I hope I am not downloading and deleting pictures every night!

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve

We had a fantastic Christmas spent with family and friends starting with Christmas Eve.  We invited family and friends over to dinner and presents for the kids.  Mommy spent that day cleaning the house and cooking for 27 people.  The planning and grocery shopping the day before paid off because dinner was served on time (but of course!) at 7pm.  Those in attendance were:

Mimi, Pappy, and Grandma F
The Harrises - Paul, Lisa, Timmy and Leah
Dustin
The Tirados #1 - Tom, Anita, Timmy and Christina
The Tirados #2 - Matt, Nicole, Kyana, Madison and Jessia
The Jureks - Todd, Kristen, Ethan, Saige and Linden
Erique Willams
Ryan and baby Aka Terry
Mommy and Daddy

At the dinner table in the kitchen, I could hear Collin leading the others in singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Up on the House Top.  While eating dinner, everyone opened the traditional Christmas Crackers and read the jokes to each other while wearing the paper crown included in the tube.  After dinner, the kids opened one gift each.  They had a great time playing with their gift and then sharing with each other.  The babies played with the wrapping or the cardboard box more than the gift.  Nothing changes, right?

After most of the friends left, we opened gifts with the Harrises and family.  Collin got the Ambulance, Fire Truck and Police car he asked Santa for.  Aunt Lisa most be reading this blog.  hahaha

Collin helping Leah unwrap her gift

Collin helping Leah some more with her gifts.  He actually was being helpful and not just wanting to open her presents.

Cousins Leah and Timmy

Mimi with her grand kids...including Dustin in the chair behind her

The Harrises, Grandma F, Mimi and Ryan (Aka is in his lap)

The sisters - Lisa and Laura

Collin's favorite present of the night besides the cars - soft "covers"

Christmas Day

Collin did not wake us up this morning until after 8:15am. Maybe this will be our last morning to sleep in on Christmas Day so we did enjoy it. When he was waking us up, we asked what this morning was. He responded, "Is it Friday?" He obviously did not remember that is was Christmas morning and Santa came last night. We reminded him of what this morning was and he started to run out of his room to check under the tree. He did wait when we told him to.

Santa brought a pirate ship with pirates

A boy cannot get enough GI Joe guys.....with lots of small parts and guns

ANOTHER soft blanket.  He is set now....and maybe I can get mine back out of his clutches

He should have plenty of colors to choose from now

Besides what you see in the pictures above, he opened:

Matchbox cars
Thomas the train rail cars
Spider Man and other action heroes
Camera - more on that favorite present later
Marshmallow "shooter" guns - Santa brought the wrong size marshmallows but Collin still enjoyed practicing all morning
Sea Monkeys - he cannot wait for these to grow.  He asked all day if they were ready yet.

Next, we moved to the living room to dump out the stockings that were stuffed with other goodies.  Santa left Collin:

Pez and candy
Straw glasses
Plastic insects
Hex bug
Whoopie cushion
Candy - no oranges in this stocking!
Mini dinosaurs
Soap foam for the bath

Checking out the Pez dispenser

Trying the straw glasses

His favorite out of the stocking stuffers...at least for the morning.....the Whoopie Cushion

After opening the presents, we went to the Jureks for brunch and for the kids to play.  Todd made homemade chocolate chip waffles (OMG!!!) and Kristen made eggs and bacon.  The kids played with the new toys and watch The Little Mermaid...twice while the adults played Mexican Dominoes and Quirkle.  We were there over four hours and loved every minute of it.

We got tired and left to head home and take what ended up being a 4 hour nap.  That felt great!!!  When we got up, Collin opened up the rest of his gifts from us and other friends.  In this batch of presents, he got:

Better shovels for his sand pit and cars he could keep out there
Race track and magnetic cars from Shelley and Justin Zaiser
Books from Grandma H
Tinker Toys - I know I will have fun with these
Airplane calendar

Tube of cars

More action figures.  This is Spider Man that has wings.

Book from his teachers

Even after a four hour nap this afternoon, Collin was still in bed by before 9:30pm.  We read his new books from Grandma H.  He made sure before he crawled up to his bed that he had both of his new soft covers.  He told me that he had a good idea and then showed me how he wanted to sleep between the two soft covers....in his flannel PJs.  They boy is going to be hot but he is going to be happy that he is sleepy in softness.....probably dreaming about all of his new toys and how much fun he had today.

We are so blessed to have our family and friends around us.  What a wonderful Christmas.

Fun at Monkey Joe's

This morning, we met several friends at Monkey Joe's.  Collin played with cousin Timmy the most because 1) Timmy was the only boy friend there and 2) Timmy was the closest to his age.  It did no seem to bother either of the boys because they were no stop climbing, sliding, jumping and running for the entire two hours that we were there.  They did stop once to get a drink. I was shocked Collin was not hungry because of all of the energy he was expending.  They did play with Leah a little in the Toddler section but quickly got bored and ran out to slide some more.  It was great to play and see cousins and meet new friends Brianna, Sarah, Hannah, and Audrey. 

This is how Collin landed after sliding every time

He had no problem climbing up the wall to the slide

Timmy chasing Collin.  He kept up a good pace behind him.

Not even stopping to tell me "hi"

Leah having fun standing and playing in the Toddler section

Leah found a new friend.  "Where is his hair?"

She loved playing around these blocks

Gymnastics - Wonderland Bash

Last night was date night for Daddy and I.  Collin, for the first time, attended one of the monthly "big bash" theme parties that his gymnastics place holds.  They arrive at 6:30 and can stay as late as midnight.  Not knowing how Collin would do, we did not plan a late evening out. 

There were kids from 4 - 12 years of age broken out into age groups.  Before we arrived, Collin told us that he was scared.  I asked why and he said "what happens if I have to go pee?".  We told him he would do what he does when he is away at school without us.  Then, he moved onto the next question, "what if I don't know anyone there?"  We answered that question.  Then, Collin did not want his shoes on.  All of this was to delay or not leave the house.  I could tell that he was scared because it was something new. Daddy and I needed to just get him them and show him how much fun he would have. 

We arrived and he was clingy.  He did finally wait in line and get a wristband band designating the group he was going to be in.  He still was not sure if he wanted to be there.  The kids in his group headed to eat pizza on the second floor......and then we left.  We could see in the window of the second floor when we got outside that he was sitting at the table and not standing against the wall. 

Daddy and I were able to have a nice dinner locally.  We thought about a movie but it would have ended at 10pm AND I did not want to have to leave in the middle of it because Collin wanted to go home.  After dinner, we went back to the gymnastics place to pick him up thinking he would be ready to go.  He had been there almost two hours by now.  When we arrived, he was sitting with his group learning how to "skate" using the paper plates they made as ice skates.  He was laughing with the boys he was sitting next to.  Instead of getting him, we left to do some Christmas shopping. We came back an hour later and he was RUNNING around in circles in the middle, large mat in the big, open room.  They were dancing or running while the music was playing and then "freezing" when the music stopped.  When the music did stop, he "froze" holding his both of his hands up near his face with his palms facing out.  As soon as the music played, he started running again.  They did this for another 10 minutes.  The kids all got off the mat when the game was over to get so much needed water.  By this time, Collin saw us and let us know he did NOT want to go home.  We stay there another 30 minutes watching him play and have a good time.  I eventually scooped him back up after they had a snack and took him home.  He was asleep within 15 minutes of coming home.

I guess next time, he will want to go to "night" gymnastics.  Good for us too.  These are monthly so we could plan a monthly date night for Mommy and Daddy.

Christmas List

Tonight while we were reading the book that has a paper pencil and Christmas list in it, I found out that Collin wants the following for Christmas this year:

• Fire truck
• Ambulance
• Car
• Angel
• Camera
• A dog
• Books

Darn!!!  I have not bought any of these for him.  An angel?  That's a new one for me.  He was very serious when he was "writing" on the list what he wants.  He then asked when it was going to be Christmas.  He was not disappointed when I told him it would be another 11 days.

Mommy's Birthday Lunch

I had a great birthday with my family yesterday.  Collin spent the night with his friends Saturday night so I got to sleep in Sunday morning.  I woke up and ran 4 miles while Daddy picked up Collin from his friend's house.  We then hung out at the house before we left to meet the rest of the family at Carrabba's Italian Grill for a birthday lunch.  There were 11 of us at the lunch when we all were there (family members arrived from different locations).  I sat by the younger boys, my nephew, Timmy, and Collin.  The boys were SO well-behaved during the lunch.  They colored before lunch of pizza was served.  The boys then helped me blow out my candles (thank goodness there were not candles for every year of my age) after singing "Happy Birthday" to me.  Paul served us the red velvet cake that Mimi brought.  Collin and I shared a piece.  He ate the cake and I ate some of the icing.  I looked over and saw that Timmy only wanted the icing.  Too cute.

Collin and Timmy helping blow out the candles



Still trying to blow out the candles

Leah and Collin playing with each other

We all took a nap when we got home before Daddy and I headed to the bike shop birthday party while Mimi watched Collin for the night.  I had a wonderful birthday.

Winter Program at School

Yesterday morning, we went to Collin's school to watch his Winter Program.  Unlike last year, he sang the entire time and did fantastic.  At one point, I could hear him over the other 25 kids in the class.  Like the Mother's Day Tea program, Collin stood between two of his girl friends, Cheyenne and Vivian.  I was impressed at how many songs they sang and how good they did.  There was a song or two that even the parents did not know the words.  We were laughing softly about how the kids will have to teach us later.  They sang:

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
Must be Santa Claus
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Up on the House Top
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Ms Kristine and Collin

Right before the kids started singing.  The class is so big that I could not fit them all in the picture.

Caught him looking adorable while he was singing

Cheyenne, Collin and Vivian

Proud Daddy and Collin

Acting like he likes me

Daddy and I are on the "Nice List"

Last night, I finally remembered to get down from a shelf in the playroom all of Collin's Christmas books.  I put these away each year after Christmas to make room for all of the books he has on his self in his room.  I put the books in his room and told him they would be in there for us to read some stories before going to bed.  He was so excited to look at them, that he stopped working on the puzzle he was working on, went to his room and started looking through the books.  I came in there maybe 10 minutes later and Collin asked me, "What are you called?"  Not sure what he meant by the question, I asked him to ask me a different way.  "Is your name Laura?"  I told him it was and then he started to pretend write on one of the Christmas books using a paper pencil connected to the book by a string.  He then said as he was writing "La, La, Laura......(as he was writing my name) Chr, Chr, Chris...."  I saw that he was writing or names on Santa's Nice List.  How sweet.  Just to confirm that is what he was really doing, I asked him.  "You and Daddy are on the list now".  He sure did get a huge hug from me after that.  I then proceeded to read to him The Night Before Christmas, Ho Ho Ho Tucker (about a dog) and a scratch-n-sniff Christmas book.  We both don't like the smell of pine.  Haha

Practicing His Songs

Collin's Winter Program at school is this Friday morning.  They are obviously going to sing some songs to us because Collin has been singing for the last week in a half.  He sings when he is putting on his clothes, when he is taking off his clothes, when he is eating, when he is playing or when we are in the car.  He is so cute about it too when he does it.  "Mommy, how does it go?"  I have not idea what song he is wanting to sing so I start singing one of them "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Had a Very Shiny Nose....."  Collin will start singing with me if I picked the right one.  If not, he let's me know by saying, "No, not that one Mommy!"  Then, I start singing the next one.

Compared to last year, he is singing a lot more of each of the songs he is going to sing.  He is also much more confident when he is singing.  I don't stop him when he is doing it either.  I listen to him and wait for him to ask me to sing with him.  If he does not, I continue to enjoy him singing.  I cannot wait until Friday to watch the him in the Program.

Santa? Well.....OK.

Collin sat on Santa's lap this year.  Remember, yesterday he was not interested at all.  Today, he did finally sit on Santa's lap because he, on his own, was helping Saige be brave and sit on Santa's lap with her. 


Here, the kids are telling Santa what they want for Christmas.  I could not hear what they were saying...would have been good so I could have taken some notes.  :)



Not sure what Collin was thinking when he did that pose. 

Santa was at the neighborhood Winter Wonderland party.  It was not much of a winter wonderland with the temp at 75 at the start of the day and 60 and raining when we left to head to the party.  Despite the weather, Collin had a lot of fun.  He was really interested in the animals that were on display.  He walked around or stood and looked at the animals for over 20 minutes.  There were snakes, turtles, a tarantula, frogs and walking sticks.  He was not interested in petting any of them at first (don't blame him) but he did sneak a touch of the turtle. 

After sitting on Santa's lap, he did some of the crafts that were available.  He first made a reindeer face out of a piece of small, circular wood.  He wrote is name on the back....proud moment for Mommy.  He then made a small wreath picking out the pink poms poms put glue on his wreath. 

Because Saige and Linden were there with us, the kids wanted to head back to the house and play.  They played in the playroom for a little while before playing dress up.  We had Batman, a Pirate, Buzz Lightyear and Woody walking around at one time or another.  We got hungry and left to eat at a local Mexican food place.  We love having such great friends like the Jureks where we can hang out casually and the kids get along with each other so well.

Earlier that morning, Collin helped Daddy in the front yard putting up the Christmas decorations before he came inside because he was too hot.  At one point, he did ask me, "Mommy, I need a sweat rag.  It's hot outside" but I guess it did not help enough.  I was happy that we did finish the decorations both inside and outside the house today.  We were a week later than usual, because of our trip to Florida, and next week is already jammed pack with activities....more so than usual.  It's the holidays for sure.  I know Collin was tired by the end of the weekend because he fell asleep on the couch at 6:30pm and is still out 3 hours later. 

Snow and then a Party!

This afternoon after making the gingerbread house, we met Saige and Linden at the park near their house to play in the snow, ride a train, face/arm painting, sit on Santa's lap (nope, he refused....again) and then play on the playground.  When we first arrived, Collin only wanted to watch the other kids play in the snow.  He saw the face-painting and wanted to do that.  By then, we found Saige and Linden.  They got a Hello Kitty painted on their face and Collin got a snake painted on his arm.  Several kids commented on how they liked the snake.

Then, the snow-fighting began.  I was Collin's target.  He was not shy at all this time and eagerly ran to the snow, picked up a hand of snow, made a ball and started to chase me with it.  Remember, he had a great arm.  Little Turkey got me in the face twice, back and arm several times.  Glad it was warm out so my clothes could dry off for the birthday party we had to go to next.

Look at him.  He is finding pleasure in pelting his Mommy with the snowball.

Oh no!  I better run.  Collin is armed.

Look at him.  He is laughing so hard because he is ready to hit me again.

After the snow fight, the girls and Collin rode the train and then attempted to sit on Santa's lap.  Collin walked right past Santa for the cookies...so I knew not to question him about not sitting on Santa's lap.  Plus, I actually never understood why we force our kids to sit on a stranger's lap.  Seems strange to me. 

After the train ride, the kids spent the rest of the time playing on nearby playground.  Collin's favorite was the Monkey Bars.  I had to help him get from one side to the other......unfortunately, over and over and over and over again.  After about 30 minutes, we had to leave for Kimiya's birthday party.

The party was at Young Chef's we we live.  Kimiya is a classmate of Collin's so I knew there would be some of his friends there.  Plus, I thought it would be fun to attend.  The kids were going to cook their own pizza.  When we arrived, Collin had to draw his name on his chef's hat.  He did a great job....but apparently wanted to change is name to "COLLIM".  OK...I it's close enough.  :)  They then learned how to make and kneed dough for the pizza.  His table made Mikey Mouse shaped pizza.  He got to include the sauce, cheese and pepperoni's.

Collin and Mila are kneading the pizza dough

The Mikey Mouse pizza looks good with the sauce, cheese and pepperoni

I am not surprised that he has flour on his face.  Too cute!

While the pizza was cooking, the kids put either chocolate or vanilla icing on the pre-made cupcakes.  I was shocked that Collin only put chocolate on his cupcake.  Since when does he like chocolate versus vanilla?  The pizza he made was really good.  He shocked me again when he did not pick off the pepperoni.  What's happening here?  Oh yeah....peer influence. 

After cooking and eating, the kids started running around chasing each other.  Possibly, this is because they are all classmates and do this during the week at school.  Collin ended up getting scratched in the eye on accident.  He started crying, understandably.  I consoled him and he then asked me to "walk away.  Leave the room Mommy because I am embarrassed".  I wondered what he was up to because he does not usually ask me to leave.  I watched him walk back over to the kid that accidentally scratched him and saw Collin try to scratch the kid back.  Glad I was watching and caught him before he did it.  He knew he was wrong.  We talked about it later that night about what he did and why it was wrong.  I bet that is what happens at school too.  He probably gets caught when he is trying to get the person back that hurt him first....accident or not.