Christmas!

Our Christmas this year was busy!  Thinking back on Christmas past, I don't remember having so much to do in one day!  We woke up around 9 (Collin had a late night because of a cold and slept in.) The night before I was wrapping presents in our room, and Collin caught me.  So he'd already seen the presents he was getting.  When I got him out of his crib Christmas morning, he said "Buzz? Buzz?"  He remembered that he got to play with Buzz today, because that's what I told him.

We first made a big breakfast.  And then finally got around to opening gifts.  Collin was SO fun this year.  He was excited about tearing paper off of gifts.  When we'd ask him what it was, most times he'd say "Box".  Too funny!  We would have Collin open one or two, but then he'd get distracted and want to play with those, so then Greg and I would open a couple.  It went really well.  I think Greg won the "gift-off" this year.  He did WAY better for me, than I felt I did for him.  Some of the highlights:  I got a frame to help us remember our anniversary this year, a deep fryer and a cricut.  Greg got outfitted for work: shoes, socks, shirt, tie & cufflinks.  Collin got a talking Buzz Lightyear, some cars, books, and pjs.  We had church at 1, but Collin's nose was really starting to run, and he was getting cranky, so we put him down for a nap instead.

He was really excited to see Buzz Lightyear.

I made the pillow Greg is laying on.  He was always stacking whatever soft things he could find to play his game, so I came up with this idea.

Collin getting into the unwrapping.

A popcorn popper!  Just what I wanted!

Greg's parents sent us a Sega Genesis.  We were shocked...and excited!

 After Collin's nap (which we had to wake him up from...) we headed down to my parents house to open gifts with them.  My mom's family still all gets together, and that was supposed to start at 5:30.  But with Collin's nap, we didn't get down to my parents til 5:30.  We opened our gifts there, and then headed over to my Aunt Michelle's house for the extended family gathering.  It was crazy!  Then we got back home kinda late, and so Collin went down late again.

Collin LOVES the Mickey phone and Toy Story sticker book he got from Grandma and Grandpa

Collin helping Greg open a gift while Cassie and Grandpa watch.

Grandma & Grandpa got Collin a talking Woody, so now Collin has the set.  He LOVES them both.

My mom's extended family listening to my Grandpa tell us why he loves Christmas, and how blessed he is with all of his wonderful kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.

Collin and Kimball watching Winnie the Pooh.  Kimball is only 3 months younger than Collin.  They're buddies.

The next morning we ALL woke up sick.  Collin and I had full-blown colds, and Greg had a stomach bug.  Greg recovered within 24 hours, but I got worse.  Collin is doing better, but has a cough and runny nose.  Lets just say sleeping hasn't gone that great around here.  Also, Collin just loves all the new toys.  He fights going to sleep because he just wants to play with all his fun new things!

It was a good Christmas; a busy, but good Christmas.  When we were talking about how fun it was to have Collin so excited, Greg mentioned that from now on we will always get to have that excitement around Christmas time; the excitement and innocence that comes with little children.

I love this time of year for all the joy it brings.  I love remembering my Savior and his humble mother.  I love seeing and sharing that love that our Savior has for us.  It is so abundant this time of year, and it warms my heart to see it and hear of it.   

Merry Christmas!

Some things in Decemeber

December is always a whirlwind.  There is so much going on with parties, and birthdays, and shopping.  This is the worst I've done for Christmas shopping.  I'm usually done around the 15th, but I still have some things that I need to get!

So before Christmas and New Years I just wanted to post a couple other things we've been up to.  My brother's birthday is the 13th, and the family came to our apt for pizza.  Collin was being a ham, and trying to entertain everyone.  It was too funny!

Collin fell down, and said "boom!" to get a laugh.

Then Greg was in charge of the company Christmas/holiday party.  It was luau themed, and he had tons of good helpers.  The food was delicious!  We got to build a beach themed gingerbread house, and watch some pacific island dancers, and there was a hypnotist.  The dancers were by far my favorite part.  They were a group of students from UVU, and they were awesome!  The dancing was fun, but mostly their attitude and presence really made it great.

Our tables gingerbread house.

And finally Collin's stats:  He's average height, just below average weight (like barely), and then above average for head size.  He's not fully talking yet, but we've seen tons of progress in the last six months.  I asked the doctor about it, and he said its not something to worry too much about.  Collin loves doing puzzles, and playing with trucks and cars.  He LOVES popsicles and cookies.  He enjoys watching "shows", especially Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and any of the Toy Stories.  He is entertained for hours with stickers.  He will stick them to the couch, then move them to the floor, then to his shirt, and so on.  He likes playing outside and being independent.  He likes going to nursery while they play with toys, but when they put them away he's not as thrilled.  (Also, nursery is during nap time, so I think the toys distract him, and then when they put them away he realizes how sleepy he is.  Only one more week of one o'clock church...)  He loves to dump out containers and then put the objects back in so that he can dump them back out again!  He is also an expert climber.  And gives pretty great kisses, complete with the "mwah" sound at the end.  He's really into how things work and go together.  He just tried to replug the camera into the computer after he saw me unplug it.  And he probably would have gotten it figured out if I hadn't stopped him.  That's our quirky little guy.  Boy oh boy do we love him!

Nanny & Papa sent Collin some bath-water-color-changing-tablets and the foam shapes that stick on the wall.  He loves both of them!

My little 2 year-old!

Party, party PARTY!

For Collin's birthday this year we decided to stay at a hotel.  We wanted to invite quite a few people to his party, but our apartment isn't big enough to house all of those people.  Plus, this hotel has an indoor water park!  And as we all know, Collin LOVES to swim.  I made his invite at picnik.com and we emailed it out 2 weeks early.

Come the day of the party, and we're running late.  Greg's been SUPER busy these past few weeks, and he thought he'd be fine taking a half day, but too many things piled up and he got home just before 4:30.  The party was supposed to start at 5, and I still was trying to get some last minute things done.  Collin knew something was up, and was more needy of my time and attention, therefore I didn't get enough done.

We arrived at the hotel just after 5.  We'd told everyone to text/call us when they got there so we could let them in, and we hadn't gotten any calls yet, so I figured we were fine.  We finally got settled in our room at about 5:15 and still hadn't heard from anyone.  We debated whether we could fit everyone into our hotel room, or if we should stake out the breakfast room.  We decided that probably not everyone would show up, so we'd be fine in our room.  I started setting up and Greg took Collin down to swim.

At 5:50 pm I was starting to wonder if I'd put the wrong time on the invitation, as we still hadn't heard from anyone except my family, which we knew were going to be late.  I went down to the pool and took pictures of my two boys swimming so we'd at least have something to remember the swimming from.  Finally, at about 6:10 I got a call from my friend.  She apologized and said she had read the invitation wrong and thought the whole party started at 6:30.  They were on their way, though.  I then wondered if that's what everyone had done. 

They were the first ones to show up and decided to eat before swimming.  My brother, Lewis showed up shortly thereafter.  The problem was, my family still wasn't there and they had half of the dinner.  Finally they showed up around 6:50 along with Greg's sister's family.  I guess there was a Grizzlies game that night at the E-center, and that made traffic getting to the hotel horrible.

The party was in full swing!  We ate and chatted in our hotel room.  Then my friend and her girls went swimming.  Our other friends showed up, and we opened presents.  Then Greg, Collin, and the nephews went swimming as well.  I stayed with my family in our hotel room to chat, but not for long.

When Greg brought Collin back to the room just before 9, I could tell Collin was getting sleepy.  We changed him, and then chatted with Greg's sister's family for a while.  After they left, Greg got Collin's bed ready.  He took the mattress out of the sofa bed, and pinned it between the wall and the sofa.  Collin and I crawled in to read stories.  Then I soft-tickled (scratched) his arms and legs until he fell asleep, which was surprisingly quick.  Maybe he's getting used to sleeping in hotels!  He was out, and only woke once during the night, but he put himself right back to sleep.

We had plans to swim again in the morning, but we were both exhausted from the day before, so opted not to.  Breakfast was provided by the hotel, and I wouldn't even mention it, except it was AMAZING for a free breakfast.  There was biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, waffles, fresh pancakes, and then the usual stuff.  I have to say, with this breakfast and a mini-waterpark for a pool, I bet we'll be staying there again.

Here's the pictures:

Greg and Collin swimming before everyone showed up.

 

Going down the slide (with an impatient wait-er in the background, hehehe!)

Collin was kicking his legs and paddling his arms.

Part of the group hanging out in our hotel room!

Uncle Eric and Uncle Chris won Collin over with this noise-making truck.

Aunt Cassie helping Collin figure out his two puzzles.

Uncle Dave explaining how to open a present.  Collin just liked pulling a piece off and then playing with that piece.

Collin munching on cheetoes and chips.

 

Buzz!!  He was excited!

Chris, Greg and Eric

My dad went down to check out the pool and snapped this photo of Collin and his cousin Chase playing.

I think Collin had a blast, and he was definitely spoiled!  Gosh I love that little guy!  Dr. appointment next week, so then I'll post his stats.

November?

Wow!  I just let November get away from me!  My good friend has a  birthday near the beginning of the month, so I spent that time trying to decide what to get her, and then making it.  I made her an apron.  I'm pretty proud of it, so here it is:

Collin is getting more...adventurous?  mischievous?  experimental?  I was checking something online, and I couldn't hear Collin playing anymore.  I found him behind a pile of blankets on the futon with a blue pen.  His legs were covered in blue marks and so was the futon.  I scrubbed him in the tub, but he still had faint blue lines on his legs.  The ink came out of the futon with our stain remover.  Oh, toddler boys :)

Collin's hair was getting long.  It was time for hair cut.  We put a show on and strapped him into his chair.  He would try to dodge away from the clippers.  And with him being in his chair, it was hard to get the back.  But we finally got it done.  He looks so much more like a little boy with short hair! 

Pre-hair cut.  This picture is actually pretty awesome.  Collin RARELY looks at the camera when a picture is being taken.

Check out that mullet!

All done (and finishing the show he was watching.)  Boy this kid can focus, when he wants to!

That's it for November.  We went out shopping for Black Friday, and got a few deals.  Then I was planning and working on Collin's birthday party.  That's our November!