Zoolights

One of the activities on our Christmas countdown was to go see the lights at the zoo.  Collin was so excited and kept talking about the animals.  We loved the lights, but I think Collin was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see more animals.  We did get to see the new Rocky Shores exhibit.  Not all of the animals there were out, but a couple were.  It was a pretty cold night, and I think that is why it wasn't too crowded.  Yes, there were other people, but it could have been much worse! We had a great time! Here's some pictures:

Waiting for the spotted seal to swim by. 

A tunnel of lights!

Checking out the sleeping tiger.

Our Gingerbread House

This year I decided to do a "Countdown to Christmas!"  I made us an activity-a-day countdown.  Some of the things I included are: watch a Christmas movie, read Christmas stories, make Christmas cookies, cut out snowflakes, see the elves at Gardner Village, etc.  One activity was to make a gingerbread house.  I found an icing recipe that was called "gingerbread house glue" and whipped up a batch.  Collin was way excited.  First Greg and I put the walls together while Collin checked out all the decorations.  Then we waited for that to dry.  By that time, Collin was mostly done.  So Greg and I each took a turn to decorate and then Collin wanted in and finished off the house.  Here's some pictures:

Greg making icicles

Collin lining up the gum drops.

Finished house!

HOORAY!!

Collin's 3rd Birthday!

Collin is 3!  3!  Where does the time go?  My little guy is getting big too fast.  This year I wanted to save some money, so decided to do the party at our apt.  Now our apt isn't that big.  It works for us right now, but we can't have 25 people over.  Not gonna happen.  So I decided to split his birthday.  We did friend party on Saturday Dec 1st in the morning and family party Sunday Dec 2nd in the evening.

For friend party we had a monster theme.  We invited just a few friends.  I think the kids had fun.  First we had the kids put on their monster belly shirts and then decorate monster masks.

Making monster masks.  Greg laughed at the "hovering" moms.

After getting his monster gear on, Collin would roar at the camera every time!

4 of the 5 kids in their monster stuff by the monster wall.

We played feed the monster.

Collin's "rawr!" and Lindsey feeding the monster!

Then we played monster bowling.  

Collin monster bowling.

Next we had a snack.

Cute True throwing the monster ball.

Opening presents!  He was way excited about his super heroes.

The next day was his actual birthday.  We had our families over for dinner and presents.  We had homemade cinnamon rolls, a sausage breakfast casserole and some fruit.  Collin was completely spoiled.  Here's some pictures:

Cousin Chandler helped Collin set up his train set!

Aunt Cassie's gift of the Toy Story truck that shoots pizzas was a huge hit!

Collin loves the whale from the Donks.

"A DS!!!"  He was way excited for a Nintendo DS.  And now Cousin Chase gets his back.

Random pictures from November

 These are just some random pictures from November.

Collin LOVES snow.  It was one of the first words he learned to say perfectly, and he spends a lot of time watching it when it snows.  This picture is from the 2nd snow of the season.  He was excited and kept saying "It snowing! It snowing!"

He decorated himself in stickers.  But this picture was to document his first bloody nose.

I was surprised that he left the tissue in his nose. 

One night we unfolded the futon and snuggled up to watch Brave.

Collin's snack of choice was chips!

He climbed into the dryer.  He said it was a cave.

He even took a flashlight into the cave.

Yeah, we've got TONS of diaper boxes.  They're great for storing stuff, or for playing in!

Halloween in Midland

 After Greg finished work on Halloween, we headed to Midland to see Nanny and Papa.  When we arrived we chatted and then got ready for trick-or-treating.  Collin got all decked out in his Iron Man costume, while the rest of us put on our super hero capes and masks.  I made Greg, Nanny, Papa and I each a cape and mask.  After some pictures, Papa, Greg, Collin and I headed down the street to trick-or-treat.  There were quite a few kids out.  Collin picked up on the routine quickly and was excited to go to the next house!  We only did maybe 10-15 houses because it was cold, and we didn't need the extra sweets.  I think Collin could have kept going though; he was having so much fun!

Nanny and Papa in their capes and masks.

Go Iron Man!

The first house!

Family picture

My handsome boys!

The haul.

 The next couple of days we spent in Midland.  We went to Christmas World in Frankenmuth, the mall, and fabric shopping.  Collin loved "Manny" and Papa's basement with all the fun toys.  He was constantly busy, and hardly ate nor did he take a nap.  To get him to bed we had to go on drives, cause there was just too much to explore!

In the basement. 

Loving the pirate dress ups!

There was even a pirate ship video game!

Playing outside with Dad and Nanny

Saturday the 3rd, Greg and I went to his childhood best friend's wedding in Traverse City.  We left Collin with Nanny and Papa.  They were going to play with him at their house and then drive up to meet us.  We arrived just in time.  Their ceremony was at the top of the Grand Traverse Resort.  There were tons of windows and the view was amazing.  Then it started snowing!

After the ceremony we went to a condo some of Greg's high school friends had rented.  We hung out and chatted while the bridal party took pictures.  We then went back to the resort for the cocktail hour.  There were yummy appetizers.  Finally the reception started.  It was in a big ballroom.  We had dinner, and then danced the night away!  We had a blast!

Erin and Greg.  I'm sad I didn't get a better picture of her bouquet because she made it from brooches!  It was gorgeous!

Dancing!

Erica(cute girl in the blue dress) REALLY wanted to do the Chicken Dance, but the band didn't know it.  So we "chicken danced"  to other songs.

Us with the newlyweds!

 After the wedding we met Nanny, Papa and a sleeping Collin at a nearby hotel.  The next morning we got to check out late, and then headed down the west coast of Michigan to see Greg's sister, Cyndi, in Holland.  On the way down, I realized we'd left my phone in the hotel.  Greg called and they said we could call later to talk to housekeeping about mailing it back to us.  When we called the next day we got it all arranged.  But it was SO hard to be without a phone for a week.

We went straight to Cyndi's house Sunday and watched the Lions game and played.  Then we had a super yummy dinner!  That night we drove around to the local hotels to see if any would give us a good deal.  One did, and we brought all our stuff in to repack for our flight home the next day.  We didn't need to leave til 3pm Monday, so we asked the hotel if we could swim for a while.  They said that would be fine if we didn't invite outside guests, but we'd already invited Cyndi and her kids!  Greg smoothed it over though.  That guy has some awesome people skills!  We swam and ate pizza with Burtch's and then loaded up for the trip across the state to Detroit.

The flight back went as great as the flight there.  We got in late, 11pm Salt Lake time, 1am Michigan time.  So we were all tired.  Greg went to get the car while Collin and I waited.  I didn't have a phone, so Greg couldn't call when he got there to pick us up, and you can't see the pick up place from inside.  After a while, I got the car seat and headed out to the pick up place.  Within a minute or two Greg pulled up.  Collin had fallen asleep in the stroller.  While I put the car seat and Collin in the car, Greg ran in to get the rest of the bags.  It went much better than I thought with it being so late, and no phone.  It was a very busy, jam-packed, wonderful trip!