Christmas 2011

Sorry for the late update on Christmas. We had a great four days in "the northern country," as G calls it, but we returned exhausted. And I managed to pick up some kind of death virus that has knocked me out the past couple of days. No fun. But it was a great Christmas and it was so much fun to see Colin finally "getting" presents and spending time with family.

Between the drive to the QCs and our day trip into Iowa to see the Hanson-Riley side, we spent A LOT of time in the car. I gave Colin my old iphone to use as an ipod. He rocked out to his favorite tunes in private (saving us from having to listen to "the secret life of 6" 50 more times (still thanking Aunt Lynn for that CD! :))

Colin got to spend some time Christmas Eve with his cousin Graham! So cute to see them together again!

Colin, Daddy, Graham, Aunt Nicole and New Cousin (arriving in February!) Yes, the best picture I got of the four of them is the one where Colin is picking his nose.

We waited til Colin was in meltdown mode to try to pose for pictures. Will not do that again.

Christmas Day! Colin was a pro at present opening by this point.

my boys

Colin chose Christmas weekend to sprout ALL FOUR incisors at the same time. The teether is part of our family picture for this year, as it was basically part of the family that weekend. Poor little guy.

Colin met a new friend, Aunt Shelly's new puppy Junior. They had a lot in common and became good friends. Except when Junior jumped on my lap and Colin yelled at him, "My mommy!"

Colin was SO spoiled this year for Christmas. We can't thank everyone enough for all the great gifts he was given. We hope to be able to make him appreciate what a lucky boy he is.

This tool set was one of his favorites. He still lights up every time we get it out.

Mike and I were also spoiled by free babysitting and had a few much-needed nights out to ourselves.Wherein we escaped our sugar-addled, teething, overstimulated toddler (who we LOVE!)... and went out and drank beers as big as our heads.

Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas merry! Lots more pics are here: http://tinyurl.com/8xxxjuv

braggin' rights night

Someone's all ready to cheer on the Tigers tonight! Mizzou rah!

dreidel, dreidel...

at our firm holiday lunch last week, one of the senior partners gave a lesson on how to play dreidel, and then gave us all a dreidel so we could play with our kids/grandkids. Of course I selected a yellow one. Colin loves it! He calls it "yellow spin."

*If you're wondering how many yellow shirts Colin owns, lets just say he could make it all the way through Hanukkah without repeating.

christmas came early...

for one lucky little boy! Since we are leaving later this week for the quad cities, we decided to have an early christmas for Colin this weekend and let him open some presents. We also quit slacking and put together his two big presents from us, which have been sitting in boxes in the garage for the last month.

I give you: the indoor toddler slide, and the happiest little boy on earth!

His friend Sophia has a similar slide at her house, which may explain why his first word upon seeing this one was simply, "Mine."

And, I give you: the auxiliary kitchen in our breakfast nook.

We decided that since Colin loves to "cook," and most of his beat downs at daycare occur over the play kitchen, we'd get him his own in the hopes that he'd play with it while we were cooking, instead of hanging on our legs and whining. It worked!

Colin immediately took every one of the dishes and food items, and stuffed them into the oven. Clearly, he has inherited my organizational skills.

He also kept pretending to fill cups with assorted beverages (our choices were "milk," "yellow juice," or "purple juice") and running across the room to feed us. Haha!

I will be honest. When we opened this box and saw the 10,000 plastic pieces involved, we almost returned it. I am SO MAD that I didn't get a "before" picture, because you wouldn't believe it (I was too busy freaking out to take a picture). But when Colin got up from his nap and saw the kitchen, he said, "WOW!" and we both agreed that (and this face) made it all worth it.

He also received, among other things, a golf set from Mike and a bowling set from Grandma and G. He spent most of the day trying to combine the two sports. Perhaps he is aware his mom and Auntie Lynn received college credit for those two classes. Liberal arts education!

The bowling pins were a huge hit!

Except.... his technique could use a little work.

I can honestly say he loved every single present he opened today! Thanks Grandma and G!

1st trip to see Santa

I've passed on several opportunities to take Colin to see Santa this year, figuring he'd be terrified, scream, make a scene, be traumatized, what have you...

Good thing Colin's dad doesn't worry as much as his mom. Because as it turns out, kid loves Santa!

I was working yesterday afternoon when I heard a familiar little voice coming down the hallway. Turns out Mike sprung Colin out of school early, and took him to the mall determined to go visit Santa. And he did great! What a sweet boy. Of course, if you ask him if he's been a good boy, he gives you a devilish smile and says, "no!" I think Santa will find his stocking anyway this year :)

back on the birthday party circuit

This weekend we celebrated Colin's friend Trey's 1st birthday! Though their mommies see each other every day, and have been plotting their close friendship for nearly two years now, the fact that both moms are lawyers and now live in different towns means a whole year has passed before they even met! Regardless, T and C were fast friends and immediately set to trying to find trouble together. Just like their moms. Ha.

(I don't know what they're doing here, but it looks like trouble).

Colin also became fast friends with Trey's four year old cousin, who shared his love of trains and getting in trouble. Here is a rare down moment where they decided to nap on the stairs.

several caravans of trains were seen during the party.

Posing with the train he just stole from another kid (this was a recurring theme).

He paused briefly for some cake. Doesn't dad look good in a yo gabba gabba party hat?

all of their present-opening pictures are going to feature colin streaking through in the background.

... or trying to "help" Trey open his gifts.

another train caravan begins!

We'll pretend this is just a touching "happy birthday" gesture between two friends. And not at all my kid slapping the birthday boy's hand and saying "mine!" while sitting on a toy that is decidedly not his. Toddlerhood.

Despite a few minor squabbles, it was great to finally get to see the boys playing together. And Colin had a blast - the whole way home he kept randomly yelling "Fun! Party!"

happy birthday Trey!

"Colin finding stuff!"

Colin wandered around our house "finding stuff" for his cart all day this past weekend. In case you weren't sure what he was doing, he does a pretty good job of narrating his tasks (and pointing out colors).

decking the halls

Yesterday, Mike's facebook status perfectly summed up our morning:

Christmas music on. Snickerdoodles baked. Holiday Starbucks. Tree and decorations going up. Perfect december Saturday morning!

It was a great day. Although, decorating with a 2 year old is a little ... different than decorating with a one year old.

Don't worry, he still loves the lights.

He was alarmed at the tree at first, but after we reassured him that it was okay to have a tree inside, he became a big fan. He pulled a Clark Griswold and personally inspected each and every twinkly light.

I'm not kidding.. he had to touch each one. Fun.

Once it was all deemed up to his standard, he tore into the ornaments. Quite literally.

More than one round ornament was dunked through the basketball hoop or thrown like a baseball. Boys.

These white and red ornaments for some reason were dubbed "cake" and he kept trying to eat them. I'm sure these $4 chinese ornaments are safe to put in your mouth.

The traditional topping of the tree with dad! We've come a long way from having Colin in the baby bjorn while we top the tree.

The first thing C did this morning was ask us to turn the tree lights on, so the tree is growing on him. And by 11 am, our broken ornament count is only at 2! My next project will likely be relocating all ornaments to the top 2/3 of the tree.

Thankful...

... that Colin is now old enough to entertain himself on long drives.


... for four whole days to spend with my buddy.

...for a Thanksgiving warm enough to play football in the front yard.

...for a garage that still has old toys we never thought we'd use again but make Colin happy.

...that Colin is easily entertained by things like kitty cats

and windchimes (?)

... that Colin has a grandma who will bake him his very own mini pumpkin pie.

(this is the aftermath)

...that toddlers are ridiculous and hilarious.

... that Colin gives me an excuse to go play at my childhood parks.

... that Colin has a family that loves him to pieces (even when he keeps them awake all night!)

....for a wonderful long weekend with family, food & fun. happy thanksgiving!