Waterfall...

The weather around here has been crazy (annoyingly crazy!) one day it is nice outside and the next it is icey and cold.  So this past week we had a nice day, high in the upper 50's and sunny.  And to top it off, we got to hang out with Daddy that afternoon!  So they took me to see a waterfall they discovered.

 

There is a small stream near our house and there are a few little waterfalls.  To Colin this is HUGE!  He LOVED it!  He would throw little sticks into the water and watch them go down the falls.

 

It was precious.  He was so excited to show it to me.  Not to mention this activity had to do with: outside, sticks and water... what's more to love?!

 

Sometimes a stick would get stuck before it got to the falls, so Garet would walk with Colin down to the edge of the rock and they would push the stick down.

 

There goes a stick!

 

What a handsome boy!  I am so in love!

 

Afterwards we got to run around some with a basketball we found.  I can't wait until we have nice weather every day! 

Colin-isms and haircut...

(I have started keeping these all together on a page at the top of this blog. It makes it easier for me to click back and see what Colin was up to.  These are mainly so I don't forget any of these precious moments...)

 

These pictures were taken on February 20, it was Colin's first time at the barber shop.  He did fantastic!

 

-Colin has quite the imagination and I love to see it come out! He will pretend that the living room carpet is water, and most recently there have been sharks in the water!  He will jump into the "water" and go swimming.  He also will pretend he is eating his groceries.

 



Before

- I haven't really explained too much about Addison.  I'm not sure what he really understands and I don't want to freak him out =)  He knows he is going to be a big brother and he knows Addison's name.  The other day he pointed at my boob and said "Addison in there?"  So I guess I need to do a tad more explaining!

- When his "alarm" goes off in the morning... it changes from a red light to a green light... he will yell, "GREEN LIGHT MOMMY!  WAKE UP MOMMY!"  I can't think of a better wake up call!

 

- Is body noises just a boy thing??  Cause my kid sure can make them...
the other day he farted, when I asked him what he should say (he normally says "excuse me") he looked right at me and said, "It was just a little one Mommy."  HA!  Whatever!!

- Out of nowhere he has started saying "mom" instead of "mommy".  Like we were sitting at the dinner table and I handed him his napkin and he said "Thanks Ma"... then he will pretend he is on the phone and say "Hey mom" then he cracks up laughing.

 

- Conversations with Colin:

Riding in the car on the way to the store:
"Slow down Mommy!"
I was only going 35 (the speed limit!)

"What's that Mommy?"  "I've never seen that before"
He could be talking about anything.

 

Pointing at Garet's belly, "Where is Daddy's Addison?"

We were playing cars inside:
Me: "Colin do you want to play outside?"
Colin: "Heck yeah!"
Me: "What???  'Heck yeah'?"
Colin: "Heck yeah play outside!"
hahaha

My handsome guys with Barber Bill =)

Updates...

I figured I would update on some past topics I have mentioned here on the blog...

-Colin's Big Boy Bed
This transition has gone crazy smooth!  From the first day Colin has gone down without a peep.  There was one time that he got down from his bed by himself, and that was so he could get to one of his books.  Other than that he waits for Garet or I to come in there.  It is great - I don't have to worry about him roaming around!  When we put him down (for nap and bed) he might make a couple noises, but for the most part he goes right to sleep.  Or he at least is quiet.  For Christmas my parents got him this alarm thing (they knew I was about to make the transition), I set the "alarm" for 6:30 (hey - we are early birds around here... and that is late compared to how early Colin used to wake me up!) until it is 6:30 the red light stays on.  As soon as the clock reaches 6:30 it changes to a green light.  We have trained taught Colin that he has to stay in bed and stay quiet until the green light is on.  As soon as the light comes on I hear, "GREEN LIGHT MOMMY!  WAKE UP!  WAKE UP MOMMY, GREEN LIGHT IS ON!"  It works great!  Occasionally he will wake up before that and just sing or talk, and very occasionally he has slept past it... but overall it has been awesome!
So, he has done amazingly well! (This picture was when I snuck in to check on him before I went to bed... he had all his animals around him and his finger in his ear) 

-Cloth Diapers
I am still cloth diapering, and it is still going great.  I started when Colin was 2 months old, and still use the same ones.  I haven't had to buy any new ones.  I do use disposable at night.  He will leak out of the cloth and I don't feel like putting more cloth inserts, nor do I feel like washing sheets every day.  So... we do buy disposable.  We also use the disposable when we go places like church (they don't do cloth) or when we go on trips.  Easier to deal with.  But overall, it has saved us a ton!  I am going to have to get some in pink for when Addison gets here!

-New House
We are VERY excited to be moving into a house we can call our own again!  It has been a couple years since we've lived in a house we own.  In a rental you just can't do stuff to it... so I can't wait to make this house ours!  So far everything has gone well.  Now we are just waiting on our closing date (March 15).  And I guess we should start packing soon.... it is amazing what all you accumulate. 

-Addison
It really does amaze me how different this pregnancy is.  Not only with how I feel, but how fast it seems to be going, and how little I have read or taken pictures!  I have 4 belly pictures this time.  With Colin I had at least 10!  Little Addison is definitely making her presence known - and it makes me so happy!  She moves around a lot, especially at night when I am about to go to sleep.  When we first found out we were having a girl, I was a little nervous... I mean I only know how to be a boy mom right now.  And I don't like lots of pink.  But I am over it... I am sooo excited!  And, granted I know she will have pink stuff, I am still not going to have everything decked out pink.  Or I don't think I will...
Garet felt her move for the first time on Christmas night.  She is measuring right on and, though I feel uncomfortable and huge already, I am actually about the same size I was when I was pregnant with Colin at this point.  (I have actually not gained quite as much!)  (just had to add that in there!)
I am 27.5 weeks but here is the latest picture I have taken:

 Yes, Colin is in all of the belly pictures so far =)

-Greensboro
We, obviously, love living here.  It amazes me to see the journey God has taken us on to get us here... and I finally feel like this is where we are supposed to be.  Garet really likes his job, and has made some good friends there.  I got really involved in MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) with our church, and have made some great girlfriends!  We go out once a month for a girls only dinner (no kids) and it is wonderful!  We have a great time!  We have a church home here now and really feel at peace there.  The opportunities here for Colin are so nice too... it is amazing how many parks there are on every corner!  And he loves nursery when I go to MOPS or we are at church.  We feel very blessed.

My Valentine's...

Garet and I don't normally do too much for Valentine's Day... we usually make sure we go out to dinner at some point around that day.  With Colin, it is fun to make holidays a big deal =)  Our fun started on Wednesday (the day before V-day).  Garet had the day off since he worked weekends, so we all headed to the Children's Museum!  Here I am watching Colin wash dishes:

 

He always watches us wash them at home... funny he went right to work when we went into this kitchen!  Then he told G and I to sit down and he served us some food.  Garet got a big piece of chocoloate cake... I got an egg.  Boo. 
So here is Colin [finally] serving me a piece of cake too (see the egg in my hand):

 

Colin had fun showing Garet around... he had only been once before.  When we got to the blocks, Garet had fun building.  It surprised me that Colin helped for so long... he is usually all over the place here, like he doesn't stay in one place for long.  [except at the trains]  They ended up using ALL the blocks to build a "house"!  They even made a window!

 

Garet and Colin had a good time in the firetruck too.  They are so cute together!

 

That afternoon we got our taxes done.  Then we headed out to a Valentine's Dinner... a night early!  And guess what?  We only had to wait about 3 minutes for a table! 

 

On Valentine's Day I was surprised by a box of chocolates =)

 

Colin got a new Cars book and a few little goodies.  He loved the book.  I am so happy he loves to read!  Hope that lasts =)  We had some housework to do, but in between vacuuming and laundry we got to make a Valentine treat!

 

I totally didn't take an "after" picture... but these were strawberry brownies, and they were delicious!  Colin is such a helper in the kitchen!
Later we made a craft: 

 

Little hearts!  Colin was good at first, then he started just wiping the paint across the page.  They still turned out super cute!

That night my amazing man made dinner!  It is a remake of a meal we used to have at the restaurant we worked at when we met.  It is definitely his speciality!  Usually we have a rule: whoever cooks, the other cleans.  So I was very surprised when Garet cleaned up the kitchen too!  Here is Colin "helping":

 

My Valentine twins =)
Love these guys so much!!!

Food...

I have made some food recently from Pinterest, so I thought I would share some...

Buffalo Chicken - This was sooo good!  The chicken was so tender!  Garet devoured it =)  Really simple, not bad for you, so good! 

Source: mykitchenapron.blogspot.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Alfredo Chicken Lasagna - Very simple.  This was good... nothing special, but I would probably make it again.  I just used premade alfredo cause I'm lazy like that.  There aren't any measurements for the sauce, so I just eyed it, and would probably use more next time.

Source: artsyfartsymama.blogspot.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Homemade Fruit Snacks - again, with Colin I don't give him sweets and sugar, and I have found that these fruit snacks are loaded with sugar and high fructose corn syrup... so I made my own.  It was a major bust.  I tried them and they were gross.  I am very much a texture person... I made strawberry, so I could taste the little seeds.  Then I gave some to Colin and he said, "not like this mommy."  So there ya have it.  Gross.

Source: thankyourbody.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Biscuit Doughnuts - These were really good... I made them for the SuperBowl.  I mean, you can't go wrong with fried dough right?...  Just a note: don't use the flaky biscuits, they poof up way too big!  I had to half them.

Source: Uploaded by user via Kelly on Pinterest

Stuffed Chicken - Super yummy!  And easy!  And good for you!  I have made this a couple times, once with pepperjack cheese, and once with mozzarella... much better with pepperjack!

Source: cuckooking.blogspot.com via Kelly on Pinterest

-Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Chicken - This was really good!  My stuff kind of oozed out, so I needed to use the toothpicks better to keep it all in, but we just scooped it up and put it on top.  I got this from something I pinned, but couldn't find it so here is the website.

Guess I am into stuffed stuff =)
Oh and chicken.  I get really weired out handling meat. 
Overall good job Pinterest!

The circus...

We got to go to the circus this morning!  It was so much fun!  We got there early so we could go down on the main floor and see the animals and performers up close.  Colin was sooo interested!

 

This was the first of many clowns that we saw. 

 

Then we got up close and personal with a couple of elephants!  Look how close we were to them!

 

Colin loved the elephants!  They did a little painting and walked around a lot, and Colin just stood there mesmerized!

 

Then we headed up to our seats.  Colin just sat on our laps... it was easier for him to see that way, and he did great!

 

Pretending to be a clown:

 

I will spare you all the many pictures I took of the show... but this was the opening.  It was a great show!

 

There were horses, dogs, basketball players on unicycles, tons of clowns, performers, so much!  When the tigers were out there Colin became really restless!  I couldn't believe they didn't hold his attention better!  But when the elephants came out... he started dancing!

 

Besides just being entertained by the music and clowns the elephants were definitely the highlight!

 

Here Colin is saying, "Look Daddy elephants!"

 

We had so much fun!  Colin seemed to have a blast! 

 

Jesus book...

Almost every day at naptime I let Colin pick out a book or two and then we also read his "Jesus Book".  It is actually called The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, and I had one when I was a child and loved it! 

He is so precious with it and I just wanted to note some of his favorite stories right now so I don't forget.  The pictures are some I took earlier this week =)

- "The boo boos"
  The story of Job.  The picture has man with no shirt and spots all over him... his "boo boo"

- "The little horse"
  The story of the talking donkey, in Numbers. 

- "The big horse"
  The story in 2 Samuel where Absalom gets his hair stuck in the tree... the picture is a man on a "big horse" with his hair wrapped around a tree branch.

- "The little fish"
  The story in Luke where God told Peter to cast his net, and he catches tons of fish.  Colin loves the water, and this picture is covered with fish and water!

- "The big fish"
  Guess???  Yep Jonah.

-  "The big boat"
  Another guess?  Noah... and he especially likes the story/picture of the boat on the water.

And another thing that cracks me up is that, I wouldn't have noticed before, but lots of the pictures have the men without their shirts on.  Anytime we read a story and the guys have their shirts off Colin asks "shirt go?"  and he asks a millon times!  I end up just telling him that they must have forgotten to put them on and that way we can get on with the story =)