Toy storage...

After Christmas, we had tons of toys that were scattered around everywhere.  I am the kind of person who has to have everything in it's place... so this toy situation didn't work for me.  I decided that I was going to separate toys into bins, and then I would be able to pull out one bin every day for Colin to play with.  That way he doesn't get bored with the toys... and he doesn't get overwhelmed with so having so many toys out at once!

In Colin's room, we have an awesome toy box (that Garet's dad made him!)  So when we play upstairs in his room it is easy to throw everything in the toy box!  But downstairs the amount of toys grew out of the small box I had to hid them!  Plus it seems like we play more downstairs than upstairs (I get more done when we are downstairs while Colin is playing!) 
Here is a couple bins and what I have in them:

Every bin has at least one: toy that makes noise, learning toy, puzzle, car, and then some randoms.  Of course as he gets more toys I will add to each.  But we'll see how this goes for now!  I also have a bin that is out all the time that has some of his books and his bouncing ball.  And then of course the toys that don't fit in bins like his little bike and tunnel are out all the time.  But I'm excited that everything is put away, and it is nice and neat!

Hiking...

Yesterday (Sunday) morning while Colin was eating breakfast, I noticed that his eye was a little red.  So, I thought that he may be getting pink eye.  I got all nervous about him being around other kids in nursery at church... so we didn't go.  Oh - and he didn't have pink eye.  Better safe than sorry I guess!
Instead, we packed lunches and went on a hike!

Here was my view =)

It was beautiful outside!  We had such a nice time!  We had a nice picnic - where Colin just sat on top of the table, and he did a great job!

My favorite was when he got a sip of his drink!  What a cute kid!!

Suzi was just happy to be out running around!  I love getting out as a whole family!

After lunch, Colin got to get rid of some energy!  He quickly found a stick and got to work "sweeping" the pine needles away!

We had a great time! 

Pictures...

So... I didn't realize that I had made a resolution last year.... I said I was going to take a photo a day for the whole year.  And I did it!  And I LOVE that I have the pictures I do now!  It is really amazing at how fast children grow, and the only thing that I have to give my memory a visual are the pictures I take.  So... after much debate.... I decided to do it again this year.  I really have no clue at how many people look at that site, but the ones that give me feedback were very encouraging!

If you don't know what I'm talking about go to my other blog: A Beane A Day

(by the way - I tend to do a better job at keeping that one up to date.  I slack on this one.  oops.)

Cold or Hot...

On Wednesday of this week, I woke up and realized our heat wasn't working.  Now, if you know me then you know that I am ALWAYS cold.  And I hate to be cold.  I am not a fan of the winter - the fall is fine, but I am definitely a warm/hot weather girl!  So to have a cold house, was just not okay with me!  Long story short... it took them until yesterday afternoon to get our heat working again!  Luckily we have two seperate heat/air condition units - one upstairs and one downstairs.  So Colin was fine and dandy upstairs! 

When I got him up on Thursday morning... it was 57* downstairs!  So I bundled him up in his robe (which he LOVED) and we went downstairs to get breakfast

We played most of the day up in his room, but when it was time for lunch and dinner... we got dressed like we were going outside!

Of course the weather was COLD while we didn't have heat.  But then once it was fixed (yesterday afternoon) the weather warmed up!  Funny how that happened...

I have no clue what the temp was... but we were out playing most of the day!  Colin loves to get dirty and play with sticks, leaves, pine needles, pine cones...

really just anything he can get his hands on.  At my parents house he liked the rocks and the mulch! 

I just can't get over how beautiful and NICE it is outside and it is January!  We even have one of the trees beside our house in full bloom!

And we weren't the only ones that enjoyed being outside!  Suzi had a blast!

Sometimes when she is sleeping inside I get so sad just thinking about how she is getting older (she turned 6 in September), but then we get out her "purple" and she turns into a puppy again!

I just love my dog!!!  She is so good!  Hope the weather stays this way =)

New Year...

Happy New Year!

Who has made new year's resolutions?? 
I normally don't.  But, this year I [kind of] am.  I decided that I am going to get in shape. 
I have never really had to work out to stay thin, I've always been fairly active, but never felt like I had to work out... after I had Colin, I breastfed, and I was very blessed to have all the baby weight plus some fall off.  I was below pre-pregnancy weight within 3 months.  So... (now that most of you reading this probably hate me now...) all of that to say that I stopped breastfeeding the beginning of October... and now I am feeling the effects of baby/not working out/eating crap.....
I really need to get in shape. 
The reason I am "kind of" making a resolution is because I am scared to commit.  If I don't do it, then I lose.  And I really hate to lose.    
I guess by writing it on this blog I have a little bit of accountability.
So, there ya have it.  My resolution. 

Garet made one last year - to quit drinking soda.  And guess what?  He did it.  Not a sip of soda in 2011!  Go Garet!
So this year he and my mom made a joint resolution.  See - my mom drinks at least one soda a day.  Diet Coke.  And Garet has a couple beers a week.  (he likes the taste for some reason??? =) )  Their resolutions were Mom has NO soda... Garet has NO alcohol!  I told my mom she should start a blog to document this - and she did!  Go say hey to my mom!

Hope everyone has a great year!!

Christmas recap...

We spent Christmas in Charlotte at my parents house.  It was sooo much fun!  Colin and I wrapped a few presents that we had shipped there...

He really liked playing with the tape =)
My mom and I got to go out and about some, which was really nice!  Garet stayed with Colin so we weren't on a time restraint (I always plan around naps).  While we were out we found this cute little chair, and mom said Colin just had to have it!

I had to agree!  He loved sitting back in it!  Actually he wanted to stand in it... but after he was told that was a bad idea, he decided that sitting in it was just as fun.
My brother and his wife and daughter came for Christmas too!  Morgan and Colin quickly caught up on what was going on in the world... 

We brought Suzi with us (of course!) and Eric brought their two dogs.... so we were a FULL house!  In my room was me, Garet, Colin, and Suzi... in Eric's room was Eric, Kailey, Morgan, and two dogs (Macy - a boxer, and Biscuit - a little white dog)... so we were packed!  But everyone did wonderful, and it worked just fine!
One day there, we decided to go into downtown Charlotte to see some singing bears (we had heard about them).  To get there we got on the light rail (a train)...

Colin just thought that was the neatest thing!  He loved to look out the window!  When we got downtown he enjoyed looking around at all the people and big buildings!  When we got to the bears, they had already started singing Christmas songs (they were mechanical bears)

Colin and Garet were so cute watching them.  But... this only lasted a few minutes.  The rest of the time Colin was walking running ALL over the place!  Dancing, singing, waving to everyone... making friends with anyone that made eye contact =)  It was so much fun!

On Christmas Eve we went to a service at church.  It was really good!  And Colin did sooo good!  In my family we always opened one gift the night before Christmas.  And it was always PJs... so we are going to continue that tradition with Colin.  Here he is opening his gift:

I don't have a good shot after this... he really just liked the tissue paper =)

Christmas morning!

We had breakfast then started opening gifts!  Kailey and I had gotten together and taken some pictures of the kids so we could give one to my parents.  I did this with it, except I used real canvas (got the idea from Pinterest), and it turned out perfect!

They LOVED it!

Morgan needed a quick nap while we were opening =)
Colin helped open one of his gifts, then he was ready to play with everything...

He didn't even want them out of their boxes!  This was a little cell phone!

 And he got a big bean bag chair!

Here is Colin and Morgan in their cute Christmas pajamas!

All my family came over to my parents house for Christmas dinner this year - so we got prepared to have everyone over (there were 28 of us!)

 But first I had to try out something I found in my stocking...

=)

I actually didn't take hardly any pictures while my family was over.  I just decided to sit back and enjoy.  But I did get a couple of the whole crew!

We had an awesome Christmas! 
And we are home now... so I am going to try to catch up on this blog!  It may take a week or so though =)

Almost 15 months...

What a fun kid!!!!
We are having a blast with Colin!  I just can't believe he is almost 15 months!  When I was doing a picture a month of him, it was easy to do a post of his milestones... but now it is slipping away!  So I figured I would jot down some of the things he is doing now.

Colin is:
- waving bye bye and good night
- says a few words, although I don't know if anyone else would understand =)
  he says: hey, mama, daddy, Suzi, hot, ball, amen...
- we always say the blessing before he eats and he will be quiet while we are saying it and then say "MA-MEN" (amen)
- has started trying to use a fork (he gets the concept, he just has a hard time getting the food on his fork)
- running around everywhere
- dancing (wow is this cute!)
- sleeps from 7 pm until 7 am
- takes two naps, 1-2 hours each
- weighs about 23 pounds
- wears 18 month clothes
- loves to play with his cars and balls! 
- also loves to play with remotes and cell phones
- is such a BOY!  He loves to play outside and get dirty!
- can throw his ball to me, then catch it (most of the time) when I throw it back
- is shy when he is first introduced to someone, but warms up pretty fast, and then is all over the place!
- sensitive.  He may be all boy, but he is sensitive.  If anyone else tells him NO, you can see him get hurt feelings, which sometimes makes him cry.
  The other day, my parents dog took the stick he was playing with... that made him cry really big
- has no fear.  He likes to climb, and has just started standing on things (stools, his bike... whatever!) and he likes to just walk off things... the the bottom step!
- is so happy!  He does cry, but his is a really happy baby toddler!

I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of it now.  I will have to make a point to keep writing what is going on with him so I don't forget as he is getting older!

I have to write his nap and bedtime routine down so I don't forget...
Colin naps at 9 am, 2 pm, and goes to bed at 7.  He still uses his fire (aka pacifier) but he only gets it when he goes to sleep.  I will give him one fire, change his diaper, then pick him up.  At this point he gets his second fire (he likes to hold it)... as soon as he gets it, his head falls on my sholder.  It is the sweetest thing!  I sing a song to him (I sing "I love you, a bushel and a peck..." Garet has another song when he puts C down).  Then I lay Colin down, and Colin will start waving to me.  Oh it melts me!  I say "Good Night Colin.  I love you."  And I will wave back.  Then I close the door, and he goes to sleep. 
It is seriously the most precious thing!

Organized...

Or I am at least trying to be organized!

I am a huge Pinterest fan!  And I found a DIY project on there that used frames to organize your week.  Well, I didn't have a place for a frame collection that big... and it isn't like we have tons going on during the week that I need to write it all down, but what I do need to organize is my thoughts for dinners during the week! 

Here is my solution:

I love it!  I had the 4 small frames, and I bought the 3 bigger frames at Walmart (for like $0.97 each!!)  Then I used some random scrapbook paper I had and wrote Sunday - Saturday on them.  Framed them.  Then hot glued them together.

Now I can write down what we are having for dinners each night.  It is so much easier for me to keep organized when I can see it all written, rather than trying to remember each day what we are doing!

You can use dry erase markers on any frame.  It wipes off simply with a paper towel.
Now if I could just figure out how to do the crazy couponing that I keep hearing about....

Catching up...

It is hard to keep up with this blog! 
So, after Eric's homecoming, Garet and I went straight up to DC to spend Thanksgiving with Garet's family!
We stayed with Garet's dad... and soon after we got there Colin was already up in Pop's lap playing with his ball.

We spent Thanksgiving day at Garet's sister, Adriane's house.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone.  They have a ping pong table downstairs that got a lot of use!  I think Garet was the reigning champ!

The next night everyone came over to Garet's dad's house for dinner.  Here are the Beane guys:

We had fun talking and laughing.  Then we decided to play chicken foot at the adult's table.  And we got some pictures... this one was supposed to be "serious", but as you can tell only half of us participated =)

When we got home I got in the Christmas spirit.  I am still not big on Christmas music, but I did put on a Christmas CD we have.  It was fun to pull out all of our decorations.  It was just Colin and me at home, and I wanted to get some pictures since Colin was so excited about all the Christmas stuff...

I had just hung the stockings... and the boy jumped up on the fireplace right as I snapped this picture.  He is NOT allowed on it, and he knows this!  Crazy boy!

Speaking of the brick fireplace.... Colin had a run in with it.  I have been so nervous about him running around the brick.  He tripped and his chin scrapped the side.  Poor sweet boy.  So I went out that day and got a "cushion" for the edges.

See his poor sweet chin?
Then we all packed up and went back to Blue Skies!  This time Garet's mom and Rod were there with their dog Schmange

Oh I just LOVE it there!  We are making it a habit of going too =) 

The next day (this past Saturday) I left Colin with the crew in the picture above, and went to my brothers house.  I got to babysit his daughter Morgan, while Garet kept Colin.  It was perfect!  I got a whole night (and day) away (for the first time since Colin was born, by the way!)  and Eric and Kailey got to have a date night.  It was a lot of fun! 
The next day Garet and Colin met me at Eric's house. 

 Then we all went to see Santa!  Garet and I predicted that Colin wouldn't cry, but would probably be very nervous about us leaving him on a strangers lap!  And we were right!  See for yourself:

Hahahaha
I LOVE it!  His poor scrapped chin, his pants all hiked up exposing his awesome socks, his look of "what the heck!" OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS CHILD!!!! 
Seriously, I am so in love!
So that brings us up to date.  I've been running around like crazy to get things ready for Christmas.  We are traveling to Charlotte to celebrate, so there's lots to do!