Easter 2013

We had a wonderful Easter weekend in Virginia. Sadly, my mom wasn't in town because her mom isn't doing too well up in Connecticut, so she had to be there with her. She still managed to spoil us from afar... with Easter baskets and a free place to stay! :) We spent a lot of time with Randall's brother and his family and several of our friends. As always, it went by way too fast. I will tell you - as tough as this move has been at times, weekends like that remind us how nice it is to be able to hop in the car and see family.

Saturday afternoon, Randall, his brother, Mike, and his brother's wife, Muzette, took the kids to an egg hunt at their church while I visited with Brandy — the one friend I always, always make time to see when we go home. Muzette got these cute t-shirts for the kids that say "Chillin' with my Peeps" --- perfect for an Easter egg hunt!

We call this one "determination!"

Sydney ended up with 21 eggs; poor Collin only got three, and then Sydney stole one of those. Haha!

 Saturday night, Mike and Muzette hosted a delicious shrimp boil! YUM. They did it right, too - just throw it all out on tables and let everyone feast. I could eat shrimp every single day.

The weather was perfect, and the kids had a ball. Collin even went to sleep in their house so we could stay a little later. Sydney played and played and played with Cadence, who is Muzette's brother's girlfriend's daughter. Still family, right? :) I can just imagine them when they are teenagers. Trouble! (I don't think my joke about the sippy cup turning to a beer bottle went over too well.)

Easter morning, we enjoyed baskets that my mom left for us... even us, the "big kids."

It was raining like crazy, but after breakfast, we got ready and went to church. Muzette sang, which Sydney thought was so cool. The kids got restless about halfway through, so we took them to the nursery and preschool class, but overall, they did pretty well. I thought they looked so cute!!! Sydney's dress was a Christmas gift from my mom, and I love it.

I looked back at our family picture from last Easter, and the kids are so big compared to then!! I also realize that next year, I must wear something other than stripes. Oops!

What a difference a year makes!!!!!

14 months

How has it been 14 months since we welcomed our angel boy into our family?! I'm not sure, but yesterday marked the date, so I took some cute playtime pictures after school.

At 14 months, Collin:

• walks so fast, we can't keep up
• still only babbles mostly, but we have clearly heard him say baby, hi, dada, and mama. According to all milestone charts he should say between 4 and 10 words by 18 months, so we're working on it!
• wears a lot of 18-month clothes and some 24-month clothes already! Can you say left tackle?
• is in the 85th percentile for height and weight.
• loves his big sister and plays so rough with her!
• really enjoys banging all toys together or on furniture. Lovely, right? Boys will be boys!
• is an excellent sleeper: one 2-3 hour nap each afternoon and 12-13 hours each night.
• eats everything... and I mean everything. It is wonderful having a non-picky eater, especially now that Sydney is much less picky, too.
• loves to be outside, and he has now figured out going up and turning himself around to go down the slide feet first but on his belly to ensure a smooth landing. It's precious, and here's a video of it at an indoor playground. He much prefers the outdoor ones, though.

We are thankful for you every single day, Collin!!! And I'm sorry that Sydney thinks she's your second mother. I'm really working on that. It's really only a problem when she tries to discipline you, right? :)  But then again, how can you not love this face?

Spring is Near!

This past weekend, I flew up for a quick weekend in Connecticut, celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday with several family members I hadn't seen in YEARS. It was such a fun weekend, and I wish we could have all attended. It just didn't suit this time. We'll make a special trip soon, hopefully. (Fun fact: BOTH of my grandmothers celebrated their 90th birthday yesterday!)

I was back home by 12:30 Sunday afternoon, and the weather was GORGEOUS. So, we went straight from the airport out to lunch and then to one of the great parks in Charlotte. There were tons of families and dogs enjoying the weather. We spent time in the big open park space and then went over to the swings, sandboxes and slides. The kids were pooped and ready to start the week.

Here's a photo recap.

I know two children who are ready for warm weather and for our beach vacation in July!!

American Idol Jr.

I'm so happy to see another season of American Idol on TV, but I am hating the judges. Seriously. I miss Simon, still, and now I also miss Steven and J.Lo. However, I love watching talent shows, so I'm sticking with it.

Maybe in 15 years or so, we'll see this little star take the stage.

First, here's our performer in pajamas singing Doe A Deer from the Sound of Music.

And here she is singing one Randall taught her recently, Old Man Tucker. I'll put the lyrics here in case you love it so much you want to learn it (or if you have trouble understanding her) :)  I've since learned that this is a variation of "Old Dan Tucker" from Little House on the Prairie. Who knew?!

Old Man Tucker was a fine old man
Washed his face in a fryin' pan
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel
Died with a toothpick in his will

Gone away is Old Man Tucker
You're too late to get your supper
Supper's over and dinner's cookin'
Old Man Tucker was just standin' there lookin'

And to finish out this video-filled post, here are our two sweeties the other night when Randall was out of town. I wanted to send him a video. They were going berserk in the tub. It is their favorite time together, I think! Are Collin's little waves not the SWEEEEEETEST things?

Collin's 1st Birthday!

What kind of mother waits weeks to blog about her son's 1st birthday?! Sorry. I'm so sorry :) We had a wonderful celebration of Collin's first year with family and friends in Virginia. We held it at a local church hall and had about 30 folks attend. It was great! Here are some pictures from the occasion.

His invitation turned out so cute, first of all. Thanks to Elle Bee Designs in Arkansas (find her on Facebook!).

 
The room set-up was simple. The cake was vanilla and the cupcakes were chocolate - both were delicious! The cake was made at a local bakery in VA. And we asked Randall's brother's wife's mom (you got that?!) to handle all of the food. She caters on the side and is awesome at it. This turned out to be a very smart decision on our end. She did much better than we would have done, and it was a huge stress relief since we were coming from out of town.

Here are some of my favorites of the birthday boy enjoying cake and presents. Sydney wouldn't touch her cake, and he couldn't get enough.

I loved his little outfit. Kudos to Randall for picking it out!!

 

And here are some shots of some of the guests. It was great to see family and friends; I just wish we had more photos of the attendees!

And of course Sydney was the best helper of the day. Collin's present opening went MUCH faster than at her own first birthday party because she didn't have an older sibling to basically take over the whole process. She had a blast and looked pretty cute in the process, I'd say. :)

At one year old, here are some highlights about our big boy:

• He weighs 25 pounds and is 85th percentile in both height and weight (that's only 7 pounds lighter than his 3-year-old sis!)
• He is walking, cautiously but surely. I think in the next few weeks, he will prefer it over crawling.
• He moved up to a new classroom, where they sit in chairs at a table, and they sleep in cots instead of cribs. He's getting so big!
• He isn't saying much that makes sense, but lots of things that sound like dadda, momma, baba, bye-bye... or something like that :)
• He's facing front in the car (no judgement please) and loves it. We figure he's as big as some 2-year-olds, so we feel ok about our decision.
• He loves all food. ALL. FOOD. I think walking will only help his ever-growing tummy :)
• Collin is convinced his bottle is for milk and his sippy cup is only for juice. We're working hard to get him off the bottle! If his sippy has juice, he drinks it down. If it has milk, he throws it on the floor or just pours it on his face. Lovely.
• He LOVES his sister so very much, even when she's not being a perfect big sister. I hope they continue to be as close as they are right now. They both laugh all the time at each other.
• Collin is just the sweetest boy. I know we say this all the time, but it's true. I couldn't have asked for a better son.

Last but not least, here are our little ones at their first birthday parties. Are they sweet or what?!

Sydney's 3rd Birthday!

I figure I really needed to get this post up before Collin's 1st birthday rolls around!
Sydney had been begging for ear piercing ever since her classmate had her ears pierced a couple of months ago. I thought for sure she'd chicken out before her birthday weekend rolled around, but nope. So, two days before her birthday, my mom and I took her to Claire's. Here's the tentative before picture, the immediate after picture, and then the tears gone picture. She only cried for about 10 seconds, but isn't that picture just heartbreaking? Other shoppers must have thought we were so mean! She chose the October birthstone because it is light pink. She looks SO CUTE. It worked out great because she was perfectly still --- the requirement for the Claire's workers to do both ears at the same time. I'm not sure she would have done the 2nd one if they did them one at a time. :)

Immediately after, we headed to a celebratory carousel ride. She was so proud of the earrings!!

Since we recently moved and had a crazy busy fall, I didn't plan a birthday party with her classmates. I sent cupcakes and candles to school, and she loved having everyone sing to her. Then, we just did presents and cake at home with Grandma and Pop. I feel terrible now that we didn't do a big party because she's been to a few here for her new friends, and she loves them. At least now I know, and next year we'll do it up big!

Now, we didn't sing to Sydney one time. Or even two times. We sang to her (and she sang to herself) with the big cake, then re-lit the candles on her piece of cake, and then again and again and again. I think we sang five times with candles. The third birthday must be when they really embrace the birthday fun. She couldn't get enough.

At three years old, Sydney Drew is a very strong-willed yet loving little girl. She loves her baby brother more than anyone in the world, and she is such a Daddy's Girl. She loves school-related activities (flash cards, tracing numbers and letters, etc.). I hope she's always excited about learning. Sydney has strong opinions as well as a sensitive heart. She is like a different child in the last six months --- loves playing with friends and takes less time to warm up to new people. She has a memory like her Daddy (supernatural, really) and can learn words to songs in no time. She's hilarious, silly, and compassionate. We are surprised by her every day, and it's so much fun to watch her in the big sister role. She has moved out of overnight pull-ups, and her pacifier is gone. It almost makes me tear up! There are definitely challenges that come with having a three-year-old, and there are times I want to hide for a few hours (or days), but there are also times when I feel so happy and full because we get to be her parents. I can't wait to see what this next year holds!!