January Visit to Missouri

Sledding with Grandpa

My niece, Katie, with a snowball that soon found its way to me.

Grandpa converts the lawn mower into a snowplow for the driveway- also excellent for rides around the yard.

Getting ready to play in the snow!

When it was too cold to go out in the snow Colin still loved to watch it out the window and watch the birds at the birdfeeder.

Eating a St. Louis delicacy- toasted ravioli!

The look-alike cousins- Katie and Colin

The only picture I could get of Katie, Brendan, and Colin together

Katie's a cheerleader!

Colin checking out the cattle in Texas (metal sculptures at one of Texas' awesome rest stops)

We also made a stop at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Very cool! It was even cold, like snow! Colin liked to throw it on top of his head.

The DVD player that was so great

After years of Rodney telling me I could go to Missouri on my own, I fially did it- or I should say we finally did it. Colin and I drove back with Mom and Dad after Christmas. It was an interesting drive over three days. Colin did great going through cities but he got kind of cranky when there was nothing to look at- and there is a whole lot of nothing in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma! Thankfully, we had a portable DVD player and Kipper DVD's! When we got to Missouri we just spent time with our immediate family and close friends. It also snowed! Colin got to experience playing in the snow a couple of times. He loved it! The first day was so cold, Grandpa just pulled him around in the sled for about 15 minutes. A couple of days later, cousins Katie and Brendan were over and we all got to play in the snow- sledding, snowballs and everything! We had a great visit and then I flew back with Colin. Again, the portable DVD player was a Godsend! We were so happy to see Rodney again! We really missed him! Since we've been back it's been pretty much life as normal. We go to MOPS, playgroup and church. Colin is doing a lot better when we leave him in the nursery at church or MOPS, giving us a wave and "bye"! He loves saying "bye" and "night night" and even occasionally "hi". He still doesn't say a lot of clear words, but is talking all the time. When we were in Missouri, he stopped trying to say Grandpa, Grandma or Katie (which are all things he could kind of say) and just called everyone "Mama". So, he came home and started calling Daddy Mama too! Oh well, he'll get over that eventually. His other favorites right now- books, forks, and magna doodle! He is also figuring out how to undress himself. I got him out of his crib yesterday afternoon and he had no shirt on! All fun things with a toddler!

Merry Christmas!

A sit 'n spin from Granndma and Grandpa! He'll get the hang of it someday!

Getting hats on to go get the mail

Christmas dinner

Getting the mail with Grandpa

The centerpiece I made for our table

So happy with his balloon and a sock monkey!

Some people thought it was really weird that we got our BOY a kitchen. He loves it! All the things to open and put away and stir...just what he's into right now!

Who needs toys when you have Grandpa to push you around in a box?

Look out! Rodney got a saw!

A cool tricycle from Grandpa Danny and Grandma Angie- it's awesome!

All cuddled up in the blanket Grandma made

Checking out what's in the stocking

This must be a good gift- worth standing on!

We hope you and your families enjoyed a very Merry Christmas! Christmas here was great. A very quiet, peaceful day with just my Mom and Dad and us. We had yummy food, cookies, and a lot of playing with new toys! Rodney loved having the day off and the rest that he got after working so hard at the store this Christmas season. It was a lot of fun to see Christmas through Colin's eyes this year. You could see how excited he was about each thing- even standing on top of all the boxes! He even started playing with the kitchen that we got him before breakfast so it must have been a hit- playing before food does not happen in our house! The best part of course was just being together for the day. Enjoy the pictures!

Phoenix Children's Museum

A wrench xylophone- how cool!

Playing with "water" in the kitchen

Scooping beans in the grocery store

A peg puzzle and a stamp picture Colin made.

A light table with sand. Colin loved this!

Our church playgroup was going to the Phoenix Children's Museum on Thursday. Unfortunately, Colin and I were the only ones who could make it! Oh well, we had a great time discovering this fun place! They have a huge climbing tree, pretend areas, art, and he even got to participate in a theater performance just for babies under 2! We'll have to go again sometime with Daddy!

December!

The only animal we saw at the zoo- ducks by the pond. Oh, they did have camel rides and you could pet sting rays in the pool. I'm sure the rest of the animals hate December because of ZooLights. Especially the stupid teenagers who were yelling for the coyotes to come out.

Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like a scorpion and spider made of lights!

Christmas in Arizona (at the zoo anyway!)

A big truck too! Thanks Aunt Andrea, Uncle Ryan, Addison and Bella!

Ooh! Something Colin's allowed to hit!

Standing on the box was just as fun as unwrapping it.

No, we did NOT put Addy in DeeDee's crate! She went in there on her own! She thought it was so funny to do that. She loved the dogs too!

Addy LOVED the train! Unfortunately, it doesn't have an off button or a volume control! I guess Colin's showing her how it can make even more noise!

It is December already! I hope everyone is enjoying their preparations for Christmas! We are having fun here. We decorated the house (after Colin went to bed) and loved reminiscing over each ornament on the tree. We are also continuing our new tradition of reading devotions after dinner. Now they have turned to Advent devotions and we love lighting the candles each night! We had a great weekend with Rodney's sister, Andrea and her daughter Addison who came down for a few days. Addy is 16 months old so we had two toddlers in the house! Craziness! We even got to do a little mini Christmas gift exchange with them to let the babies get a preview of Christmas morning. It was such a great visit! We did some shopping and visiting, and even got to go to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo! The babies were tired, but they were troopers. I hope they can come visit again sometime. It was a lot of fun to see Addy and Colin together. They got very attached- holding hands, giving sippy cups to each other, and Addy even cried one time because we took her out of the shopping cart first, leaving Colin behind! Oh the fuss! Colin was soon in the carseat next to her and all was well. We took quite a few pictures- so enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

That football makes a nice seat too!

Enjoying his pumpkin pie

Reading black Friday ads with Grandpa

Trying on Daddy's slippers

A family at our church has been exceedingly generous with giving us some of their toys they are not using anymore- this play structure was one of them!

Playing a little Guitar Hero with Daddy

Colin did this all on his own- put the sippy cup in his bucket then lifted the bucket to get a drink out of his cup!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for, but we were especially thankful that Rodney's parents could come visit from Las Vegas this year. Colin warmed up to Grandma and Grandpa pretty quickly! We had a great day here- biscuits and gravy for breakfast and the big meal in the afternoon. Colin has a little cold so he was a little out of it, but he still enjoyed what he ate of his first solid food Thanksgiving dinner- cranberries (canned and homemade), a dinner roll, and pumpkin pie! For some reason he doesn't much like potatoes, green beans, and stuffing. I was surprised he didn't eat turkey, but that's ok. Rodney, Grandpa and Colin made a run to the grocery store this morning and came back with a nerf-like football! Colin loves it- especially to throw it in the house! (not good, says mommy!) We're going to do a little shopping tomorrow, hopefully get some good deals! We hope you had a great day with family and friends!

Colin is also 18 months old now! He's still jabbering all the time without saying much, but he can follow directions really well (when he wants to!) He said "shoes" today and is working on please. His stats from the doc- 35 1/4 inches and 29 pounds!