Bring on the Spring!!

FEBRUARY IS OVER! YEA!!! It is officially March and the weather is finally turning around in our neck of the woods. Today was brilliantly sunny and warm and Colin and I took ourselves out for an afternoon at the park. Jer is teaching the late night sessions this week, so I needed to get Colin out and about so that Jer could get some sleep. It was the perfect day to do so and I feel just as refreshed as Colin does. A little vitamin D goes a long way for this mom! I am so happy at the thought of busy days spent in the sunshine!! Spring is the season for picnics and outdoor fun and I am so excited that it seems to be getting underway. January and February are my least favorite months of the year and they always seems to drag on endlessly. March is such a cause for celebration!

Monday night was our big viewing party for "The Bachelor" finale and it was an absolute blast. This season was so much fun because Jake (the bachelor) is from our area and lives just a few houses down from my good friend Kim. We have had the best time joking about everything from jumping his fence to bringing Vienna (his final pick) baked bread and an offer to give her a make-over. HA!! We have been having so much fun making fun of these girls that we got the bright idea to dress up like the actual bachelorettes at those silly rose ceremonies and have our own "most dramatic rose ceremony ever". Lindsey hosted at her house and we dressed up in full bridesmaid attire, complete with teased hair, giant chandelier earrings and the whole nine yards. Lindsey even had a final rose for all of us! It was hysterical! We drank lots of champagne (which required Lindsey's sweet husband to go out for more), ate ourselves silly and laughed the whole night. We watched the majority of the season together on Monday nights and it felt so great to have a chance to laugh and play with friends. I think becoming a mother has taught me to value my friendships with other women so much more. :-) Here we are on Monday night...don't hate us because we are beautiful!

Colin made a major breakthrough at the park today, which was fantastic! There were a lot of little ones out and when we first arrived a little boy slightly older than Colin tried to engage him to play. Colin ran behind me and told me that he was scared. I sat down on a park bench with him and asked him to explain his fear to me. He said, "I'm scared of other people, Mommy". He said that specifically to me a couple of days ago as well. I talked to him about how the little boy was just like him and that other people are not scary at all. We talked about the other kids in relation to him and Colin listened pretty well to what I had to say. I told Colin that the other little boy probably liked to slide just like him. To my utter amazement, Colin ran back up into the play yard and began playing with the other child! Colin spoke to him and asked him if they could slide together!! I almost passed out! They played together for a good while...Colin followed him around and spoke to him on several occasions, asking if he was ready to slide and if he was coming, too. It was wonderful and I was SO PROUD of him. We made our way to another playground where a little girl slightly younger than Colin was playing with her siblings. Colin asked me if he could play with her!! I told him that he absolutely could and he then did the same thing with her...following her around and asking her to slide! They even climbed on a park bench together and sat down side by side! It was just wonderful to see. It felt like a giant step in the right direction. What a great day!

I have been having a wonderful time with Colin lately...I didn't post this last week, but Colin and I spent a great day together that I got adorable pictures of. We had lunch together at McDonald's, which is one of our favorite "date" spots. :-) Colin is hysterical about our lunches together...he begs to go to "Donald's" and gets so excited when we pull into the parking lot. He goes right up to the front and asks for his food. SO CUTE! He also loves to pick out our table, but it is never inside the play area. In fact, about 80% of the time, he skips the play area all together! I don't think it has anything to do with his shyness at all...we usually eat when there are few people even there. He just prefers the dining room atmosphere and gets a kick out of sitting by the windows and talking with me while we eat. I always ask afterwards if he wants to play before we go and usually he says, "No thanks, lets go to the park instead." These moments always make him seem like he is 30. ;-) Anyway, afterwards we headed over to the indoor Safari Park, which he loves so much. In fact, we have been twice in a week! Both times he stayed for over two hours. They have a lot of stuff that he loves, especially all the train/space/castle tables. We spent a long while there and then popped into Panera Bread for cookies and chocolate milk. He really seems to relish our time together and I am trying to soak it all up. I know that I will blink and he will be a teenager who wants nothing to do with his boring old mom. :-)

Here is Colin enjoying his Happy Meal.

Heading down the slide at Safari Park!

Jumping on the trampoline at Safari Park.

Finishing up our date with cookies and chocolate milk!

I am so blessed!