Giant Weekend of Fun!!

Hello Fall!!!!!!!

giving some love to his Mommy at the Zoo


We have had a wonderful and very busy weekend! Jer was off work on Friday, so we headed over to Frank Buck Zoo in nearby Gainesville. It is a tiny little zoo that is absolutely ADORABLE and the perfect size for a toddler to explore. Colin loved the petting zoo and the chance to feed some very hungry goats. They also have a fantastic park and train ride, so Colin was in heaven. He zonked out the second we got back into the car and slept the whole way home. The weather was sunny and 70 degrees...I think we are officially done with screaming heat until next year, thank goodness!!

Saturday was a rainy mess of a day, but we had Aubrey's 2nd birthday party to attend and Colin had a blast. He has been doing really well lately with large groups of people and seems to have worked through a lot of his sensitivity to big group settings. Of course, it helps that he has known Aubrey since the day she was born. :-) He ate a ton of pizza and checked out all the awesome presents. There was no nap that day and he started to melt down pretty fast as it got later, so we headed home for some Chinese food and cozy time. In my opinion, any day that ends with good Chinese take-out is a winner. It was so great to spend time with Ellen and her family...I love them all so much. She is pregnant again and is just finishing up her first trimester. I am so happy for her and a little jealous; we were pregnant together with Colin and Aubrey and it feels strange not to be going through this with her again! However, I am so excited and can't wait to find out what she is having! My bet is another girl! I have had a good time looking at Aubrey's 1st birthday post...these two have grown up a LOT this year!!

Colin checking out Aubrey's loot

Aubrey and Colin while she opens her gifts

I love this...the face I got when I told Colin that he could not have her present.

Now, SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY! Our good friends The Roberts invited us over for a Cowboy's vs. Broncos party at their house and we had the best time, despite the Cowboy's losing the game in the last second and the fact that Jer had to work, so he missed out on the fun. Everyone brought appetizers and we munched all afternoon while the kids played and the men watched the game. The girls were busy chatting and taking care of the little ones, but I managed to watch a good deal of the action. :-) Colin and Hayden had on matching Romo jerseys and were absolutely adorable. They refused to both look at me for any sort of decent picture, but at least I got a couple. Colin thinks Hayden has the best toys ever and I had to bribe him with a cookie to even get him out the door to go home. All the kids had a great time and I love that they are finally old enough to play together. Colin was on his best behavior and I was SO PROUD of him!! He played quietly and nicely, he shared well, there was no throwing or tantrums and generally it was the perfect afternoon. He has been an excellent little boy all weekend and I kissed him extra hard tonight as I was tucking him into bed. I thanked him for being the best baby that any mama could ask for and he said, and very sincerely I might add, "You welcome Mommy". Love that boy.

Baby Pierce gives Colin a kiss! SO SWEET!

Two "romo" boys...they looked ADORABLE!!

sweet boys!!

Last, but not least, Colin shows off his awesome new long sleeved pj's for the cooler weather. It finally cooled way off here tonight, so we busted them out after bath time. Colin loves them and was more than happy to show off for a picture. It was the perfect end to a very busy and joyous weekend.

YEA FOR FALL!!!

Colin is TWO!

It is now official...my precious baby boy is TWO YEARS OLD! Despite the slide/party fiasco, we managed to have a very special day on Monday. We met our good friends Laura and Kayrene and their respective kiddos at Paradise Pond for a morning of play and then everyone made the trek back to our house for brunch and presents. I made french toast casserole and it was beyond good! It was my first time making this particular recipe, so I was very pleased that it turned out! I generally like to taste test a recipe before serving it to a crowd. This was a make again dish for sure. The kiddos had cake and helped Colin open presents. It turned out to be such a wonderful morning...it was a rainy day, so the indoor play turned out to be the perfect plan. Once all the kids hit nap time, everyone left and Colin took a long rest. That evening we took him out for dinner at Jason's, which has turned out to be one of his favorite places to go. As far as Colin is concerned, you really can't beat a restaurant that has free soft serve cones. When we got home, we let him open up the remainder of his gifts and played the night away with all his new loot. He spent the whole day saying, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!", which simply melted my heart. Granted, he was wishing everyone from Jer to the dishwasher a happy birthday, but it was still pretty adorable. :-)


Jer was off work today as well, so we closed the birthday extravaganza with Colin's final present; a trip to the water park! We found a smaller park in Denton that has a HUGE children's pool area that was fantastic. Jer and I got to take turns riding the slides and we took Colin around the lazy river in giant tubes several times. I was shocked that he was willing to ride in our laps down the river, but he loved it! It was a perfect ending to a very sweet birthday.


My feelings on this birthday are harder for me to write about, I have so many mixed emotions. On one hand, I feel like it was yesterday that I was in the hospital having him and on the other hand, it feels like an eternity ago. For the first 18 months of his life, he seemed like a baby to me. He still took occasional bottles, was rocked to sleep every night, mostly babbled and was just a sweet baby boy. This spring he has completely changed into so much of a little boy...talking, rough housing, displaying a sense of humor, sleeping in a big bed and generally being a little kid. This is easily my favorite stage so far. Watching his little personality develop has been the greatest gift and he is so funny and sweet. Now that his words have progressed, he has stopped a lot of the major meltdowns and is much happier than he was a few months ago. He gives lots of hugs and kisses and loves to "get cozy" under the covers to watch his "shows". He has a new move here around his 2nd birthday that is so adorable that it nearly kills me. If I do something that he likes...such as give him a cookie or fresh juice or anything that he deems awesome, he says "good mom!" when I hand it to him. Not "thank you", but "good mom!". It is hysterical. Even his inflection is funny...he says it exactly like you would say, "good dog!". I could not love this baby more if I tried. :-) Finally, here are some pictures from the weekend of fun.

Running at the water park. He LOVED it!



Yea for water! :-)


This place was kid heaven.

All smiles during his birthday dinner. I love that face!!

He was beside himself to open those presents!

A shot of his goodies on the big day.

One of my all time favorite pictures! Colin, Scarlett and Ryan share brunch together during the party. They looked so adorable lined up on those stools!

Daddy and Colin playing with the bubbles at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house

Mom Mom showing him how it's done!

Colin spent half the day loving on Jasper and Solomon, the best doggies ever!

Daddy introduces Colin to the workings of the slip-n-slide. Such a great present from his grandparents!

Opening presents with his grandparents. He got pretty good at this!

Colin, I hope your third year on this earth is just as amazing as your second. I love you, sweet boy!

Fourth of July Weekend in Pictures

There were so many wonderful moments from our weekend caught on my camera! Our whole family had the most wonderful time! The photo above was taken at my parents curb. My dad had flags lining the whole house. It looked beautiful and Colin loved it! Below is the mess of iced brownie at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house. He started his holiday off with a bang!

My beautiful twin sisters at Jackson's birthday and 4th of July bash. Meredith (left) is 7 months pregnant. So technically this picture is of Alieson, Mert AND Pryce. :-)

The BEST NEPHEW OF ALL TIME, Jackson. He had a great time at his big party!

Colin being all-American with his hot dog!

Colin taking charge at my dad's office. I love this picture more than any I have taken in a long time. My dad has been in this particular office for...I don't know...25 years? I used to show up there several times a week after school to ask for $20. :-) It is like a second home to me and seeing Colin in that seat smiling like that is so precious. Look at that grin!

Colin answering Duke's phone. He has wonderful leadership skills.

Colin and Mama enjoy the pool.

Duke and Colin share some ice cream. This was pretty much the highlight of BOTH their afternoons. Colin adores his Duke...he has been saying, "MOM! DUKE'S HOUSE!!" ever since we got home.

Hanging out with the best husband and daddy in the whole world!

Colin fresh and ready to go on the 4th! Such a dapper little man!

Hunter Turns TWO!

I can hardly believe it, but Miss Hunter is now TWO years old! Melanie and Patrick held her party at Boomerang's on Saturday and in what can only be characterized as my best move ever, we arrived at 5pm. The party was from 3-5pm. Yes, I am awesome. ;-) Colin refused to get up from his nap, which always happens when I actually need him to wake up. I thought we were going to miss the whole party and just drop off Hunter's present, but things were still in full swing when we arrived. Hunter was having a blast and the party carried on for over an hour after we got there. This little girl has NO FEAR and was doing everything by herself. I already have a feeling that she will be getting Colin into trouble before you know it. :-) We had a great time and I got to see Melissa and Daniel, too! It feels like just yesterday we were all at Hunter's 1st birthday party...how is time passing me so quickly?!?! Here are a few shots that I managed to take despite my late arrival.

Colin and Hunter in the same shot, which was a miracle. As you can tell, they were having nothing to do with my camera.

One of my all-time best friends in the world, Melanie and her little crazy girl Hunter.

Colin loving some bounce house goodness!

Lastly, a very silly shot of us when we got home from the party. I was tickling the man and he was doing "the melt" as I like to call it...when he does not want me to get him, he turns into jello and just melts out of my arms. Ah, the joys of toddlerhood. :-)


For even more fun, you can see how much Colin and Hunter have changed here, too. :-)

Gabby's Birthday Party!

Today was Miss Gabby's birthday party! She is two years old and just the cutest little thing you have ever laid your eyes on. The party was absolutely fantastic and I am beyond glad that I got to see my friend Dana again after way too many years. They had the party at The Little Gym in Plano and Colin had never been before. He had the best time in the world! He took off the moment his feet touched the floor and hardly even paid attention to his boring old parents. All the kiddos were around the same age and all had so much fun. My favorite part was the cake...all the little ones sat at a mini table and ate off their plates like they were big kids. I was honestly amazed that Colin sat in his chair and ate his whole plate of fruit and crackers. I don't remember ever seeing anything so adorable as all those toddlers sitting at the table. Gabby knew it was her birthday and ate up being in the spotlight. She even blew out her candles like a big girl!! After they finished eating, the kids headed back into the gym and there were tons of rubber balls thrown out and BUBBLES! Colin was shooting baskets and chasing bubbles like a champ. He really had the best time ever. I can't believe how long it has been since I have seen Dana and her sister Teri...I danced in high school with both of them and it was so nice to get to hang out for awhile! I also got to see another old friend from school, Allison. It was great to catch up with familiar faces from growing up. It was a great afternoon and we are so lucky to have such good friends. Thank you for inviting us to your awesome party, Gabby! Happy Birthday!

Here is a shot of Colin and Gabby. I am amazed that I managed to get them in the same frame more than once. :-)

Here is Colin flirting with the ladies at the table. This was seriously the cutest moment.

Playing with the parachute. I thought this might scare Colin, but he loved it!

Colin and Gabby were playing while everyone else was in the circle. He thought she was pretty dang cute.

My little man loving The Little Gym. I think we may have to join!

A Party!

Colin and I just got home from a fun Saturday evening event. Jer's good friend Tom was the recipient of a surprise birthday party at their hangar around the corner from our house. There were tons of folks there and Colin was the only kid in attendance, but it still turned out to be a great time. These are all of Jer's pilot friends and since the party was at their private hangar, Colin got to check out the airplanes and watch them take off and land. This tiny little airport is right by the house and boasts homes that line the air strip. It is such a cool place and I would love to own one of the homes one day and have our own little airplane to park there. That would be just amazing. It was such a beautiful place. Colin was right at home (no surprise there) and did not even flinch with all the loud noises of the airplanes starting up and taking off. He is obviously destined to follow in his fathers footsteps. He ran around flirting with all the ladies and he had the whole party eating out of his hands. He has this one move where he shrugs his shoulders and drops his head to one side while he smiles...it is the cutest thing you have ever seen and he knows it! Our friend Dave just adores the little man and he spent a long time throwing him up in the air, flying him through the air like superman and tickling him to death. Colin was eating it up. We stayed for a couple of hours and then came home for bath and bedtime. Below are some of the pictures that I took while we were there.

Daddy and Colin check out John's airplane. The red one is Tom's.


Hey, wait for me!! :-)


Right at home with the airplanes...just like Daddy!

Aubrey's First Birthday!

Our very good friends Ellen and Wes invited us to their daughter Aubrey's first birthday party today and we had a blast! Ellen and I were pregnant together with our precious babies and I cannot believe they are both one now. It just blows my mind. I took several pictures of the festivities. Aubrey looked adorable in her pink tutu! Colin was a handful and a half, let me tell you. Aubrey is much smaller than Colin and not running around like he is, so their home is not quite baby proofed just yet. In other words, Ellen has a ton of beautiful things that I was scared to death Colin was going to destroy. I spent the whole time running after him watching his every move! Not to mention that it took everything I had to keep him from opening her presents for her. :-) The first picture below is Aubrey opening our present to her.

Here is Ellen and Aubrey with all their "helpers", including Colin.

The only way we were finally able to get Colin out of the presents!


The beautiful little birthday girl!


Last but not least, Colin in the middle of Aubrey's awesome loot! He was wearing out at this point!

We had such a wonderful time and were so happy to be included on the big day. We are so lucky to have such great friends.

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

We had a great time today at our good friend Hunter's first birthday party! I can't believe that Mel's baby girl is one! UNREAL! They hosted a great pool party in their backyard and the day could not have been more perfect for a fiesta. The party actually started at Colin's normal nap time, so he was not in the best mood, but still managed to find time to flirt with all the girls. I am really going to have to watch this kid. ;-) The first shot is of Daddy and Colin swimming in the pool. The second picture is of Hunter opening her presents. She was hysterical...she sat in that chair and opened every single one of her presents. We all figured she would get bored since she is so young, but oh no! She loved it! The third shot is of Colin trying to grab his newest girlfriend, Breck. He was all about the girls today....at one point he tried to untie Hunter's dress! It was so funny. The last one is of Colin and I...not the greatest shot as Colin was beyond ready to sleep, but you can see his adorable little outfit. He looked so cute! Anyway, the day was great and I got to see my girls Melanie and Melissa and their families. Mel's parents were there and they are like a second set of parents to me, so it was great to see them, too. All in all, a great Saturday. Jer took a little video of Colin flirting with Breck on our camera...I will post that shortly as well!