OF COURSE!

Things have been very quiet here this week! My mom was here Sunday through Wednesday and it was so great to have her! Their Spring Break was this week, so we got some great Mimi time. We ran errands and just hung out, which was such a treat. I purchased two outdoor chairs from Lowe's for the patio...Colin played in the yard non-stop this week. We had thrown away our old chairs, so I spent three solid days sitting on my butt on the cement. That had to stop! I am also going to look at a sandbox and some type of swing set to put in the backyard. We have never spent time out there, but Colin is all about it now. In fact, the cold front that came through yesterday has been a major problem! He stands at the back door hollering to go out. I have explained that it is cold and raining now, but he does not seem to care. :-) I would also love to extend our tiny little patio, but I need to do some pricing. We shall see!

Colin has started changing in warp speed...all kinds of new things are happening here. He has started saying "Of course", which is too cute for words. It comes out "AH KORST!". This is the cutest thing I have ever heard! He says "okay" and tells me "no" while shaking his head. When I tell him it is time to run an errand, he gets his shoes, sits down, hands them to me and says, "SHOOSE!!". Last night during his bath, I asked him if his toes were clean. He looks up at me and says, "TOS KEEN!!". I did not think it was possible for him to get cuter, but he has!! :-)

We went to a mommy playgroup meeting today at the Northeast Mall. Since it is cold and rainy, they scheduled a meetup at the kids play area in the mall and it was so much fun. I joined another group that is closer to us and the ladies were VERY nice. Colin had several kids there to play with and it felt great to have some adult conversation...even if we did only talk about the kids. ;-) I met four moms who live in my same neighborhood!! It was a great morning all the way around!

A Boy and His Pets

This is my Saturday summed up in two pictures. Ferris Mewler will not put one dainty paw outside the door until he sees his precious Colin is playing outside. He promptly decides he is going to play, too. That cat has no respect for the fact that I feed him. None. He lives only for Colin. As you can see below, the feeling is mutual. At least Ferris is nice to someone. :-)

Having Fun on the Beach!

What a fun afternoon! In celebration of yet another very warm March day, we headed out for a late lunch at Life's A Beach in Lewisville. This is such a fun place...it really feels like you are on vacation, complete with Jamaican music and a huge beach. I have been dying to take Colin, so we asked Aunt Alie to meet us there for some fun in the sun. This morning we went to Big Lots and purchased several cheap little beach toys like a shovel and pail in preparation. Shockingly, Colin was scared to death of the sand. That never crossed my mind, but let me tell you...he was petrified of it! It was hysterical...every single time his toes touched the sand, they curled up and he froze. Poor thing! Luckily he thought the huge patio was awesome, so he played like crazy with his new toys and had a blast despite his sand fear. He was so nervous at first that I broke out the pacifier, as seen in the first picture below. I am glad he warmed up and had fun...it feels so good to spend time outside!!

This next one is my personal favorite. It looks like he is screaming, "I WANNA ROCK!" :-)

Colin loves his Aunt Alie!

All smiles! As you can see, it is all fun and games as long as the sand stays over there. :-)

Mama Loves Colin

Colin and I just got home from one our favorite activities! It is sunny and in the 80's today, so we went to Southlake Town Center to share cookies from The Corner Bakery and play in the square. I decided to attempt self-portraits of us and it was hysterical to say the least. Colin thought it was the funniest thing ever that I kept trying to grab him for a picture, so we managed to get some fun ones. Being the official daily photographer, I have few pictures actually with Colin...I need to take more. Anyway, I just kept holding out the camera and ended up with all kinds of funny shots. These are just a few...the last one is my favorite, despite my blackened broken thumb sneaking in the shot. :-)

Hello Sunshine!

Things are trucking along in our world. The weather here is amazing at the moment and we are back to playing outside and wearing our shorts...at least for now. We always get our once-a-year snow storm in March, so I am just biding my time. We had a great day today at the park; Colin has mastered going down the small slide all by himself with me waiting at the bottom. He was absolutely adorable and extremely proud of himself! I promised him a trip to the park after forcing him to get a haircut, which is apparently now the worst thing you can do to him. He never had a problem with it before, as long as the clippers were kept far away. Things have changed over the last couple of months and now it is meltdown central, complete with screaming and back arching. He calms down if we sit in the big chair with him in my lap, but then when the clippers inevitably come out at the end, he flips completely out. I will be very glad when this stage is over...Colin has a LOT of hair and it grows very quickly just like his Daddy. There is no getting out of these haircuts, so we just have to soldier on! I must say, there is nothing in the world that I find more precious than Colin after a fresh haircut. He looks so utterly adorable with his perfectly trimmed little man hair. :-) Here is a picture of him from this evening...yes, that is the splint for my broken thumb. Yes, I totally give up wearing it.

This round of pictures was brought on by Colin tearing his room totally apart in the span of two minutes. I don't know what came over him, but while I was checking email, he walked into his room and pulled every single thing out of one of the huge dresser drawers and everything out of the two side doors of his changing table. That includes breast pads that I had no idea were still stored in his changing table and the empty creamer bottle that I have literally no idea how he got his hands on. When I saw this mess, I had little choice but to roll with laughter at his resourcefulness (after all, I was gone no more than two minutes!) and take pictures. Look at that crazy little mad scientist and his canine sidekick! :-)

Oh, and I should also note that I finished the last Twilight book a couple of days ago. It would honestly not surprise me if there were drugs that somehow crept off those pages and into your veins...that is how addicted I was to those books. New Dawn was beyond my expectations and an extremely satisfying ending to the series. I am actually sad that it is over...what on earth am I going to follow that with?!?!

He Leaves Again

My sweet and incredibly hard working husband left again today...for another month. This is definitely the last time he will have to do this, but I won't sugar coat how hard this is on both of us. We miss each other terribly and I know how much Jer hates leaving me and the little man. I have honestly been avoiding thinking about it, which is why I did not mention it in the blog before now. I sincerely hope that the trip will end up being shorter, but I won't get my hopes too far up. The good news, if there is any, is that I am an old pro at handling all the household stuff by myself and I don't feel as overwhelmed by all the little stuff this time around. When Jer left last time, I was nervous on top of my sadness. I had never taken on all the household duties before and was worried something important would slip through the cracks. But, besides a bit of a dirty house, all was well. So this time, I am just sad. Good news, eh? :-)

We all had lunch on our way to the airport today and we discovered a great new place for the little man. We ate at Souper Salad for the first time ever and it turned out to be a Colin approved location. We had never been to one before (let's face it, it sounds a bit light and healthy for me to pick out) and I was so glad we went. Colin loves little finger foods he can eat varied assortments of and this was his kind of heaven. He ate four kinds of pasta salad, raw tomatoes by the handful, olives, grapes, peaches, cantaloupe, and probably several other things that I forgot. He has interesting taste in foods and likes to try new things, so this was great. Colin is a bit opposite of other toddlers when it comes to eating. I have more trouble when the only options are kids meals...he does not really like french fries, nuggets, or grilled cheese sandwiches. A huge and diverse salad bar is much more his style. His number one favorite snack right now is a dill pickle cut up into bite sized pieces. But don't worry, he also likes a good slice of cheese pizza from time to time. :-)

In other random Colin tidbits, he is totally obsessed with the new "Kai Lan" show on Noggin. She is Chinese and speaks Chinese in the show frequently. I find the whole thing to be a bit grating, but he loves it! He runs through the house yelling, "Kai Lan!!!" when she comes on.

In really AWESOME NEWS, I am going to be an aunt AGAIN!!!!!!!! Meredith and Cory are expecting a baby in September!!!!!!! I am going to have fresh new baby toes to kiss before you know it!! I can't wait!!!!!!

The Final Chapter Begins!

I finished the third book last night and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!! I loved loved loved it!!!!!! This was easily my favorite so far...I love the story of the wolves and the vampires and I literally could not put the book down. I am chomping at the bit to see what happens!!! I just bought the final book and I am a little sad..it is almost over! I seriously don't remember the last time I was obsessed with a set of characters like I am with these. I won't start writing away about everything I would like to talk about since some folks who read this may not want spoilers, but MAN!! Hello Jacob!?!? I can't wait to see what happens!!!!! :-)

My house is a total disaster and the pile of laundry is as tall as I am. I must not start reading this book until tonight...I must do laundry while Colin naps. Do you think I can read and sort at the same time? HA!