Collin's Photography Skills

Not too shabby if you ask me...

Okay Moms, Don't Blink...

Cause just like that your precious 8 lb. baby boy is doing this...



and this...



Collin finished swimming lessons last week and can now swim on his own! I wish I had a better video. We went to swim with Mag, Colt, Marley, Katie, and Ethan last Friday and he was doing so well, but I was in the water with him so I didn't get a video. He was swimming to me and back to the steps over and over and over and over...

And just like that your little 6 lb. peanut has graduated from her infant carrier and is now big enough to do this when you go to a restaurant to eat lunch...

Aside from our fun playdate on Friday, we haven't ventured far from the house this week. Unless of course you count our numerous trips to the store (Michaels, Kroger, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Toys R Us) and our yummy lunches at Vinny's and Steak and Shake. Okay, maybe we've been out of the house. I've also been working this week. I've covered for some vacations at a clinic near our house and gone to CHOA to do some evaluations. Collin and Katelyn got to spend some quality time with Daddy and Mimi while I was gone.

When we've been at home (which apparently hasn't been as much as I thought), I've been trying to learn more about my camera and get away from automatic mode. So here are some cute shots I've captured over the past week.

Have a great weekend!

Ch Ch Ch Changes

Why does it always seem like for days I have nothing to post and then all of a sudden I'm writing a novel? It just sometimes feels like everything happens at once. Both Collin and Katelyn have been very busy the past week.

First of all, Katelyn got to ride in the shopping cart for the first time. For those who don't know, she refuses to ride in her car seat/carrier in the grocery store. So I have been either carrying her or wearing her in the moby wrap or baby bjorn every week. She was starting to get really heavy (especially when I'm pushing a cart at the same time...sometimes one handedly). So we decided to give it a try. It went well. She laughed for the first 5 minutes (after she got done looking at me like this).

When we went to the mall to buy our Toy Story 3 tickets in advance, Collin rode the merry go round by himself for the first time. Katelyn was napping and he really wanted to ride. I was a little nervous, but of course he did fine.

We had a great 4th of July spending time with Kandace, Kelli, Jason, Carter, and Campbell. Here are some pictures from that day.

Water Balloons

Pool Fun

Slip N Slide

Sprinkler Mat

Katelyn took her first ride in the swing...

and Collin loved sparklers!! He was nervous at first, but then he went through 8 packages of them.

We saw a few fireworks from our driveway too.

The next day, the fun continued. Katelyn discovered the "Johnny Jump Up"

and we went mattress shopping for Collin's new BIG boy bed! I really thought he would be in his toddler bed for longer. But he was really starting to outgrow that toddler sized mattress. He kept waking up in the middle of the night. I would hear him on the monitor saying "Mommy, I'm not comfy." He also kept asking to sleep in our bed. So the cute little fire truck bed has been retired already. Here's the new room...

Ready for bed!

And so am I...

Toy Story 3

One night in Fayetteville, my sister and I decided to let Collin and Carter stay up late to have a movie night. We wanted them to watch an old Disney movie that we used to watch. We decided Toy Story would be a good one. They loved it! After that they exchanged the movie as Christmas presents this past year. Collin refers to them as the blue and red Buzz Lightyear movies (Toy Story and Toy Story 2, respectively). Hopefully Toy Story 3 will be a different color when it comes out on DVD :)

So, we've been planning Collin's first trip to the movie theater ever since I first heard they were making a Toy Story 3. Jeremy, Christy, and Lilia gave Collin a cinema gift card for his 3rd birthday in February (which happened to be a Buzz Lightyear party) specifically to see this movie (Thanks guys!). I tucked it safely away for 5 months. Today was the day, and it was a success!! He woke up so excited. We hadn't been really sure how to explain the movie theater to him, so we just kept telling him how big the TV would be. All morning, he talked about how the movie theater would be as big as our house. And he was so sweet telling Katelyn that she was too tiny this time, but soon she would be big enough to go too. I think it was good for Collin to get some special time too. He was also super excited that Aunt Kandace was joining us (who was just as excited considering 11 years ago, she was just a kid herself). So Collin, Me, Daddy, and Aunt Kandace made the trip down to the Mall of Georgia while Katelyn stayed home with Nanna (Thanks Mom!).

Here's Collin with the ginormous popcorn that we all got to share. (This popcorn was $8, but it came with a free refill. Seriously? A refill?)

And here's the picture that we went to take after the movie (I didn't think we had any time beforehand. I didn't realize there were approximately 20 minutes of previews before the movie actually started. Did I mention that the last time I went to the theater was when I was pregnant with Collin? We saw The Break Up. Great movie but I cried like a baby. And this is not even a sad movie looking back. My advice...don't go to the movies when you are pregnant. Anyway, I'm getting way off topic). Here's that picture...

I thought this was a great movie and I'm already looking forward to seeing it again (on DVD of course...we're not rich, people). Also looking forward to next summer when we get to go see Cars 2! Now if I can just steer clear of the aisles and aisles of Toy Story 3 merchandise at every store...

Surprise!

Okay, so remember yesterday I told you there would be more to come on the room in the basement? Well, here goes...

No, there is not going to be another addition to our family (I know that's what at least one of you was thinking). But Mike and I have been working on something for a few months that I really haven't told many people about (mainly because I wanted to make sure it was going to happen before I said anything). I never expected the first finished room in our basement to look like this:

Tonight we launched our own online flag store. Check out our website at decorative-house-and-garden-flags.com and let us know what you think! Many thanks to my husband who has put in many many extra work hours at home building a great looking (in my opinion) website!

Better Late than Never

Over Father's Day weekend, Collin, Katelyn, and I got to spend time with lots of the dads and grandads in our lives. Ironically, this did not include their own daddy until late on Father's Day. Mike spent the weekend with his dad working on our basement. We missed them, but that room sure does look good! (More to come on this room soon).

On Friday morning, we headed down to Fayetteville to go swimming at my Gran and Grandaddy's house. Katelyn went swimming in a baby float for the first time. She didn't like it at first, but decided it was okay after a while.
Collin had a great time swimming, driving the remote control boat in the pool, riding the 4 wheeler (seriously is he old enough for me to be saying this?), and riding a bicycle with training wheels for the first time.

Saturday we went to Monkey Joes. Collin, Campbell and Katelyn all had a good time. (Campbell was spending some quality time with Nanna while Kelli and Jason were on a much deserved (and probably much needed) vacation in Antigua.

Collin hit the jackpot on a game and it just kept spitting out tickets. I can remember when I would go to the arcade in the mall as a child. This amount of tickets would have surely gotten something large off of the wall back then. Collin got a yoyo, a toy jet, and a stretchy frog. But he didn't know the difference and he was happy so that's all that matters.
Sunday, we went to my dad's house for a cookout. I got a great picture of Collin and Paw Paw while we were there.
And PaPaw loved seeing the kids and his Scooby Doo card that Collin picked out for him.
We came back home that afternoon to spend some time with daddy and admire all of his (and Papa's) hard work. Both kids slept all the way home. We had a late steak dinner on our new deck after they were asleep for the night. Perfect ending to a great weekend!