Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas 2010 Recap

For Christmas this year, we went to Fort Wayne to celebrate with Chris' family. I got incredibly sick on Thursday (worst headache ever!) but luckily got better in time to enjoy the festivities! On Christmas Eve, we went to church with Chris' mom and her husband and his grandparents. After church, we all went to BakerStreet for a very nice dinner. Then home to bed to wait for Santa!

On Christmas morning, Colin woke up early as usual. We opened the door and he headed out to play with his new toys from Chris' Dad. He walked right by the tree and left his presents from Santa untouched! He had no interest in opening them at all. Until he opened that first one...

Then he couldn't get enough!

In fact, when we did Christmas with Chris' cousins and their flock of kid-lings, Colin was the minion that opened everyone else's presents! Kinda funny. Kinda not. He ended up with WAY too many toys! We spent our first morning at home purging his room of old toys and books to make room for the new ones. He especially loves his new cars and puzzles! The boy is a puzzle machine. 

On Monday we drove back home to Cincinnati early in the morning and celebrated a belated Christmas with my family and my grandma. Grandma gave Colin two of the Martha Stewart kid's chef series sets - which everyone loved! Every piece is a miniature version of the real thing. I can't wait to have him help me in the kitchen with those!

And we will have plenty of time for that since I am off work (except for one day) this week and Colin's school is also closed, making me a temporary stay-at-home mom! I am very excited about the idea. Being away from home has put us a little off schedule so today we stayed in and hung out. But we did venture out for the UC basketball game- it was Colin's first! 

photo op with the big 'o'

what a cheeseball!

LET'S GO CATS!

The Bearcats are undefeated so far this season and beat DePaul tonight 76-60. Colin was a little antsy so we ended up leaving at half time but he really had an absolute blast! And I'm glad that we got to see the Bearcats play in person. It's great to have a good basketball team again!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Glasgow Family Rules

A very fun package arrived for us today- our official Family Rules! Chris and I spent a lot of time thinking over each of these rules and I cannot wait to hang them up. Our pastor shared a message over this passage that really got this whole process going:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.      Deuteronomy 6: 5-9

Write them on the doorframes of your houses. That verse in particular really stuck with me, so we are going to hang our family rules right inside the front door for all to see when they first enter our home. And it will be there for us to see everyday as well. Deuteronomy 6:5 was also the inspiration for our first rule:

Colin couldn't resist a photo shoot:
Next time you come over for a visit, take a look! We already implement most, if not all, of these into of these rules into our daily lives (although Chris likes to argue that I do not always leave my shoes at the door), but it will serve as a nice reminder. And if that doesn't work, Colin will always remind us! He has taken being 'prayerful' to new levels. Whenever we eat dinner as a family and every night before bed, we pray out loud together. Lately, Colin has been reminding us to pray!

We went to dinner with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend at Grand View Tavern. The dining area was full so they put us in a booth at the bar. As soon as we all got settled, Colin reached out his hands to my Dad, on one side, and Chris on the other for 'pierres', as he says it. We all giggled a little and I said a quick prayer. And again the next morning, he climbed into my lap, put both of his little hands into mine, and asked for 'pierres'. How could a mother refuse? Hopefully the rest of the rules will be as easy to follow! 

Getting ready for bed with 'Dadda'

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A Trip to the "Looavull" Slugger Museum

As I am writing this, the little guy is playing independently in his room with the door shut- his new thing- and I am munching on dried apricots- a new favorite snack of his!

This weekend we ventured down to Louisville for a mini-family vacation. It was cold and dreary, not much of a vacation, but we still had fun! My parents treated us to a visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum- a very exciting trip for young boys! Although, I think my dad was beside himself with excitement :) I have been to the museum but have never done the tour- and boy, oh boy, is it worth it! The tour guides do an excellent job walking you through the production process and the overall history of the sport. And as we were walking through, the workers were producing special-order bats for Brandon Phillips, Josh Hamilton, and Dustin Pedroia, just to name a few! Colin was literally entranced with awe! I've never seen him so speechless. We will definitely have to make a trip when he's older.

For dinner, I had made reservations at a restaurant at 4th Street Live. I made them earlier in the evening on purpose to avoid the crowd and, sure enough, the restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived. As the hostess was seating us at our table, I asked for a high chair or booster for Colin. She looked at me and said "We do not have any. This isn't a child-friendly place." That would have been nice to know when I made the reservation and mentioned that we had a small child! Nevertheless, we sat Colin in a chair and made sure that he was careful with his straw while we enjoyed our meal. Other than a trip to the potty, Colin sat in his seat the entire meal and was very well-behaved! I could not have been more proud!

He was extremely easy all weekend. I was a little worried about how the museum trip would go with someone so young but I think they made the tour interesting enough even for him! Can't wait to take him again when he's older- but we will probably skip the restaurant :)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

1-2-3 BLAST OFF!

I have been working on A, B, C's and 1, 2, 3's with Colin for awhile now. I count when we are going down the stairs and back up again. Sing the A,B,C's in the car. Everything and anything that can be counted is counted. And any quiet moment is a perfect moment for singing the alphabet or listening to them on tape. 

Still, I get nothing. The kid will literally not repeat any of it. Although, he has started saying "1-2-3-blast off!" which I'm pretty sure is due to his repeated viewing of Toy Story. 

Then we had a break through moment! We were playing together with a wooden puzzle of numbers 0-9. He laid down the '7' and I said 'seven'. Without missing a beat, he blurted out (out of nowhere!), "seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven" -as if he's been saying it for years!

My jaw dropped! The little stinker refuses to say "one, two, three" but has no problem with seven through eleven. Well, we gotta start somewhere! Wonder what other knowledge he's hiding in that little mind of his?!!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Christmas 'Dights' and Breakfast with Santa

Last night, Chris and I bundled Colin up and tucked him his carseat for a Christmas light search! Out of our back window, we can see a huge house lit up but we weren't sure where to find it. After heading down a few streets, we were greeted by a massive display of Christmas lights- seriously, it puts the Griswold's to shame! They have a Santa's workshop, a carousel, manger- the entire yard is Christmas-fied! I cannot imagine the amount of time and labor that goes into such a display but after seeing the look on Colin's face, I can tell you it is well worth it! Kudos to the home-owners for spreading Christmas cheer to all who pass by!

This morning we woke up to SNOW! A layer of snow had blanketed the grass and trees and has continued to fall all day. The roads were still clear so we took Colin to my parents' church, St. Tim's, for Breakfast with Santa. Last year, Colin was grumpy and tired so sitting on Santa's lap didn't go so well. This year, he was very cooperative:


Then we took a trip to the barbershop for a quick haircut- which he barely stayed awake for! Chris had to keep his held from falling over in the middle of her snipping. Very funny to watch!