Monday, December 31, 2012

Colin's Pre-School Check-Up

Saying 'Colin keeps us on our toes', is an understatement. The kid is active, funny, smart, sweet, and creative- all wrapped up into one. He brings us so much joy but can also be very challenging at times. But the good times definitely outweigh the bad!

From our latest parent-teacher conference, it is clear that Teacher Jessica feels the same way about our little man:

Colin quickly grasps our weekly concepts and is able to share his knowledge with the other students. When he takes his time with his work (notice, she said WHEN), his handwriting, gluing, cutting, coloring, and other fine motor skills are impressive. He does occasionally rush through his work but I try to give him one-on-one time so he can display his full abilities. Colin is very creative. He has a great imagination. Recently, he turned a paper airplane from our afternoon art into what he called a 'shipwreck'. It was very impressive. He is also quite talented in solving puzzles. Although he can occasionally be reluctant to join in class activities, he is often thoughtful and generous toward other students. Most recently, he has been giving his favorite classroom puppet to students who are upset.

Excited (and a little bit nervous) to see what the future holds for this little man!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas 2012

No words, just pictures. Enjoy!










Salem::9 Months

Height: 28.5 inches, 46th percentile
Weight: 18 lbs. 15 oz., 16th percentile
Head: 18 inches, 54th percentile


 
finally has his two front teeth! cue, all I want for Christmas...
we discovered that he has had a double ear-infection, since last month. Ouch!
loves to chew on socks. his socks. our socks. his friends' socks. he doesn't discriminate.
can pull himself up to standing and takes steps

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Giving Thanks


Thanksgiving was very low-key this year and that's just the way we like it!

Chris' Dad came to visit and to spend the holiday with us. Other than a trip to the Bass Pro Shop and Home Depot on Black Friday, we just hung around the house together. Played a few games, watched movies, and ate good food. The weather was even gorgeous- 65 degrees and sunny!




For dinner, we kept it simple with a homemade chicken pot pie, Parker house rolls (which totally flopped), roasted Brussels sprouts and derby pie. Salem ate an entire (baby) bowl of chicken pot pie. He was in LOVE. And the remainder of the leftovers (a.k.a. what Salem didn't eat) were cleared out by dinner the next night. Delicious!


My favorite memory from this holiday was this little leaf-


Colin was asked what he was thankful for to have it written on the back of his leaf. He said 'Elmo' because his little brother likes Elmo. So thankful to have such a sweet, big brother!

Salem::8 Months

Crawling and exploring!
Spent his first night away from his Mama. Ever.
Has now added 'Dadda' to his vocabulary
First ear infection :(
Ate his first Thanksgiving meal
Asked for his two front teeth for Christmas!



Salem's Baby Dedication

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”
-1 Samuel 1:27-28


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

And He's Off!

As of Friday, November 2nd, Salem is officially a crawling baby!




No turning back now!

Hurricane Sandy & Halloween

Hurricane Sandy 2012 brought a load of bad weather our way, just in time for Halloween. Trick-or-treating was a cold, drizzly event. Luckily, we did have the opportunity to dress up for a couple of earlier events at Little Red, our church, and even the library. Here's a picture of the boys waiting to go trick-or-treating at Little Red in warmer weather:


Colin, as I mentioned in a previous post, took his character very seriously. Maybe too seriously. He signed his name as 'Buzz' on all school papers for the days leading up to Halloween and had to be persuaded to switch back to the name 'Colin' after the day came and went! I will miss these days :)



On Halloween night, we made a quick trip to Nana and Pop's house and then because of the weather, we made a quick trip up the street to visit the neighbors and called it a night. Our neighborhood is still growing so it will be interesting to see how many more stops we have next year. And with another trick-or-treater in tow!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Little Updates

Nothing big, just some little things here and there that I do not want to forget:

1. Colin went to his first yoga class and owned it!
2. The other day, he told me that he wants to call his Dadda 'Dad'. But not until he gets older. Right now he just wants to call him 'Dadda'. And that made me smile inside.
3. Salem ate black beans and rice for the first time. Refused to eat his baby food. He wanted to eat what the rest of us were eating. So he did.
4. Colin begged to say the blessing before dinner the other night. We held hands, bowed our heads, and heard 'I pledge allegiance...'. In its entirety. I kid you not.
5. For Halloween, Colin was Buzz Lightyear. For two days, Colin demanded to write 'Buzz' at the top of all of his school papers. We will see if this new habit continues after the holiday...

Halloween post coming soon!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Salem::7 Months

7 Months...

Had his first stomach bug. Ugh.
Took his first school pictures
Had blood work done to test for allergies - NO food allergies!
Sitting up like a champ
Playing more and more, especially with Colin
Still no teeth and still hasn't started crawling but he is scooting backwards!






Saturday, October 13, 2012

Carving Pumpkins

Grammy and Grampy picked out a special, carving pumpkin just for Colin's big day. Grampy originally wanted to carve Colin's name with the number '4' for but Colin refused. He wanted a plain-old jack-o-lantern with a 'big smile'. I think Grampy was just a little relieved!







A Birthday Party

After going all out for last year's party, we decided to keep it a little more low-key this year. With a new house and a new baby all in the same year, Mom and Dad aren't too up on the party-planning these days :)

Friday, his actual birthday, Chris and I both took the day off. Colin opened his presents from the us within minutes after waking up and then I made pancakes for breakfast. Which Colin thought was a completely crazy idea as I usually only make them for dinner. He's only four, so we have some time to change that!



Then we packed up the car and headed to Fort Wayne. Grammy and Grampy have a boat, which Colin loves and since we hadn't been out with them all summer we thought that it would be a great to take him out on Saturday to celebrate his birthday. Only it turned out to be the coldest weekend of the year! Sorry, bud.

Instead, we relaxed around the house, carved a pumpkin just for him, and prepared the food and goodies for his birthday celebration. He couldn't have been any happier! Simple and sweet.




And of course, no fall birthday would be complete without a bonfire!


Happy FOUR years Little Man!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Four


So sad. I cannot believe he is four already. Time flies.

At Four...

Loves chocolate chips and Spider-Man. Not sure which he loves more.
Could color all day long if he was able to. 
Still wears a size 2T. 
Can read his Bob books and counts to 20. 
His best friends are Momma, Dadda, and Salem. On most days :)

Weight: 31.4 lbs.
Height: 37 3/4 inches 

Dreams

My parents called me 'Martin Luther King Jr.' when I was younger. I would commonly come into their room in the middle of the night and tell them 'I had a dream'. Although not the kind of dream as M.L.K. Jr. It was usually an all-too-real nightmare. Not as much fun.

I have always had very vivid, life-like dreams and now it seems that Colin shares the same trait! If you can call it a trait. A gift? A fatal flaw?

He excitedly shared his dream with me this morning. Second night in a row. Last night he was in a new school. With only his friends Paige and Addison. Very vivid. Very realistic. I told him I had had a dream as well.

'Did Dadda have a dream last night in his bed, too?'

'No, just you and Momma.'

'Just me and Momma' with a grin across his little face. Like it's our little secret.

May I always be blessed to have him share his sweet, little dreams with me!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Big Boy Soccer

Perfect Fall day. Perfect for soccer. 


He's played with us in the backyard and has taken a Happy Feet class at school but we have never seen him in a game-type environment.


And boy, oh boy, were we in for a shocker. The boy can run. And run. And he is fast.


He can score. He can dribble. He can steal the ball. And we were pleasantly surprised.

He had his first breakaway. Followed by a goal. I had tears in my eyes, I was so happy for him. He seemed to be so much in his element.


And his little brother was watching from the sidelines. Ready to grow up to be just like him.