Old friends, soccer, and sick days

I'm typing this post with a bad eye infection, so we'll see how it goes. Ha. I've had a string of bad luck with illnesses lately! Between the eye and the stomach virus I had over the weekend...there aren't many pictures. But here are a few from the past week!

 

Haircuts. Connor had his first real haircut and they chopped off his curls. I instantly regretted it and can't wait for his wild hair to come back!

 

Let's Play fun afterwards

This chunk of love lost her hair and is almost 2 months old! That's just crazy!

Cassity and Adam stayed a few nights last week and it was great catching up! They leave again for another 3 year mission in June. So proud of this sweet college roommate!

 

Friday we had a zoo date with Becca and Jack! It's always fun to catch up with Becca, I can't believe that we've been friends for 20 years now :)

 

 

 

"I just need to rest mommy, and if I close my eyes, that's ok"...he passed out 2 seconds later

Saturday morning at the trampoline park. Doozie and Nana came to watch them jump and play at the library. Thankfully they were in town, because after lunch I ended up getting really sick and they came over to help with the kids while Derek worked the next day!

Colin was so sweet to let me rest and kept coming in to check on me. Connor thought I needed some toys in bed, so he brought me a lighter and a pocket knife. So thoughtful :)

Colin started soccer Monday after school, so I had the little one to entertain for a bit. We watched C the last 5 minutes and he was doing the drills and told me he had fun, so we'll see! He goes just once a week and his "best girls" play too so I think he'll want to keep going :)

 

Park days with Derek while I worked

Feeding the fishies!

Derek and I snuck away for a date night this week and we've been spending our evenings outside in this great spring weather (that's little C in the white on the playground). They are loving their new swing set! It's going to be a great summer :)

 

~~3.5 and 21 months~~

I'm overdue for a kiddo update and today seems like a good day for just that! Colin will be 3 1/2 next month and Connor is now 21 months. I just started a journal of funny things they say. These ages are quite hilarious and watching them interact is too cute (and very loud)!

 

Colin, our little shy guy, has really come out of his shell the past few months. He enjoys school now (still loving his "best girls" Peyton and Lively), can play with anyone he meets on the playground/play place, and loves his babysitters. Very different from a year ago ;) He starts after school soccer next week and he seems excited about it! He also told me this week he wants to do karate after watching the kids to their warm up when we're parked in front of the studio. He still wants to be a dentist and school bus driver when he grows up and tells us we can ride in his back seat when he gets his own car :)

 

He is getting good at site reading letters and numbers and learning how to read time. Although he loves his diggers and construction toys/books still, he really loves space right now. He knows the planets, can tell you about gravity/constellations/the space station/etc. We are slowly working on changing his room over to a space room. He sleeps with his star projector every night and carries around his rocket ship (launch pad and all) all around the house. He still isn't too interested in t.v. or movies, but enjoys watching rocket launch videos on YouTube.

 

 

He's pretty independent these days. He wakes up, goes to the potty, and plays in the playroom in the morning until we come up. It's great having real conversations with him and he's such a big helper to me. He loves helping me cook/unload groceries/laundry. He is loving his swing set outside and still loves being outside as much as possible. He definitely has his 3 year old dramatic episodes and time out is still a daily occurrence, but he's so much better at reasoning and it's hilarious to hear him warn Connor to stop his bad behavior :) He's a silly boy and tries to make us laugh all day. Love that kid!
 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Connor, ohhh Connor. He's definitely a completely different child. Colin is such a good big bro and likes to help/discipline Connor. He's always looking out for him and it's cute watching them play together and try to have real conversations. Little C is very much into playing with any size/shape ball. All day long. He is very happy being outside and kicking his ball around. He is talking so much and a lot of it is understandable finally :) He loves saying--all better, where Colin/cat/ball go, don't like it, need snack, BALL BALL all throughout the day. He loves reading books and singing. He's almost got his ABCs and 1-10 down. My favorite time with him is walking him around his room before bed with his head on my shoulder singing our songs together. I'll be so sad when he's too big to carry around! He constantly is trying to put shoes on us or him to go outside. He eats everything and is always wanting a snack. He likes to say no a lot and has pretty funny meltdowns. He's a frequenter to time out for hitting Colin or screaming/not listening and it seems he actually likes time out...he always takes a ball or train with him.

 

We changed his crib to the toddler rail and he's done so well! He got out the first night at 5am and got back in after a few minutes, but hasn't gotten out since! We're a bit surprised since he is a bit wild. This has been our favorite age with both boys and I'll be sad to see him go to the 'dark side' (turn 2). But we see the sweetness starting to come back in Colin, so there is hope ;) For now we are enjoying his sweet hugging self and love that he has to hold our hand at ALL times!

 

 

We love being parents to these cuties and it's definitely the best thing that God has done in our lives. Watching them become best friends is the best and knowing that we are close to being out of diapers and cribs is pretty awesome :)



Hello again Orange Beach!

Thursday I got off work at lunch and rushed home to get the van packed up for the beach! We knew we needed a little family getaway, but didn't plan too far in advance. The weather looked cold in Atlanta and Nashville, so the beach made sense to us :) The kids did great on the drive down and Colin was excited to go eat at the 'submarine restaurant' once we arrived! Too fun how he remembers our previous trips now! They mostly just rolled around in the sand while we sat on a couch and ate. They both were sooo sandy! Colin woke up bright and early Friday ready to hit the beach! We got out there at 8:01, haha. We dug holes and made castles, played in the water (thankfully it wasn't too cold!), and got covered in sand! By 11 the kids were ready for the splash pad and lunch. Colin made it clear that he wasn't going to nap this trip, ha, so Derek took him back to the beach and the indoor pool. Once Connor woke up we all went to the beach again for a while before going out to Cosmo's for dinner. We sat outside to eat and they had a good musician playing that entertained the kids! It was a successful first day :)

 

Almost got knocked down by a wave, haha. He recovered fast :)

Colin was in heaven the whole day! Poor Connor face planted running a few times...

Sweet boy LOVED the beach this time! He rolled in the sand an loved digging too. His blonde curly hair makes me smile :)

 

Splash pad water gun fight! Derek showing them how it's done on the water slide!

 

Popsicle break!

 

 

Serious about their shrimp and fries!

 

Saturday we woke up and it was only 50 degrees! Of course the boys were ready to go at 6:30, haha. We wend down for a little bit, but goodness it was windy! It took a while to convince Colin to leave and come back later. Across the street there was an arcade. Once he heard about that, he was happy to go there for a bit! We all had fun playing games for an hour then went down to Desoto's for lunch. Once we got back, Derek and I took turns taking C down to the beach/pool while Connor napped. We got crab legs to-go for dinner and hung at the indoor pool all evening. For the first time, Colin swam around the pool with his puddle jumper on without us hanging on to him. That's huge progress for him; he has always been so anxious in deep water. It was so cute how proud he was of himself and he sure did love us cheering him on. Connor, on the other hand, was constantly leaping off the steps and pushing our hands off his life vest. Even after going under a few times, he still wanted to do it on his own! Such a mess, that kid. I had to promise I'd take Colin back to the gym pool this week to bribe him to stop swimming. We had more popsicles and hit the bed! Thankfully we got in lots of fun those 2 days because when we woke up Sunday morning it was in the 40s and raining! It didn't take much to convince the boys its was best to pack up and head home :)

 

Connor wanted to eat cereal like daddy and brother :)

 

 

Kids just don't feel cold!!!!!



 

Serious gamers in this family!



Why not splash in a sweater!?

Love these guys and our adventures together!