Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Looking Back-2008-A Year in Review (the most time consuming post ever)

What a great year-2008 was the first full year that Collin was home so we can look back a full year and see what he was doing-lots of firsts. Here are some of my favorite pics from each month of 2008.

JANUARY

Collin's 1st Haircut



Collin's 1st Birthday






Collin's 1st Snow




FEBRUARY

This was the start of Collin really getting into things and making a mess!!







MARCH

Our Final Adoption Hearing-Just a formality but still a happy day!!







APRIL

Look at those teeth!



Spring has Sprung!




Breakfast with Meme



MAY

Collin would only take naps in his stroller.



Playing with Mallory-who we miss very much!!




Collin's favorite outside toy-the sand and water table. I had to knock an old man over to get it but it was worth it!




JUNE-Trip to New York to see Collin's foster father from Guatemala and fun at the pool.









JULY

Collin started walking, went to his first police picnic & enjoyed his first 4th of July.







AUGUST- Family vacation to Jamaica, 1st leaves of the season, Collin's love for the cowboy hat is born.







SEPTEMBER-We started working on the potty, enjoyed the zoo pretty often and we celebrated Collin's 1st Homecoming Anniversary at Chik-fil-A.







OCTOBER-Halloween,Guatoberfest in Myrtle Beach & Collin becomes a full fledged Buckeyes fan!!







NOVEMBER-Thanksgiving and we find the Dublin Play Gym for some warm indoor fun! Did I mention we miss Mallory!!







DECEMBER-Christmas Fun! You have seen all of that!
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Friday, December 26, 2008

A great Christmas

We had a great Christmas and made it through without too much stress. Christmas day was very enjoyable. Collin was up at the usual 8:30am. We headed downstairs to see what Santa left for us. Collin opened one gift, a race track, and immediately lost interest in anything else. He played with that and then decided he would rather eat than open gifts so his gift opening was spread out pretty much throughout the day. I'd rather he open the gifts on his own time so he gets to actually pay attention to what he is getting rather that just throwing it aside and opening the next one. I spent hours picking out good educational toys that will encourage him to learn while he plays and of course his favorite was the toy dad picked out on a random trip to Walmart, a "Cars" racetrack-he's never even seen the movie! Whatever makes him happy! We were able to spend the whole day at home which was really nice. Peyton and Alexis were able to hang out for a while before going home. Collin absolutely loves when they are here. I have a feeling Peyton is going to follow in his father's footsteps when it comes to being Mr. Entertaining. Collin thinks he is so funny and tries to copy everything he does. Collin loves to hang out in Peyton's room when he's not here and play with all of his stuff. I'm sure Peyton hates coming back and having his room rearranged a la Collin every time but some of his old toys are getting a second go around which is a good thing!

Collin and Wyatt took a nice long nap together and then Nana and Pop came over with more gifts!! Too much!! I did forget one minor detail in my Christmas planning. I had Christmas Eve dinner planned and Christmas breakfast but failed to plan for Christmas dinner. We usually have leftovers from our big dinner on Christmas Eve but not this year so we decided to have Christmas pizza. Unfortunately for us no pizza places were open. I'm so sure there are no pizza places open on Christmas-what are these people doing, enjoying their families or something?lol Oh well, we survived! It was a really nice day just staying home and relaxing. It is very rare for all of us to have a whole day at home together so it was extra enjoyable!

I now have a Wii Fit so I have no excuse not to exercize. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll have to figure out how to turn it on and set it up first!! Well, off to work-Christmas is officially over =*(
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FFF: Theme Christmas Fun




I am a FFF rebel! How can you pick just one favorite with a theme like Christmas Fun?? We have a very entertaining family!
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Thursday, December 25, 2008

Santa has arrived!


Santa has officially been here. It's funny as a kid you had to be asleep for Santa to come and it was always so hard to go to sleep. As an adult, you have to be awake for Santa to come and it is just as hard to stay awake. I thought things were supposed to get better when you grow up?!? Merry Christmas everyone!
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Saturday, December 20, 2008

FFF: Theme HoHoHo



Since I have posted every picture I have of Collin with Santa within the last week or so I decided to post one of his favorites.
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Now and Then

2007 Wildlights





2008 Wildlights-Yes, he is wearing the same coat again this year!
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Holiday Happenings

I think we have a new family Christmas tradition. The last few years we decorated sugar cookies and then we would go to the zoo to see the Wild Lights display. The only problem was the cookies. The kids seemed to get bored after decorating a couple and the adults would end up getting stuck decorating dozens of cookies. But, it was something we all had to look forward to every Christmas. So this year I saw this idea on another blog and decided to give it a try. You use sugar cones and decorate them like Christmas trees. We had to put our own twist on it of course, so everyone made their own "winter Christmas tree scene". It turned out better than I could have imagined and everyone seemed to love it. The kids lost interest after decorating a couple of trees and they went off to play while the adults had a little creative fun! I can see this turning into a major competition!Check it out.









The finished product.








After our decorating party, we were off to the zoo. The Wildlights display is great. It seems no matter how early we start we can't seem to arrive at the zoo until after 7:30pm. The zoo closes at 9pm so we are always rushing. This year was no different but we had fun anyway.






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Weekend Update 1

Look at me-so far so good! As promised here we go-this week one of Collin's favorite activities was STACKING and LINING UP. Anything he can stack or put in a line, he does.It can actually be quite impressive sometimes.






He also likes for me to put him in his crib so he can pile all of his "friends" in one corner and then jump into the pile, throw them off one at a time and then plop down onto the mattress and cover himself in stuffed animals. It makes me laugh because he kicks his feet wildly. He used to do that as a baby. I remember our first visit with him at 4 months old-I don't think his feet ever stopped moving for the whole week, even in his sleep.







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I can use words now-it's Friday

The Wordless Wednesday picture is the very first photo we have of Collin when me met him for the first time. The foster family had just left and we ran straight up to the room to get him undressed and check him out and have him all to ourselves for one full week. It was heaven!

I know that defeats the purpose of Wordless Wednesday but I can't help it.
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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Wordless Wednesday-I know it's actually Thursday

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Guatoberfest Cruise 2009

My soapbox about the Advent Conspiracy

I came across this video on another blog. I have to admit I only looked at it for entertainment value. I assumed with a title like that, it had to be some wacko conspiracy theory and who doesn't need a good laugh. Suprisingly enough it really touched me and made me think. It didn't grab my interest because of it's religious value, because that's not really my thing. I am not the type of person that flaunts religion or believes in pushing your beliefs onto others. It touched me because of it's human value and because it shows me how quickly I forget.

When we were in Guatemala it was truly a life changing experience for a myriad of reasons, only one of which was bringing home a baby! We saw poverty that we could never imagine in this country. I remember thinking when I was there that despite all of the stress of the situation, I was more at peace than I had ever felt in my life. Among other things, there was no pressure to have more...there was nothing to have. People just lived their lives. Families worked together, lived together in cramped housing-if they had a roof over their heads at all-and they were happy! We were forced to enjoy eachother without our "creature comforts" and I loved it. I now remember hoping that once we got home, I would never lose that idea that we don't really need much at all. I realized our society makes us think we need more but we really don't. And after watching the video it makes me realize that I have failed miserably.


I had made up my mind that in order to honor my new found attitude and our sons heritage, we would sponsor a Guatemalan family every year so that they could have food and heat and their children could go to school-things we take for granted on a daily basis. For some reason I can never seem to find the money to do that- BUT- I can find the money to buy coffee every day, sometimes several times a day, Collin will see a room full of gifts on Christmas morning, I can go out to eat, I can do whatever I want for the most part. My priorities have gone right back to where they were before I experienced Guatemala and it makes me sad. That is the reason that I am posting the video in a permenant spot on the blog, so that I am constantly reminded, not only during Christmas but all year to give PRESENCE to my friends and family not PRESENTS and to give back to something that I feel very strongly about. I don't write this to push Guatemalan charity or any charity but to encourage anyone reading this to slow down and take a look at your life and see what means the most to you and see where it takes you.

Advent Conspiracy