Sunday, November 1, 2009

Fun Fall Day

Okay-so I am about a week behind on my posts so it is catch up time. A little off topic, I recently saw on thecutestblogontheblock.com that you can have your blog printed and professionally bound into a book. I tried it to see what it would look like and I think it's awesome! I thought -this is what I have been blogging for-who needs a baby book and all that other stuff. I have been blogging about Collin's story since our very first visit trip! It is truly his story. It brought tears to my eyes it was so cool!It makes me so glad that I have kept this blog-even if I do get a little behind. That may just be the inspiration I needed to get back to work and stop letting life get in the way!I think I am going to divide the books into years so there will be a book for each year! I'm very excited about this idea if you can't tell. He loves books so much so I know he will just love this!

So, back to business! Our fun fall day...which just happened to be last week... but who's counting! I really look forward to days that the family can just be together without any plans and without rushing around to do this and do that. We all enjoy going to the park and playing on a nice day-especially Bosley!




Collin and Wyatt enjoyed a game of tackle football. We just have to work on teaching Collin that you can't tackle everyone, all the time! He thinks it is funny to run into people and fall on the ground-not sure where that came from??? Let me tell you, this kid LOVES sports! If it involves a ball he is all over it.







Of course, dad had to do one of his infamous headstands! Collin tries to imitate him by putting his head and hands on the ground and lifting one leg up in the air-it's hilarious!





I love taking pictures of Collin and Wyatt, a father and son walking side by side or Collin up on his shoulders. I think it is so stinking cute. Collin is so lucky to have a dad that loves to joke around and play with him! I'm lucky too-it's free entertainment!





We always head to the river so Bosley can take a swim and we throw some rocks. What a great way to spend a beautiful fall day!!






And last but not least...a rare pic with Mama!!


October COFLAC Outing

We hosted the October COFLAC outing and visited Leeds Farm in Ostrander for the first time. Only 4 families showed but it was a really great day! The weather was beautiful and the farm has TONS of fun activities!

They had a hay barn, tractor races, zip lines, bouncing pumpkin, banana train,corn sandbox, petting zoo, hay ride,mountain slides, pumpkins, fresh kettle corn, homemade pies-I could go on forever! And thank goodness they have a "How tall this fall" so we don't ever have to go back to Circle S Farm again! This place was a million times better AND cheaper! Peyton, Alexis and Greg joined us so we had the whole family-SUPER FUN DAY!


















Collin decided he wasn't going to go on the banana train by himself so since the rest of the family was in line for the zip line I had to squeeze my big butt in a barrel with him!! I have to admit I was fighting off a panic attack the whole time hoping I wouldn't be STUCK when the ride was over-that would have been really embarassing!! Fortunately, I was able to pry my girth out of the little barrel and carry on as if it was no problem-phew!


Saturday, October 31, 2009

FFF-Spooky

Don't feel bad Hannah-I don't have anything either! I was lucky to get Collin in a costume at all! So here are our "SPOOKY" pumpkins



and a "SPOOKY" guy we kept running into during trick or treat-more like CREEPY! Collin's dinosaur costume was "too scary" for him to wear but this guy didn't scare him at all?!?!





Click here for more SPOOKY FFF.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Multimedia message

Collin in front of the neighbors Brutus Buckeye. Go Bucks!!!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Multimedia message

Test from the iPhone

FFF-Adventure

As you can see I was attempting to get Collin to sit still and smile for the camera with his new Preschool t-shirt-what an adventure!! There is a new host for FFF so check out Hannah's blog Me Me and Monkey's Big Adventures for more FFF.













I finally turned on the tv and at least got him to stop acting silly!

Preschool Art Catch Up



We missed a week of posting art because Wyatt forgot to bring it home. I was lucky enough to get to take Collin this week so I picked up last weeks art and this weeks project-painted leaves.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Catching up with Collin

Once again, I have been a slacker blogger so I thought I should catch up on what Collin is up to these days. I swear it's like he does something new everyday, who can keep up??

Collin's favorite foods right now are mini rice cakes (they have to be mini, not the big ones), peanut butter, honey, romaine lettuce aka salad, orange juice and apple juice, celery, carrots, apples, any meat and chewy granola bars. Today I think we found a new favorite. We went to Chipotle for lunch and I got him a "salad"- romaine lettuce, no dressing and he tried the Carnitas-LOVED IT!! Their other meats are too spicy for him so we never go there but I think we have a winner!

His vocabulary has expanded so much I can barely keep up. Most recently his favorite saying is "spooky halloween". We have spooky halloween pumpkins and there is a spooky halloween house up the street. Other frequently heard phrases lately are "wait a minute', "let me see", "be careful", I'm hungry mama". "wait for me", "I need help" and we hear a lot of "hhmm's". We are really beginning to notice that he is very involved in conversations and is really able to be an active participant. It's pretty funny to see his personality really start coming to light. I have to say the kid is a total ham! It seems like he is always trying to make you laugh. His favorite thing to do is throw himself on the floor acting like he fell down and yelling "I'm okay"! He did this the entire length of the aisle when we were boarding the airplane coming home from Miami. Of course, we were in the last row of the plane! Some people thought it was hilarious but I'm sure some people thought I was a horrible mother because I wasn't helping him get up-you don't dare help him get up!! I think it ruins the drama.

He is totally in to sports. I don't care what kind of ball it is, he loves it. My mom has completely ruined him watching football. Any time a football game is on he yells and screams at the TV...Run, Run, Pass, Pass, Fumble, Touchdown!! I'm not sure when my mom became a fan of football but I can barely stand to be in the room when a game is on! Baseball is still his number one love though.


He can count to 10 by himself. He knows his preschool teachers name and he is FINALLY saying his own name. He loves to read and if I interrupt him I hear a disgusted "Mmmama! I'm reading"! My fault!!LOL He is an excellent listener. If we have an issue usually he is tired. One "break" (my version of time out) usually does the trick. He will usually pick up his toys when you tell him and is very neat and precise usually about how they are put away.He is still taking an afternoon nap and you can tell if he misses it!

He loves making funny faces at the camera when I try to take pictures. He loves sucking up long pieces of spaghetti into his mouth. His favorite shows are Yo Gabba Gabba, Wow Wow Wubzy and Kai Lan. He seems to be showing some love for Dora lately-not sure what that is all about. He must watch that at my moms house. He is still singing "Take me out to the Ballgame" but also will sing "Happy Birthday" and hums "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"-I think that came from Lizzie on the cruise because he didn't sing that before.

We had our first sort of rude question. It really wasn't rude just more MYOB (mind your own business). We were eating dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise and there was a lady making balloon animals. She went to the table next to ours and made their balloon. They gave her a tip and she asked them if she could give them a card. She came to our table next and seemed nice enough and then mid-balloon making she asks if we are "the parents"? WTH? And then after we tip her, she doesn't offer us her card-like we would use it anyway but still!! I'm not real touchy about that stuff but I couldn't believe she didn't offer us her card! She NEVER would have made it through a Wilson party-good riddance!

I could go on and on about my little pumpkin but I will end here and try to be a better blogger!!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Fun Fall Day

We had a fun fall day today. We went to Circle S Farm to take a hayride and pick our pumpkins. Really, the only reason we go back to Circle S every year is because we took Collin's picture there in front of the "How tall this Fall" sign and I just have to go back every year so that we can compare the pics to see how much he has grown. It is hard to believe that this is the third picture we have taken there. Collin had only been home a little over a month when the first one was taken. It seems like yesterday!







Next week we are going to check out Leeds Farm with our COFLAC friends. We were planing on Circle S but some friends told us about the new place so we are going to give it a try!


Later in the evening we carved pumpkins. Collin said he wanted his to be scary! So I drew a face on his little pumpkin, got the a-okay from the boss and started carving. As soon as I finished he promptly dropped it on the floor and broke it-Oh Well!




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