Christmas Traditions

Well, I missed last weeks FFF. The theme was Christmas Traditions. I had this great post in my head but my thoughts never made it to the keyboard. This weeks theme is Making/baking with the kids and I don't think I have any material for that one quite yet. We will probably do our cookies next week. So, I am going to be wild and crazy and do last weeks theme this week and maybe this weeks theme next week...do you follow??




When I saw the theme Christmas traditions, initially I thought we didn't really have any but the more I contimplated it, I realized we do. I remember when Wyatt and I first met I wanted so badly to share my traditions with his kids but it never really worked out as well as I had hoped. Now, I realize that they already had their traditions that they were used to. I know how much I looked forward to doing the things I looked forward to during the holidays and I'm sure it was the same for them. So,even though it's nice to be open to new things it was also probably not the right move on my part. I guess those are the issues of "blending families".

But, now is my chance. I really should say our chance because it is an opportunity for Wyatt and I to create memories for Collin of fun, exciting and meaningful holidays. We can have our own traditions and I'm really excited about that. Since this is only Collin's 3rd Christmas we are just getting into the swing of things. No matter how our traditions evolve over the years, I hope that Collin has long lasting happy memories that he can pass on to his children someday. I think that is the best gift we can give our kids! And hopefully the step-kids will have some fond memories of the holidays we spent together too!!





So, on to our traditions. Some are old and some are new-but the first one that comes to mind is the annual trip the the Columbus Zoo Wildlights. My favorite part about this adventure is the picture with Santa. We have all the photo ornaments from over the years hanging on the tree. Those are my favorite ornaments to pull out every year. It is so fun to see the progression of the family growing, the kids growing up and us looking older and older-NO WAIT-that part is depressing!!







The past few years the family gathers at our house and we have dinner, then make iced sugar cookies and head to the zoo. Of course, that is a lot to pack into an evening so we usually get to the zoo pretty late but that means the line for Santa is smaller. Sometimes there is a method to my madness!!

Last year we decided to start going to one of those cut your own tree farms and have a live tree rather than a fake one. Everyone seems to have a great time. This year we found a really nice farm that was worth the drive and of course, the perfect tree!






We also started going to Breakfast with Santa. This year we invited our playgroup friends and Brylie and KC so we should have a very "active" table. I just hope nobody gets put on the Naughty List as a result of this breakfast!

Of course we do the picture with Santa at the mall-which I hate to do but since I haven't found a better alternative we'll keep doing it.







Just a side note for those in our area-I MISS LAZARUS DOWNTOWN!!




Those are my fondest Christmas memories...following the path to Mr. Tree, and somehow he always knew your name-amazing talent!

Then off to Candyland to wind and wind your way to Santa and everyone knows the REAL Santa was only at Lazarus! All the other Santas were just elves dressed up like Santa helping him out because he can't be everywhere! Then it was off to Santa's Workshop to buy very special gifts for the family made by Santas elves.



Now, as an adult I am sure that the winding walkway was really a 2 hour wait that the special gifts were probably dimestore trinkets that they charged an arm and a leg to buy. Let me tell you that my parents did a fabulous job each year acting like they absolutely loved the gift and even followed through with the obligatory use or two to make us think they really liked it. I can't wait to go to work wearing my new Wow Wow Wubzy earrings!!




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Catching up

Yes, I have been slacking again! The problem with falling behind at this time of year is that there is so much going on it's hard to remember where you left off!! It seems like every time I get on the computer to update the blog I end up doing something else-like Christmas shopping or getting on that evil time sucker Facebook! On top of all that I am crazy busy at work, my nieces are in town and its Christmastime!!


I promised myself i was going to have a relaxing holiday season this year and I think I have somewhat accomplished that...but not completely. My goal was to enjoy my family this year and concentrate on doing fun Christmas activities that allow us some together time. So forgive me for falling behind. I realize I haven't blogged Thanksgiving yet but...I'll get to it eventually...right now I am in Christmas mode. I think this will be a great year for Collin. He seems to somewhat grasp the whole Santa thing so I want to take it all in!!

1st School Picture

Well, they finally came in...Collin's very first school picture. I hope this isn't an indication of what's to come in the years ahead. Of course, I think it's adorable but possibly a little "gangsta" if you know what I mean-LOL! I have a feeling we will be doing a lot of retakes throughout the years. I was cracking up when the photographer was trying to get him to put his hands down. He wasn't having it!! And so, here is what we ended up with...



The funny thing is they messed up our order and we got a 16x20 poster size picture rather than the CD that we ordered!!

Here is Collin's class...

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Collin karaoke

Another First

Good Times!! We were in Walgreens waiting for our pictures when the little man decides it would be funny to run away from Mama. He got a couple of rows away and looked back and didn't see me but he saw a stranger and starts screaming at the top of his lungs "MAMA" and runs the complete opposite direction. I thought maybe that scared him into not leaving again...but no...it didn't.




Two minutes later he's off again laughing and giggling having a grand time while I chase him around trying not to threaten him with anything illegal out loud. Oh! and who can forget the nasty judgemental glares from old people that probably haven't dealt with a two year old in a hundred years! Well, I caught him eventually, because of course I am bigger and faster, but it required a little finesse and a lot of restraint. It could probably be misinterpreted if I were to tackle a two year old in the feminine hygiene aisle. I could just see me flying through the air taking him out at the knees then the two of us sliding across the floor taking out old people like pins in a bowling alley-STRIKE!! Luckily, he is a shuffler so I could here him coming before I saw him. I had to plan carefully because if I jumped out too soon he would laugh and run the opposite direction like a bolt of lightning and I would look even more stupid than I did already. So I waited, like a tiger waiting to pounce on its prey. I waited till I saw the tip of his tennis shoe and swooped him up.




I thought I was embarrassed before??? That was nothing. Let the games begin!! He starts SCREAMING and SWINGING and FLAILING and CRYING...in other words...making a HUGE scene. Only 10 more minutes and the pictures would be ready. Do I just ride it out or drag the little booger out by his ear? No brainer-I drug him out. Thank goodness he hasn't learned to yell stuff like "Call the police she's going to kill me" or "stop hitting me mommy it hurts-Call Children's Services"! So I strap him in to the car seat while he swings wildly trying to hit me; and it was there, in Walgreens parking lot,for all the world to see,that we had our FIRST "come to Jesus" experience. What I failed to predict was the humiliation of having to go back into the store to pick up the pictures. Despite the look of "Oh no here they come again" in the cashiers eyes when we came back in for round 2, I have to say, this time Collin was the picture of perfect behavior! Thank you baby Jesus!

My hero

Okay the conversation goes like this:

Mama: I'm sorry I have to go to work but we need money.

Collin: I want money.

M: Well, you have to work for money.

C: Okay

M: What kind of work do you want to do to make money?

C: ...hhmm...I be Superman!

I hope Superman gets paid well so Mama can quit!!



My Hero!!

I did it!

Look what Collin did all by himself!!He amazes me every day! He was so excited and kept yelling "I did it, I did it Mama"! That is a pretty complicated puzzle-25 pieces!

So Cute!

Do you ever see your child doing something so stinking cute you just want to run and grab the video camera and capture that moment forever but you know if you do you will miss it and they will never do it again? I do. I'm really bad about that. Sometimes I struggle with trying so hard to get the perfect picture or video just so I can hold on to that forever but I end up missing out or not being involved. I had to hold myself back this morning to just take in this precious little moment of Collin playing in his own little world not knowing that his Mama was watching him so intently. If I were to get up and grab the video camera it would have jolted him out of his "personal vacation" and the moment would have been lost-so-I resisted. I'm glad I did because it was so cute!

He was laying on the floor next to me while I was on the computer. He was playing with one of those super hero magnet sets that comes in a little tin where you stick the magnet guys in different scenes. Out of no where he starts singing "Happy Birthday"-I didn't even know he could sing the entire song. When he got to the "happy birthday to insert name" he had a long pause and then he sings " to batman, hoppy borfday to jew". Then he says "now blow" and he acts like he is blowing out the candles. I know that probably doesn't sound amazing or super cute to anyone but me but it was the highlight of my day!

Matching hats

Collin loves to be just like daddy!

Preschool Art Catch Up-again

I was finally able to take Collin to preschool! I have had court every Monday for the last...I can't remember how long. Daddy sometimes forgets to bring the art home so I got to pick it up.






I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Collin's first school picture. What in the world could be taking so long?!? We got our family picture taken this week-excited for those to come in too!


Lots going on in the house lately. We got the painting done last week, then the new carpet in the family room and today the new couch arrived. We have been enjoying the wide open space and joked about leaving the room empty. There is lots of space to run and play. All we hear is "play ball, play ball, play ball" which means chase Collin around in circles until you think you could puke-good times! There is lots of room to wrestle and even Bosley is getting in on the action. Wyatt wrote our names on the floor under the carpet so in 10 years or so whoever rips up the carpet will know the Wilson's were here-unless of course we are still here and then obviously we know we were here?!?!











So we are trying to dig or way out of the mess we created by moving the entire family room contents to various rooms around the house and the dusty mess created by sanding the "gritty" walls. Wish us luck!!

Beautiful Gifts-FFF

The theme of FFF this week is "Beautiful Gifts". Of course the first thing that comes to mind is the best gift ever-the gift of a child-the gift of Collin. Funny thing is that this gift came from someone I don't even know,someone I will probably never meet but someone to whom I will be eternally grateful and someone that I owe a debt of gratitude. The hard part is that I can never thank her and I can never let her know that her precious gift is well cared for and loved beyond words. So here he is...my most beautiful gift.

THEN...



AND NOW...





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Cracker Barrel Cowboy

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Collin loves his skeddi!!

Trick or Treat

Okay-so I am a few days late but better late than never. We are living in complete disarray at the moment. We are redecorating our family room which means painting, new carpet, new furniture but really means HUGE MESS. We had to empty the entire room,get rid of lots of stuff and store the other stuff somewhere else in the house so the mess extends to the entire house, not just the one room. While we are making a mess we decided to make it worth our time and get rid of one of my worst mistakes! When I first bought the house and was decorating I got the brilliant idea to try the latest trend of adding "texture" to the walls by adding this gritty sandy stuff to the paint-BIG MISTAKE FOLKS-don't do it!!! First of all,it's nearly impossible to wash the walls and when you have a sticky fingered toddler and a booger blowing cat in the house that is not a good thing! Don't ask about the cat-long story!!It is also not good for knuckles, elbows, knees or any other skin covered body part that may come in contact with the walls. Imagine carrying a basket of laundry up the stairs and scraping your knuckles against rough concrete-not fun. I'm sure Collin's head and other various body parts will be skidding along those walls very soon so rather than having Children's Services knocking on the door we decided to have the walls sanded and repainted with normal paint. Of course with sanding comes...you guessed it...DUST, and lots of it! So in the next 3 days our house will be covered in dust-oh joy! I am just relieved that we are paying someone to do it 'cause that is not my idea of fun! My mom and I painted every inch of this house 8 years ago and I'm still not over it!! Hopefully by Christmas the house will be back to normal-at least our version of normal!

So back to trick or treat. We have been preparing for trick or treat for weeks. We looked at costumes on the computer, talked about what he wanted to be, bought and returned several costumes and finally settled on a dinosaur. He loved the dinosaur costume when it first came in the mail. He wore it all around and roared at everything. BUT-something happened-all things Halloween became "SCARY" and I think it all started on a trip to Lowes. As soon as you walked into Lowes there was a witch and some type of zombie looking dude that moved and talked. They freaked me out a little so I can only imagine what a 2 year old thinks. He didn't quite know what to make of them but it was clear he did not like them! Any time we even drove past Lowes, from the back I would hear, "No witch Mama". Soon the dinosaur costume was "too scary" and all Collin would say was "No spooky Halloween Mama"! So, I figured if I bought some books and movies about Halloween he would loosen up a bit. I bought a book about trick or treating with a doorbell and th eold classic It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.


Well, he loved the movie, so much that he is obsessed with Snoopy aka "Do me". Yes, that's right, when he says Snoopy it comes out "Do Me" so every time Collin points at the DVD player and says "turn on Do Me Mama", I kind of giggle and think "What kind of movies has your father been showing you"!?!? He even liked the book but Halloween was still scary.



Trick or Treat finally arrived. I took the day off work and was very excited for the whole parade my adorable child in his cute dinosaur costume around the neighborhood thing. This was going to be great! Okay-not so much. He refused to put on a costume. Here is Collin T minus 10 minutes and counting.



Yep, laying on the bed watching "DO ME"!!! No costume and no interest in leaving the comfort of "Daddy's bed"!! GGGRRRR!!

After much poking and prodding and quite a few trick or treaters coming to the door he decided that he would put on a ratty old ripped up Superman costume that I bought for $2!!!
He took the cape off at the first house so he walked around with his bright orange pumpkin shirt hanging out and his lack flame Converse tennis shoes looking like Superman on Kriptonite Krack!

Once he figured out people were handing him candy, he caught on real quick and decided this wasn't such a bad deal after all! He was all over it!! He couldn't get enough! Pops loved it and was more than happy to walk all over the neighborhood with little capeless Superman to fill up that Elmo bucket!





Collin rarely gets candy at home but on trick or treat we just let him go. He's like a wild animal ripping into the wrappers, biting one thing while opening another.

We thought for sure he would get sick to his stomach. He was definitely on a sugar high! We finally got him washed up and in his jammies but before bed we had to all get an "instrument" and sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. The things we do to make this kid happy-LOL!

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!!