Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Tidbits From Our Week

Collin is falling in love with the Tigger airplane that we have. He has been pushing it and the little walker we have from room to room and is doing pretty well walking assisted. He also loves the airplane because of the little seat that lifts up which he puts toys in and out of. Of course he loves the music the airplane makes too and dances along.


He's started a new thing that I am very much not fond of. He puts his arms up and gives me a whine like he wants me to pick him up.....

then when I reach for him, he pulls his arms down and gives me a mad face like I did something wrong.

Here's the school project Benjamin and I were working on the other night that I mentioned in the previous post. All the kids in his class were sent home with a turkey feather to decorate for their class turkey. We started by gluing different color paper onto it kind of like a mosaic. Half way through, Benjamin informed me that he wanted to do something different. So we improvised. He said he wanted either stickers or to draw a car and a road. So we collected all our stickers and decided to make a picture. The paper squares became our sunset and he put things that go in the sky on them, grass and animals on the bottom and requested a race car and a digger truck. In the end, he was very pleased with his feather.

He had his daddy and sister close their eyes so he could surprise them with the end product.

It's so fun doing activities with just him. Can't believe he'll be five soon!

Collin had his first popsicle the other night. Unfortunately, he's sick (he and Anna have ear infections) so he doesn't look very happy. But he did enjoy it though!


"Look at me big brother!"


Benjamin sat on the airplane and had Collin push him. They were both pretty tickled by it and I thought it was a cute way for them to play together. Poor Collin though, when Benjamin stood up and got off Collin kept pushing and since the plane was lighter now, Collin went speeding across the room. I was impressed that he didn't fall down!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

New Bed

Collin is a fan of grilled cheese. The other night we gave him a whole sandwich to bite into (instead of cutting it into pieces like we usually do). He was an even bigger fan of that!


We were out running errands and right as we pulled into the neighborhood, Collin fell asleep. He never falls asleep in the car and usually wakes pretty easily, so I brought him into the house to change him into his jammies and when I laid him on the floor and started changing his clothes he stayed asleep........

Dave pulled up a chair to Benjamin's new desk one morning (while I delightfully slept in) so the kids could work together on some art.


And now for the main event: Anna got a new big bed! I check on her every night before going to sleep because she is always half off her bed. Usually her legs are on the ground and her head and hands are the only things in the bed, kind of like she's in a praying position. We decided we should get her a twin bed so that maybe she'd stay in bed and rest more comfortably. It was going to be a Christmas present but since we already had it and she's such a crazy sleeper, we decided to go ahead and put it together on Sunday. When she woke up, I brought her out of her room and told her the exciting news. When she saw the mattress she gave it a happy hug!

Daddy had lots of helpers and watchful eyes. Dave was holding Collin and he grabbed the instructions from Dave and got a little paper cut. It was so pitiful because he would be playing and then all of a sudden grab his sweet little hand and make a sad face like it hurt. On a happier note, Collin learned what his hand is today. I ask him "where's your hand" and he points his little finger to the palm of the other hand and says "an!".

When Dave was carrying the box up the stairs, Anna was watching. She told me, "Momma, look at Daddy using all his big muscles to carry that big box with my bed upstairs!" Then later when Dave was opening the box in her room she asked him, "Daddy! Is that box too heavy to be upstairs?!?!" (This was all in her sweetly dramatic voice she uses sometimes)

Climbing in for the first time....


After she tried it out, she climbed out of the bed and gave me and Dave each the sweetest thank you hug. She's so affectionate and has really good manners for a two year old!

That evening we did baths for all the kids and Collin got the giraffe towel for the first time. It was the first animal towel we got for Benjamin, so I had to have Dave take some pictures of him for me....

After baths, it was bedtime and a very excited bedtime at that. Anna got to sleep in her new bed for the first time! Benjamin, Anna, and I laid down to make sure it would be nice and comfy for her to sleep in.

Then I got out the comforter I had bought for her awhile back. She gave it an excited hug too....

The bed looks really cute in her room and she fits (and sleeps) great in it!

Close up of some cute wall art she has....

Night, night cupcake!

Anna continued to have a big day yesterday too and wore underwear for the first time. She'd been doing well with telling us she needed to go potty, so I decided to have her wear underwear for the day and see what happened. She did great! She used the potty all day and was even dry in her pull up after nap time. It was kinda sad though, she did so great and had no accidents all day so we had an ice cream party right before bed. Then a few minutes before we were going to change the kids into the jammies, I was working on a school project with Benjamin and she comes running into the kitchen saying, "Mommy my pants are hot!" The poor thing had an accident and didn't recognize why her pants were warm! :)
Benjamin story: He had asked me to do something one day and I didn't get around to it right away and then forgot. He asked me later why I didn't do it and I explained that I forgot and was sorry. He then told me, "You know something funny, Momma? Adults forget to do things a lot. Just like my teach keeps saying she needs to make a 'No Picking Your Nose' sign, but she never makes one!"
Collin updates: He cut another tooth last week. Its the one to the right of his two top front teeth, so that brings his total up to five and he's working on the one on the other side and is doing really well with it. He points to Anna and happily declares, "Na-na!" and bobs his head with each syllable. The poor guy tries to say Benjamin too, but that is quite the mouthful for a newly one year old. He also will now point to our cat and instead of just saying "cah!" he'll call her Pepper. The cutest though is I trained him to point to his belly and say baby "bahbee". I love this age where it seems like you teach them new things every day!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Early Thanksgiving

We went to Dave's parents' house two weekends ago (yes, I'm that far behind). His sister and nephew were in town, so we all got together and had an early Thanksgiving. It was great spending time with everyone. Grandma had surgery a few weeks ago and has to ice her shoulder. Here are the three big kids sitting with her and enjoying a movie together!



Since there were so many helping hands around, they decided to help put up the Christmas decorations outside. The kids enjoyed the extra time outside. Here they are helping Grandma get the snowman just right.


Pretty in pink!

Checking out the reindeer....



And they're off!!!!!

My big monkey....Benjamin is enjoying his new strength and length and that he can climb trees sometimes.

Where'd they go?

I told them to smile and say "tree!" which totally confused them.

Here's my little monkey and his new hat. He actually loves this hat. When it comes off, he grabs it and hugs it to his face and smiles at the little monkey face. :)

He's Daddy's (or should I say Da Da's) Monkey too!
He will now hand me a monkey or point to one and say "Ah, Ah!" or he'll respond with this if I ask what a monkey says.

Boys will be boys.....

and Anna will be a stinker......

Here's a better shot of his cuddly little hat.....

Collin loves leaves! Just watch out....he'll try to eat them! (He bit off a little piece of a wipe the other day and swallowed it.....scared this Momma!)

The little boys watching the big boys being silly....

We put all the grandkids in their Halloween costumes and did a costume parade to surprise Grandma. Poor Luke wasn't a fan of his costume and ended up being more of a Tarzan than a leopard. Still pretty cool to get all six grandkids together and mostly happy for a picture!

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