Collin's 1 Year Pictures

We had our pictures taken at a new place on our way home from the zoo a couple weeks ago. The place was really great and even though we had a long wait until our turn, the kids did sooooooo well for us! These are unedited versions, but still cute!

Dave and I both agreed we had to get this one as it was a very good representation of our kiddos. :)

I thought I'd put some of Collin's new tricks throughout his pictures. So, here goes:

1) He likes to "bonk" himself. He hits himself with his hand/toys/remotes/etc. on his head. Not hard, but still! If he hears the word "bonk" then he will hit himself too. We tell him to stop, but he thinks its very funny and just keeps doing it.

I think it's cute how Benjamin is holding his leg up here...

2) He blows kisses now. At first he just did it back to us. Now though, he also does it as a way to say goodbye. He even makes the kiss sound when he does it. The cutest is he goes upstairs with me to put the big kids down for their naps. As we walk out of their room, he turns and blows them kisses and sometimes tells them "nigh, nigh". If you ask him to blow you a kiss, he puts his hand out to your mouth so you can kiss it.

Isn't this a neat way to take his picture? All the kids love leaves so much!

I like this one, because the big smile on his face is for me. :)

3) He's starting to crawl on his hands and knees some and he can now cruise (walk along furniture).

When the photographer grabbed the hat, I figured I wouldn't like it. But who can say this isn't cute??

Benjamin is so excited that Collin is one and will point it out to me every time he sees the number 1 anywhere.

4) He's a biter and hair puller. Thankfully, the big kids love him very much and are very forgiving. They are also prepared for his antics and usually pull away before he can do any damage. A couple times a day though, poor Anna gets a handful of hair removed from her sweet head.

5) He's very affectionate and will reach out for us just because he wants a hug. When we get within reach, he will put his arms around our head and hold us completely still with a smile on his face or sometimes he just wants to put his cheek up against ours'. It is beyond precious and makes our heart melt every single time.

6) He dances ALL THE TIME! Honestly, he really dances all day long. He will dance if you say, "Collin shake it/dance/bounce", if he hears music on the tv/radio/toys, if he hears any of us sing or even chant. He doesn't just bounce up and down like the other kids did when they danced at his age. He bounces up and down, shakes/twists his upper body back and forth, shakes his hips/bottom, and my favorite move: he moves his one little arm like a wing up and down. I've overheard Anna tell him while he's dancing several times, "That's right Collin, shake your hips!"

It was a great photo shoot and in the words of our wise Benjamin, "You're a great one year old, Collin!"

ZooBoo

We got ice cream sundays in the car one evening and were all tickled by Anna's messy face when we got home.

Dave likes to tease me and get the kids to kiss me when they have messy faces. Too bad for him, I'll take a kiss from my kids no matter what!

We decided to make a zoo trip on Saturday and enjoy their Halloween (ZooBoo) activities for the first time. Anna actually picked two ponytails when we were getting ready. (This is very rare and exciting!)

Since we were going to be in the car for about an hour, we decided to turn Collin's seat around for the first time. I don't think it mattered much as he still doesn't like being strapped in that seat.

I enjoyed teasing Dave that there's room for "one more". ;) Here you find Collin already angry to be in the car and the big kids irritated that they are being required to look at the camera when they just want to enjoy their lunches (in lunch boxes, which makes them very happy) and watch their movie.

We had the kids take early naps so we could enjoy the whole rest of the day and it worked out so great! Collin needed to nurse when we got there, so the big kids enjoyed petting the sharks while they waited.

Anna LOVES tigers. (She sleeps with two and has numerous others) We went to the forests section that includes the tiger exhibit and saw a sign stating that the tigers were getting a new home built and would be back next year. When we told this to Anna she said, "All done with the zoo, then." We asked her to repeat it to make sure we heard her right, so she turned around and smiled while repeating the above (she was pleased with the reaction she was getting out of us) and Dave wanted me to snap a picture to record the moment. :)

What's that, Collin?

Yes, that!

It's a bear!

Not to Collin. As you may be able to depict here, Collin says it's a dog.

He pointed and said, "Dah!" to almost every animal he saw........they were all dogs to him!

Anna and I aren't the only ones who get excited by ponytails.

Thankfully, Anna loves her baby brother very much and is always very forgiving!

The kids were supposed to dress up in their costumes, but Dave and I decided against it as their costumes are a bit bulky and we knew Collin wouldn't enjoy wearing one all day. So we all dressed in orange (which the kids really loved) and Dave declared us a pumpkin patch. The kids really enjoyed the extra opportunity to trick-or-treat.

Benjamin is still a pretty big fan of lions and was excited to discover one up on a rock.

He made sure Anna knew that the one on the rock (a female) wasn't the king, the one with the mane was.

Dave thought this was really cute......

The zoo had a few tents set up with extra activities for Halloween. In this one, the kids loved going through a mini hay maze that they could do by themselves and we could watch. They also enjoyed driving this race car.....

The moment Benjamin got out, he wanted to know if he looked bigger inside the car than Anna did and if his "driving" made the car move at all.

As always, we have to watch the meerkats (another of Benjamin's favorites) for awhile.

Happy boy!

How awesome is it that they do stuff like this all on their own??

Here's a cute conversation from dinner one evening at our house:

Benjamin: Anna, I have some news to tell you and it might be a little sad. I'm not going to marry you when we get big. Daddy didn't marry his sister and I'm not going to marry you. You'll marry another boy when you get big.

Anna: I'm going to marry Jacob?

Me: Who's Jacob?

Anna: I don't know. But I'm going to dance with him.

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They both also love the snakes. Every time we go through the snake exhibit they ask us how dangerous each snake is.

We arrived at the dolphins a little early for the show, so we decided to enjoy the viewing area for a while.

It ended up being one of the coolest experiences we've ever had. Dave was talking to a lady who explained to him that the dolphins react to coins. So we gave the kids a coin each and the dolphins would come over to see us and follow the coins as we moved them around and threw them up. It was so neat!!!

Lots of smiles were experienced!!

And Collin continued to be in wonderment by the whole day!

Then we went above and watched the great dolphin show. Here's one playing before the show began....

Excited group!

This guy gives amazing hugs!!!

Me and my little orange babies after the show.

It was a really fun zoo trip! The day continued to be wonderful and we went to a new picture place on the way home to get family pictures and Collin's 1 year pictures taken. The kids all did so wonderful for us and afterwards we enjoyed a fun dinner together where the kids demolished every bit of food that was placed in front of them (plus off our plates too)! It was honestly an amazing day and we feel very blessed to have so much fun with our kids!

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Proof of how sweet Benjamin is: We had just gotten home and Anna was trying to go potty. So it was me and the boys in the living room, as Anna likes her privacy when in the bathroom. Benjamin asks, "Is it okay if I play with this, Momma?" I asked him what he was referring to. He points to a toy Collin got for his birthday that all the kids have been playing with a lot. I told him of course he could and he responded, "Okay, Momma. I was just asking because I know it's Collin's toy from his birthday and I've been sick and so I just wanted to check with you so that I don't get Collin sick."

(I suppose it's also proof that I've turned my four year old into somewhat of a germ-a-phobe. But you can't blame me.....the kid puts his fingers in his mouth and nose all day long and has already been sick four or five times since school started and had tonsilitis with high fevers twice!)