Soccer Practice and a Big Haircut

Benjamin cuddling with his kitty, Max.

I gave Collin a really big haircut on Sunday. His hair grows so fast and long and he hates getting it cut.....he cries the whole time. So I thought I should cut it a little shorter so that he wouldn't have to go through it so often. So for this haircut he cried the whole time and I cried too. I absolutely hate it when little boys (like under 2) have to get their hair cut. It's like you take away some of their baby-ness each time. :( Anyway, you'll see how different he looks in the pictures below. Here's Collin pointing out the airplanes while we were at Benjamin's soccer practice yesterday. He loves airplanes so much and pretends to fly while making his ssshhh sound.

Benjamin excitedly getting ready for soccer practice.

He's very serious about it and really gives learning how to play his best effort.

Collin with his new 'do watching his "Beh-a-meh" (Benjamin) and "Dah-eee" (Daddy, he used to call Dave dada but is starting to switch to Daddy).

Benjamin is so excited about playing soccer. It was so much fun (even though it was FREEZING) watching him practice and see how happy and into it he was! :) Dave is his coach and is doing a great job. It was pretty special getting to watch him coach his son (and a bunch of other 5 and 6 year-olds).

The little monkey was so pleased with himself when he got his hands on big brother's water bottle.......

Look at the joy on his face!

This morning I grabbed the camera to get some better pictures of Collin with his new haircut. This was his "Cheese!" reaction when he saw the camera. :)

Such a big boy now! He's going to be 1 1/2 in a few short weeks!

We've been having workers in the house to fix the basement after it flooded. Some were here this morning and so Dave worked from home while I ran back and forth to do the preschool runs. Anna (who is so affectionate with her Daddy) was VERY happy to have him here this morning!

Collin never watches TV. He has started to recognize Elmo and gets excited when he comes on TV, but only watches for a minute or two. So I had to snap a picture of him eating his snack and watching his "Memoe".

Another "cheese!"

Shot of the back.....

All dressed and looking handsome!

Showing me his haircut.

Pretty Anna.

I still get so tickled watching Collin cuddle his blankie and carry it around everywhere. He can't say blankie so it sounds like he's calling it baby. :)

Working those big blue eyes....

My crazy, sweet girl! :) We got new (to us) furniture a little while back and the couches produce quite a bit of electricity and make Anna's hair do this......

Off to Grandma's (and Grandpa's) House We Went

We went down to my parents' house on Friday. My niece's birthday was last week and so we wanted to spend some time celebrating with her. Collin enjoyed going out on their balcony. I tried to capture a few shots of him, but he wouldn't sit still for me. I caught a few though to showcase how adorable my little monkey is!

Down below us Daddy and Benjamin were having some fun fishing.....

We spent the first part of the day on Friday having a fun time at the zoo with my parents. Collin has developed an affection for zebras. He finds one of his zebra toys and walks around the house cutely declaring, "bebra! bebra!" So it was fun for me to show him the real thing.....

Benjamin and Anna with Grandma in front of the camels.

Benjamin's favorite, the lion (please excuse his mouth full of granola).

The elephants were getting themselves nice and dirty which tickled Anna.

Petting zoo....

Anna's favorite, the tiger.

We got to the tiger exhibit about 10 minutes before they said it would be time for their tiger show. We didn't know what it was going to be, but we decided to stay and check it out. It ended up being really neat. They opened part of the exhibit to reveal and fence like opening and then fed the tiger and had it do some tricks. We had an awesome view (Benjamin's Spiderman hat can show you how close they were)!!! I wish I could have gotten in front of Anna for a picture as I'm sure she was beyond giddy. She LOVES tigers and even sleeps with two of them. Look how tall he is (8 1/2 feet)!

Trying to get a shot with Benjamin, Anna, and the tiger in it.....

Isn't he a cutie?

They explained that they have the tiger walk in all directions to and from them so they can assess that the tiger is okay and they poke him with this on both sides to desensitize him if he needs any shots/vaccines.

Later that afternoon Grandpa and Benjamin went out to fish again. Collin was so cute looking out the window at them and waving and telling me, "Be-a-mi!" and "Pa Pa".

They caught one!

Benjamin was so excited!

I was surprised (and tickled) when I looked over and caught the three big kids on this little tricycle all together!

That night we enjoyed some cupcakes to celebrate Katrina being three!

Happy girl!

Collin was pretty excited too. He started off not too messy.....

but that didn't last long....

and before all was said and done, he was quite the chocolaty mess.....

and also very happy!

Katrina excitedly opened her Dora bath toys the kids picked out for her....

and then they all dove into the bath to enjoy them. As you can see, Katrina was really enjoying her new toy! ;)

We would have never guessed the dance party that would take place afterwards. These kids danced like crazy together!

There was some lovin' thrown in too!

Benjamin was unbelievable! You can't imagine his dance moves unless you were there. He has always been quite the entertaining dancer, but this was something special. He had all of us, including his Great Grandma laughing so hard it hurt! He is something else!!!

It was such a fun time had by all!

Sunday morning we had a little wedding (yes, they are still quite the big deal in this house). This was the kids' wedding attire they picked out....

Spin!