A 2nd Birthday With The Fishies

The Newport Aquarium has half-priced homeschool days a few times a year and one of them just happened to be on Collin's birthday. So Dave was sweet and took a vacation day and we all enjoyed a great time together.

Collin seemed to be getting better Tuesday and Wednesday morning (his birthday) but a few hours into the aquarium and he started feeling icky again. The sweet guy was a trooper though and still managed to have fun.

Anna liked this fish and wanted her picture with it...

Wonder what he's thinking?

Ooh! It's fishies!!!

It's Nemo!

My little model.

Collin loved pretending that the shark was going to get him.

And Benjamin was too funny pretending that the octopus was getting him!

Oh no, an alligator got Benjamin!!

Froggies!

These birds kept landing on mine and Dave's heads, which was kinda freaky. I love this picture though of Collin...

Benjamin and the jellies.

By the end of the day, Collin started running a fever and wasn't too energetic. Poor birthday boy!

He couldn't fall asleep though, not with sharks all around! : )

He and Benjamin even got to pet some...

it was Benjamin's favorite part!

Anna had a grand time running with the penguins and was actually able to keep up with these quick swimmers!

They had a great time!!

It was a really fun way to spend Collin's birthday!

As we were leaving Benjamin asked me to take one more picture and then posed himself...

We drove home and they all got a little nap and some supper, then it was time for more presents. Despite being sick, Collin was in a great mood to celebrate some more that evening!

Checking out the little house his sister picked out for him.

He loved the Word World books I was able to find for him!

One more present...

Yay! A big stuffed Goofy. He really likes Goofy and calls him Da-dog for some reason. My parents also got him a little talking one and he's so cute walking around the house now toting his "Da-dogs" along.

Unfortunately, his birthday included some of this...

But it also included being sung to...

and getting to blow out his candle again!

Anna and Benjamin were very happy to enjoy some more birthday cake and ice cream!

Collin ended up not feeling like eating his, but he still rewarded us with some special birthday smiles! We love you, Monkey Moo!

On Friday, he had his two year check-up. He weighs 29 pounds and 9 ounces (70th percentile) and is 37 1/2 inches long (off the charts still). He has an ear infection and is now on an antibiotic and doing much better!

Happy Birthday Party Collin!

Collin is TWO!!!! Which means it's time to party!

We had a fantastic birthday party for Collin Ollin. He loves the show Word World which is about a bunch of animals that use letters to learn and make things. Here's a place mat from the party if you don't know the show. It's Collin's favorite show and he especially loves Dog on it.

They make a cake in one of the episodes, so I attempted to mimic that cake for Collin and put a fondant Dog on top. 

We also enjoyed some yummy edible crayons (pretzels dipped in chocolate) that Benjamin helped me make.

We were blessed with lots of wonderful family and friends to celebrate Collin with. I had to take a picture when I looked out and saw some of the kids at one of the big tables and adults sitting at the kiddie ones...

Of course there were presents! Collin did really well opening all of them....

Listening to his monkey card...

He loved this monkey that my sister got him. She took little baby shirts and put pictures of Collin on them with monkey ears. It was beyond adorable!! The poor guy ended up being sick that evening (and all of the rest of the week) and he cuddled his new monkey all night long as he struggled to sleep.

The airplane lover ended up getting three more airplanes!

After presents it was time to sing to the birthday boy!

We practiced blowing out a candle that week and he was really excited to do it for real and did a great job!

We had a lot of happy little cake eaters!

Our sweet birthday boy!!

Look at that adorable chocolate face!

He is such a fun boy with so much personality. He loves, loves, loves to sing! He sings all day everyday and loves trying to make you laugh by changing some of the words. He can count to almost 20, is a really good eater, can now say all the sounds in Benjamin (not an easy task), loves to mimic his siblings, gets so excited to see airplanes and then sad to tell them goodbye, has the cutest run I've ever seen, and is just about as silly as a newly turned 2 year old can be! We love this silly monkey!

I think his favorite part of the birthday party was the crayon pretzels......he LOVED them!

Swinging with his pretzel....

After the fun party was over, everyone enjoyed some pre-bedtime play with all the new toys!

Touch-A-Truck

Our town does a fun event each year called Touch A Truck. Lots of different trucks fill the parking lot of a local park and all the kids get to come enjoy them. Benjamin LOVES it! He went last year with preschool and was so excited to get to go as a family this year. He especially loves going up in the cherry picker lifts...

Their shirts say "Brothers Stick Together" : )

This was a big hit with all the kiddos!

My sweet boys!!

This picture cracks me up! They are in the back of a doughnut truck. I asked them to smile for a picture, but Collin was too busy checking out his treasure!

They all got to climb up a cement truck and then...

go down the cement slide. Check out that adorable expression!

Wee!

Collin loved it and went so fast that he was a blur in all the pictures!

Anna's turn!

Whoa!!!

Benjamin was so excited for this one!

And Collin LOVED getting to sit in a helicopter! He even snuck back in line and got a second turn! (FYI, he  is so in love with airplanes and helicopters!!)

I thought this was really cool...they got to help dig up some dirt and then lift it up in the air and drop it....

There's a new sheriff in town!

More Soccer Fun

I managed to get a few more pictures of Benjamin playing soccer. He has so much fun!

He really likes when it's his turn to kick or throw the ball in...