trick or treat

you would know that after letting collin play in his PRECIOUS dinosaur costume that his meme made umpteen gillion times that he would refuse to wear it on the day he was supposed to. oh well. i slapped some camo on him just to get a pic. he loved carrying this pumpkin around, he thought he was big ole stuff.

poor buddy ran fever the night before, so he stayed home with daddy to pass out candy. keith said he was beyond thrilled to open the door and pass out goodies, so i don't feel too bad :) me and the dawg headed over to our friends the smith's to trick or treat with them.

little miss cowgirl (avery), green lantern, and buzz lightyear (grady) ready to trick or treat.


mr. ashley was good so we let him ride in the wagon. nut. it was a fun time had by all!

edited to add: at the end of the night caleb wanted to walk to our front door and trick or treat. he wanted me to hide around the corner to see if his daddy would know who he was. when keith opened the door he said, "hello little boy! why don't you come in for a while?". i walked around the house and we all laughed. a lady and her kids came up and she said that she was about to come and snatch caleb away from keith. she didn't realize keith was his daddy and her mama bear instincts had come out. she said, "your husband said, 'why don't you come in?' and i was all 'oh no you don't mister!'". ha! thank goodness for protective mamas!

bwoo cah

caleb at 21 months

collin- 21 months

(comparison: caleb's face is a little longer, but they have the same hair, eyebrows, nose, and chin. cover their eyes and you can see it. they have the same eyelashes but not the same color eyes, although the shape is the same. c's look a little bigger but i think it's the picture. they're also built the same, although collin's bigger at this age)

sweet collin will be two in a few short months. not sure what i think about that :) he's learned so much lately and i wanted to record some of it. YOU MAY WANT TO STOP here if you are not a family member. this is going to be a long drawn-out post all about collin's words and poop and stuff like that. i'm warning you now!

first of all he's still my happy or sad child- there's no in-between. if something makes him mad, you're going to hear about it and he can go from complete bliss to absolute distress in about two seconds (or less). he can be a little drama king about stuff- except for injuries, he stays pretty tuff. thankfully, he's learned (the hard way) to listen to mama. MOST of the time anyway.

here's a few facts about my dude (in random order and as i think of them):
-still eats pretty good. really likes to pick snacks out of the cabinet, anything he really wants is a "cookie". he also doesn't want to eat in his booster chair anymore but at the regular table. i let him most of the time. he's also quick to tell me when his food is "hot".
-LOVES cars (cahs) this includes trucks and tractors
-LOVES rides (ryhs) this includes bicycles, four-wheelers, jet skis, tricycles
-LOVES trains (he says twain and choo-choo)- trucks with trailers can also be in this category
-LOVES outside (ow-SY). he'll ask to "sing" (swing) when he gets out there which usually means on the see-saw and he can sing, "see-saw, see-saw". sweetie.
-his favorite show right now is barney (bleh. this is not what he says but what i think) he watches it in the car rider line and he never makes a peep. so barney can stay.
-wants to play/be/do whatever "bo-bo" (caleb) is doing.
-LOVES animals, including dogs (doGk) which he mostly just points to and says "maggie" (which he can say -perfectly), and cows (which he also says pretty well)
-He can show you all of his body parts, including "tee-tee" and "poo-poo" which are all in one spot- his belly button.(we don't actually say, "where's your teetee and poopoo?", he just shows us and says teetee and poopoo when we ask him where his belly button is. because if we did that would be kind of gross) sometimes he'll tell me when he's poo-poo'ed. sometimes :) if you ask him where his nose (no) is he'll shove that little finger in as far as it will go.
-he knows some animal sounds, monkey (hoo-hoo-hah!), tiger (rahr!), dog (woh-woh), duck- he says "duck" perfecto (wack, wack), cow (moooo), bird (teet-teet)
-balls right now are "balk" not sure what's up with that because he used to say it the normal way.
-LOVES airplanes (popees)
-can say all of the grandparent's names- meme, pop, pawpaw, neenaw
says "meek" for milk. also says "poon" for spoon and "eat"
-"tanktoo" is thankyou
-he says "hi" on the phone and "HaAAY" to people in stores. he's pretty friendly like that. he also says "BYE" to everybody when we leave.
-he's gotten better about walking with me at church or other places and holding my hand. i just brace myself to chase at any moment.
-i've been putting him in his room with the baby gate for about 20 minutes in the mornings so i can get ready and he rarely fusses, just heads right on in and plays.
-we've been working on "sit" time, where i make him sit in one spot for a few minutes. this is practice for places like the doctor's office when i need to check-out. he hates it, but he'll do it.
-he says "POW POW" when he's got a gun, and makes truck and car noises when he's playing.
-he says "down" when he wants to get out or he's through eating. he can also say "by-by" for bite-bite. why do we say things twice to babies like that?
-he likes to "corer" or color. he acts like it's a big deal and then colors for about two seconds and is done.
-he goes to bed 7:30-8 and is up around 6:45 each morning.
-for breakfast he is like his big brother and doesn't want to eat, just drink milk and some yogurt in a sippy cup. i -feel kind of bad that i'm not up schlepping pancakes every morning, but they won't eat it so i'm just going with the flow.
-he's been putting a few words together lately, like "daddy cah", "bo-bo book", "daddy hat", "mommy shoowz" (shoes) and a biggie, when we were playing outside the other day he pulled a car out from behind the toy box and said "bwoo cah" (blue car).
-the child LOVES to wear everyone else's shoes but his own. he wears caleb's shoes (GA work boots or camo galoshes or crocs) unless we're going to church and then he wears what mama puts on him. although there was a sunday when i just didn't feel like fighting him on it and he wore keith's dress socks and the camo galoshes. he's the second one and sometimes i just don't care.
-he's ACTIVE aka runs everywhere, and BUSY and lord help me MESSY and LOUD, but i wuv him and his "ooh-wahs" (kisses). i love being his mama.

things to be thankful for (now that the first week of school is over):

this week, as stressful as it's been for me, has really been filled with blessings.
1. cdawg adjusted so quickly to school, it was almost like a non-adjustment. actually, i think it was more of an adjustment for me than him.

2. i was worried that i wouldn't have enough time with c since he's not at home anymore all day (well, i mean he gets home at 2, it's not like he's there till midnight!). we've had some really, really good family time this week and keith and i both have had lots of individual time with him. it's been a little gift from the Lord i think :)

3. i got to meet some of the other room moms this week and they seem darling. i think it's going to be a fun year.

4. lots of good time with little buff this week. he starts MMO next week and i'm pretty sure he's going to like it. and if he doesn't he'll get over it because mama is going to like it very, very much. (does that seem awful to say? i kind of don't care) no seriously, i have enjoyed reading and playing with him. just lots of good mama time.

5. c has friends in his class. did i say that in the last post? friends who's families i know and think are awesome. this really makes me happy.

6. c's teachers- i knew they were great when i taught with them- but i appreciate their loving on my little one so much.

7. i ate lunch with caleb on friday and he was not all that impressed that i was there. i know, this should make me sad, but it's a good feeling that he's really okay without his mama

8. all the fun little snacks i've found on pinterest. i can't wait to make them for his class when it's my turn for fun friday snacks. i also can't wait to go read or do an art activity with them. it's going to be a GREAT year :) did i say that already? because it is.

it's about the little things....

"Riding" c's bike in the rain. After he's had a bath, when he shouldn't be outside. Since Collin's been born I've been trying not to let the "shoulds" and "should nots" get in the way of my little ones just enjoying life :)

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summer snapshots

hi friends! i wanted to do a picture post and catch up a little. i really, really tried hard not to comment on every picture, but you know how that goes- i just couldn't stop myself.

the zoo:

little collin and keri checking out the sea turtles.



look at those pretty girls!

my two little "chickens". i'm honestly a little surprised about collin- he's always so fearless about everything.

mallory, chloe, and caleb

buff is a proficient little climber- he scaled up the top of our four-wheeler lickety split- and scared momma half to death in the process!

friendship park:

thank You God for chloe- she's the best little unpaid babysitter/helper around. i always call her when we have playdates because i know she'll help (and that way mama can actually talk to her friends)

she's got more energy than me: she can keep up with the little booger :)

splash pad:

this little punk was WILD, you hear me WILD at the splash pad. he was crazy about the one rinky dink little slide they have and did not really want to wait, but he pushed sneaked tried to wait his turn patiently. i posted on facebook how all the workers knew collin's name because i yelled it OVER and OVER. God bless him- it's a good thing he's cute...nobody seemed to mind him running into the concession stand; laying on their clean, dry towels; screaming at their children when they wouldn't let him get in front of them to the slide. and he's not even two yet folks.

this little doll, however stayed in one spot and played in one little puddle.

C and mere mere had a great time "fighting" with the water. wonder who's idea that was?

the backyard:

claire gave us her jumper she'd outgrown. the boys think we're livin' the high life now! (you can barely see it but there's a little fella in a batman costume in the back. he'd worn it all day- even to the kroger and library)

whoa- that's a lotta leg mama's showin'. maybe i should have cropped that part out?

i hope he falls asleep every night reading his bible.



before daddy drug our swimming pool out- they did this all on their own. necessity is the mother of invention!

meredith's fourth birthday

these are a little out of order- oh well. meredith is exactly a year and seven days younger than cdawg, so her birthday always falls the week after caleb's. much to his delight she decided to have her party at pump-it-up, so we were there two weekends in a row. c thinks EVERY party should be at "the jumpy place" as he calls it.

sweet mallory was giving collin some sugar. hmmm... arranged marriage?

poor collin got an unfortunate hair cut. his daddy says he looks like lloyd off of "dumb and dumber". y'all don't laugh! he and uncle chunk kept calling him that over easter when they thought i couldn't hear. y'all just wait, little buff will get his revenge i'm sure.

i wasn't super crazy about cdawg's haircut either, but he wears a hat all the time so i guess it doesn't matter. we love our hairdresser, guess she was just having an off day.

anyway, enough about hair. the boys had a super time at mere mere's party. we even went with her family to cock of the walk later, and i didn't take any pictures. i was too scared of the very real and not me over-reacting fear of one of them falling into the water. love that place's food-but i wish they had some guardrails! just sayin'.

17 months

Dear Collin,
this week you turned 17 months. here's some of what you've been up to lately:

i let you use a spoon to eat the other day, and let's just say you need some work in that department. there's lots of departments though, and you've got a bunch of them down already little buddy.

you love shoes. you love to climb, and you love to be as nekked as possible.

your paw paw says you have more teeth than an alligator and i tend to agree. you love to take baths, this probably has something to do with how much you love to be nekked.

other than the bathtub outside is your favorite place to be. usually your first words in the morning (other than "Mama") are " 'side! 'side!"

sometimes we wonder if you were born to be wild! you have the funniest, spunkiest, rough and tumble personality. you make everyday a fun adventure.

i keep telling you that the messes you get into will only be fun in the beginning. i always pray sweet collin that you will never be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.

i love you sweet, special boy (and Jesus does too!)

Mama

sweet cheeks likes to color

1. i had just changed his diaper when i took this. it's not my fault- he's WIGGLY.
2. collin has a new shoe obsession. he is constantly bringing me pairs (which i find quite impressive) of shoes to put on him. his favorite are his little white keds. his teachers at mmo tell me that he always has to show them his "shooz" when he comes in.


3. i didn't give him this paper or a crayon, he just crawled right on up to C's paper and helped himself.

4. ain't he just the cutest?

a conglomeration

kendall came to play the other day. she's such a sweetie. i told carey that i think there was a little crushin' going on. she had the eyelash bat and little giggle all afternoon for her "friend caleb". sweet girl, i'd want one just like her!

collin has this new thing where after his bath he has to run around nekked with only his towel. i'm not sure why, he just likes it. There's lots of screaming and running involved.

cdawg had his first soccer practice the other night. he really liked it but was really tired the next day. i think he worked pretty hard. he told me exactly how he wanted to take this picture- you know, with his foot on the ball like real soccer players do. he kinda looks a little like ralphie's little brother all bundled up. he's got on a tshirt, two sweaters and two pairs of pants. it was COLD out there!

this one's a little blurry- but there were snow flurries out. neither child was all that impressed. we stayed out for about 5 minutes and then unbundled.

** also, wanted to give y'all a little update. i registered C for school on thursday and it went SO great. it was like a homecoming- i got to see all my old teacher friends, lots of hugs and oooing and ahhing over how cute C is- and i spent a lot of time catching up with my old boss aka C's new principal. i'm telling y'all, i had the best, most peaceful feeling when i left the school. i won't go into a lot detail other than to brag on God, but seriously, the word for the event would be FAVOR. there was lots of it involved :)

lately...

buff's been into everything. nope, wait- make that EVERYTHING.

keith found cdawg asleep like this. i think he was a lil' tired!

we went to a fun birthday party

and i just don't know what to say about this.