Get to know Colin

Our little guy is getting so big so fast, I thought I should take a minute and jot down a few things that make him, him.

At almost 19 months old our son is still a terrible sleeper. Don't get me wrong, he can be convinced to occasionally sleep (which is a huge improvement on where he was a year ago) but it takes quite a bit of fussing and carrying on -- from us. He needs at least three books before naps and bedtime and he chooses them, thank you very much. Don't even try to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar if he wants Dora's Camping Trip (aka "Doo-Dah"). Then comes the rocking, the pacing, the gently placing of the kiddo into the crib, and then the shushing until you can carefully sneak out of the room. (His sisters have got to wonder where they went wrong, because we would have NEVER put up with that crap from them!) But he WILL go to sleep, so we're feeling pretty good about that. Unfortunately he still wakes up halfway through his naps and can not put himself back to sleep. We often end up with him finishing his nap in our arms. Or here:

Or the floor:

He really doesn't care WHERE he takes the second half of his nap, as long as it's not in his crib!

He misses his daddy terribly when Phil goes on a trip for work. Colin will ask me throughout the day, "Dada? Daaadaaaa! DADA?" until I finally tell him, "Daddy's at work." This almost always gets the disappointed response, "Awww."

He subsists almost entirely on:
grapes,
waffles,
and dill pickles.

And don't cross him, or he will freeze you with his icy glare:



But we've got his number on the icy glare. If you give one right back to him he can't keep a straight face. He slowly cracks...

...until he's giggling and has forgotten why you had fallen out of favor with him.

He's such a funny little guy. He seems to be learning new words and skills all of the time now. He wants nothing more than to be allowed access to his sisters' room, so he's constantly trying to be a big kid like them. And even though he steals their dollies, wrecks their tea sets, and has difficulty sharing his trains, his sisters love him to pieces too. Who could resist this face?

Step away from my pudding!

Peas in a Pod (or a laundry basket)

Ahhh, the laundry basket. Such a fun toy. At any moment one's mother can declare that it's NOT a toy and that all children must get out, but until that time it's SO MUCH FUN. It has endless possibilities for pretend play. It can be a boat, a train, a cage, a bed, a platform from which to launch oneself or one's siblings...

I think they were in a choo-choo here:


Claire (poor thing) got to be the engine and do all of the pushing. She didn't seem to mind too much, though.


And here Colin is using it as a stage while he plays a drum solo on his sister's head.

More snow pics

After I typed that last blog, Colin and I joined Phil and the girls outside for some snowy fun. We even picked up some shovels and helped. There are no photos of me shoveling snow, though, so you'll just have to take my word on that.

Plenty of pics of Colin shoveling. He worked so hard!


After we got the driveway clear Phil and the girls started on a snowman. They got a little carried away with their ball-rolling, though, so we had a little snow-people village in our front yard when all was said and done.

They're calling for more snow next week. It's pretty to look at, but we can definitely see why snow-blowers are so popular!

More snow!

We woke up to another winter wonderland this morning. All of the snow we've gotten in the past few weeks has been light, fluffy, powdery snow. The stuff we woke up to today was NOT light or powdery. We had sleet and freezing rain sandwiched in between snowfalls last night. The combination made for some really heavy shoveling. Poor Phil went out and made an effort to get the driveway clear again. The girls quickly put on their gear to go "help" him (but it seems to take him much longer when they're helping. Hmmm...).

Don't they all look like they're having fun?

Where was I, you ask? I was slaving away in the house, in my toasty robe with a warm cup of coffee, feeding Colin. It's very tough work, feeding waffles and grapes to an 18 month-old. Really.

And here's poor Bailey in his doggy-escape chute that Phil dug for him:
I think the snow would have been over his head if Phil hadn't dug him a path! According to our very scientific measuring (yard stick in the middle of the driveway) we received 10 inches of really heavy, packable snow last night. I see a snowman in our future.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad D

It's been forty years since these two crazy kids decided to get married:


And I'm so glad they did! They provided me with a wonderful example of marriage and gave me such a loving start to life. I sure wish I could magically transport myself to Illinois to see them as they renew their vows after mass today. Cheers to you, Mom and Dad, for forty happy years and many more to come. Love you both so much. Happy Anniversary!

Colin's favorite song

I know I'm not singing the right words. There's supposed to be something about a bob-tailed nag and a bay:



We sing it with extra doo-dahs since that's Colin's favorite part. :)

Our new Chihuahua

OK, he's not really new OR a Chihuahua. That's our Shih Tzu Bailey-dog, who will be 14 years old this New Year's Eve. He got his hair cut this week and his fur was really matted so they had to shave him. He looks so different!

Bailey, before his G.I. haircut

And, with our recent cold weather, he's been feeling chilly. We have him wearing a sweater around the house (no kidding) but he needed a little more insulation for going outside.

Bailey, stylishly warm in a turtleneck sweater and a hooded fleece jacket

He borrowed a fleece hoodie from Colin's bin of too-small clothes. Who knew Bailey wore a size 6-9 months?

Happy Birthday, Bailey-boy!

Guess where we went yesterday

The girls and I went to the big city (well, not the REAL big city - we went to Philly) to do something fun! Can you guess where we went?

Here's a big hint - check out the guy we're posed with here!

I now have two little girls who won't stop twirling around the house, and I'm pretty sure they'll pay extra close attention in dance lessons next week!

Snow!

We didn't have a white Christmas. But had a VERY white day-after Christmas (what is that, Boxing Day?).



We were all pretty excited for the snow. We haven't lived anywhere with lots of snow for a very long time! Fortunately, Phil still has some great snow-shoveling skills, so our driveway is beautifully snow-free. Our yard, on the other hand, has gobs of snow.

This was really dry snow, so it didn't pack well the first day. Instead it just blew around all over the place. Our house/yard seems to find and keep all of that blowing snow, much to the kiddos' delight. Today the snow packed a little better, so Phil built them a little hill in the backyard and they all got to go sledding.

*Click the first photo for a small slideshow or any of the other photos for full-screen

Christmas morning

Here's a little time-lapse clip of the chaos that is Christmas morning in our house:



A few things we noticed upon watching it a few times:
Claire was very focused on the task at hand.
At one point everybody leaves the room but me. Where did they go??? Why am I still there?
Maddie needed several book-breaks in order to get through.
Colin was all. over. the. place! 1) We didn't notice him playing on the couch, and 2) he must have bumped the tripod and nearly knocked the camera over (you can see the change in camera angle). Silly boy.

We had such a great Christmas, though we sure did miss being around our "big" family (Claire's word for our extended family).

And a quick disclaimer: most of those presents are not from us! Our lucky kiddos have two sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles who love to spoil them very much! :)

Our 2010 Eco-Friendly Paperless Christmas Letter!

Here's hoping that your 2010 was joyous and blessed! This is our fourth fully electronic Christmas letter, welcome newcomers and enjoy the recap regular visitors. Be sure to click the links below to get the full stories...

Looking back at our adventures this past year, it's pretty clear that we have a lot to be thankful for. We started 2010 with an impromptu trip to Dallas for a few days while Altus recovered from a pretty big ice storm. Fortunately, our family and friends stayed safe throughout the storm, but the town was out of power for over a week! In April Maddie had surgery for a bilateral hernia repair. We were obviously quite worried about her, but she was incredibly brave and came through just fine. The very next month we packed up the family and moved to New Jersey. We'll be here for one whole year while Phil takes a break from flying and works on a Masters degree. Katie's sweet parents came out and helped us move in, and we were able to take in a few local sights while they were here. Things were going quite well until July when Katie's dad got some terrible news: he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The doctors recommended surgery, so in for surgery he went (and a ROBOT did the surgery! So high tech...). His post-op tests looked great, so we're praying that the cancer is gone for good. In August Phil's parents came out for a visit and we took a day to visit the Statue of Liberty (the girls had been begging to go since we moved here!). In September we took advantage of Phil's predictable schedule with a little trip to Disney World. Of course we couldn't stay nearly long enough (is vacation EVER long enough???) but we had a wonderful time. When we got back to New Jersey Claire started kindergarten (how did THAT happen?) and Maddie started at her preschool. Katie's parents came back out again in November and were here for Claire's birthday party as well as Thanksgiving. It was so nice to celebrate with family!

Our kiddos just keep growing and growing. Our biggest kiddo, Claire (age 6), rides the bus to and from big-girl school everyday. She's active in dance, gymnastics, swimming, piano lessons and Daisy Girl Scouts. She lost TWO teeth this year while we were on vacation at DisneyWorld, and this summer she started reading chapter books. She spends a good part of each day snuggled up with a book, and she can often be counted on to read out loud to her younger siblings. Our days of spelling secrets over the kids' heads are over!

Maddie (now 4) participated in her very first dance recital this spring, performing a ballet and a tap number quite well. She showed NO fear of the stage and actually seemed to have fun up there! Maddie also completed her very first year of preschool this spring and seems to have discovered that she likes boys (Eek!). Her teachers tell us she is quite the social butterfly at school and she keeps busy with dance lessons, gymnastics, swim lessons, and piano lessons. She and Claire both had a wonderful time when they got to wear beautiful dresses and be flower girls for two weddings this year (which also meant a solo trip for Katie and the kiddos to Kentucky).

Our little Colin continues to get bigger and bigger, and he's experienced so many firsts this year. He learned to crawl, took his first steps, celebrated his first birthday, and he even got a big-boy haircut. After tearing up the waiting room at the gymnastics gym for several weeks, his mommy decided to throw in the towel and signed him up for a gymnastics class too. He never fails to bring a smile to our faces with his goofy antics and the girls have trouble staying mad at him, even when he's trying to steal their toys. It's hard to believe he's already 1.5 years old. Isn't he supposed to be a baby?

So to sum it up, 2010 included four grandparent visits, 1,500+ miles for Phil and Bailey from Oklahoma to New Jersey, 3,000+ miles in a minivan for Katie and three kiddos (OK to IL to IN to NJ - pause...whew - NJ to KY to NJ), almost 18,000 pounds of boxes and household goods, two weddings, two surgeries, seven days without power, one eight and a half-foot tall Frasier fir (what a great tree!), and more blessings than we can count or deserve.

We don't know yet where our next batch of Christmas cards will be sent from -- the Air Force will probably let us know sometime in the spring where we'll be moving to in the summer. It sure keeps our lives exciting, right? We hope 2011 brings you health and happiness.

Merry Christmas!

O Christmas Tree

We decided to go with a real tree this year because there are just so many around here. Which one to choose...



Colin seemed to like this one:

Looked good to us, too.