Collin's 4th Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Collin’s fourth birthday with a party at Catch Air. He invited all of his classmates and his playgroup pals for an afternoon of jumping, bouncing and sliding. He had a blast and I think his friends did too! He realized everyone was there for him and that he was the birthday boy and center of attention, which he ate up. After an hour and twenty minutes of inflatable fun, the children moved into the party room for a Cars themed birthday party. I decorated the room with characters from the movie Cars. The children snacked on Mater’s Munchies (goldfish and veggie straws), Fillamore’s Fruit, Luigi’s Casa de la Tires (mini chocolate donuts), and Kachow Cupcakes. I got all my ideas off of the internet and Pinterest and it turned out cute! For favors, the children each got a candy bar with a personalized wrapper thanking them for coming, a car, and a Cars tattoo. All in all it was a great day and well worth all the time I put into it to see Collin so happy and having so much fun with all his friends.

Valentine's Day 2012

Today the boys awoke to some Valentine surprises. When they came into the playroom they had several surprises waiting on the sofa for them from Mommy and Daddy and Momo and Granddaddy. They each got the character Pablo from their favorite show The Backyardigans. Collin also got several cars and lots of candy and Parker got a tub of bath toys and a canister of links. We also enjoyed some yummy cupcakes that night after dinner which Collin loved and Parker could have cared less about. All in all they had a great day and I hope they know how loved they are today and everyday!

Balls, Balls, And More Balls

Parker LOVES balls! He loves to throw them across the room and chase after them. This past weekend Patrick and I set up a ball pit for him. Imagine his excitement when he came into the playroom to find over 100 balls all for him to throw and chase. He was beyond thrilled and spends most of this day throwing and retrieving balls. He still will not get in the ball pit but loves to sit right beside it and reach in. Silly boy!

Parker Is 11 Months Old

Parker is now eleven months old. Wow, how much things have changed since last month. To begin with, Parker is finally crawling! One day he just decided he no longer wanted to sit still and play with what Mommy brought him and decided to take off and go get his own toys. Now every time we put him down, he immediately takes off to get as many balls as he can find and then brings them to the small area of tiles in his playroom so he can bounce them. He also makes a beeline for Collin's toys, but is usually turned away unless big brother is at school.

With crawling, Parker is also able to make his own choices about what to play with. It is always balls or his stacking rings that he brings to the small tile floor in the playroom to throw and retrieve. Patrick and I are so happy that Parker has finally reached this milestone and is now becoming more independent and able to play on his own. He is also still pulling up on everything and is able to cruise around a piece of furniture while holding on.

Parker is also LOVING his finger foods. His favorites are peaches, apples, pears, graham crackers, Ritz crackers, buttered toast, cheese puffs and yogurt melts. He will still eat the jarred baby food and a Yo-Baby yogurt but prefers when we give him food on his tray to feed himself.

Our little baby is becoming so big and only one month away from becoming a toddler. It is hard to believe how quickly this year as gone by. As much as I would love to keep him a baby forever, I cannot wait to see what God has in store for his life.

Collin's Storybook Parade

Today Collin's preschool had their annual "Stroll Down Storybook Lane Parade". During this event, each class chooses one of their favorite books and the children make props or dress up like characters from the book and parade in front of all the parents. This year Collin's class chose the book Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann. This book is about a little girl named Pinkalicious who loves pink, especially pink cupcakes. Her parents warn her not to eat too many pink cupcakes, but she does and turns pink. Miss Carly and Miss Mary had all of the boys wear red and girls wear pink and they all paraded around carrying pink cupcakes they made. They all looked adorable! Collin even got to be the lineleader for the event, which he was beyond thrilled about. Afterwards all of the kids and parents headed back to the classroom for some real Pinkalicious pink cupcakes. What a fun day!

We Have A Crawler

It's official........Parker is now crawling! He is moving all over the house and is happy as can be with his new found independence. He crawls all over the playroom, getting out every toy he owns, and carries it to the tile floor to see what kind of noise it makes when dropped. He has also crawled over to Collin's toys several times which makes big brother a little nervous. We constantly catch Collin looking for Parker to see if he needs to guard his prized possessions. Boy is our life about to change, but we could not be happier that he has finally reached this milestone.

Parker Is 10 Months Old

Parker is now ten months old. Where has the time gone? Although he is still not officially crawling, he does like to get on all fours and crawl backwards. He also loves to roll all over the floor and uses rolling as his main mode of movement. He is still pulling up on everything he possibly can. He loves to pull up on the train table and play with the trains on it. He also loves to sneak over to Collin's table when he is not looking and try to play with all his matchbox cars. Collin is not a fan of this and Parker has already learned he has to be sneaky about it! He also loves going outside and following Collin in the little red car Santa brought him and swinging in the baby swing beside his big brother. Parker got two more teeth this month, bringing the count up to five.

Parker is also LOVING his finger foods. His favorites are yogurt melts,cheese puffs, diced fresh peaches, diced pears, diced apples, and graham crackers. He still enjoys his baby food, especially sweet potatoes seasoned with cinnamon and any type of fruit.

In terms of sleeping, Parker is doing great! He is sleeping 11 hours every night and takes two naps a day that are two hours each. We are blessed in this area!

It is hard to believe in 2 months we will be planning his first birthday party! Time goes by so fast when you are having fun!