The Amazing Collin

As I'm sure most Moms would agree, the wild ride of parenting includes the strange and amazing phenomenon of raising kids who (under the same roof) have such different personalities and gifts and turn out to be two totally different individuals.
Although Kayla and Collin share many interests: their love of animals, bugs, books, movies and performing, their personalities couldn't be more distinct from one another.
While Kayla enjoys trying new foods, rides or experiences and goes about her life with zest, she still takes a LOT of time thinking and practicing a physical skill before actually doing it.
Collin is definitely the impulsive daring one.
No wall is too high, no water too deep, no "NO Collin" from Mom anything to listen to.. ha ha ha.
This comes through in the physical things that Collin tries and accomplishes.
Just like walking and swimming, he took off on his bike today after we removed the training wheels.
I remember when he started walking... he just let go of the chair and walked away.
There was never any practice, encouragement etc...
So it shouldn't have surprised me that he just hopped on his bike today and rode away!
But it did anyway!

Phoenix Zoo

What a gorgeous day it was yesterday! The weather seems to be holding in the high 70's and low 80's, so we keep taking advantage of it.
We took the kids to the Phoenix Zoo and it was a blast.
Kayla had to pick one animal to observe and take notes on for some school work.
She chose the Sumatran tiger and we spent a good amount of time learning about him and his habitat. Kayla also had to use the zoo map by herself to get us to the tigers and the other exhibits that Collin wanted to see. What a good learning experience all in all!
We also enjoyed the wallabies, reptiles and lions.
The kids hopped on a camel for a ride and treated themselves with snowcones and popcorn. Thanks to the Great Aunts and Grandparents for the Christmas and birthday cash! The kids decided to use much of at the zoo!

Cardinals on Sunday

Sunday was a beautiful 80 degree day and we spent it lounging around in my parent's backyard. They had their "big screen TV" out for us to watch the Cardinals game.
They removed the big screen off of the window in their casita and put their little TV in the window there. :)
We had such a good time and although I am not a big football fan, it was pretty exciting to watch the Cardinals win!

Home with the kids

I'm usually behind the camera so I'm so glad that Susan got this picture of Collin and me swinging together recently. Collin and I went back to that park just today and swung as high as we could, giggling the whole time.
Collin said, "I love you Momma" in my ear while we were swinging through the air and I was elated.

Kayla and Collin lost a teeny tiny tag off of a McDonald's happy meal toy of all things. Apparently you can register the little stuffed animal online so they were desperate to find it. Collin thought that maybe he had put in on his bookshelf.
This is what I walked in to:

New Years Eve

Pictures from New Year's Eve

Collin's birthday parties

Collin's family party was the night of his birthday and Chris, Kelsey, Nana, Papa, Grandma Elephant and Papa Tom were here with us to celebrate.
How awesome it is for these kids to have so many family members to celebrate with.
And how spoiled Collin was!
It was fun to watch him open his gifts. He was very animated and excited!






Collin's "friend" birthday party was on Saturday. What a blast.
The kids jumped in our mini bounce house... it was a beautiful day outside.
We played pin the tail on the donkey and best of all- Spiderman came to surprise
Collin!! Hope you had a blast at your Spiderman parties this year Collin!
We love you!

Happy Birthday Collin!

You are my little man, my little boo bear, my Harry Potter buddy, my favorite boy, my handsome blonde, my sweet monkey, my Mr. Moo and my gray hair.
(of course gray hair is not actually one of your nicknames; just an occupational hazard.)
I love you!

Moments

I don't have many new pictures... but hope to post a couple tomorrow.
As for now, there are a few moments I want to record so I don't forget them.

1. Abby running around in the backyard with an orange from our fruit tree in her mouth. Not because she is trying to get a snack, but because she is so tennis ball obsessed.

2. The sound of "clink, clink, crack, crack, clink" outside yesterday. I walked out to see what was going on and there were the kids with a pile of small rocks.
Each of them had a large stone and they were making arrowheads and cutting tools out of stone by smacking the edges of the little rocks with the large ones. Interesting....

3. The warm, quiet house this morning with coffee brewing and the kids working quietly at the kitchen table. Although homeschooling is supposed to be temporary, only until seats are available for them at the half day charter school, we could grow too attached to this to switch. It is amazing how quick and how pleasant teaching is when you only have one or two kids to teach. Collin enjoys the structure and loves working alongside "sister".

4. The interesting conversation Kayla and I had after discovering that Lucy had gone in to heat yesterday. An employee at PetSmart told us that it would be dangerous for Lucy to go out of the house now that she has her period, but not to worry because it only happens twice a year.
Kayla had a comment and a question about that. "Is it safe for human girls to go out of the house when they have their period?" And, "it's not fair that that happens to humans every month and only twice a year to dogs. Did God mess up?"