Birthday party!!

Colin's birthday party was last Sunday. He was so excited. We invited a handful of kids from school, our next door neighbor Mattison, and Grace from the old house. Being the holiday weekend, I fully expected about 50% to not be able to come. Well, big surprise! Everyone except for one family was able to come! At least it was going to be outside, I thought. Well, then it rained all day Sunday (day of the party), so everyone was inside -- good thing we have a big house and Colin and Nathan's rooms were clean so the kids could go upstairs too! We ended up having 12 kids and 15 adults here! Have you ever heard about that rule of thumb that there should only be the number of kids equal to the number of the birthday? That would be only 4 kids, oh well! Colin had a great time!

The day before the party, Colin asked if his teacher, Maureen was going to come. Didn't invite her, I told him. "Please, call her and invite her to the party," he says. So I did. She was very flattered, and said that she would stop by and make an appearance. All the kids were so excited to see their teacher at the party. It was really pretty cool.

As you can see from the pictures, Colin is wearing a pretty outrageous outfit. A blue/green striped long sleeve polo with a short sleeve plaid shirt on top of it! He picked it out all by himself. And I was very proud of myself that I let him wear it ... very montessori of me (and him!). I guess I figured that we have plenty of pictures of him looking like I dressed him, that it wouldn't hurt to have the pictures this time looking like ... well, that he dressed himself!

All the other birthdays, I've always waited to the last minute and got a cake at the local grocery store. The cakes were okay, but this time I was talking to someone at Bob's office that mentioned his girlfriend makes cakes. I was intrigued and checked out her website, www.rachmakescakes.com . I figure it's about time to get a professional cake for Colin's birthday. Bob and Colin came up with the idea to do a Dr. Seuss theme, specifically the Lorax. We've read this story to Colin several times, and he really likes it. So I asked Colin to pick out his favorite page in the book. It had Truffala Trees and Brown Bar-ba-loots on the page he picked. So I emailed Rachael scans of the pages from Colin's book. She said that she had some ideas and thought it would be pretty cool.



When the cake arrived, WOW it looked so cool as you can see from the pictures, and you can eat everything on the cake too. What I wasn't counting on was how delicious the cake was. Colin wanted chocolate cake, and she put chocolate chips into the chocolate cake which made it even more incredible. I think I've found our cake maker for the rest of our birthdays and holidays and get-togethers and whatever occasion that I can think of!

I think that just about sums up Colin's birthday party. Lots of people, Colin's crazy outfit (and I mean that in a good way!), and the awesome cake. Hope all the rest of the boy's birthday parties are this successful.

Moon book

Colin has a book that we used to read to him all the time when he was about 2 years old. Bob and I pretty much had it memorized. We always called it the "Moon Book", I'm not sure what the real name is because Colin ripped the cover off one night. The book was a gift from his Gramma Mary and has a moon that lights up when you push it (which explains some of the verses below). So here are the words to Colin's favorite book when he was little:

Night is coming
and I know that soon,
I'll go to sleep
in my cozy room.

I brush my teeth
before going to bed,
Then pull my pj's
over my head.

Out come the stare
that shine so bright,
So with a hug and kiss
I say goodnight.

There is no more
time to play,
But a bedtime story
will end the day.

My favorite is
about the Moon,
And the light it gives off
in my room.

My friend the Moon
will help me see,
And light my room,
staying close to me.

Whenever I wake in the night,
I push the Moon's face
to bring back its light.

I know that I
am safe and sound,
And my friend the Moon
will be around.

Then if I wander
in the night,
I can bring along
my own Moon light.

My Moon dims
and turns off its light,
And sleeps next to me
throughout the night.

Goodnight!

Colin's 4th birthday

Colin had a great day! He turned four on November 21st, and Grandma and Grandpa G.G. were in town to help us celebrate the occasion.

First the day started with Nathan and Colin climbing into our bed for some good quality time with us. (Grandma and Grandpa were still asleep.) Nathan practiced saying "Happy birthday, Colin" which came out sounding like "AA-kee dada Colnn". It was close enough for us.

I proposed that the grandparents and Colin and I go to the new Coca-Cola museum during Nathan's nap. But when I asked Colin if he wanted to go he said, "Do they have a playground?". Hmmm, maybe the Coca-Cola museum wouldn't be the ideal place to go for Colin. The adults would really like it (well, I would), but this is Colin's birthday, so the plans were changed. We went for ice cream at Zesto, then to the brand new playground at Piedmont Park.

For dinner we had steak, Colin's favorite. Although Colin was too excited about presents and cake after dinner that he barely touched his steak. Finally, it was time to bring out the cake, which consisted of about 16 mini cupcakes with flags and 4 candles. We sang, Colin blew and blew and one candle went out, he blew some more, and another candle went out. After several more attempts, all the candles were out which made Colin very happy.

Colin then opened his presents from Grandma and Grandpa G.G. (glow-in-the-dark dinosaur puzzle, Dora Candy Land Game and Dora Memory Game), and Grandma Mary and Grandpa Jerry (Moon Sand, Cars mini-books with CD and a horse painting set). Nathan also gave Colin a dinosaur puzzle. Colin received an art easel from Mom and Dad.

Happy Birthday to my big guy! I can't believe you are four years old.

Sticker boy

Nathan just loves stickers. He takes them off the sheet and puts them on his shirt, one on top of the other.

I did it!!

While Bob was on his two week trip to the orient, I went to Candler Park's Fall Fest and talked to some folks with the Operation Bootcamp Program. Well, I was feeling motiviated and signed up ... I mean it started at 6am and I could get back before the kids got up, so why not!

Today I graduated from bootcamp!! Four weeks of intense workouts. The first two days were brutal, and I had to take aspirin to make it. It wasn't easy, but I did it and I am very proud of myself!

Hoo wah!

"The moon is following us ...

... and I think it's on wheels."

Driving home tonight from dinner it was dark and there was a moon out that Colin thought was chasing us.

Voice from above

The day after the sandbox/tree house was installed, Colin and Nathan were out playing in it, and I was inside the house cleaning up. I had the window above the sink open so I could keep tabs on them while I was inside.

I heard some commotion and then saw Colin grab something out of Nathan's hand. So I hollered out the window at Colin. The look on Colin's face was priceless, he was busted, but he was more bewildered than anything else! He looked up and said, "Who was that?"

I nearly busted a gut laughing.

Wow -- 100 posts!

I've actually manage to keep up with this blog and reach the 100 mark! And I have Sheila to thank for this, unfortunately she had to delete her blog as a result of potentional legal actions. Aren't ex-husbands just the greatest -- NOT!

So here's to my blog about the boys and an occassional blurb about me and my thoughts.

Nathan's grocery store nap

After Colin went to school, Nathan and I headed to the grocery store to pick up a couple items. While I was shopping, Nathan looked very sleepy and his head kept bobbing. So I put my hand on his cheek, and Nathan just closed his eyes and went to sleep ... with me holding his head up! I had to finish shopping one-handed which was okay until I got to the big box of diapers that I was trying to maneuver under the cart with one hand. I did put Nathan on my shoulder to put the groceries on the conveyor, and as soon as I finished paying, Nathan woke up and was ready to go to Target! He managed to stay awake for that shopping trip.

Trick-or-treating

This is really the first year the we've taken the boys trick-or-treating. Last year, Colin was sick and fell asleep at 4pm for the night. The year before we went to a neighborhood party in Roswell Farms but no trick-or-treating (not that Colin would remember it or anything and Nathan was in my belly).

So this year we were invited to a little party at 5pm to eat pizza and then go trick-or-treating at 6ish. It was so much fun being part of a big group like that. Reminded me of my trick-or-treating days.

The best part was when we got to the third house and Colin looks at us with this wide-eyed expression and said, "Another house?", yes, "More candy?", yes, "Yeahhhhhh!" He was so excited. Nathan even got into the whole thing. Dressed as a tiger, when prompted Nathan would do the cutest little "roar"!

However, I knew it was time to call it a night when Colin wanted to hold Nathan's bag of candy for him, and then I found Colin depositing the candy into his own bag.