Kiss Me I'm Adorable

Thanks to hand-me-downs from my amazing friend Amber, we had THREE different choices of St. Patrick's Days shirts for Collin. It was a beautiful morning so we headed to one of our favorite neighborhood parks - He loves to hang - on anything including the ledge of our countertop - quite the monkey -

Smiling on the slide -

And posing at the bottom -

Delaying our park exit by detouring from the car to the benches -

Ride 'em Cowboy

Collin's school had a rodeo day last week and I stuck around to see the cowboys and cowgirls in action.

Nearly in the splits to fit on the saddle - Riding stick ponies - it was cute to see his class of 9 two-year-olds all "galloping" on their horses.

Along with the stick ponies, they had costumes for them to wear - bandannas, boots and hats . . . Cas was so proud of Collin's masculine hat choice -

And pink boots!

Checking out his bandanna in the mirror. If you ask Collin how he looks, no matter what he's wearing, he'll respond "handsome." We'll work on humility in the months to come!

Collin's classmates milking the cow. We love his sweet class - he's been with two of the kids since he was 8 months and with the others for almost a year, so he talks about them quite a bit at our home.

Milking the cow next to Anisa -

Stick pony in one hand, tipping his hat back in another before he digs in the sand to find the farm animals -

Washing clothes on the metal scrubbing basins with Ms. Amanda -

Showing off his star I face painted, quite a Mommy feat on a squirming two year old!

I was so glad I got to see the cute activities his school planned for rodeo day and hear all the squeals of delight from Collin and his classmates. I'm normally not the drop-off person to school, but on the few days since when I drop him off, he tells me he's going to the rodeo at school, so clearly it made a fun, lasting impression on both of us!

Livestock Show & Rodeo

Collin had a paparazzi audience of his parents & Grammy on his first trip to the Livestock Show & Rodeo. First stop - and where we spent the majority of our time - was the petting area.

Collin was full of grins -

And absolutely gleeful as he was introduced to new animals like a donkey - Doesn't Cas look thrilled? It was fun to watch Collin's excitement, but we weren't sad to leave the crowded tent full of animals and their excrement.

Lambs -

Feeding the goat -

And petting the pig - Sometimes his bratty two-year-old side appeared, like when we encouraged him to put on his boots and again at the end when we were ready to leave -

I'm sure the John Deere folks who were trying to sell the equipment were thrilled with our photo opp, but I bet we weren't the only ones playing -

Because we're too cheap and impatient to wait in line and pay for the picture, here's our shot with the longhorn - Dancing onstage in his boots - And wrapping up with some pictures with Mommy . . . at this point, resorting to tickling to get a smile - Mother & son boots -

Playing at the Park

Collin and I joined B, Grammy & Brownie on a glorious spring day at our neighborhood park. As soon as we arrived, he went to the tallest slide, climbed to the top, and slid down - putting on some bravado for his audience. Typically it's a slide our cautious boy needs coaxing to go down on his own.

Then over to the toddler section for some fire engine navigating with Brownie -

Collin tends to spend more time off the playground equipment than on at the park. Here he is between the gate. When Brownie showed him he could make xylophone sounds with a stick on the metal gate, we didn't think he'd ever leave!

The promise of swinging drew him away from his instrument playing -

Silly boy in Brownie's hat -

Snack break - And some tickle time with Grammy -

We finished off the day at Lupe Tortillas with the family and considered it a success of a Sunday!

Beautiful Boy on Beautiful Day

We enjoyed the beautiful weekend with a lot of time outdoors. Sunday after church and a picnic lunch in the backyard, we had a photo session with our adorable son.

It was full of energy -
Sweet smiles -

Giggles -

And some great photos of our son -

Collin's hipster hat look

We hit an all time photo low in February, with only three pictures taken the entire month, all taken in a 2-hour time span following church. When we were getting dressed that morning, Collin decided to wear a hat. Copying his father, he likes hipster hats, and unlike most two-year-olds, actually keeps it on for hours. The volunteers in our church nursery just ate him up -

And here's his bed post-nap, with some stuffed animal play time mixed in -
A few weeks ago, I turned the monitor on to check on Collin and was a little upset to find that though he seemed quiet to us in the living room, he was really having a little party in his bed. Last night I put him to bed at 7:45 and could still hear him chatting at almost 9pm! But he stays in his bed. Not sure why he hasn't figured out that once we say goodnight, he could get out of his bed, out of his room, and really torment his parents, but thankfully he hasn't ventured out yet. I'm sure that day is coming. For now, we enjoy listening to his singing, imaginative play, and demands made from his bed.