Summer iPhone Photo Dump

I've taken very few pictures this summer. I lost motivation when we packed up our computer.  Our new house - the one we were supposed to move into August 1st because our renters moved into our old house - still looks like this:

It's coming together and hopefully we'll be able to move out of my gracious aunt's home in the next week or two.  We called my Aunt Debbie on Sunday evening when our flight from Seattle landed and it hit us that we were homeless.  She took us in that night and we've been crashing at her place for the last few weeks, swimming in her pool every afternoon.  Right now our new home is full of dust and nails, so we are trying to keep Collin out, but he's excited about his blue room and we're excited to be in the neighborhood we've been stalking for over a year, less than a mile south of our old home.

Beyond the joys of remodeling and moving, we've been spending a lot of time this summer with family.  Collin met his first cousin in July, but all of those pictures are on the computer in storage.  We've stopped by Great Grandma B's house to say hello and read some books - 

And we've enjoyed several play dates with Amber and her kids.  Here is Esmae and Collin at the Children's Museum, and the boys in the elevator showing their fierce muscles -

Amber and I met up for my favorite day ever at the zoo.  It was overcast and rainy on my drive there, but it didn't start raining on us until we drove home.  I think it was a Monday, so it wasn't crowded, there was cloud cover to provide some relief from the Texas heat, and the animals were very animated - cougars pouncing on one another, lions roaring.  I'm pretty sure I was more excited than Collin.  We had a great day with Esmae and Holden!

Collin is having an awesome time at Aunt Debbie's.  He has an audience to read him stories, slip him Hershey kisses, take him swimming, and even let him color on the wall . .. Jasper's chalkboard wall, that is.

Last weekend Amber and I went to Dallas to visit our friend Kelly and meet her 6-week old daughter, Katelyn.  It was fun to cuddle an infant again and great to catch up with her and her husband, Chris.

We stayed in Pearland on Sunday night, getting a little time in with our dogs who are staying at my parents' until the new home is ready.  Only a grandma would humor Collin with all of these animals -

Monday morning we met Amber's kiddos at a park and splash park.  It was fun watching Collin study Amber's much braver kids and get a little more adventurous running around the splash park.  They're going to be great influences on our tentative guy!  

First Day of Part Time

On June 25th, I officially became a part-time worker.  So far it is a complete joy.  I work Tuesday through Thursday and then head into four-day weekends.  I walked out of the office on Thursday with this big, goofy grin, thrilled to know I wouldn't be returning until Tuesday.  I truly enjoy my job but missed this incredible development time with Collin, so with 2 weeks under my belt, this schedule seems to be a perfect fit.

We are praising God for orchestrating this, as my company has no part-time program and while I'm sure there are exceptions like me, I don't know of any of them, especially not any of them with a customer-facing role like I have.  I'm so thankful to Cas for working so hard to support our family and to my bosses for giving me this flexibility.

I'm sure there will be some days where I'd rather be at work than negotiating with a toddler, but on our first day, our only big showdown was leaving the house with his cowboy boots.  We landed on wearing them in the car, but switching to sandals when we headed out in public-

I started my first day of part-time by picking up my grandma and meeting my mom at the Children's Museum. So neat for four generations to experience the magic of the museum. Collin quite intense when offering the life saving care of nose pinching -

Zooming around outside -

Cooking with the help of the hand puppet chicken -

With Grammy showing his age -

Can you tell I LOVE my new part-time status?!?

Back at home (and back in our boots) that afternoon, we tried a new craft, water coloring.  Collin lasted about 5 minutes, which is his typical arts-and-crafts limit.   

Deep in concentration as he painted his brontosaurus -

We had a wonderful first day, and since, have had play dates on every single day off.  We've hit up the Children's Museum 3 times in 2 weeks (what can I say, it's free thanks to our membership & it's air conditioned), met with my friends for play dates, and went to the zoo this morning.  One of these days, we're going to stay at home in our pajamas all day, but so far the planner in me has had us on the go.

Some of my current favorite expressions of Collin's are:

How are you, Collin?  I'm fine.  I'm better than fine, I'm awesome. 

Pretty sure he learned "I'm fine" from a song, and we tried to explain that if we're somewhere great like the zoo, he can say he's great or he's wonderful, etc.  So everytime we ask how he is, he automatically responds with "I'm fine" and then clarifies if he's actually better than fine.

Um, I'm going to say I don't know.  I don't know. 

He used to say "ehhh" on repeat when he didn't know the answer.  Trying to get that out of his vocabulary, we recommended him telling us when he doesn't know.  So now he'll forewarn us that he's going to say "I don't know" and then say it. 

Pinky toe - ay caramba!

This is how he responds when his pinky toe is on the wrong side of his sandals when we are putting them on, which happens about half the time.  Pretty sure he picked this up from his Grandma Libia.  I love it so much it makes me want to intentionally put his shoe on crooked!

We're in that stage where I don't want to correct how he says "amimals" or these silly expressions, because I know all too soon he'll be sounding too grown up.  His favorite things at 2 1/2 are playing with trucks and trains, reading, and recently watching gymnastics on TV.  I'm sure my excitement of the women's gymnastics Olympic trials rubbed off on him, and for the past week he has requested daily doses of gymnastics, cheering for the Olympians by name.     

Couch Conductor

It's funny how without any prodding, Collin is naturally drawn to automobiles.  He points out every big truck, city bus, motorcycle, sports car, tracktor, airplane and helicopter he sees.  When we go to the Children's Museum, he hoards the big trucks, often navigating the tot spot with one per hand. 

So on a Thursday afternoon, the matching newsboy hat that Grammy gave us became his train conductor hat.  He always navigates the couch train first to the rodeo, I guess because we rode a tram to the rodeo this year.  As passengers, we have to provide him a ticket, and by the end of the ride, all of our couch cushions are normally on the floor.  Smiling with green ticket in hand -

Being sweet -

And then being silly -

Mommy wanted in on the matching hat, train ride action -

Enough photos already, I've got better things to do!

Father's Day twins

On the day before Father's Day, Brownie and Grammy came to baby-sit while Cas, Aunt Debbie and I went to a comedy show and dinner.  They were perfectly dressed for some pre-Father's Day posing -

 The promise of goldfish elicited some "cheese" smiles -

 Proud grandpa & grandson -

On Sunday, Cas and Collin dressed as twinkies for church.  Collin stayed in the 3-year-old Sunday School room where we teach monthly.  It was interesting to see him with the older kids, at times intimated but for the most part holding his own.  He did pretty well until we did individual interviews with each of the children, asking them questions about their fathers (what is your favorite thing to do with your daddy, what is your daddy best at doing, etc).  And then he was jealous of all the attention his parents were giving other children, at one point walking up behind me, getting ignored, and then slamming a block on my head.  Maybe God knows what He's doing giving him this long to be an only child!

We tried the next day after church for some pictures with Daddy but the results weren't as impressive.  I guess right before nap time is not the ideal photo schedule -

 The most natural smiles came with the help of tickles from Daddy -

Mother's Day Cascarones Cracking

We had Mother's Day pizza at our house.  As soon as our guests arrived, Collin showed them his tadpoles.  He had collected them the day before in our ditch after a rain with Grammy and Brownie.  And 5 weeks later, miraculously, there are still a few survivors.  Unfortunately, they have yet to give any indication they'll be transforming into a frog soon, and they've only got about an inch of water left.  Hopefully it rains soon!  (According to wikipedia, it takes 6-8 weeks to become frogs and they can only be in rain water or distilled water, not tap water due to fluoride levels.  We're debating buying bottled water for our tadpoles but have yet to spend money on the little guys.)

Collin delayed our party preparations with a ride and poses in the ice chest.

After dinner, we headed to the front yard for a cascarones battle.  We bought 3 dozen for Easter and forgot to use them.  We thought they'd last a few minutes, but they were cracked within 20 seconds, enough time to get only a few action shots.

A re-enactment of my mom slamming a cascarones into her mom's head - nothing says Happy Mother's Day like confetti in your hair -

Bryce & Radscha post battle -

My dad, striking a pose, as he picked the confetti off his polo -

Aunt Debbie with her son, Bryce and his girlfriend, Radscha -

And some Mother's Day poses in the setting sun -

When we got this shirt out of his drawer, Collin noted that he looked like Grammy -

Better smiles upside down than right side up -

My Aunt Cheryl was in town for Mother's Day and was able to celebrate with us (and show the proper excitment over Collin's tadpoles).  My Grandma Jewell Rae and her two daughters -

A blurry picture of my Grandma, Mom and me -

The mom's - Aunt Cheryl, Jewell Rae, me, Betty, my mom and Aunt Debbie -

So thankful to not only have the world's best mom, but absolutely incredible aunts, grandmothers, cousins, and my mother-in-law who are all so involved in my life!  We couldn't operate without them!