Colin's birthday

I feel like I have said this before, but I truly think Colin's birthday falls on one of the hardest days of the year!

Colin was born to us nine years ago, Halloween afternoon. As most families with children would agree, Halloween is a jam-packed day as it is--let alone adding birthday festivities into the mix!

But of course, as usual....we managed!  Lola got costume #1 of the day on, 

and we headed to the boys' school for some lunch and Halloween parties!

Then, that evening, was some trick-or-treating fun with our friends: The Mario Kart Gang!

After that was dinner out. Because this year Halloween fell on a Wednesday night, and Shane, I, and our friends run our Wednesday night children't program at our church, we had to hurry--so we picked Steak N Shake to eat. Then it was off to church, and home for showers and pj's!

The poor kids were exhausted--but Colin was so excited over opening his presents that, even though it was almost 10 p.m., we had to let him do it! His first one was a doozie, for sure!!

Something he'd been asking for for a long time....

....from Grandma 'Nette and Grandpa.....

....a BULLS jersey!!

He beamed as bright as the sun. It was so precious.

He opened several more things: some clothes, some soccer pj pants.....

....and something else he has been wanting....

....his very own real Bible. He has several Bible story books, but has been asking for one he can read himself, on his own and in church. We were happy to oblige!!

We chose the Adventure Bible for him, and he has loved it so far.

(I loved that he wanted to read it right away, and for a moment even forgot about the other presents!)

Some Star Wars legos!

{Being silly and showing me how old they are...Lo didn't quite grasp it LOL}

One last try....got one!

Colin is just such a special boy and a wonderful gift to our family....so grateful for the NINE years we have been blessed with this young man's presence!

How to do the backstroke. Or not.

Since we have gotten our new pool (which I will blog all about later--can't wait to do that because it has been such an AWESOME transformation and an amazing addition to our lives!!) I have spent quite a bit of time with the boys during the day teaching them how to actually swim.

In the last few weeks, both Ethan and Cameron have been able to ditch their 'floaties' and can now swim independently for long lengths of time, both over and under the water.  Colin has been a pro for a while, thanks to a SPLASH program at his school where he gets to go to the local YMCA for a week and learn all about water safety.

In the last few days, both Colin and Cameron--who happened to catch some Olympic swimming trials the other day on TV--have become interested in the different strokes, and so I've been showing them that there is more than one way to swim!

It has been incredibly fun for me--I was lucky enough to be on a swim team for a few summers when I was younger (thanks Amy and Dad!!!)--and a lifeguard in high school, so I love everything about swimming and water safety. I am so thankful that I get to teach my kids about it too, right in my own back yard.

So, yeah.  Teaching....about that. It appears as though I need to work with them a bit more when it comes to the backstroke.  If you need a little pick me up today, enjoy the first 30 seconds of this video; I've watched it 10 times now and can't help giggling at Cameron's version of the backstroke.



Happy swimming everyone!!

A great season of basketball

Time is flying past me. We are smack in the middle of a wonderful baseball season--and I am behind, as usual, in my blogging! This is yet another 'catch-up' post. I'm determined to get them all done!

The end of March brought the end of yet another sport: basketball.

This was the first year our family has been involved in basketball. Shane coached Colin's team and Colin thoroughly enjoyed playing.  His best friend also played....

....and they had so much fun playing each other!

Colin and Colden--both number 14!

Before each game, they played what we know as "the bulls music" and announced each child as they ran through a tunnel. It was very cute and you could tell was something the kids all loved.

Colden coming through

Sports activities are a great way to bond as a family. Our family always goes to everything together (though, this year it is proving to be difficult as the boys do, on occasion, head in different directions--but we are crossing those bridges as we come to them!) 

While things can get over crazy if you allow your family's schedule to become too full, we are mindful of that and work very hard to keep things in check. One way we do that is only one sport/activity per child per season. So far we have enjoyed each new thing that has come our way, basketball included!

Grandma, Cameron, Ethan, and Lola watching Colin

We did basketball through Upward, which is a Christian organization. The teams and refs prayed before each game, and the children were encouraged to learn verses each week. I liked that aspect very much!

Getting ready to go

And they're off!

As you can see, Colin is small (I have no idea where he gets that) but he is quick. 

He had several steals and breakaways this year.

Even, if you can believe, a few blocks!

He also was a very good ball handler, and brought the ball up the court most of time.

Playing some defense....

....and some offense.

Coach giving some advice during a time out

Something was going on that he apparently didn't care for! lol

Love this shot of Colin shooting and Colden playing defense.

Daddy giving some instruction

Shooting

The game ended in Colden's favor--we lost!

But the boys were still as good of friends after it was over, and that was all that mattered.

Congratulations on a great first basketball season, Colin!

Valentines specialties

True to my sweet son's nature, Colin wanted to make his Valentines again this year.

So, I turned to Pinterest--a new love of mine!

We found this adorable idea that seemed very feasible for an eight year old. Colin loved it right away, and went to work just as soon as I could hit the print button.

We printed out the template pages, trimmed them up nicely, folded them.....

....and Colin began creating his portraits.

{Gavin}

Each one matched their real life counterpart very well.
{Olivia}

{Tyler}

I was so proud of Colin....he worked so hard on each one of these!

{Destiny}

He used true to life colors for hair, and even did some of the girls in curls because he told

 me that "that is how they do their hair when they want to be fancy."

{Grace, Ellie}

He even did one for his dear old Mommy.

{Notice the blond highlights and my favorite dangly earrings!}

He worked so hard and created 19 of these--one for each member of his class and one for his teacher and her aide.  I sure love that little guy and everything about him. He is such a special boy with a great heart, and he teaches me new lessons each and every day.

Celebrating Colin's eighth birthday

Colin's birthday is always such a busy, exciting day.

My entire pregnancy with Colin, I prayed and asked God for one thing: "Please, please, please....don't let this baby come on Halloween. Any other day but that one."

God knew best. :)  I went into labor the day before, but Colin took a whopping 25 hours to get here--so a Halloween birthday it was!

Before he left for school, he paused a minute to show me how old he is!

Every time I take a picture of Col these days, I marvel at how big he is getting. 

Something about those giant grown up teeth make him look so big!

After we got Col and Cam off to school, Ethan helped me bake and decorate some cupcakes. Between Cameron's birthday, the Fall party at school, and Colin's birthday, he's becoming quite proficient at it!

It being Halloween and all, we figured it'd be okay to wear costumes for our errands.

Lola was so excited when we got in the car and I told her we were going to see Colin!

We stopped by Daddy's job and had lunch with him....

....and one of Daddy's co workers thought E's costume was so good that he deserved some early candy!

Then, it was off to school. As soon as Colin saw us, he was all about showing Lola and E off to his class!

She stood in the front of the room with him while the class sang, "Happy Birthday"....

....and Ethan sat next to him and shared a few giggles during cupcake time.

Scratch that. LOTS of giggles.

These two could barely eat their cupcakes, they were laughing so hard!

Lola made her self right at home in Colin's chair.

When it was time to leave, I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple 

shots of Lo out in front of the school.

Running from Mommy...she did not want to get back in the car! *giggle*

Miss Sassy--love her expression here, and how her hair almost glows in the sun!

*cutest leopard ever*

When the boys got home, it was time to get changed and head out for Trick-or-Treating! 

Lola ended up with two costumes this year--so we did one during the day and one at night!

We were so fortunate to have our very good friends come with us this year for the candy grab. We had quite the crew--a Ninja (please don't miss the blood dripping down his sword--Shane was proud of that one), Wolverine, a little lady bug, Buzz Lightyear, Cinderella, and Iron Man!

Lola could not wait to go! I love the blurry picture....you can really see how fast she was moving!

She was always a few steps behind...but didn't seem to mind.

Every single one in the party fell at one time or another. 

It's rough trying to move around in those costumes.

Love this one of me and my little love bug.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. We still have the big birthday "bash" (tomorrow night) so there is more celebrating to come! A great Halloween, great friends, a great birthday....can't ask for more!