Funny Notes from Collin...

I love my I-phone for many reasons, but jotting down notes quicker is a big favorite.

Here are some funny things, Collin has said lately:

When talking about Christmas and Jesus being born, he was WAY excited about the revelation that Jesus lived, "On OUR EARTH?!"

When I confirmed in the positive, his voice escalated even further with incredulity, "Jesus lived ON OUR STREET??!!!!"

Sorry son, no. But that would have been really cool.

Collin does NOT like saying prayers, so when he finally says one and makes it any different from the {typical}, we are pretty impressed.

On one Friday night, we were saying the prayer on the pizza right before Trav and I were leaving on a date. Knowing this, Collin prayed, "Bless Mommy and Daddy that they have fun on their vacation."

Did he know how right he was?

Driving in the car as a family, I was talking to Trav when I said, "stupid".

Right away, Collin piped up, scolding, "Mom, we never say STUPID or WIENER."

??????

Long pause.

Umm, "Collin, who taught you that?"

Collin: Thinking... "Umm, I don't know. I don't know who taught me wiener."

Side glance to Travis. I asked, "Do you know what a wiener is?"

Collin: "Umm, noooo. I don't know what a wiener is." Still pondering and in a wistful voice, "I've never SEEN any wieners."

Trav and I are muffling our cackles. It was too much. I will always laugh when I think about that conversation.

He often hears us use exclamations like "dang it". But clearly, he doesn't know what we are saying, just the context in which we use it. So now I smile when I hear him somewhere in the house, frustrated and yelling out, "DANE IT!"

Trying to remember what my ear muffs were called, he asked me where my ear hugs were.

One day, getting out of the car, he was really mad at me. Thinking of something really mean he could say, he fixed me with a glare and said with as much venom as he could muster, "I just wish you went to work."

Haha! I told him to be careful what he wished for. :)

When I substituted in nursery, I was wearing very high heels. I finally kicked them off for the last half hour and of course Collin noticed. So he asked me why I wasn't wearing my shoes. I told him they hurt my feet. Contemplating that for a few seconds, he suggested, "Were they on the wrong feet?"

We listen to some kids songs in the car and one is Hot Cross Buns. It goes, "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns. One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns. If you have no daughters, if you have no daughters, if you have no daughters, give them to your sons." And on and on.

We listen it to it often. 

Finally, one day, Collin sighed and said, "Mom, this is a sad song."

That puzzled me, so I asked him why. 

He looked out the window and simply said, "Cuz she has no daughters."

I thought about it and said, "Well, I don't have any daughters. Is that sad?"

He scrunched up his eyebrows and looked at me like I was stupid and said, "Yeah."

One day he told me he wanted to be a grown up. I told him if he was a grown up, then he'd need to get a job and move out and get his own house. Indignant, he said, "But you're a grown up, and you still live here!!!"

Thankful!

Here is the "thankful turkey" that Collin made in nursery the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I was actually substituting in nursery that day, and as far I saw, he was the only one who said he was thankful for the gospel or church! Sweet boy!

(I, personally, am thankful for wonderful nursery leaders!!! Oh my gosh...if I had that calling *and I realize this could be jinxing myself*, I would lose my head. I would rather prepare and teach a Gospel Doctrine lesson every Sunday! Seriously. That is not my cup of tea.)

He did this one at preschool. I am thankful for macaroni and cheese too! 

Sweet that he thought of Gavin and Lilly.

As usual, it is a busy week getting ready to leave town. 

My OCD side needs every piece of laundry done, all errands, cleaning and shopping done. We literally left with vacuum lines still in the carpet. Such a good feeling.

But even with so much to do, I had to sneak in our Buffalo tradition of eating donuts, drinking egg nog and watching Thanksgiving day episodes of FRIENDS, the night before. But for us, it had to be the Tuesday before. This pic is for you, Rach! :) We were thinking of you guys!

Trav got off late from work so we weren't leaving town until it was already dark outside at 6:30pm!

Nice part about that is, Collin was asleep a little after 7pm and shortly thereafter so was Weston. It was a peaceful drive listening to music! We stayed with the Evans, and just snuck right in the side door and got to bed. 

Trav had an early morning the next day playing golf with his cousins and brothers. No pictures... cuz they're guys.

I headed to Red Mountain park to walk the Turkey Trot with my sisters in law. Go Karen, for getting us all organized and out there! Props to Carrie for making it on her own with 5 kids, including her 3 week old!

Collin threw a tantrum near the end and when I finally got it out of him, why he was so mad, he grumpily demanded, "Where's my turkey!!" The kid thought everyone who ran the Turkey Trot got their own turkey. :/

The cousins played for a while, before we headed out to make it in time for the next event!

 Oh, but it was quite the debacle just trying to get out of there! I had parked on a side street that was closed by the time I got back to my car. So I wound all through a neighborhood, before finding an open street. Then I was personally escorted by a motorcycle police out to another side road, that was a winding mess to finally get to Power!

 On to the Lindsey Family Reunion! 

This is something I grew up doing every other year at Thanksgiving. It's all of my Grandmother's family, and in years past there have been relatives from Utah and Texas that made the trek!

It's always at classy, Pioneer Park. Which I hear was actually somethin' in "her day". Now it's the place for a good drug deal. :) (Comforting thought when we lost Collin for a while.)

Poor Grandmother was in the hospital this year! :( Her heart was giving her trouble. Thankfully, she was out a day or two later.

 One cool thing about it, you can see the Mesa temple. (Look way off in the distance!)

 I set Weston down in this, and off it zoomed, far away and FAST! Well, fast for a one year old. I kept picturing what would happen if he decided to stand up! Yikes.

 Josie came to party! She is the same as family.

 And I am not joking when I say I look forward to seeing this guy every time! 

That is one beautiful mullet.

Not sure how we're related, but the point is... we're related. :)

We met up with the Evans' that night for some leftovers and visiting. At one point, someone noticed what everyone on one side of the room was doing. :) Did you figure it out?!

Bless smart phones. The justification seemed to be that some were playing games with each other on them.

 They guys on this side were just oogling guns in the Black Friday ads.

 It's a fun time when all the cousins are together! All 14 together for the first time.

 On Saturday we met up with some Lindblom family at the park for Rusty boy's birthday. Wish I had taken a picture! 

Saturday night we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with two of Travis's high school buddies and their wives. Jeff and Ashley live in Utah so it had been years since we'd seen them! 

I was a creeper wife and snapped this pic without them knowing. (They would have rolled their eyes if I asked them to pose.) Hopefully, that makes it OK! :)

 Sunday night, all the Evans got together again for the traditional leftover turkey flautas! Yum-my!
 I think the boys are looking a little worn out. But little Joshua made the pic! 3 weeks old!

We headed home on Monday afternoon, but not before Grandma Sharon busted out some birthday presents for the boys! Better late than never, haha!

What great gifts... scooters!! They've been wanting these for a while now. Grandma always knows just what to buy!

 He did this when I was trying to get him to smile by saying, "Show me your teeth!" I guess he did what I asked.

 OK, did he suddenly turn {14} or something?! Don't let his teenager-esque persona fool you. His favorite stuffed bunny and bear, that he takes everywhere, are right behind him. :)

I love Weston...

.. I really do.

But this drove me over the edge. 

I wore cheap, super glued glasses the last year of dental school because we were too poor to buy new ones. 

I have had at least 4 pairs of glasses snapped by my children.

It gets old.

I was truly so excited to graduate and have a real income! Because top of my list, was a new pair of glasses.

I was giddy going to the vision center at Sam's club. I spent an hour trying on cute frames.

Then the worker guy came over and asked me how hard I am on my frames. 

I paused. "Well, I'm not, but my kids are."

To which he showed me four frames from the "bendy" line. They really are like gumby frames. You can bend them, twist them, what have you.

Now the dilemma. I spent another half an hour going from my {cute} frames, to the {practical} ones. Back and forth. Pros and cons. 

I really only wear them right before bed. 

But if I got the cute ones, I could start wearing them during the day!

But, they'll most likely get broken, so I should just get the realistic ones.

 I could buy both, but I should really just spend money on one pair.

They will last a long time.

SIGH.

With a heavy heart, I felt like I made the responsible decision.

And was fairly pleased as weeks went by and I still had a pair of {non-super glued} frames to wear. 

Then last Wednesday.

For some reason, already grumpy at 8:00am. 

I forgot to grab my glasses off my nightstand and slouched into the bathroom to put my contacts in.

And walked back into my bedroom to see half of my glasses in one of Weston's hands, and the other half in the other hand.

*Meltdown*

My poor husband doesn't know what to do with me sometimes. Bless his heart.

It shouldn't have been that big a deal. I do realize that.

Seriously, call it hormones, call it stress from a really stressful week. I don't know. Travis left for work with me still sobbing in my closet. 

Sometimes, having kids is really stressful for me. 

I feel like I don't ask for much. 

Just a pair of unbroken glasses, please. 

PLEASE.

Maybe in 10 years.

R.I.P Bendy.

Weekday activities

If you're hanging around us during the week, you might catch us doing the following...

Making waffles for breakfast.

I know... ME, making hot breakfast? I never thought this would happen. 

And it's only once or twice a week usually... as of late. 

I even let them "help". Big sigh.

I swear, stirring, is on the same level as Disneyland.

The things I do for these kids amazes even me.

Yup, a lot of THIS.

 But the chair is only shared peacefully for very few minutes.

When I'm feeling generous, we may even visit the bounce house place. 

(We will probably always call it Bounce Magic, thanks to Buffalo.)

Weston was terrified of the bounce houses for the first hour, but they both loved the miniature golf!

 He also spent countless amounts of time putting the ball on the "tee" and trying to swing at it.

When they're really bored, they get into the "no no" drawers and run amok.

 Cute, Weston.

Not a typical, but.....

Two weeks ago, our ward combined with the other two wards in our building to do a free clothing drive. So I ended up with bags and bags of donated clothing at my house to sort through. Collin, unfortunately took no time at all to snag the over-sized Superman shirt, so Weston quickly found something to toss on too. 

(That turned out to be a successful activity, but holy cow!! We had an entire cultural hall packed to the gills with clothing!)

Out running errands one morning, and I looked over at a stop light to see this truck! Haha!

(My dad's old company.) I guess not all of the trucks got repainted after the sell. It kind of tripped me out.

Eating ice cream!

OK, so this really deserves it's own post, but very crucial to my weeknight (OK, and weekend activities too), is my bowl of ice cream while watching one of our shows. 

We always miss them on TV, so we watch them on the laptop later at night.

I always get the Midnight Truffle blizzard, but my brother in law, Casey got me to try a new one, French Silk Pie. Mmmmmm M! 

My new fav. 

I think about it on a daily basis now. Seriously, like sex probably pops into guys minds.... French Silk Pie pops into mine.

 And that was a medium, folks.

(I love that, The Middle, can be seen in the background. Hilarious. We don't watch too many shows, but that, The Office, The Mentalist, and The Big Bang Theory are musts.)

Nothin' better than comedy and chocolate.

Saturday Activities

With no preschool or swimming lessons to get us out of the house, Saturdays get a little long... and boring. Especially, when Dad's working! (Which feels like most Saturdays.) And even though Farmington is only home to about 50,000, it's a shopping hub for about 250,000 on the weekends. (Thank you reservations.) Which means you only brave Wal-Mart or the mall if want to get smushed. 

Hence.... a Pinterest idea to the rescue! 

(Not that pasta art wasn't around before Pinterest. I'm not totally stupid.)

I really never do stuff like this. 

And you'll see why in a minute.

We divided up the rotini, added some vinegar and food coloring and got our SHaKe on!

 Then I got a call that I had to take. Had to.

With Collin screaming questions in my ear and demanding more glue, I escaped to my room and locked the door. 

For seriously 3 minutes.

Why didn't I take the glue??!!

When I returned, Collin was happily sploshing Mod Podge everywhere, with the entire contents of the jar poured onto his plate. Argggg!!

See, as I type this, I'm thinking, what's the big deal? But in that moment, I had already used up ALL of what little patience I had, putting on an art project for my little ones. (When I truly hate art projects and all the mess that ensues. I know, I'm a great Mom.) 

Relax, right?

I really do try.

Can you see the plate full of glue, next to the jar?

And how about Weston, happily munching on a piece of raw, colored pasta? 

I did take a moment of frivolity, to revisit my childhood, and sneak a piece of macaroni in my mouth, then playfully tell Collin, "Hey, look, *twist nose, while crunching down* I broke my nose!!!" hahahah. He was pretty intrigued. He can thank Grandma Sharon for that one. 

 I discovered that next time (if there is a next time), skip the whole gluing mess and just go straight for stringing pasta necklaces. WAY easier!

I believe it was 2 Saturday's ago, that Trav was actually home and did me a BIG favor. He let ME out of the house, ALONE, for a few hours!!

I partied at Zumba first, then headed to the post office to send my first international package!

The first one David's gotten in 1 1/2 years on the mish. And probably the only one he'll get. I was there at least 20 min. filling out the customs form and very grateful to be kid free! Hope he gets it unopened and not looted. I didn't have any Virgin Mary stickers to put all over it. :( 

Just a lot of pictures, candy bars, Cheetos, cookies, $1 store toys, Christmas decorations and vitamins and Crest White strips, the last two, per his request. 

After running some more errands and getting home, I found out my boys had gone to the park and had some adventures "hiking"! Collin was SO excited about it. We basically live a midst a lot of bluffs and rocky landscape. Their "hiking" was going to the park and running up the hills. Perfect for a 3 and 1 year old.

So after Weston's nap, we were off to do it again.

We traversed all this terrain (say that 5x fast!), and by the time we got to the "top", I turned around and took a picture of our neighborhood. Not a bad place for boys to go adventurin'!

This might have been the same Saturday afternoon, that we went on a {hunt} for Hostess Twinkies. I had seen on Facebook that they were going out of business, and even though it's been 10 years since I've had one, I decided my child would be bereft to not have a Twinkie in his lifetime. So while Weston slept, I loaded up Collin and braved the crazy weekend stores for some artificially enhanced, yellow #5 treat. 

Fives stores later, no Twinkies. We were a little late on the {Hostess craze buyout}.

So, Monday morning, I felt a little bad that Collin never got to taste it's nasty goodness, and bough a box of the Little Debbie knock off brand. 

They quite enjoyed them.

 Then Tuesday morning I woke up to find out that Hostess was getting bailed out.

Awesome.

So much for our last hurrah Twinkie efforts.

Anyone want a box of yellow Cloud Puffs?

Since we're talkin' weekend activities, I'll throw one on we've been doing a few different Sunday nights. It's mighty lonely Sunday evenings on the Farm. (Should I just start calling it that, since Buffalo was "The Buff"?)

So we usually make some sort of sugary concoction to ease our woes. (I'm too lazy to always be inviting people over. I know, I know, I should really get on that.) So instead, we stuff our faces, then go on a walk to anonymously leave a plate of goodies for a family in our ward. I try to get Collin excited about doing something nice for someone, and not get credit for it. He's a little slow on the uptake. Usually, I'm being told, "MOM! I don't WANNA just run away! I wanna TALK TO THEM!" (Our social child.) 

Only once, did he talk a plunge off someone's doorstep, fall on his face and falter. I swear I almost left him. 

Alas, this has mostly been a good experience. But with the weather falling, we're looking a lot more like this lately! Come back sun!

Sweet Weston

I am still plugging along at re-uploading all the blog pictures that were lost over a year ago. And while I was doing that, I ran across a post I did of Collin when he was 18 months old. Oh yeah.... I used to do "updates" on my kids at significant age milestones. Whoops.

Well, Weston had his 18 month check up, a little late... more around 20 months. He barely weighed in over 20lbs. Like 21 or 22lbs. Such a little guy! Most of his clothes are still 12 months, but some shirts are 18 months. I just bought 3 pairs of 12 month jeans for him at JCPenny and they still slip down and have to be rolled up. :/

He is such a sweet, sweet boy. Really, I just want to snuggle him all the time. I love "eating" his neck and making him giggle. He is so mild mannered and happy.

He still loves his bottle. He makes the "milk" sign after his bath and can't wait to get his hands on that bottle. Same thing when he wakes up in the morning. 

He's gotten to be a bit pickier of an eater. He like gogurts, string cheese, crackers, chicken nuggets, all fruits that I can think of. He's just not always a big fan of dinner... whatever that may be. 

When he's really hungry, and can't use a spoon fast enough, he'll dump his bowl out and just shovel it in with his fingers. Sounds like me with chop sticks.

He's just starting to say some words better. He used to open and close his mouth and make an "omm" sound when he wanted a bite of your food. Now he just says, "biiiite!" He says bike really clearly. If you ask him to copy a word, he'll make a go at it, but it's not always really clear. 

He's not a big TV watcher, but will sit for a while if Dora or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on.

He LOVES his bunny, bear and blankie that he sleeps with. He wants to take them everywhere! That bunny is getting so dirty, but it's so hard to find a time to snatch it and throw it in the washer. For bed, he lays on his back and holds the bunny under one arm, the bear under the other, then likes the blankie over his stomach.

 Bad picture, but this is how I found him once in the middle of the night. Just loves that thing!

Looking back on pictures of Collin at this age, I realized how much more {smiley} Collin was. Every picture, he was cheesin' it big time. Weston is much more conservative with his smiles when the camera comes out, but they melt my heart when he gives them. Collin actually took this picture with my phone once when they were by themselves. So blurry, but it really captures an uninhibited {Weston} smile. So sweet. 

They don't spend as much time outside anymore with the temperatures getting colder, but he's gotten really fast on this little trike we have. His feet push him along on the ground so fast it reminds me of that kid on the Incredibles. 

He is totally over holding my hand when we cross a parking lot or street. He doesn't want to be held either. Mr. Do it Myself! 

He likes books and is especially fond of a nursery rhyme one we have. 

His dance moves are KILLER. He holds his arms like he's pretending to be a chicken and moves his elbows up and down, twisting his little body. Then he crouches down real low... wait for it, wait for it... then springs up in a hop, to complete the dance number. Biggest grin while he's doing it. He is the first one to start grooving when a song, jingle or any type of music can be heard. Seriously, my favorite thing in the world.

His finger is up his nose 40% of the time. (I did the math.) I chastise him for it, but I can only blame myself. It's almost his "awkward moment" habit. If he's in an uncomfortable situation, his finger slowly rises to his nose.

We are in the middle of the "fascination with the toilet" stage. At my mom's house, he threw an unopened can of soda in the toilet while Collin was peeing. Collin was kind enough to let me fish it out before he pooped.

He is so sensitive. If we ever get mad at him, he dissolves into tears.  I've just barely started putting him into time out too. OK, I've done it maybe 4 times. But I know he knows better! 

He is a bit of a Momma's boy. If Trav is giving them their baths, the second he is out and dried off, I can hear him whining, "Momma! Momma!" and once he's free, he's bolting naked across the house to tackle me. Like spending 20 min. away from me in the bath was just too long! :)

I really cannot get enough of him. What a blessing and joy he is in our family! 

It takes two

I knew it would come. The day when Collin had an accomplice in crime.

Weston is now to the age where he understands just about everything. 

And with that, it is even more apparent how much he loves and adores his older brother. He'll do anything he tells him to. *despondent sigh*

Now, Collin is learning that he's in trouble even if he's not the "doer of the deed". Coaching Weston to do something wrong, will in fact, still land him in time out. 

It really is sweet to watch Weston dote on his brother. He follows in his footsteps. Weston, by nature, is much more shy than Collin, and won't approach strangers. However, last week at the post office, I stood in line and watched as Collin led the way, walking toward a bench against the back wall. He stopped to touch a display case. Weston, 3 steps behind, stopped to touch it too. Now Collin has moved on and while passing a stranger sitting down, pauses to look at him, smile and wave. Weston, now clearly hesitant to do something outside his comfort zone, watches Collin, then moves forward to face the stranger. He tentatively looks at him, with his head still ducked slightly down, then gives a shy smile and little wave, hurrying to catch up with his brother. 

I had to chuckle. It was step for step, exactly what Collin had done. 

I am so grateful they have become little buddies. I'm glad they have each other to grow up with. 

One morning, a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at the park, on the way home from grocery shopping. 

The slides had an added bonus! Frozen dew, lining the bottom. Nothing like ice, to give you some extra speed!

I really am craving a girl to accessorize. But what's funny about Weston, is he likes to do it himself!

He is forever getting into my bathroom drawers and trying on headbands or slipping hair ties on his wrists like bracelets. 

And heaven forbid, I forget a spritz of hair spray after gelling up his mohawk. He indignantly squeaks out, "pray! pray!", pointing to his hair, until a I "spray" a little.

 Just like Weston copies Collin, Collin is quick to copy Weston if he sees him getting any attention or pictures taken! 

Awww, aren't they pretty? :)