See Colin Grow

October 2, 2010 - Apple Holler with the Reas!

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Colin started his Apple Holler adventure with a donut the size of his head!

Brendan, Katie and Colin in the corn husk maze

Colin and Mama in the apple orchard

Brendan and Colin, buddies since they were born!

Who doesn't love bowling with pumpkins?!?

September 18, 2010 - Audubon hike

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Colin and I enjoyed a hike at the Audubon today!

September 18, 2010 - making snow

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What's more fun to do on a rainy outside day? Make snow inside of course!

And then have your animals stomp around in it!

Thanks Aunt Lissa for the fun present!

September 16, 2010 - cool new glasses

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Too novel NOT to buy... glasses that are really a straw that you can drink out of!

September 11, 2010 - Richards School festival

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Colin had a blast at his school festival, he got an awesome sail boat face painting and his picture taken!

September 6, 2010 - swim and spash time in Melissa's pool

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Hanging out with the Fulfords for a swim party at Melissa's pool!

September 3-6, 2010 - Labor Day weekend family style college reunion

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The best college roommate reunion yet! So big that it took a 20+ person lake house in Lake Geneva to hold all of us! Colin had all of his best buddies there that we have visited all over IL and we had a blast!

The path from the house down to the dock, beautiful!

The kids loved 'Leigh Anne's craft corner' -- oh so much that Ken made a song for them to sing about it :)

Enjoying sand castle building with 'Aunt Alex'!

Kids making slime and goo!

Lane, Violet, Pierce and Colin

The roommate family making dinner together!

Not that I approved... (but at least it wasn't our couch at home and there weren't any broken bones after these launches!)

Colin and Lane eating breakfast together

The kids watching a morning movie on Greg's laptop!

Colin fishing off of the dock's edge

Greg takes Colin out for a kayak ride, he loves the water!

Beautiful view of the lake

Roommate reunion ladies! (just missing our Lizard!)

Evening peaceful lake shore and perfect weekend reunion

September 1, 2010 - Colin's first day of school

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Colin starts 4K this Fall! The school posts the class listing on the main entry doors a few days before the school year begins. Colin has Mrs. Schaefer and is very excited!

Colin does his first homework assignment before he even starts school! He has an 'All About Me' worksheet that he fills out to let his teachers and class know all of the fun things he likes!

With a little help from our friend Eric, Colin has the coolest backpack of all at Richards Elementary! It's his own 'C-bot' backpack (a robot with a C denoted on it).

Colin's ready for his first day of Elementary School!

A special treat since for the first day, we only attend for 1 hour, Colin and Mama go out for a super awesome first day of school breakfast... and Colin gets mickey mouse pancakes to go along with the attire he has selected for his first day of school, his Disney t-shirt!

Colin coloring a school bus picture in his new 4K (half day kindergarten) classroom!

He was a natural for school, not nervous a bit and I'm sure I had to chase him down for a hug goodbye!

August 22, 2010 - Epcot Center, last day at Disney!

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Last day at Disney.... I think the first time visitor had an awesome time!

Colin and Mama, "sleeping" for the picture!

The cool Epcot Center, and a day filled with fun ocean life and space adventure!

Outside of Epcot!

Our picture greeting from Spaceship Earth, the ride inside Epcot

Awesome aquarium, here's Colin and his friend the shark

Colin observing the aquarium, check out the sting ray and tortoise!

AughhhhH! We're being eaten by a shark!

Outside at Epcot

Mama's favorite part of Epcot, the ride through the hydroponic garden! Oh, if I only had billions of dollars to fund my own!

Colin's tasty Disney remembering treat!

Someone slept the entire airplane ride home...

August 20-21, 2010 - Animal Kingdom and back to the Magic!!

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First stop of the day was the Animal Kingdom safari ride! Awesome live animals on our safari adventure!

Colin watches the hippo

Our victory pose after the boat adventure ride (only a little soaked!)

Playing in the mist to cool off in the HOT, HOT FL weather!

Climbing on a new friend!

Train ride with Papa

Bug eyes! Ready to see a fun buggy 4-D film!

Colin in Minnie Mouse's house!

Riding Aladdin's magic carpet!

Colin rode and conquered it, Thunder Mountain!!!

The one part of the Disney vacation that broke my heart....

And the reason for the Disney trip... our silhouette portraits!!

Does it look like us?

A late afternoon storm's a brewing behind the Magic Kingdom

A little relax time after a long and fabulous Disney day!

August 19, 2010 - Disney's Hollywood Studios

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We spent out second day at Disney at the Hollywood Studios and then hanging out at our resort!

Arrival at Hollywood Studios (a small Mama and Colin below Mickey's hat!) / Colin with his super cool water fan that Papa bought him!

Colin and Papa watching some stunt displays / Colin enjoying a sugary treat!

Colin during his 'Honey I shrunk the kids' adventure!

Poolside at our resort / Colin strolling to the pool!

Enjoying the water during the *warm* August FL weather! Colin learned how to swim under water during our visit at Disney!

A little arcade playing / downtime out of the heat!

August 18, 2010 - arrival at Disney World!

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Before "real" school started in the Fall, we decided we needed to take our first trip to Disney World (Colin, Papa and I)!!!

Arrival to FL, excited for our adventures to begin!

We stayed on the Disney property, at the All Star Music resort, here's Colin waiting for the shuttle for our first adventure in the Magic Kingdom!

Best place on earth!

Magic Kingdom / Jack's beanstalk!

Colin and Papa inside the Toy Story ride!

Fantasyland.... riding in a teacup!

Disney's Electrical Parade!

Fireworks above the Castle, after the Electrical Night Parade!

Mama and Colin, after a long (hot) and wonderful first day at Disney!

Leaving Magic Kingdom

August 8, 2010 - tie dye t-shirt party!

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We wanted to have a get together with Colin's friends, especially those that he wouldn't see at Guardian Angel (day care) anymore once the kids started kindergarden in the Fall. So, we did it up, having a tie dye t-shirt party for Colin's 20 most closest friends (yes, we are crazy :)

It was a blast, and had so much fun with Colin's friends and their parents!

Krish, Colin and Brendan having a snack / Kids making their tie dye t-shirts

Slime and silly putty making! / Kids playing in the sandbox

Colin and Mama making the rest of the shirts after the guests had left / Griffin and Cayenne in the shirts they made!

Colin and his tie dye makings (some extra shirts for his friends that couldn't make it and our Kivrin/future baby cousin!)

July 31, 2010 - tasty patio dinner

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July 27, 2010 - watching our garden grow

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Colin has been an amazing helper in planting and taking care of our new garden bed, here's the mid summer progress! We have learned plenty already for next year's planting!

July 25, 2010 - WFB Classic Bike Race

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We met some friends for the Whitefish Bay Classic Bike Race on Sunday afternoon, a fabulous event full of speed bicycle racing around sharp corners many times with spectators to cheer the racers on!

Colin rode his bike and I walked with him to meet our friends to watch the Classic super fast bike races!

The racers zoom by us on the curb!

Snacks and exciting racing, much fun to be had right in our neighborhood!

Colin waves at and cheers the bike racers on!!!!

The bike ride back home, where the racers zoom by Colin on his bike a few times!

July 21, 2010 - last day of BRL, the best place on earth

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We didn't want to leave on our last day at the Black River Lodge... and we have vowed to find a way to make it the full week next year (and crossing every finger and toe for our own cabin!)

So.... Colin spent the last morning learning some fisherman skills from Kris (diver guy) and we enjoyed the last few hours in an amazing environment, with such wonderful friends and pseudo-family :)

Thanks Sellers clan for inviting us into your family to share in the Black River fun and we can't wait for next year! (I think Colin will be ready to be a river diver!)

July 19. 2010 - Black River Lodge, fabulous second day

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Start to the second day at Black River, Colin and head down to the river before everyone else awakes for some early morning tadpole searching.

Next we wait to hear the breakfast bell ringing from the riverbank to tell us to head up to the dining hall.

Amy and Colin

Colin and his buddy Big Jim (Amy's Dad)

After breakfast, the kids head down for 'Playground' which is arts and crafts at the pavilion picnic table. The kids make all sorts of fun things, which get held up and shown in the dining hall at lunch for all to see the creations!

Colin makes a necklace 'Colin (with a heart in between) Mama' for us to share, super cute!

After dinner, the kids can go on a "train ride" that is tractor pulled through a field on the property!

Mini golf after the train ride! Colin somehow WINS the game!

Colin and Kris enjoy some cool ice cream treats after their mini golf game, that MO sun in late July was sure hot!

After dinner Colin and Mama time down in the river again, splashing around and getting comfortable in the water!

Colin loving his time at BRL!

July 18, 2010 - arrival at Black River Lodge

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The now annual trek down to near Lesterville, MO to the one and only Black River Lodge... a throw back to simplicity, nature and making memories with cherished family and friends.

We are fortunate to join my dear friend Amy's family for this adventure and this summer was Colin's second experience at the Lodge. It was amazing to explore everything through his eyes, the river, the cabin, activities and dining hall.

We upgraded this year to a shared cabin with Amy and her boyfriend Kris (officially titled 'The Diver' by Colin) and we had officially moved in within an hour of arrival... including large inflatable lizard.

Cabins are named different birds...

Colin tried out all of the floating devises before we actually took them down to the river

The throwback kids playground is always a tremendous hit

Afternoon slide in the hot MO July sun

The end of day one at Black River Lodge... and Colin insisted on "camping" on the floor for the first night, tuckered out from a long first day of BRL memories.

July 14, 2010 - professional t-ball

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With the t-ball season winding down, the team has really improved (not all jumping into a pile together to try to catch the ball, running the right way around the bases, etc :)

Colin practicing his swing!

Waving from the lineup

July 11, 2010 - family dinner with friends

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We had friends over for a family dinner and Colin had a blast with his friends Cole and Siena!

Silly bands!!!!!

July 4, 2010 - Whitefish Bay 4th of July Parade

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We thoroughly enjoyed our first year staying in the Bay for the 4th of July weekend! We walked down to our friend Mary Beth's house who has perfect view to the village parade start from her front yard. Many good friends, a parade and sunny hot 4th of July day!

MB and Colin watching the parade / the coolest parade floats... Jr.High indie rock bands

Colin cooling everyone down with his water gun / anticipating the parade!

July 3, 2010 - holiday at the lake

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Day well spent at the lake! Colin and Mama headed to our friends Jay and Blake's lake house for some fun in the sun and water!

The walk down Locust Lane to the lake / Colin playing baseball with Marissa and Wiley

Emerson and Bailor being sea monsters / Jay pulling Colin around the lake

Colin observing Bailor's fishing skills

July 2, 2010 - Super Colin!

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SUPER COLIN TO THE RESCUE!

July 2, 2010 - planting the garden

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Papa made us an awesome raised garden bed and we tested it out this late summer, for our gardening skill level as well as testing what the neighborhood bunnies like to munch on!

July 29, 2010 - baseball with Papa

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Practicing baseball in the backyard with Papa learning some schematics of the game, working on Colin's pitching arm. Then Papa was able to see one of Colin's t-ball games to watch him in action!

June 26, 2010 - Daddy and Melinda's wedding in Sioux City

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Colin had the important title of ring bearer in Daddy and Melinda's wedding this weekend held in Sioux City, IA where Melinda's family is located. It was a beautiful weekend and wedding, and wonderful for us to get to know Melinda's family better and see a lot of Craig's family and friends!

Colin had a lot of duties and hammed up his new audience of friends to the fullest (rehearsal dinner deemed himself the new title Super Cheetah due to his super cool orange polka dot tie :)

Rehearsal dinner munching on bread / in his new Buzz Lightyear sleeping bag from Mette!

Getting all suited up for the big day / practicing walking down the aisle

Picture with his cousins: Ryan, Matt and Lizzy / Mama and Colin before his big ring bearer debut!

Colin walking down the aisle during the ceremony (Cally the flower girl following)

Mama and Colin at the wedding

Colin ready to throw his rose petals! / The happy couple leaves the church!

All in all a fabulous weekend, Colin's favorite adventures besides his ring bearer duties were going fishing with Big Jim (Melinda's dad) and his TWO trips that he got to take to McD's over the long weekend. Now he's asking for more weddings to get more happy meals, go figure!

June 22, 2010 - silly fun after hockey practice

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Colin, Brendan and Katie have a few minutes of outside fun after hockey/ice skating lessons tonight!

June 16, 2010 - Colin's first t-ball game

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Colin played t-ball this summer on his first team and had a blast!

Swimming in the batter's helmet!

Mama and her ball player! / Most important part of the game-- the treats after!!

Team photo: The Tigers

June 15, 2010 - open skate

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Open skate at Pettit, Lauren and I took the kids and had quite a blast!

June 12, 2010 - road trip to IA for Auntie Stacey's bridal shower

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Fun in the sun day after Stacey's bridal shower in Des Moines! Colin got to play with Sam (Stacey's nephew) all weekend and the boys had a great time.

Exhausted back at the hotel after a long day

June 10th, 2010 - Colin's new skills

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Colin discovered how to twist his tongue, in all it's odd deformity

June 1, 2010 - after hockey practice

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Complete silliness by these kids after hockey skating practice!

May 26 - 30, 2010 - Long weekend with the Kansas clan

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Lissa, Dan, Kivrin and baby to be came to visit MKE and we did all sorts of fun things!

Downtown trip to the kite festival where Dan and Colin picked out a cool dinosaur kite to fly together.

Bedtime story reading with the kiddies!

Colin wanted his face painted like a dragon

Zoo day with Lauren and the kids

Colin trying to pick up Kivrin by request... with a guilty look that he knows that he should make the attempt. / Making fun monster sticker pictures thanks to fun crafts that Aunt Lissa brought!

Kivrin and Colin hanging out in rocking chairs at the Audobon Nature Center

May 15, 2010 - afternoon hike at the Audubon

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We became members of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center today and excited about our adventures to come! It is located just north of us along Lake Michigan and offers many fun activities, hikes through nature and along the beach and lots of critters to see in the center and in the wild!

Colin and I did the hike down to the beach this afternoon, well worth it for the view and the great exercise!

Colin following the rustling noises of a chipmunk / leading the way on the hiking trail

Waiting for Mama to start the hike down to the lake / looking out into the water

Colin's favorite lake activity - shot putting rocks into the water!

A classic series of Colin/Mama self portraits :)

Enjoying the view out into the expansive 'ocean like' lake

May 15, 2010 - Colin the robot dinosaur

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So, we may have misplaced the remote to the robot dinosaur that Colin got for Christmas since... well, Christmas :)

But we found it! And we spent some qt with our friend the robot dinosaur this morning. He roared around the kitchen and Colin pretended to be a robot dinosaur with him (after petting him in the first picture!)

May 11, 2010 - writing and coloring

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Colin is constantly writing words and drawing pictures these days which is amazing to watch! He's got his names down: Colin, Mama, Dada, Papa without any help and then he is writing all sorts of words on his own with just needing to ask how you spell them and he can write the words. His pictures are turning into stories and detail (my favorite being eyebrows on faces!) It's so exciting!

May 9, 2010 - fabulous Mother's Day fun!

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Colin and Mama had a wonderful Mother's Day together, he first gave me the pictures and card he made for me in the morning. Then we headed out for our fun day!

First stop- Comet Cafe for breakfast sitting at the counter! Mama had found some super cool monster hand tattoos at Urban Outfitters that I brought along for fun while we waited for our breakfast to arrive. So much entertainment and a tasty breakfast!

Next stop and focus for the day, the zoo!!

Colin made his first pressed penny, a tiger of course!

Colin's view to see the tall, huge elephants!

A special day calls for a pony ride of course :)

A full day of firsts... the penny and then the first plastic mold-a-rama, a orange cheetah

End to the afternoon on the carousel! And the best Mother's Day spent with my special guy!

May 6, 2010 - sushi night!

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We invited Colin's favorite Aunties over for a home cooked participation dinner :) Asian fusion night with sushi rolls, lettuce wraps and peanut udon pasta - much fun to make and to eat!

Colin making the sushi, we found some new wrappers to use that are not of the seaweed variety and Colin loves them! They are soy based flavored with different vegetables for the fun color.

And of course eating the tasty dinner! Colin getting ready to eat a roll (made specially by himself, with fillings of rice, chicken and carrot :)

Our dinner guests, a great night!

A whole roll in the cheek of Colin's mouth-- maybe next time we'll make his just a little smaller... he didn't want to take them in two bites so it made for some cautious chewing!

May 2, 2010 - good friends

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Colin, Katie and Brendan after hockey lessons tonight!

May 1, 2010 - and now relax

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after a long and fun day...

May 1, 2010 - gardening assistant

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Colin was a super fabulous gardening helper this weekend! We weren't around much in April when the ground finally unfroze... and we had a lot of outside work to do! Colin picked out the annuals, helped me plant them in the yard and planters and helped do the watering!

Colin had a lunch picnic while I did some weeding!

As a special afternoon treat, the Ice Cream Truck happened to be driving by, so Colin got to pick out his FIRST chilly sweet treat and now knows what the faint sound of music coming down the street means!

May 1, 2010 - hockey practice ice time with Mama

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We hit up early morning open ice practice time at Pettit today, Colin had to stop at the intriguing hockey penalty box and his favorite part to practice is the speed skating, and he's getting FAST!

April 25, 2010 - laying out clothes for the morning

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Colin picked out his clothes for the morning, laying them out perfectly like a flat Colin (with underwear under the jeans and all)!

April 19, 2010 - Colin the soccer player.

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Colin started his micro soccer class for Spring and loves it (I don't think there has been an activity or sport that he has tried and not loved so he's getting in a lot of variety to try everything out!

He's the blond in the orange shirt / in line for scrimmages!

April 18, 2010 - hockey class

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Colin is taking his first true hockey ice skating class, but still very focused on skating skills and he doesn't get a stick/puck on the ice until the third level!

And one of the most fun parts (for Colin and Mama :) - his friend Brendan is taking skate lessons at the same time so we get to catch up with our friends!

April 18, 2010 - Monkey Joe's

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Colin had a blast at his friend Krish's birthday party at Monkey Joe's! Tons of inflatable bouncy houses, slides and games!

The birthday guests and Krish at the head of the table / Krish, Thomas and Colin - best buds

Colin, Sam, Caleb and Ayanna (friends from day care) bouncing around / The gang climbing one of the big slides- they were so quick it was hard to get any good action pictures!

April 10, 2010 - to the tractor mecca

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MOLINE, IL... Homeland of John Deere tractors

Liz and I took the kids to the John Deere Commons to climb on and pretend to drive some very large tractors and diggers. It's a pretty cool place and everyone enjoyed!

All smiles driving his OWN tractor!

But being at the wheel of this rather LARGE front loader... now that's handling some heavy equipment!

And what about being INSIDE the bucket!?!

Amazed by all the machines!

Ella and Colin show how tall they are compared to the tractor tire!

April 10, 2010 - on the farm

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The beauty of the farmland....

Ellis, Colin and Josie

Ellis the outdoor climbing pro on the fallen trees

Colin watches on... not quite as comfortable with the tree climbing!

Josie finds a little nest in the trees to take a rest

Colin and Ellis trying to stir up the frogs in the pond

April 9, 2010 - next stop... Quad Cities!

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Next stop on the Spring Break road trip... Quad Cities! Colin and I hadn't been to visit the Andalusia farm in almost 2 years... so it was way overdue. Big thanks to Liz and Bri for opening their home to us to add to the madness! We got to meet the newest addition to the girl clan, Madison Grace and spend much time with the growing Ellis (3 1/2) and Josie (2)! Of course, you can't forget the dogs Molly and Rico and their kitty cat too.

The neatest part of visiting our dear friends is that they live on the land where Liz grew up, and now live in her grandparents home. The house is on a sprawl of acres, full of woods, rolling hills, trails and a pond. The farmland is across the road and now rented out, the entire place is beautiful, peaceful and feels like home.

Ellis, Colin and Josie - making MUD PIES! And these girls know how to play in the mud, much better than Colin for sure!

Ellis, Josie and Colin goofing around / Brian taking Ellis and Colin for a ride!

Colin being silly to amuse baby Madi / Liz making chocolate covered strawberries for a treat with the kids!

Sweet girl and Mama / Family cookout and bonfire on Saturday evening, the kids playing bags (note the team :), wonderful time spent with Liz's family around the fire and roasting marshmallows!

Let's just say that Colin and Ellis were two peas in a pod during our visit... this was a moment where I asked the two of them to smile for a picture and Colin pouted a 'NO' and turned his head away... Ellis following suite.. but then of course I got them to change their minds and got a silly picture of these cute silly kiddies!

April 9, 2010 - stroll by the river

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On our last day in Peoria, Dawn and I took the kids to walk around by the riverfront and to lunch before Colin and I headed onto our next road trip adventure destination!

Violet pointing to a duck in the river / Colin and Lane

Colin picking beautiful bouquets of dandelions...

Lane the tiger ready to pounce!

Thanks to everyone we visited in Peoria for their hospitality, unchanging friendship and love through all of the years and changes! It's amazing now to see our children become great friends (just wish we could ALL live closer together!)

April 8, 2010 - fun morning at the kids gym

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Jessica had a great idea to take the kids to the indoor gym for some run around playtime and they all had a blast! Lots of running, rolling around, riding bikes, driving cars, racing and hula hooping!

Colin and Violet rocking around / Violet's sweet and silly face!

Colin being pulled around by Mama / hula hooping!

Pierce driving with added passenger Violet / Ben tooling around town!

Lane and Pierce rocking around / tunnel fun

Lane's turn for the tunnel / a new Olympic event... shopping cart races?

April 7, 2010 - road trip to Peoria!

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Colin and I spent a few days of our Spring Break visiting some of our favorite friends in Peoria (a few of Mama's college roommates) and their growing families! We had so much fun staying with Dawn and Greg, with their three kids, Lillian, Lane and Violet (and new dog Jake :), down the street neighbors Jessica and Brett with their son Pierce and new 4 week old precious boy Reid, Michelle who recently moved back into town and our friend Libby drove down from Chicago with her son Ben so we had a full and festive house! We missed the remainder of our dear roomies greatly... and look forward to our full on Labor Day reunion!

Morning hugs for Jake (the snake as lovingly referred to by all the kids!) from Violet, Colin and Lilly

The biggest game hit, Crack the Ice! Jessica helps set it up for the kids / Lane and Colin playing

This looked like too much fun (TROUBLE :) on one top bunk! (Pierce, Violet, Colin and Ben) / Libby loving on new baby Reid

Backyard fun, Ben and Lane, Violet and Colin play on the swing set!

Walking down to Jessica's house was always fun, the kids playing with water guns and bikes in the front yard! / Lane looking quite suspicious as to if he is going to splash that puddle :)

Night time dance party after the kids got to have a movie night / Lilly reading the boys a bedtime story (she's the oldest and a great big sister/helper with all of the younger kids that look up to her!)

See all the pictures from our road trip to Peoria and Moline here... but they are not edited so there are a lot!

April 6, 2010 - Colin the illustrator

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Colin likes to illustrate his favorite stories, and often makes up his own! The Mama just helps him narrate what the picture is portraying. He illustrated the story 'The Wizard of Oz' and we have shared with you below!

Colin the Illustrator

The End!

April 6, 2010 - Nana the pitcher

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Colin tried his baseball skills out with Nana pitching to him and hit quite a few balls 'out of the park'!

April 5, 2010 - fun day in STL

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We spent a fun day at some of our favorite STL places...

First stop- the Science Center!

With Colin's new love for space, we ventured to the original building to check out all of the space exhibits which was cool!

Touching the sun, such a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace! / Colin in the Discovery Room playing with the space shuttle exhibit.

Sea creatures attack! / Colin and Papa mesmerized by the tornado exhibit

Colin and Mama's hand prints / Playing in the water table

Our original plan was to hit up the STL zoo next to visit some of our favorite animals, the hippos and the big cats, but the Spring Break crowd was overtaking this area of Forest Park so we adjusted plans to hit up the Missouri Botanical Gardens which was a great plan because they had just opened the Children's area for Spring!

Colin blending in with the beautiful magnolia trees in bloom / Colin and Mama

Going down the slide with Papa! / Colin's new favorite rope climbing bridge

Cool waterway with boats and dams to create

Colin 'taking a break' waiting for Papa after some hard playing!

The weather didn't stay sunny all afternoon, so we headed back to Papa's house... and instead hit up the Camelot Bowl for some afternoon pins!

Colin's approach :) We are just trying to make sure the ball doesn't take him down the lane... and that he doesn't drop a hole in the lane with his launch! / Score (note the Mama's 'L' score of 126... granted, there may have been bumper lanes involved... but still!)

April 5, 2010 - boys who like pink

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can be tough too

April 4, 2010 - taking in the breeze

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Colin likes to request to have the windows rolled down all the way in the car to 'drink the fresh air' coming in the windows ~ I thought this picture captured it perfectly!

April 4, 2010 - batter, batter, swing!

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We're ready for baseball season!

April 4, 2010 - Easter egg hunt

2010-04-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

Colin had an Easter egg hunt in Papa's backyard, so many treats from that sneaky bunny... coins for his piggy bank, bubbles, a baseball and a big chocolate bunny!

April 3, 2010 - race car driving

2010-04-23T22:29:00.000-07:00

Race car driving (with gear shift assistance from his Papa!) at Alfonzo's for some token worthy video games and skee ball!

April 3, 2010 - dying easter eggs

2010-04-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Easter egg dying fun!

and then decorating... a tiger egg says 'grrrrrrrrowl'!

April 2, 2010 - Let the Spring Break road trip begin!

2010-04-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

We took a little IL road trip for Spring Break and Colin had a blast our first afternoon with his Papa at the park!

March 21, 2010 - Robot / Outer Space Room ready!!!

2010-03-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks of fun work... Colin's super fabulous robot/outer space room is ready!

The love of space started during a visit to Papa Staley's house, where we watched a live orbit of the space shuttle in the evening sky thanks to Uncle Dan's following of said sky activities!

Here he is showing it off while wearing his space pajamas :)

The shadow boxes hold tin wind up robots and a space shuttle, super cool and they really work!

His new night light is a green lava lamp space shuttle.

Thanks to our friend John for Colin's Christmas present Star Wars helmet (even lets Colin talk with a Store Trooper voice thrower) that fits right into this theme!

Colin helped paint the planets in our solar system (during which time we read and learned a lot of planet facts that Colin now quotes often!) It's close to scale with Earth being a little out sized so we had enough space to fit in all of the continents!

What you can't see is that when the real night sky falls... Colin's ceiling begins to glow with painted on glow in the dark starry sky!

Colin's bedding has robots on it as well, and on his bed are his cool new pals, the Ugly Dolls!

The wall decorations are vintage looking outer space comic posters.

And the best part, Colin's new life size robot friends!!!

These new friends were a lot of fun to create, with a special trip to the American Science and Surplus store... our new favorite place! So many odd gadgets and bins upon bins of perfect robot panel controls!

Colin doing his robot impression and a big smile with his new room decorations!

I hope that Colin enjoys this fun room for years to come! We owe our friend Matt a big thank you for helping hang our solar system and bring our robots to life!

March 21, 2010 - ready for Spring!

2010-03-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

Colin picked out these flowers for us to enjoy some Spring color inside since we aren't close to seeing the blooms come up outside yet!

March 20, 2010 - swim, swim, swimming!

2010-03-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

Colin started up swimming lessons again a few weeks ago and is doing great! Once Summertime hits Milwaukee by August, we'll have been ready for the pool for months already!

He's the one standing, ready to jump! / Colin acting as a waddling towel penguin walking to the locker room

His new swimming accessory- swim goggles!

No worries, he has a clear pair too but he was obsessed with the blue pair so we came home with both :)

March 20, 2010 - rebellious boy

2010-03-28T01:11:00.000-07:00

Sticking his tongue out and spitting has become Colin's current rebellious actions... we're putting a stop to it immediately but here's the evidence

March 11, 2010 - fedora wearing

2010-03-28T00:55:00.000-07:00

Mama got this fun fedora to add to Colin's dress up collection... and I must say, he wears it well!

March 6, 2010 - Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

2010-03-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Central Library's Annual Birthday Celebration for Dr. Seuss!

What a fun morning spent with friends at the library!

The kids post at the library entrance with the Dr. Seuss display

First up-- face painting!! And the artists were great!

Bella, Katie, Colin and Brendan showing off their face painting! / Making Yertle the Turtle cookies!

A great silly project ~ picking the "subject", "action" and "location" printed lines from Dr. Seuss stories to make mixed up stories and the kids color pictures to illustrate their stories!

On the way out, The Cat in the Hat says hi to Colin and reads his story with him!

March 6, 2010 - cool Colin

2010-03-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

cool Colin in his new Spring accessories, aviator shades and watch

February 28, 2010 - birthday party fun

2010-03-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Colin's friends Caleb and Sam (twins) had their birthday party at the Big Backyard, all of the kids had a great time running around and playing.. and of course enjoying cake!

Singing happy birthday! / Colin devouring his cake

Friends at the table / Colin and Thomas

February 26, 2010 - bike riding in the snow

2010-03-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

Living in Wisconsin, you can't wait for sunny spring weather to get back outside after the true winter months - you just wear a winter cap under your helmet for your bike ride!

February 26, 2010 - pop rock science

2010-03-27T20:21:00.001-07:00

Experiment fun ~ and with pop rocks!!!

Colin's first time trying pop rocks and we got to do some science experiments too! (Thanks Aunt Lissa for the fun gift!)

February 26, 2010 - To the CIRCUS!

2010-03-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

We took a day off on Friday and met our friends Lauren, Brendan and Katie at the circus!!! Colin has been wanting to go for months since they did a circus lesson at day care so we were excited when the real circus came to town!

Colin excited to go get treats! / Anticipation for the next performance!

I hadn't seen this before... they opened up the floor at intermission for rides, etc! / The boys enjoying lots of cotton candy (and before lunch!)

Colin's favorite act... the tiger tamer! And the tiger tightrope walker!

February 21, 2010 - first trip sledding

2010-03-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

We waiting at least a week after the snow fell to hit up a recommended hill in Bayside for Colin's first sledding excursion using his abominable snowman sled he got for Christmas. The snow was starting to melt but the hill was still perfect and no one else there to get in our way!

February 20, 2010 - creating the universe

2010-03-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

Colin and Mama are in the midst of redecorating his room, as an 'outer space and robot' room. Oh yes, it will be awesome. Here's one of our first projects, painting the planets to a realistic scale to hang in his room. There are also some life size robots in the works, glow in the dark sky, space shuttles and so much more...

February 19, 2010 - Tosa FFF at Cafe Hollander

2010-03-07T21:51:00.000-08:00

We sat upstairs at Cafe Hollander in Tosa for this Friday's Fish Fry. The kids had a great time, especially watching the street below from the second story window view!

February 18, 2010 - speed skater in training

2010-03-07T21:24:00.000-08:00

... at least during this Olympic week ice skating lesson! Ice Skating class is at the Pettit Arena, where the Olympic skaters often practice and has been drawing much press! Colin had a fabulous teacher tonight at ice skating, who in the first 5 minutes of class, taught them how to do disco finger dancing on the ice, pretend snowboard moguls, and taught them the speed skating stance to show one of the practicing speed skaters.

February 13, 2010 - ice skating in Klode park field

2010-03-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

Colin, Mama and Daddy Craig went ice skating at Klode Park this afternoon, a beautiful park that overlooks Lake Michigan in our neighborhood. They freeze over the field that we play soccer in during the warmer months and it is a great local winter treasure!

Colin gives his hockey face for the big kids playing on the other side of the ice!

February 12, 2010 - Fireman Colin

2010-03-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Springtime can't get here soon enough for Colin to get out wearing his new firefighter rain jacket and rain boots (here even in his firefighter pose :)

February 12, 2010 - Celebrating Valentine's!

2010-03-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Colin had a great Valentine's Day, writing out and making his own Valentine treat bags for school (party on Friday :), getting a treat bag for Mama with his favorite Pez candy, and wearing his special 'King of Hearts' shirt!

February 9, 2010 - and the snow fell

2010-03-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

....and so we got out the snowball maker (yes, we cheat a bit :) and had a little snowball fight, the last picture capturing the "winner" :)