Collin at 16 Months

 Collin loves to eat!  And now he is trying to feed himself with the spoon.  

Grandma taught him how to just bypass the spoon and eat straight from the bowl.

 Sometimes when he eats crackers he will use these two fingers and 

them leave them in his mouth.  Here he was falling asleep while eating.

 Look at this handsome boy!

 Every now and then I get an urge to drive up to Winco to grocery shop.  

This takes more than an hour so I call in reinforcements to help me.  

Collin LOVES riding with grandma through the store.  I couldn't do it without her! 

 Grandma also taught Collin how to hold his own sandwich like a big boy.

The BIG 60!

 My mom recently turned 60 so spent the day together.  We went to 

As You Wish Pottery and she painted her first plate. 

 Then my sister got off of work and and we went to get some food and then to see 

Hunger Games at the $3 theater.  My mom had not seen it yet.

Misty made my mom a cute cake.  It's hard to tell but that is a little white bear.

 She also gave my mom this t-shirt.

 Misty and my mom.

 Me and my mom.

Father's Day

 We first saw Papa after church and then made our way over to grandpa's house.  There, Collin gave daddy a gift-his favorite Candy.

 Mark is such a great father!  I love watching him play with him, read books, attempt to teach him something new, etc.  Collin is very lucky to have Mark in his life!  Thanks for being such an amazing dad to Collin!  I love you so much because of it!

This was the only picture I got of my dad on Father's day.  Mark's sister Amy made a delicious Pecan pie, my dad's favorite (thanks Amy!) and my dad was enjoying every bite.

Making his way into toddler status

It was long overdue so we made our way to Fantastic Sams to get Collin cleaned up a bit.

Me, me!  I want to get a haircut!

  

 I was so worried that Collin was going to cry the whole time but he was so curious and so well behaved.  She said he was one of the better ones she had had in months.  In this picture he is trying to comb his own hair.  She was smart to give him something to hold.

Memorial Weekend

For the holiday weekend our friends from Denver came and stayed a few days.  We always enjoy their visit!  As what seems to be a tradition now, we started the weekend 

off with a Diamondback game.  Unfortunately we lost.

On Saturday the weather was so nice, we couldn't resist a little hike up South Mountain.  I'm not much of a hiker and this was the first time I had to do it carrying a toddle ALL THE WAY UP!  Going down was tricky with the slipping rocks so I let Mark carry him back.

After our workout climbing the mountain we cooled off with  a little run through the Trailside splash pad.  This was Collin's second time going and it was much more successful than the first.

My Flowers!

For the special day my adopted grandpa, John sent me these 

beautiful flowers.  It was so thoughtful, thanks John!

Collin at 14 Months

Collin's first official babysitter!  We love Brooke!

Collin had so much fun playing on the drums with his aunt Misty!

For Mother's Day my sister and I went out with our mom to Joe's Crab Shack, one of my mom's favorite places to eat.  Mark came and picked up Collin on his way back from golfing and the three of us girls went to see a $3 movie.

The Phoenix Children's Museum

On top of the annual pass to the zoo, Collin has a pass to the Phoenix Children's Museum now too.  He isn't quite old enough to enjoy the whole exhibit but there was enough there to make it worth it.

Collin loves things that make music.

Spring Cleaning

After nearly seven years of living in our home, the dirty grout has been really bugging me.  I looked on line for a good grout home made cleaner and used that at first.  1 part baking soda to 3 parts water.  Worked but time consuming.  Then I found a bottle of Simple Green and tried it and got the same results much faster.  Can only do a section at a time, we have a lot of tile on the first floor but it is getting done.  What a difference!  You can see the picture above is half cleaned.  This picture below is the first section that I did, right smack in the center of the kitchen.

Christmas Craft

I saw a Christmas wreath a few years ago hanging from the ceiling and I thought it looked so neat and I had to have one.  So after about two years of buying the items a little at a time I finally put it all together.  Here is the finished product.  Turned out okay.  Not quite like the one in the store but good.