California Here We Come?????

So we have been getting the house ready to put on the market for a little while now (thus the reason this post is a bit late).  The last few weeks have included a few changes to the house; new counter tops, new fence in the back, a feeble attempt at more grass, painting a few rooms and finishing up a few projects that just never got completed.  We'll see how the market likes our house.  Maybe next month's post will have a definitive answer to whether we will be on the east or west coast...anyone taking bets???

Videos have been a pain to add.  So we are going to just put them in our google drive and post a link.

So right now there are videos of him making a call to Yaya, reading his favorite book and doing a little torpedo swimming.
https://drive.google.co/open?id=0BwcX_qtUk2cyfmI3bWx6Q1puM1Y4LWxzOWpLMzFaYlhCNzE0R1FoSVdOVHIzd3FIUE4wVUE&authuser=0


Easter was a fun day.  Finally a pretty nice day after quite the long winter.

Dying some Easter eggs

Where to look.....

Ready to hunt some eggies

 After breakfast we went to Uncle Benny and Auntie Uchie's (I still forget how you spelled it)

Having hilarious dinner conversation

Politely taking turns

The main event...EGG HUNT

quick side track through some water

oooo eggs

The other big event this month was going to Mexico!!!

Killing some time in the Dallas airport.  (it's like a mall in there...huge)

we found a nice mural on the floor to run around and around and around....

The resort had a pirate pool which was pretty awesome after the intimidation wore off and before other locations became more fun

What became his favorite spot

jumping in

Working on swimming to mommy

We saw birds and iguanas and ants

Salt water in the eye dropped the beach down on the favorite list

Heading back to the room

Having a nice dinner in 'fancy clothes'

having a nice walk back with mommy

All the swimming required quite a bit of napping

and some napping on the plane too

making some drawings with chalk

Here are some other fun things we do at home

tracing with chalk

working on peddling skills

chowing down on some ribs

Playing soccer with his entourage of older women

working on commanding Hobie and Blake

worked that time

Quasimodo painting his chair

and his face

and, of course, showing how to give hugs

Spring???? Maybe???

The snow is going away and the forecast finally has days above 40 so spring could be on it's way finally.  Colin will be disappointed that the snow is probably/hopefully done.  He always comments how much he loves to play in snow.  Playing outside more and being able to finally wear the tank tops and shorts he keeps dressing himself in might be a good trade off though.

We spent some time making animal faces.  It started with being taught how to make a monkey face and then he had some of his own.  See if you can guess what animal he is in the pictures.  If you can then you are psychic or have the mind of a 3yr old....  Hover on the image to see the answer.

 We are gearing up for a big month of April.  Easter will be a fun day full of pictures for next month.  It's still up in the air if eggs will be hidden in snow or not.  A trip to Mexico is coming up as well.  Passports are ready to be stamped.  We are also getting our house ready to go on the market....sooo many little projects to do.

Time to feed the bee

Relaxing on the couch with his airplane

Moved from his bed to our floor after waking up in the morning

He asked to get his picture taken

Working on helping the snow melt

Taking a nap on Bigfoot today

He was very happy about having a bubble horn

Making some tortillas

Teaching a ladybug how to crawl, with demonstration

Helping paint the living room

New vanity in the bathroom means house for Colin and his 'puppy-pups'

Skyzone is so fun as long as the other kids aren't around

Time to relax....again

Another thing I just remembered since it just came on the radio.  "I Bet My Life" by Imagine Dragons is his favorite song and he will  get very excited when it starts then sit and quietly stare into space while it plays.  He's working on becoming a song database.  He's always asking what the name of a song is if he doesn't know it.  Thank goodness for the Shazam app.  This also goes with words too.  He wants to know definitions and if the definition has words he doesn't know then he needs to know what that word means.  A lot of effort gets put into figuring out the letters that start words.  Colin is pretty good about letter sounds and recognizing letters.  In case you are curious Cherrios is spelled C-H-E-R-R-ONE-ZERO-S.

"I Want 88 Snow"

There was no unit to go with the 88 snow but according to Colin it is a lot and that's how much more he wants.  He would have been happy with just a dusting.  Once it got above his ankles the tractors were hard at work outside 'tractoring' snow.

Relaxing in his "play area"

He's got a lot of shoveling to do

There was more snow, but we just stopped taking pictures of that....Mommy and Daddy are done with the snow for the year.

We dog-sat Rocky for a week

Hobie and her neighbor Blake trying to run in 5' of snow

Hobie was also very excited about going out in the snow.  We think she is part gopher or something.  She burrows and gets her whole head under the snow.  Both Hobie and Colin are going to be categorized as anti-shovelers since they loved to play right where the snow was just removed...which added a bunch to that spot.  Daddy had a good workout this month.

 February was generally uneventful.  Colin had a play date at the beginning of the month.  Trampolines are quite fun, but only tried by himself.  There had to be no one else on it or looking like they would be getting on it for him to give it a go.  He's a very patient and polite boy...most of the time.

 Trains seem to take up a majority of play time.  He loves building tracks and having his trains work.  The conversations that go on between trains are quite entertaining.  it usually involves who is the fastest, strongest or the most busy.  The train track has also brought on a lot of screaming tantrums when tracks fall apart or don't work just like he wants.  This is where the patience isn't always there.  Loud screams that should be reserved for broken bones are heard occasionally.

Little Mr Mischief helping fix some damage he caused to the bathroom door

Painting and building toys are a lot of fun and result in a very focused activity

 Wink on

 Wink off

Bear hug

His new favorite book.  The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak.  Colin highly recommends it

It's Really Cold

Winter's cold and snow has finally hit us.  Colin and Hobie both are ready to go out and play in the snow before breakfast.

 Colin and mommy cleaning of the bench outside....because, what else do you do??

 Probably the best  'bundling up' job of the winter so far.

 Colin had 2 areas shoveled out for him to play in while daddy shoveled.....moving snow onto the newly shoveled paths was more entertaining though.  He tractors were kept busy in his areas for a while still.

The neighbors came over to say hi to Colin and Hobie.

 Mommy decided it was time for a vacation.  This is the list.  It was pretty straight forward but took weeks to find the right place.  The plan right now is that we will be going to Mexico in April.  That should be fun.  Now we need to get passports in order.

 We had a few outings and play dates this month.   What better place to go when it's in the single digits than to get ice cream?

  Some bumper bowling was tried with some friends.  Some of them were excited.  Colin was very focused and serious about his bowling.























Aunt Ursula came over with Luke and Emmett to do some crafts.  Then we went to the furniture store.  It sounds odd but they have a water/light show, ice cream shop, Fuddruckers, jungle gym with harnesses, fire truck strollers...it was a busy place.








We have Colin's first report card from school.  It told us what we thought.  He really knows the academic stuff for preschool.  He is very quiet and introverted.  Not much surprise.  He is excited about going and will come out happy.  So preschool seems to be going well.


At home Colin loves to help out.  He's doing a lot more stuff on his own.  We'll see how long until he decides these things are not fun.

 Helping build a shelf for his toys.  Vacuuming the couch.  Changing the sheets on his bed.  What a big boy.

He also has been picking out his clothes for the day.  This was one of his first which wouldn't be bad except that it's well below freezing outside and that's where he wants to go.