Party Animals!!!

The only right way to celebrate Christmas is with THREE Christmas parties!

Christmas Eve was spent at grandma and grandpa Boyd's.
Can you say Tacos???

And yummy brownies with icing and peppermint drizzled on top!
Thanks Cheryl!

uh huh... we had literally JUST walked through the door when I caught Michael digging into the salsa. I bet he double dipped too

Collin had his own little kids table!

Cheryl giving Collin his Christmas present

This is the look Collin gave us when we told him to rip into his presents.
"um...Is this a trick? I'm pretty sure you've been telling me NOT to do that all month, but now it's ok? Grown-ups are so confusing!"

Uncle Ken and Aunt Amy got Collin his own train set. Pretty much his favorite toy.
Looks like uncle Ken might have played with this before wrapping it. He sure did know how everything worked. hmmm....

However, despite all the toys he got, nothing made him squeal with joy more than cousin Laura's iPhone. After receiving a few surprise charges to our phones, he lost his privileges, so he wasn't use to having someone actually hand him a phone to play with.

Uncle Richard in his "Florida" version of Christmas attire.

Christmas day we started things off right again. With FOOD!!!
This time the party was at Great Grandma Ponder's

Next year I need to be better about getting more pictures of everyone. All these pictures seem to be about Collin :)

The last party was at our house on Christmas night.

My parents got Collin a tent and tunnel. Michael had to go through it a few times (not as easy as it looks) to convince Collin to try it out.

He eventually gave it a try.

And of course it wouldn't be a party without food right!?

More great toys from Aunt Patti and Uncle Dan!

Although, the adults ended up hogging the puzzles. We had races to see who could put the puzzle pieces back the fastest. But you had to do it with your eyes closed. Way harder than I thought it would be.

Michael won at a little over 2 minutes while yours truly came in last at...well, I don't think the time is really that important. The important thing is I didn't give up right?...

And of course we had to finish the night off with Just Dance on the Wii.
Thanks mom and dad for the awesome present!
(Although I spent all of Collin's nap yesterday trying to break Michael's record on Wii resorts and got nothing accomplished. I didn't even break his record, but I am totally going to kick his bum in sword fighting next time since I now have tons of practice!)

And what was Collin doing the whole time???
Dancing too of course!

I played my grandma in a game of bowling. She said "Now go easy on me, I haven't bowled in over a year so I won't be that good." 5 strikes later... yeah she pretty much trampled me... As she was leaving she said with a smile "Sorry I beat you at bowling tonight." I said "No you're not!" To which she just laughed. I just LOVE her.

The day after Christmas was Monday and Michael had the day off. We spent the whole day just relaxing and playing together.

It was a great year and a great Christmas.

Saved by Directions!

I ran out of baby wipes this morning and went to open a new pack. But then I realized I had no idea how to open the package!
Thankfully, I turned it over and saw these picture directions! In 5 easy steps I was able to open the package and get the wipes I needed!
I'm especially grateful for steps 2 & 5 that show me how to lift and close the lid.

Maybe I shouldn't be so sarcastic. They are baby wipes after all. That's it! The directions are for the babies! So that's how Collin learned to open the wipe container and pull out all the wipes the other day! I guess they forgot to add the step that shows that you only pull one wipe out at a time :)

How Much Toilet Paper Does it Take to Blow Your Nose?

Apparently A LOT!

Collin has been sick this past week and I've been teaching him to blow his nose instead of wiping his nose on my couch or my pants! (Which is really embarrassing by the way when you go out in public only to come home and look in the mirror to see this long streak of dried up snot on your shoulder. I know "TMI".
Anyways, I heard Collin sneeze the other day and immediately went to find him. I found him right here, in the bathroom surrounded by toilet paper, blowing his nose. I almost cried with joy! Sometimes they really do listen!


A couple days later I heard this quacking noise and went to investigate. I found Collin in the tub playing with his ducks.
He might get his looks from his Daddy, but he gets his cuteness from me ;)

A Little Pre-Christmas Show

December has been a little hectic this year. We have been so busy I don't feel like I had any time to prepare for it or get in that Christmas Mood. Which is a shame since we had a little helper this year who is soooooo excited by lights and presents!

I wish I had made more time to enjoy the Christmas stuff with him as well as the season in general. This will NOT happen next year! Next year, presents will be bought by Thanksgiving, our Christmas stuff will go up the next day, and we are gonna go Christmas Crazy!!!! We're gonna go caroling, drink hot chocolate while we watch Christmas movies, and YES we will even wear our ridiculous Christmas sweaters!

I'm serious! I've even marked my calendar in September to remind me to start Christmas shopping!


At least we have a tree we can enjoy and Michael set up the train track around it which Collin LOVES! And I mean LOVES!!!

He also loves the ornaments on the tree...maybe a little too much...

I did not put my glass balls on the tree this year for this exact reason. These were in one of our Christmas bins and Collin was never suppose to see them. I had brought one bin in and went out to the garage for the other one (I was seriously only gone 30 seconds) as I was coming back to the kitchen I heard a little voice say "baa" translation: ball, right before I heard glass shatter.
Before I could remove Collin from the shattered mess around him he began to eat it!
No blood was spilt though and no glass was actually consumed so emergency thwarted!
Thank Goodness

And we did take Collin around the neighborhood one night for FHE to look at lights. That was fun. At every house Collin would say "Oooooh". It was cute. So we did do some things. But next year we aren't messing around ;)

And this Fisher Price Manger scene that my mom gave us might just stay out all year round. Collin plays with this thing ALL the time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011Yelvington/Boyd Family Reunion
Moss Park

Well of course Collin had a blast because it was outside!
And we had tons of extra hands to keep him out of trouble!

Hold on tight, I live for speed!

Instead of holding onto Michael's hair, Collin grabbed Michael's ears. Cracked me up!
(especially when he had to catch his balance ;)

Bean bag toss: Peeler's vs. Boyds

Tons of food, no clean up, and many hours spent with family.
(including my parents and younger brother who got to join us this year.)
It was a great day!

I Wish Every Month Was November!

November happens to be my FAVORITE month of the year! Why?
Oh, maybe because it's my BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!!
And this birthday was amazing!

But before we get into that, I need to do a recap on everything that happened before then since I haven't blogged since Halloween.
And yes, most of this post will be about Collin...as always :)

My grandma went in for hip surgery on Halloween day. We went to visit her in rehab a few weeks later. (She would probably kill me if she knew I posted this picture but I thought it was hilarious! Collin and her are apparently watching something funny on t.v.)

Everything went well, and she is now home! Just in time for Thanksgiving! Yay!

My parents and youngest brother Logan were able to come down for grandma's surgery and Thanksgiving. Logan stayed with us for a week since my mom was up at the hospital with grandma. Collin LOVED it!!! I heard him laughing one time and went to investigate. Logan had put him in the clothes hamper, covered him with balls and was pushing him all over the house.
The only sad thing is, Collin expected that entertainment to continue even after Logan left. I guess moms just aren't as cool as 11 yr. old uncles ;)

I have also been finding my shoes in weird places all over the house! I couldn't figure out how my shoe would end up in the bath tub or yes, the toilet, until I saw this!

Should I be worried that my son has a shoe fetish?

I just threw this picture in because I thought it was cute. Collin is so good at playing by himself.

For the most part my family has been staying with my grandma so that there is always someone with her while she recovers, but my dad came and spent the night with us one night and made us pancakes the next morning! They were soooo yummy!!!

I just have to say a big THANK YOU to my entire family. I was spoiled rotten this year!

First, my sweet sweet husband made up a birthday countdown for me. So I got a little something every day for the two weeks leading up to my birthday. They were things like, "a day off of diaper duty" and "no dish duty". And on my actual birthday he made me dinner and gave me new clothes!!! Best. Husband. Ever!

Then my mom made me a wonderful birthday dinner and my dad bought me a huge cake and we watched Pirates 4? "On Stranger Tides" I think that's the name of it. I had been wanting to see it and it was so fun just being able to be with family. I LOVED it!

Please don't count the candles. I guess my brother and cousin thought it would be funny to add some extra candles to the cake, but we all know I'm not a day over 22.
Yep, that's my story and I'm stick'in to it ;)

And if that wasn't enough!...My mother- in-law Anne, took me to see "Breaking Dawn: part 1" then after the movies, we met my father-in-law, Michael and Collin at 4 Rivers and she bought us lunch! But wait! There's more! She also made me a homemade chocolate cake with homemade chocolate icing!!! It was DELICIOUS and I was in HEAVEN!!!
Unfortunately, there are no pictures of "said cake" because it was "cough cough" consumed rather quickly...

But it wasn't just me that ate it all this time!!! Michael cut himself a piece and then got up to do something. When he came back this is what he found...

One little boy with a chocolate mouth, but no cake :)

Yes, I wish every month was November.
(I have a strange feeling my family feels otherwise)


Collin also got a haircut today!
I usually just cut it with scissors, but decided to try the clippers out on him. I could use a little more practice ( and a more willing and still participant) but it looks way better than before.
(See above pictures of the Jack Nicholson hair do to compare)

He looks too grown up...maybe we should just go back to the bed head look :)

Halloween Countdown Day 12

Day 12: Halloween!

Collin went a little crazy when Logan dumped his candy on the floor.
Wish I would have gotten more pictures but during the excitement I forgot :(

Halloween Countdown Day 11

Day 11: Shadow puppets with uncle Logan