Collin's Joy School 2014

 Joy School is over :( It's been a great year full of tons of fun and these sweet kiddos.

It's hard to believe that Pre-School is right around the corner! I'm going to miss seeing these guys every week!

We're having a pool party this Wednesday for all the kids, but since this was the last official day of Joy School, we decided to have a little end of school party. There were stickers, there were games, there were suckers, and of course, what party is complete without CONFETTI!!!

 And a big thank you to Jen and Vickie for insisting that the kids help pick up. Because if you hadn't, I pretty sure my floors would still look like this to this day. :)

Good luck in Preschool guys!

Mass Transportation Is Not For Sissy's

We did it. We joined all the other crazy people on the new SunRail train here in Orlando. We went during it's grand opening when the ride was free! I learned two things.

1. You meet some very intresting people when taking mass transportation and

2. Mass Transportation isn't for sissy's. 

You're pretty much at the mercy of whoever is driving. If it's late (and it was waaaay late) than you're late! Glad we didn't have a business meeting to get to! 

It's also incredibly crowded! I know it was even more so when we went since the ride was free, but still...

 

Collin getting photo bombed by some of those "interesting people" on the train that I was telling you about :)

 Oh yes, you're seeing that correctly. Those stairs in the background lead to the second level of the train. That was a fun surprise. We rode up top on the way to Altamonte and down below on the way back.

We had a good time together. Tate ate snacks the entire ride! And when we got off for ice cream in Altomonte, he proceeded to drink from everyone's shakes! The boy's a bottomless pit! 

It was a fun evening, but it sure did make me extra thankful for a car of my own!

Rain Is Very Wet, and Other Silly Nonsense

 I told you it rained all week! The boys finally got so tired of being inside that I let Collin put his rain coat on and play in it. His observation? "Rain is really wet mom" Hmmm...good deduction son ;)

Tate's observation? "Rain fall is totally awesome, but it's more enjoyable in the safety of the screened in porch." I'm with you on that one Tate :)

In other water related news...

 The boys discovered the joys of THE SPRINKLER! They beg to play in it almost every day now! Funny how little things like this remind me of my awesome childhood. Just goes to show it's the memories and good times you remember, not the material things.

A Little Fun Goes a Long Way

 We went to the Dr. Phillips Splash Park as a family last Monday! I'm so glad we went because it has been stormy and raining all week! Looking at these pictures makes me envious. I miss the sun!

Tate was very hesitant to go into the water and spent most of his time under the umbrella eating :) Collin was the complete opposite and took off running the second he saw the fountains. He was all over that park. Hence the reason I have several pictures of Tate and only one of Collin :)

 There's a really cool park right beside the splash park too which the boys love. Michael was teaching Collin how to climb on all the bars and ropes and making me very nervous, but I tried not to say anything :)

 I just concentrated on this little guy and tried not to pay attention to the two crazies behind me :)

It was a fun family day.

Easter 2014

Happy Easter!

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from Easter! It's been a little crazy around here the past few weeks , but it's also been a blast!

 Ah, if you only knew how hard it was for me to get these two to pose for just ONE Easter picture! You'd think I was always sticking a camera in their face by the way these two acted when they saw me coming...Oh wait... ;) That's what owning a nice camera will do to you; turn you into annoying paparazzi. Oh well, I got my pictures so I'm happy.

It was just me and the boys the Saturday before Easter. Michael was working and my family had already left so I wasn't really in the mood to do the whole "dye the eggs" thing. My aunt Patti had brought the boys these silly face stickers so I let Collin put faces and hair on plastic eggs instead. It was sooooo fun and I love how they turned out! 

 Collin was pretty proud of them too. I have a feeling this will be a new tradition. The best part is, it was mess free! And the boys could actually play with them.

We had done a special FHE that week on the true meaning of Easter with the Resurrection eggs. We explained how each item in the eggs represented Christ and how they related to Easter. Collin really got into it this year which made it really special. And then Sat. night (to help down play the Easter Bunny) we watched a few church videos about Easter as a family.

We did some fun things too. Like, planted magical jelly beans that grew into suckers overnight. Michael didn't really get what this had to do with Easter, but Collin was over the moon! Every 5 min he asked me if they had grown into suckers yet :)

 

Just so you know, this picture of the suckers is one I stole from the internet. It just looked prettier than my 5 little dum dum suckers ;)

 The boys got trains and cars in their Easter baskets (two of their favorite things) so they were happy. And they happily shared with one another which made me happy :) 

I love watching them play together.

 As I was taking these pictures it really hit me how big Tate has gotten. I just kept staring at him in disbelief. He's a little boy now! The expression that kids seem to grow overnight is no joke because I swear he wasn't THAT big when I put him to sleep.

I might be a little sad to see my baby disappear, but his new growth spurt brings new adventures and lots more fun! Especially since he's getting to where he can actually play with Collin and not just destroy things :)

 Our Easter egg hunt was also much more entertaining this year since Tate was old enough to participate. Collin found some competition and we realized that we might need to have another Family Home Evening on sharing with others :)

 Is this not a beautiful spot for an Easter egg hunt?

(These were taken at Grandma Ponder's house. We spent a few hours with her on Easter Sunday.)

Ah, yes, the true reason my kids act the way they do when I pull out my camera. It all comes back to their father! This is Michael's reaction to my command to "smile" I live with a bunch of nuts!

 But I sure do love them :)

Boo Ya!

Introducing, the boys Easter gift from Grandma Peeler and the newest member of our family...BooYa! 

No, really, that's his name. 

I have no idea why Collin decided on that, but somewhere in his 3 year old mind it made perfect sense to name your fish after a verbal expression of victory. (I was rooting for the name Spartacus)

Oh well, after a few weeks, BooYa is starting to grow on me :)

All Good Things Must Come to An End

Uncle Logan introduces Collin and Tate to the world of gaming. It's starts way to young!

My family left today after being here for 2 1/2 weeks. Which means I'm sad and have to look through all the pictures I took while they were here :) Most of them I already posted but here are a few I had overlooked.

Collin had fun pestering uncle Logan by following him everywhere and even using him as a pillow at one point.

 Grandma took the boys on at least one walk a day. And although you can't see it in the picture below, my dad has a 2 pound bag of M&M's at his feet. Now you know why Tate is so happy in these pictures.

And of course there were multiple ball fights. 

Tate's version of a ball fight is to grab the balls and then tackle you with them. 

Oh, and did I mention my dryer died? Actually, "died" doesn't accurately describe it. Let's just say there was a major bad burning smell and a scorching hot hunk of metal in my laundry room that was one load away from a house fire! So I got a new one and the boys took the huge box off my hands.

General Conference weekend was so relaxing and fun! I love listening to our prophet and apostles speak. It also means extra family time.

And

This is a special treat we ONLY get on conference weekend. 

Our favorites are Peanut Butter Chocolate Drizzle and Oreo.

Look at all their flavors!

Yummy!

Our other Conference traditions are Saturday morning we have cinnamon rolls (not homemade) the canned Pilsbury cinnabuns are good enough for me, and Sunday morning we have pancakes and bacon. Mmmm bacon. Can we just pretend it's conference again THIS weekend? :)

Collin licks frosting off his nose. Some people are just born with talent.

 We always have so much fun when my family comes. Why can't they just live right down the street so we could do this every weekend? 

I'm including this last picture to bring a little cheer into our now very lonely day :)