Happy Birthday, Jake!

Jake turned 34 on Wednesday, February 18th! Collins told some people at preschool that his daddy is 44...not quite!

It was a regular, crazy, busy morning so I failed at making the day special there. I couldn't have lunch with Jake because it was career fair week and couldn't leave the fair. So, I debated the following:

Option 1: Take out for dinner. The pros were that we'd be at our own house and could be as loud and messy as we'd like. The cons were how do I leave work, get take-out, then get kids, and it not be cold by the time we eat? Because getting kids first and then the food was not really an option in my mind.

Option 2: Go out to dinner. Pros were that it was easier to make happen. Cons were what if Hadley isn't in a dining out kind of mood? 

And that's what happened. We went to Cypress Inn and had a lovely meal that we scarfed down and ate separately because one of us had to go out to the lobby at pretty much all times. She tried to climb out of the high chair, she screamed "HAAAAYYY!" at everybody, she pulled on the blinds. To sum up, she acted like an 18 month old after a day at preschool.

What was I thinking?!

I had bought a cake at Publix and asked the Cypress Inn staff to hold it in the back, then bring out for dessert...even had candles to light. That didn't happen. The poor couple beside us was trying to have a quiet night out without their kids. That didn't happen either.

So, we went home, took quick baths, put Hadley to sleep, then the rest of us ate the cake. It was good. Thankfully!

Happy Birthday, Jake! I love you! And next year we'll get a sitter :)

Valentine's Day

V-day was low key at our house again. Just the way we like it! I almost forgot to give the kids their happies that morning. I had bought them, but forgot to set them out before they woke up. So I ran in their rooms before they got up from breakfast and threw the stuff on the bed real quick. I have some other pictures, but they're on the camera and I haven't done that process yet. I'll update later. Love these sweet little valentines!

This was red and pink out day!

Granny and Granddaddy sent cards and money!

Now about Hadley's hair...I tried. I had it pulled back a little more toward the back and it was cuter, but she pulls it out all during the day and that's how it looked at the end of the day. I'm really bad at hair.

Another thing I'm really bad at is being a "room mom." I don't think we actually have those yet since it's just preschool, but I can tell I'm going to not be the crafty, spend-a-lot-of-time-on-stuff kind of mom. Maybe because I work full-time (we'll go with that). What you see in this picture are V-day goodies from a classmate. And if you look closely, you'll see a small zip-loc bag beside them. Those are Collins' V-day cards. Poor thing. And in the spirit of full disclosure, Hadley's were even worse. They were leftovers from last year, but luckily she still likes Minnie Mouse. Hey, I said I work full-time! ;) 

Writing his name, his morning ritual!

Got Em!

Jake takes customers on hunts all the time as part of his job. It's fun, but also a lot of work (setting up stands, cooking for everyone, dragging deer, etc.) Usually, the MSA workers aren't supposed to shoot bucks, but the last hunt of the season was a different story. Good thing, too, because Jake got a big ole 11-point! He is being mounted now and will go in the office at home. Jake was so excited...and so was Collins!

Conversations with Collins

I'm renaming these to "Conversations with Collins" because I'm OCD and needed it to 'match' "Hadley Happenings" by using the same letter. I know, I know.

• "Eeny eeny eeny mo, I asked my mother, who can be da berry best one..."
• "I need some burp medicine."
• "I'm gettin' a lotter."
• "That burns me up!"
• "When I get five we're gonna crack my tooth off and I'll get a grown up tooth."
• Reflecting on his gifts from Santa: "I'm impressed!" When asked if he liked what Santa brought: "Yep, nice and scary."
• Watching Disney's Robin Hood with Jake, Collins got mad when the money was taken at the little boy's birthday party. Jake said Collins looked up at him and calmly asked, "Can you please shoot him in the face?"
• He loves the hymn "Higher Ground," but thinks the words are: "My name is higher ground..."
• Likes to get dressed up in jeans, boots, hat, and one particular green shirt to be Cowboy Collins. Wants me to be asleep "and you didn't know I was coming"...then surprises me by showing up at my birthday party to kill bad guys for me.
• He can unbutton his shirts alone, fixes his hair and brushes his teeth alone (sometimes/when I'm not in a hurry), and has recently learned to buckle himself in a five point harness car seat alone!
• "Mama...I have to ask you something important." He means tell. And vice versa.
• "Mama, what's this car's name?" "I don't know. She's a Camry, so we could call her Cami. Do you like that?" "No. It's Olivia Jones." Perfect! (but where did that come from?!)
• He was talking about how he wanted an alligator for Christmas, but Christmas is so long away. I mentioned that he could ask for one for his birthday because that will be here sooner than Christmas. "You're a gengus."
• He has started giving me a blanket or stuffed animal to sleep with at night. Not just any stuffed animal, one of the good ones that he would like. So sweet! And yes I actually sleep with it!
• "Can I have some Christmas milk?" (egg nog!)
• Collins came home one day telling us all about reversible change; how water goes from being water, to ice, to steam, etc. We were impressed!
• He tells Mrs. Tammy, one of his teachers, she's pretty every day. He told her once when she had curled her hair and she made such a big deal about it (called him her new best friend) that now he does it daily ;) She told me one morning he's such an ego boost for her, haha!
• His blessings have changed lately. I have got to get them on video. He now uses his hand as he's praying and you can tell he means every word he's saying! He'll throw out Bible jargon, some appropriately, some not-so-much. For example: "God, we thank you, Lord. And Lord, we thank you for our sins. And we praise you. And we praise the king. Our food...we thank you, God. Bless us for our sins. Amen." Precious!
• One morning during breakfast he sat across from me and declared that we were on a date. I said, "Oh good! What should we talk about?" He said, "Mmmm...what about dolphins?" Perfect!
• "I love you horrible much."
• "That doesn't make me delighted."
• "It would be my pleasure."
• We passed by Northport Baptist one morning and Collins said, "There's Meri Davis' school!" I said, "Well, it used to be her school." He said, "But then it turned into a church?" I clarified that it's both and she just goes to a different school now :)
• One of the bad guys on the Ninja Turtles is named Kirby Bat. Collins calls him "Curvy Bat."
• When we went to buy new shoes Collins kept asking the sales girl if he could get some skates. He meant cleats.
• "Mama, I don't like this basanga." (lasagna)
• I put some dill pickle chips on his turkey sandwich one day because I know he likes them. Correction: loves them. He now requests "a pickle sandwich with ham on it." It's all about perspective!
• I had a stomach bug last week. One night Collins reached across the table for my drink and I said, "No! Don't drink after me, I've been sick." He said, "Mama...you're not sick..." I said, "Yes, I have been." He got up and said, "Let me get that timer." (thermometer!) He zapped my forehead with it and confirmed, "See? You're green. Not sick." So because I didn't have fever to accompany my stomach virus, I'm a hypochondriac.  

Saying the blessing.

Grape in hand ;)

My little napping prince.

This has become the official cowboy uniform. It has to be this shirt.

Smarty pants working on his homework!

Looking at the Ninja Turtle MawMaw gave him. It stayed in water for three weeks and grew triple its size.

Shopping for new shoes that don't tie! We sold the ones he got for Christmas because they kept tripping him up.

He was supposed to walk over to the mirror and check out his shoes. He checked out his whole self and made sure the shoes were fast, too :)

The colorful, fast winners!

He and I went for a lunch date to Jalapeno's after getting shoes for him and some medicine for Hadley.

Flirt!

Ready for church!