While Haylee was Here...

I love this picture because I LOVE taking naps with my best boy :)

We got the worst manicures in the history of manicures. Never again at that place!

Can't tell here, but hers were bad too. But at least Heritage House got our coffee right!

Conversations with Collins

Wonder how much longer I'll be able to do this?

• "Strummin' on the open Joe" (instead of "strummin' on the old banjo")
• "What a stroke of luck!"
• "Frosty the snowman...was a jolly happy snow. With a corn bob pipe and a button nose, and eyes made out of gold" (bless him, he's like his mama!)

He uses acorns for bullets.

• "What's that Optimus Prime gonna do?" referring to the octopus in a movie
• Loves to sing "Victory" ("Victory in Jesus") and his favorite part is the "angels part" ("About the angels singing, and the old redemption story...")
• "I'm the king of salvation!" (what?!)
• We've been listening to Alan Jackson a lot lately because he sings a lot of old gospel hymns. One day after a song, Collins said about Alan: "He's a natural."
• "Daddy, are they playing in Gardendale?" he asked about an MLB game on tv! Gardendale is where Collins played his all-stars games :)
• "Now we're cookin'!" (when we start moving good in traffic)
• We saw the Tuscaloosa trolley one morning and Collins said, "Where's Daniel Tiger?" (Remember the trolley on Mr. Rodgers? and the character Daniel Tiger? Daniel has his own show now.)

They LOVE "hideouts"!

• He tells jokes a lot, but they make absolutely no sense. And he'll follow up with, "That was a good one, wasn't it?" He likes for me to tell them too, so I just embrace the method and say whatever jumble of words pops into my head, and we just laugh about it, confused as all get out. 
• I've taught him, "He's slow as molasses!"

Visiting at Brookdale and giving the residents some of our shells :)

• Collins doesn't want to be a policeman anymore, the job he's wanted since forever. Why? Because he learned that a policeman was killed the other day. He has no idea it was several policemen and that a lot of other people died, too. How much longer will he be naive to these facts of our evil world?
• "I'm trying to be quiet...I just LOVE talking!"

Meeting Vivi Claire and visiting with Mrs. Amber!

Dinner date at Tazikis

• Teases his daddy, "Hey Daddy sweetheart...hey princess...hey Princess Sofia"!
• "Mama. Do you know Brooke Camel from preschool?" I love that he thought Campbell was Camel...for an entire year!
• Referred to Pier Park as Peter Parker (from SpiderMan)
• When loose change hits the ground, Collins will have it in his pocket before you hear it. 
• "We're watching Leo and Twitch!" (Lilo and Stitch)

They (and we) thought this was so funny!

Acting silly!

• I spelled something to him the other day when I didn't want Hadley to know about it. I then realized he can't read yet. No wonder he feels pressure to learn quickly ;)
• One Saturday night I said, "Collins, will you please wear shorts to church tomorrow?" "I don't want to...I wanna look nice for church." "You will look nice! What about those green checked shorts like you wore to the beach? Those are nice!" "That was the beach." "Don't other kids wear shorts to church?" "....I'm just not that kind of person." And so he wore jeans and boots. 

August 7th was the first Sunday in Elevate (versus Elevate Junior)!

• I love, love how much he loves his mama. He tells me all the time how pretty and snuggly I am :) He told me one night, "You're just so pretty with that smile."  He loves to snuggle and when I love on him and his head is on my neck/shoulder he tells me he wishes he could sleep there all night. Melts my heart!
• He, Hadley, and I ate at Tazikis one night (kids eat free on Saturdays!) Collins was eating his sandwich and asked, "Is this fast food?" I said, "No." He said, "I'm impressed."
• Jake shaved his goatee recently. Collins' response: "You look familiar..."

Country fun at MawMaw and PawPaw's house!

Collins is pretending to be asleep :)

• Mrs. Fanning gave them a card to open the night before kindergarten. It had a cute poem in it and tiny bag of confetti. She said to put it under your pillow and it will help you sleep well, and that she'd do the same. Collins took it very literally and didn't see how that was supposed to help. In fact, he mentioned that it felt kinda hard under his pillow...yeah right!

His first time to have to sign something! How cute!

• That sweet daddy got up and cooked bacon and French toast for Collins the Saturday morning after kindergarten, since that was his wish :) He even bought him a "Keep Out" sign like he's been requesting for his room! Growing up very fast. 

Eating sunflower seeds, and teaching Hadley how to eat them.

• I am not used to having neighborhood kids to play with. I'm used to playing with one's sister and making up ridiculously weird characters, games, etc. Aubrey and Jackson came over to play this weekend, and Aubrey is good for at least 2-3 knocks per week. Once she ate dinner with us. Her parents are two houses down and have a newborn, so she's probably glad to play with anyone who doesn't cry a lot!

Seeing Double

They are roughly the same age in these pics and I did NOT encourage either of them to do this. Amazing how similar they are sometimes :)

First Day of Kindergarten!

Collins David is at kindergarten right now...NOT taking a nap! Wow. How did this day get here so quickly? I looked back at my blog last night reminiscing and trying to get the tears out so I wouldn't cry today. Didn't work. I ended up not crying last night because I was in a hurry to go to bed, then once he got on that big yellow school bus the tears started streaming! He looked very small on that bus; to me, like an infant wearing a backpack. It's a very independent thing to do, and I can vividly remember my first day of school, and being so excited to ride the bus...to grow up. It was harder for Jake after leaving him at school. Of course we are happy for him, but it reminds you just how fast it all goes. The days are long, but the years are short. Or as a wiser parent put it: 

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." 2 Peter 3:8 (NIV)

He told me last night when I asked what he wanted for breakfast: "Y'all don't have to make it. I'll cook it." I told him he's not that big yet! His back up option was "French toast." We settled on scrambled eggs and jelly toast (with a side of Fruit Loops)! He also wanted me to sleep in his room last night because pretty soon he'll be six and I won't do that anymore. I explained that we can still do some of those things even though he's in kindergarten/six years old! 

Favorite food is crab claws and he wants to be a professional fisherman when he grows up!

So...this backpack. We bought it without seeing it first. It's a little big. It was kind of bothering him. We may get a new one. But it's camo and Bama, so then again maybe not!

Proud Mama!

Proud Daddy :)

Walked across the street to wait with Jackson. They were discussing Jackson's shoes; he wanted a new pair but he didn't need them yet. Not happy about that ;)

Here it comes!

Bye Collins!

...Love!...

  

Stalking him on the way to school ;)

Bus riders!

He pretended not to hear us!!

Choosing his lunch: hamburger (winner), chicken nuggets, or sandwich.

He looks a little sad in this picture, but I think he was just sick of pictures!

Sister kisses!

On the carpet, ready to go! 

Jake picked him up from Extended Day! Playing blocks with his friend, Jake.

Jake Taylor and Collins

He drew me blue hearts on a paper towel the night before kindergarten :)

Update: Collins was kind of quiet last night, and we had to drag out any details about the day. He was exhausted! A little whiny, a little clingy. Bless it. That no nap stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be! People say they're exhausted for the first couple of weeks until they adjust to the new schedule.

He told me last night as I was tucking him in, "I don't want to learn at school...I don't know how to work a computer." I said, "I can help you!" He said, "We don't have one." I said, "We'll get one!" So, now I'm in the market for a computer. Ha! I told him the iPad is a computer, and the phones are computers, but I guess that's just not the same. He told Mrs. Fanning (and she wrote it on a piece of paper) that his wish is to learn to read :) He's very aware of what he's supposed to learn, and the fact that he doesn't yet know these things. We're reiterating it's the teacher's job to help him learn, and that no one knows yet...and explain that he used to not know how to hit a ball, tie his shoes, etc. Sweet boy.