Time is a Flyin'

These two are keeping me busy and time is just flyin' by!

Ford is not only walking these days but running. I promised many months ago that I would never complain about chasing him around once he was on his own two feet. I have to admit that I am loving every minute of this chasing. 

Olivia and I had some girl time on Saturday. We went to see The Little Mermaid Ballet that her dance studio conducted and then got some ice cream afterwards. 

This is about the moment that she looked over at my half eaten cup of ice cream and yelled "whooo, girl, you must be hungry!" Gotta love the honesty of a four year old.

His nickname should be cookie monster because he is just that.

On the way to a baseball game and this is what the girl wanted to bring along, her bathing suit cover up, toboggan, puppy dog with his carrying case and a tiara. The girl loves some accessories.

Ford joins me every week for my weekly grocery store trip while Sissy is at dance. Little Debbie had to help with the entertaining on this particular day.

Oh, the park our second home.

Olivia and her BFF, Gavin. She likes to take care of him.

We had a craw fish boil at church and all this girl wanted to do was eat blue sno cones the whole time.

Since it's rainy and cold out and the children's museum decided to close on Mondays, we ventured over to the Science Museum (baby went too).

Time is a flyin' and I so wish I had the ability to slow it down somehow but my heart is SO full it could burst (and well, so is my lap).

Sleeping Angels

I can get so frustrated during the day and then when I go check on these sweet angels at night I can't help but count my blessings. Even the frustrating and hard times. And, of course the joyful and happy times. All of them I should be thankful for.

The time is fleeting but oh, how my heart is so full.

I especially love to find booties in the air. Time passes too quickly and it won't be long before brother bear is too big to put the booty up in the air. 

Who knew motherhood would be so full of blessings, the good, the bad, the hard, the ugly, the surprising, the little and all the big blessings.

I love them all equally.

Spring Time

Spring time calls for lots of outside time. We are thrilled to see the sun and warmer temperatures so we aren't cooped up inside anymore. 

We ventured on our first camping trip of the year. 

It was a bit on the chilly side but a good time was had by all.

We have also ventured to the park several times.

 These little people just wanna go play in the sun and I don't blame them.

We also took our first beach trip. On spring break we traveled down there only to endure yucky, rainy weather after only one nice day.

Pretty sure this girl could live in the sand. 

She was doing sand angels while Ford wanted to run in the other direction.

He didn't mind feeding the animals at the zoo though while sister ran in the other direction. 

I really don't think two children could be any different.

And, of course, just like every other family with small children in America we had to have a slumber party debut of Frozen including popcorn and a really late bedtime. 

Think I'm going to keep a tab for how many times we watch this DVD. 

Even Ford enjoyed it.

Change is on the Horizon

We knew the day would eventually come when this house just didn't meet our needs anymore. We have found a bigger house with a 6 acre lot that we have fallen in love with. We can foresee the kids growing up in that house and building many forever memories there. It will be bittersweet to say goodbye to these walls we have known so well over the last 10 years. If you know someone looking for a new house, send them our way!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Ford

I'm not sure how but two years have flown by since we held our tiny, new baby brother for the first time. 

These two years have been filled with excitement, laughter, joy, tears, worry, fun, tiring and the most fulfilling years of our lives. We truly fill more complete. We could not imagine our lives without our brother bear.

Happy 2nd birthday, Ford!!!

We love you more than you'll ever know!

Fun Facts about Ford as a 2 year old:

-He still sleeps in a crib

-He has 3 lovies but loves the puppy dog the most

-He loves to be rocked before bedtime

-His favorite time of the day is bath time. He hears the water running and he darts to the bathroom

-His favorite movie is Despicable Me 2

-He loves Mickey Mouse and Curious George

-He is SO ticklish and LOVES to be tickled

-He LOVES to play outside and swing

-He loves to feed Lilly all of his leftovers

-He has 4 chocolate donuts EVERY morning for breakfast (never anything else)

-His favorite foods are cookies, donuts, chips and goldfish

-He LOVES balloons, bubbles and balls

-He is a momma's boy through and through

-He loves to snuggle and be close

-He gets a big kick out of antagonizing his big sister

-He just started going down the slide at the park by himself

-He HATES to have his hair and teeth brushed

-He's the first one in the house to wake up EVERY morning and the first to go to bed

-He loves to play with his blue Thomas train, his push toys, read books (or look at the pictures) and throw balls

-He NEVER misses a meal time (and let's us know pronto if we are running behind)

-He will only drink apple juice

-He is a fun, joyful, energetic, laid back, sweet (can I add more sweetness...he is just so sweet), demanding, talkative (in gibberish most of the time), smiley little boy. 

He is one of a kind and we love him so much!!!

Jumpy house birthday fun. He loves his sissy just a little bit.

The Sunset

This is by far one of my favorite pictures of me and Olivia.

 Was it posed? No. Were we even supposed to take this picture? No. 

We were driving home from a hike on the Trace/dinner and decided to pull over and watch the sunset. We do this quite often with the kids because we really them to grasp the beauty God has created for us. Hays remembered he had his camera in the back of the car so we took some pictures. 

My first thoughts when I see this picture are how in the world do people not believe in a higher power that creates such beautiful things? How do people believe that the sky just appears like that or children are not created in the image of God? My heart aches for those people.

My second thought just wants to shout to the tips of the mountain tops how awesome my Father is that he would create such a beautiful sunset for MY enjoyment and that He would give ME such a precious gift in my little girl. My heart could explode with joy and thanksgiving.

Warmer Weather= Zoo Day

Olivia has LOVED the zoo since she barely knew what it was so when the weather turned a bit warmer and everybody was well, we ventured over to her happy place. Ford is very content to sit in the stroller and look at the animals as well.  But Olivia gets this sparkle in her eyes, her voice starts getting really high pitched and if we tell her in advance what we are doing for the day she can barely eat her breakfast and hold in all of her excitement at the same time. 

Her favorite animal since day one has been the HIPPO. Why, I have not a clue but she can't get enough of them. They are about midway through our zoo and all she wants to do is hurry to them. 

Maybe because she likes being messy like they are. 

(By the way, she MADE me take this picture.)

Wendy, Gavin and Ames tagged along too.

Dear warmer weather, please stick around!

Love, the Collins