Today we celebrate Collin!!

Sweet Collin truned three today! We celebrated with a Chick-Fil-A lunch and spray park and cake of course! Yesterday we had his party at daycare. We decorated visors and even the big kids were good sports about making them and enjoyed the tattoos I brought! The big three boys also did a Conga line and sang "We're Gonna rock down to electric avenue. Happy Birthday Collin" It was hilarious and brought back some old school memories.

It's hard to believe Collin is three but on the other hand, he seems so grown up. His vocabulary is amazing and today pointed out something was "intstrusting" that he showed his brother. He loves to do anything his brother does and it sometimes concerns me. He always  even wants the same color straw as Ashton and we've been encouraging him to make up his own mind. I think school will help him as he starts in 2 wks. As much as he looks up to his older bro, he absolutely adores his younger one. The love he has for Embry is so fascinating to me. When Embry cries, Collin is the first to tell me about it and what he needs. " He wants you to hold him mommy" He always makes sure Embry has a toy for the car and if he's holding a small toy, Collin makes sure he takes it away so he won't eat it. When Embry does or says something new, Collin is thrilled and so proud for him! He calls him baby all the time or "Sweetheart" ("You need something baby?")

Even though Collin has the sweetest little heart, he can also be a crazy man. I love watching him run or dance and his bursts of anger crack us up. I have nicknamed him little George Costanza. He can get so angry in a flash and his voice is so loud! It's pretty funny to watch. Lately he has also enjoyed getting on Ashton's nerves by calling him "baby" or repeating instructions I may give to Ashton. He knows how to get to his brother!!

And lastly, Collin is still the messiest eater around. In fact, tonight I told him that starting tomorrow he will help me clean up his side of the table and chair after he eats. His messiness is out of hand. Ashton has warned him that at school, he will be the kid who has to clean the floor. I mean, he smears his hands all over his side of the table at every meal and when he is eating food just pours out of his mouth. No matter how hard we try to teach him table manners, it has not sunken in! I really don't know where he gets his grossness from! I mean, one day recently he was eating a carrot while pooping. In a hotel this year, Wes told me he licked the shower curtain! This is the most horrifying thing for me bc I am such a germaphobe in a hotel room. I mean, it is not unusual for us to tell him not to lick things and then he just grins that goofy grin with his head cocked to the side and runs off hand flailing and you have to laugh...

Thank you God for Collin!!

Addison our cousin who Embry enjoys playing with

Our Nina is a good sport! She sure loves celebrating birthdays!

Collin loved Percy decorations I put around the house

He loves Toy Story lately and had so much fun immediately making Buzz and Woody talk. We love how much he pretend plays. I head him make Woody say, "I'm the real cowboy just like in the movie, Toy Story 2!"

Embers loving the spray park! He looks so old right here

Of course pretending he is tee-teeing. Boys boys boys!!

His cake...a mommy disaster! He asked me months ago to make a cake that looked like one in a book we have where Buzz is celebrating his birthday. I tried but it crumbled so bad and when I poured the strawberry icing on, it looked like a pink volcano had erupted. But...it did taste good!

Rained in!!!

We were planning on going to see Sugar Hill fireworks with our neighbors tonight but they were rained out. The boys were so disappointed so we decided to plan a special night indoors. They have been wanting to camp out in the basement so Wes set up the tent and we let them stay up to watch Toy Story 2 and then sleep downstairs with Wes. They were super excited and so cute!!!

St Simons Trip Day #5

Sothe last day on our vacation it was really rainy. We drove to Brunswick and went on the Earth Day nature trail I happened to find online that is apparently a local's spot. It was awesome!! It was really well done and you could walk on bridges out over the marsh. We saw more crabs than we had ever seen and the boys were amazed. We had a picnic afterwards between the nature trail and the coastguard station and the coastguards were yelling to us that rain was coming so we ended up eating in the van. It was a great ending to our trip!!!

Millions of Crabs!!!

St Simons Day #4

Day #4 Embry really liked the sand and was content with a stick digging for like over an hour! We dug a big hole and Wes put him in it which he was not too happy about it. Then Wes convinced Ashton to let us bury him standing up and he was a good sport about it! That night we went to the pier and playground. On the way home, we stopped at McDonald's for a treat. The night before our trip I printed and studied a lot of fast food restaurant's allergy menus and searched for tips from other allergy moms who had tried different things. ( I mean a trip with allergy kids is VERY stressful as far as eating out) We take so much food bc we have to cook most meals and we really have to plan where we will stop on the road.  I have mentioned before you have to watch the fast food people like a hawk to make sure they change their gloves like you ask and if they do something wrong, you have to ask them to start over and sometimes they aren't too happy with you. Anyway, I saw McDonald's apple pies were safe. We decided to try it. Ashton had never been to a McDonalds before and Collin had only been once. When we pulled in, Ashton asked if we were getting something for only Wes and me which we never do in front of him unless it's coffee or something he wouldn't like. when we told him we were all eating dessert there, he squealed with excitement. I started crying it was so emotional. The funny thing is most people know I hate McDonalds and their nasty food and all they stand for but having your kid squeal because he gets to eat there even though there is like one thing on the menu he can have is so emotional. I get really anxious when we try something new like this so I was a nervous wreck and praying constantly but it worked out  and he loved it and so we now finally have a dessert we can take him and embry to get at a place that is everywhere! Phew!

I enjoyed having a sleeping baby on the beach for probably the last time.

Ashton's faces are so awesome lately

not happy daddy!!

We have to work on Embry who sits in this position just like Ashton did and his physical therapist had us correct when he was a baby!!

This is a cute little outfit that says the beach can be such fun that all three boys have worn.

Ashton in the same outfit. I couldn't find one with Collin but he wore the same one!

 

St Simons Day #3

Day #3 was much better. We went out early and the water was so calm that Collin played a lot more and loved running with Ashton. We saw so many jellyfish washed up! They boys were scared but curious. They made an awesome sand castle with Wes with a moat around it. Embry was so satisfied in the sand. He is so focused! I guess that's a good sign but it also means, he gets cranky if he doesn't get what he wants! That afternoon it rained so we ate dinner at Barbara Jeans and then went out on the beach in the evening. This is my favorite time with the boys. They love running on teh beach when it's cooler and we got to see a beautiful double rainbow over the water. I had brought their headlamps to look for crabs and they had a ball wearing them. Embry was just starting to walk more and loved walking with his big brothers on the beach.