The Wilks Family

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2012-01-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Kenny's 34th birthday on the 9th with a cake ball cake!

Reid at 6 months

2012-01-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

At 6 months Reid...

sits up like a big boy (with a pillow or two behind him just in case he falls),

has the best smile and still loves bath time,

tries to grab everything he gets close to (especially Colby's toys),

loves to jump and swing in his jumper,

and has discovered Jazzy!

Reid is quite the big boy now. He weighed almost 19 pounds at his 6 month checkup. He eats fruits and vegetables in addition to his cereal and can roll just about anywhere he wants to!

Leaves

2012-01-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

We have had a lot of beautiful weather so far in January and Kenny took advantage of it to get the leaves up a few weeks ago. Colby had been asking for weeks when we were going to rake the leaves so he could play in them.

Christmas 2011--Whew this is a long one!

2011-12-31T18:43:00.000-08:00

We had a busy but fun Christmas in Oklahoma!

Santa came!

And, the excitement was too much for this little guy to handle so he was up bright and early at 5 am to see what Santa brought!

On the other hand, this big guy slept until 8 am, but he too was very excited to see what Santa brought.

Colby was probably more excited about going through his stocking than anything else.

And Reid was just excited to put everything in his mouth!

Showing off his new Rudolph nose!

Then, Daddy had to take a turn.

Family picture after church.

My sister Melody, Ryan, Landry, Aubrey and Hailey

My brother CR, Carrie, Asa, Vivi, Zell and Fanny

My little brother Joe, Meghan and Elle

My sister Val, Chris and Colson

My favorite part of the day..getting to hold my newest niece Fanny Elizabeth!

Mom and Dad

After lunch the grand kids opened their gifts and my parents surprised them all with rocking saddle horses.

Fanny and Reid

After a few days in OK, we made it back home where Colby couldn't wait to take his bike around the neighborhood.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2011-12-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

We had a busy December and Colby had a lot of fun with various Christmas activities.

We decorated Colby's Christmas tree. He insisted that his tree was his friend and needed to be surrounded by his blankie, book, sword, and snowman.

He strung the beads...

and only knocked his tree over a few times during the process!

The finished product! Colby had a lot of fun with his little tree this year. He pulled quite a few ornaments off our big tree and ran to put them on his, insisting they looked better on his!

We went to the holiday breakfast at our church where Colby decorated an ornament,

made reindeer food,

decorated a bag for his crafts,

made a snowflake (he worked hard on this and loved doing it),

and posed for one picture with Reid. Colby refused to go see Santa at the breakfast. He has never had a fear before but for some reason this year he wasn't sure he wanted to see Santa.

However, the next day we went to see Santa at the mall and after a little convincing from his friend Kyle (who we ran into while waiting in line to see Santa), Colby sat on Santa's lap and told him he wanted a Star Wars Millennium Falcon. I didn't even know what this was but I decided I should probably find out before Christmas morning because prior to this Colby would only say that Santa could bring him whatever he wanted to.

We attended the Christmas program at our church where Colby sang a few songs along with the preschoolers. Can you find him? I wasn't able to get close enough for a good picture but as soon as he stood up I was able to find him (look on the bottom row on the left side of the stage).

Here is Colby after the program with his friend Kyle.

And finally, Colby had a party at school where he made a snow globe, played some games,

and decorated cookies.

Colby Turned 4!

2011-12-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

On December 13th my baby turned 4 years old! I say it all the time, but it is truly hard to believe that he is now 4! However, Colby reminds me daily that he is not the baby because he is 4 and Baby Reid is now the baby. I guess he is right!

We celebrated his birthday several days before the 13th with a Cowboy Party. Colby has talked about having a Cowboy party since his 3rd birthday and he has already told me he wants a Spiderman party when he turns 5. I guess we will see if he sticks with that or not!

Colby was very into planning his party this year and was very specific about a few things he wanted. He insisted on having cupcakes, having a pinata and he wanted to play a lot of games! I got a kick out of how involved he wanted to be with the party planning! We didn't tell him until the day before that we were having the party at a place that had a petting zoo and pony rides.

Pop Pop and Grandma surprised Colby and Reid when they woke up on party day. Colby was very excited they came to town for his party.

Colby and his friends loved riding the pony.

Claire and Elic with one of the miniature horses.

Reid even got the chance to sit on the pony thanks to Pop Pop hanging on.

Karl Mikal and the bunnies.

Jake pinning a sheriff badge on Cowboy Colby.

Colby "roping" the saw horse Kenny made the night before the party!

Caroline taking a turn at the pinata.

Gathering the goodies.

Colby, Caleb and Bo blowing out the candles!

There were a lot of blue, red and brown faces after the cupcakes. Sorry moms! Here is Caroline.

Eli

Mallory

Then, it was time to open presents! Colby had a wonderful 4th birthday thanks to all his sweet friends!

Here is Colby and Kenny on his actual birthday. He was finally willing to hold up 4 fingers. Colby was a little bothered by the fact that his party was several days before he actually turned 4. He has reminded me several times that next year's party has to be on his actual birthday!

Reid is 5 Months old

2011-12-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

Reid is now 5 months old and it really amazes me how much he has changed in just the last few weeks. We were afraid he would never roll over from his back to his tummy, but he did it for the first time in his crib on the day he turned 5 months old (of course it was at about 5 am and he wasn't happy about it!).

Since then he has become quite the little roller. There have been several times when I have put him on his mat and the next thing I know he has rolled half way across the room! I thought I had a while before I had to worry too much about keeping things away from Reid, but it looks like I need to start now!

We also started giving Reid cereal a few weeks ago. He was certainly ready. He eats it like a champ! We will probably start trying vegetables and fruits soon now that he has done so well with cereal.

Reid has also started to pay a lot of attention to Colby and of course Colby loves it now that Reid actually interacts with him. Here is Colby showing off that he is now 4 years old (post coming soon!) while we were taking Reid's 5 month pictures.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

I am way behind on blogging, but I didn't want to forget posting a few pictures from our trip to KS for Thanksgiving. While we were there we went to a kids museum, celebrated an early Christmas, and just enjoyed spending time with Kenny's family.

Colby was very excited about this trip and for the first time he seemed very interested and concerned about Thanksgiving dinner. Kenny and I were both shocked at how well he sat and ate with all of the adults (he was the only kid at Thanksgiving).

Colby and Aunt Linda "riding" the horses at the museum.

Aunt Linda, Colby and Taylor inside the castle.

Checking out something in the microscope.

Although he got in it with Kyle, Colby was not very excited about the tornado simulator.

Colby was of course very excited about having an early Christmas! He spent a lot of time looking at all of the gifts and counting how many had his name on it.

And, he wanted to help anyone who would let him open their presents.

Kyle and Reid

Gotta love the excitement on little kids faces when they open gifts!

Reid loves his new peek-a-boo bear and K-State bunny!

Colby LOVES his new K-state gear. After he tried on his sweatshirt he kept pulling up the hood and asking us if he was cool! He definitely has a lot of purple in his closet now so I might have to make sure he gets some more OSU orange gear soon to balance it out!

My sweet baby!

Reid and Aunt Linda. Aside from having a few rough moments on the way home, Reid was a happy traveler!

Fall Program

2011-12-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

Colby had his fall program at preschool in mid-November. All of the kids were different woodland animals. The 3 year olds were racoons. Colby was very excited about the program and he did a great job singing his songs!

Reid at 4 months

2011-12-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

Now that Reid is just a few days from being 5 months old I am finally getting around to posting pictures of him at 4 months.

Reid weighed 16 lbs at his appointment and was 26 inches long. He is growing like crazy!

Big brother had to join in the picture fun so he ran and grabbed one of his stuffed animals.

In the past few weeks Reid has started to grab at EVERYTHING and of course it usually goes straight to his mouth.

He has the best smile! I have had a hard time getting many pictures of his sweet smile. He tends to get very serious when the camera comes out so this is one of my favorites pics of him so far.

He has started to spend a lot of time in his exersaucer and he really seems to enjoy playing with his toys!

Go Cowboys!

2011-11-14T20:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Oklahoma for the OSU vs. KSU game. It has been four years since I have been to a game in Stillwater and it is always fun to go when my team (Oklahoma State) plays Kenny's team (Kansas State). We knew it would be a good game and it didn't disappoint!

We spent a little time walking around campus. Colby had fun running up and down the steps at the student union. Sitting right below us as we were taking this picture was Brandon Weedon, OSU's quarterback who is in the running for the Heisman Trophy. I didn't want to bother him to get a picture of Colby with him, but I am still kicking myself today that I didn't do it!

Colby enjoyed walking through what he thought was a maze. It was really just some landscaping out in front of the student union.

The fountain in front of the library was empty so Colby ran all over it.

Later in the afternoon Colby and cousins Landry, Aubrey and Hailey posed with Pistol Pete,

and a cheerleader,

spent some time wrestling on the lawn,

and got their picture with Bullet!

We were planning to take Colby to his first OSU game (we took him to a K-state game when he was about 9 months old). We knew he would love it, however the game got set for 7 pm and it was really cold and windy outside. So, he opted to stay at the hotel to play with his cousins and my mom who had come up to watch Reid so I could go to the game.

We had great seats thanks to my sister and her in-laws. They have front row season tickets right above the opposing team. It is always fun to see the game up that close and to watch what goes on with the coaches and players. Kenny was happy because he got to see K-State's legendary coach Bill Snyder up close. Of course the outcome of the game wasn't what he had hoped, but I was happy!

I actually missed the last ten minutes of the game because my mom sent me a text saying Reid woke up and was upset so I headed to the hotel. I think I missed 5 touchdowns being scored (3 by OSU and 2 by KSU) in those ten minutes! However, I did get to experience something I never thought would happen...an Earthquake! A few minutes after I got back the hotel started shaking and I heard a very loud roaring sound. If I had not heard about an earthquake happening the day before in Oklahoma I think I would have been scared to death! It was a wild experience and turned out to be the biggest earthquake (5.6) in Oklahoma's history. Kenny, my sister, her husband and mother didn't feel a thing as they were walking to their car from the football stadium. I thought it was really strange that they had no idea the earthquake had happened even though they were just a few miles from me. I guess maybe you feel it more when you are a few stories up in a building. Thankfully, Colby, Reid and my nieces all slept through the earthquake. It was definitely a weekend to remember!

Zoo Trip

2011-11-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we got out and enjoyed a beautiful fall day at the zoo. We haven't been in over a year and as usual Colby loved it. I think he really liked it because he had a lot of friends to go around the zoo with. Reid also seemed to enjoy his first trip. I was very surprised but he stayed awake until the very end.

Here is the crew- Hagan, Beau, Reid, Jake, Colby, Mallory, Karl Mikal and Heidi.

The big kids!

Colby, Karl Mikal and Heidi

While we were there the trainers were working with the lions and we were able to watch. I thought it was very interesting and pretty amazing to see the lions up so close.

The cheetah was putting on a show as he kept pacing in front of the glass. The kids loved watching him up so close. Colby was super excited every time he came around and walked in front of them.

They fed the giraffes.

Colby rode a pony,

petted some animals,

and both Colby and Reid crashed on the way home!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

We started out celebrating Halloween the Friday before when we went Trunk or Treating at our church. About 30 minutes before we were leaving Colby decided he did not want to dress up in his Halloween costume, which was Dash from the Incredibles movie. He said he wanted to be a pirate and he went and put on his eye patch. I convinced him that his pirate costume from last year was too small and would have been too cold to wear to trunk or treat. After a ten minute debate about what he wanted to put on (thanks to cousin Colson we have a few hand me down costumes), he finally settled on being a cowboy!

Thankfully, this sweet guy doesn't have any negotiation skills yet and so he was happy to be a pumpkin!

Karl Mikal and Colby

Caroline, Ellie, Colby

A few days before Halloween Colby received a package in the mail from The Great Pumpkin. He was very excited to get a box in the mail and the first thing he always ask is"is it from the Easter Bunny"! He loves his new Halloween pillowcase and of course the candy! It looks like Aunt Linda and Uncle Mark had a talk with the Great Pumpkin like they did with the Easter Bunny!

Colby and Kenny carved a pumpkin, or really Kenny carved it. I thought Colby would love it, however once he smelled the pumpkin he did not want any part in taking out the seeds.

Colby did help draw out the design for the pumpkin.

Kenny did the hard work.

Colby did have fun helping to light up the jack-o-lantern.

Colby had a party at preschool where he made a bat,

played some games,

and had some treats.

And finally, we went trick or treating. Colby decided that he wanted to be Dash on Halloween night, minus the mask. He got to trick or treat with his friend Caroline and had a great time!

THE END!

Soccer

2011-10-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Colby played soccer this fall for the first time. He wasn't on an official team but played in a mini league put on by the local Y. It was really just soccer practice for three weeks and then his little team scrimmaged the other little teams for three weeks. It worked out really well and allowed Colby to get a taste for playing soccer.

For the most part Colby loved it. He actually scored a few times. Of course the first goal he scored was for the wrong team! I wish I had a video of it because I will never forget how excited he was when he scored! He ran off the field and over to me yelling "did you see me score mommy!". I had to tell him to get back in the game!

The last week it was raining outside so they played inside the gym.

His little team.

Colby's first trophy!

Fall is here!

2011-10-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that fall is finally here! I am especially happy that it has cooled down and we can be outside again. We have made several trips to the arboretum lately and most of these pictures were taken there. The first trip was in late September when my mom came to visit.

As usual, Colby is a ham for the camera.

I am not sure Reid enjoys it much when Colby is holding him!

We spend a lot of time in the hay bale maze.

We have also watched a lot of football this fall and we are loving that Oklahoma State and Kansas State are both ranked. Of course, I dress my boys in orange as much as possible!

On our latest trip to the arboretum, Colby insisted on bringing his binoculars so he could find "the great pumpkin"! He is a little obsessed right now with Charlie Brown.

Always making a funny smile!

I wonder if I will ever be able to get a good picture of these two together?!?!

Love this sweet smile!

We had a great weekend with Grandma and Grandpa!

3 Months Old

2011-10-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Reid turned 3 months old a few weeks ago. He continues to keep us smiling!

Reid loves to "talk". It is almost like is wants to have a conversation with you. At times he will jabber back and forth for a long time.

He loves to play on his play mat and he is usually joined by big brother, who also seems to have as much fun as Reid!

Reid is getting stronger everyday and enjoys sitting in his little seat. However, he still does not like tummy time at all!! He cries through most of it, however he has learned to roll over (of course the first time he did it I wasn't looking!) so now he usually rolls over as fast as he can when we put him on his tummy.

Pics of Reid

2011-10-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I have intended to post these pictures for weeks now, but as usual I am way behind on things! When Reid was two weeks old our friends Sharon and Karson came over and spent several hours taking pictures of Reid. Karson did an amazing job (despite having Colby bugging him the entire time!) and he took a lot of sweet pictures of little Reid (far too many to post here!). Thanks Karson and Sharon!

Big and Little RB

2011-09-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

Reid Baker Wilks with Ralph Baker Freeman

We named Reid after his Great-Grandad Freeman (my Grandad). Baker is my Great- Grandmother's maiden name, which she passed on to my Grandad. Although my Grandad usually goes by Ralph, he is sometimes called RB. We didn't plan it, but Reid also shares his initials so who knows maybe someday Reid will be called little RB.

Reid- 2 Months Old

2011-09-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to believe that Reid is already 2 months old! Time has flown by. Reid has really grown and changed a lot in the past two months. He weighed a little over 14 pounds today at his 2 month check-up and was 24.5 inches long. It looks like we have another big baby on our hands!

Reid's personality is starting to show. He smiles a lot now, loves to take a bath, go outside and sit in his swing. However, he is not a fan of doing tummy time. He cries the entire time!

Love this smile!

and this sad face!

Here are a few pictures of Reid over the past few months.

Reid at 1 week old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

1 month old

Look at those cheeks!

Back to School

2011-09-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Colby's preschool started last week and he was very excited to go back! I was a little worried that he would have a hard time going this year because I am just dropping him off. I decided not to teach preschool this year so I could be home with Reid. However, Colby didn't mind at all. On the first day he ran right in and found his seat! Colby loves his new teacher and had a great first day!

Colby is proud of his new backpack!

Colby and Mrs. Annette.

My Helper

2011-08-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Whether we are changing diapers,

or trying to take Reid's picture,

or trying to put Reid in the nap nanny,

or letting him do tummy time,

or putting Reid in his swing, big brother Colby is right there helping (sometimes too much)!!

Coming Home

2011-08-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

We spent 4 nights in the hospital and couldn't wait to get home so we could spend more time with Colby and Reid together. I was finally feeling well after having spinal headaches the majority of the time I was in the hospital (due to a bad epidural). After two procedures to try and get the headaches to go away I was so excited that I felt well enough to go home. Little did I know the spinal headaches would return when I got home and I would spend another 4 days in bed. Thankfully, when Reid was a week old the headaches went away and praise God they haven't returned!

All ready to go!

Colby ran out to meet us when we pulled in the garage.

He couldn't wait to see his baby brother!

I was excited to hear all about his week at vacation bible school, which he went into with great detail!

I love this grumpy man face!

At last, asleep in the cradle!

Meeting Reid

2011-08-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Pop Pop

Grandma

Colby and his cousins checking on baby Reid in the nursery.

Colby, Hailey and Landry were very excited to help Kenny bring Reid back to our room from the nursery.

Aunt Val and Colson

Hailey- she was so excited to meet little Reid. She even tried to convince Colby to trade one of her little sisters for Reid! I didn't hear them discussing it but apparently it was pretty funny because Hailey was serious and Colby was adamant that he was not going to give up Reid!

Landry and Hailey

Aunt Melody

Grandma

Grandpa

Aunt Linda

Reid Baker Wilks

2011-08-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

Reid Baker Wilks

July 7, 2011

8 lbs. 6 oz.

21 3/4 inches

I am only 5 weeks behind in blogging about our sweet baby Reid! He surprised us one day earlier than we expected. I was scheduled to have a c-section on the afternoon of July 8th, however I started having a lot of contractions on the afternoon of the 7th. After several hours of the contractions being 5 minutes apart I decided to call my doctor. Her nurse quickly told me I should have already gone to the hospital! We got to the hospital about 6:00 pm but I wasn't really sure I was in labor. It wasn't until the nurse started tracking my contractions that I realized we were definitely about to meet Reid! Kenny and I were both a little shocked when the nurse said we would be having the c-section in an hour because we were still thinking they may send me home and tell me to come back the next day. It ended up being about two hours because of some complications with my epidural, but at 8:58 pm on the 7th Reid arrived!

Thankfully my sister was already in town so she took Colby and my nephew to dinner and a movie while we were at the hospital. She then brought Colby up that night so he could get a quick peak at Reid.

The next day Colby came back and was very excited about getting to hold Reid.

We feel so blessed that Reid is here and is a healthy little boy!

7/7/11 Trip to the Aquarium

2011-07-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

My sister Valerie and nephew Colson came to visit a few days before Reid was scheduled to arrive so we decided to take the boys to the aquarium on the 7th. Little did we know that we would start the day at the aquarium and end the day meeting little Reid!

Colson and Colby

Colby loved the octopus

Checking out the sharks

Hanging out with mommy

Making silly faces in front of the flamingos

Go Fish!

2011-07-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

Colby has really been into playing cards lately. It all started a few months ago when Kenny's mom taught him how to play slap jack.

Then last week Kenny taught Colby how to play Go Fish. It is really funny to watch how serious he takes playing cards. He insists on holding his cards just like Daddy does and he is even really pretty good at playing without too much help. I think his favorite part is when he gets to tell you to Go Fish!

Summer Fun

2011-06-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

Despite the heat, we have spent as much time outside this summer as we can (or as I can stand!).Colby is at an age where he does not want to stay home for very long, or if we are home he wants to be out doing something in the yard. He asks me every night when I put him to bed what we are going to do the next morning.

A few weeks ago Colby and I joined some friends to go and meet Lightning McQueen and several other characters from the Cars movie. They were in town doing a promo and despite it being VERY hot, Colby enjoyed getting to see the cars!

Of course Mater was a favorite!

Here is Colby, Heidi and Karl Mikal.

We have been swimming a lot! Colby is taking lessons one day a week and so far he is doing really well. He can actually swim fairly well but when we take him to the pool he just wants to play. He can now touch in a big section of the pool so getting him to practice his new skills has been tough!

Of course we have broken out the kiddie pool and played a lot with the water hose!

Colby helped Kenny put new mulch down in the play area.

And Colby has "mowed" the yard a few times. I love how this toy has been a favorite for 3 summers now!

Celebrating Reid!

2011-06-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

My sweet friends threw a wonderful "buckaroo" baby shower a few weeks ago to celebrate little Reid. The decorations were very cute and of course the food was great too! I felt so blessed!

The hostesses: Lindsey, Haylee, me, Sharon, Heather, Marla and Michelle. Allison and Heather were also hostesses but were not able to make it.

I love the diaper cake!

And, I ate way too many of these yummy cakes!

Marla made this adorable banner that I can't wait to hang up in our home when we bring Reid home in just a few weeks!

My niece Aubrey got to come along and she helped open gifts a few times. We received so many sweet things for Reid. Despite my procrastination, it has been a lot of fun getting everything ready for his arrival!

Here is Marla and Aubrey playing with a Poke-A-Dot book that was a gift from my friend Anna. This book was a huge hit with my nieces and with Colby. In fact I have had to hide it from Colby so he doesn't wear the book out before Reid has the chance to play with it.

Thank you friends for such a sweet shower!

May catch up

2011-06-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

I am very behind on posts, but here is a short recap of what we had going on in May!

We had several rainy and cool days in May (boy has that changed now that is it June!) and Colby didn't miss an opportunity to get out and play in the rain.

We went to an aquarium with our friends Caroline, Jake and Mallory. They had some crazy looking white alligators!

Colby loved the little sharks,

and the octopus arms.

But his favorite part was getting to pet the stingrays!

We also spent a weekend in OK at my sisters to celebrate my nieces birthdays. Colby couldn't resist "riding" Hailey's pony as we were trying to get them to settle down for bed.

Here are the birthday girls! I didn't get any actual pictures of their very cute parties (my sister goes all out!) but here is Aubrey who is now 1 and Hailey who turned 6!

First and Last

2011-05-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of Colby's first and last day of preschool this past year. It is fun to see how much he has changed over the past 8 months!

Here is Colby on his first day back in September with his teacher Mrs. Carrie.

Here is Colby on his last day with his teacher Mrs. Dawn.

Mrs. Carrie had a baby in March so Mrs. Dawn stepped in. Colby really loved school and both his teachers this year! Colby loves to learn and he enjoyed making an alphabet book along with all his craft projects this year (he gets very upset if he finds one in the trash!). And although he probably wasn't the best at sitting still and staying in his chair, he has grown up so much this past year! We are ready for fall and a big 3 yr old class!

We Are Going On A Picnic...

2011-05-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

Colby had his preschool program on Monday night. It was a picnic theme and the 2 yr olds were dressed as picnic tables with a slice of watermelon on top!

Colby only sang 2 or 3 words of the first song, although he knew them all very well. He spent most of the time jumping around and playing with his "picnic table".

Here is he with his buddy Jake watching the older kids have their turn.

Mother's Day Picnic

2011-05-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day evening Colby decided he and I were going to have a picnic. He went and gathered up all of his play food and then ran to his bedroom to get his blankie to use as our picnic blanket. It was the best picnic I have ever had!

A Night Out

2011-05-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

Kenny and I don't make it out very often (sadly!). But thanks to our good friends Darren and Marla we were able to spend last Friday night going out to dinner and actually getting to walk around a shop without chasing Colby down!

We also had a night out over a month ago with our good friends Sharon and Karson. Kenny and I both really like the Zac Brown Band and we were very excited when we heard they were coming to town. They were playing with Kenny Chesney and it turned out to be a great concert and a very fun night out!

Me and Sharon

Karson, Sharon, Me, Kenny

Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a recap of our Easter weekend in OK.

On Saturday, Colby got his picture with the Easter bunny (a scary looking one if you ask me!).

We then went on an Easter egg hunt that my hometown puts on. I have to say it was more like an Easter egg grab than hunt. They laid over 5,000 eggs on the ground and kids just raced to see who could pick up the most!

Later that afternoon all the cousins dyed Easter eggs.

Colson and Vivi

Colby was very proud of the dozen he dyed (it took him all of 10 minutes to finish!).

My little brother Joe with his little girl Elle. They look so much alike!

One sleepy boy checking out his Easter basket.

Sweet little Aubrey loved her pink egg.

Landry loved Aubrey's new toy!

Colby and Landry hamming it up!

Colby, Hailey, Aubrey and Landry ready to head to church.

We tried to get a good family shot, but this is the best one.

After church and lunch all of the cousins got ready for the family Easter egg hunt.

Colby had to work a little harder this time to find some eggs.

My sweet niece Elle watched from the porch.

After it was over we had to count Colby's eggs to see if he won a prize.

Colby did get a prize for finding the most eggs for the 3 and under group, but thankfully he did not find the golden egg like my niece Vivi! She was very excited about her huge chocolate bunny. I am just glad it did not come home with us!

And finally, a Freeman Family function would not be the same without an animal encounter of some kind! Colby and all the cousins were pretty excited about getting to "ride the bull"! I thought Colby would be afraid to get on the calf, but as it turns out he loved it and was even a little upset that my brother wouldn't let go and let the calf run with him on his back!

I was wrong!

2011-04-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny apparently does make larger eggs!

Colby received his 6th box from the Easter bunny the week before Easter.

He was super excited about his HUGE egg!

And of course, Colby couldn't get enough of all the candy, book, stickers and fun toys inside the egg! Aunt Linda and Uncle Mark apparently kept the Easter Bunny busy during his stay with them!

The Easter Bunny has been busy!

2011-04-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

About once a week for 5 weeks now Colby has been receiving boxes in the mail from the Easter Bunny. The first box started out with small plastic eggs full of candy and coins for his piggy bank. The eggs have progressively gotten larger with increasing amounts of candy and fun toys for Colby. Needless to say, Colby goes crazy over his boxes from the Easter Bunny. In fact he tells me almost daily that he hopes he has another box outside!

Receiving these boxes has led to him asking a lot of questions about where the Easter Bunny lives and what he does. I haven't ever thought about it, so I told him the Easter Bunny was really busy at his house getting eggs decorated to deliver Easter morning. What I really wanted to tell him was that the Easter Bunny must have taken up residence in Kansas and was spending a lot of time with Aunt Linda and Uncle Mark!!

Box two (I missed getting pictures of the first box).

Box three.

Box four.

Box five! I didn't know they made eggs this big!

Buzz and Woody on Ice

2011-04-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

We took Colby to see Toy Story on Ice last weekend. Colby was in awe the entire show and sat most of it on the edge of his seat. It was fun watching how excited he got each time a new character came out. My pictures didn't turn out great, but here are a few.

Picnic at the Arboretum

2011-04-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we met some friends at the Arboretum for the kids to have a picnic and run around. I tried to get some pictures of Colby and his friends, and I got a few cute ones, but they were all so busy running around and playing that most of them didn't turn out.

Caroline and Colby

Playing in one of the Fairy Tale houses that are set up right now at the Arboretum.

I love this picture of Colby. This is his normal smile. I usually get the extra cheesy smile!

Colby tried and tried to grab Rapunzel's hair in her tower, but he didn't succeed!

Colby hiding behind the pea in the Princess and the Pea's house.

Karl Mikal, Colby and Caroline. I tried and tried to get all three looking at the camera, but I wasn't successful!

This picture really doesn't show how pretty the flowers are this year at the Arboretum. If I wasn't so busy chasing Colby I could have walked around for hours and taken tons of pictures of all of the beautiful tulips, azaleas and other flowers.

I finally got all three kids looking at the camera, but they were all laughing and making funny faces at different times. Oh well, they had so much fun together it doesn't matter that the pictures aren't perfect.

Spring Break

2011-04-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

Colby and I went on a short trip over spring break to OK to see family and friends. Unfortunately, Kenny was stuck at home working. The life of an accountant in the spring!!

We started our trip by going to see our friends the Boswells. Colby loves Macy and Jarett and still talks about them, even though we don't see them very often. We had dinner at Pops, which is a fun restaurant where you can have any kind of pop you can think of. The kids each got to pick their favorite flavor. Colby wasn't a big fan of the orange soda he selected but he took a few sips. I don't think he like the carbonation.

When we left, the big pop bottle in front of the restaurant was lit up. The kids had a good time running around it.

The next day we met up with my family to go to the spring stock show. We went to dinner and celebrated Zell's 6th birthday!

Colby and Zell waiting to see Vivi show her steer.

Vivi and her steer. She did a great job showing and even won her class!

Colby hanging out with Pop Pop and Asa.

Colby and Vivi.

Unfortunately we didn't end up staying at the stock show very long. I could have stayed for hours and watched the steer show (Crazy I know, but it brings back a lot of memories of when I was showing steers back in the day!). However, we needed to get back home and see Daddy! It was a fun few days and good to see friends and family.

My Little Painter

2011-03-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Colby is very proud of his latest painting where he decided he had to cover as much of the paper as possible! I like it, I think I may frame it!

Funny and Sweet

2011-03-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

Colby is quite the talker these days and he says some of the funniest and occasionally very sweet things.

For example:

"You got to play with me, you're my mommy!"

"Your the best mommy!" (my favorite)

"You are making me cranky"

"You are driving me crazy!" (I have never said this to Colby, at least not out loud, but I say it often to our dog so I assume that is where he picked it up from!)

"I big, I turned on the lights all by myself!" (he is very proud of this latest achievement)

"Get to work mommy, I have a lot to do."

"Your hair looks silly" (when I got home yesterday with a new haircut)

"I like it just a little bit" (Colby's reply about my hair when I said you don't like it?)

"I love doing laundry"

"Dat's AWESOME!" (Colby felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday, he was very excited)

"You can't wear that shirt anymore, it's too small. Your tummy is too big!" (love the honesty of a 3 yr old!)

Flood?

2011-02-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

You would think we were about to have a big flood if you were to see Colby in his play clothes. Most of his pants are now too short but I am holding off on buying any because I know spring is just around the corner! Poor guy will just have to make do a little bit longer!

Kitchen Superheros!

2011-02-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Colby and Kenny were playing while I was cleaning up the kitchen. Colby heard me putting the dishes away and wanted to help (he likes to put the silverware away). So, Transformer Colby and Batman Kenny came to rescue my dishes!

(disclaimer on the photos: these are not allowed to be used by any of Kenny's H&A coworkers or anyone for any purpose or I might be in trouble!!)

Pajama Day

2011-02-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when Colby had pajama day at preschool. They were learning about the letter P so they wore their pj's to school, had popcorn for their snack and pizza for lunch. Colby loved wearing his Batman pj's to school.

I loved Colby's expression when the popcorn starting coming out of the popcorn machine.

Here he is stuffing his mouth full of popcorn!

These last few pictures are of Colby during chapel. He is very animated and tries to do all of the motions to the songs. His funniest move is trying to do the air guitar, unfortunately he was moving so fast the picture didn't turn out!

Valentine's Party

2011-02-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics from Colby's Valentine's party at preschool. He was super excited about the party and has had a lot of fun eating all of the yummy Valentine's treats!

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

2011-02-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Kenny's parents came down for a visit. Colby was so excited they were coming. We made the mistake of telling him early on Friday morning they would be here that night and he asked us at least a 1,000 times throughout the day when they were going to get here!

On Saturday we went to the Museum of Nature and Science to see the dinosaur exhibit. Colby had a fun time seeing all of the dinosaurs, although he did run through the exhibit pretty quickly.

Colby was enamored by the life size t-rex that roared in the entry of the museum.

Several of the dinosaurs had control panels where you could push buttons and make their heads, legs, arms, and tails move.

Digging for fossils with daddy and grandpa.

He had to step inside the dinosaur foot to see how his compared.

Digging for more dinosaur bones.

After the dinosaur exhibit we went down to the children's museum to play in the water...

milk a cow....

and pretend to drive a fire truck.

When we returned home he couldn't wait to play his new game that Grandma got him. It is dinosaur checkers and we have played it daily! Colby hasn't quite figured it all out yet, but he loves trying. He remembers the rules of the game that Grandma taught him because he keeps correcting me when we play!

Ice, Ice, Ice, SNOW!

2011-02-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

We have had some crazy winter weather this year! Last week we spent 4 days at home due to an ice and snow storm. I think we played with every toy, puzzle, art supply, and ball that we own. Not to mention baked a lot and watched far too much TV. Colby and I were a little stir crazy after a few days.

Kenny took Colby out in the ice after he got home from work to let Colby play in it. Colby kept trying to pick up the snow and couldn't figure out why he couldn't! Colby also tried sliding down the side walk in a laundry basket. He wasn't a big fan, but he did stay out in the ice for a long time watching our neighbors do the same thing.

Colby was pretty creative with some of his toys. He found a string and tied his scooter to his tricycle and pulled it around the house!

We played a lot of basketball and kept score. Colby always won!

We sent Daddy to the store for eggs and he came back with stuff to make smores. They weren't the best due to the gas fireplace, but Colby still enjoyed it!

On Friday we woke up to this! It was beautiful outside and Colby was SO excited to see all of the snow. Although the ice was still below the snow it was nice to be able to get outside and not have to worry about sliding all around.

Even Jazzy loved to get out in it.

It wasn't the best snow for making a snowman but Colby didn't seem to mind.

We made snow ice cream!

On Saturday morning there was still plenty of snow in our yard and it finally started to warm up. Colby spent a good hour or so out playing with our neighbors. He helped them build a snow fort and had a snowball fight!

Colby was very sad when the snow melted, but it started snowing again last night. We don't have enough this time to get out in it to play but at least Colby still thinks it is winter! He told me a few days ago it must be spring because there isn't anymore snow on the ground!

Stock Show

2011-02-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

My sister, brother-in-law and their three girls came to town a few weeks ago and we took all the kids to the Ft. Worth Stock Show. The weather was great and we all had a fun time! Of course this was just a few days before the crazy winter weather hit!

Colby and Hailey. These two always have a great time together!

Landry, Colby and Hailey showing off their pig ears.

Sweet Aubrey slept most of the time!

They all loved the bunnies. This one looked like a stuffed animal! It is an Angora rabbit I think and it was really cute.

I thought Colby was going to jump in and try to ride this little calf!

And of course we had to check out the tractors. We saw a lot of other animals, but I didn't get any pictures of the pigs, goats, horses, etc. It was a great weekend and Colby was VERY sad when his cousins had to leave. He went and hid in our back living room because he was so sad they were leaving!

IT'S A .......

2011-02-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

Let's cut into this cake!

I think I see blue!!

IT'S A BOY!!!

I wanted to do something fun to find out what we were having this time (with Colby we found out at the doctor's office). So, I tortured Kenny for 4 days and made him wait until this past weekend to find out. I got the idea to have a cake made in either pink or blue from my friend Marla who did this a few years ago and my friend Amy graciously agreed to make us a cake. She did an amazing job and was sick the whole time she made it so I felt bad that she went to so much trouble!!

Despite Kenny giving me a hard time about making him wait, I am so glad we did it this way! It was a lot of fun to cut into the cake and see what we were having. Both Kenny and Colby guessed it was a boy all along and they were right! We are all very excited to have another little boy around here and for Colby to have a little brother!

We asked Colby on Sunday what he wanted to name his brother and he said "I can't say yet, we have to wait until he is here"! We both got a kick out of that because with Colby we truly did not decide which name to go with until a few minutes after he was born. Colby did tell me last night he wants to call him Bob and today it was Scooby, so who knows how many names our little guy will get before he arrives!

Nose Painting

2011-01-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when mommy leaves the room for a minute while I am painting!

Snow Day

2011-01-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

It snowed here almost two weeks ago, and although it looked beautiful falling it didn't really stick. Of course, that didn't slow Colby down. He was so excited when he saw it start snowing and he couldn't wait to get out in it. He was a little disappointed there wasn't enough snow to make a snowman, but he had a lot of fun having a snow ball fight with Daddy.

Gotcha Daddy!

Time to reload!

I'm going to get you again!

Piles of Fun

2011-01-21T18:37:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when we had some warm January weather. We have several large trees in both our front and backyard, which leads to raking leaves at least 3 times each fall and winter. It is quite the chore but I can't complain because Kenny does it!

This year Colby has had a lot of fun "helping" and we have spent hours raking the leaves into piles so Colby can run and jump in them, make leaf angels, hide his toys in the piles, etc.

He was very sad when Kenny took his piles away but I told him to just look up at the trees and he can see that there are thousands of more leaves that have yet to fall so we will be raking piles again soon!

Sharing Our News

2011-01-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

This little monkey has a big secret!

Colby is going to be a big brother in July!

We are very excited to share our news! I am not sure Colby fully understands what is happening. When we first told him several weeks ago that he needed to be careful when playing with Mommy because there was a baby in her tummy he kept saying "no, you don't have baby, I have baby brother in my tummy"! I don't know where that came from but he has insisted for a few weeks now that he is the one with the baby in his tummy.

I think it may be sinking in a little more now because I brought home a sonogram picture after my appointment this week and he was very interested in the picture of the baby. He kept asking me when is the baby going to get here, could he hold it, how was it going to get here, and was it a boy or a girl!

New Year's in Oklahoma

2011-01-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

We went to Oklahoma for New Years to celebrate Christmas with my family. Colby was very excited to see his cousins or "my friends" as he calls them, Grandma and Pop Pop and of course he was excited about getting more presents!

The cousins rang in the new year at about 9 pm!

Colby with big cousin Colson.

Family pic.

Colby had a hard time waiting until after lunch to tear into more presents.

Watch out everyone, there is a new sheriff in town!

Christmas in Kansas

2011-01-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

We spent several days over Christmas in Kansas with Kenny's family this year. Colby was so excited about going to Grandma and Grandpa's house that when we tried to stop halfway for lunch he didn't want to get out of the car! He kept saying "we can eat in Kansas"! We did finally convince him that we would get to Kansas soon, but we had to stop for lunch.

We had a great, relaxing time in Kansas and Colby really enjoyed Christmas this year!

Colby helped Grandma make chocolate pretzel candy. He took his job of lining up the pretzels and unwrapping the chocolates pretty serious.

On Christmas Eve, Colby helped Aunt Linda play games.

And, hung out with cousin Taylor.

We opened gifts on Christmas Eve and Colby was very into passing out the presents to everyone and also helping anyone who would let him open their presents.

Kenny's with Mr. Snowman that was his and his sister's when they were kids.

Colby remembered to put out the reindeer food he made at church and brought with us to Kansas. He even remembered on Christmas day to go out and see if the reindeer ate the food.

Before going to bed, Colby had to make Santa and himself a glass of chocolate milk. He told us several days before Christmas that he wanted to leave Santa chocolate milk and pancakes.

Colby insisted on making sure his stocking was hung up over the fireplace and that the cookies and pancakes were on the mantle. We tried to put them on a table near the tree, but he was certain they were supposed to be on the mantle! A funny story about the pancakes is that Santa only ate one bite, which Colby discovered Christmas morning. This upset him a little bit because he didn't understand why Santa did not eat all of the pancakes! So, he told me a few days ago he was going to leave cookies and chocolate milk for Santa next year because "Santa didn't like the pancakes, he only took one bite"!

On Christmas morning Colby wasn't quite sure what to do with the toys Santa left under the tree. But, before long he dug into all of them and had a great time with his new fireman station, books and other toys. He was especially excited about his new Iron Man toothbrush and reindeer pez dispenser that Santa left in his stocking.

Santa Times Two

2010-12-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

We went to a Christmas breakfast at our church this past weekend. It was the first time Colby had the chance to see Santa this year.

He enjoyed having breakfast with his buddy Elic.

Colby ran right up and climbed in the sleigh with Santa when it was his turn. I could barely hear him, but he told Santa he wanted a fire station for Christmas.

Colby made reindeer food to put out on Christmas Eve.

We took Colby after church on Sunday to see Santa at the mall. Again, he ran right up and sat on Santa's lap. I am not sure what all he told Santa he wanted this time, but he sat there for quite awhile!

3 Birthday Celebrations

2010-12-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Colby turned 3 on December 13th!! I say this a lot, but it really is hard to believe he is already 3 years old! This year Colby celebrated his birthday 3 times (or really 4 if you count preschool)! This is the first year he really understood it was his birthday and he has asked for months when his party was going to be.

His first celebration was over Thanksgiving while we were in OK. We had a joint "Pirate and Princess" party for Colby and my niece Landry who turned 3 at the end of November.

The cousins had fun going on a treasure hunt,

checking out the treasure map,

filling their mini treasure chests with goodies,

and eating these yummy cupcakes my sister made.

The birthday kids getting ready to open presents.

Colby loves "reading" his birthday cards!

The second celebration was on his actual birthday. Kenny and I gave Colby his present from us and he got to open several gifts from family.

Colby was very excited about all of his gifts!

He has been asking for a scooter for months and we finally decided to get him one. He was so excited when he opened it that he kept saying "oh, thank you daddy, thank you for my scooter!". Somehow he forgot to mention mommy! He still talks about how daddy got him a scooter for his birthday!

His third celebration was a few days later when he had a few friends over for a dinosaur safari.

The kids decorated their safari hats.

They then went outside to find dinosaurs!

My friend, Anna, made this adorable and yummy dinosaur cake!

Happy Birthday to my big 3 year old!

Christmas Parade

2010-12-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, Kenny, Colby and I met some friends downtown to go to the Children's parade. I have always wanted to go, and I am so glad we did. My pictures don't show how truly great the parade was. We all had a great time!

Colby and his friend Claire

Colby and Kenny watching a marching band. Colby was very excited about all of the music and at times was up dancing around and trying to sing the Christmas songs.

Colby's favorite part without a doubt was seeing all of the super heroes in the parade. Batman was first and I didn't think he could get any more excited, then came Iron Man! He ran around telling everyone that Iron Man was coming! He also kept telling us all of the different motions Spiderman was making when he went by. Even later on our way home, he kept telling us "spiderman do this" as he was trying to throw a web like Spiderman!

He was also very excited to see the pig Puddle (from Toot and Puddle), Curious George and Clifford.

I spent most of the parade, doing one of my favorite things, holding a baby! Claire has twin baby brothers and I got to cuddle with one of them while he slept!

And of course, Santa finished the parade. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and a great parade!

Elle Faith

2010-12-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

My newest niece Elle Faith arrived on October 30th! She has the prettiest, thickest, blackest hair I have ever seen on a baby! Here are a few pictures of Elle from when we were home for Thanksgiving.

Elle with her mommy Meghan.

The whole family, my little brother Joe, Meghan and Elle. Right now Elle is the spitting image of her daddy! In fact looking at her reminds me so much of Joe when he was a baby. I still remember the day he was born and it is hard to believe he is now a daddy!

Fall Preschool Program

2010-11-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

Colby was a pumpkin in the fall program at preschool this past week. I wasn't sure how he would do being in front of so many people and I actually wasn't able to see him at all while the 2 year olds were performing because my class was on the other side of the stage. However, I watched the video Kenny took and Colby was quite the little ham! He sang about two lines of the first pumpkin song, despite knowing all of the words. The rest of the time he just goofed off! He was laughing, making faces and dancing around! I am surprised he didn't fall off the stage!

One cute, overstuffed pumpkin!

Practicing those silly faces!

Look at my moves!

Showing off his thankful turkey. He was thankful for mommy, daddy, root beer (not sure where this came from since he has only had root beer once in his life!), blueberries, my home, Batman, Iron man, and Superman!

My Little Monkey

2010-11-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

Twice in the past week I have left Colby playing in his sandbox while I ran in to get something and when I returned I found this....

Apparently, he has learned to climb trees! He steps on his sandbox and gets up in the tree. And as you can see below, he thinks it is quite fun!

We have had several talks about not climbing the trees unless mommy or daddy are with him because he hasn't quite learned how to climb down (plus mommy is scared to death he could fall!).

Argh Matey!

2010-11-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Colby kicked Halloween off this year with his party at preschool. He had so much fun and was super excited about all of the candy treats he brought home! Colby has truly discovered candy after this weekend. He wakes up asking for "just one more piece"!

Despite Colby's new addiction to candy, we had a wonderful Halloween! Colby had so much fun this year at all of the different events we went to.

He has said for months he wanted to be a pirate and it worked out great because my nephew Colson had already handed down his pirate costume to Colby. However, the day before he was to dress up for the first time, he told me he wanted to be Iron Man. I am not sure where he heard about Iron Man, but he told me everytime we put on his pirate costume that he would be a pirate today, but was going to be Iron Man tomorrow!! So funny!

Friday night we went to trunk or treat at our church. Colby loved going around to look at all of the decorated trunks and to trick or treat.

On Saturday we went to see our family in OK and Colby went trick or treating with some of his cousins. He LOVED trick or treating again! I thought he would be shy going up to the houses, but he took right to it.

Here is Asa, the super OSU Cowboy! So cute!

On Sunday, all of the kids dressed up and had a Halloween party at Pop Pop and Grandma's house. Of course a trip to OK is not complete without a ride on a four wheeler!

Trying to get a picture of all of the cousins was nearly impossible. This was the best shot I got and most of their tongues are out. Vivi is an 80's Valley girl, Zell is Supergirl, Hailey is a mermaid, Colson is a cowboy that had been hit by an arrow, Colby is a pirate, Landry is a candy land princess, Asa is a super OSU Cowboy, and Colson is holding Aubrey who was a pig!

Grandma had games for them to play.

And they bobbed for apples. This was Colby's first time to ever do this and he loved it! Of course he used his hands a few times.

We wrapped the day up with Colby trying on the Spiderman costume my mom made for my little brother 20 years ago!! Here he is trying to learn to throw the web like Spiderman.

Cousin Time

2010-10-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Kenny's parents came to visit and brought Taylor and Kyle. Colby was super excited to see them all! He loves his "big" cousins and he was very sad when they left. Kenny took Taylor and Kyle to Six Flags. Unfortunately it rained and they weren't able to stay long. Colby was pretty upset that he didn't get to go to Six Flags. He kept saying "Me can go to Six Flags too!". Maybe next year!

Kyle and Colby

Taylor and Colby

Cowboy Up!

2010-10-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Colby loves pretending to be Woody the Cowboy and thanks to the costume Kenny found on sale, he now gets to dress like Woody!

On a Mission

2010-10-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what Colby is doing in this picture, but it cracks me up because it is so him! He picked out his outfit, complete with his cowboy belt and sunglasses, and he was on a mission.

Most of the time now he wants to pick out what he wears and he insists they have to match. We have had to convince him several times that he can wear any shirt with his jeans and khakis. If it is not the same color, he does not want to wear it! He even tells Kenny most mornings that he needs to change his clothes before he goes to work because he "not match" as Colby says.

We love Pumpkins!

2010-10-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

Last week my parents were in town and my mom and I took Colby to the Arboretum.

He had to have his map of course!

We tried out the hay bale maze.

Rolled a few pumpkins (not sure we were supposed to do this!).

Posed with Grandma.

Tried to sit still long enough to pose for Mommy.

Plowed a little.

Ran a lot!

And begged (and got) a new flute from the gift shop. Colby loves music and we had a lot of fun watching him march around and play his fute (as he calls it). He counts to 3 and stomps his foot a few times before he starts marching and playing. I am not sure where he got the idea to count off before he starts playing, but it is funny to watch.

County Fair

2010-09-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Colby and I made a quick trip to Oklahoma to see my niece Vivi show her steers at the County Fair. This was her first time to ever show cattle and despite being nervous, she did a great job and won, twice!

There was a petting zoo at the fair and Colby loved getting to see all of the animals, but he especially loved getting to sit on the bull!

The first night of the fair there was a pet show and my niece Zell showed her dog Buddy and won! She took her job of showing Buddy VERY serious and looked very cute doing it! Poor Buddy was such a good sport because not only did Zell show him during the pet show, but Colby also insisted on "showing" Buddy which led to him dragging Buddy around the show ring and the entire show barn several times!

There were several spats over who was going to lead Buddy around. Colby didn't understand why he couldn't show Buddy!

Here he is again begging to lead Buddy around! And yes he is barefoot, which I didn't realize until I chased him down to make him put his shoes back on. Colby was without a doubt the dirtiest I have ever seen him after going to the fair, but he had so much fun that it was worth letting him get so dirty!

Colby got his turn to pretend he was showing Buddy.

And finally, Colby and Zell made up and got tired of playing with Buddy so they decided to share a snowcone!

The next day we went back to the fair to watch Vivi show her steers.

We were also able to make it to my nephew Colson's football game that weekend. Every time we turn on a football game now, Colby reminds us that he got to go watch Colson play football!

First Day of School

2010-09-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day of preschool this year. Both Colby and I were very ready for school to start. I am teaching in the 2's again this year and Colby is down the hall from me in another 2's class.

Colby was all smiles before we left.

And, he was still smiling when we got to school.

He started to act pretty silly and a little shy when we went to his class. Here he is with his teacher Mrs. Carrie.

And when I left he was "hiding"!

Overall I think it was good first day! I saw Colby a few times during the day and he was having a good time. On our way home he told me all about playing with his friend Cooper and jumping over the candlestick (the lesson today was around the nursery rhyme Jack Be Nimble). He even took a short nap on his nap mat, which shocked me!

Paci Free....Finally!!

2010-09-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

A little over 2 weeks ago we finally bit the bullet and took away Colby's pacifier. I have said for over a year and a half that I was taking it away. However, I came up with every reason in the book why I didn't think it was a good time. Looking back I realize it probably would have been easier to take it away before he got so attached.

We talked about several different ways to get rid of it and we tried to come up with what would be the least traumatic to Colby. The only thing that Colby seemed to be ok with was to give the paci's to the baby bulls at Pop Pops farm. So, we went with that method.

We started out by letting Colby search all over the house for his paci's (using his flashlight of course!). And yes, they were all over the house. I swear we spent a small fortune on paci's over the past two and a half years and would find them in the most random places!

We then addressed and stamped the envelope.

Colby had to sign his name of course. You can kind of make out a C and an O!

We put it in the mailbox, for real! We made sure they actually made it in the mail more for Mommy and Daddy. I knew that if we didn't rid the house of paci's I would cave in and give him one when it got rough!

Then we were off to the mall for Colby to pick out a new stuffed animal to sleep with. Our goal was for him to find something to help take the place of the paci.

He picked out a cute doggie, that he plays with, but it really hasn't taken the place of anything. He can take it or leave it. The first night without the paci was by far the roughest. He woke up several times that night crying. He still asks for it occasionally. However, I have to say it has gone far better than I thought in most ways. I didn't expect him to try to give up taking a nap as soon as the paci was gone. But, that is what has happened. He goes to sleep at nighttime pretty easy, but nap time is still rough. Most days he just doesn't get one, however we are working to try and fix that!

A few days after we mailed the paci's to Pop Pop, my dad actually emailed Colby a few pictures of the baby bulls (aka, my niece Vivi's show calf) "using" his paci's! Colby got a big kick out of seeing the bulls with his paci's!

San Antonio and Sea World

2010-09-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Kenny and I took Colby on his first trip to San Antonio. I lived in San Antonio for almost 4 years and that is where Kenny and I met, so San Antonio is one of my favorite places in Texas. My sister Melody and her family met us there.

We took the kids on the boat tour of the Riverwalk, which they thought was so much fun!

Melody and Ryan with Hailey, Landry and Aubrey.

The next morning we were off to Sea World.

We fed the dolphins first.

Although we had enough strollers, the kids all opted to ride together in the double stroller.

We saw baby Shamu.

This picture isn't the best, but it is Colby and I getting on the mini Shamu roller coaster. This was Colby's first time to ride a roller coaster. He wasn't a big fan because he said it was too loud!

The kids had ice cream in the shape of Shamu.

Colby was our tour guide! I am not sure what it is with this kid and maps!

End of Day 1 silly faces.

The second day we went back for a few hours to watch some of the shows again and do some more exploring. Sunday seems to be a better day to go to Sea World, because it wasn't crowded at all.

Mommy checking out the flamingos with Colby's new binoculars.

We watched Shamu again.

Colby posed with the river otter (at least that is what I think it is).

And, we fed the dolphins one more time!

We finished the day playing at the hotel pool. Colby asks every few days if we are going to Sea World today!

Grandpa and Grandma

2010-09-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago Kenny's parents came to visit and we had pictures taken that weekend. Colby was quite the ham for the pictures, but I think they turned out great!

Recent Pics

2010-08-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. As usual, Colby is up to a lot of mischief!

Oh no Mom! I am sinking in my mud hole!

Looks like there are some big fish in here, Mom!

Can I please push baby Aubrey one more time!

Look at the cool tricks Hailey taught me, Mom!

I only had a few close calls with the couch and coffee table!

Only Daddy would teach me how to make a car out of my rocking chair, pillows, the ottoman and your lazy susan from the kitchen table!

My shows are so much better when I watch them from the top of my kitchen counter!

The Things He Says

2010-08-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some of Colby's favorite sayings right now. Some of them he has said for several months and some of them are recent additions to his vocabulary. Either way, he keeps us laughing (or sometimes crying!) with the things he says.

"Dis is my favite" (this is my favorite) Colby says this to EVERYTHING!

"That be bad"

"I'm havin a gate day mom" (I'm having a great day mom)

"No, five more times" Colby says this every time we say one more book or we will play one more time.

"Big, tall" Every time I say "just a little bit more" in reference to food, drinks, etc Colby always comes back with "No, big, tall".

"All of it mom, all of it" This is also said every time I pour Colby a cup of milk or juice.

"Me Woody the Cowboy, you Buzz Ightyear mom"

"How about you look right here" or "How about you come here"

"Watch me guys"

"DE-licious"

Rangers Game

2010-08-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

We took Colby to his first Rangers game a few weeks ago. My sister Valerie, brother-in-law Chris and nephew Colson game down for the weekend so we decided to join them at the game. We weren't sure how Colby would do since it was a night game, but he loved it! He insisted on bringing his Curious George baseball and glove, which he played with most of the game. The first hour or so he was enamored with the baseball game itself. The rest of the game he spent playing with his cousin Colson and Colson's friends.

Even though Kenny claims to not be a big baseball fan (basketball and football are his favorites), I am certain we will be going to a lot of baseball games in the future!

Tennis Anyone?

2010-07-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Colby's latest sports love is tennis. He saw Kenny's tennis racket in the garage a few weeks ago and now we have to play tennis daily.

I think he may have had it confused with baseball the first time he played because he insisted on wearing his bike helmet!

VBS

2010-07-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

These pics are a few weeks late, but I wanted to post a few from Vacation Bible School. Colby loved going everyday! He especially loved getting money from his piggy bank every morning to take and put in the treasure chest in his classroom, Our church was raising money for the His Chase Foundation during VBS and although I am not sure if Colby fully understood why he was bringing money to church, he loved it!

He also loved all the new songs he learned and we continue to play them daily as Colby does a lot of dancing, a little bit of singing, and a few motions to the songs! I have to give a big thank you to his two sweet teachers for the week, Kim and Michelle. I know they had their hands full with Colby!

Dancing during music time.

It was pretty hard to get any pictures of Colby because he was dancing in circles!

The last day of VBS they had dinner and games for the families to attend. Colby enjoyed the hay ride with Kenny, playing in the bounce houses, and trying some of the games.

Pizza!

2010-07-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

Fun on the 4th!

2010-07-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

Making a flag with Daddy.

Eating ice cream with cousins in OK.

Loving on baby cousin Aubrey.

Going on a crazy mule ride with Pop Pop.

Playing with cousin Asa.

And finally, getting to do sparklers and watch fireworks!

After Swimming

2010-07-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

Colby is one tired little guy after swimming everyday. This is such an unusual sight around our house. Colby has so much energy that he typically is bouncing off the walls. But, not after swimming!

Swim Lessons

2010-07-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

We are in our second week of swim lessons with Colby. He is doing so much better than I thought he would! I think a big part of that is because Kenny is doing them with him this year.

He is doing great at kicking his legs and moving his arms as he tries to "swim", but still prefers to keep his head above water, unless....

he is jumping in the water! He loves to jump in and is getting a little braver everyday.

Trip to the Zoo

2010-07-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

This past week, Kenny took a day off and we went with some friends to the zoo. The weather turned out to be great that day and we all enjoyed the trip. Although Colby has been to the zoo several times, this was the first time he really got into seeing the animals and of course he loved running and playing with Preston and Elic!

Here are all the boys! Darren, Preston, Colby, Kenny, Elic and Holden.

Colby had to study the map to make sure we went the right way!

Checking out the elephants with Daddy.

The zoo recently created a new area for the elephants, giraffes and several other animals. It was very nice and gave the animals a lot more space.

Preston, Colby and Elic.

Riding to Work

2010-06-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

One day last week when Kenny was leaving for work Colby ran and got on his tricycle and told me "me riding my bike to work with Daddy!". The funniest part was as he was pedaling to the back door he saw his crayons and he stopped to put them on the back of his bike and then said "ok, now me ride to work with Daddy!".

He was a little sad when he realized he wasn't going to get to go to work with Daddy. I have been telling Kenny for months there needs to be an official "bring your toddler to work day". Kenny doesn't agree!

Summer Fun!

2010-06-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we met Kenny's family in Tulsa and had a relaxing and fun weekend!

We spent most of the time by the pool, where some got right in

and others....

spent most of the time throwing balls into the pool, playing with pool toys, kicking on the side of the pool and dumping water on their head!

Colby did finally get in for a little while where he hung onto Kenny for dear life and practiced blowing bubbles with Aunt Linda. We start swimming lessons in a few weeks so hopefully he overcomes some of this fear! Last year he loved the water and wasn't nearly this afraid to get in.

Colby loves playing with his big cousins, Taylor and Kyle. He followed them around most of the weekend! Kenny and Grandpa took all of them to a wild animal rescue center where they were able to help feed lions and tigers and pet a lot of other exotic and not so exotic animals.

We also took Colby to the OK Aquarium. Colby's favorite part seemed to be the turtles and watching the scuba divers try to catch a tropical fish.

And finally, on our last evening there Kenny agreed to take Colby fishing (sort of!) at the pond where we were staying. Of course Colby didn't realize he was using a toy fishing pole!

But, Grandpa came to the rescue with a real fishing pole!

They didn't catch any fish, but Colby didn't seem to mind. He just loved trying to throw the fishing line into the pond and reel it back in. Thankfully when Colby had his turn there wasn't a real hook on the line, otherwise there is no telling where it would have ended up!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

We started off the weekend at my niece Hailey's 5th birthday party. She had a cowgirl birthday so all the kids were able to ride horses. I made the mistake of telling Colby on the way to OK about the horses and for over 5 hours all I heard was "when me ride horsie?"! Needless to say, Colby loved the horses!

The now 5-year old Hailey got the first horse ride.

Colby was all smiles the entire time he got to ride the pony and the big horse. I wasn't sure he would get on either one, but he loved it!

After the real horse rides, Colby found Hailey's new toy horse and decided to ride it too!

and, If he wasn't on a real or toy horse, he was on this little 4-wheeler even though he is a little big for it!

After Hailey's party we drove to my parent's house for the weekend. My hometown has a big "Celebration of Freedom" festival on Memorial Day weekend so we went to a few of the events.

We went to a pancake breakfast at the airport,

looked and sat in a few small airplanes,

watched paratroopers jump out of a plane and watched an old bomber plane land. It was really loud being so close to the airplanes as they landed, but Colby loved it! He keeps talking about jumping out of a plane like Daddy did (Kenny told Colby about the time he went skydiving). I haven't told Colby yet that he won't be jumping out of any planes while I am alive!

And finally, we spent the afternoon at the farm where my dad and brother were cutting barley. Colby was super excited about riding in a combine. Unfortunately I was riding in the combine with Colby so I didn't get any pictures of him. We rode for quite a while and Colby just sat in awe. He was a little intimidated by how loud and how big the combine was. He also was able to ride and drive (sort of) a tractor while we were in the field. He definitely was not as intimidated by the tractor as he was by the combine. I see a lot of tractor driving in Colby's future. I am sure my dad is counting down the years until all of his grandsons are old enough to take their turn spending the summer on a tractor!

Aubrey Claire

2010-06-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

My sweet little niece Aubrey Claire was born on May 23rd. We were fortunate enough to make it to OK in time for her arrival.

Here is Aubrey at 5 days old at her big sister Hailey's birthday party. I was the lucky one who got to hold sweet Aubrey for most of the party!

On her arrival day, Aubrey's two big sisters and several cousins could not wait to see her!

Finally, everyone got to go in and meet little Aubrey. My sister is pretty brave, there were 6 kids and 8 adults that came in to meet Aubrey at the same time!

Landry, Colby and Hailey had a lot of fun watching Aubrey get her first bath.

May Randomness by Colby

2010-05-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

When Mommy wasn't looking I tried to turn my sand box into a pool!

My latest hideout is the laundry hamper. It is the best place to have my afternoon snack!

Saturday's are my favorite day because Daddy takes me for donuts and lets me wear whatever I want to!

Grandma came to visit and I got to be just like Dora the Explorer at the Arboretum. I had my backpack and my map that I only put down one time and that was because I had to measure how big the fish were with my new tape measure!

Joe's Graduation

2010-05-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

My little brother Joe graduated from Vet school this past weekend. We are so proud of him! He worked hard for 7 years to get this degree. It is funny to hear people call him Dr. Freeman! My dad has always been the Dr. in the family but now my little brother will join him at his Vet clinic in OK.

Joe, Meghan and baby (due in October)!

My sister-in-law Meghan also graduated with her Masters in Teaching. She has also worked very hard to get her degree while teaching full time.

My Dad was able to "hood" Joe at graduation since he is also a Veterinarian who graduated from OSU.

Dad, Joe, Mom

Colby had to try on the Joe's cap after graduation, as did all of Joe's nieces and nephews!

Gotta Be Like Daddy

2010-04-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight after Kenny mowed the yard Colby decided he needed to get his lawnmower and help. A few minutes after he started "mowing" he ran inside and told me he needed a baggie. I thought he wanted to put a snack in a little bag but when I tried to hand him the snack bag he grabbed a trash bag instead.

I was very confused as to why he wanted a trash bag. But, he then proceeded to try and stick it in his shorts. It finally hit me that he was trying to be like his daddy who always sticks a trash bag in his pocket when he mows!

So, Colby "mowed" the yard with a bag in his shorts!

And, he finally got to use the bag when he helped Kenny sweep off the sidewalk.

Little Imagination

2010-04-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

Colby's little imagination has really started to show over the past few months. He keeps us laughing with the random things he comes up with!

A few days ago Colby was playing with his train when he pulled up a piece of the track and pretended it was a fishing pole.

Colby was playing with a piece of tape when he ran and got his plastic tongs from his little grill set and put it on his face and said "me doctor"! I assume he thought the tongs looked like a stethoscope! He then pretended to fix my "boo boo" with the tape!

This is Colby's "pirate boat" aka a piece of pizza and a carrot!

Colby found my swifter duster and has played with it for days! I don't know what he thought he was but he insisted he put on his "pak pak" and he ran around the backyard playing with the duster and backpack.

Here is just a funny picture of Colby. My sweet class at preschool gave me a bag full of beach stuff and Colby couldn't resist wearing my new hat! He then ran around and started yelling "Nee Yaw" which he does a lot with his stick horse (see next pic).

Colby has become an expert at delaying his bed time and it usually involves his red cowboy hat and stick horse! He loves to run around in his pajamas riding his horse and of course I am usually the sucker that lets him stay up a little longer just because it is so funny to watch!

Sweet Friends

2010-04-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Last week my friend Rae and her kids came for a visit. Colby has played with Macy and Jarrett since he was a little baby and they are truly his first little friends! We have missed them so much since they moved last fall, but we were very excited that they spent several days with us last week.

Macy holding her little brother Case and Jarrett and Colby wrestling!

We had so much fun on their visit. Colby keeps asking when he gets to "pay MacyJarrett" which translates to play with Macy and Jarrett.

Colby also loved getting to hold baby Case. Case is such a sweet baby and has the cutest cheeks ever!

Macy and Case.