Back to School for Madeline

Hard for Matthew and I to believe, but our "baby" girl is starting 2nd grade!! Really, where did time go? She was so excited and ready to be back! She loves school and is such a good student. She informed me b/f we left this morning that I did not need to walk her in b/c she is in second grade now. Can we say independent? I admit I was a little hurt at first, but at the same time I am grateful that she is independent. Looking forward to a great year!!!

Get My Belly Meat.....Again...And Again

Ryan has become quite obsessed with his belly lately. He comes over to Matt and I and will lift up his shirt and say "belly meat ease (please)". Who could resist that sweet smile and those big blue eyes?! He especially loves doing this after his nighttime bath! Once you start....he does not want you to stop! While you are getting his belly he has the sweetest sounding belly laugh! He just can't get enough! We have a book by Sandra Boyton that is all about hippos and their belly buttons......one of his favorite books at the moment! Imagine.

Play Dough and the Hokey Pokey

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To avoid any boredom setting in the kids decided they wanted to make homemade play dough. I loved play dough as a kid so I loved their idea! I thought I would get an hour tops b/f they were tired of it.....I was wrong! They spent a good 2-3 hours playing with it! I happened to be doing some cooking in the kitchen so they loved it when I put it out on the counter top for them to play with along with some play dough tools. One of the pictures is of Madeline's giant "meatball." Kollman made one, too. They had the best time making up stories and songs about meatballs. I laughed so hard! When Ryan woke up from his nap he joined right in. Although, I believe he must have eaten some because his poop the next couple of days sure looked like the color of BLUE play dough. I did keep hearing him say "MMMM cake." I just figured he was saying that because of what the kids were saying and pretending. I guess he really thought it was cake! After all the play dough fun it was time to move on to the hokey pokey. They must have played the song and done the movements for an hour. They kept trying to make each other mess up and thought it was so funny. Ryan had a good time laughing at them! They put on a good show!

Kollmans 5th Birthday Party

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Every year I let the kids decide what theme they want for their birthday party...this year Kollman chose Cars. We invited his friends from his Sunday School class...along w/ our cousins Carter and Cameron and a few older kids that we are close to. I thought I was going to be so smart and have a jumpie house in the back yard along with our sand table and play house....thinking they would spend the majority of their time out there! HA! The morning started out overcast....but by the time the party began by 10AM the clouds were gone. The kids jumped and played outside ... but not for very long! We are not used to this Texas weather yet...and quickly learned that Jumpie Houses do not work well in July! Hopefully it will be cool enough in October for our Halloween party! At this point..that is up for debate! Good thing we had a play room they could play in! You would be surprised...it was actually pretty clean even with all of them playing in there! Goodness knows they all had plenty to play with! He and his friends enjoyed lunch together....pizza, pasta salad, frozen grapes, chips and dip. Kollman is not really into cake but loves cupcakes (which is easier anyway) so we had Cars cupcakes complete with Cars rings. The day before his party we were talking about who all would be there. Kollman made a seating chart.....and had all the girls sitting by him. He is quite the ladies man...as you can see in the one group picture. Look closely.....Kollman is in the middle and Mia has her arm around him and they are holding hands! Too cute! Kollman had a wonderful time with his new friends and we look forward to doing much more together! Overall, the party was a success! After all the guest left we took Kollman to Target and let him pick out a new Spider Man razor scooter he's been begging for. He's so easy to please....thank goodness!

Fun at Port A

We headed down to Port A for a long week-end with some great friends of ours. My children absolutely love the beach and wish we could live there! We had fun with boogie boards, playing in the sand, taking a relaxing walk and looking for crabs and sea shells. We look forward to visiting again real soon! Most of all we enjoyed each others company and the great memories we made. One memory we will NEVER forget is that Kollman was hit in the face by a seagull. We have no idea how this happened....we figure that Kollman was running back into the water and the sea gull was diving for something and they hit. It stunned both of them...the bird fell to the ground for a few seconds...and Kollman was in a daze and then started screaming. That bird has scared him for life! Too bad I don't have a video of it...we could have won $10,000 on America's Funniest Home Videos!

Summer Time Fun

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Matt and I have started cooking a lot together on the week-ends. It's a time that we really enjoy and look forward to making a lot of great meals in the future! On Saturday we made stuffed manicotti with homemade meat sauce. Boy it was fabulous! We had some great friends over and they thought so, too! Matt and I always joke that we should have been born Italian as we LOVE Italian food. Sunday Matt grilled some great ribs (4 different kinds) and I put together some lemon and basil red potatoes and green beans. The kids LOVED it and could not get enough! After dinner time the kids went and hung out in their pool. It was great to sit there and listen to their laughter and watch them interact with one another. It reminded me of when I was a child without a care in the world...enjoying carefree summer days.

Kollman turns 5!

July 10th 2009....Kollman turns 5...or as he says...one whole hand! More than anything he wanted a date with Mommy. I let him choose where we wanted to go and he picked Mc Donalds...or in his terms "Old Mc Donalds." I dropped Madeline and Ryan off with my parents so Kollman could have me to himself...he does not get that often! I enjoyed the conversation we had and the laughs we shared. The entire time I just sat there gazing at him thinking "wow...you are 5!"
For me....there are so many emotions attached to this birthday. I remember his birth like it was yesterday. Kollman was not due for another 6 weeks but decided that July 10th would be a good day to make his arrival rather than August 20th. Totally caught us off guard as you can imagine! Despite many efforts to stop labor Kollman arrived weighing just 4 lbs 11 oz, 18 1/2 inches long and a head full of black hair! That would expalin the heartburn...but where did the black hair come from?!!
The next 12 days Kollman spent in the NICU. I cherished my time rocking him, nursing him, singing to him, memorizing him.....and praying over him. I look back now and realize that the Lord had orchestrated all of this for a reason. With Kollman being cared for in the NICU I was able to get some much needed rest and get back on my feet before bringing him home. Upon bringing him home we were faced with many challenges and trials. We were not prepared for any of this! You know, the Lord places people in our lives for a reason and boy during this time I found this to be so true! Our sweet next door neighbor, who was like a grandparent to our kids, had a premature baby herself and was a nurse......and thank goodness for my sake....an incredible listener and friend! She helped us through so much and had a way of making us see that the glass was half full and not half empty!
During the past 5 years we have come such a long way! Kollman is a healty, sweet and very sensitive little boy. We are so thankful for him and all that he has taught us and means to us.
Kollman--Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know! We look forward to making many more wonderful memories with you!