Friday, December 31, 2010

Things I don't want to forget...

So....21 months is my new FAVORITE age!! (it has changed every month of course)
Spending the past 2 weeks with Colby has taught me so much about him. He is such a FUNNY, loving, playful, stubborn, brilliant, and sweet little boy. He does so many precious, precious things right now that I don't want to forget.
1) When we say "love you", Colby will say "love you" and then quickly say "love you more!" :) Now, he'll go on and on with things like "love you more than airplanes!", "love you more than choo choo trains!", "love you more than tricycles!", "love you more than cupcakes!". This is one of my favorite things ever!!!!!!
2) Although he will NOT sing on demand, he knows the ABC song, jingle bells and Jesus Loves Me. When we sing to him, he mouth the words and smile. :) Sometimes I catch him singing to himself when he plays, but I haven't been able to get it on video.
3) So, this isn't so precious, but we have had to have started spanking. :( It makes me really sad to do it, but I think it's actually working. If Colby does something that he knows he's not supposed to do, I'll say "Colby, if you do that again, I'm going to have to spank you" and he'll say "no no!", but he really will stop. He definitely pushes us to our limits, but so far, he doesn't go too far past them.
4) He says "thank you"alllllllllll the time. It's usually at appropriate times (after something is given to him), but sometimes he says it just to say it. It's one of the sweetest little thank yous I've ever heard. He'll say "thank you mommy!" over and over again when I bring him something. :)
5) He says "bless you!" when someone sneezes. :) I have no idea where he got this from. I guess he just picked it up, but it's so funny because he really does say it on his own when someone sneezes. Other common things that he says are "Where'd ______ go?", "What are you doing_____?", and "You ok, Colby?"
6) OBSESSIONS: He is seriously obsessed with anything that has to do with transportation! Airplanes, helicopters, trucks, cars, motorcycles, tricycles, tractors, school buses, etc. He spots them and calls them by name (which amazes me). Sometimes he'll be saying something over and over like "I see a school bus!" and I will be confused because I don't see a school bus anywhere, and then sure enough, there will be a school bus! He also HEARS things and knows exactly what they are without seeing them. He hears airplanes, choo choo trains, big trucks, and motorcycles from inside of our house and knows exactly what they are and wants to go see them.
He is also obsessed with being outside. Luckily the weather has been nice, so I can just let him go in and out of our back door, but as soon as I make him come inside, we have a huge meltdown on our hands.
7) He's a CUDDLER! If Colby is sleepy, he'll pretty easily take his lovey and paci and cuddle with us. He'll cuddle in our recliner, cuddle in bed with us, and cuddle while we rock him to sleep. This is the number one sign that he's ready for bed. I love, love, love having his sweet little head on my shoulder.
8) He is starting to think for himself. Instead of just copying whatever we say (which he's been doing for months now), he actually thinks and speaks for himself. The other day, I yawned, and he said "mommy's tired." It's not like I've ever told him that when I yawn it means I'm tired, he is just really starting to catch on to what things mean. I can ask him if he wants yogurt and he'll either say "okay!" or "no no", and he actually means what he says. (this makes mealtimes much easier and much less wasteful) When we put a jacket on him, he'll say "it's cooooold outside...brrrrrrrr". :) I love it!
9) One of my favorite Colby sayings right now is when he says "There's _____ eeeeeeverywhere!" This started at BLORA when he would tell us that there were Christmas lights everywhere. Now he says it all the time. Last week we were looking out a window and there were tons of cars and trucks in a parking lot. Colby said, "There are trucks eeeeeeeeeverywhere!". Then, yesterday when he was eating yogurt, he made a huge mess and was covered in yogurt. When we were cleaning him up, he said "there's yogurt eeeeeeverywhere!" haha....I was cracking up, because he was so right!!
10) I'll stop on this 0ne, but the final things that I love about this age is how well Colby can play by himself. Of course he loves for us to join in and play trucks with him or throw the ball or read a book, but he can also do these things by himself and be perfectly happy. It sure makes it easier to fold clothes or do the dishes. I don't always have to wait for naptime to do these things now.
Colby, you are amazing and we love you so much!!! My prayer is for you to keep growing and learning and to be amazed by all of the new things you see each day. I pray that you will be a problem solver and a sweet friend to others. (there are so many more things that I pray for, but that's what's on my mind right now :))

Christmas Cards

Well, first I must say that my auntie Lisa won my Christmas card contest by being the FIRST Christmas card in our mailbox! BUT....she kinda cheated. It wasn't her real Christmas card, she just wanted to be the winner. :)
The first REAL card that we got was from Rachel, Patrick, Landyn and Brooks Johnson! YAY- of course it was adorable, and I already can't wait to see their card next year, because there will be a new little baby boy in their card!!
We actually sent out 2 different cards, because I got 55 of them for FREE, and then ordered some extras when my mom ordered hers, because we got free shipping, an extra 10% off and then an extra $10 off- I love Shutterfly!!
I LOVE both of our cards. One of my very favorite pictures ever is the picture of Colby in his frog prince costume. The look on his face is priceless.

Merry Christmas 2010 !!
Love,
the Anthonys

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Macey Christmas in D'Hanis

After "ranch Christmas", we went back to Mamaw and Papaw's house for Macey Christmas. :) This was the first year that we did a chinese exchange instead of drawing names, and it was so fun!!!
Look at this cute Home sign that Debbie unwrapped....and I went home with :)
probably one of the most wanted guys gift
Colby loves his Pops
I think they're having a serious conversation here...
cute scarf and necklace, mom!
date night! (bottle of wine and olive garden gift card- yum)
Colby wanted to help Lisa check out her new basket
Mamaw got a snazzy new sweat suit for her cruise in February
Colby loved helping Papaw open gifts (ummm.....where did that beer come from....HB?!?)
Merry Christmas!
Lynnsay fatboothed everyone....it was not pretty
Colby had lots of laughs with Johnny
sisters
we like to match
newlyweds
Mia Jo is so photogenic! :)
Mamaw and Papaw with Carol, a wonderful family friend who joined us for Christmas.

Down at the Ranch

The day after Christmas was Christmas at the Ranch! We've been doing this for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it's the only time all year that we get to see ALL of the family, so it's always a good time. I will have to say that having a baby at the ranch makes everything a LITTLE harder, but we made it work. (thanks to Travis taking Colby to nap at my mom's cousin's ranch house)
Colby next to his stocking (he wasn't real thrilled about any of this....it was way past nap time, so we were just trying to hang in there!)
Mom and twin baby Jessica
Lisa with Angela and mom with Jessica (their first Christmas at the ranch!)
All of the kids' stockings (everyone gets a stocking until you graduate from high school) There was somewhere around 25 stockings this year
My mom's cousin Bette and baby Jack
Colby's reaction when I asked if he was ready for stockings!! ("Are you serious mom?!? I'm playing with dirt out here!")
Here goes nothin'
All of the "under 18" cousins line up in order from oldest to youngest and sing a few Christmas songs while everyone takes pictures. THEN they get to take down their stockings and see what kind of goodies are inside. There were too many kids to get them all in one camera shot!
Can you tell how excited Colby was about this?
He did love his red stocking cap and twisty straw cup. :)
After stockings, the adults draw numbers (46 adults this year) for the Chinese gift exchange. My grandfather had to leave to pick up a dear family friend in town, so Lisa had to open/steal for him.
Mom and Dad (mom is wearing the gold necklace gift that she brought, opened and took home)
The guys are always trying to rush us so that they have time to go hunt afterwards
Harry and Chuck
madness
Travis had to leave right at the beginning of the chinese gift extravaganza to lay Colby down for a nap, so Johnny was in charge of opening/stealing for him. I think he did a good job. Who doesn't need a deer cleaning kit?!?
dad opening his gift
Carol (sweet family friend), Papa, Lisa and Mamaw watching all of the fun