SURPRISE!!! Rusty's 30!!

Saturday night, we surprised Rusty for his 30th birthday!!! Hope and Holly did an awesome job decorating for a fiesta themed party. It was adorable and I think Rusty was REALLY surprised!!

whoop whoop!

Sweet little Charli Bug made an appearance for a few hours- isn't she adorable in this leopard print dress?!??? I could not get enough!

Holly bought her new hubby an iPad!!!

Good times....HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RUSTY!!!!!

I love this little boy

Thanks to this blog, I have constant thoughts of things that I need to post so that I won't forget. The problem is there are too many things...Colby falls in love with new things daily, he learns new things daily and he surprises me daily. I really think of him as a little miniature adult. He is so funny, caring, curious, inquisitive, smart, adorable, sensitive, energetic, and loving. He pushes the limits to see where the boundaries are, he soaks up everything we say like a sponge, he pushes our buttons to see what we'll do about it, he squeezes us as tight as he can and covers us with kisses, he eats like a horse one minute and a mouse the next, he loves to sing and dance, he is shy at times and the life of the party at other times...WE LOVE HIM SOOOO MUCH and cannot imagine our lives without the light that he brings. Here are just a few other things he's been up to lately:

Super Why! became a new favorite this summer when I let Colby crawl in bed with me in the mornings and it was one of the only things that was on tv in our bedroom. Now he LOVES IT! We watch it all the time on demand. It's AWESOME! It has tons of alphabet practice, letter recognition, letter sounds, problem solving and reading in it, and I just love that Colby loves it so I don't have to feel so guilty about our TV time when we get home after school and I am completely exhausted. (we do still love wonder pets and cars!!)

He loves to vaccuum! I can't wait until he perfects this skill and is strong enough to actually help me out with this.

He LOVES animals. Last weekend we took a field trip to Petco and it was one of his favorite things ever!

He also loves our neighbor's sweet kitty cat. :)

He LOVES letters. His little sponge brain is constantly at work. He seriously knows all of his letters and what sound they make. (pretty sure I can thank leapfrog and super why for that....oh...it probably helps to have a kindergarten teacher grandma, too :))

He will point to any letter you name and if you are somewhere else in the house, he'll bring you letters to tell you what they are and what sound they make.

He wants to do EVERYTHING "all by myself". This sounds like a great thing...more independence, right?? It's all fine and great until he can't figure out how to do it and throws a tantrum. Check out the way he put on his undies one day in the picture above. :)

Speaking of undies...we are about 85% potty trained! He started out about a month or 2 ago casually going in the potty or outside in the grass if we reminded him, but 2-3 weeks ago, he really started asking to go more and more until he was asking us every time he needed to go. His naptime diapers are usually dry, too! He does still wear night time diapers, and oddly enough, he refuses to poop in the potty, so he asks for a diaper when he needs to poop. I'm hoping he will out grow that soon, but for now I'm just thrilled that we are well on our way to a diaperless little boy!!!

I LOVE THIS FACE!!! I wish he didn't have to grow up any more, but I'm so thankful that each age seems to get more and more fun...I hope that never changes! :) LOVE YOU COLBSTER!!!

Our new Schedule

Just as I had gotten Colby used to going to bed around 8:30 and sleeping in until 8:30 for summertime, school has now started and it has rocked our worlds to say the least.

Last year, Colby's sweet daddy would study at home until Colby woke up and then he would take him to my mom's. All I had to worry about was getting myself ready and out the door by 7:00....and trust me- that was hard enough!!

This year, Travis is out of the house by 6:00, so I'm on my own! :(

So far, so good...I just hope I can keep up with this morning madness.

I even got us out the door early enough for donut holes on the first day of school! :)

my mom sent me this picture later in the week of Colby's powdered sugar & strawberry breakfast mess

Another exciting change to the 2011-2012 school year is that Colby is going to Mother's Day Out THREE days a week instead of just two. He's actually there for less total time since my mom will pick him up after lunch, but I think he'll LOVE 3 mornings to play with his friends. He's already learned a new song just after his first day- Old MacDonald had a Farm!! (I wonder how many times he has sung "Country Girl Shake it for me" for his teacher....eek!!)

YOUNG LIVES mentor retreat

These women are AMAZING! A few weekends ago we met up for a 24 hour Young Lives mentor retreat in Brenham, Texas. We stayed at the most adorable little farm house EVER! It was an incredibly powerful weekend of training, prayer, reflection, laughter, relaxing, and getting to know each other on a deeper level. I can't wait to get this school year started off at our first club on September 8th. :)

EAR update

So, after 8 ear-infection-free months with tubes, it looks like we may be jumping back on the "pay Scott and White $30 every time we have a problem" bandwagon.

A few weeks ago, Colby's ear started oozing!! Gross...I know. I knew that this was a good thing, because that meant the tubes were working, but at the same time, I was concerned, because that meant there was fluid in the ear (even if it was draining). I was also concerned because only one ear was draining, and every time that C has had an ear infection, it's been a double.

We made an appointment with our favorite pediatrician, and I'm so glad we did! Colby had a double ear infection, and although one side was draining, the other side was not draining due to the fact that the tube was "kinked" and not working properly. Dr. K. recommended oral antibiotics as well as ear drops to get the infection cleared up and then we'd come back in a few weeks to see what was going on.

Mom took him in for his follow up today, and the good news was that both ears were CLEAR! Praise the Lord! (they've never cleared up after just one round of antibiotics) The bad news was that the right ear tube is completely out of place and will not work properly the next time Colby gets too much fluid in his ears. :( Dr. K. said that we should just wait and see what happens this fall/winter. If C starts getting more and more infections, we'll have to go back in to get the tube fixed, but if we can stay clear of infections, we'll just leave it the way it is.
My fingers are crossed, but I know that a small procedure to get that tube fixed may be necessary. We'll just have to wait and see! :)

(ps...Colby has actually LOST a few ounces since his 2 year check up...I don't get it...)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!

Last night we celebrated Blake's 29th birthday at Alexander's Distillery (upstairs bar at Inn on the Creek in Salado). We had never been there before, but we LOVED it!! Our bartender/waiter, Leroy, was hilarious and his South African accent never got old. We'll definitely be coming back to this quaint little hot spot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!!!

Surprise Visitors!

Look who came to visit my classroom on Friday!!

This totally made my day. :) My new group of kiddos loved meeting Colby and he loved pretending to be a big boy. (Thank you Naeli for sharing your seat with him)

The purpose of the surprise visit was for my mom to bring the turtle boys up to school. She so kindly babysat them all summer (and bought a new filter for their tank which will save me tons of time). The kids were SO excited to meet and observe the turtles.

Colby wanted to do what the big kids were doing, so I had to find him a pencil and some paper. :)

For those of you who are wondering- I had a GREAT first week back. My kids are awesome, sweet and smart. They do love to CHAT, but if that's my biggest challenge this year, I'll take it! We're off to a great start, and I'm truly excited to see what this year brings. (hopefully cooler weather soon!!)

We survived!!!

We survived our first day back to school!!!! (Kim is my life-saver teaching neighbor...love her!!)

Only 176 days to go!!! (just kidding...I promise I'm not counting down...YET!)

Our theme this year...SECOND GRADE ROCKS!!!

Johnny Cooper's newest fans

First of all, how cute are these two?!??

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Jeff's 31st b-day at Schoepfs BBQ. We ate a yummy supper and then headed out back for the Thursday night free concert series. Luckily, it wasn't TOO crowded, (probably thanks to the heat) and the kiddos were able to dance their little hearts out on the dance floor. They had TONS of fun!

It was SO GREAT to see Jason (middle) home from Iraq.

I always love catching up with these girls...even when it's 105 degrees!

Oh- and here's Johnny Cooper! I had to find this picture on his website because the ones I took keep coming out sideways....why?!?? Anyway- we LOVED listening to his rock/Texas country...especially when he busted out with REGULATORS! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF WHITE!!!!!

Wrapping up Summer

SADLY, this is my last week of summer vacation. I'll be back to the grind on Monday. It's been SO fun while it lasted. Every summer with Colby just gets better and better.

I think if you asked Colby what his perfect summer day would look like, it would be a little something like this...

playing with his best buddy, Mason

watching big trucks go by

playing with tractors

playing in the shower to rinse off

jumping off a HUGE diving board ALL BY HIMSELF

playing with sweet Hayli Hesse

practicing a little t-ball

and playing in the water with Bubba

That's what we did on Wednesday this week- what a GREAT summer day!!!

Last Fling before the Ring!

Last weekend, thanks to my fabulous husband, I got to get away for an awesome weekend with girlfriends to celebrate my college roommate, Whitney's, bachelorette party!!!

We stayed in an INCREDIBLE house on the Guadalupe River. It was brand new, and we were the first ones to stay there...I could have easily stayed for a week just hanging out on one of the patios.

On Friday night when we all arrived, we had a lingere shower for Whitney and played several hilarious games....I may not have ever laughed so hard in my life. Then we hung out on the back porch SWINGS. (loved them!!)

Saturday morning we had a huge breakfast and then headed out to float the river

Check out this awesome truck that came to pick us up from Billy Goat's Gruff tube rentals

Saturday night we had dinner at the Grist Mill

and then walked over to Gruene Hall....it was GREAT! The place was PACKED with people who knew every word to every song that the Texas Tornados played!!!

On our way out we ran into the Texas Tornados mascot!! :)

I'm already dying to get back to that peaceful house on the river for another weekend away. CONGRATULATIONS Whitney!!!!!!! xoxo