Conference Activities

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas for activities for Collin during conference. I have found some that may be too old and some that look fun. Here are some links to what I have found. If anyone has anymore ideas please let me know!! =)
Here's a General Conference Packet but most of the activities looked too old for Collin. This one looks pretty good for Collin. Just scroll down to General Conference and you'll see it. Here is another one but the activity itself is too old for Collin but we printed out these pictures last GC and he just colored them. Here's a lot of options but they are all too old for Collin. Maybe someone else out there can use it.

photography by Collin

Close up!!
Frog
Toy boat
Computer keyboard....
Mom and Ronni.

LOL... I thought he did pretty well for a two year old.... hehehe!

Shower pics

Pictures from the shower as promised... =)



Some of my friends who showed up. The picture below you can see Ronni sitting in Roxanna's arms. She's another g-ma to our kids. Collin was so upset when she left the shower. She made the cake which you'll see in another picture. Also in the picture below is "Baby Cate" as Collin calls her. Her older brother is a little older than Collin so they are regular playmates of our kids. =D
Collin and I were sneaking peaks at the food... yummmmm....
CAKE!!! That's all Collin would say when he saw this. Actually he was yelling "Birthday Cake"!!! LOL!! I caught him sneaking icing on his finger a little while later... hehe! sneaky kid!

Been a While....

I was looking at my blog this morning and realized it's been a while since I put anything on here. I didn't want to have any angry grandparents so I thought I'd start typing and get some pictures up... =)
This has been an exciting weekend. I have felt busy everyday --- getting housework done... not so much.

Friday a friend of mine, Rebecca, and I made a last minute decision to go to the temple with our four kids. She has twin girls who are about 9 mos old -- I think. We attempted watching them in the foyer and switching so we each had a chance to go back there. It was definitely an adventure but fun and worth it!! =D She was the one who was stuck with a 2 year old boy she wasn't used to. hehe! Poor Rebecca....

Then Saturday morning was Ronni's baby shower (given by Rebecca, Candace, and Amy). It was tons of fun with great food and lots of gifts! YAY!! She even got a big girl car seat!! She was totally outgrowing that infact one. Her little feet were hanging off the end. It was a tight squeeze in the car since she is still rear facing. I had to move the seat far forward so whoever sits in the passenger seat -- well, their knees are going to be touching the dash board but... I guess that's just how it's going to be. I need to start saving up for a van... my little corolla is just too small ;) Hopefully I'll have pics on here soon from the shower. I forgot my camera but others had their camera and I am hoping to get the pictures e-mailed to me... ;)

Today is the primary program at church and then in the afternoon is a picnic at O'Dell Weeks (the park here) with Paul's work. It'll be tons of fun and I'm looking forward to it.

I attached random pictures of Collin and Ronni from yesterday. Ronni was walking down the hallway carrying a block... she does this often. She likes the blocks and then when she's not playing with them I return it back to the box in the kids' room and then she realizes it's gone and goes back and gets it. =D

At the top is a pic of Collin cheesin' for the camera. He wearing his guy capris -- dunno what those are called. I think they're super cute!!

Now -- no grandparents can complain... here are pics and an update ;) Happy Sunday!

Another Movie

This was our movie this week. Aladdin!! Collin liked it too! YAY!!

Don't Ask!!

We received 2 trash bags, 2 boxes, and 2 large gift boxes of hand-me-downs. I was sorting them out today. Collin now has clothes until size 6 and Ronni has a lot of clothes when she fits in 2T - 3T (she still has a lot of growing until she can wear any of them). Collin decided he wanted to get dressed himself and this is the pic I got of him while he was eating a banana. I have no idea what's going on with his facial expression but... oops! I guess I should have looked a little harder at the pic before turning off the camera. hehe! I just thought his outfit was cute and wanted to share! Ignore the mess in the background... I was sorting a lot of clothes. =)

Fundraiser for our troops -- BALLOONS!!!

Collin and my morning started off early. We were at the polo fields at 6:30 this morning. We left Dad and Ronnie asleep. There was a balloon ascension free w/ a donation for our troops. When we got there it was still dark so we couldn't see much but as the sun rose we were able to check out some of the balloons.



Here we are!! We are in front of the pirate balloon!
Under the pirate balloon looking up at other balloons in the air!
The dragon balloon. I couldn't get a good shot of it.
This was really funny. The pirate balloon fell over and almost landed on two little boys... they were probably about 10. They ran really fast and the balloon missed them. It was too windy so the pirate balloon never left the ground.

This is the beginning of the balloons. This is the pirate balloon as they were laying it out and getting it ready to be blown up.
It started!!! YAY!!!
Ever wonder what the inside of a hot air balloon looks like?
The first balloon that made it into the air... yes, that's the US Flag!!
The balloons kept rolling while they were filling up with air and Collin was scared to get to close. If they started rolling towards him he'd run. It was actually kind of funny. The only way I could get a pic with him was if I was there with him. We had to have a stranger take our pic.

When Collin and I got home afterwards everyone was still asleep. LOL!!

Fun in the sun!

Collin and Ronni posing for me. They were chasing each other around the driveway.
Collin so proud of himself b/c he got into the "seat" all by himself. It's a half circle on the top of the blue side and it's the perfect size for his little bum.
Ronni watching her goofy brother.
Collin dancing; trying to make Ronni laugh.

Today is such a beautiful day! We spend most of the morning outside... we even had a picnic out there. We have come inside to calm down before nap time. I thought I'd take this opportunity to post some pics of what we did.

BTW -- Mom Smith, Collin is playing with puzzles; yes, the interlocking kind -- obviously bigger pieces then what you do and only about 12 pieces in his puzzles but... you're going to have some help this year. =D

Just playin'...

oops, dropped Bug but look at Ronni standing!!
She really likes this little doll. She is covered w/ ladybugs so Collin calls her Bug so that has become the dolls name. hehe! Bug and Pooh can normally be found with Ronni.
Collin entertaining Ronni on his Elmo guitar.
Break dancing....
More break dancing....

Last night we had our first weekly family movie night. I got the idea from a friend of mine. Every Sunday evening we are going to watch a new movie with the kids... one they haven't seen before. Last night Collin picked out Fantasia. I was worried he wouldn't like it but he loved it! Below is a pic from his favorite cartoon in it... I'm sure you will all recognize that one. =) We had two bowls of popcorn and we all had to fit on the same couch so we'd be together. Ronni even seemed to enjoy it. Every now and then she had to get down to play but then she'd be right back to cuddle with us again. I think we all had fun! =)

First steps again... video

This was Ronni practicing her newly found skill of walking last night.

First steps!!

Ronni took her first steps today!!! She took them at playgroup this morning. I haven't gotten pics yet... I'll have to wait until Paul gets home but I wanted to post something... Woo-hoo!!!!

Pooh Bears from Papa

My wiggling models with their Poohs.
My well behaved models. Ronni's is on the left and Collin's is on the right... =)

Papa gets all his grandkids a Winnie the Pooh and Ronni's just came in the mail. I tried to get pics of the kids with their bears but it was very difficult trying to get a 2 year old and 9 mos old to sit still, smile, and look at the camera at the same time. haha!

First REAL Haircut!!

So... yeah, Collin has only had his hair cut by yours truly. I always just buzz it off but he has suddenly developed this terrible phobia of clippers and I'm not going to take scissors to his head so it became necessary for us to pay money for someone else to cute his hair with scissors. This is the end result. He did really well. They gave him a dum-dum and he obeyed everything they wanted him to do. He even looked down at the floor so they could trim his neckline. I was so proud of him. One of the other girls was watching him and said, "I wish all the kids would behave like him." You can bet a huge grin was plastered on my face. My little man! If only he'd behave that well all the time but he is 2½... =)

Picnic at the park

The Boys!!
The Girls!!

The Ballards!!

The Smiths!!
Okay... so there are no pics of the picnic park. Candace and I were too busy convincing the boys to eat instead of playing and feeding the girls. Who has time for picture taking!? The only time for picture taking was while the kids were swinging. LOL!

Feeding the Ducks!

Tuesday we met Mi-Mi at the library and then we went out to feed the ducks. I think Collin and Ronni fed most of the bread to themselves instead of the ducks. hehe! Afterwards, Mi-Mi took us out to Capt D's. Woo-hoo!!

Our Labor Day Zoo Trip!!

After the zoo we ate at Cracker Barrell. I was entertaining the kids by taking pics while waiting for Dad to pay the bill. =)

One of our fave places at the zoo is the bird room. Collin loves it! Ronni wasn't such a big fan. She liked it but not as much as Collin.

Ronni had another favorite and it involved goats. haha! She actually got to touch them. Sorry about the poor pic but I was holding her and taking the pic at the same time. =)
This is how they ended up at the end of the day. Ronni before we left the zoo and Collin before we got the food after the zoo.

We were entertaining the kids on the trip to the zoo. I'm sure you can see the cheesy goodness all over Collin's face from snacks and of course he had to have mom's sunglasses.
Dad and the kids in front of the elephants!
Ronni was really enjoying watching the little monkeys. There was a little boy holding reflective objects to the glass and the monkeys were following it. It was kind of fun!
Posing on the tortoise! We couldn't get a pic of the actual tortoise b/c some x-rated things were going on over thre. We decided to move the kids on to the bronze one before any questions could be asked. =D

Another pic with the birds.