Topeka Trip

We got a chance to visit Meemaw in Topeka last weekend. 

The weather was beautiful and Colin was ready to explore in the backyard.  He still amazes Brian and I with his ability to find 'fun' wherever he is, with little to no guidance.  He plays so well by himself, and with other children at daycare.

Tiffey and Chad met us there on Saturday afternoon.  Colin just loves his Aunt & Uncle so much...maybe because they have WAY more energy than Mommy & Daddy right now!

Colin was fascinated with the swimming pool in the backyard, especially since Ginger (my mom's bloodhound) got in the pool multiple times over the weekend.  He and Ginger got along really well.  Ginger is pretty much the same size as he is!  He loves dogs, and misses Jake so much (we all do!)

 

Tiffey, Colin and Ginger, hanging out on the back deck.  We spent a lot of time outside, like I said earlier, the weather was perfect, sunny & mid 70's both days.

Climbing the slide that Tiff and I spent so many summers on, teaching swimming lessons.  

Awww....Memories!

We had so much fun in this silly swing/chair that my mom brought back from her last trip to Nicaragua.  It was comfy to sit in and even more fun to swing on.  There always seemed to be someone sitting in it...

Daddy and Maggie enjoying the sun.

Colin spent quite a bit of time playing with Ginger.  Here he is, splashing water at her.  Ginger tries to 'catch it' with her mouth.  He was laughing sooo hard!

The piano downstairs was also a big hit.  Maybe we have a future musician on our hands?  

or...at least someone that can appreciate the artistry of music.

Colin with one of his best-buddies, Meemaw.  When we are at home in KC, he frequently says he's going to Peeka (Topeka) to see Meemaw.  He even got some luggage out one time to go see her.  And...we tend to see 'Meemaw's car' a lot while driving around KC.  Even if it's just wishful thinking!

My rosy cheeked little lady.  She is little miss vocal lately.  Always has so much to say.  It sounds like she's singing, which is even cuter.  Almost sitting up by herself and rolling over.  

Colin relaxing in the chair...

Maggie smiling so sweetly at her Daddy.

These 2 are so cute together.  Colin is very protective of her at daycare and whenever he's around, Maggie's full attention is on Colin.  Here he is helping Maggie 'walk'.  I love this chubby legs!

 

My big boy saying Cheese! for the camera.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

 I just love the fall...

It's pumpkin patch time!

We went to the same pumpkin patch last year and Colin loved it.  It's pretty fun seeing how much he has grown since then.

We started out in this big tin shed with corn in it.  Colin just had a blast in there.  He didn't want to leave.  First time of the day we had to pull him off of some toy/area kicking and screaming.  Not how Colin normally acts, but pretty typical of 2 year olds, right?

Lots of diggers and dumpers in there to play with, shovels and scoops.  A little boys dream!

Maggie and I watching Colin play.  It was beautiful outside.  A perfect day for the pumpkin patch.

Fun times in the corn!

Mags with mommy.  She is pulling on my necklace, which is very short.  Maggie has really gotten very interactive with her surroundings.

 

So I couldn't get Colin to stand next to the measuring stick, but he would hide behind it with Daddy and jump out to scare me.  This is what I got.  I still think it's pretty cute.  Just FYI, he's somewhere around 3 feet tall. 

Feeding the goats.  Colin didn't quite get the whole "feed them with an open hand" concept, but there were no injuries, so I guess that's considered a success.

Headed down the slide.

Colin tried out the tricycle area this year.  His legs are still just a bit too short to pedal, but I'm sure once they reach, he'll be off and running.  Until then, he will just pretend to ride :)

Crawling through the tubes, with Daddy chasing him.  Both of my boys were pretty filthy by the end of this pumpkin patch outing.

Surprise, Mommy!

Peek-a-boo!

Colin still loves "driving" just about anything he can.  And for now, Brian still fits on all of the kids play equipment.  I'm pretty sure Colin only has his learners permit anyway...

Colinn and Daddy feeding the ducks.  I love this picture.  I was sitting at the picnic tables with Maggie.  Sometimes the un-posed pictures are the best ones.

Oh, the problematic piece of farm equipment.  Colin LOVED this thing.  He waited in line patiently for his turn the first time around.  We had to pull him off of it, kicking and screaming (2nd time that day) so the other kids in line could sit on it.  So, we went and fed the ducks.  We ended up coming back by there again, with no line this time, so he got back in.  And, Colin wanted to go in without Daddy. 

Turns out, the door only has a latch to open it from the inside and we couldn't get the door opened to get him out of there.  This wasn't a problem until another long line of kids formed.  One proactive little girl thought Colin was "stuck" in there and went and found her mommy.  This mommy diligently found a worker to come get the "poor little boy" out of the machinery.  Colin could get out, all along, he just chose not to cause he was having so much fun driving it. 

Well, as soon as the worker man started climbing the stairs, Colin immediately hopped off the seat, opened the door, and walked out.  The line of kids and parents clapped for him.  He successfully embarrassed mom and dad, that's for sure!

Mags and Dad.  As if we didn't know who her daddy was...aren't they look-a-likes?!

Our 2011 Family Pumpkin Patch picture.  I had a hard time finding someone to take it, and she only took one, so here's what we got.  Looks pretty good, but a nicer background would've been good.

A post-pumpkin patch bath.  I always think the kids smell like farm animals when we get home.  Maggie just loves baths still.  Nothing cuter than a little girl in a bath towel, right?

Mommy and Maggie

Cutest smile ever!

Girls trip to Chicago!

Every year the roommates I had in college (Truman State) get together to catch up and have fun.  We try to vary the location and time of year, depending on each other's schedules.  This year our annual trip was in Chicago.  2 of my roommates live there with their families and it was a nice central place for everyone to meet.
Our trip is starting to need some serious planning though, because each one of my roommates, there are 6 of us, have kids of our own now.  So before, we would plan on hitting the clubs and partying at night, and now we plan on hitting the zoos and childrens parks.  My, how times have changed!!

Maggie and I flew in on Thursday night and came home on Sunday.  This was her first time flying and she did FANTASTIC!  I thought for sure she would fall asleep on the flight there, but she didn't and luckily I had a seat partner that was having a good time making Maggie laugh.  Free entertainment!
I wasn't sure how well Maggie would do sleeping in a new place, but she didn't mind at all.  She did really well sleeping at night and during her naps while we were there.
We stayed with my girlfriend Jamie and her family's house (that they just moved into 1 month ago!).  She has 2 kiddos, Owen who is 4 and Ava who is 1.  They had tons of toys and we had lots of fun there, especially since Ava is totally obsessed with babies right now.

Here is Maggie sitting in Ava's chair in her room. Maggie slept in Ava's crib while we were there, and I slept on a futon in the same room.  It worked out really well.

Jamie and Maggie at the park right by their house.  We had beautiful weather - it was 80 degrees and sunny the entire time we were there.

We had a picnic lunch at the park the first day. 

Maggie really liked laying in the sun on the blanket!

Maggie and I, and another roommate Deidra with her little girl Evelyn (who is 1). 

Watching the kids feed the ducks

I found another swing, just like the one that used to be at the playground by my grandparents house in Michigan.  We took lots of pictures of Colin when we were there a couple of years ago, but they took the swing down since then.  Well, this park had a swing like it and of course, I had to snap a few pictures of Maggie in there, even though clearly she was too small for it.

She wasn't as excited about it as I was!

Ava entertaining Maggie.  She would've just loved on Maggie all day long if we'd let her.

Maggie with my friend Angie.  Angie just had a little boy one week before Maggie was born.

So big!!

Here's a shot of all the babies (and there were other kids that were older, too!).  It turns out that 3 of us were all due with babies within a few days of each other. 

Chris is on the left (2 months older than Maggie), Lucas is on top (1 week older than Maggie), Keagan is on the right (2 weeks younger than Maggie) and then Maggie.  LOTS OF BABIES!

Maggie doing a high-kick for the camera.  She was by far the smallest of the babies, such a little peanut!

All of us girls hanging out one night. 

Me, Stephanie (from St. Louis), Karla (from Nevada), Angie (from Chicago), Deidra (from Kansas City), and Jamie (from Chicago) 

They are so thoughtful.  My swim team was being inducted into Truman State's Hall of Fame the same weekend we went to Chicago.  Of course, I had already bought plane tickets so I wasn't able to attend.  But, my roommates got me a "congratulations" cake and put together a slide show of a bunch of fun pictures from college.  We sat around and drank wine and reminisced about the good ol' days.  Had tons of good laughs and funny memories. 

The flight home was pretty uneventful.  Maggie did great again and Daddy and Colin were waiting to pick us up when we got off the plane.  Geez, I missed Colin like crazy!  He and Daddy had fun while we were gone though.

I can't wait until next year.  I am so lucky to have such a great group of friends!

Remembering Jakey Todd

Well, it finally happened.

We put Jake to sleep today at around noon.  He had been really going downhill quick.  He hadn't eaten for 4 days, had been getting sick, and wasn't even able to get outside to go to the bathroom.

After we talked to the vet, he confirmed he probably had cancer and there was a really big (almost the size of a softball) tumor in his tummy.  He also had a lot of fluid in his stomach which was causing him a lot of discomfort.  The cancer had likely spread and even if we chose to drain the fluid from his stomach, it would've just been a temporary band-aid and could've only gotten us anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks longer with him.

We thought it would be selfish to prolong his discomfort any longer, and we chose to put him down.  He has always been such a great dog, it was a very hard decision for Brian and I.  We made sure Colin said his good-byes to Jakey this morning, giving him lots of hugs and kisses.  That's what makes us the most sad...not having Colin's buddy around.  

Reasons why we LOVE Jakey:
*how whenever I was crying, he would come over to my side, and just sit there patiently, waiting for me to pet him and help comfort me - he even did this as I was crying my eyes out at the vet making one of the hardest decisions ever - always putting others first

* how he woke Brian and I up when the tornado was just about to hit our house 3 years ago (then practically shoved me out of the way getting downstairs cause he wanted to get down there first!)

*he was so mild-mannered with Colin, letting him climb all over him and pull his tail

*he loved going on walks and going for rides in the car
*how terrified he was of thunderstorms, especially at night, sitting right by the bed and panting directly in our face for hours

*how he would frequently get his collar stuck in the register vent at night, and bark very quietly to wake us up and help him out - and how he practically spent 90% of his day laying on the register vents

*when Colin was a baby, he would lay in his room at night and protect him

*he loved to chew on rocks outside and would lay for hours outdoors if we'd let him

*he'd do pretty much anything for a treat

*he was always so nervous to walk on our hardwood floors, then he'd slip and slide all over the place
*how he would run like the wind whenever the vacuum was pulled out

*he let Colin play with all of his toys and didn't seem to mind - such a patient dog!

*everytime he was let out at Grammie & Grandad's house, he would run around the perimeter of the fence, trying to find a way out of the yard

*when on the loose, he would always run to the creek and get all muddy

*he would smile at me while I was brushing him or clipping his toenails

*he had the WORST breath ever

*you could tell exactly what he was thinking with all of his different facial expressions

*he flunked out of obedience school, but was always such a behaved doggy for us

*he was the best dog with our kids, teaching Colin responsibility and unconditional love

Some pics of Colin (about 1 year old) and Jakey (about 12 years old):

We will always remember you Jake.  Thanks for being such a great dog and a loving member of our family!

Rice Cereal

Maggie is just growing up so fast - right before our eyes. 

And lately, our eyes have been open a lot...meaning Maggie has ended her "she's a great sleeper" run.  Seriously, for the past 2.5 weeks, she has gotten up about every 3 hours, just demanding to be fed.  This is so unlike her, as she really has been sleeping through the night since 8 weeks.  Hopefully we can get back to our normal routine once we return from Chicago.  Keep your fingers crossed, there are 2 really tired Mommy & Daddy's in our house.

But, we thought maybe Maggie would like to start some real food, which, in baby terms, is rice cereal.

Eating her pre-meal snack (her left foot toesies)

Waiting (somewhat patiently) for her food, being entertained by Brother

Come on guys, it's not a 4 course meal you're preparing, hurry up!

Um....not my favorite.

 

Brother wanted a turn feeding Maggie.  Here goes nothing...

Too far...you're sticking the spoon in too far!

But, she survived and we tried some more.  Still, not her favorite.

The finished product. 

We will try, try again.