Collin's 9 months!

Mr. Collin is now 9 months old! I'm really wondering how time has flown so fast?! I'll have a 1 yr. old in only a few months! Crazy. Well, I took him in for his well child check-up a few days ago and here's the results: Weight- 27 lbs. (greater than 97 %. That's what they say, but really they mean "OFF THE CHARTS!") Height- 30 in. (90%) Head-47 cm. (90%) SO, I've got a big boy. Here's some pictures I took of him just hangin' out today. He loves to just hang out. He's not into the whole crawling thing...or doing anything really, that involves moving, that is. Actually, that's not entirely true. He rolls in both directions, so he gets around that way, from one end the room to the other. He scoots on his bottom, and makes good distance that way, surprisingly. And, he'll occasionally "attempt" to get on all fours. It hasn't really happened yet, but he'll stay on them if I do it for him then slowly flattens out. We'll get there. Maybe.

Here's one I threw in because he's just so funny when he eats. Eating makes him really happy! And, he's been feeding himself a lot lately, so he's really messy. He's hilarious!

Merry Christmas (a little late!)

Yes, I'm just now getting around to putting up Christmas pictures! It seems like everything would calm down after the holidays, but not for us. Anyways, the holidays were great for us! We had a wonderful Christmas, and a relaxing New Years. Christmas Eve started with a visit to Jeremy's 90 year old Grandma. We don't see her much, but we make it a point to visit around Christmas time. She, along with Jeremy's Aunts, have always been so generous and loving towards the kids. It's nice to be able to have that "Great-Grandma" relationship for them. After that we headed over to Jeremy's brother's house for the start of our annual Christmas Eve progressive dinner. There's just enough of us in the family to have an appetizer, salad, and main dish/dessert at a different person's house for each. It's been fun doing that over the past couple years. And, we always have pizza for our main dish. Yummm! The Kleins have been doing that part FOREVER. The dinner ended at the Grandparent's house, where we also each got to open our Christmas Eve present. Christmas morning we checked out if Santa had eaten our chocolate covered Oreos and chocolate milk, which he did. And, his reindeer snacked on some carrots. Can't forget them! Jeremy and I got up before the kids and got showered and ready, knowing we were headed back to Jeremy's parent's house shortly after our opening of presents. Finally the kids awoke and we dug in! The kids got lots of fun thing this year. Santa brought Sam the 3 Musketeer Carraige/Hot Air Balloon (a barbie thing). Parker got a dragon castle by Imaginext. And Collin got a fun blow up penguin that sits on the ground and never falls over...what do you call that??? Well, it's cute and plays music and has balls in it's tummy. Yeah. Jeremy and I exchanged $$$$ What could be better than that? We both really wanted clothes, so that was our best bet. We also opened up a bunch of gifts my mom sent from Idaho. Thanks mom! After all that, we headed over to the Grandparent's and started all over again. They always go all out and the kids have such a fun time. And, it's nice to be around the kids' cousins, who are also there. They sure do love eachother. We headed home after a couple hours and relaxed, watched UP, and played with our new toys. My Dad and brother came over for a roast beef dinner, which turned out really good. Very tasty I might say! We ended the evening with that- a great dinner, family, and more presents from my dad. My kids are spoiled! We felt like taking a little drive so we went out to look at Christmas lights one last time. It was a wonderful evening. Here's a slew of pictures we took over those couple days. Merry (late) Christmas! Happy New Year! Oh yeah, our New Years was very low key. We did a little celebration with the kids before we scooted them to bed at an early 8:30. We had some left over fire crackers, so we did that with them and had some Martinelli's Sparkling Cider and yelled "Happy New Year!" That was about it for the kids. Jeremy and I did stay up until midnight, but just hung out in front of the TV and ate lots of junk food. That's my kind of night!

With Jer's Grandma

Opening some gifts on Christmas Eve. Collin was really excited!

Christmas morning

Waiting patiently for something to happen.

Parker and his Hot Wheels track

The kids got Nerf swords. Still not sure if it was a good idea or bad one?!

Sam and her new DS game

Collin in the midst of it all

Littlest Pet Shop was a big hit this year

Parker's dress-up clothes grew this year. He loves his fireman costume.

The dreaded clean-up...

The kids in front of Grandpa and Grandma Klein's tree Christmas morning.

Collin and his cousin, Tristan, are getting acquainted. Someday they'll be the best of friends, just like the others! BTW, Collin is only 3 months older...He's huge.

Christmas Sunday

Before church this past sunday I made this kids do a little photoshoot in front of our tree in their Christmas get-ups. The boys aren't decked out too much, but I really like Samantha's dress this year. I think it's very elegant and she looked beautiful. Here's some pictures we took. Mind you, this took forever...the boys weren't too into it. It's the best we got!

Cookie Party!

Samantha is one lucky girl. She's able to attend a wonderful preschool with an amazing teacher. This year, like all other years, Samantha's teacher, Ms. Tammy, hosted a Cookie Decorating Party. All the kids, along with their families were invited to come to her house and decorate cookies, make cereal chains for their Christmas trees and play! There was yummy food to nibble on and lots of fun friends. Samantha had a blast! Ms. Tammy also put together stocking for the kids, filled with coloring things, treats, a book, and some other fun stuff. It was a great night!

More Christmas Cheer!

Yesterday for FHE we decided to go to Snowflake Lane, which is held outside, down one of the main street running in front of one of our malls. It's a Christmas celebration held every night with a marching band playing Christmas tunes, a big bear who dances and gives hugs, a snow princess (who we didn't get to meet!) and fun lights and snow that falls from the sky (or buildings, haha!) The drummers give out candy and put on a good show. The kids loved dancing with them and helping them play their drums. Parker even got involved and actually let the Bear pick him up! I was very impressed. We went with our good friends, so we had great company! Here's some pictures of the fun!

Christmas Is Here!

We're in full Christmas mode! The decorations are out, the shopping has started, and the festivities have begun! I love this time of year! We got out all our decorations the day after Thanksgiving and realized, as we started to get stuff out, that our TV was where our tree should be. This turned into a whole rearrangement of our house...again. We like the set-up, so we may just leave it. Anyways, the kids were so excited and were bugging me all day about every little detail. Finally, it was done and they were happy! It looks great! We're decked out inside and out. Jeremy's so good about getting lights up every year. He gets pretty excited. So, here's the set-up...

Samantha did most of the work, while Parker found the train for our village and attempted to hang a few ornaments on the tree. Collin was very excited to see the tree and loved to touch and admire it. We have no tree topper due to our tree being too tall! Sad, but true. I haven't figured out what to do, except bend the top, but that didn't even work!

We've been out to a few Christmas events as well. The first was a Christmas Creche. There were over 500 nativities, with a beautiful choir, refreshments, and some crafts for the kids. It was put on by the church, at one of our Stake Centers, but open to the public. It was so wonderful! The spirit was strong and the atmosphere was just gorgeous. I wish I had pictures.

The second was our traditional visit to Coulon Beach on Lake Washington. Every year they put up a great light display around the park, which they call Clam Lights. It's really pretty and the kids love it. We went on one of the coldest days EVER! Seriously, we've been having some major cold weather, yet so sunny...very deceiving. It was Sunday, so Samantha insisted on wearing her dress. She was freezing. I changed, so I was less freezing, but not by much. We didn't stay long, but long enough to snap a few photos and take a stroll around the dock. Then, it was back home, where we started up our hot chocolate maker and got warm.

It's Official!

Yes, it can really be said...Collin is a roller! He can finally roll over (front to back)! Now I'll quit worrying so much....Now, if I can just get him to stay on his tummy long enough for him to learn to crawl. And, he's lovin' his solids! He's a great eater!