Our darling 1 year old

Yes, Marissa is 1! We can't believe it. Didn't I just have her? Well apparently not, but it sure seems like it. Isn't it amazing how the second child seems to grow so much faster. She is still our little doll baby. She isn't quite walking, but she does cruise along the furniture and takes a few steps on her own. She is sweet and sassy. She sure gives Collin a run for his money. So in honor of our little sweetie, here are several pictures from her first year and to top it off with a video from her 1st birthday, eating her cupcake. Yes, she loves food just like her momma.

March and April Collinisms

This silly cute boy!

• Mommy- "Collin are you a big boy?" Collin- "Not yet." Mommy, "When will you be a big boy." Collin (very matter of factly)- "When I'm nine."
• So we are starting seeds in the house and today some of them popped up. I called Collin over to show him the little green plants. He got down, looked at them, and said, "now we can eat them." ha ha. He didn't understand the waiting part.
• "Oh, that so cuuuuuuuuute"
• So today we drove by the shipyard (where Adam works). Collin saw the big boats and I told him that's where daddy works. He said, "When I big I work on big boats with Daddy and Steven (one of Adam's friends and co-workers)." He then proceeded to tell me he would work with Daddy when he is "tall tall, like a snowman". (Gotta love that creativity)
• "I'm silly Collin boy the Monkey"
• Singing the wheels on the bus and these are Collin's own verses... "the moose on the bus throw a muffin to the boy, etc...all through the town" "The wet wipe on the bus goes wipe, wipe, wipe... all through the town"
• Singing Old McDonald he starts singing, "And on his farm he had a mommy, ee-i-ee-i-oh with a clean-up here and a clean-up there." So I guess he notices that I try to keep the house clean after all.
• When we tickle him he now says, "I don't like it" while laughing of course.
• One night while we were putting him in his pjs his leg got stuck and he said, "get in Collin boy leggies."
• While playing with his trains, one fell apart and he said, "uh-oh sapettios" (spaghettios).
  

A visit from Grandpa & Grandma Valenza

So my parents came a few months ago, I can't believe I haven't blogged about it sooner. They came for a quick weekend, but it was such an awesome visit. We played lots of games, showed them around Port Orchard and Seattle, and just spent some wonderful quality time! It was a blast and we were sure sad that it went by so fast. Lucky for the kids and I, we get to go to California this month to spend more time with them. Isn't family just wonderful!

February Collinisms

It is so so fun to have Collin talk. We just love it. It is so nice that he can communicate with us and he says the cutest things. We just love that little voice.

A few things Collin says, that I'm realizing he got from me... "Wait a minute" when he is twisting on the lid of anything "Nice and tight" "Oh my goodness" When we put Marissa to bed he says "Sweet Dreams"

Collin got some Disney's Cars cars for Valentine's day. While he was playing with them he said, "Doc is sooooooo cool".

Oooooo pink. I liiiiiiiike pink.

While eating crackers. Collin- "I'm making a mess. I get my choo choo bib. I no get my shirt dirty."

Daddy- "Collin, can we go inside?" Collin- "No, stay outside." Daddy- "But it's cold." Collin- "I be okay."

Our Child Prodegies

Collin is finally starting to put words together and sing. He loves to be sung to every night. His favorite songs are I love to See the Temple and I am a Child of God. Here are our cute little ones performing a little duet and Collin singing his own rendition/hybrid song of I love to See the Temple and I am a Child of God. Don't you just love that sweet, innocent little voice. We are so richly blessed. Oh and of course our cat had to make his grand appearance...

I just have to brag

Yes I am a proud momma! Collin has done a few things lately that have just made our hard work pay off. At a friend's house he needed a band-aid. After getting it on his finger he said thank you and picked up the band-aid wrapper and threw it in the trash! Woohoo!
He is my little pacifier finder. Whenever Marissa's pacifier falls under her crib I just call Collin and he runs and finds it. Such a good brother!
He is also so good about throwing trash, diapers, and all kinds of stuff away. He is starting to put his sippy cups back in the fridge when he is finished (without us even asking :) ). He also will take his plate to the sink if it's empty and to the counter if there is food on it.
He throws his dirty clothes in the hamper and puts his clean clothes back in the drawer.
At night before stories he'll help us clean up all the toys usually without a fight.
So a month or two ago he started fighting nap time. He would get out numerous times and cry and cry when I'd put him back to bed. I knew I had to persevere because not only is he cranky without a nap, but I want to hold on to nap time as long as I possibly can. So just the last two weeks he has stopped fighting and he even willingly goes. My secret, I tell him you have 5 more minutes to play before nap time. I tell him I am going to set the timer and when it goes off, nap time. When he hears the beep he stops what he's doing says nap time and we walk into his room without a fight! Wonderful!
It is so so so rewarding when he does things all on his own. He is learning so fast and just soaking everything up! What a sweetheart! Love this little guy.

Collin the shots, our favorite Collinisms

So we have a friend that does this every month and I just love it, so I can't say this is original, thanks Marcie for the idea. Collin is starting to say so many funny things. We love hearing him talk. His sweet little voice, so innocent. Here are the funny things he said this month...

Collin - "I watch cartoons?"
Mommy - "I have to see what time it is."
Collin - "Cartoon time!"

Daddy - "Collin, you can go pee in the potty." Collin (Emphatically) - "May-be Not!"

When we tell Collin to close his eyes for the prayer he says "No, it's dark"

Yes, I do I do"

I no like time outs"

We sure love these little people. Marissa stood up for the first time 2 days ago. She was holding on to the toy box and stood right up. She's moving way too fast if you ask me. But we sure love it. We also had our first set of stitches, and I'm sure it won't be the last, unfortunately. While I was at church playing floor hockey with some women Collin somehow got his finger stuck in a door and got a deep cut. We had to take him to the urgent care where he got 4 stitches. No fun, especially with 2 crying kids. Yuck. Poor guy, he has been brave and good about it. Now the hard part is trying to get the band-aid off so we can check it. These kids keep us on our toes and we just love them. Here are some of the latest pictures.