We are a happy family

These pictures are old, but I uploaded them and then never posted them, Enjoy!

Callin' the shots (May-Jul Collinisms)

May 2011

• One of our favorites, when talking about something that happened yesterday or last week he refers to it as last year.
• I asked him what he wanted for his birthday at the beginning of the month and he told me- A pink cake and blue balloons.
• Mommy- "How old are you?" Collin- "2" Mommy- "And how old will you be on your birthday?" Collin- "5"
• We were reading in the Scriptures about the olive trees in Jacob. He must have been listening because after talking about living fruit Collin says, "Living fruit... that sounds yummy".
• "That's a great idea!"

June 2011

• He often uses the words cuddly, cozy, and cute (he must spend a lot of time with me :))
• Collin finally started saying I love you without any promptings and he says it often. He also asks for hugs and kisses. I just love it!

July 2011

• While getting ready to go to the park he sang, "Ring around the rosies, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all go to the park". I laughed and said that was creative and he said, "It's ok to change the song." ha ha what a little grown-up
• Collin was chewing on his stuffed cougars tail. When I told him to stop that it's yucky he says, "it's not yucky, I'm giving him raspberries."
• While we were outside waiting for the fireworks to start Collin says, "the sun is sleeping and the moon is awake. Shhhhhh the sun is sleeping."
• While we were outside waiting for the fireworks to start Collin says, "the sun is sleeping and the moon is awake. Shhhhhh the sun is sleeping."
• At our 4th of July breakfast he got a small flag. On the way home he said, "I love this flag it is so flaggy." boy is he creative :)

Where does the time go

We have had a fabulous summer! The little sunshine we had was thoroughly enjoyed. I can't believe it's already September so I better post the last few months, before I get too far behind. I have to first start with Collin's new favorite game. He loves hide and go seek. He would play it for hours if WE had the attention span. I have to say his hiding skills are lacking a little, but he is 3 and I can't say I really want him to be too good or else we might never find him. This is one of his oh so tricky hiding spots :)




And although it may look like Marissa is using the same hiding technique she is in fact sleeping. We went to check on her the other night and found this, it was hilarious!



Aunt Cristy came for an awesome visit. We loved having her and it was fun for me to get to know her even better, I keep thinking of her as my "little" 15 year-old sister, even though she's 19 and in college. So it was fun to get to really know my beautiful, wonderful, smart, spiritual sister. I am so proud of her. The kids loved her and Collin still mentions her and every once she makes it into his prayers.






At the end of her visit we all mushed into our little car and drove down to the Redwoods to go camping with my whole family. I guess it was our first "Valenza family" reunion. We spent a week down there and got to sleep in a tent. It was quite the adventure. We had a blast and I did fairly well with the mess. Marissa was covered in a thick layer of dirt, but she was happy. The kids did awesome and we all loved the quality time we had together. You really can't beat the peace and beauty of the outdoors. What an awesome family we have! Here is a picture of Collin, Marissa, and Cayley in their camp chairs. Collin's favorite part besides sleeping in a tent was having a fire every morning and night.




Marissa is becoming quite the little independent woman! Much to our dismay. She is a mover and much more adventurous and daring than Collin is/was. She has figured out how to climb onto the kitchen table, how to make a mess of Toby's kitty food, how to get all cute outfits dirty, etc. you get the picture. She is a ham! We love her and she keeps us on our toes. She is a doll and she is so loving and cuddly, but man is she sweet and sassy! This is what happens when we let her feed herself...


I just couldn't resist! ha ha what a girl.


Again, what a girl


And even though these two can drive each other crazy already, there is sure a lot of laughs and love.


And just to show you that it isn't all fun and games, even though sometimes it sure does feel like I just get to play all day. These little munchkins sure wear me out. I love them so so much. I really can't believe how incredibly blessed we are and I love being home with these precious children.

And don't worry, Adam is around he just somehow never makes it into pictures. I'll have to work on that. We sure love that amazing man. What a good daddy and husband :) He does so much for us and we are lucky to have him :) Sorry, I had to brag and I'm allowed, it's my blog right!!!

We have a 3 year old among us

Collin is 3! He likes to remind us often. He is now a big boy, because he is 3. We don't quite understand where our baby boy went, but I guess time really doesn't wait for anyone does it. We so love this sweet, crazy, fun boy. He is just awesome! It is so fun watching him grow physically, but also mentally and emotionally. He just amazes us. He is so full of energy and life. He is very passionate about everything (a trait he gets from me of course :) and we have our share of ups and downs but he is just so special. He continues to make us laugh and smile. His new favorite thing to do is play hide and seek, oh, and go potty standing up. After about a week of work he is potty trained, not completely but he is doing so good. He really is such a big boy and we just love this crazy kid.







For his birthday we played all day. Once daddy came home from work we opened presents (it killed him to wait), then while he helped Adam put his trike together I made dinner; waffles, eggs, and sausage (his request). After dinner we played outside, then went to the park, ate cake, took a bath and read lots and lots of stories. A pretty perfect day according to Collin. It was so much fun and Collin kept telling us how much fun he was having. I am a lucky momma!

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.