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.

Our kids are definitely cuter than yours, here's proof

See what I mean. They are stinking cute! It really doesn't get cuter than that. So maybe I'm biased, but still they are cute. And not only are they cute they are so sweet and fun. We just love being parents. I took these today before church, their Christmas outfits from Grandma Valenza.

Yes, those are earrings. We decided to get Marissa's ears pierced a few weeks ago and we love it. Isn't she so cute. Our little doll baby. I'm still hoping those eyes turn green. Wouldn't that be fun.

And we're already creating piano prodigies. They love playing together, sweet beautiful tunes. Well not yet, but don't worry, I'll teach them.

Our little penguin.


This is our rollie pollie girl. She is a mover. She isn't crawling yet, but she rolls all over and gets wherever she wants. It's so cute and fun, but I wish she would slow down. She's going to cause trouble. But she sure is cute!

My little helper. Collin won't leave our side. He hates to be alone. It is so sweet, sometimes. A lot of the time we just wish we could do something on our own, but if we leave for 2 seconds we hear, "wait for me". We'll definitely miss it when he outgrows it and never wants us around. Anyway, what I wanted to say is how wonderful of a helper he is. Again, sometimes it can be a little frustrating, but usually I don't care, I mean my 2 year old vacuums, sweeps, mops, rakes, he practically does it all. I love having a little helper. I am a lucky mom!

Isn't this cute. Marissa sure loves her Toby kitty. Whenever he comes near she smiles and giggles. She loves to pet him, even if it becomes more of a tug.

We had a fun snow storm a few weeks ago and of course had to go play in it. Collin didn't enjoy it quite as much as I thought he would. It was pretty cold and windy. We got to sled down our hill out back and build a snowman. It was a fun week. Collin's favorite part was just getting to have "hot (warm) chocolate". He asked for it every chance he got. He was more excited about the hot chocolate than the snow.

They are so cute together! Marissa adores Collin and Collin loves to entertain her. He is starting to talk to her and show her things. Today after Marissa's nap, I brought her out and he kissed her hand and said "good morning" Rissa (that's what Collin calls her). Pretty cute! He also turned on the Christmas lights on the tree today and turned and looked at Marissa and said, "look Rissa, lights". It was so sweet. How blessed to know that Families are Forever.

Our fun/vibrant bathroom

So here is our first painting project. I know the orange is a little out there, but I love it. It's the kids bathroom and I thought it should be fun, plus I love color and polka-dots, so why not. I even painted the canvases. I can't say they're amazing, but it was sure fun! Decorating and painting the house is taking so much longer than we had planned, but it is sure fun! We love our little home.