Colin's Last Day of Pre School

Colin's last day of pre school was on Wednesday. I can't believe he's completed a full year already! He had such a great year! He's learned so much and I'm pretty sure he had the best teacher in the school! I'm so sad we're not going to get to see her anymore!

His class had a little program for the parents on Wednesday. I invited my mom to come with us too. They sang songs and Colin did so great! He was so animated and he was cracking up! It was adorable! After the songs his teachers gave them their certificates and said a few things about each kid. Colin's were:
-Favorite colors: red and yellow
-Favorite food: green beans (I did not know that!)
-Favorite thing to do at school: play Avengers with his friends
-When he grows up he wants to be: Iron Man...dreaming big ;)

We also got Colin's final report card! He's doing great with everything. He knew his address this time which he didn't last (we made up a song to help him learn it)! He counted numbers to 29 and objects to 28. At home he usually goes to 49 and then jumps to 100. He recognized the numbers 0-5. He knew all his upper case letters besides f,g,h, and w. (he knew lowercase w though which cracks me up because they look the same)! He knew all the lower case letters besides j, f (both of which he knew last time), and d.

We are so proud of him and all the things he's learning!! He is the sweetest boy and we're so blessed to have him in our family! I can't believe he's off to kindergarten next year!

Vacay!!

Our 7 year anniversary is today! It has gone by so incredibly fast! We decided we needed a little alone time with each other so we planned a weekend trip to the beach last week!!

Ryan's been traveling down to Florida for work for the past 6 months. A few weeks ago they planned another trip and it just so happened to coincide with my birthday week and the week before our anniversary. We decide to take advantage of the fact that he was already down there! He went down to Orlando for work on Monday and I flew down Thursday for our couples retreat!!!

I would have been happy to stay in Orlando- give me a pool and palm trees and I'm a happy girl {miscellaneous Megan fact: I LOVE palm trees! They make me so happy!} Ryan didn't think Orlando would feel like a vacation though since he's been there so much recently. He decided he wanted to go to the beach! No complaining here! My love for the beach is almost as great as my love for palm trees! However, ideally my beach includes a pool over looking the ocean so I don't have to be covered in sand! We decided on Melbourne which is a little over an hour southeast of Orlando. Our hotel was right on the beach and we loved it!!

My flight got in around 4 on Thursday. Ryan picked me up from the airport and we headed down to Melbourne. After getting checked into the hotel we went down to explore the pool and beach. Then we drove around looking for places to eat dinner. We decided on a Mexican place- it was really good. After dinner we came back and walked along the beach. Then we headed back up to the room. Ryan wanted to take a nap so I jumped at the opportunity to watch the finale of Grey's Anatomy!! Ryan didn't end up sleeping but he did go down and check out the gym.

I was so excited to sleep in and not have to wake up whenever the kids wake me up...apparently I can't sleep in that late anymore! I think I woke up around 8:30 on Friday and Ryan was still snoozing away. I just sat on the balcony and read my book- it was awesome!! After getting some Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast we headed down to the pool (let me just add that Ryan worked out while I got donuts so apparently I didn't need to wait for him to get breakfast with me all those hours)!

The pool was really nice! There was a bar with food and drinks and various umbrellas throughout the grounds. We didn't used one that day but needed one on Saturday because someone refuses to wear sunscreen and got burnt like a lobster!! We stayed at the pool until about 3 and then headed back to the room to get ready for the evening.

There was a town center about 30 minutes from the hotel that we wanted to check out. It was a big disappointment. We pretty much had all the stores and restaurants at home and didn't feel like going to any of them. We did stop at Francesca's which I'd wanted to go to in the mall on my birthday but we ran out of time so that was fun. I got a couple cute things!

We wanted to eat dinner at a restaurant we didn't have at home but we weren't having too much luck. I hadn't eaten anything since our donuts and I was starting to feel sick so I told Ryan we needed to get something before we went to a sit down restaurant. We stopped at the gas station and Ryan said I should get a candy bar. They ended up having cut up apples and a small veggie tray with Ranch and cheese and that sounded great! He was cracking up at my snack choice. Let me just tell you, those gas station apples, veggies, and cheese were delicious!!! We ended up going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner--something we have at home but it's one of my faves so I was okay with it! Afterwards we went back to the beach. That night we watched The Candidate on pay-per-view in the hotel room.

Saturday we laid out until about 3:30. We were each sufficiently burnt by then! I did wear sunscreen but I fell asleep and didn't reapply. Also, we only had 15 and I think I should have started with 30 seeing how it was practically the first time I've laid out this year. Oh well! For dinner that night we wanted to go somewhere on the water. I looked up some places on line and we picked one that sounded good. It was called 'Grills on the River' and it was delicious! They had live music and the view was amazing!! Really good palm trees :) Ryan was laughing at me all weekend because I kept pointing out my favorite palm trees!

On the way over to the restaurant we crossed an island called Merritt Island. After dinner we decided to drive along the island and look at all the houses. It was absolutely gorgeous!! One side was bordered by a river and the other was the inter coastal waterway. There were palm trees galore and the huge, moss covered trees as well. I would totally buy a beach house down there!!! We got ice cream that night at some place called Moo's, then we just relaxed. I finished one of my books and Ryan watched a movie on TV.

Our flight left at 4:30 on Sunday. We went to IHOP for breakfast and stopped at Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach on the way back to Orlando. Once we got up there Ryan showed me where they stay and where the office is. He also drove me past his house when he lived there when he was a kid. Then we went to Panda Express before heading over to the airport.

It was a great trip! We missed the kids so much but it was so nice to just have some alone time and relax and do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted! Ryan's supposed to go back down again in a few weeks and he was like "you could come again." I said "I can't keep leaving town and leaving the kids with my Mom." He said "Maybe you should bring them."...we shall see!

Night 1 on the beach!

Oh how I love my palm trees! And a virgin strawberry daiquiri in front of the pool?! It doesn't get any better than that!

Self portrait--trying to get it in front of the palm tree--it was WINDY!! Oh well!

Grills





 

While we were gone the kiddos had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa!! They went to Art on the Square and Colin walked around like a vampire! My dad sent me this picture!

Grandma's Trip: The Zoo



 We had a lot of fun when my Grandma was here but as usual it went by way too fast! On Monday Colin didn't have school so we decided to go to the zoo. It was the perfect day for it--the weather was amazing. Sunny and 72--doesn't get much better than that!

 

We got there around lunch time so our first stop was to get food. We sat outside so we could enjoy the weather. We were sitting next to a lake with ducks, geese, and turtles. Colin was so excited: "Are those real, live ducks, Mom?!"I'm pretty sure we could have skipped the zoo all together and watched the ducks on the golf course and he would have been a happy camper!!!

 

The kids did so great! We took the stroller but Peyton switched back and forth from riding to walking to having someone hold her. Colin was awesome and did great the whole time! I think their favorite animals were the chimpanzees.

 

Walking in- they were making dragon faces.



We found an alligator hat!

Each of the kids got a stuffed animal from the gift shop. Peyton fell in love with a stuffed monkey and Colin picked a crocodile.

It was the perfect zoo day!

Miss These Kiddos!!

I'm laying here in Florida when I could still be asleep because I don't have any built in alarm clocks running around. But I am awake. Maybe I've lived past the point in my life where I can sleep in past 8:30 or 9. Sad day! Ryan has not lived past that point!

Yesterday when my mom dropped me off at the airport I was so sad to say goodbye to Colin and Peyton! I teared up a little bit! Peyton was crying and Colin seemed okay but my mom told me later that when she got back in the car after getting my grandma's suitcase out they were both crying. He said he "wanted his mom." Breaks my heart!!!

I know they are going to have so much fun at Grandma and Grandpa's and I know it will be good for Ryan and I to get a little alone time. But boy do I miss those babies!!!

Last night Ryan and I enjoyed looking at the pictures I've taken of them this week while he's been down in Orlando. Here are a couple of my favorites!!

Hello May!

Holy cow, time is flying so fast! I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it's 2013. I'm really having a hard time realizing that it's May...and mid-May none-the-less! It seems I've had a hard time staying up-to-date on the blog. There's just so much stuff going on--and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon!

 

Grandma's in town right now. She came on Thursday for Jason's graduation from U of I which was yesterday. She'll be here til Thursday and it's so much fun to have her here! Maybe one of these days her visit will get it's own post!!

 

Colin's last day of pre-school is next Wednesday. How in the world can that be?! I'm super excited for the summer and the fun we're bound to have but I'll miss his teachers and I'm sure he'll miss the daily schedule and his little friends!

 

Ryan and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary in a couple weeks. I'm meeting him down in Florida the end of this week for a long weekend kids free. I love Colin and Peyton so much and am so blessed to be their mother but I'm really looking forward to some alone time with Ryan! Can't wait to lay by the pool/at the beach and just relax!
***
 

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks...maybe part of the reason I've been bad about posting pictures is because I've been putting them on Instagram! But since I really want them on the blog some people may just have to get a double dose!

Trying on a dress up hat

I love how she's standing and his superman cape!! Too adorable!

Love his outfits so much!!

Peyton's got a little obsession with eating other people's food..even when her plate has the exact same stuff!



Went to Kim's ultrasound with her last week!!! So excited about their little peanut!

Me and Colin-bo-bolin on Mother's day!!

Go Cards!

It's that time of year again: baseball season! We've already gone to 2 games! A few weeks ago Ryan got tickets from school so we met him and my parents there. It was pretty cold that night. They called on our way over to see if we wanted to skip it since it was so cold but we came prepared- we wore layers and had blankets!

Ryan and I were kind of nervous about how Peyton would do- it ended up being perfect though- she fell asleep on the way over and slept the first 45 minutes. When she woke up I think she was too cold to move so she was content to cuddle!

We also went last weekend with my dad- in the good seats behind the cardinals dugout. It doesn't get much better than that! Well, it would have been a little better if it wasn't raining! We made it through the 7th inning then left. It was fun though and Peyton did great! She did move between us but was confined pretty well by the chairs in front of us! She kept rubbing the girls backs in front of us. It was so cute! Colin got some blue cotton candy and it dyed his hands, lips, and tongue blue. His poop was even blue for the next few days--sorry if that's tmi! We now have a no blue cotton candy rule in our house!

Dance Off

I'm pretty convinced one of Colin's favorite things about the wedding reception was dancing with Jason! It may come as a surprise to some but Jason's got moves!!! Looks like Colin's got some moves too!

Enjoy!