Colter's Favorite Outfit

Does anybody else's kid want to run around in their diaper all the time? 'Cuz my kid sure does! Colter's old enough for fake smiles now, in case you couldn't tell. ;)

Oh Where Oh Where Has My Sleeping Boy Gone?

Nap time has gotten interesting this week. My boy has been boycotting his bed, and I've tried numerous ploys to get him to take a nap. I've moved his mattress to the floor, let him make a nest with his stuffed animals on the floor, let him sleep in the recliner in his room, etc. I don't care where he sleeps, I just want him to sleep! While I love to play with and entertain Colter, alone time has its value as well. There's a reason God designed children to need lots of sleep. :)

Since Colter has been completely anti-crib during the afternoon, I've resorted to letting him sleep on Mommy and Daddy's bed, which seems to work. The only problems is, he goes missing! When I go to wake him up, he's not in the bed. I found in the closet on top of a storage bin the other day. Today when it was time to get him up, I could not find him. It was bewildering. :) I finally spied his head sticking out from under the bed in the narrow place between our bed and the wall where I stick things like the fan and exercise ball so the room doesn't look cluttered. I pulled him out from under the bed before I thought to get the camera, but here's the sleeping boy anyway. He was actually about halfway under the bed and the much of the rest of him was hidden by the dust ruffle. Sneaky boy! What's wrong with sleeping on a nice, comfy mattress anyway?

Where Did These Kids All Come From?

I remember the days when my roommates from college, my bestest friends, Rachel and Gina, could get together with our husbands and play games or at least hear each other converse. There has been an invasion, and those days are long gone (for now)! Seriously, where did these kids all come from? We were just in college a year or two ago...right? How did we reproduce so quickly? Oh, wait. It's been more like nine years since we all lived together! ACK. Time flies!

Who needs uninterrupted conversation when there's these kids to adore? Notice the eyes Colter and Taylor are making at each other, Rachel? Hmm... True love?

I'm submitting this photo as proof that's it's impossible to get five children under five to all look at the camera and smile at the same time. Riley did great!

Toddler Tree Hugger

What is it about a tree that says, "Climb me?" Since when do two-year-olds climb trees? Since now!

Neither this tree or monkey boy are really big enough for any real tree climbing to take place, but it won't be long! John and I planted this tree six years ago. It was only a foot or two taller than Colter when we planted it. When we moved in to this house, there wasn't a tree in the yard; my tree-loving soul was very distressed. We planted quite a few, and they are actually starting to look like real trees instead of twigs. Yay! Trees make me happy, and obviously my boy has a thing for them as well.

Chocolate Overdose?

This is a common look at our house. My boy loves to help me in the kitchen! Obviously, much of his love for baking is because of the inevitable bowl licking. Yum! Smart boy. While I've got a lot of pictures of a sweet chocolate covered face...This is a new one. Too much batter, maybe?

Moments with Our Boy or "The Floor Hurt My Eyebrow"

While putting a hair clip in my hair than taking it out, putting it in, and taking it out, Colter ended up with a strand of my hair. He immediately said, "Oh dear! I fix it Mommy!" and preceded to try and attach the piece of hair back to my head.

When we were taking a walk, Colter and I were discussing the colors of different things around us. We say green grass, brown trees, and the blue sky. Colter noticed the one cloud up in the sky, and said, "There's a white cloud. (Sadly) I can't reach it. I can fly up to it though!" I want to know more about that statement--did he mean in an airplane? Does he think he can fly like a bird? Hmm... I guess I'll never know what he had in mind.

Sometimes Colter and I build a "nest" out of pillows and blankets on his floor if he's having trouble sleeping. I lie with him on his floor until he falls asleep and then sneak back to my bed. One morning after Colter had ended up on the floor, he woke up and came into our room and crawled in bed with us. He asked me why I wasn't on the floor with him anymore, and I told him the floor hurt my back, so I had come back to sleep in the bed. He nodded knowingly and stated, "the floor hurt my eyebrow."

Whenever I suggest something Colter decides he would like to do, or if he comes up with something he is trying to get me to let him do--anything from watch Little Bear to taking a bubble bath, he says "That would be nice." So cute!

The other night Colter kept getting books one at a time from his bedroom and giving them to me on the couch to read to him. After we had read around a dozen books, he brought in his Bible for me to read. I read a few verses from random pages and then he took it and started reading to me. He opened it up and started to read, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food."

Showering Tanner

It's probably not okay to give newborn babies a shower. They wouldn't appreciate having their sleep interrupted by a splash of water in the face. It is okay to shower them with gifts though. Even if the baby happens to be baby number four! Even a fourth kid deserves new stuff. :) Remember Tanner? The car baby? Today we showered him. With presents. Not water.

Tanner's beautiful mommy with the beautiful cake that I made all by myself

Look at this really fun quilt my sister Courtney made! Cute!
While Tanner was getting showered, Colter and his cousins were outside building a fort (?) out of leaves. Then Colter and my grandparents' dog--I think its name is Pepper--had some sort of discussion.

Which I believe led to a disagreement.So Colter buried the dog, whose name may or not be Pepper, with leaves.And Pepper did not seem to mind one bit. Nice Pepper. :)