Snow Motor

If people in WNY have been wondering why in the world we got 6" of snowfall on the second last day of March... blame this guy!

Colton is obsessed with snow motors (as he calls them).  I took the kids on a walk around our neighborhood a few weeks ago when there was a break in weather.  Not only did Colton walk the one mile loop, he also pushed his lawn mower.  There were still small amounts of snow and Colton took it upon himself to snow motor nearly every driveway pile in the neighborhood.

Colton's dream of Snow-Motoring has come true!  The mild weather meant he could join Jason and help with clearing the driveway.

Standing by while Jason turns the snow motor around

Withstanding the flying wet snow

Enjoying the fruit of his labor

Reward for a job well done - Mommy's special hot cocoa

Hot? I need it cold

All the while Hollyn moved all around the house

I am looking forward to warm weather, but I do like the snow!

Ryan's Birthday, STANDING & Cuddles

Colton's friend Ryan is turning six!  We celebrated at Rolly Pollies, Colton had a blast - Hollyn did too!

The Birthday boy!

Colton LOVES the foam pit!

Running on the trampoline!

We found a circular mat made just for Hollyn.

She stays put.

She is protected from running kids.

Can we bring this home?

Yes, folks.... Holly has pulled herself up!

All on her own - watch out world, this girl will be walking before she is one!

Ryan's football themed cake

 Yes - this guy enjoyed TWO pieces of cake!

Colton was tired after Party Time...

He brought the blanket to me and said "me cuddle you, mama"

Then it was Hollyn's turn (she didn't quite understand she was supposed to lay down to cuddle)

"baby seester - me cuddle you - under here!"

Happy cuddly man

Hollyn Cornell

Over the past eight and a half months we have watched our little girl change from a sweet newborn to an active, engaging and loving baby.  She moves on her own, lets us know what she likes (and what she doesn't), babbles constantly and gives us endless smiles.  Sunday evening Colton and Jason  researched lawn mowers on the computer and Hollyn crawled around the office.  I grabbed Jason's camera and captured these pictures of our precious little lady.

Hollyn crawled right over to our family picture (circa June 2012)

 

My family

Back to the picture, pointing at her family

Flapping arms in excitement

plank!

This all took place right before a trip to Home Depot to look at lawn mowers.  Little did I know my evening would end with severe abdominal pain and a trip to the ER.  I write this now, days later, with one less organ (my appendix) and very grateful for the good medical care I received along with the love and support of my hubby.  Jason's care is ongoing, he is upstairs putting Colton to bed as I type this - this is what I'm hearing:

How about airplanes and how they go up in the sgky.

How about fire trucks?

What are you doing Dada? come over here, up high - I want to read that one (pointing to a book)
Me eat it all (referring to his milk), me drank it all
To infinity and beyond
I cuddle you, night night

Home from the hospital on Tuesday - I look a little dopey, the wave is adorable

Random updates

Hollyn took her first ride on Daddy's shoulders, Colton did the same around 8 months.  Hollyn is pretty sturdy up there!  Watch out Daddy  - this girl pulls hair!

And eats hair too

Colton, Hollyn and I met CC, Elizabeth and Laura to shop for spring shoes & boots.  The Fitting Place in West Seneca is adorable, they sell quality brands and provide tons of toys for kiddo entertainment while we shopped.  Colton also picked out a fireman rain coat!

Colton trying on his rain coat & boots!

Colton - size 9.5

Elizabeth - size 5

Hollyn - size 3

Later that night we met CC & Papa for dinner at the American Grill

Childrens' Kastle is celebrating the Week of the Young Child the 2nd week in April, to celebrate each child is decorating a square on a quilt.  Thanks, CK, for the fun craft project, I loved it!

Crawling, Waving & Colton's ABCs

These vidoes clips have been scattered between my iphone, ipad and camera - I finally uploaded them all and have a few minutes to share. 

Before the videos, here is Hollyn enjoying her first "really solid" food (i.e. teeth required)

Hollyn has been almost crawling since late February, now she is officially crawling!  She started really moving a few days after we arrived home from Jamaica and by the following weekend she was off!

March 11, 2014

March 15, 2014

What's the next most precious milestone after smiling?

Waving and saying Mama!

Colton has been singing the ABCs for months now and I have been unsuccessful in capturing his singing.  When I would bring out my iphone or camera he either stopped singing or insisted he watch existing videos of himself (he's humble).

After months of attempts, here is Colton's debut of the ABCs
p.s.  He had always skipped "L, M, N, O, P" entirely, now he gets most of them out

Jamaica - Family favorites

We couldn't leave vacation without a handful of family photos.  The resort offers photographers so we set up a session on the beach so we could capture some pictures.  This photo grew since our last beach photos were taken in Aruba.

The Smith boys

Colton and Hollyn were not the most cooperative.  When Hollyn looked happy, Colton looked grumpy (like this one).  We think the series of the next three photos captures these two just perfectly.

Colton - 28 1/2 months

Hollyn - Days shy of 8 months

It still amazes me that we...

... created this...

I wore this dress back in June 2012 and Jason snapped pictures of Colton and I.  When the photographer asked to take my picture with Hollyn, I recalled the pose so tried to re-create.  I had no idea they the shots would look so similar.

Colton & Hollyn - give or take 8 months