Happy birthday, mommy!

I had a nice post typed up and I have no idea what I hit, but I ended up deleting it! To sum up the day, it was the best birthday ever because I have my husband and now my son to spend it with!!!! Collin's favorite gift to me is the card he picked out that sings "simply the best". He likes it so much that he won't let me hold it! He has been carrying it around the house and opening it every so often to hear the music.

My 6th grade students baked me some brownies and made a card that everyone in the class signed. It was really nice, and they were so excited and proud of themselves. My sister and neices brought a gift for me at school, and my stepfather and his wife came for a visit last night.
My mother-in-law, father-in-law, and sister-in-law, along with my two neices, visited after school. I received some nice cards, gifts, visits, dinner, and a phone call from my best friend who now lives in California.

What a great day!

What Collin is doing now: eating a green popcicle!

Bouncy bounce!

Collin had a great time at a local inflatable playland with his cousin, Chloe, today. Collin built up the courage to go down one of the big slides..once. After that he stuck to the toys closer to the ground. After a great sweaty time, we went out for lunch. Collin enjoyed more cheesefries and ate both of his mini cheeseburgers. He really worked up an appetite doing all that jumping!

What Collin is doing now: playing with his foam letters in the bathtub.

This one didn't work out so well.

Today we tried another recipe from the monthly parent magazine I receive. The recipe was for Frozen Chocolate Bananas. Collin LOVES chocolate, and has not been too keen on bananas for quite a while now. He used to love them, so I thought this would be a fun snack to try and get him back to eating bananas. Collin peeled the bananas while I melted the chocolate chips. Chocolate can be difficult to work with as I heated my first attempt too much and it became "muddy". On to the second attempt, and the chocolate came out better, but not all of the chips were completely melted as I was afraid of leaving them in the microwave too long and getting the "muddy" consistency again.

The directions were to place a popcicle stick in the end of a banana. I thought it would work better to divide the bananas in two to get a better area to place the sticks into. I did this, and quickly learned not to push the sticks too far, as the banana just falls apart. Once the sticks were in the other banana halves, Collin and I tried to roll them in the chocolate. This didn't go so well. The bananas were coming off the sticks and wouldn't roll properly in the chocolate. We had a bit of a mess for a while. We ended up with a sad display. I took a picture of them but decided not to post it because they didn't look too apetizing! We put them in the freezer anyway. Collin ate one of the frozen bananas (which ended up just being a piece of a banana) after lunch, and said "yummy" several times, so it didn't end up to be the disaster it started out to be!

What Collin is doing now: napping!

Little Fireman

Collin was waiting for his fire call while watching Kai-Lan (he dances around when he watches tv...ants in his pants).

Quick chicken recipe Collin loved.

Thought I would share a chicken recipe that I got out of Parents magazine. I tried it last night and Collin loved it. It's easy, fast, and very yummy!

Cheesy Salsa Chicken:
place chicken breasts in greased pan
pour salsa (I used mild) over chicken breasts
bake at 375 for 30 minutes
sprinkle cheddar cheese on chicken (as little or as MUCH as you like)
bake for 3 minutes longer
serve with rice

Scenes from the perfect Easter.

Meet my new cousin, Ella Kate!

This is my new cousin, baby Ella. She is pretty. She is a baby. She came out of aunty Jen's belly and she will ride her bike with me. I say cheese in my picture. Chloe is baby's sister. I need a drink. (Don't we all?)

Collin

First trip to the dentist and Easter egg coloring!

Today we had one busy day! It began with Easter pictures at Mr. Steve's. Collin did so great that Mr. Steve just kept shooting. Unfortunately, this means more cute pictures to have to choose from, and mommy won't be able to buy all of them! After a change of clothes, we headed to Collin's first dentist appointment. He could not have done better. He climbed right up into the dentist chair and let the assistant clip the paper bib on him. The dentist came in and Collin opened his mouth wide open for him. The dentist was very good about explaining what he was doing in a kid-friendly way. Collin's teeth got a clean bill of health and we were on our way back home to change clothes once again (this time into play clothes) and color us some eggs!

Collin had a great time coloring his eggs. He needed a few reminders to be gentle with them, as we have a few cracked ones, but over all he was very serious about the whole process. He loved making the eggs, and precisely put a small sticker on each one when they were dry. We got his basket ready for the Easter Bunny and he had a lot of questions about the whole process. I think he has a better understanding of what the eggs are for, but a bit confused about how they get outside. I'm sure it will all click on Easter morning. I can't wait as I have always loved Easter and hope Collin does too!

Collin has some news for everyone..he has a new baby cousin! Ella Kate joined our family April 1 (no foolin'). We hope to get some pictures up soon!

What Collin is doing now: napping after a busy, busy morning.