Busted!

Yep, I have been caught.

So my mom calls the other afternoon and the conversation goes something like this:

Ashley: Hello!
Mom: Do you shake your finger at that poor boy?!
A: Uh, um, I don't think so. Not often at least.
M: Well he's seen it somewhere. :)
A: He's shaking his finger at you?
M: Yes and he's so funny! *obviously trying not to laugh*
A: What was he doing it over?
M: Us telling him to sit down for snacks.
A: Oh....um, well....yeah, I do *point* my finger at him when telling him to sit down to eat. Ooops!
M: Well, that must be where he got it!

Let me explain, Colin has a "snack spot" at the house. A place he must sit while having a snack (if not in his booster seat). Normally he's pretty good, but sometimes he forgets and starts to wander around. I tell him to "Sit. Down." and gesture emphatically with my finger at his snack spot with each word. Usually gets the point across. Apparently he is now getting his snack, standing up, and then shaking his finger! Silly boy!

On a related snacking note, something I had noticed him starting to do before he went to Arkansas has reportedly gotten worse. Because he knows he is not to walk around while snacking, he instead crams as much food as he can get into his mouth, grins around it, and then starts to wander off! We're definitely going to have some whip-cracking to do come Monday!

Beach Video

Learning to build a sand castle!

And then running from the wave! LOL!

Kaboom

You have to watch this: Video of Colin with Aunt Katelyn "narrating"

What We've Been Up To...

Not Much! We miss our baby, but have been enjoying some time without him as well. Here are a few pictures of him before he left.

Eating a bit of breakfast before getting in the car (apparently he ate another bigger breakfast at Sonic after a couple hours on the road).
Giving me a very "Michael" look.
Waiting to get in the car.
All buckled in and ready to head out!
The first thing we did was clean the house top to bottom, including moving furniture and scrubbing baseboards! Fun, huh? Definitely felt good to get it out of the was though!
Part of what we wanted to do while Colin was gone was enjoy a meal out. So, Sunday after church, we had dinner with some friends at a great hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. Then Sunday evening just Michael and I went out for Italian! Here's a (strangely-lit) picture of him.
We were driving around after dinner and there were some gorgeous puffy clouds in the sky. I got a lot of pictures and thought I'd share a few with you.
And finally, one food pic for you. We made fish and tempura vegetables last night. Some of the veggies are from the garden, which is doing wonderfully. I picked (and ate while picking) some sweet peas yesterday (I had forgotten how good that tastes right out of the garden...it was lunchtime, so most of it didn't even make it into the house!), more squash and zucchini, and a couple okra. Any of you who have ever grown okra before know that just a matter of days from having "a few" you'll have a bushel, so I'm looking forward to this weekend when we'll probably be able to make a meal of it!

Lists

I am a listmaker. No two ways about it. I like to make lists and I need to make them. They keep me on track and anyone who knows me knows I like to be organized. It just helps me stay sane. So, anyway, I thought I would share a couple of them with you today.

Friday evening, Joe, Laura, and Michael helped me make a list of all the words Colin knows how to say. Or at least all the ones we could think of. It was funny because as we were making it, he kept saying more and we're like, "oh yeah, and that one." I'm sure we still didn't get them all, but here's what we did come up with that he can say now at 15 months:

• dog
• cat
• meow
• cow
• moo
• duck
• quack
• razorback (don't ask; he's also working on "calling the hogs" thanks to grandparents)
• chicken
• baa
• bird
• mama
• dada
• nana
• papa
• grandpa
• oma
• banana
• bottle
• that
• want
• what's
• bye-bye
• hi
• down
• up
• shoes
• socks
• book
• hat
• bath
• all done
• cracker
• drink
• ball
• football
• basketball
• shoot
• car
• truck
• ni-ni
• cup
• no
• boo
• where's (with inflection for peek-a-boo)

Speaking of my darling 15-month old, he has now officially been gone for 24 hours. I have not had a complete and total emotional meltdown yet. :) It was definitely weird this morning waking up without him, but Michael and I have gotten a lot done already and hope to do more. Here's a list of some of the things we hope to accomplish (lots of which we did yesterday):

• Reorganize everyone's closets and drawers (half done)
• Scrub house top to bottom (did yesterday, including moving furniture and scrubbing baseboards)
• Spray whole house with seasonly OrthoMax (did today)
• Touch up paint around whole house, especially baseboards
• Reorganize all craft supplies to be kid friendly
• Start work on my grandparents' anniversary album
• Shopping (for us and upcoming birthdays and such)
• Empty and bleach refrigerator and freezer
• Finish reinforecing the fence
• Empty and wash out the garage
• Wash the outside of the house
• Lots of video game playing and digital scrapbooking!
  

We'll see how much we actually get finished, but we've got a good start! We are planning to spend at least half our "free" time having fun, not working. :)

Colin is apparently doing very well. They said he either slept or sang the whole way to Arkansas and then was going crazy exploring everything once there. I could here him over the phone running from room to room asking "what's that?" He was also apparently excited to see the hidey-hole under the cardboard bed Papa built for him and went to find something to stash in it:Alright, that's all I have time for before church! I have other pics to post for you later, but for Colin pics, check the Seal Rock blog to the right-------->

Oh Wait, There Was Video...

Video of some of the somersaults today. I have lots more wrastling with Papa videos that I may get up tomorrow... we shall see...

And another one we got of him *almost* doing one by himself. He's just a little off center! :)

And another picture from hiking today ~ I forgot Laura got one of Michael and I on the "bluff". :)

Latest Skill

Colin and I have been practicing for weeks now on doing somersaults and he's really starting to get the hang of it. He usually gets your attention, then leans down with his head on the ground, and wants you to push him over. He even did a running one this afternoon without any assistance. He's always so proud when he flips over.
Notice the wallet on the floor beside him too. It's an old one of Michael's that Colin has started carrying things around in! LOL! Right now it has some fake credit cards that you get in the mail, two magnets, and a piece of cardboard! :)

Morning Hike @ Government Canyon

We went to Government Canyon this morning for an early hike. We hiked the backcountry, which we hadn't done here before. We decided on a (relatively) short 3 hour hike and were done before it really got hot.
There are a couple spurs off the main trail that have neat overlooks. They call them bluffs, but for people who are used to hiking in the Ozarks, we beg to differ.
Colin took a bit of a nap for part of it, but had a grand time during the rest of the hike.
He was also very interested in all the rocks.
When we stopped for water, he found that banging his little rock against different big ones made different sounds. He seemed surprised at first, but then though trying out all kinds of other rocks was a lot of
There were lots of pretty butterflies on the trail this morning.
The crew.
Before we got back in the car, we stopped off at the trailhead picnic tables for a snack.
And some kickball.
Then on the way home, we stopped off at Dick's Sporting Goods. Colin tried out a mini motorcycle, but it was a little big!

Corpus Beach Baby

Monday we drove down to South Padre Island to frolic on the beach. Here are Joe and Colin getting ready to head out.
His primary mission was to chop down every castle I started to build.
He did finally start helping me patting them down. I have a video of this somewhere, shoving my hand out of the way so he can do it. I'll have to track that down...The three boys out in the surf.
Chasing the poor gulls. Probably his favorite part of the beach.
That or digging in the sand with a rock.
He was unimpressed when the waves would wash back out and move the sand out f
After going to the beach, we checked into our hotel and went to the pool for some more swimming! Colin refused to take a nap and ended up just swimming again.

Here he is sleepily checking Papa's pocket for snacks.We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. Colin loved his so much he was trying to finish it up by tipping his plate into his mouth! LOL! We were trying not to laugh too hard. Michael was scolding him and I was taking pictures! :) Maybe not the best parenting strategy, huh?!
Once we got back to the hotel, Colin crashed! We gave him his bottle and he just collapsed onto the floor and could barely keep his eyes open to drink it.
Unfortunately, sharing a room with Colin is not conducive to a good night's sleep! He got up at midnight wanting to jabber. We played in the room and even took a field trip downstairs to the vending machines for a snack. He finally went back to sleep again after an hour, but got up again at 5 to climb into our bed. He slept with his head on my stomach for a while and then stuck his head under Michael's and started snoring really loudly! SOOOO funny!