Guinea Pigs

So last night my super-brave friends came over so I could try out a new recipe and a new appliance on them. :) I made beef roulades in my new pressure cooker. I'm officially hooked on being able to cook food in 1/3 the time! Yep, dork. Anyway, we just made it a German night. The girls brought over salad and German chocolate cake and we also had pierogi, carmelized onions, fried potatoes, schmierkaese, and some German rye (I love living in Mexico where the local grocery store doesn't even carry pumpernickle!). Anyway, that's another story...

Here are some pictures of the kids last night. Colin is just fascinated by the other babies. Unfortunately this means he tries to jump poor Lily and Natalie any chance he gets! I cannot wait until they are big enough to defend themselves!

Such cuties!
And Brenna, being the great big sister to everyone...as usual! I love this kid!
In other news, if there was any doubt left in anyone's mind about whether Colin has a temper and has been throwing tantrums for months, we are officially at the "throwing himself on the floor face-down to kick his legs and flail his arms stage". Here are a couple pictures of Michael holding him still when he had a meltdown (while we were *both* playing with him) about being told he cannot eat the blind pulls. Pathetic, huh?

Happy (early) V-Day!

Probably more pictures to follow - we have another Valentine's Day outfit after all! :)

Family Park and Shopping Day

So last month we paid off the Escape - woohoo! - and needed to go to the Assessor's office to get the title changed. Not a good thing to try to do after Michael gets home in the evenings, so he took the whole day off today so we could go. We did that first thing this morning, then took Colin to the park. It rained a bit last night, so he couldn't play on everything, but did seem to enjoy having his morning snack outside and playing some. (Please disregard the snot bubble in the picture below...it was the only one I actually got him looking at the camera!)

Riding a seal. :)
After that we went to the outdoor mall and shopped and had lunch at PF Chang's. Colin liked about everything there, from the eggdrop and hot and sour soups, to Michael's and my lunch bowls, to the fortune cookie at the end. Great day - we like having daddy home!

Daddy's Helper

Michael met some guys at the gun range this afternoon. Colin was very interested in helping him pack up his stuff and especially liked the caps that go on the end of the scope - two rings connected by elastic!
Colin's hey-come-watch-me gesture.
He looks like he's getting ready to attack to me.

Super Bowl

We Super Bowled this year at the Townsends' house and had a great time! Here's a few pictures from the evening. Brenna and Colin with their favorite toy! Lauren's house has a loop around the stairs, which the kids - including mine - love!
Lauren made a great dinner, but we had a whole table full of desserts too. Mostly pink ones since Courtney hosted a girls' night on Friday! The guys still ate them though! :) Colin was running a huge (104.7 degree, ear thermometer) temp though, so I had to miss out...after several hours, the ER docs couldn't find anything really wrong with him though and he acted fine all weekend and waved at and chatted up everyone else at the hospital. *shrug* Teething? Hopefully! Needless to say, not only were there desserts from everyone else, none of mine were eaten until Sunday....I am working on my fondant technique: bottom white tray.
Ryleigh looking wistfully at the dessert table. No one ever feeds the poor child...

Newest Favorite Snack

Colin's favorite afternoon snack is half a grilled cheese sandwich and some graham crackers. Here he is shovelling it in!

Shopping/Lunch with the girls

I am so far behind posting pics. Here are some from a week ago. We went thrift store shopping with the girls and then took lunch to Lauren's and let the kids play. Here is Colin "sharing" with Ryleigh. He thinks sharing means he lets you see something for a second and then you give it right back!A new pair of jeans that fit. Thank God for adjustable waistbands. Nothing that fits this kid's waist is even remotely long enough to fit his leg length. I am having to do a lot of altering and I don't think it's going to end any time soon, right Laura? Couldn't fit your boys until they were at least in high school?

Streaker

Colin's favorite thing to do after baths lately is to take off out of the bathroom and down the hallway as soon as he is set on the ground. Here he is making his getaway. And then tearing stuff up.