Excited...

Ethan and Nora are excited about something :)!!

Check out Nora's new shirt

In case you couldn't read the other one!

Look how excited they are!

Happy Big Bro, Cardinals fan!

If all the pictures weren't clear enough...we will be welcoming baby Collier #3 to our family sometime around October 2!

Spring is Coming!

Yesterday and today have given us some real glimpses of spring!  Yahoo!!  We have been taking advantage and spending some time playing outside.  These pictures are from yesterday.  Ethan is borrowing a 'real, metal bat' to practice for baseball this summer.  He has been itching to try it out with daddy as his pitcher.  I must say, he was great (even if it was a tennis ball)!!

 After some baseball, I got out the bag toss game and that kept the kids entertained for quite some time :).

Until they moved on to digging in the rocks with beach toys...

And, my final sign that spring is coming...Opening Day!!  I made sure our new flag was out for the first game WIN of the season!

Happy Spring!!

Some Random Pictures

I have a couple pictures from my camera and from my phone today.  Just some random happenings around here...

They love to take a bubble bath in our big bathtub, but it doesn't happen that often.  #1, it takes a ton of water #2 It makes a giant mess!  They had a blast and had bubbles everywhere!

It was a monkey morning... I see 7 monkeys! 

Here's my girly girl.  She loves to have her fingers and toes painted.  Yesterday she chose blue :).

She loves to be 'cozy' in her robe :).  I love this smile!  It makes me smile.

Weekend in Salem

We made a quick trip to Salem on Thursday.  The weather was perfect for a lot of outside play!  Which is really nice with the group of kids we had.  My cousins, Libby and Kacey were in town too with their kids.  It's fun when we all get together.  When our 3 families are together, we have 2 kindergarten girls, 2- 4 year old boys and 2- 2 year old girls.  They each have a partner in crime!
My kids started their fun by helping my dad in the yard.  Work is always fun for kids :).

Picking up sticks

Making the stick pile with Pop!

The best part!! I remember riding around in these carts :)!

Nora had to join the fun.

Enjoying the ride.

My Uncle Mike and the side by side are always a hit!  Finley, Haley, Scout and Ethan went for a long ride and loved every minute.

Loading up!

Popsicle snack after lots of running, riding and playing outside.

Phone Dump

I've got a lot this time...



At the Lego store in Chicago. Abby, my dad and I went for a dental meeting.


Nora needed 2 "ponies" this time.


Just a cute girl.


Blowing birthday party.


Nora was even able to bowl a little!



Ethan and his friend, Soren, texting to each other. They thought this was awesome!


Picnic and a movie.


Silly faces!


Family swim night.


First glimpses of spring!



Lego looking at Target.


She has to check out the toys at target too!


Ready for some fun outside!


Making rainbows at school.

I'll try to keep up better :).

Come On Spring!!

I'm back!  Sorry for the blogging hiatus.  I can't remember the last picture I took on the big camera.  It's been bad! I guess, just not much going on around here.  The past couple of days have been giving of us hints of spring!  We went outside after lunch today for some much needed fresh air.

Just picked up this beauty yesterday.  Ethan can drive it...even though it's pink. (It was bright)

Driving Miss Daisy :)

They were so excited to open the NEW chalk today!  

Ethan with some lovely, orange clown hair! (And some nice shades!)

Happy Tuesday!

This morning was a big morning for our little guy.  He had his Kindergarten screening and registration.  He told me he was a little scared, but as expected, he did awesome!  Afterwards, he told me it was really fun!  I spoke with his screener, she was very positive and said he sailed through everything and was definitely ready for kindergarten.  I'm not sure I'm ready...but I'll get there.

Here he is, with his ticket to kindergarten ;).

After we finished with his screening, we spent the rest of the morning at the museum.  There is a new exhibit and the kids loved it.  They had so much fun!

Crawling through a tube.

He's very proud of the ball run he built...all by himself.

Checking out the slide

She went down this thing probably 30 times!

Ethan liked it too, but spent most of his time building with the big, blue blocks.

Here's a picture I stole from the museum FB page to show you what the whole thing looks like.  It is very nice!

Boy's Day/Night Out

Ethan asked me quite a while ago, when he and daddy would get a "boys night out".  So, for Christmas, I got them tickets to a hockey game in Bloomington.  The game was yesterday and it sounds like they had a great time.  I made Jared promise to take pictures :).  Their evening ended with a daddy/son dinner at Texas Roadhouse!

Waiting for the game to start

Their view of the ice!

Enjoying a mid-game snack...a "giant pretzel" is what Ethan told me :)

Ethan's first hockey game

Texas Roadhouse dinner!

I'm so glad these 2 had a great day!  It is so important for some one on one time, every once in a while!  Thanks for the pictures, Jared!  Love you both!