Wordless Wednesday

Happy (Almost) Birthday!

Pre Birthday Party

Colin turns three on August 20th. We'll be in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea celebrating in Barcelona Spain on that day, and since it's kinda hard to bring a bunch of presents on a cruise ship, we had to work out alternative plans. We are leaving August 1st for a month long European vacation that has us driving around Europe some before reaching our port of call in Rome to depart on the cruise. Having Colin's birthday so early didn't seem quite right, but making the poor kid wait weeks afterward until we are back home didn't seem quite right either. When we come back from the vacation both Shelby and I will jump right back into full time work and Colin will spend most of his days at preschool, so we figured giving him his presents now would give him some good quality time with them before we have to leave.

So on a whim we decided to grab a birthday cake and celebrate yesterday. Shelby took Colin to the park and I set to wrapping the things we had collected over the last month or so for Colin's birthday. I thought I had three rolls of good boy wrapping paper upstairs, but what I really had was three scraps of boyish wrapping paper hiding on three rolls. Each one barely enough to wrap anything, let alone the four giant boxes I had to wrap for him. I managed to piece together a few and for the others got creative with brown mailing paper and Sharpie markers! LOL Colin didn't seem to mind as it all tore off about the same in the opening frenzy. He had a good stash of loot from Mommy & Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa Goetzman and Aunt Shauna and Uncle Dave.




He'll have a nice supply of gifts from other family members awaiting him when we return from vacation, so in reality the kid gets to celebrate his birthday a total of three times this year. Not bad! Wonder if I can figure out a way to milk my next birthday for that long?




After opening presents and making Daddy put together a remote control race track, and a kitchen set while Mommy worked on building a Marble Race, we did birthday cake. I'm a sucker for Carvel cake and colin doesn't object to ice cream so we went that route again this year. Opening presents took a little longer than expected and we forgot about the cake thawing on the counter for while and it got a little soupy. So again with the creativity...Colin didn't get to blow out candles on an actual cake, he had to blow them out on a rapidly melting bowl of ice cream cake. I was thankful it remained solid enough to hold the three candles upright long enough to sing the birthday song and blow them out. Again, Colin didn't seem to mind one bit that it wasn't a whole fancy birthday cake presented to him. I'm so thankful for the ease of pleasing a soon-to-be-three year old, in a few years I'll have to be better prepared so I don't embarass him with homemade wrapping paper and melting birthday cake! LOL



I'd call birthday celebration number one a success, I hope the other two turn out to be as fun.

Ooops, apologies!

I teased you with family pictures and accidentally had the settings on the album set to "only me" so no one else could see them. Woops. It's fixed now, go get your picture fix :)

Family Pics

Lastest family pics for Colin's third birthday. :)

Pro Family Pics 7.2011

Helping Hands

Since Shelby came home he has been working on a chore chart for Colin. Colin loves getting coin money and we started a little coin bank for him when he gets coins for things. Now he has a way to earn coins and help out. He can clean up his toys, help set the table/clear table, help with trash, help cleaning the house, and feed the rabbit (should Rabbit come home or we get a new one) and the fish. If he does a chore he gets a smiley stick in the pocket and if he does at least three chores a day he gets coins in his jar. So far he's been eager to help and earn sticks, lets hope he keeps it up!

Where oh where has our Rabbit gone?

It happened again, Rabbit escaped the outdoor pen. He has a two story rabbit hutch outside with a little fence around it and somehow he managed to push the fence open and run away. Last time he did this it was because Colin had pulled a stake out to use as a sword and the fence was not secure. This time (I always check all the stakes now before leaving the rabbit in there) the stakes were all in and I have no idea how Super Bunny managed to push it open enough to squeeze through. But he did. And he is no where to be found (gulp). We hunted all over the yard, left food out over night...nothing. Colin wasn't too worried about it yesterday because his buddy Christian was here playing when we discovered he was loose and went hunting. This morning Colin was asking where Rabbit was though. I had to explain Rabbit ran away and we don't know where he is. Colin said he was in the yard and wanted his shoes on so he could go out and get him. Sigh, sad life lesson for the kiddo. I had hoped Rabbit would turn up, but I'm thinking he's gone. Poor bunny.

Disney Paris

Paris Disney

On somewhat of a whim we decided to take Colin to Paris Disney. We went to Disney World in Orlando before we moved to Germany, but he was too young to really understand where he was at that time. This time he knew he was going to Mickey Mouse's house and to see Buzz & Woody and he was ecstatic. The plan was to drive to the hotel near Paris Disney (outskirts of Paris) on Sunday, go to Disney on Monday, run around Paris city on Tuesday, head home Wednesday. When we saw that online tickets to go up in the Eiffel Tower were already sold out for Tuesday we were a little bummed. We have yet to be able to do this....ugh. Then when I started looking at the maps for Disney Studios and discovered there was a good bit of fun stuff at that park for Colin too, the plans changed to just spend two days doing Disney and Disney Studios instead of Paris city.

The night before we left for Disney, Colin started having a fever and not wanting to eat, the usual symptoms for his monthly sickness that we deal with. We decided to go anyway since I've been to the ER every month for the last 6 months with these same symptoms and the doctors rarely do anything and always tell me it's a virus. We figured he could be sick and stuck at home, or sick and enjoying Disney...either way he was going to be sick right? He was a real trooper at Disney despite fevers flaring up every 4 hours when the Tylenol or Motrin wore off. He had a blast looking around at everything, riding the rides and meeting the characters. As soon as we came through the gate and hit Main Street USA we found Mickey posing for photos and joined the 300 other people in line waiting to meet him. Colin was all excited to meet Mickey, but 30 minutes later by the time we actually made it to Mickey he was less thrilled. He did not want to hug Mickey, and Daddy had to hold him the entire time. I got a picture with Colin & Mickey in it, not exactly the shot I was hoping for though. After meeting Mickey we hit up some rides and started wandering the park for a while. We stumbled across a restaurant that was serving lunch with characters inside and was not packed out and reserved, score! We walked in and found Woody, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Eeyore, and Tigger waiting to eat lunch with us! Colin of course did not eat, but we snacked on enough food to justify us taking up a table and Colin got to meet and greet everyone up close and personal. He got lots of pictures with all the characters and had a long conversation with Woody about where Buzz was. Apparently Colin favors Buzz, lol.







Now that we had dined with all the Disney pals there was no need to wait in line for pics with them anymore, yes!

We took in some more rides and playtime for a bit after our snacks. Colin's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear laser blast ride. You sit in a little car and it moves through the ride and your job is to assist Buzz as a space ranger and shoot the aliens and Zurg with your little laser gun and beat the person in the seat next to you. Colin LOVED it. It was a ride, it involved Buzz/Toy Story, and he got to shoot a laser gun the entire time. He talked about the ride nonstop for the rest of the day and I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of his trip. Colin also really enjoyed the classic cars that you could drive on the race track, we rode those two times and Colin drove his Daddy around both times.



We paused for an early dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Colin didn't eat anything at all, not even ice cream, but he did seem to enjoy the animals and the fish in the tanks. Poor kiddo still was fighting the fever and now his glands in his neck were the size of golf balls. He looks like he has the mumps! After eating we went back to the park for some more fun. Colin was in heaven even though he didn't feel well. By about 9 we decided trying to make it to the parade and fireworks at 10pm was not going to happen with Colin being sick and he needed his rest anyway, so we got some to-go desserts and caught the train back to the hotel.

The next day we woke up to pouring rain. We checked the radar and it was UGLY. It literally looked like a hurricane covering France on the radar. Heavy rain, some wind, and it was just sitting and rotating over France and not moving. There was a 50% chance of rain in the forecast when we packed to drive over, so we had rain coats and boots with us. We bundled up and headed out figuring the rain would hopefully slack off some as the day went on. We also hoped there was a lot of indoor stuff at Disney Studios and that the rain would drive the crowds away. The rain did not stop the crowds...they were all just as crazy as we were. It was cold. I'm talking MAYBE 50 degrees, you could SEE YOUR BREATH. WTH this is JULY folks! For real!! Colin wore one outfit in the morning getting to the park and to the first show, then he was wet. So we had to change him and put two pair of pants on him to keep his legs dry, his rain boots, a shirt, a hoodie, and a raincoat over top. Again I remind you, IT'S JULY! He was dry though, and pretty much warm. Shelby and I....not so much.

The first thing we did was head over to a stunt show with cars and motorcycles and Lightning McQueen made a special appearance. Colin was really into it and loved watching the stunt men show off on their bikes and racecars. After that was over we swam walked around to try to check out some other stuff. We discovered that most of the rides were outside and we needed to get poor Colin out of the rain. We tried to take in a Playhouse Disney show but the next showing turned out to be in French and the English show wasn't for another 2 hours. Darn! So we made an executive decision to head back over to the Rainforest Cafe to eat, dry off and warm up some and then decide what to do from there. Poor Colin was really feeling like poop at this point and he fell asleep in Shelby's lap for most of the time we were eating. He woke up near the end of our lunch feeling a little warm so I tried to give him more Tylenol, which he is now totally sick of and gags at the thought of. He did not want it and refused. He didn’t eat a bite and even turned down ice cream! Then he puked all over Shelby's pants at the table. Check please!

The rain didn't let up at all and the streets of Disney Village were under water. We decided to go do some shopping. Colin racked up...having Daddy around again is not good for my bank account. Colin got more crap than any one kid needs from Disney Land and we headed to Starbucks for one last fix before heading to the train station and back to the hotel. At the train station we were hurrying down the escalator to catch the train and Shelby slipped. He had Colin on his shoulders and they both went down. Colin never left Shelby's shoulders and Shel managed to keep him upright through the fall. His foot slipped off the end of a step and the teeth on the step scratched the heck out of his leg. He had a huge knot on his lower leg and it was all torn open and bloody, he scraped his thigh and his arm too. The worst part was half the venti white mocha in his hand spilled all over him. In addition to the puke on his pants, he now had coffee and blood on them and only half a Starbucks drink left. What a day!

When we got back to the hotel we decided we could sit around all night waiting to check out in the morning, or just pack up and head home now instead of waiting. We packed up and hit the road. We got back home late Tuesday night and had Wednesday free to do whatever instead of driving. We took Colin to the doctor, who told us (again) nothing was wrong with him and it's normal to get sick once a month and have golf balls for glands. URGH I hate doctors sometimes! We had a great time at Disney and will definitely remember the trip, for both the fun times and the fun to laugh at times!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

OK so perhaps a few words so people don't accuse me of keeping my child in a cage.

I had the rabbit outside in his outdoor cage while I was cleaning the bottom of the indoor cage out. The top of the indoor cage was sitting on the floor in the living room. I came back from cleaning to find Colin inside the top of the cage and drinking from the rabbit's water bottle. So glad the camera was right there on the table!



This was all his idea and he thought it was great fun!

Bye Bye Baby

Big Boy Bed

Shelby has been determined to get Colin a big boy bed for months and I'd managed to hold him off until he got home from deployment. Shelby was home all of two days before he was dragging us off to Ikea to get Colin's bed. Colin fell in love with the bed as soon as we saw it in the store, as we were looking at it and deciding if this was the one Colin was telling us to put it in the cart and buy it for him. He was so excited I thought he would bust, Colin too. ;) Of course you can't go to Ikea and get just what you came for, they really need to sell drugs there to numb the pain of going through the checkout.

We got home and unloaded all our Colin's loot and Colin immediately ran to his tool bench and gathered up his tools and headed upstairs to help Daddy build. Building with a soon to be three year old is a challenge to say the least. It's an absolute miracle that all the parts made it in the bed and where they go without being eaten (by Colin or his dinosaurs) or misplaced. The 45 minute job took double that but at least we had entertainment during the project.



Before the bed was done Colin was trying to throw us out of the room and go to sleep in it. He was so excited he couldn't stand it. He kept making up excuses why he needed to go to bed, it was too late, he was sick, he was real tired. Crazy kid!



We did make him come downstairs and eat dinner, he ate the fastest I've seen him eat in months! Then he wanted to go straight to bed, which is where we put him, and where he stayed until 8:30 the next morning!

Welcome Home Daddy!!

After 6 long months Shelby made it home today. Colin was bursting with excitement. I don't think it really sunk in until Daddy was actually home and holding him though. We started off the morning by taking the last link off the chain down from the wall.


Then we got dressed and ready to go with the super cool sign we made.


Finally after what seemed like a long wait (30 minutes in the waiting area) Daddy appeared. Colin was very excited and ran to Shelby when he saw him. I had good intentions of taking pictures but it just didn't happen. Colin was a little shy at first, but after a few minutes he was hamming it up for his Daddy and acting his usual self. Once he warmed up....he was boiling with excitement the rest of the day. He literally talked NON STOP to Shelby for hours. He told him all kinds of things. He was also a one man comedy show today, he had Shel and I in tears a couple times we were laughing so hard. A few of the things I can remember....

While changing from his uniform to civilian clothes in the car in the terminal parking garage Colin says, "Daddy why you change your clothes? You make pee pee on them?" LOL I guess he is so used to that being the reason he gets his clothes changed he assumed Daddy had the same problem.

While driving home we saw a German fighter plane practicing in the sky and Shelby pointed it out to Colin by saying "Colin look at the airplane." To which Colin replied, "NOT airplane Daddy, it's a jet!" LOL Who is the air traffic controller in the family? I'm not sure anymore.

Colin insisted Daddy jump on his trampoline (which is a small one in the living room. Yes I keep a trampoline in my living room, hush.) while Colin and I sat on the couch watching him. When Shelby would stop Colin would demand him to jump more. I pointed out Daddy better watch his head on the ceiling and so when Colin wasn't looking Shelby banged on the ceiling with his hand and pretended he hit his head. Little mother hen Colin ran to him asking if he was ok and then said "wait right here" and ran off to the kitchen. I knew immediately what he was going for, the soft buckwheat pack I keep chilled in the freezer for all Colin's bumps and bangs. When Colin couldn't reach that high into the freezer, he settled on something he could reach in the fridge. He came running back to the living room with a bottle of mustard and insisted Shelby put it on his head to help his owie! I about peed on myself I laughed so hard and then Colin demanded I go get the ice pack for him. Hysterical.

For dinner we ate salmon, crab legs and some noodles. Colin didn't want noodles when I put them on his plate, but I told him Kung Fu Panda loves noodles and he should try them so he can be a dragon warrior too. I guess making him think about Chinese food reminded him of chopsticks. He reached to the middle of the table and grabbed the nutcracker/crab cracker and proceeded to eat his entire plate of food using the cracker as chopsticks. Nut job!

I know there were other hilarious things today, the kid literally did not stop talking to Shelby all day. He told him over and over he loved him and missed him, so sweet. Now it's time to relax and enjoy Daddy being home.

Wordless Wednesday

Those aren't fireworks, Mommy is breathing fire!

Today was a total disaster. The plan was to go see a movie, grab a quick playtime at the park to burn off some energy, and then head over to the deployed family BBQ on base. We got to the movie theater and the only two kids movies showing are Cars 2 (which I knew would be insanely packed out being a holiday and all) and Rio (which Colin has already seen but loved). We waited in line for about 20 minutes to get to the counter and were told that the Rio film was damaged and they were hoping to have it repaired in time for the 4:45 showing. Uh-oh. Cars 2 had already sold out a few minutes before we got to the counter too. Not good. Colin was NOT pleased as he waited all that time and thought we were going to the movies. I still bought him popcorn, but he was a little upset about having to leave the theater and not getting to see a movie. Great, we have 4 hours until the BBQ starts and nothing to do.

I took Colin to the little playground inside the BX and he ran around and played for a while. Then he wanted a quarter for the candy machines. Instead of asking me for money he helped himself to my purse and took out my wallet, then ran off with it when I asked him to give it back. Since he didn’t listen and come back and I had to chase him down and pry the wallet from his hands he was not getting a quarter for the machine. Well that did not go over well AT ALL. He threw a fit. Not just any fit, a screaming mad fit where he hit me and tried to rip my purse off my shoulder. So now, not only was he getting no candy, we were also leaving the play area. Well that sent him into a RAGE. There was no way I was getting his shoes on, so I shoved them in his backpack and threw him over my shoulder. He screamed bloody murder, like horrible scary movie kind of shrieks, while kicking and hitting. The closer we got to the door the madder he got. I always park in the very back of the lot for exercise so I had a half mile to walk with the kid flailing and screaming. I got my workout and then some trying to hold him down and keep him from wriggling out of my arms and being dropped on his head. Which I half contemplated at this point. I’ve never seen any kid so mad nor have such a public fit, he was out of control and screamed he didn’t want to leave the play place the whole way to the car. When we got to the car I had to wrestle him into the car seat and I told him I was sorry but he does not act that way. Ever. That he had to leave because he threw a fit, screamed at me and hit me. He calmed down in the car, I think he was completely worn out to be honest, I know I was, and I was able to take him to the post office to check the mail.

Since he was good and cooperated at the PO getting mail and packages picked up I took him to Burger King for a shake to kill more time until the BBQ. He was in a better mood at this point and things were going well. He noticed the straw wrappers on the table and asked if he could go throw them away. I told him yes and he went off to throw them out and got distracted. I noticed he took more than a few seconds to throw them out and come back so I got up to go check and I came around the side of the trash can just in time to see him squeeze the handle of the fire extinguisher on the wall and spray stuff everywhere. A huge cloud of powder/smoke stuff shot out and rolled through the restaurant. Why me? It scared him and he could see I was trying not to kill him so he quickly ran over to me and I walked him back to our table. The manager was not amused in the slightest, but the two guys she called from the back to clean up the mess thought it was pretty funny and were quite impressed he was actually strong enough to squeeze the trigger. In Colin’s defense, what exactly is a fire extinguisher doing that low to the ground where a kid can reach anyway? It was mounted to the wall just a few inches above the baseboard and Colin stood taller standing next to it. Still, he should have had the good sense not to touch it! I made Colin go apologize to the men who had to clean up the mess. He was scared of them and didn’t want to go, but I told him too bad. So he went over there crying and apologized. At this point I decided a BBQ was just not in anyone’s best interest today. At the rate we were going Colin would probably blow up the park or something. I called in a burger at Chili’s for take-out and called it a night. I can’t wait to put the kid to bed and have a bottle glass of wine.

Bunny vs Rabbit

Colin asked me if he could bring his rabbit out to play and watch TV with him. I told him sure, but he had to pick up all his toys first so Rabbit didn't eat them. So Colin picked up all his toys and when he was done he let me know and we started preparing for Rabbit to come out. Rabbit used to be very good about staying out from under the couch and then he discovered all the wires under there. Now he sneaks under there when he can and behind the couch there are numerous wires for the router, phone box, power cords, etc... so it is not the place for Rabbit to be. Not to mention it is pretty much impossible to get him out when you want him back in the cage, the sectional is heavy and huge so moving it is not happening. SO before brining Rabbit out we take the pillows off the back of the couch and put them on the floor next to the couch to block the opening so Rabbit cannot get under the couch.

Colin and I are putting down the pillows and in talking to him I referred to Rabbit as a bunny. Colin told me "No, not bunny Mommy, he a rabbit!" You have to imagine it in Colin's voice and replace rabbit with wabbit. I said "A bunny IS a rabbit Colin." "NO HE NOT BUNNY! HE RABBIT!" I tried again, "But a bunny and a rabbit are the same thing." "No they not! His name Rabbit!" Me: "Yes his name is rabbit, he is a rabbit and he is a bunny. A rabbit and a bunny are the same thing." "NOT BUNNY MOMMY, OK, NOT BUNNY, HE RABBIT!" "OK Colin, he's a rabbit." LOL The kid cracks me up!