first steps!

What the what?! Nate, Hannah, Colin and I were hanging out in Colin's room this afternoon when Colin decided to show just how awesome he is and take his first steps. It came out of nowhere. He's never attempted walking before. He's stood still on his own a few times, but that's it. He walked to Hannah once or twice before I got out the camera. Way to go Colin! Here's hoping you can do it again soon!

oh what fun

We have had a lot of fun these last couple of weeks. My nephew Donovan (and his mom) came out from Iowa to visit, and Hannah is home from Texas for a couple of weeks before she also goes to Iowa, so we've done a lot of stuff with the Silvey family. We went to soccer games, played Rockband, had barbecues, went to the children's museum, and played outside. Here are some pictures of the goings-on. 

This is just Colin lying on the floor. He was looking at one of his books. He really likes looking and books, and he's really good at turning the pages. However, he can't be trusted with the books alone because he'd rather eat them than anything else.

Caleb and Heather's daughters played soccer this year for the first time and it was really fun to watch a couple of their games. Kaylee was full of enthusiasm and would run up and down the field happy as a clam. Rachel preferred to play defense or goalie so she could stand still if she liked or talk to her friends. Colin and Donovan were kind enough to pose for a picture. This was the one moment that they were actually sitting still.

Granny with two of her boys at Caleb's house one night.

I was trying to get Donovan dancing to the music, but I guess I took a picture instead of video. He was super cute. Another thing I didn't get a video of was him playing the second drum set in the background. He was rocking out and having a great time.

I did get a video of Colin dancing. That was only the second time I'd seen him rocking to music, but now he does it constantly. He thinks he's pretty funny when he does it. Sorry, the video is a little dark.

I guess Colin played too hard with his cousins, because he crashed in his cage one morning. I stuck him in there so I could get something done, then I heard a huge sigh and turned around to find him like this. Cute boy.

Colin had a great time riding in the car at Granny's house. He loved turning the wheel, and he loved being pushed by Kaylee. And when he wasn't in the car he liked playing with its wheels.

DeAnna and I took the boys up to Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake one afternoon. Neither of us had been there before, so we weren't sure what to expect. The boys had fun, but it was super expensive for what it was. Colin was free, since he's still under 1, but everyone 1 and up has to pay $8.50! What?! There isn't a kids price or anything. That still bugs me. Donovan loved playing with the balls in the "beehive." Colin was happy just about anywhere. He put himself in this ball pit.

The tubes made a noise when you dropped a ball inside. Donovan spent a lot of time right there.

The water area was the next favorite place. Colin found a place where he could just barely reach the water, and he was content to stand there and splash. I didn't get any pictures of Donovan playing in the water, but he loved it. His mom had a hard time convincing him to check out the other places.

This would be Colin and me reading the news. Yes, Colin is eating the microphone. 

I don't know if you can tell or not, but Colin had just knocked over my tower and I snapped the picture mid-fall. 

Donovan is so good at flying helicopters that he can do it with his eyes closed.

There were different dress-ups in almost all of the different areas. DeAnna and I dressed up Colin and put him in the car, and he did his best to undress himself before I could take a picture. The jacket was impeding his ability to grab the steering wheel.

He was much happier to just drive the police car sans uniform.

They had a cute little farm area. Colin liked eating the vegetables.

He also rode the horse. (There is a horse there, but I couldn't get it in the picture and still keep one hand on Colin.)

He hunted for eggs along the Wall of Chickens.

And he played with the wheels on the little tractor. I thought he might want to ride it, but no, he preferred the wheels. I also had to chase a mean little girl away who tried to take things away from him.

Donovan and DeAnna in the supermarket. I think Donovan was calling for a price check on prune juice, Bob. Price check on prune juice.

Donovan took a ride on the horse too. (See, it really was there.)

DeAnna was a little jealous and wanted a ride too.

Isn't he the cutest little cow you've ever seen?

And here is Colin sorting potatoes.

On Sunday we had FHE at our house with everyone before DeAnna had to head back. I made a fruit pizza for dessert, and we gave Colin some cool whip to play with. He enjoyed it. Oh, and the marks on his head are courtesy of his father and the concrete patio.

We also gave the boys some Pop Rocks, thinking they would react to the popping in their mouths. We were wrong.

Colin likes to help with laundry. 

He was very good at unsorting the sorting piles. These pictures don't do justice to how much help he really was.

Here's a good picture of Colin's wounds. He tumbled down the steps in the back on Sunday morning and whacked his head. He had only little bump and those scratches, and that was it. He screamed when it happened, but as soon as I gave him a rag to chew on (it was really for his head, but he didn't care) he was happy. Hannah was playing with Colin in this picture. She's the reason he's smiling.

I rearranged Colin's room yesterday so we could fit a bed in there. Since the boys are gone from downstairs, my mom didn't need it and wanted it moved so she has a little more room for her scrapbooking/sewing room. I like BYU. 

That's where I keep the diapers, if you couldn't tell.

Colin's crib and dresser. His clothes are finally in the dresser instead of in the plastic cubbies or on the floor.

The toys now go in the plastic cubbies. It's great because he can pull them out to his heart's content and not get in trouble.

I also tried hanging the letters I decorated to spell Colin's name, but so far I only have the C and the N up. I'll post a picture if I ever get the rest up.

north & south

For Mothers' Day, Nate bought me a movie I've been wanting to see for a long time—North and South. Since I couldn't sleep last night I turned it on and watched all 4 hours of it. I LOVED IT! I'm going to go right ahead and say that I prefer Mr. Thornton to Mr. Darcy hands down. I like the book Pride and Prejudice better. I didn't care much for what I read of North and South. But the movie (especially the sweet ending) blows Pride and Prejudice out of the water. I think I might watch it again tonight...

Here are a couple of pictures. I'm a fan.

laughs

I have some other stuff to post, but it will have to wait for another time. Colin just laughed himself to sleep. It was so funny. He drank his bottle, took a bite of his blanket, and then he started fake coughing and laughing. He does this little fake cough because it makes me laugh, and tonight he would do it and then laugh at himself. With his eyes closed the whole time. Then he giggled, turned his head, and was fast asleep. I would have laughed at him, but I didn't want to wake him. It was so adorable, and so funny. I guess he had a good day today.

a couple hilarious comics

I found these online at Wondermark a few years ago, and they cracked me up. I was thinking about them again today, so I went and looked them up. This guy takes old Victorian illustrations and turns them into comics. Check them out, why don't you?

If you click on the picture you can enlarge it for easier reading.

videos?!

I actually took some videos of Colin this week, but they're all at the end because I don't want to try and move them into chronological order. Please to be enjoying the pictures first.

Since the weather has been crazy, Colin has been able to wear his Disneyland fleece that I think is absolutely adorable. It's too bad the size doesn't match him and the seasons too well. 

I think I was proud of Colin's hair, so I took a picture. I don't see any other reason for this to picture to exist.

Colin cheesing it up in his second pair of Whoville pajamas. Thankfully these still have some room to grow so he can continue to be cute for a couple more months.

Colin was eating Mr. Potato Head pieces, so I played with him and made some creations of my own. I was proud of them, and I took a picture. I put Colin in there too so I wouldn't seem too lame for taking a picture of just my toys. 

Here are the boys playing with Sam last Saturday. There's a video of this below.

Scott was spraying the little ones with the favorite squeaky duck. There was a little water left over inside from when it was washed, and occasionally the boys would get a face-full of water instead of air.

Colin likes beads.

Donovan likes to talk on the phone.

Colin got a new shipment of hand-me-downs from his cousin, and these adorable pajamas where in it. I put them on him so I could admire just how cute he was. I showed Nate, and he wasn't impressed. My brother Seth wasn't either. I guess guys don't dig baby pj's as much as girls do.

Colin and Nate worked out in the garden yesterday, pulling the weeds around the strawberries. Colin was a good helper, but he also wanted to dispose of the weeds and dirt in his own way, so he was removed from duty.

More cute pajamas from this morning. They're way too big on him, but all of his other ones were dirty because his lazy mom hadn't done the laundry yet.

When Donovan slept over at Granny and Papa's house, Colin and I went over to play. They boys mostly ignored each other and watched Papa be silly.

I finally got a video of Colin playing peek-a-boo in his cage. He does this all the time, and he thinks he is so funny. 

I was eating some yogurt the other morning for breakfast and I shared with Colin. I thought he would scoop it up with his fingers and stick it in his mouth, but he decided to go for a different approach.

Yesterday Colin was cracking us up while he was playing in the curtains. He likes to play there and to look out the sliding door. He also likes to chase people around the island, which is in the second video.

In other news, Nate and I are trying to get our garden put together asap. We have some landscaping issues to work out before we can get started, so hopefully we'll be able to get that done. I have about 2 more weeks of work left before school is out this year. Colin and I are looking for a cheap plastic pool to put in the backyard so we can keep cool this summer. My sister Heather left to go to Fiji last week to do humanitarian work for the summer. My brother Ethan is leaving on his mission a week from today. My brother Grant is leaving tomorrow to train with the Marines in Africa for a month before he gets shipped overseas to Afghanistan in August. My brother Seth needs a job.