Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Send some passing thoughts...

My cousin Simon is taking the IL bar exam as we speak! I know that he doesn't really NEED them, but if you could send some "positive-passing vibes" his way, it would be appreciated. I know that it is stressful, no matter how much you have studied and how ready you are...boy do I know! Oh and it is his and his lovely wife, Emily's, 2nd wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary guys! :) (maybe wait until the weekend to celebrate though!)

Kristin

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Erynn is THREE!

So like I posted before, Erynn and Colin pretty much share their birthdays. We had the party at her Aunt and Uncle's house and it was lots of fun with lots of family!! Erynn checking out her own special cake...she was excited to not have to share with anyone!
Erynn loves, loves, loves to swim! She is our little fish!! :)


As you can tell, she also liked opening presents! She was so fast that I didn't get to see half of it until we were home because she moved so fast!
Kristin

More Party Pics...

I sort of feel guilty because Colin and Erynn kind of have to "share" a birthday. This cake was my attempt to make it special and unforgettable. It turned out really good and I didn't pay all that much for it...it actually was a steal! (Thanks to Aunt Kathy for turning me on to halfoffdeals.com)This banner was something I have thought about having for a while now. All I had ever seen was the plastic kind though and I wanted to be able to use it for many birthdays and for all the kids. Thanks to etsy.com, I found this one that is made out of fabric letters and I can add or take off the kids' names (I have Lydia's name too). I think that I will be using it every year for all 3 kids and maybe for Tom and myself too. I love it!

Kristin

Colin turns ONE!







Officially, today, Colin Patrick Donaldson is ONE year old. I honestly don't know where the time has gone...I feel like just yesterday we were so excited to tell everyone that we were pregnant! He is amazing though...happy and plump and adventureous and loving.

We love you little boy!! Happy Birthday!!

Kristin

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Donaldson family visits the Zoo...

St. Louis has the best zoo in the country! Not only is it free but you can really see a lot of the animals and get pretty close! We had a great day and saw lots of great stuff, although a few members of the family were hot and tired by 10:00am! :) Lydia on the spider web in the Children's Zoo
Colin being "eaten" by a hippo

A bear playing with a red ball (it had food in it)

A gorilla walking towards us with food in his mouth!

A fennic fox hanging out.
If you ever get to St. Louis, you need to check this place out! Parking is $11 now...yikes! (you can attempt to park on the street) Admission is free and the few things that you do have to pay for (children's zoo, merry go round, dino adventure, & the stingray exhibit) are free the first hour it is open. We got there at excatly 8:00am and got to do both the Children's zoo and the merry go round for free. It is a great deal!! :)
Kristin





Colin's new face

You have to admit...he is pretty darn cute! :) Anyway, he does this face and we can't help but laugh our butts off. I think he knows that he is cute too!




Kristin

Our friendly neighbors

Some we like...some we aren't so happy with, but they are all pretty gorgeous.



Kristin

Food and friends

One of the truely best things in life are a day where the kids eat, are happy, and you get to chat with your friends with minimal interuptions. We did just that the other day. We met with my best friends (from high school...one I have known since Kindergarten) at McDonalds for dinner and some talking. My friend S is due at the beginning of August with her little boy...Colin. :) We figured that this might be the last time we were able to get together for alittle while, although we try to see each other every couple of months. Anyway, I got some great pics of the kiddos and thought I would share. ;) Erynn enjoying her Sprite! :)
P just hangin out.
M looking adorable as usual (and enjoying the slide!)


P and Colin talking things over (P is a month younger than Colin)

C and Lydia sitting at the "girl table".
Kristin





An amazing thing

I am amazed that THIS child can turn into....


THIS child! :)
I cherish the times when she sleeps, but honestly she is a hoot and Tom and I do laugh a LOT at her antics. But seriously, if anyone wants a blond-haired, blue-eyed, adorable, strong-willed little girl PLEASE contact us...we are willing to rent her out! :)

Kristin

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Hehe...sorry I love that song! :) Anyway, Colin is an eating machine and I honestly am not sure how we are going to afford our grocery bill when he is a teenager! Here he is eating a banana...he LOVES fruit. Bananas and blueberries are his favorites right now. Maybe we should call him our "little monkey"! :)




Kristin

Shaving Cream

Who knew that shaving cream could be so much fun! It actually cleaned the window and all I had to do was spray things down (including Erynn) with the hose. Thanks to Mrs Burns for the idea! :)


Kristin

Colin's room

This is for Marie who wanted to see Colin's room, but I couldn't leave the girls out either. Lydia's room is first with the aqua walls and polka dots, then Erynn's room with the pink and green, and finally Colin's orange room. I actually love them all! Thanks to my parent's who helped (and actually did) most of the work!



Kristin

Monday, July 6, 2009

Mexico #2

The Beach
Erynn playing in the sand
The monkey in the tree right outside our room's balcony
Another view of the beach.

It was fun and hot and gorgeous! Thanks mom and dad!

Kristin

Mexico

So we went to Mexico in early June, despite the threat of the H1N1 flu. It was a celebration for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, so we were quite a crew! There were 24 of us in all and I think we ALL had a good time!We had a picture of everyone taken by the resort photographers, but we obviously don't have one on our cameras! This is most of the grandkids...I think just 2 of the older kids are missing.
Colin absolutely LOVED the water! He splashed and kicked and swam around until he couldn't keep his eyes open!
Lydia LOVED all the kids activities that they had...this night they had face painting in the main plaza area. Of course this was the night before we were to leave...she had a flower, a dolphin and a sun on various places on her face. I am sure that the airport people found it amusing...I just wasn't going to fight her on it!
Erynn spent a lot of time swimming too, although she would have hung out on the beach with the sand if we would have let her. She fell asleep all but one night at dinner...literally in her plate sometimes! My cousin Andrew needs to teach her how to do that whole "sleeping through dinner" thing...he used to fall asleep everytime we went out to dinner, but he would curl up in a corner!
This was Colin checking out the beach. I will post some more pictures in another post because it really was gorgeous there!

Kristin

Not me Monday...


This is my first attempt at Not Me Mondays...but here goes...

I most certainly did NOT let my baby eat Cheerios off the floor this morning because it kept him occupied and happy.

I did NOT let my 3 year old sleep in bed with me last night and then get grumpy that she was there, but instead of carrying her to her bed, just stayed grumpy.

I did NOT contemplate a 30 minute drive to get some Baby Oxiclean spray so I could try to get some old stains out of clothes that I am going to sell to a kids resale shop.

I did NOT sell some clothes to said kids resale shop last week and make $80...and that most certainly was NOT less than 1/4 of the clothes that I will be taking there.

I also did NOT think last week that having just ONE more baby might be a good idea...

I did NOT vacuum the floor this morning only to realize that it looked better before because it just looked like the kids were messy (and thus easier to blame the mess on).

I also am NOT currently letting my 3 year old eat a cold piece of leftover pizza from last night.

Kristin