Goodbye Beau

This is a post that I have been avoiding for months now, but I feel like the blog is incomplete without it. In October we lost our beloved Beau.

He was happy and healthy up to his last day and declined very rapidly after a seizure. There was nothing the vet could do as his little body was literally filled with cancer and bleeding internally. We had to say goodbye. I was able to be with him in his last minutes & he was as sweet as ever.

The first few weeks were incredibly difficult. Collin missed him terribly and often cried. Mommy cried too. Grace ran around the house looking for him & daddy even admitted to being a little sad.

One time while we were out shopping Collin all of a sudden got excited and said, "maybe when we get home Beau Beau will be back!!"

It has gotten easier now, all the doggie toys, food dishes, and other reminders have been donated, but we still talk about him & miss him.

The house is so quiet now, especially when son travels & the babies are sleeping. Beau was my shadow, my first baby, and my only friend when I first moved to Florida 9 years ago.

I don't think we will get another dog anytime soon. Beau would be a very tough act to follow.

I am so happy to have had such a wonderful pet & thank God for the blessing of Beau in our lives!

In Collin's Words

After eating a chip that I think was sharp & cut his mouth because he usually likes them (poor baby!)...

"Blah, yuck, ahh (wiping his tounge/mouth), eeeeeww, blah , nasty, it's EXPENSIVE!!!"

We were laughing out loud, not sure where he got the idea that expensive was a bad thing...probably from his bargain shopping mommy :)

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Word of the day Collin style = "explosioned"

Definition = when an object (or person) is made to explode or blow up

Example: "Mommy, I threw a bomb at you and I explosioned you!!"

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While playing Avengers Collin had instructed me that he was going to go in the other room, that Grace was going to be the "bad guy" and that when I saw the bad guy I should say "avengers Assemble" and he would come fight the bad guy...

Mommy: Avengers Assemble!

Collin runs into the room, grabs his sword & hits Grace with it.

Mommy: Collin! You need to think about your choices, you never hit anyone!! Why did you hit Grace?

Collin: mommy, you need to think about your choices. You said Avengers Assemble and that means fight, I thought it was a real fight, you didn't say it was pretend!!

Little Chef

Grace has been loving her play kitchen she received for Christmas from Dede & Jimbo...maybe a little too much...

This morning while mommy was doing laundry she took her real banana she was supposed to be eating at the table into her PLAY kitchen & chopped it into a million pieces for mommy to clean up. She even brought a handful of the smashed banana into the laundry to proudly show me. With smashed banana in one hand and her play knife in the other she says asked sweetly, "more nana cut please".

What a stinker!

In Collin's Words

Batman has a belt, and Aquaman has a belt. But Superman doesn't have a belt, he knows how to hold his pants up!

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Collin: Lets play "Manger Scene". I can be Baby Jesus, you can be Mary, and pig (a stuffed animal) can be Joseph.

Me: what about Grace? Can she be a shepherd or a wise man?

Collin: No, she can be the donkey. You need to sit on her because you are Mary! Sit on her mommy!

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After several attempts to delay bedtime...

Me: Collin you need to go straight to your room and go to bed

Collin: actually straight is to Grace's room. My room is straight then turn, see?

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And lastly a picture of my sweet silly boy with his Avengers bow & arrow he made with daddy. (I don't think any of the avengers actually use a bow and arrow, but he sure thinks so!)

Baby Einstein

Proud bragging mommy moment alert! Yesterday while driving home from our week long Thanksgiving trip grace was holding her baby in the backseat & eating a graham cracker. I heard her say "mmmmmm baby cracker" then looked around and she was feeding her baby a cracker...she said a 3-word phrase!! I was so proud I took a picture :)

And because no post is complete without my handsome big boy, here he is figuring out how to use the sand scooper at the park - these kids are smart :)

Thanksgiving Party

We are just going to ignore the fact that it had been MONTHS since my last post. much happened during those months...some wonderful, some sad, and some even sadder, but that will be a longer post for another day. For now, a picture post from my phone will have to suffice :)

Friday we had the most adorable Thanksgiving Feast at school! Collin & Grace dressed as Indians and Daddy even got to join us :)

I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving!

“Projects”

Lately I have been making an effort to actually do some of the things that I have “pinned” on Pinterest.  There are so many fun ideas that it can be overwhelming, but I have decided that I will pick 1 fun new activity a week + 1 new learning activity that goes along with what Collin’s teachers are doing at school.

Collin has been loving it & as soon as Gracie goes down for her morning nap he starts asking what “project” are we going to do :)

Each day we are home I pull out a special book that is only for “Project Time”.  It is basically a preschool workbook that has tracing activities in it along with letters.  Collin picks out a page, then we work on it together.  When he finishes he gets either a special sticker that is just for “Project Time” or an M&M :)

Next we pull out his special Spiderman notebook where we practice drawing the “letter of the week” from school…this week is “B”.  We have only been home 2 days this week, but he is already starting to be able to make somewhat recognizable “B’s”.

Then, depending on how much time we have I start our Pinterest Idea.  Here are a few of my favorites…

This was just plain painting, but he LOVES it :)

We made an American flag.  I drew lines on the paper & he cut out all of the red & white stripes himself!

Then we glued them on in a pattern.

Finally, the stars :)

We also made a land & sea picture (idea stolen from VBS) and used stickers & drawing to put animals where they live.

Collin’s favorite has been the vinegar & baking soda project where we made bright colored “volcanoes”

Counting out cereal pieces.

Grace enjoyed this one too!

This was one of my favorites…I drew Collin’s name on a piece of paper and gave him a Q-Tip and paint to make dots following the lines of the letters.  I did 1 to show him & he filled out the rest – mommy was so proud :)

 

This was an idea I got from their school, to pick a book and focus activities around the book.  Collin picked a book and we did everything they did in the book.  He picked “If You Give a Pig a Party”

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We built a fort out of blankets, decorated with balloons, and had a pillow fight.

Grace enjoyed the fort too :)

I’m not perfect, but I am trying to be more intentional with our home time.  And it is fun too :)