Collette Adventures

James's b-day slide show

2012-01-16T14:17:00.000-08:00

Snow Days

2012-01-16T14:05:00.000-08:00

Today is Martin Luther King Day. James is home from school and we are happily snowed in. Of course we can get out... Jon just ran to the bank. But who would want to (the bank was closed anyway). We've played in the snow, drank hot chocolate, and now Fae is napping and the boys are watching a show.

The kids getting a better look at the snow. It's been a while since we've seen it around here.

Jon took this one of me and Fae through our dining room window... he was tucked warmly inside.
I bought Fae some snow clothes on clearance at target. Bibs and coat for 15 bucks total. And I'm glad I did. Although they are huge on her she is really enjoying walking around in the snow. Plus she's super cute.
Sam swung on our tree for a while. He would play outside all day... but hot chocolate coaxed him back inside.

James's birthday party

2012-01-16T13:34:00.001-08:00

Happy 6th Birthday James

I can't believe that James is six years old. We celebrated all week. Slowly opening presents throughout the week. He got a Seahawks jersey, legos, a robotic arm, football, and tool set.

Ready, Set, Blow!

We invited all the family over. Unfortunately a snowstorm kept a few people away. We ate salmon, chicken, pasta, green beans, salad and a chocolate cake and smores. James had a great time. We also watched a slide show of James's 5th year. He's an amazing boy.

Apple cake is awesome.

2012-01-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

Apple cake is delicious. Thank you foodgawker.com. I have pinned it on pinterest (I love that thing). It turned out great. But it was missing something... maybe the caramel sauce it called for but I was missing ingredients for. Next time (and there will be a next time). I will cut the apples thinner for better layering, add cinnamon and nutmeg, and make the caramel sauce. Because everything is better than caramel sauce.

Of course we served it with ice cream... We figured halfway through that we should sprinkle cinnamon directly onto everything. James's idea... that boy is a genius.

So, Sam is not a huge fan of cooked fruit and didn't want to eat the apples... James was more than willing to take Sam's leftovers. James loves fruit no matter the shape, size, color, cooked or not cooked.

"James, I found you an apple."

Thanks dude. I love apples.

A truly mutually beneficial relationship.

Yum!

Cloud Dough

2012-01-10T14:36:00.001-08:00

We had a couple friends over to play with some cloud dough (courtesy of pinterest). It's simple enough to make: 8 cups flour to 1 cup baby oil. I of course made a double batch. If some is good then a lot is better... and it was.

What you end up with is moldable playable flour. You can run your fingers through it and also packs like snow.

Sam had a blast with it. He put the tiger, kangaroo and wooly mammoth (which he calls Beast) in the mix. He and friends buried them in the cloud dough.

Fae spent most of the time trying to clean up our mess. She kept sweeping up the flour and bringing us towels to help.

We had a blast and the kids played with it for about an hour... until it became more fun to throw the dough than play with it. I poured what was left into the flour bag clearly marked *do not eat*.

Cloud Dough is awesome!

Confidence.

2011-06-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

Me: "James, do you just want to wear that to bed?"

James: "Yes. Because I look awesome in it."

The outfit James was referring to is his brown swishy pants (we call all "athletic" style pants swishy regardless of any degree of swishyness) and his too big shirt Jon and I brought back from China with a picture of a bald Shaolin monk doing kung fu.

I wish I could bottle even just an ounce of James' confidence and use it every day.

2009-10-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch and it was so much fun. It was just at the end of our beautiful string of weather so it was a gorgeous fall night. James and Samuel loved picking out pumpkins and exploring the patch. And they both LOVED the cart that Jon pulled them around in. It's so fun to do these festive things with the kids :)

2009-09-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

We've been enjoying our membership to the zoo. James, Samuel, and I hit it up once every couple weeks. Every time there is something different to see. Sometimes the animals are sleeping sometimes they're jumping around... but no matter what the kids have a great time. We pack our little picnic lunch and eat it on our walk. It's a great way to spend a morning.

breakfast

2009-07-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

"Don't worry mom... we've taken care of breakfast." That's what I get for leaving the bag of cheerios out. I come downstairs and Sam's standing on the table and James is feeding him cheerios one by one. I love the one where Sam is eating the cheerio straight from the table.

Bubble beards

2009-05-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Why little boys need mothers

2009-03-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

So It snowed (again!) the other day. We got about three inches of that fluffy stuff. James wanted to go out and play in it. I told him to get dressed and he could go. His idea of being "ready" to go play in the snow was stripping to his underwear, adding one glove and putting on my shoes. He headed out the door before I could really see what was going on. I know I'm a terrible mother but I let him get away with it for a while so I could snap some pictures. James is one silly little boy and was so excited about the snow. It took some serious convincing to get him to come back inside. But we ended up with some great pictures.

2009-03-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

These are just the other pictures that disappeared from an earlier post. I think they're funny.

2009-02-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

We had some more snow this morning. Although I was disappointed because we've been having such beautiful weather it was a gentle reminder that it is still February and we're lucky when the sun shines. James has had the stomach flu the last couple days (very sad and lots of puke) but that didn't stop him from getting dressed to go play in the snow. He got everything he needed: hat, sunglasses, cowboy boots, gloves... everything but a jacket which he was persuaded to put on by his daddy. He had a great time tromping around and throwing snowballs at the house. Snow isn't my favorite but I love the way it cheered up my little boy.

2009-02-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

Sam's favorite toy

2009-02-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

I was trying to make dinner this evening and Sam was in need of a little attention. I opened the pan drawer under the oven, but that was too loud. I put some tupperwear, wooden spoons and plastic cups on the ground and that was pretty interesting until I got on the floor to take some pictures of him. Then he decided I was much more interesting. As soon as I got down on the ground he crawled over and shoved his finger in my mouth... then his hand. He thought it was hilarious. Anyways... this is just a funny series of photos which pretty much describes most of my days.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2009-02-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful day today and James, Samuel and I went for a walk to our little neighborhood park. They had the most fun on the swings. James loved swinging next to Sam and kept telling me to push harder. Sam smiled as the wind from swinging blew on his face. He loved it almost as much as he loved eating the bark. A bunch of kids came and James began making "friends." He would say, "Hi friend" to everyone. Everyone except the older girl who was probably 13 and was helping her little sister play on the slide... James called her "big one." I hope she didn't take it personally.

2009-02-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoon with Carrie and her kids. They had a blast and both Sam and James fell asleep on the ride home. So much excitement. James's favorite part was probably the Hippos and he talked about them for a while. While we were visiting the monkeys one came right up to the window. It was very interested in Olivia. The kids had a great time studying the monkey as much as it was studying them.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

This year for V-Day we hung around the house (very romantic) and made some awesome sugar cookies. James helped decorate them with red hots. He definitely doesn't do many things sparingly and this was true for the red hots. He was pretty into just getting the candy on the frosting until he realized that he was putting CANDY on FROSTING... and then the process took a gooey turn. We kept James's "special" cookies to the side and didn't hand any of those out... promise :)

Boo boos

2009-02-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

A couple nights ago Sam was walking around our bed and tipped over and hit the edge of the bed frame. In the walk from our bedroom to the office to show Jon the boo boo it had swelled up to a huge bump. Sam got over pretty quick but it left quite the bruise... I'm sure it won't be the first time. (that's for you Carrie)

2009-02-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

James has been really into ties lately, especially Jon's ties. I got him set up with the blue one and the look wasn't complete until both the ostrich and giraffe had one too. I don't know what's with James's crooked smile but it cracks me up.

2009-02-16T20:04:00.001-08:00

Welp.... all the cool kids are doing it so here I go. I'm blogging... I'll be using this to post pictures and keep friends and family updated on our super exciting lives. Enjoy!

my first blog

2009-02-16T20:02:00.000-08:00