August/ Collin's Birthday Celebrations

August means back to school and Collin went back to the same church school that he attended last year, now Tue, Wed & Thurs. He was happy to have a lot of his same friends again in his 3-yr-old class this year. It took quite a long time to get used to the new teachers, having been home with mommy all summer, but eventually he learned to love Ms. Mary & Ms. Jenn as much as he did with Ms. Zoe & Ms. Judy from his 2-yr-old class. Click here to see more pictures from August or HERE to see hightlights from the entire summer.



We are so lucky to have both sets of grandparents visit Collin for this birthday! This year Mike's parents came first and we celebrated with a lasagna dinner, cupcakes and opening gifts. School is back in session the week of Collin's birthday so we brought cupcakes to school to celebrate with his school friends.

My parents arrived just in time for his actual birthday (Aug 31st) and we celebrated by going to The Children's Museum, which Collin loves!

That afternoon we hosted a fire truck themed party for some friends at our neighborhood pool. He was thrilled to have his friends together for pizza and cake but wanted to leave fairly soon afterwards so he could open presents with Nana & Papa. While my parents were here we also attended a concert on Labor Day. Concerts and museums are two of Collin's favorite outings, which makes him sound like a pretty cultured kid.

Click on Elmo pic for more...


o

July 2007

For this post, click on each picture to see more pictures!

The Fourth of July is s a fun event in the Somerset neighborhood. We have a parade where the kids' wagons and bikes are decorated and we end at the clubhouse for ice cream. A big group of us watched some wonderful fireworks at a nearby neighborhood golf course following a dinner gathering at our friends' house.

The second week of July we enjoyed another family vacation, this time with Mike's vacation at Kentucky Lake. We rented a spacious lake house and boat and enjoyed a relaxing weekend together. Collin was thrilled to have the chance to fish with Grandpa, and surprisingly he caught more fish than anyone else that weekend (with a little assistance). This was the first time we met baby Meg and it was fun to watch Collin & Sophie play well together.

The Cardinals were in town to playing the Braves where Mike attended every game. His cousin Joe flew down for the occasion, so they went to several games together, we got to sit in Beck's great seats one night, and we took Collin to another game.

The end of July is Mary Kay's annual seminar in Dallas, so I made my second annual jam-packed visit in July. It is so amazing to see the big picture of Mary Kay and how many women's lives have been changed by this incredible opportunity. The number of women who have achieved phenomenal success just by helping other women feel important and encouraging others to be successful is astounding. Laura & I were both newly pregnant (1 month apart) so it was fun to be able to share that together. While we were in Dallas we went to Gatti Town and visited the Dallas World Acquarium.

Collin & I flew directly from Dallas to St. Louis with my parents for my Grandma Gehbauer's 90th birthday and met Mike as he drove up for the weekend. We celebrated her birthday at an Italian restaurant in St. Louis. I was great that the entire family could be together for this special event.

June 2007

This summer began with a trip to Destin, Florida with my family. We stopped to visit Raquel, Ryan & Ella on the way and went to Seaside for the day. Mom & Dad rented a nice place on a golf course in San Destin; Rob & Kristen came from California. We had a great time at the beach, renting bikes, family and pool time. Collin was so excited to play miniature golf, and Mike and I were thrilled to play tennis each morning on clay courts, taking advantage of how much Collin loves to spend time with his Nana and Papa and their willingness to play with him. Click here to see some highlights from the first part of the summer and Collin's last day of school.

From Destin we all drove to Birmingham, Alabama for my cousin Russ' wedding to Christina. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding at a downtown hotel and the bride arrived on a horse-drawn carriage. Birmingham has a great children's museum with a temporary Bob the Builder exhibit, so Collin was in heaven (even though he kept talking about how he wanted to go back to the beach house for weeks after our Destin vacation).

We were lucky to have only a 2 1/2 hour drive home compared to the rest of the family that had to travel much farther. We told Collin that when we got home he would no longer be able to wear diapers, as we began potty training boot camp. It worked pretty well and I'm convinced it's the only way to do it for some kids. He cried for his diaper several times that week, but we made him run around the house with no pants and stayed home for a week. Within a few hours he achieved his first successful trip on the potty.

The next week Raquel & Ella came to visit. Since we were busy showing them around we did have a few mishaps/set backs with the potty training, but overall he did great. We went to lots of parks, a puppet show and saw the Sesame Street exhibit at the Atlanta Children's museum. Collin loved having a playmate for several days - take a look at this video of the two of them! At the end of the week we took Ella & Raquel to the airport to fly home and we flew to Dallas to visit my parents and meet up with Mike who was there for a business trip all week. It sure is great to have the freedom and flexibility to be able to take advantage of last minute opportunities!

We went from having activities each day in the Spring (Music class on Mondays, school Tue & Thurs, playgroup at church on Wed & Bible study on Fri) to only having two structured activities during the summer (swim lessons Monday afternoon & the playgroup that I coordinated at church on Wednesdays). Somehow I still wonder what we did each day. We joined the zoo and visited frequently since we could take friends for free. We enjoyed visiting the pool many afternoons and weekends, but it seemed like we were usually busy most weekday mornings.