Saturday, November 29, 2008

Chase me!


Mae's new favorite game is being chased around the house. Last weekend when her Uncle Russ and cousin Rusty were in town, she said "chase me! Chase me!" and she ran from them giggling all around and around the kitchen island and breakfast table. This weekend, with her grandparents in town, Mae said to Opi, "Chase me!" and he did for hours! What a good sport!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Our Christmas Present

Instead of trying to come up with gifts for each other, this year Rich and Kirsten decided to buy an HDTV for the family room. So before the crack of dawn on Black Friday, the whole family piled into van in search of a deal. We ended up buying a television at regular price, but, boy, is it cool! Thanks goodness Robyn was here to help us set it up (she is awesome at reading manuals) and to show us how to use it! It has the awesome picture-in-picture feature where we can watch tv and play Wii at the same time! Kirsten may actually "watch" football with Rich now!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Our First Thanksgiving


This year was the first time since we were married that we will be home for Thanksgiving, and with all of our kids -- so it is a very exciting time in the Collins' house!

There are so many things to be thankful for this year that we cannot list them all. But most of all, we are thankful for our family and friends and for everyone's good health. We wish the best to all of you this holiday season!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Woody

One of our many woodland neighbors includes an illustious Imperial Woodpecker that we have had great difficulty capturing on film (or SD media card, as it were). But today Rich has success! Lucky for us he was quick with the camera and caught a few images and thought we would share. He camoflages well with the tree, but you can't mistake that redhead.

He is an impressive guy and loves this dead tree behind our house, in full view of our breakfast area. We haven't seen him much lately, but then again we haven't been home much.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Welcome Russ and Rusty!


We were delighted when Rich's brother and nephew, Russ and Rusty from Michigan, said they would be driving by our state and wanted to spend an evening with us! We were the last stop on their East Coast drive that took them all the way to Florida, and we were so happy they could visit!


On their way out of town, Russ took Rusty on a driving tour of his alma mater, Duke University. While I am not necessarily a fan of Duke exactly, I am sure it would be great to go on a visit with Russ! Just as long as we can keep our tour and talk AWAY from basketball (GO TERPS!)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

First Snow!



It must be a cold day in ... because we saw white stuff in North Carolina. Of course, none of the snow stuck around more than 5 minutes but I have proof it was here!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tiny Fingers



Thanks to Miss Sherri, Mae and Ben have a wonderful collection of art smocks and aprons! Today we decided to try one out and undertake a finger-painting project. In the past, finger painting only happened before bath time and Mae would be stripped down to her diaper. But, the smock worked great! She still managed to paint her face some, but it's all washable! Yea!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Lockness Lulu!!!!




Lulu is visiting us for a few days, and we decided we should take her to our favorite new park: Kid Together in Cary! There is just so much for a kid (of all ages) to do! Mae's current favorite activity? Climbing the large dragon that juts out from the ground in spots. Rich thinks it's a North-Carolinian-Lochness, but we Mae calls it a dragon. We also took in the different jungle gyms and swings, and Ben went down his first slide!





Thursday, November 6, 2008

Bumbo and Bare

Ben's been getting restless, so today we tried the Bumbo chair. We didn't have one with Mae, so this was new for all of us. But so far, he seems to really like it being able to sit up in the middle of things. He can only sit there for a short while before becoming overwhelmed, but we'll gradually build up to longer periods.
Mae was also a fan of the Bumbo, playing around Ben so he could see what she was doing. But then she noticed Ben's head and let Kirsten know she was concerned about "bebe's head." Not quite getting her message, Mae felt compelled to show Kirsten what was wrong by trying to cover Ben's head with leftover yarn, saying "hair." Poor guy.
Of course, Mae felt the need to test out the chair for herself once it was vacated.