Collin Birthday Party

Collin has been planning his birthday party since summer. He went to a couple of parties & realized what happens (meaning presents are given & your friends sing to you) and he has talked about having a Spiderman Party ever since. We decided to have it at a place called The Jump Zone. Here is the website if you want to check it out - it's a pretty neat place (scroll down to the bottom of the site & they will have pictures of the location). http://www.jumpzoneparty.com/Duluth/home.php
So we invited 20 kids & we had 17 show up! We were shocked at the turnout! Everyone had a GREAT time (especially Collin). After the kids jumped before we did cake/ice cream, we had the kids meet at the Spiderman inflatable for a group picture (some of the kids were still playing when picture time rolled around). It's easy to spot Collin because he is the kid who took off his shirt. A little girl at his party was wearing a jumper & she was hot so her dad took her undershirt off of her. When Collin saw she didn't have a shirt - he didn't want one either. After the picture, we all sang Happy Birthday & the ate cake/ice cream. Everyone ate their cake/ice cream & then got their goodie bags & left. For this age, it's better that you open the gifts at home because the kids don't understand that the gifts they gave are not theirs AND it prevents from stuff getting lost/broken. I had never thought about this until we had gone to a few parties & I saw both ways how it was done. So we took the gifts home & let Collin open them at the house. He got LOTS of fun stuff. All in all, it was a great birthday!!

Collin's Birthday

Collin turned 4 on November 30. He was SOO excited for his birthday. Tony & I woke him up & wished him a Happy Birthday. He was so excited & he told us "Thank You." I made Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes for him to take to his class. After school, he told me that one of friends asked him "Did you mom make these cupcakes?" And Collin replied "YES SHE DID." It was so cute! I wish I could have heard how the whole conversation went. Once Tony got home, we opened presents (Star Wars Lego Game, Tinker Toys & a kids keyboard/piano) and then we went to his favorite restaurant. His favorite restaurant is a little pizza parlor near the house. It is his favorite because they have video games. Tony usually gives him some quarters and lets him play games. BUT on his birthday, he got $5 worth of quarters & he was happy!!

Our Thanksgiving Trip

We went to Utah to visit Mom & John for Thanksgiving. We had SOOO much fun. Of course the visit went by way too fast, but I think that is because we had lots of things planned.

On Wednesday, Tony & I took what is becoming our annual "One Night Getaway" and went to the casinos in Wendover NV for the night. It is no Vegas, but it was nice to get a night away from Collin & have some fun. Collin of course was spoiled with a trip to the Toy Store & surprise surprise he choose a remote control car. We realized that we were not missed by him at all, he did ask about us - but no tears were shed & he was happy go lucky.

We came back just in time for Thanksgiving Breakfast/Brunch at Mom & John's house. John's kids & spouses (Rob, Becca, Becky, Justin & Richard) were there and we ate a really nice Brunch. John's kids were going to their grandparents for Thanksgiving, so it was just going to be the 5 of us. A week prior to our visit, John had suggested we go to the Grand America Hotel for Thanksgiving Dinner since it would be easier than cooking. WHAT A GREAT SUGGESTION!! It was SOOO good. I will say that it was nice to be pregnant for Thanksgiving. Everything was great, but the desserts were just fabulous. It was also nice not to have to worry/deal with cooking & all the cleaning that Thanksgiving entails. The pictures from Thanksgiving are posted towards the bottom of this entry.

On Friday we went out for my birthday dinner to the Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse. Collin now refers to this as "The Volcano Restaurant" because our cook made a volcano out of onions. He also enjoyed watching the cook toss shrimp in the air for Tony & Richard to catch. He is still talking about the whole dinner experience. We also made SEVERAL baby blankets on Friday for Baby Avery & for baby gifts for friends. I know Baby Avery will never be cold because she will not be lacking in the blanket department!

Saturday we went to Park City and went clothes shopping for Avery. Instead of getting a birthday gift, I choose to go girl clothes shopping instead. Let me just say that we did some damage in the short hour we were out. It was so much fun & we got lots of cute little girl clothes for next winter. Even Tony thought that some of the outfits were cute. It had snowed in Park City & Collin was SOOO excited about seeing the snow. He would walk in snow drifts intentionally to get the full effect. It was cute.

After the short shopping spree, we went to Heber to ride "The Polar Express." Collin was SOOO excited to ride on a train. Mrs. Claus stopped in and visited with every kid. Collin informed Mrs. Claus that he "wanted a yellow remote control truck with big wheels." We had cookies & hot chocolate and then listened to the Polar Express story. Once the story was done, Santa made an appearance! Santa also visited with the kids & Collin again informed him of the item on his wish list. (Luckily we found a remote control truck with big wheels for him, except it is blue - but we think he will be ok with it). On the train ride back to the station, the story narrator led everyone in singing Christmas Carols/stories. Each time, she would ask for a helper & kids would volunteer. Well Collin kept volunteering, I think he went up there about 6 times. A few times, she asked if anyone had Christmas jokes they would like to share. She would usually let the kid read from a list of jokes she had or she would tell them the joke & have them repeat it. Well Collin decided he wanted to go tell a joke. So he gets up there and says "Reindeers ride in elevators with bells on & they go up & down." It was SOO funny to see him up there in front of about 100 people telling "his joke" that he made up. We couldn't believe that he kept wanting to go up there in front of everybody. I guess deep down he isn't shy after all!!

On Sunday it snowed at mom's house. We had a couple hours before our plane took off, so we took Collin out in the snow. He tromped around a little bit but he decided that next time he needs to bring his gloves to Nana's (I forgot to pack them). We got home from our trip late Sunday night. All in all we had a great time. Next year we will have Avery with us & I'm sure things will be a little crazy with a new baby around!