Merry Christmas!!! I know, it's ben forever since I've posted. Wow, a 15 month old can really keep you on your toes. We've had a great Christmas break so far. Colt has enjoyed the extra time with family, opening presents and trying different foods. He is still going through a 'seperation anxiety' stage so he wants his mama all the time. But that's okay with me. Mrs. Pat might be upset when I take him back but for the time being, I love the time I get to spend with my little man. He has been in and out of the Dr. 3 times since September. I am getting a little frustrated with the Dr. He never seems to be able to give me any answers. But I'm not really sure there are any. He had a cough for several months that wouldn't seem to go away. We did some breathing treatments and alergy medicine and it subsided a little. He also got some kind of stomach bug that lasted almost a week. The Dr. says it's really common for kids under 2 to get sick alot. Cold after cold after cold. Well, I really don't like his answer. In fact, Colt is sick again now. He woke up yesterday with a fever. A high fever. And he's acting very lathargic. I'm praying he'll feel better in the morning. So, I don't know what I'll do in the morning. It might be time to find another Dr. I hate to sound like a paranoid mom because maybe he's right. Maybe that's all it is is one cold after another.
So anyway, on a better note, we still have one more Christmas. But below are the festivities so far. We have had such a blessed year. Jared is enjoying his job. He's moving up and taking on more responsability. I'm proud of him because he gives 110%. It's also very exciting to see Jared interact with Colt. Sometimes just watching them brings a tear to my eye. There are many times now that Colt just wants his daddy. The love that a father has for his son is priceless.
As for me, I'm glad to be half way through the year at school. My kids are wonderful. Everyday one of them says something that makes my heart smile. I should be writing a book. I just finished my first masters class. It was alot of work but I know it will be worth it in the end. If I follow the program and don't take any time off (which I don't plan on doing), I will be graduating sometime in the summer of 2011. Oh and I did get a perfect 100 in my first class. (I think that's a first).
I saved the most exciting part for the end. Jared and I are about to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. We will be going on a much needed vacation. We are cruising through Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. We are going with the couple that we met on our honeymoon. So we are very excited to spend a week with them again. It will be the first time we have been away from Colt for more than 24 hours. The more I think about it, the more I don't want to go. But I know this will be good for me and Jared. And Colt will be well taken care of by our family. Please say an extra prayer that we'll make it a full week without our little man.
Here is a list of some of the things Colt does now that he's growing up.
1. He can show you his belly button (or raise up his daddy's shirt and show you his)
2. He can give you a high five and low five.
3. He can eat just about anything you put in front of him. (he has a mouth full of teeth now so he can enjoy a good steak)
4. He still has a shoe fetish.
5. He likes to wave by and walk away from us
6. He likes to blow bubbles in the bath
7. He can almost run faster than his mama. Uh Oh!!
8. He loves to climb up on everything. Uh Oh again!!
9. He still loves to give kisses and most of the time they're open mouth kisses!
10.He tries to take the remote away from me to give to his daddy. (I don't know who has taught him that)
I'm sure there's so much more but these are what i can think of now.

Christmas Eve at my parents. This is me, my nephew, Luke and my dad

Me and my man

Me and my little man

Colt playing with his new toys

Colt is modeling his new hat and mittens

Me and my niece, Lexie

Memaw reading to my baby

I did not pose him this way. I went to fix him a drink and came back to this.... Seriously, is it something men are just born with?

Taking a nap with daddy

Riding in daddy's work truck for the Forney parade

Forget teaching when it's snowing outside in Texas. I had to let them go outside and play in it.

At Bass Pro with Lexie and Luke

Kissing daddy

Sharing with Aunt Jaime

Swinging with cousins A.J. and Samantha at Gigi's house.

Wow, I'm really a slacker with this whole blog thing. We have just been so busy. I am soooo thankful that we have a break next week. I don't get the whole week but I'll take what I can get. Then, we only have a few weeks until Christmas. I can't wait!!!! I honestly believe that teachers would lose their mind if we didn't have breaks every once in a while. It's so hard to see what some of these kids go through at home. Yesterday one of my kids told me his dad went to jail for selling drugs! There was no amount of schooling that could prepare me for how to handle that situation. I also have a child in my class who is so far from being disciplined at home. I got into my first.... hmmmm what should I call it.... heated conversation with a parent. I'm pretty sure the parent was either drunk or high because nothing he was saying or yelling at me made any sense. And it's really hard for me to believe that a sober person would talk to his son's teacher the way that he talked to me. So I know that these kids need me and that God put me here for a reason. But, man, sometimes it seems impossible to just do what I went to school to do... teach! So I'll get off my little soap box. Everything at home is great. Jared is really busy at work. I am happy for the overtime but not happy about the long hours. Colt is doing good. He's getting a new tooth every other day it seems. He was sick a few weeks ago. He had an ear infection and a cold that gave him a pretty bad cough. But he's feeling much better now. I'm sad to report that he is beginning his "terrible 2's a year early! He has soooo much personality. He is so stubborn and hates being told no (who does). We are trying to be very consistent in disciplining but he keeps doing the same thing over and over and over. He is very hard headed. Not sure who he got that from. Since Jared doesn't read my blog, I'll say it his fault. I'm afraid we have a very long road ahead of us. I'm sure it will be filled with lots of time-outs, spankings, groundings and who knows what else. But with all that being said, he is so much fun. Everyday I think he can't possibly be any cuter and then he'll do something to prove me wrong. He is really funny to watch and interact with. It's amazing how much he's picked up and how fast he learns. My sweet boy is growing up too fast! Well, I can't think of much more going on. Oh, I did start a masters class this week. Man, I don't know what I was thinking. It's sooo much work. But I really want to get it over with. It's a very fast pace program. Classes are 5 weeks long with a week break between each class. I should be done in 18 months. I just might not have much of a life for the next 18 months. Well, here are a few pictures from the past month. I think they're out of order... sorry


Grandad actually let Colt get up on Duke. He wasn't sure what to think about that.
The only picture I got of my little Chef smiling on Halloween


He's learned how to splash. Bath time is a little more messy these days



He's so smart. He picked up Jared's phone the other day and held it right up to his ear. He knew what to do with it. So he's either really smart or he sees his mama on her phone too much!


We has a fun family shoot a few weeks ago. My little stinker wouldn't smile for any pictures with the family.

Lots of Fall fun!

Well, it's been too long since I've posted. We have been busy having fun. We try to take advantage of the few days that have been beautiful. It's been so rainy. A few weeks ago we went to the fair. We had a good time. Colt didn't have the best time only because he doesn't really enjoy having to sit in his stroller. He would much rather be walking. So we only stayed for a few hours. Just enough time to eat some good food and see some cute animals.
There's not too much going on. Jared and I are blessed to enjoy our jobs. We both love coming home and getting to play with Colt. We taught him how to sign "please" for his food. He does it all the time now when he wants something to eat. It's so cute. We might try to teach him a few more signs. He's just growing and getting bigger and bigger. He wears mostly 18 or 24 month clothes. I put him in a 2T A&M sweat outfit today. And it fit him just fine! He's 13 months wearing 2T clothes! Wow, he's gonna be a big kid. I'm scared he's gonna out grow his mama when he's 10.
Well, today we TRIED to go the the Arboretum. Tried is the key word. We couldn't even park. So we found another pumpkin patch to take pictures in. It wasn't as easy as last year. Last year, I remember thinking "It will be so much better next year when he can actually hold his head up" But it was definitely not "easier" He wouldn't sit still long enough to take a picture. Then that little stinker found a rotten pumpkin and before I could stop him, he reached inside it and got nasty pumpkin all over his sleeve. UGH!! oh well, so I was able to get one good picture of him by the pumpkins. It was such a beautiful day. Jared got up really early with Jake and Brandon to go fishing. Unfortunately they didn't even get one bite. But they had a fun spending time together.
Well, things are great and moving fast in our world. God has blessed us so much with more than we could ever ask for!


His first State Fair corny dog.









Finally, he sat still for 1 second so I could get a picture


Hard to believe this was just 1 year ago

We traveled the long trip to Alabama this past weekend. We had planned on visiting Jared's memaw in the summer. We just couldn't make it this past summer so we went this weekend b/c I had a 3 day weekend. We had a great time with his memaw and Aunt Cathy. We did learn that we will never take a 10 hour trip with Colt again until he is much older. He was sick last week so he wasn't back to his normal self. But we did get there at 1:30 in the morning. And of course Colt was not ready to go to sleep. He was so tired but so restless from being in a carseat for 10 hours. He finally fell asleep somewhere between 3 and 3:30. We took our time the next morning getting out and about. We went to Heritage Christian University where JAred's parents lived after they got married. His dad graduated from there. There were lots of memories and stories that we enjoyed hearing about his mom and dad and the life they lived there. His dad was a man that everyone loved and enjoyed being around. We always knew that but it's nice to hear that from everyone else. We enjoyed going to Wilson Dam where we got to walk around and appreciate the amazing beaty that God created. Colt just wanted to get down and play with and/or eat the rocks. There were so many people fishing. We even witnessed a guy who caught a pretty good size fish. We spent the afternoon relaxing. Some of us caught up on some much needed sleep. We enjoyed several good meals thanks to Cathy and memaw. Overall, we had a great visit. We wish we could visit more often. We did decide to leave Sunday night and only drive half way. Colt was much happier. We made it home yesterday afternoon. It was good to be home. We are blessed with such a great family who loves us so much. Thanks Cathy and memaw for taking care of us this weekend. Colt misses you already!



We had to take some good ole family pictures in our church clothes. Isn't my boy so handsome? And Colt is pretty cute too!




How precious is this?




And he found the shoes in the house


Trying to keep him from jumping in!!


He did not want to be held


He really wanted to eat this leaf


Having fun with Aunt Cathy


He loves ridign on Daddy's shoulders


The Walk of Honor at Heritage Christian University (formaly known as International Bible College) where Ron (Jared's dad) graduated from.

1st Birthday Party

Okay so I've have to stop posting pictures. There are a ton more but I'll stop. We had such a good time. We celebrated Colt's first birthday on Saturday. He loved having all his cousins (minus 1) and a friend from church there to play with. He wasn't very interested in his cupcake but we did get some good pictures. We had over 30 people in our house! It was crowded but fun. Colt stuck with me opening his presents for about the first 3 or 4 and then he was off to do other things. He got some really neat toys, books and some cute clothes. He was worn out by the time everyone left. My baby boy is growing up so fast. I've decided to write out a list of all the things he can do now that he's 1

*climb up on the couch
*wave goodbye
*kiss his mama and daddy (and anyone else that wants a kiss)...... (sorry Brandon he only kisses on the lips)
*says daddy and mama but he only says mama when he's whining!
*claps his hands
*knows the word "no" ( I have a feeling he'll be told this at least 50 times a day until he's 18)
*not only walk but run
*somewhat feed himself with a spoon
*gets down off the bed or chair by himself
*sleeps all night most nights (yay for us)
*drinks from a sippy cup instead of a bottle (most of the time)

I'm sure there's many more but these are the things that I can think of. He has such a personality. I'm afraid he's inherited his daddy's stubborness (okay maybe a little bit is from me too). He is very tender hearted. He cries when we spank his hand or tell him no. Sometimes, jared will just give him "the look" and he'll start crying. He has also given me attitude when I discipline him. Something I didn't think would happen for a while! Well, I'm gonna end by saying being a parent is the best thing in the world! Maybe next year one thing on my list will be "he's potty trained"!!! I'm thinking positive