Well, we have all recovered from our round of flu and colds.  Colin had it easy and didn't get the flu at all, but he managed to get a pretty bad cold like the rest of us.  Luckily, we are all feeling much better just in time for Christmas.

We've been trying to get a good family photo for awhile now, but between Kayla and Colin, it's been pretty tricky.  Between Colin having to be on my lap to Kayla wanting to be where ever Colin was, it just wasn't meant to be.  Here are some examples:

Colin and Kayla are very much copycats of each other.  Kayla is always insisting on playing with whatever toy Colin has and has learned that if she can just exchange toys, it won't upset Colin (most of the time) and she can have the toy.  Colin just does whatever Kayla does whether that's being a picky eater and not eating dinner cause Kayla won't eat dinner or imitating her actions or cozying up in a blanket.

Kayla had a joint birthday party with her cousin Aiden!  They both got lots of good presents.  Here is Kayla opening some presents except Colin the Bears man photobombed her again!

What cute cousins!  Kayla is very happy she is four now that wants to keep getting older and be five!  I told her we're going to have to wait a little while for that, I'm liking four just fine.

On Black Friday this year, my mom and I and the kids decided to brave the crowds and head up to Kohls to do some shopping.  You can probably tell where this is going already, but it actually has a happy ending!  Once we finished our shopping, we found the back of the line at the back of the store and began our wait.  Kayla and Colin were each allowed to pick one toy to play with in line and if they were good, they could keep it.  Kayla picked a baby doll (of course!) and Colin picked an Elmo remote.  He got bored of that pretty quickly and about halfway through the line found a cute little stuffed raccoon, which he absolutely loved and clung to for the rest of the wait.  45min later, we finally made it to the cash register with two very good kids who deserved their toys.  We handed the cashier the raccoon only to notice it didn't have any tags on it.  So the cashier called for a price check, but as it turned out, the manager said they don't sell that raccoon, somebody must have left it behind, and thank you very much for returning it.  Poor Colin now had no toy!  Quick-thinking Grandma found an owl oh-so conveniently located next to the cash register and bought that for him.  It was the best purchase ever as Colin and his owl are now inseparable.

At bedtime, if his owl isn't waiting for him, Colin will call out, "Owl?   OWL!!!!"  Also, he still sleeps with his booty high up in the air.  I love it!

Cute cute cute!!

When Kayla was about Colin's age, she had the look that she would give people when prompted.  Well Colin has also developed a pretty good 'look' although his is rarer to see than Kayla's.  This might be the only photo we have of 'The Look'.

Ah, the good old Nascar racebox.  Somehow those two still manage to fit into it, although it looks like not for long.  I'm pretty sure this is a cheesy Colin grin and not a pouty face since he really had fun riding in it with Kayla.

We visited Santa at the grocery store.  Quite convenient for Santa to stop by if you ask me.  Kayla was very excited and nervous to see him and after she sat on his lap, she told me next time she's just going to stand next to him.  Colin of course, wanted nothing to do with Santa even if I was there.  What's on Kayla's wish list for Christmas?  A baby doll and a pink kitchen.  Hopefully Santa gets what she wants!

Ignoring the runny nose, we finally got a picture of Colin's, "I dunno" look.  Where's Papa?  I dunoooo.  Where are your shoes?  I dunnoooo.

We put up our Christmas tree and as you can see there are no ornaments within Colin's reach.  Even the soft ones are up high because he likes to take them and hide them.  But besides that, Colin loves that tree.  He even says, "Treeee!"

So  Kayla and Colin were taking a tubby together the other day, and I was telling Kayla all about Santa's good list and naughty list of kids.  She promptly told me that her and Colin are not on Santa good list or naughty list.  They are on his silly list.  : )

Kayla and Colin still love their ball pit.  And yes, Kayla is not wearing any pants.  This is actually more unusual, since the second she gets home from school her shirt, pants, and socks are immediately taken off.  Luckily, that's one thing Colin hasn't picked up on....yet...

Shh....don't tell but I heard from Santa that the kids are getting....more balls for their ball pit!  Woohoo!

Poor Kayla Bug (and Daddy).  The flu bug is going around our house, and they've both gotten sick.  So far Colin and I have been doing ok, but I imagine it would only be a matter of time.

Kayla and Colin both had doctor appointments on Friday and they went very well, minus shots for the both of them.  At 18 months, Colin weighs 20 pounds, 15 oz (2%) and is 32 inches tall (47%).  The doctor had no issue with him being small, since he eats as well as an 18mo old should and seems very healthy.  She was very impressed with all the words he was speaking and she wasn't even going to ask if he could speak a dozen words, since he already had done so in the short time there.  Some new words for him are play, up, down, c'm on (then takes your hand to lead you somewhere, come on!), get, crack (cracker), and small sentences (hi mama, bye bye meow).  A year ago, we were just finding out Kayla had a heart murmur, and as it turns out, so does Colin!  But the doctor is not at all worried and says it will go away on its own.  Colin only (only!) had two shots and was very good with them.

Kayla on the other hand had five!  Granted, one was for flu (which lasted a whole two days).  She did not take them so well and cried all the way from the doctor's to school.  She cheered up at school when she saw her friends and wanted to show off all of her bandaids.  Kayla weighs 32 pounds, 7 oz (27%) and is 40 inches tall (45%).  Her heart murmur has completely gone away, and she had a great visit minus the shots.

Colin also has this thing he does when he's looking for something, usually his shoes.  It's similar to the look below but with his hands out saying, "I dunno."  Where are your shoes?  I dunno??
Back when it was nice out, Colin's daycare provider took him to Busy Barns with our camera and came back with some great shots.  He just loooves animals and is really good at making animal sounds.  His favorite farm animals that day were the goats.

The other goats look jealous.

Yea, I don't know about this.  Can we go back to the goats?

Kayla has gotten past her fear of Colin pooping in the tubby, so they have started taking tubbys together again.  Makes for some great butt shots.

Kayla's preschool had a Halloween party, and Kayla decided to dress up as a butterfly this time and not the princess.  She makes one cute butterfly with red shoes!

Kayla's preschool also had a fall concert, which was a blast to see.  Colin was very well-behaved which meant we actually got to enjoy Kayla perform.  She looks nervous in this photo, but trust me, there were times you could hear singing above all the other kids.  And if you missed it, just ask her for your own private concert.  She'll gladly sing one for you.

Happy birthday Kayla!  Our first of four birthday parties.  She even let Colin help blow out the candles.

CAKE!!!

A baby!  She got many babies for her birthday since that was all she wanted.  She loves them all and sleeps with a different one each night.

Splash!  We went to the Dells again for Kayla's birthday.  Kayla again loved the slides and tube rides.  Colin enjoyed the slides as well and chillin' on the lazy river.  I got brave and took him on a tube slide with me and I'm pretty sure he had fun since he didn't cry during the ride or afterwards.  I would have loved to see his face as we were going down though.

Kayla was pretty brave this year in that not only did she insist on going down all the slides by herself, but she even went down them backwards!

Also at the hotel was an arcade.  Kayla played quite a few of the games and this one was one of her favorites.

Colin got up pretty early, so Daddy and Colin did what they usually do on trips, go on a hike!

And in case you were wondering why Colin isn't in more of these photos, this is why.... The second he sees a camera he goes from being super cute to I WANT.

Happy birthday my little pig-tailed girl!

Happy fall!

Be prepared for the cutest drawing ever.  This is Kayla's drawing of her family including the cats, bunny, and gecko.  I just about had tears in my eyes when I saw it since she has never drawn her family at home and I still can't get her to do it.  But there it is, hanging up at school.  This picture is getting framed and hung up when it gets home.  : )

Kayla turned 4 a couple of days ago!!  That little girl is growing up way too fast.  Now that she is 4 and a big girl, she's starting out sleeping in her own room in her own bed (yay!).  It usually doesn't last all night, but I'm thankful for the extra bed space.

We have a few photos from before vacation to catch up on.  I mentioned that Kayla moved rooms at preschool here she is on her first day in the Rainbow Room!  She is super excited to be with new friends and new teachers.  She even has a best friend named Madelyn.

Here are a few shots of her having fun at preschool.  : )

Kayla loves this bike/scooter.  On the rare occasion when I pick her up, she's always riding it around.

This was the first year Kayla actually enjoyed playing in the leaves.  Here she is buried with her friend from Colin's daycare.

Kayla still goes to storytime at the library most Tuesdays.  Colin will start going in a couple of weeks for toddlertime!  Here she is helping wear all the hats for the book they were reading.  She's definitely a favorite at the library when we go.  Everyone knows her since we take her often and she goes every week with school too!

After we got back from vacation, we had an early Halloween at the trailer!  Colin had a choice between a monkey (too small) or Max from Where the Wild Things Are (too big), so he ended going as a farmer since I just so happened to dress him up in a plaid shirt and overalls.  It was probably a good thing since he was NOT happy about having to wear the Max costume.

Kayla had a choice between Dora, a butterfly, or a princess.  Her pick was the princess and lucky for her, Colin was not wearing his crown.  That'd a girl for having two buckets for candy!

We had a great time driving around on the golf cart going from trailer to trailer to get candy and visit.  Colin was a trooper and had a blast since he is a huge fan of golf cart rides.  He also got quite a bit of candy from Kayla even though she did all the hard work for him!

Colin's probably had a bit too much candy at this point!

And so has Kayla!

Aww....sweet baby Colin.

Crazy baby Colin!!!

Although, seriously, this kid is always trying to ham it up and get people to laugh.  He does a pretty good job at it too.  He has perfected the look that Kayla used to do at this age.  He hasn't been good with pictures lately so I hope to post 'the look' soon.  And he's become quite the dancer.  His over-the-top cute personality makes up for other personality: clingy, fussy, and temper-tantrum-thrower.  At least when he's throwing a tantrum he has learned to lower his head slowly to the ground when on a hard floor instead of just flinging himself to the ground.  : )

Vacation, Part 4

After getting to Wind Cave National Park, we took an auto tour of the park.  It was getting late, so Kayla and Colin were put into PJs before heading out.  We drove through (literally!) a herd of bison, and Colin was quite intrigued.  Of course Kayla and Colin barked at them for attention.  And Kayla was all, "Look at the babies!!!"

We couldn't go to Wind Cave NP without checking out the actual Wind Cave itself.  We knew going into it, that it was going to be risky with two youngsters, one who it too independent for his own good and cries when things don't go his way and the other who gets very scared in dark places.  But we ventured in anyways and overall, Kayla and Colin did pretty well.  Here's Kayla exploring with her flashlight.

Colin as predicted, did not want to be picked up at all during the tour and insisted on walking and going down the stairs himself.  We stayed towards the back of the group and let Colin lead his own way.

"Here I go Mom!"

After Wind Cave, we started our drive home through Custer State Park.  Custer is known for two things: the buffalo round-ups (we missed it by 2 days!!) and their roaming pack of friendly burros.

Unfortunately, Colin slept through the whole thing, and at the time, he was way overdue for a nap, so we didn't wake him up.  I still regret that to this day because he would have loved these guys.  Looks like we're just going to have to come back.  : )  The white one was our favorite so Kayla gave her a carrot.

And of course, the babies!

Also on our way home, we drove through the Badlands.  Colin was getting very anxious to get out of the car, and the only thing that cheered him up was me poking the camera above the chair and taking his picture saying "CHEEEEEEESE!"

And one last picture on the second to last day of vacation...our car.  Just to show how incredibly filled it is with toys and snacks and drinks and who knows what and yes, Colin is sitting on a towel because his diaper failed.  We're very thankful he waited until almost the last day to do that.