All Boy

       Grasshoppers inhabited our yard for the 2 years it was vacant, and they are everywhere! Colt LOVES them. He asks to go see them all the time. So this is our daily ritual.



The Seaons Are Changing

   Fall is every one's favorite season in our house.  What is not to love?  Colt got some new clothes for the cooler weather, and he couldn't wait to try them out.  I swear I didn't even ask him to pose!
  

New clothes

Sunglasses

Squatting in the back yard

 

     He is also changing by the day. I swear he stays the same for a while, and then out of nowhere everything changes. He literally says everything I say. It is quite interesting to hear how you sound coming from someone else. He has been trying to put me in timeout and pointing his finger at me to sit down! He is a little bit bossy!

     In line with saying everything I say, the other day he was "playing" in the bathtub and wanted to know what his special part was called. Knowing you are supposed to tell them the real name, I promptly told him it was his penis. Immediately, he started yelling "My peanuts! My peanuts!"

He yells at Winston to go in the garage for being a bad boy and always wants to give him treats when he is good. And as I mentioned before, he now remembers everything, and tells you all about it. Your secrets are no longer safe.

    He came home the other day and said "I want go to Nana and Papaw's.  Feed horses, eat ketchup."  After visiting Justin's mom and dad he said "I go see Grammy and Gramps, watch Mickey on the tv."  And when Justin was out of town and we face-timed him, when I told him to say hi to daddy he said "I hit mommy, go timeout!" 

Daddy and Son date

    Justin took Colt to his first Colt's game this year.  He went last year a few times, but was too little to remember.  They went all out.  They got food, drinks, shirts and watched the game.  Colt loved watching the game and even took one of his chicken fingers, picked it up, yelled football, and launched it at the field!  Justin was such a good dad and even let him ride the escalators a few times.
   I knew Justin had a blast, but you never know what Colt is thinking... until now.  He now tells me everything!  We were driving to school and all the sudden he said "Football game with daddy.  Throw chicken nuggets!"  He had so much fun, as you can see...

Wedding Bells

My step-sister Cara married Craig earlier this summer, but they waited to have their reception until late this summer.  Craig is from Northern Indiana and they chose to have the reception at The Farmhouse in Nappanee.  As the pictures will try to do it justice, you will see it is the most beautiful place you could possibly have a wedding.  It was GORGEOUS!  Keaton and his friend Abby were able to come down from Chicago too, which was really nice.  So, I took advantage of him and had him take some pictures of Justin, Colt and I.  The day was beautiful. The details were awesome and we all had a blast.  Now I just need to marry Justin all over again so I can have my wedding here!
Congrats Cara and Craig!

The Farmhouse

Elle and Bennett

Family picture

Keaton and Colt on a walk

Sibling love

Birthday

   In all the hustle and bustle, I forgot it was my birthday.  Well not totally, because we have about 12 celebrations with all our families, but we were driving back from Canada the day before, so we were a little busy.  But on my actual birthday, Justin suprised me by having all of our friends meet us for dinner.  It was very nice of him.  Then we all came back here and had ice cream cake and played games.  It was a great time!
Thanks everyong for celebrating with me!

Canada

   We went to Canada again, but this time we all got to go together!  We stopped halfway up because Colt was so sick we thought about turning around, but we were determined to get there and relax.  We were really glad we made the trip.  Colt just needed some fresh air and antibiotics to feel better. 
    Justin and Grandpa got to fish a lot, while Grandma, Colt and I stayed in the cabin.  However, Colt is getting much more adventurous and does not want to stay inside.  He asked to throw rocks in the water at least 5 times a day.  He also would ask to go to "Canada" which is apparently what he thought the gray cabin was called!  He loved to sit on the deck and look for animals.  That deck is where we saw the bears a few years ago and we saw a ton of geese this year.  It's my mom's favorite spot on the island too!
    He rode in the boat a few times, but for the most part, he just wanted to walk around the island and throw rocks.  One time we went to throw rocks and found a baby frog.  I was too scared to pick it up, so we just watched it. I thought it was hiding from me, so I just left him alone.  Justin and my grandpa came to pick Colt up and take him on a boat ride.  As I waded out in to the water to put Colt in the boat, I saw something moving... a SNAKE!  And it had our baby frog in it's mouth!  I could not believe we were that close to a water snake and I didn't even realize it.  AH!  Of course, Justin and Colt came back to look for it, but it was gone.  Just a good reminder that it is all wilderness up there!
    Colt also was quite the character at dinner time.  He wasn't feeling all that well, so he wasn't eating well, but he was a pistol.  Grandma doesn't let anyone leave the table until they try the food, and Colt is no exception.  Well, our little guy decided to hide his veggies under his plate when no one was looking! We are in serious trouble.  And finally, Colt decided he wanted to climb the ladder to the loft int he cabin.  And he climbed all the way to the top with no help.  Just a little scary! 

Throwing rocks

Playing playdoh

His favorite spot on the deck

Looking for geese

Catching some fish

He really wanted Canada Dry

Daddy's shoes

 

Grandpa taking a nap and Colt and I snuggling

Saying goodbye to the rocks!

Randoms

     Every day is a new adventure with Colt.  He has loved playing with the hose on hot summer days.  And he thinks he is hilarious when he tries to spray me with the water.  I love to watch him come up with things and laugh at himself.  He also really wants to be like his Daddy.  He walks around in his shoes all the time!  I have even caught him hiding in Justin's clothes in the closet.  MY days of having a momma's boy are limited.   But I am soaking up each and every one of them!

Yummy well water

Sharing with Winston

Daddy's shoes

State Fair Fun

   Justin and I love the state fair, and Colt had fun last year, but we were really excited to take him to see the animals this year.  He is obsessed with horses, so we planned to go while they would be there.  We could barely get him out of the barn!  He was in love.  We had to pet every single one of them.
    They also have a petting zoo.  He LOVED feeding the animals.  In pioneer village they have a place for kids to plant crops, harvest them and then buy something at the store.  He really enjoyed that too.  And, last but not least, I talked Justin in to letting him ride a ride!  He went down the big slide with me and he loved it. They only problem was he thought it was just like the park and you could go down it as many times as you want!  We are so glad we live close and were able to go a few times.  Colt absolutely loved the fair and is still talking about it a month later!

The work horses were there!

Feeding the sheep

BIG tractor

Collecting eggs

Planting crops

 

More horses

Horses and Uncle Keaton

   Colt has a slight/major obsession with horses.  My dad and Delaine live across the street from 3 horses and it is ALL Colt talks about.  Dad keeps a stash of treats for the horses, so every time we go over there, Colt takes a basket full of treats over and feeds the horses, all by himself too!  This time, Keaton happened to be home too, so he was able to see how much fun Colt has.

His basket of treats

When the treats run out, we get grass

Uncle Keaton, Papaw and Colt

We bought a house!

      Finally, we bought a house.  After months of living with my mom and then Justin's parents, we found the right place.  The idea was that we could get a bank-owned home, fix it up and sell it... keep doing this for a few years and then have some money for retirement.  But after these last few months and after finally getting the house, we may never move again!
    One of the reasons we got such a good deal on the house was because the whole basement had mold in it.  We thought it would just take a few days to get rid of, but it was worse than we thought.  So we had to keep pushing back our move in date.  I shed many tears and may have raised my voice a few times, but we finally got it.
   Thank goodness for our friends and family.  Every room had to be painted, and everyone came to help for 3 days straight!  I am not sure I was that good of a friend when they all moved... oops.  Then it was time for carpet for the whole house.  Finally, we got to move in.  And again, our friends were so generous.  The girls cancelled Bible study for the night and came to help us move all our stuff (and brought their husbands too)!  Keeping Colt busy proved to be the most difficult, but he did great.  And he is so happy to have a home.  Every day on the way home, he says "my home, new home!"
   Here it is...

kitchen on the right, dining room on the left

family room open to the kitchen

upstairs

I have friends

   Although most of my life is consumed with Colt, I do have some amazing friends!  I am so thankful that they are patient with my crazy life and schedule and even want to hang out with my little buddy too.  Every year we all travel up to Berne for Swiss Days.  It is their town fair, comlete with fair food and rides and we have a slumber party that night. 
    We love to play cards and eat, so that is what we pend most of the night doing :)  It is so much fun.  The next morning there is a 5k that several of us have run, but this year it was Liz, Amy and my first year to run.  We had lots of fun and some great fans cheering us on (Carley, Tim and Mo!).
I am SO thankful for my friends and all that they bring to my life!  Love you guys.

Escaping the rain

Other side

Runners

 

With our post-race drinks from Carley :)

Make a crazy face at 2 AM

Epic Fail

   I knew it was a long shot, but I attempted potty training Colt.  He was so interested in going on the potty and could tell me when he was going, so we gave it a shot.  The bad part was I only had 3 days off work and we were getting ready to move, so it made things a little more difficult. 
   Let's just say that by the end of day 1 everyone was miserable.  He did a great job sitting on the potty, but no matter how much he drank (literally TONS of fluids!), he would not go to the bathroom.  He only goes about every 4 hours, so it was hard to get him some successful trials.  So, we gave up, but he sure was cute while we tried :)

His new potty and cup

BIG belly

new Mickey underwear and watching Mickey

Catching up

   Every once in a while I just need to catch up.  Here are some pictures from our summer.

Colt and Camden :)

Indians game

Cousins

Take Grammy to the zoo day!