Wow Time Flies!

Well here I am again apologizing for no posts in over a month! We have had so much going on and I really should not have any excuses except that WE WERE BUSY!!!! Since my last post (yes, over a month ago), we decided to take a last minute family vacation to the beach. And when I say last minute, literally, last minute! On Sunday night as we were getting in bed, Sam looks at me (he's just gotten home from a trade show) and says, "So do we have any plans this weekend?" "Well, of course not! Why?" was my reply. Sam:"Why don't we go down to the beach?"Me:"Ok, so like when do you wanna go?" Sam:"Well, I can be ready Wednesday." Me: (internally)YIKES! "Ok, well let me see what all I get done over the next day or so at work!"

So, being the beach-lover that I am and the endless begging each and every night from the girls, I was a mad-woman at work getting tons of work accomplished in a few short hours and getting all of our clothes washed and packed. Before you knew it, we loaded the car on Wednesday afternoon (after Sam came home to cut the grass first) and were on our way! This was the first trip that we made with both girls where we left in the afternoon and drove into the night, arriving about 10:00 pm. Keep in mind that I have a HUGE show that was coming up in August (another reason I've been really busy).

Very rarely do we get away on vacation where NONE of our family is with us. Ok, I realize that we are VERY spoiled in that way, but on the other hand (and we LOVE our families - don't get me wrong) it was sooooo nice to have just the 4 of us! Needless to say, our last minute family vacation was the BEST EVER!!!! We spent 5 days at my parent's condo (ah...the luxury of family owning a place down there). While we packed, the girls energy was out the roof, so I sent them into the playroom to illustrate (i.e. draw, which is MM's favorite activity) all of the things that they wanted to do at the beach! It was so cute and we made sure to do all of the illustrated activities!

***Ok, quick funny sidenote...as I type Anna is totally torturing MM in the playroom. I can hardly stop laughing! Anna keeps blowing on this deer whistle thingy and MM screams every time she blows it. Of course, Anna continues to blow it just to make her scream! Is that cruel that I think that's kinda funny? (Molli, I can read your mind and I know that you are on MM's side on this)***

Ok, so back to the original post! At the beach, we had picnics on the beach, swam (BTW, no oil), built sand castles, hunted for shells, hunted for crabs, and went out to dinner (yes, I claimed I was on vacation from cooking!). So, here are some of my fave pics:

There were many more pics that I cherish from that much-needed vacation so if you are interested, click here!

Happy 4th of July 2010

This year, Sam's entire immediate family decided to spend the 4th weekend at the lake and between our new lake house and his parent's lake house...well, let's just say we had a "full house!" Lots of cooking, lots of eating, lots of laughs, lots of swimming (interpretation: too much sun and TIRED kids), lots of boat rides and tube rides, but it was a great weekend all in all! And since we were all going to be together (which is rare these days), we decided to put my new camera (and my beginner photography skills) to the test and take family pictures. Surprisingly, we got a lot of good ones (and a lot of out-takes which are funny) considering we had 8 kids under the age of 9 and 8 adults. Obviously, we coordinated and all wore white shirts. I have to admit, I was impressed with myself! I am experimenting with a trial of Aperture and editing, but here are a few that did not really need much editing.

Halloween!!!

Obviously, I am a little behind in announcing the winning pumpkin! Congratulations to my sweet husband (who thinks I am little nutty) for carving the best Alabama Elephant pumpkin this year. I have to admit that the last 2 years I have not been creative in my own sense and have used a template for my pumpkins (the easy way out), but stay tuned because next year I will create a masterpiece of my own creation! I better start working on ideas now!

We had a fabulous Halloween this year. It was so nice being on a Saturday because it gave us all day to prepare and slowly get ready for the night. The weekend started out with a date night for Sam and I. We went out to dinner, then shopped a little bit, and then went to see Couples Retreat. It was so nice and like the old days (before kiddos) to just walk around the stores, taking our time, without any meltdowns or whining to tend to. We stayed out until midnigh, but both agreed that we had the most fun that night and should take advantage of more nights like those. The next morning, Sam went to help his sister and her husband move while me and the girls just messed around the house. The horse barn was having a costume contest and party at 2:00, so I took MM to that while Sam let Anna finish her nap. MM got to dress up one of the horses she has riden (Jimmy) and then "show" him for the contest. Unfortunately we did not win, but she had a great time seeing all the other horses dressed up.

Halloween continued that night with our annual neighborhood parade and pizza party. This parade is infamous in our town and people come from all over town to participate in it and see it. We have a huge neighborhood so people also come here to get as much candy as possible in 1 neighborhood! We loaded our family on the golf cart in our costumes and blankets (it was COLD) and adult beverages and headed to the parade! All the kids have so much fun running around the streets with their friends and trying to figure out what everyone is dressed as. We then grouped up with some of neighbors/friends and began the trick-or-treating together. We managed to cover about 3 full streets before heading home with baskets overflowing with candy and all of our appendages frozen solid! This was the first year that both girls really "got it"! The funny thing about them at first was that MM and her little friends would run up to the door and start yelling "Trick-or-Treat" over and over again until we realized that they had not knocked on the door nor rang the doorbell. We died laughing! Thank goodness that Emily remembered glow sticks (I am usually loaded down with them, but that item slipped my mind this year) because we eventually had to tie different colored sticks to their baskets so that we could keep up with them and know who was who - they were running from door to door faster than we could keep up with them. And poor Anna and Ellen only got to about half the houses because they were having a hard time keeping up the pace of the older kids!

We finally made it back to the house, ran inside, put on our warmest fleece PJ's, started a fire, turned off the porch lights, turned on the football games, and ate soup and enjoyed the rest of the evening on the couch cuddling with everyone! It couldn't have been a better weekend! We normally have people over for soup after trick-or-tricking, but we opted not to do so this year and it was kind of nice for a change! So here come some pics from the week. . .

Anna - Flower Gnome

I was dressed up as a 60's housewife - curler, glasses, and wine!

MM and her cute little friends!


Sweet Sisters ready for the parade

MM with Carly and Jimmy

Silly Face

Hannah Montana Cowgirl!

Fall Is In The Air

****I just realized that this post never got posted! Is this any indication as to how crazy our lives are this time of year? So I apologize that this is so late, but I must record it for my personal reasons!****

You know what Fall means to the Collins Family?



Fall in our house only means it's time for our Annual Pumpkin Carving contest. It's a sort of new tradition in our house that started last year - some of you should remember! We had such a fun time and the girls loved it so much, that we could not wait to carve our pumpkins this year!



So with no further avail, PLEASE VOTE for your favorite pumpkin in our poll on the sidebar! Just like last year, I will not tell who carved which pumpkin - to keep it fair, since Sam claims I stacked the votes last year! We will keep the poll going until Halloween night - so what are you waiting for? VOTE, VOTE VOTE!!!

Long Over Due

Anna's Silly Face
Mary Mac's Silly Face

The best family picture we've taken in a while!

The Ultimate Crab Hunter! LOL!

I just to warn you that up front that this may be one VERY long post or many posts to catch up from our week long beach trip. I have to brag on myself and say that aside from having to check a few things that were work-related on my computer, I did not get on my computer not once the whole week. So needless to say, I am WAY behind on reading everyone's posts and on posting what all we did. We went to my parents beach house last Friday with myself and the girls and Gran in my car, Sam in his truck, and Pop in his truck. Why so many vehicles in this wonderful economy? Well, simply put, Sam was planning on coming home either Tuesday or Wednesday, I was coming home on Friday and my parents were staying until Sunday (I'm sure they needed a couple of days of quiet relaxing beach time sans kids- I know I would!). The weather was absoultely gorgeous! None of us could remember a time that we were at the beach in mid-June and not a single drop of rain fell on us. And, there was a wonderful breeze most days. That being said, and the fact that we were having so much fun lead to us talking Sam into staying the whole time with us - that is the nice thing about a family business! We did everything (and I mean EVERYTHING, on MM's agenda). We beached it (a lot), played tennis (me and MM), went to Baytown, ate out, cooked in, swam at the pool, went to Big Kahuna's, played the Wii, etc, etc, etc. You name it, we did it! This year was the first time we felt MM was big enough to go to Big Kahuna's and we made an afternoon of it (while Anna napped). She is definitely our little dare devil. She rode every slide she was allowed to. She would have done more if they had let her. As exhausting as it was, it was soooo worth it. Sam and I got to have some amazing one-on-one time with her which is rare these days! She cannot wait to go back (although it may be next year considering it cost almost as much as Disney). This was also the first summer that we actually could enjoy hours on the beach without someone having a meltdown, having to eat (bottles), naps (took them on the beach). We got smart this year though because instead of hauling our baby pool down to the beach, we rented one with our chairs - what a relief! We still had plenty to bring down, but that was a saviour! We had many picnics on the beach, found lots of shells, caught little fish, and just enjoyed it all! And it seems like Anna's vocabulary just exploded this week at the beach! It is amazing what all she knows and comprehends that we had no idea! Sorry for the lack of pictures from the beach - my camera battery was dead and then I ran out of memory on my card. BTW, can anyone use a SDHC card? I picked this up and did not realize it was an HC which my camera cannot use. It was $40 down the drain! Now, we are back in our regular routine and trying to "wean" the girls from being so spoiled having Pop, Gran, Mommy, Daddy, Nanny, and Pancake (Sam's sister, Kate).

Rainy Weekend Fun

This past weekend was another rainy weekend and when it was not actually raining, it looked like it would rain at any moment. So, you ask, what does the Collins Clan do on rainy days? Here you go. . .

1) Picked up my Organic Quarter Cow: I've been talking about doing this now for a year and I finally bit the bullet and made my purchase! I'll let you know my reviews! Check it out for yourself - it supports our local farmers and it's organic!

The 4 full boxes = 1/4 cow!

2) Made a trip to the local produce stand and here is my purchase(s): I love this time of year when you can get fresh, local, yummy fruits and veggies! Beans, peas, corn, onions, peanuts, etc.

3) Began my annual freezer stashes of fresh veggies. I do this gradually throughout the summer so as not to make it such a huge project and expense. This weekend I put about 6 quarts of peas up and another quart of beans and several ears of corn. This year I had a great "little helper" (Anna). I would have taken a picture of her but our hands were a mess and didn't want to risk leaving a 2 year alone with a table full of peas! She loves keeping things orderly and cleaned up so her job was to collect as many peas as she could in my measuring cup and then we would pour it into the bag. We only had a few peas to hit the floor, but once they are cooked, no one will ever know the difference (hopefully, haha!).

Drying the peas on the kitchen table

The finished product! Headed to join my cow in the freezer!!!

Dancing Girls

I just found this video on my camera that I had forgotten to upload and it just makes me laugh out loud! Poor Mary Mac has very little rhythym (sp?), but by golly, Anna can keep a beat even at the ripe old age of 22 months (notice how serious she is even when Mary Mac tries to distract her - she just does right back into her dance). I took this video one random Friday night when we were having a family night at home and just turned on the music really loud in the kitchen and POOF, the girls just started getting down! It was one of those spur of the moment things that just makes me smile from the inside out to watch our sweet angels having such unabandoned fun with nothing but little music. It's amazing what music and dancing does for our souls! By the way, please excuse the song, I know it's little much for the little ones to be dancing to, but it just came one and we went with it! Also, I apologize if Anna's "moves" are offensive to anyone - NO, I did NOT teach her that! I have not a clue where she learned it!

Snow 2009

So for those of you who have been living in a cave the past week or so, yes, this is our yard here in the deep south this past weekend! Can you believe it? We certainly could not! We had a ball! I'm not sure who had more fun -the adults or children? It was perfect, though, because it was snowing when we woke up and it was enough to make snowmen and snow balls and sled! Then, when we were all tired, wet, and cold, the sun came out and it all was melted by late afternoon!

Ahhh the Beach!

Well, in the midst of all the sickness, we (me and the girls - Sam was out of town) were supposed to be going to the beach for a few days to get away. We have not been anywhere since before Christmas and for us, that is VERY unusual! We are always on the go and traveling here and there! I was dead set on us going to the beach this week and enjoying a week away and, hopefully, a great week without anyone being sick! So, last Friday, I had so much to do at work and so much to do to get us ready to leave that I wasn't sure we would make it down here or not. My mom had planned on coming with us Saturday and staying until Wednesday, but she also had soooo much to do that she just said for us to go without her. We had a birthday party to go to Friday night and Mary Mac and Anna had a birthday party Saturday morning. When I told Mary Mac that it was going to be Sunday at the earliest before we could leave, she had the most disappointed look on her face . . .so what is a mother to do? Of course, as you all would do, I worked my tail off Friday and Saturday morning and we had attended parties, washed clothes, packed, and on the road by Saturday morning 11:30!!!! I couldn't believe it either, but, that' what mom's do! And I have to admit, today is the first time I've blogged since last Friday. Let's just say, it took a little while to catch up on over a week's worth of everyone's fun-filled lives and all the new additions to families! But, I'm back! So here's our week's story of events:

We took our time driving down and made several stops "to get our wiggles out." Anna is not the best traveler. . .Mary Mac has been a very good traveler (like her mom) from day 1! Mary Mac and I got so tickled at Anna "getting her wiggles out." She would shake her arms and make silly noises, but it worked! We do what works, don't we? Another little trick up my sleeve that works with Anna (not Mary Mac) is to always pack plenty of snacks. She ate the whole way down! But, then again, so did Mary Mac. I am convinced she is in a growth spurt. The child has eaten like a pig the past several weeks (aside from the week they were sick)! I feel like we can't fill her up! For the first time in her little life, she has a little pot-belly and she is sooo proud of it.
It has been a fabulous week with my girls!!!! We haven't really done anything special and it's been way too cold to really go to the beach until yesterday and today, but nonetheless, GREAT! It's been one of those weeks that I feel so blessed to have such special and sweet little girls and LOVE being a mom! It makes me realize that the good times we have with our babies far outweigh the bad times!
We have eaten out (a lot), played at every playground within a 10 mile radius, watched movies, and of course, shopped a little bit! A funny story about Mary Mac . . .I took them to The Fresh Market (my fave grocery store that I sooo wish we had at home) and we were getting stuff to cook for supper since Sam was coming that night for the weekend. We were trying to figure out what vegetable to cook when Mary Mac said,"Oh, Mom, let's get that corn that still in it's suit!" I just died out laughing, as did the older lady standing next to us. The lady looked at me and and said, "I think that's the cutest thing I've heard in a long time!" Well, me too! She was referring to the ears of corn that were still in the shuck or husk or whatever you want to call it. I've had so many people say to me that they were the most well-behaved children they had seen in a while. I don't know about you guys, but that is one of the best compliments that I can get! As hard as we try, I never feel like we are doing enough!
I took some really great pictures of the girls that I will post later (some of you may have already seen them on Facebook since I can send them from my phone). I can't believe how well the girls have gotten along this week. Don't get me wrong. . .we've had our drama and issues, but for the most part, Mary Mac thinks it's pretty cool that Anna wants to do EVERYTHING that she does. I'm sure this will get old very soon to Mary Mac, but it is so funny to watch them interact.
Anna has become our little comedian! Her latest thing to do is to walk around with her pants pulled down to her ankles and announcing to anyone in the general area that she tee-tee'd or poo-poo'd! Again, it's really funny now, but sure to get old soon! Also, her favorite thing to tell someone that she doesn't want messing with them is, "No Way!!!"

As much fun as we've had this week, I'm kind of ready to get back home to our normal schedule (AND SCHOOL). Mary Mac even told me today that she missed playing with her friends at school which is a welcome statement considering she had gotten to where she didn't want to go to school. As I'm typing, we're in the process of packing up all the toys. The wonderful thing about my parents having a place down here is that we are able to keep a baby bed, toys, sippy cups, food, bath stuff, beach stuff, etc. down here and it limits what we have to pack. So, as much as I'm ready to get home to our house, I am kind of sad and teary-eyed already at all the great memories that we've created this week and that how quick these days go by! I just pray that these are not only memories for me, Sam, and my parents, but also memories for our girls! Oh what fun!!!!!!

Christmas Pictures

Well I guess in the midst of all the craziness we did get to take a few pictures during Christmas. I did take a video of the girls coming down to see what Santa brought them and will try and post it later.

Pop and his girls at my aunt and uncle's house

(Anna was asleep and this is one of the many nights of fever for Mary Mac)

Our Family On Christmas EveAnna playing in her "house"Mary Mac guarding the door of their new houseAnna just "had" to try on her new Dora big girl panties. No, she's not potty trained yet, but very interested - so why not buy panties? Every girls loves great panties don't we?Peek-a-boo! A rare moment of them playing so sweet and together in their new learning tower that Gran and Pop gave them for "helping" mommy in the kitchen.

Happy New Year to all of you bloggers out there! I really cannot believe it is 2009! Wow, it feels like just yesterday we rang in the New Year in NYC in 2000! And now, here we are just on the threshold of another decade gone by!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Picking Pumpkins

Well, not exactly picking them, but I did take the girls to a local Pumpkin Patch (not really a patch) that a church is holding to sell pumpkins to support their mission trips and we got 6 pumpkins in all: 2 small ones for school, one tiny one for Anna, and medium one for Mary Mac, and 2 big ones for Sam and I to carve for the girls. We had a great weekend this past weekend - the girls stayed in pajamas all weekend (Molli, you guys can appreciate this!) and they did not leave the house all weekend other than to play outside. Sam and I went to the Alabama game but we left them with a sitter and had a great time together! Anyway, yesterday was a perfect day for carving pumpkins. . .And so we did! If I can figure out how to do the poll thing I am going to conduct a poll (per Sam) on who's pumpkin is the best! We have a contest between us every year and this year we will let you Bloggers decide (if I can figure it out)! Here are pics of the weekend: one of Anna and her devil horns for hair and then of the pumpkins!

By the way, I am not telling who did what with the pumpkins so don't ask! Sorry for all the posts at one time, but we are now caught up! I told you we had a big/busy couple of weeks! Please read on!

Boo at the Zoo

Last weekend we took an impromptu trip to the zoo in Birmingham. This was Anna's first official zoo adventure and we weren't real sure what she was going to think about it since she is not a big animal lover like Mary Mac. I did pack her babydoll though just in case of a meltdown! Sam had been out of town from Wednesday until late Saturday night and the girls (and mommy) were really missing him. So when we finally got moving on Sunday morning it was beautiful outside - the perfect day to go to the zoo - a little cloudy and cool! So why not? We packed our luches and headed to the zoo for picnic first and then to see the animals. Mary Mac (our little planner) already had in mind what she wanted to "show" Anna her first trip and in which order we would see the animals. We has so much fun watching both of them interact and actually enjoying the same thing. Anna was hilarious! She was such the busy body! We brought 2 little strollers instead of our double stroller because we thought it would be easier to get around. Anna did not sit in her stroller hardly at all. She was loving being able to walk around freely (somewhat) and kept walking up to the animals and waving and saying "Hi!" to every single one of them. She was soooo cute! We were so glad that she enjoyed the zoo as much as the rest of us do (mom and dad included). This is only picture of the girls - we were too busy chasing Anna to get any pictures. This was also as we were leaving - you can read the exhaustion all over their faces!

Pictures from the Beach

These are a few of my favorite pictures from the beach! You can click on the collage and it will open it in a new window so that you can actually see the pictures.

Surfin Up, Dude!

Here is a video of Mary Mac riding a buggy board by herself. She kept telling everyone on the beach that she was "Just Surfin' Up, Dude!" This was the 2nd ride and I cut the camera off just as she starting screaming about the salt water splashing in her eyes! I mean, how funny is she - with her sunglasses and floaties on! It's all about the look! Gotta look good doing it!

Leave You Hanging?

Sorry to leave everyone hanging - I know you are all anxiously awaiting my tribute (ha ha!). Well, it will have to wait until I can get caught up with my "real" job! We had the best week last week with the girls at the beach - thanks for any prayers for sick-free vacation! We had so much fun that (ok, brace yourself) I never even took my computer out of my bag! I know, I know, that's very hard to believe, but it is the truth! As a matter of fact, I had forgotten my computer at the beach, but thanks to Dad, he saw it and picked it up! I would have been SOL once I got back to work today!

Also, we have lots of great videos and pictures of the girls on the beach that I will post as soon as I get them uploaded! Anna is finally walking everywhere on her own (as opposed to only on command) and Mary Mac realized how much of a fish she truly is! She was even diving under the waves and riding ("all bymyself" as she says - one word) the buggy board with the waves!

My Little Country Girl!

We took the girls to the local rodeo in Fayette this past weekend and Sam's family were all there working and helping put on the event, so Mary Mac felt like she got extra-special treatment from all the "cowboys" as she called them. She was in Hog Heaven (ha ha) and loved every minute of it. Actually, both girls really had a great time and we stayed until 11:00 - Anna has never stayed awake that long in her life! The night of fun started with Mary Mac getting to ride a horse with some people Sam knows (check out picture below - such a natural) then they let the kids try and find quarters in a pile of hay. Later that night, they let 2 chickens loose and let the kids chase them and catch them. The final event was letting the kids chase 2 pigs in the rink! Hilarious!!! Mary Mac was real excited to run around with the kids, but she wasn't so into "catching" any animals! Her Pop (Sam's dad), Sam, and his brother Matt were in charge of bringing the pigs out. The funniest part was when the pigs were running from the kids and it made a turn towards Mary Mac and she was screaming! Then she proceeds to take a fall in the dirt and just stood there squawling! When I asked her why she was crying she said she didn't like falling in the cow poop! We reassured her that all of that dirt in the rink was NOT cow poop! Anyway, she had a ball and we all smelled like sweaty pigs on the way home - Yum!!!

Cowgirl Up !

Please notice Mary Mac running the opposite direction as the pig AND the other kids!

More Pictures From Summer

Ok, sorry for so many pictures, but I've been behind in posting them and I've had requests! And, before any of you ask (mom and dad), yes I will print these out when I get a chance! As you can tell, we have already had a very busy summer and it's only June. I think we are done with the travels for a while, other than our annual 4th of July beach trip/anniversary! 5 Years! Yea!




Papa and the Girls!