Little Fashionista

Sara loves to dress up. I know I've posted a few times with pictures of her all dressed up, she has now moved on to the next level. Not only does she accessorize but she likes to dress herself in these outfits for the day. It is no longer just to play at home. Iain and I don't mind taking her out in her 'creations'. It makes great conversation starters with people!!

This morning with a flowered purple headband and sunglasses. You can see the straps of a purse on her right arm also.

Later in the morning, playing in a leotard and warm hat, good combo

The hat was replaced with cowboy boots. This was the fashion choice for some errands today. Everyone knows that shopping for a 'big girl bed' is always more fun with pink boots! Click on the picture to see her tan line. It still amazes me how well she tans. Look at her leg, right by her leotard.

Happy Belated Birthday My Love

I'm way behind on updating our household happenings around here. I haven't even given Iain the big birthday post he deserves! Yes, he had a birthday recently. We stayed pretty low key this year. We had a small party/bbq with the neighbors and a few family shin-digs. No matter how low key we stay, one thing is a must...decorations! The kids and I love decorating the house. We had streamers, balloons, and signs galore! We started making signs the week before. Colored paper, markers...the kids went crazy (maybe I did too!!)

Iain T. made this one (he wrote: Today is the one and only Iain Collins' birthday. Also known as teacher of the year)

Are these the best cupcakes you've ever seen? A dear friend picked them out for him, perfect! Every grown man needs High School Musical cupcakes! And the candles...no he isn't 31. They were the only candles we could find!

Lots of "cheeese" smiles!

Sara playing with her best buddy Daniel

A baseball moment

This past Saturday, Iain T. pitched in his very first baseball game. Last season he was in "coach pitch", which is self explanatory, the coaches pitch to the kids. This season he's in "kid pitch" for the first time. He has shown some interest in getting out there and trying and his coaches let him! This was such a huge moment for him. He was very, very, nervous, which made both Iain and I feel nervous also. We wanted him to do well and walk away with a good feeling about it. He sure did!



Each pitcher is in for two innings then moved to another position. In his two innings, he struck out 3 kids and no one got a hit off of him!

In case you were wondering, we were screaming and cheering like crazy people. I'm sure you've figured out by now that is what I do at games! I'm so proud of my kids that I just can't help it!

One of many reasons...

Iain T. had a late baseball game tonight. Iain stayed home with Sean and Sara so they could get to bed at a decent time. Look what he did while I was gone...

Isn't my hubby so cute? Not only did he paint Sara's toenails, but he put paper towels between her toes! This is just one of many reasons I love this man!

Camping Adventure #1

Two weeks ago we took the kiddos on our long awaited first camping trip of the summer. The plan was to meet up with some friends of Iain's (hubby) from his work and hang out for 3 days of fresh air and life in the outdoors. I will start by saying nothing went as planned! The weekend was very fun, but like I said, nothing that we thought it would be!

The night before we're suppose to leave, we get a call from our friends. They are already there, but leaving because 2 of their 3 kids are sick. The were driving home that night but the dad and oldest daughter would be back Saturday morning to finish out the weekend with us. A disappointment since we were looking forward to seeing all of them, but things happen!

We drive down Friday morning, get all set up, all ready for the fun! We head down to the beach for the afternoon. Iain and I were actually excited at that point that it was just us. We've never been camping with just the 5 of us. Many of our friends camp, so there are always several of us. This was kind of quaint!

We had a great tent helper

Setting up camp Calling out "wait for me boys" over and over and over and... Now I will go into "how not to spend the first night of a camping trip". We've done this before. We do know what we're doing but for some reason it all went array! The kids were all getting tired so we thought an early bedtime would be the best choice. Wrong move #1. We make dinner, clean up and all is going well. We decide to get the fire going for s'mores. The kids eat one, then two. Wrong move #2. Who in their right mind thinks kids are going to go to bed after 2 s'mores? We obviously weren't thinking! Long story semi shortened here...at 9:30pm our 'neighbors' pull up and start to set up their tent, RIGHT next to ours. Since they can't see, they shine the car lights in that direction. Which is now basically shining on the kids, who are WIDE awake. At this point Sara declares herself a "dinosaur/lion" and runs around the tent growling at everyone. She's cracking up,the boys are in hysterics and we're feeling quite helpless. Sleep is not happening. We make the decision to put the kids in the car and see is they'll fall asleep. Within' 5 miles all three kids are sound asleep. Silence at long last! (Side note: at a little after 10:00pm our neighbors finally figured out their tent! Thank goodness!)

The boys love climbing rocks

Sara was so excited to find this "S". She thought the whole place was for her!!

Iain torture!

The kids loved watching the trains at the beach. You can see the water just past it on the right.

This picture cracks me up. Click on it to see Iain. I was trying to get a picture of Sean with his gooey s'more but I think Iain makes the better point!

Roasting marshmallows on Friday. Notice it's still light out?

Saturday nights roasting was a bit later......for both of them!
But in classic Collins' style, they were up early and ready to go!

Do you think it's their color?

Time to play hide and seek

Hiding in her favorite spot

Look of surprise when she hears Sean while hiding. She couldn't figure out where he was.

She finally found him, in the messy closet.

Finding people is fun!Good hiding Sara

Taking a little break

Pool Days

Our summer routine:

Eat, play, pool, eat, sleep, play, pool, eat, play, sleep.

Update, quick version

Iain's new haircut

Seany's new haircut (he wore a button up shirt so he would "look nice" for his new haircut)

Look what Sara can do now! Remember this post? She quickly went from three wheels to two!

After a beach party Not quite sure how Iain ended up in here! Like the hole in his sock?That's our Three Kid Circus in a nut shell

Indian Guide getaway

Last weekend was the long awaited Catalina camping trip for Indian Guides. We had planned on making this Sean's first campout but in the end decided to wait. The boys are up late all weekend (about 11:00pm) and we weren't sure that 2 nights of late bedtime along with no naps would be good for Sean right now. We're hoping that September's Fall Campout can be his first one. Anyway, Iain and Iain had a great time.

Getting ready to fish Look what Iain T. caught, not a fish!

Close up

Kayaking

Water balloon toss. They placed 4th.