Collin's New Songs

My parents have a fascination with trying to get my kids to do, say and sing things that I used to as a little girl. Collin absolutely LOVES to sing, so here are 2 of the songs that my parents have recently taught him.
Dance moves are original by Collin....I did not teach him those! ha!

Louisiana Saturday Night by Alabama as performed by Collin....
(I learned this as a child while riding with my dad in the truck when we would go feed cows)

I Saw The Light, a gospel song, as performed by Collin
(I performed this on our local radio station as a child....actually, when I was Collin's age)

My Sweet Little Patient

We had quite a scare with Collin yesterday. Sunday night was a rough night. Collin was up all hours of the night coughing like crazy. He woke up on Monday morning and was acting tired and sick all day long. Around noon we headed to Walmart so I could get him some cough medicine hoping that would help him before he went down for his nap. He woke up from his nap around 2:30 and I started to notice that he was breathing a little funny. He kept wanting me to hold him and was very lethargic. I kept thinking that it must be the cough medicine doing a number on him, so I thought I would give it a few hours to see if he changed any. By 5:30 he seemed to be getting worse so I took him into a local clinic to have him checked out. As soon as we got back to the room, they checked his oxygen level and it was dangerously low at 85. The normal is 100. They told me to get to the ER immediately because if it could be really bad if it got lower than that. With that, we sped to the ER, and I ran trying to hold him and push Carter in the stroller. They got him back to a room, put him on oxygen, shot him up with some steroids and started him on a breathing treatment. The whole ordeal scared me to death and really made me thankful for God giving me that "mother's intuition" to know that I needed to do something at that moment. After they got him stable, they took him back for chest x-rays and then did some other tests on him. We were there for several hours and finally found out that he had a respiratory virus called RSV. It normally doesn't occur in children his age (usually in children under 6 months). We were so thankful that it wasn't anything more serious than that. So thankful for the Lord's provision over Collin's life and for the staff at Northwest Medical Center for making Collin so comfortable. He was so funny with the nurses...making jokes, calling them "silly squirrel dinosaurs", etc. The steroids really did a number on him and made him super hyper.
He is doing much better today. We are still keeping him on some medication and steroids (which make him very hyper.....and funny). I can't believe this is our 2nd trip to the ER this month with him!
Thank you to Me-Ma and Mimi for driving over to the hospital and for Uncle Josh and Aunt Courtney for watching Carter for us. Love you all!

Here he is this morning about an hour after he had taken his steroids.....see, I told you he was funny. He kept sticking spoons on his nose (this was one of my huge serving spoons) and standing on one foot. Yep Collin, you're going to be JUST fine. Getting back to your crazy self! Love you sweet boy!!

Just Us

I always blog about the boys, so I thought I would include a picture of Josh and I for once. :-) My mom took this picture of us this past weekend before we left for a banquet. Josh had the privilege to speak at our hometown of Green Forest's Annual Chamber of Commerce Banquet. He spoke about what he has been up to over the last 13 years since graduating high school. I thought he did a great job and am so proud of him!
We celebrated our 13 year dating anniversary on September 11th. Can you believe that?? We have had such a great life together it seems a lot longer than that. I can't believe next month on October 26th, it will have been 10 years since he proposed to me in Rome! Man, would I love to go back there again....someday.....
Love you sweetie!

Man's Best Friend

This is Lexi. Our Jack Russell Terrier. I realized the other day that I have never blogged about this little member of our family. Josh and I got Lexi when we lived in Kansas City in 2003. She will be 8 years old in January. She was quite the spoiled girl before the boys came along. Now she probably wonders, "Where in the world did you pick those two lunatics up?" Although she has had to endure a lot of torture from them over the last 3 1/2 years, she has been a great sport about it. Maybe she sticks around because they feed her their treats all the time? :-) Anyways, here's to you Lexi.....you're the best!

Isn't she adorable??

Carter feeding her Apple Jacks.

Happy Birthday Christopher!

Our little cousin Christopher moved up here last month from Texas to start college at the U of A. Yesterday was his birthday, so we decided to have a little party for him tonight to celebrate....plus, I promised his mom I would post some pictures of him and the adorable cookie cake she ordered. :-) We had a great time and are so happy that we were able to celebrate his 19th birthday with him!

Happy 100th Post!!

Wow! I can't believe I have reached 100 posts already. I was sitting here thinking about what to post about for my 100th post and really couldn't come up with anything inspirational, mindblowing, etc., so I just decided to write about a few things on my heart. First, I wanted to write a big thank you to everyone who reads my blog and hope you find it entertaining, inspirational and a reflection of my heart for my family. I also want to thank my sweet boys who were my inspiration for starting this blog in the first place. I wanted to have a way to document their lives and have thoroughly enjoyed using this blog as my outlet. I love my husband and boys so much and look forward to writing about all the fun adventures we have ahead of us.

Secondly, I wanted to open up my heart about my faith. I feel convicted that I haven't written about this before, but I hope that if you are reading this blog and haven't ever made that decision to have a personal relationship with Christ that you will do so. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice giving his life for each one of us on the cross so that we might have everlasting life. I pray that none of you reading this pass up this wonderful, free gift. I have found such strength, comfort and peace and with my Savior and church family that I hope for everyone to feel that same way. If you are reading this right now and want to make that personal decision, please feel free to email me, and I will be more than happy and honored to talk to you about any questions or any hesitations you might have in making that decision or help lead you in that decision. My email is cecolli28@yahoo.com.

With that, I look forward to many more posts for you all and hope that you continue to read and enjoy our funny and crazy life. Love to you all and God bless!!

Our Weekend in Branson

Our great friends BJ & Wendy invited us to go with them to Branson for the weekend. BJ's parents had a condo there for the week and let us use it for the weekend. We had such a great time and are so thankful and blessed to have such wonderful friends. We spent the weekend shopping, eating good food and just enjoying each other's company. Thanks BJ & Wendy for a great weekend! Also, thanks to Mimi and Me-Ma & Pa-Pa for watching the boys for us. They had a great weekend as well!

Our view from the condo.....loved it.

Us hanging out at Branson Landing

BJ had to try out this Hurricane Simulator. :-)

First Day of School!!!

Today was the boys' first day of Kids Day Out. I am so blessed and grateful for our wonderful church that offers such a wonderful program for kids and moms. I have been so excited for this day! Collin was so excited yesterday he kept asking me, "Mommy, can I go to school now??" I dropped them off at 9 am and picked them up at 1:00. It was a great "break" for me.....if you call going to Walmart, cleaning and doing laundry a break. :-) No, seriously, it was so nice to have a few hours to myself to focus on some things and the boys had a great time. Carter walked right into his class, but after noticing me sneak back over to take some pics of him in action, turned around and came back crying. Collin was so excited he immediately went and sat down in the circle with his classmates and just looked around at them all smiling like, "Yeah, this is MY class." So cute. I just love these 2 little guys so much and look forward to all the wonderful things they will learn in such a positive, Christ-centered program.

Here they are....ready to go!

My little poser

This picture cracks me up. Carter's lunch bag is almost bigger than he is!
He had a nicer shirt on, but before we left he climbed up on the table and poured Collin's cup of milk all over himself, so his cute outfit was ruined.

Carter doing his thing...

Collin enjoying time with his new class.

This was Carter when I came to pick him up. He had a great time, but was sure excited to see me! That made momma happy! :-)

The Great Passion Play

Sunday night we headed over to Eureka Springs to watch The Great Passion Play. I have a lot of family that are actors in the play, so they were able to hook us up with some tickets (Thanks Donesa!). We took Collin with us and had a great time getting to see some of the cast, go behind the scenes and even got to go out on the set after the performance was over. Collin really enjoyed it and was even asking me during the play, "Mommy, is Jesus going to go up on that cross?" I love that he remembers what he is learning at church and is so sincere about it.

Here is Collin & Daddy with some soldiers.....they even let Collin hold their real sword. He thought that was pretty cool.

Here he is with David the shepherd who taught us how to throw rocks with a sling. Collin kept asking me where Goliath was. :-) So cute.

My cousins Haley & Joylin who are part of the cast.

Collin with my cousin Rick who plays Jesus.

A picture of us on the set with the family.
Garrick, Josh, Collin, Rick, Me, Chandler & Donesa

"The Boys"
Garrick, Josh, Collin & Chandler

Golf Club + Collin's Nose=Trip to the ER

Collin made his first trip to the ER tonight. Poor guy was out with his friend in our backyard playing golf and Collin got too close and took a golf club to the nose. Complete accident, but scared me to death to witness it and see all the blood that came with it. I couldn't tell if his nose was broken or anything because he had so much blood coming from his nose and mouth. He had a pretty deep laceration on the side of his nose that I could not get to quit bleeding, so I decided to take him to the ER. Thank goodness that the doctor was able to use glue to get it back together instead of stitches. Big thanks to my neighbor Carla, for taking Carter for me so I could tend to my poor Collin. I have a feeling this won't be my last time to the ER with 2 rambunctious boys, but I sure hope and pray it is! So thankful that the Lord watched over Collin because it definitely could have been a lot worse.

Aww....a chocolate milkshake makes it all better. :-)

The Many Faces of Collin

Boy, what a character I have on my hands. He acts JUST like me. It's really funny. Today I had out the camera, and he asked me to take some pictures of his silly faces.....

Happy Face

Scared Face (excuse the cheerios)

Pirate Face....Arrhh...

Crazy Face

Growing up.....

When I was little, my mom always dressed Courtney and I in similar dresses that had the same patterned fabric, but different styles....they were called "sister" dresses. We always laugh at my mom making us wear our "sister" dresses, but as always, I get to eat my words. I found these shoes at Stride Rite the other day and just thought they were too cute. The boys needed some new tennis shoes for fall and this was the only one I really liked, so I ended up getting them both the same shoes....."brother" shoes. They aren't really called that, but getting them took me back to my "sister" dress days with Courtney. Hard to believe I'm all grown up and getting to experience this with my own kiddos now. Crazy. Collin is now in a 9 1/2 and Carter is in a 6!

Carter LOVES 4-wheelers. My parents have one out on the farm and the boys always have to go for rides with Pa-Pa and Me-Ma on their 4-wheeler. Carter tries to get up on it all by himself and turn the key. Uncle Joey bought Collin this 4-wheeler last Christmas and so my little daredevil Carter ventured over to it in the yard this past weekend, got on it all by himself and figured out how to make it go. Here's a cute little video. You will notice he associates 4-wheelers with Pa-Pa because he yells "PA-PA!!" twice. So cute and so grown up!