Happy Halloween

As promised, here are the pictures from the pumpkin patch. The kiddos were more interested in the people walking around the patch than they were in the actual pumpkins. We spent about twenty minutes taking pictures and walking around and picking out a pumpkin. By the end of our adventure, both kids were covered in hay; Harper spent the majority of the time trying to put the hay in her mouth. It is is getting harder everyday to get those two to sit still for pictures and look at the camera. I am worried that once these two start walking, all their pictures will just be a blur.  For now, we'll take the little smiles we can get.

For Halloween, Harper and Jack were Tigger and Winnie the Pooh. There were hats to go with the costumes; the hat's didn't last too long, but we tried. Tony's office had a Halloween party for the kiddos, so we stopped by and the kids got to trick-or-treat around and play in Tony's office. We also ran into twin girls who are two months older than Harper and Jack; it was neat to see our kids interacting with other kids their age.

When we got home, we ate dinner and then sat on the front porch and handed out candy. There is an odd phenomenon in our neighborhood: we have lots of kids that live around us, but on Halloween our neighborhood is dead. There aren't any kids out trick-or-treating; it is so weird!  Tony and I talked to our neighbors tonight (who were also on their porches handing out candy) and we commented on our Halloween memories as a kid and ringing every doorbell on the street to get candy; we all agreed that we were trick-or-treating pros compared to these kids now. We also agreed that it was strange that we have so few kids every year. This year, we went through one large bag of candy, and we had to give each kid a handful (4-5 pieces a kid) to finish off the bag- crazy! The twins seemed to like handing out candy, and were even happier to be able to be outside when it was dark-very outside the norm.

We had a great Halloween and I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of our little Tigger and our little Winnie the Pooh. Happy Halloween!!

 

10 Months Old

The twins are offically 10 months old today- where has the time gone?  It seems like yesterday they were just coming home- little bundles that Tony and I had no idea how to take care of. Now, they're both crawling and pulling up on everything, and they're both so curious about the world around them. Tony and I never thought we would have so much fun or work so hard. Speaking of working hard, this week is jammed packed with activites for both the kiddos and the adults in our house. Please forgive me for the brevity of this post, but I had to get the pictures on here today. They are too cute not to share. So, here are some pictures of the little ones at 10 months- enjoy!

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary

A quick Harper update: I was leaving work this afternoon when I saw I had gotten a text from Durinda. I saw the actual text before the picture came through: "Look who climbed up onto the fireplace hearth! She used the pile of towels as a step!" (note- we had a couple of towels out to wipe Abby's paws because of the rain and we, apparently, left them too close to the fireplace). So, here's our little girl in action. I think she's going to be our daredevil...

In other Collett news, 7 years ago today Tony and I tied the knot and thus began our crazy, beautiful life together. Happy 7th Anniversary to a great dad and a wonderful husband; I don't know what we would do without you.  Also, a big thanks to our wonderful family and friends for helping us celebrate 7 years ago, and for supporting us still today.  We love you guys!

Weekend Fun and Birthday Wishes

I guess I need to start by catching up on our midweek visitors last week. I blogged three days in a row, and then got caught up grading (story of my life).  We were lucky enough to have two sets of visitors back to back last week. The kids had a great time with their temporary playmates and Tony and I had fun seeing everyone.

Last Wednesday afternoon Uncle Gary and Great Granny came to town for a couple of hours to see the kiddos. Uncle Gary has very recently become Grandpa Gary and he was in town to get Granny so they could head to Oklahoma and see baby Cassia. (Shout out to Kenzie and Zach and their adorable little one).  We mostly just sat around watching the kids crawl around and play, but I still think it was a good time.  Jack had lots of fun playing with Gary and a giant stuffed dog that we have, and Harper loved having Granny dote on her.

Thursday afternoon, Nana and Pop came up to see the kiddos before they headed to Houston to see cousins Wyatt and Sloane. Jack was very happy to show off his new-found crawling skills. Jack also pulled up for the first time in a functional way while Nana and Pop were there. Jack tried to pull up before, but could never quite get his feet close enough to stand without toppling over; this time he finally got it- watch out Jack is going to be on the move like his sister. Harper was as bouncy and happy as ever. She waved "bye-bye" to Nana and Pop when they left Thursday and now she can't enough of it and waves to everyone we see. Here's a picture of Harper and Pop bouncing and laughing.

This weekend, we spent around the house. I would love to be able to say we checked items off our "to-do list", but instead we did things with the kiddos. Here are some pictures from a walk I took with (all) the kids on Saturday afternoon. Abby has gotten better walking beside the stroller, but it's still not her favorite. I walked the extra long loop so Abby could get a little reward for her trouble. The weather was chilly, so we finally got to bust out the jackets; aren't they cute?  We also went to the pumpkin patch Saturday afternoon- pictures to follow later this week.

Last but not least, we visited another church. We're still trying to find a church home; it's much different when we have two little noise makers with us. Tony and I judge the church by the number of dirty looks we get when one of the kids squeal. I hope we find a place we both like. In any event, the kids just look so cute dressed up that I can't let the moment pass without a picture. So, here are my little church mice this morning.

We also have a very important event today- today is Papa's birthday. My kids are very lucky to have a Papa like him and we love him very much. Happy, happy birthday to you, Papa. We hope you have had a great today and can't wait to Skype with you soon!

Milk Bank Feature

A month or so ago I was asked to speak at the annual luncheon for the Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas. I shared our family's story about the birth of Harper and Jack, their time in the NICU, and the donor milk they received. I also talked about my experience as a donor and urged others to become donors as well. It was a great time, and I felt good being able to give back to an organization that helped us so much. I was approached two weeks ago about being featured on the Milk Bank's blog; I agreed to a phone interview and I'm going to include the link to the piece that was written after the interview. Even though I didn't write it, I'm pretty proud of it, and I'm even more proud of these two little ones; they are my little miracles and they are the reason I donated- to give back in their honor.

Here's the link so you can read the blog :)

http://www.texasbreastfeeding.org/moms-connect-melissa-collett/

Houston Trip

As promised, here are some pictures from our fun trip to Houston. Tony and I were a little worried that the kiddos would have problems on the 3 1/2 hour journey to The Woodlands, so we left Friday after their last bottle (around 7:30) and they slept the entire ride.

We spent Saturday morning playing at Mimi and Papa's house. They have a very fun exersaucer that bounces up and down (it's on springs) and Jack couldn't get enough of it. He would squeal and bounce and stop and grin and clap, and then he'd start bouncing all over again.
Saturday afternoon, we drove down to see the cousins: Wyatt and Sloane, and Aunt Kiki and Uncle E. We had a great time hanging out at their house and playing. Harper was all over the place, exploring everything she could get her hands on (she really liked throwing all of the magazines off of the end table onto the floor). Jack was also excited to show off his new found crawling skills, and he loved spending time outside with the guys. The Sandbergs went to Disneyland this summer and Sloane and Wyatt brought back little Mickey and Minnie dolls for the kiddos. As you can see, they were a big hit.  I wish we lived closer so we could see them more often. On a side note, poor Wyatt fell and broke his arm last week, that's why he's in a sling in the picture. He was such a trooper and even played with Harper and Jack despite having use of only one arm.

After our visit with the Sandbergs, we went to dinner with Andrew and Marysia. Andrew was a Sigma Nu with Tony at SFA and we don't get to see them as often as we'd like. Andrew and Marysia have two kiddos: a four year old and a new little man born in July. It was a little surreal to look around and realize that the child to adult ratio at the table was even and were now "adults" in every sense of the word. When in the world did we get to be old enough to have the lives of others entrusted to us? It seems like were in college just yesterday...After dinner, we persuaded the Norris' to stop by my most favorite ice cream shop- Amy's- and grab some quick dessert- so good!

Sunday we spent the whole day with Mimi and Papa playing and hanging around their house. Tony, Harper, Jack, and Papa went to the pond in the neighborhood to look at the fish and turtles. Tony said the kids had a great time and they were interested in the "wildlife". It was so nice to be able to sit and visit with Tony's parents and let the kids play all day long. I know that they were very excited to explore their new surroundings and play with new toys. We may even have to get Jack a bouncer- he was too cute in that thing.

We headed home Monday morning and despite not eating very well when we stopped for lunch, the kids were great travlers. I was impressed that they didn't do much crying- maybe 10-15 total the whole time we were in the car. The new mini van held up on the trip very nicely and I think Abby enjoys having more room to spread out. Tony, however, says we are not taking another trip anytime soon; we all need to recover from this one before venturing out again, and I think that's a great idea.While I loved seeing everyone, it sure is nice to sleep in our own bed again.