Lauryn's Sanctuary

When we built our house 6 years ago (wow, has it been that long already?), we had Lauryn's room painted lime green.  It sounded cute at the time, when she was only 6 years old!  But I still remember the first day we walked in after the painting was done & I about died!  It was LIME GREEN bright!  So for 6 years, we have been talking about re-doing her room.  Well, we finally got to it!  What a project this has been (a good months worth).  It started by pulling out some furniture she no longer wanted, cleaning closets, throwing 2-3 garbage bags full of junk, giving clothes & toys away, packing up keepsakes, & finally painting.  I have to say I was surprised when Lauryn chose purple as her new color.  She went through a stage where purple & pink were not cool.  But here we are today, with a beautiful bedroom! 

 Here's the start of our process, moving everything away from the walls to paint

 Going through all her stuff & making piles to throw, give away, pack up, keep...

 One wall finished

 Another wall finished

And finally just this week I finished painting the bay window area.  No more lime green!!!  

Another First Communion

 My nephew & Godchild made his First Communion as well last weekend.  Congratulations Logan!

 Me, Logan, & Shaun (Godfather)

Logan & family (my sister's family)

Sean's First Communion

Sean made his First Communion on Saturday.  He had been so excited for his big day!  For weeks he was counting down how many more masses he would go to before he could go up to communion with the family.  The morning of, he woke up really early and could not wait until 5:00 mass.  It turned out to be a beautiful day.  Sean did great!  And we had family that all came to help us celebrate in his special day.  

Our family:

Sean & his Godmother, Kathi:

Sean, & Grandma Collins:

Sean & Grandpa & Grandma Wahlin:

After our dinner & celebration, Sean was exhausted!

Oh, Sean!

So Sean just started coming down with a cold.  Yesterday he was enjoying his morning home from school by playing video games in the basement.  All of a sudden, he comes upstairs & says, "Mom, my nose is running & I am SICK of wiping it on my shirt!".  So I said, "Oh Sean, we do have Kleenexes.  In fact, there is a full box in that basement bedroom you were in".  So the problem is fixed & off he runs.  At lunch time I go downstairs to tell him to come up...  And this is what I find...

These Kleenex were scattered everywhere!

He had already gone through a FULL box of Kleenexes!  I am pretty sure that he was pulling out 15 at a time & using them for one little wipe.  I had to chuckle.  But since then, he has gone through another full box.  I think this child could use an etiquette lesson on Kleenex usage & toilet paper usage!?!? 

Since this cold, Sean has come up with some funny comments:

"I hate this cold.  I can't even breath out of my nose.  And I'm a NOSE BREATHER!  You do know what a nose breather is, right Mom?"

"Mom, the cold started in this side of my nose.  And now today it has moved to this side of my nose."

After only eating ONE cinnamon roll, Sean says, "I can't even taste these rolls"  (his FAVORITE breakfast food, where he can usually eat at least THREE!)

Lets hope he gets better soon!

Earth Day Half Marathon

I finally got to finish a race with my sister.  In fact, I ran with my sister, Cori and sister-in-law, Kelly.  It was wonderful to run a race with my sister since she had her whole health scare.  Cori was suppose to run the Minneapolis marathon last spring, but she was advised not to run.  This was the first race she has been able to do since getting the okay from her doctors.  So it was very meaningful to run it together! 

I was a little nervous when I woke up to snow falling Saturday that it was going to be a tough run.  But really, it was almost perfect running weather....  Not too cold, not too hot!  And the snow was gone quickly & we stayed dry.  And since I am in "training" again, it was wonderful to get a training run in while also accomplishing another race.

Here are some pictures of the run:

Cori, Kelly, & I coming in to the finish

Me, Kelly, & Cori

Carol, Dawn, Todd, Me, Kelly, & Cori

I'm a Proud Wife!

I am so proud of Jim!  He was named one of the top 40 Under Forty Honorees out of 500 applicants in MN.  We attended his award ceremony last night and I was proud to be his wife.  He never ceases to amaze me!

http://www2.bizjournals.com/twincities/events/2011/40_under_forty/james-collins.html

Los Cabos

Jim & I just returned home from a great vacation in Los Cabos, Mexico.  We went with some friends to celebrate another 40th birthday.  We had a great time.  It's hard to come home to this snow & weather! 

Los Cabos 2011

Click here to view these pictures larger

Sean is 8

Hard for me to believe, but my baby is 8 years old now!  When Lauryn & Zach turned 8, I thought they were so grown up.  But for some reason, I still think Sean is little - when he's NOT!  He is now old enough to not use a car seat (he informed us!), read chapter books on his own, shower on his own, text on the cell phone, help with chores around the house, do his own homework (with little help), play video games & beat them all, develop more in sports, hold his own with his bigger brother, witty as can be, quite a story teller, kind to others, and so much fun to be around!  We love this little man & enjoyed celebrating his big day.

We started by inviting just a couple friends to join us at the Mall of America Water Park.  The kids had a long weekend (Thurs-Monday) off over Presidents Day weekend, so we headed for an over night stay.  The boys swam all afternoon & evening & then were right back at it as soon as the water park opened up again the next day.  Here I thought they would all be exhausted after all that swimming, but they had plenty of energy & were fired up.  It was fun to enjoy the slides and watch the boys have such a great time.

On Sean's actual day, Lauryn had a basketball game.  Sean wasn't too thrilled about having to spend it that way, but after a victory we headed to DQ (Sean's choice) for dinner & treats. 

Last weekend we celebrated by one of his cousin's staying over night.  Their birthday's are only 11 days apart, & they always want to invite each other to their birthday parties.  But it's hard when they don't know each other's friends very well & we have the hour drive to get them together.  So the boys have started a tradition of a sleep over, where we celebrate both their birthday's & they get to spend time with just each other.  Then the following day (Sunday) we had as much of the family that could make it come & help celebrate.  It had been a full week of partying for Sean.

Here are some pictures of my Little Man: