happy birthday

Today is Alex's birthday and he is a whopping 26 years old! All that he has requested for his birthday is to a) go to a haunted house or b) watch a scary movie. I hate being scared, I purposely don't watch scary movies, tv shows or even the commercials. But, I'd rather be scared on my own couch than out at some creepy haunted house, so we're going to be watching a scary movie tonight...because it's his special day.

I am excited to see what 26 has in store for Alex. We are in a really fun season of our lives and I love getting to spend so much time with him at work and at home. I hope that this year brings just as much excitement and adventure as the last. I love you Alex and I hope you have the best day!!

october + arkansas visit

Even though we are 20 days into October, I haven't had a spare second to post in 15 days. We have been busy but in a good way, not in a whiny, stressed out way. I think we've had something going on every night of the week this month and it doesn't look like there will be a change until after Christmas. I love this time of year and I love the hustle and bustle that seems to start, without fail, on October first.

Last weekend, we closed the office on Friday and drove south to Little Rock, Arkansas to see my Grandpa. It had been too long since I'd been down to visit, we were overdue for a visit. We loaded up the car at 3 am and arrived at 9 am, just in time for breakfast. After catching up and lunch, Alex and I headed down to the Arkansas River Trail. We'd read about it in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and it piqued our interest. We rode the 16 mile loop. It was a fun ride and good way to see parts of Little Rock that we wouldn't see otherwise.

Of course gnome came too  

After our ride, we spent the evening chatting, eating and playing domino's with Grandpa, Jean (his lady friend), and my parents.  Saturday, after my parents left at around two we were pretty lazy. We watched the Razorback's lose, napped, played cards and munched our way through the day/evening/night ;).

Me and my Grandpa

I've been chasing this cat since my Grandma and Grandpa brought him home nearly 17 years ago. 

Sadly his age is beginning to show and I finally caught him!

Sorry for the blurry nature of this phone picture, but it's just too good not to share

I am so glad we had the opportunity to visit my Grandpa. I think the world of him and I'm fairly certain he's the best Grandpa on Earth. We really enjoyed our trip and look forward to going back again sooner than later.

highlight

We occasionally teach the five year old class at church on Sunday mornings. Each week we start by asking the kids what the highlight (best part) of their week was. This week when it was my turn to share, I got to tell them that my sister had a baby! Not that there was judgement of who's highlight was brighter than anyone else's, but I'm pretty sure mine trumped the tooth fairy and eating pizza for lunch.

Does anyone else remember the commercial about the guy calling his parents to tell them they'd had a baby?
(click here if you don't, it'll refresh your memory) Wehadababyitsagirl! Becky and Jared welcomed Atley Jane into the world and their family (now of five!) Tuesday, September 30.

Wednesday morning Libby, Katie and I were very excited to drive up and meet miss Atley. We had a great day and I can easily confirm that I love Atley just as much as my 12 other nieces and nephews, but she's the littlest and doesn't squirm away from me, so for now she's my favorite ;)

Collier family of five (minus Max)

Me with three of my babies, now if I could only get a picture with all thirteen...

Ethan and I were trying to just get one good picture, it took us a few tries...

Katie wanted very little to do with this baby that was stealing her mother's attention...so just a picture of Libby and Atley. 

A side-by-side of Nora and Atley at the same age and in the same outfit too! Familial resemblance?

sprinkle

My sister Becky is expecting her third little one any day now and to celebrate, we put together a little sprinkle honoring her and the babe.

Libby and I decided that the most fitting theme for this sprinkle would obviously be sprinkles! I ordered seven pounds of sprinkles and went to town! I had a lot of fun planning and organizing, while Libby put together the a very fun baby shower themed game of Jeopardy. I hole punched confetti and we dipped virtually everything in chocolate and sprinkles! We joked that it was good that Becky had already taken her glucose tests.

It was a good weekend and a fun party. Nora was a little confused about why we were giving her mom a baby shower- there was no baby yet and no shower. But, she managed to eat cake, sprinkle covered pretzels and chocolate/sprinkle popcorn all out of a sprinkle dipped waffle cone bowl. 

Our incredibly talented Mama made the baby this sweet little quilt!

We filled the balloons with confetti to continue the sprinkle trend and mid party my 6 year old nephew, Josiah, was playing with a balloon when it popped and covered him in confetti. To say he was surprised would be an understatement. After the other kids saw this phenomenon, they too wanted to pop the balloons. After the party ended I took the kids and the balloons outside to let them go to town; my parents now have a very festive backyard.