My sweet babies are school bound!!!! This is so weird to have 2 days a week for 3 hours at a time to have no kids and not have a babysitter to do that!!! we made it through the first week and Im telling you and its wearing me out! The kids come home poooped and so do I! It will get better, but this is all new for me!

Presley goes to Paddington British Private School and has to wear a uniform, its so cute!!She went in there and had no problems, she is growing up so fast!!!

Rocco is my big kindergartner!! Im so glad we made the decision to keep him back. He was so confident and not scared at all. He wouldve been the youngest in his class and now he is the oldest and it is such advantage. Im so proud of him. Not to be biased either, but he is the cutest and best dressed in his class!!!

Mike reminded me Im doing this school thing for like the next 20 years!!! Man that is forever!!!

We went to Garner state park last week and went camping and swimming as a last hoorah before school started!! We had a fabulous time and hiked for a couple hours each day and then went swimming down at the agua fria. Which s not fria!!!


attempted family portrait on a rock that ended up slipping , hence the blurry pic as it started to slip

We went and saw 10 million bats leave their cave for the night to go get dinner. It was really cool to see.

Climbing out of crystal cave. It was nice and cool in there and a nice break from the heat.

I love being with my family , we have so much fun together!

Galveston

Family Trip to Galveston

Restroom and shower on wheels, the only way to visit the Beach!

Rare moments of togetherness...

Boogie boarding, the new craze for Rocco

a little of what weve been up too..... I hated the color of the cabinets so I wanted to paint them a light cream. They are cheap laminate cabinets so, it was a lot of work and I still need to touch up. These are just pictures I had that happen to show the color of cabinets from my phone. But you get the point! I couldnt have done it without Nikis help! I dont want to do it again for a long time!!!







The after.... Ill get better shots later, but you can see the change

Lost and Lonely

Dear Mandi,
I feel lost and lonely. You say you will be better to me but I am beginning to feel that our relationship has grown cold. I miss the times you used me to keep everyone updated, gracing my wonderful body with words and visual stimulation. If you no longer yearn to spend time with me, let me go. I await your response on the status of our relationship.
Sincerely,
Your blog

a girl after my own heart!!!

So artichokes have always been quite the delicacy for the Crum family! We would get so excited to have them in the summer months, salty butter dripping down your chin, mmmm there is nothing better. Now as a Collins, I realized Mike had the some fond memories of the delicious chokes, thus a tradition was recreated and kept in my own home. A couple weeks ago we had some and the kids wanted to taste, and I will have to say, I didnt share willingly! These are precious and all the little bites to get to the glorious heart, brings out the selfish side in me! However, I spared a few leaves and then they decided they liked them! So yesterday when we were grocery shopping the kids said we should get some, so I bought 4, one for each of us. When I cooked them up today Rocs decided he didnt want his, at first I thought what a waste, but then Mike and I thought, More for us!!!! Presley loved hers , but when it came time to the heart, she was done. Yippe I was in luck, Mike ate Roccos and I got Presleys heart! It was heaven, 2 hearts in one sitting, a dream come true!! I think from now on the kids will always get"their own chokes".

sorry

so I know I made a vow to be a better blogger, but i really have a good excuse.
with moving in and unpacking, it has been a little crazy. I would say the inside of the house is about 80% done, so I'll just post pics soon, cause its never done right?
But my other excuse is

This family of four






Will be a family of 5 December 7th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are so excited and I cannot wait for our new little arrival.Its been a long time since Ive been pregnant and man! I dont remember feeling so tired. But, In a weird way I love every symptom, because Im so happy! The kids call it "öur baby" and I love it. Rocco will be 6 by the time the baby is born and I think it will be so fun to have a baby around for him, he loves Evie and wants to hold her all the time and he is so protective, that it just melts my heart.Presley will be a little mommy, but reassures me that I cant pat her back, but that I cant pant our babies back.Because she is growing up! But , we are thrilled, I can't wait to have a foot in my side and have a big belly, seems like that so far off, but then again December will be here so soon.I am so grateful and so privileged to be a mom!