Going “Home”

This past weekend was Stetson’s Homecoming and I finally convinced Josh to make the trip back with me. It seems like every year we have something going on and it’s never a good time. Deland, home of Stetson University, is only about two hours away from Gainesville but it’s sort of out of the way so we really haven’t had a reason to swing by. This year was the 10 year reunion for a lot of my friends (my 9th) so we decided to head down.

Josh and I had a really great time and I think he finally understands why I enjoyed my time there so much. Stetson has one of the most beautiful college campuses. I knew the first time I went for a tour that it was the perfect fit for me and I really did have a wonderful four years there. When I was there we had about 1,200 students at the Deland campus and they are nearing 3,000 now!

We started off our trip with lunch at Cook’s Café. The Chicken Velvet Soup is to die for and, as usual, it didn’t disappoint. We explored downtown Deland a little bit. It’s changed so much since I was there but it still has that small town feel to it. The funny thing is that while attending school I learned that my grandma’s family lived there for a time and that some of the buildings in downtown Deland were designed by an architect in our family. Funny, I had NO idea of our connection to Deland and John Stetson until I was well into my college years.

After lunch we stopped by the Tridelta sorority house on campus. It looks exactly the same as I remember it but with much nicer flooring and furnishings, thankfully they’ve done some interior design work on it! The funniest part of this stop was seeing the look on Josh’s face when we walked into the chapter room and 30 girls all stood up to greet us. Current members will stand when alumni walk in the room and I forgot to warn Josh. They were all very sweet and welcoming. Of course I immediately had to check and see if my senior year composite photo (giant photo with all the girls pictures) was still in the stair well and sadly, it was not. I was only one year off though so I’m not THAT old.

Finally we finished up with some more shopping downtown, a cold beer at Bill and Frank’s (former owners of Half Times) and then ice cream at Rodeo Whip. It makes sense now why the freshman 15 is so easy to gain :)

Here are a few photos from our trip. Maybe next year we’ll make it back for my official 10 year reunion. Oh, and Josh has already laid down the law. If Colton wants to go to Stetson, he needs to get scholarships (or else we’ll be paying for the rest of my education AND his). Personally, I think it was worth every penny :)

Elizabeth hall where I spent MANY long hours

Communication Studies

Of course Josh loves the historical stuff – Stetson is Florida’s oldest private university

The Dupont Ball Library – my first job freshmen year

My freshmen year dorm (Smith Hall)

This is for our friend Jeff, the Sig Ep house

Where the Hatter Basketball team plays

The President’s House

Howry House looking all spiffy (many off campus parties were held here and it never looked like this!! but of course I wouldn't know because I never went ;)

The old Blind Pig, now something else

In case you didn’t get enough, here are more pictures of Rodeo Whip!

Love,
Jenny

Getting Ready for Some R&R

I'm so excited! We finally made a reservation for our anniversary getaway/first real time away by ourselves without Colton. It's bittersweet. On one hand I'm dreading leaving him, but on the other, I'm super excited to have some time with just the two of us.

We're heading to Darien, GA and staying here - (Open Gates Bed and Breakfast)

We have visited St. Simon's Island many times and normally we'd go there and stay at the Village Inn and Pub but we wanted something a little different. While St. Simon's is small and quaint in the spring and summer it can get pretty crowded. Darien is about 30 minutes away and still on the coast. We wanted a place we could go and literally do nothing but still have the conveniences of a nice place to stay and nice restaurants. I found a B&B that seemed perfect and low and behold it was on the cover of a Southern Living that's still in a pile on my nightstand. I CAN NOT wait!!! It's such a long overdo trip. The Innkeepers have been great and I shared with them that we plan to sit on the porch, lay in the pool, eat, and DO NOTHING! Well, we may kayak but that's pretty relaxing too.

On another note, Colton is coming up on his big spring break so Nana and Papa are arriving this Friday to watch him for the week. The school is still open but we have to pay extra (in addition to his annual fee ) to send him so we opted out this time around. I'm sure they'll have some fun activities during the week and that he'll keep them very busy!! Pictures to come soon....

In the meantime, here's my cutie pie and the progression of thin mint cookie eating photos. He thought I was going to take it away from him so he ran off and shoved it in his mouth and acted like he wasn't eating anything. He gets his love of thin mints from me.

In the last photo he is thinking, "If I distract her by stealing this remote she won't notice the cookie in my mouth."

Love,
Jenny

Where's your Bellybutton?

Yesterday the doctor asked Colton where his nose was and Josh and I looked at each other as if to say "is he supposed to know that already?" She assured us that he wasn't but she was just checking to see. Of course we then started pointing out his nose and belly button and a day later, he's got it down! We'll see if he remembers tomorrow.

15 Months Old

Today was Colton’s 15 month check-up. I say this during each stage but I really, really love this age. Colton is becoming such a little boy and his personality really shows. He had a great check-up and was on track in all areas. He was 25 lbs and 32 1/4 inches. I can’t remember exactly but that is somewhere around the 75% for weight and in the 80’s for height. His feet are huge, he wears a 6 1/2 wide. He has big hands and long fingers which he gets from mama. I think his eyes will definitely stay brown. They are a deep chocolate brown but have a pretty “glow” in the sunlight. They say eye color can change dramatically in the first few years but Colton’s have been consistently a deep dark color (gray when born and now chocolate brown).

He goes to bed with a sippy, nightlight and lullaby music and it’s the sweetest thing ever. His bedtime is 7 p.m. and most nights he barely makes it that long. He sleeps until 7 a.m. the next morning. He likes to brush his teeth (he has 12 and is starting to get his 4 canines) and he takes one nap around 11:45 a.m. Most of the time it’s an hour but on occasion he’ll give us two. We’ve finally gotten into a good nap routine (now that bedtime is all sorted out) and fingers crossed we won’t have to drive him around in the car anytime soon. Naps used to be a battle but seem to be on the right track. One bad habit is that he wakes up cranky…always! Whether it’s in the morning or from a nap or after a long restful sleep, he always wakes up cranky. Usually it takes a few minutes and a cup of milk and then he’s back to his normal, happy self. This one he gets from his daddy

He’s doing very well in daycare. He has a best friend, Aaron. They wrestle, chase each other, hug each other upon arrival and I see trouble in their future! They both have that twinkle in their eye and little dimples. Colton’s teachers tell me that normally he is very well behaved. He cleans up when they tell him to and he follows directions, but on occasion when he decides he’d rather do something else, he has this coy little smile that he gives and he shows those dimples and they say it’s all they can do not to crack up laughing. He also has two girlfriends in class – Sophia and Bri are his latin ladies and he’s so cute with them. Sophia can walk so they will yell and wave when they first get there and run up and hug. Bri is a little younger but he gives her kisses and likes to sit on her (that’s his sign of affection!).

He says lots of words but none of them are very clear to other people just yet. He says mama and dada, dog, duck, outside, bath, all done, play and snack. He tries to mimic most things that we say and he talks A LOT in his own little language, but those are the words we know he’s getting close to perfecting.

His favorite toys are any and all trucks and toys with wheels. He loves books and of course his four wheeler. He cries when he has to come inside from playing (he absolutely loves playing outside) and he likes playing with other kids. We actually took him to the park with some friends for a picnic not too long ago and he and his little friend Tyler were instant buddies. Tyler would pull him around in the wagon and Ty (who is 2) would throw the baseball for him. Colton would pick it it up, tuck it under and run away. It was a great game of baseball/football we had going on.

We’re looking forward to summer already with these warm temps. We have some fun trips coming up and we’ll be taking swim lessons when it warms up a bit. He loves the bath so hopefully that goes well. I’m still undecided on whether or not we’ll do YMCA or ISR (infant swim resource) lessons. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Today is the last post of my first blog book! I’ve been blogging about our lives to keep in touch with friends and family for three years now! There is a really neat website called Blog to Print that will allow me to take certain posts and create a book out of them. I plan to print the posts from the first post when we announced our pregnancy through 15 months. I’ve never been much of a journal keeper so this is something I’m very excited to do for Colton. It won’t mean much now, or anytime in the near future, but I hope one day he’ll be able to sit down and read all about his first years and see just how much he is loved.

Love,
Jenny

Just a little trim

It’s been a while since Colton had his first haircut but I just kept forgetting to post the photos. We made an appointment for him at our local JCPenney. I couldn’t find any children’s haircut places in town and I knew JCPenney took them so I figured, why not.

Colton did so well getting his haircut and I wasn’t as emotional as I expected. He was such a charmer in the salon and he sat perfectly still in the chair while she trimmed up his hair. Silly me forgot our camera so the nice stylist actually let us use hers and then printed out copies and made us a cd. So nice! Of course we saved a little of his sandy blonde hair. Considering how curly Josh’s was as a little boy I’m surprised how straight Colton’s is, he gets that from my side!

My handsome little guy looked so sharp with his new “do.” It’s already grown out to the point of needing another trim but mom may attempt this one on her own. $25 for a child’s trim was just a bit too much for my taste. So how hard can it be????

Love,
Jenny