Merry Christmas 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas!  We love taking the time each year to reconnect with all of you.  We hope that you and your family are doing well.  Here is what we've have been up to this year:

For work, Jared continues to enjoy practicing neurosurgery with Dr. O'Grady.  At church he has been busy serving as Elder's Quorum President, and he was recently called to be the 2nd Counselor in our ward bishopric.  He is a wonderfully supportive husband and involved father.  The highlight of the kids' day is when daddy reads to them at night.  He just finished reading them the entire Ranger's Apprentice series.  Between work, church, and family time he hasn't had time for many of his hobbies, but he has taken up doing a yoga class on Tuesday nights which he enjoys.

Mary feels blessed to be able to stay home and homeschool the kids.  Like Jared, she hasn't had much time for her hobbies, but she does get recharged doing yoga and her monthly book group.  She has also enjoyed serving in the Young Women's program for the past year and she is excited about her new calling as a Primary teacher.  Mary is also looking forward to welcoming a new baby girl to our family in March.

Abby (11) is a reader, a dreamer, a musician and a creator.  She has now surpassed her mother in her piano playing skills.  She loves sewing, crafts, and cooking.  Abby is a big help around the house, and with her younger siblings.  She enjoys swimming and gymnastics, but reading still has first place as her favorite pastime.

Maddy (9) is smart, talented, and funny.  She is very driven, and always the first one done with her homeschool tasks and asking for chores to earn more money.  She knows how to work and play hard.  Like her big sister, Madeline has improved a lot at the piano and in gymnastics and swimming.  Her favorite homeschool subjects are science and math and art.

Nathan (7) learned how to swim and ride a bike this year.  He was disappointed to find out that he wasn't getting a new baby brother, but he is a good sport and he puts up with being the only boy very well.  He is an avid reader and LEGO builder and he enjoys studying history, art, and science.

Thomas (4) is still sorely missed.  We often feel his celestial presence watching over our family like a guardian angel.  We are grateful to know that he is part of our eternal family forever.

Audrey (2) is super sweet and strong willed at the same time.  She loves cooking in her play kitchen, caring for her baby doll, reading books, and coloring.  She talks a lot and she wants to do whatever her older siblings are doing.

We still miss the northwest and being close to family and mountains, but we are slowly adjusting to life in Texas.  It has been nice having Mary's sister and her family close by (at least until May 2017), and we really like our ward.  We are learning to take advantage of the nice fall and spring weather for outside adventures, and we usually take our big trip up north in July to escape the summer heat.  In May we had a blast at Sea World in San Antonio.  In June/July we visited Arizona, the Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park before heading to St. George for Jared's brother Bryan's wedding.  We spent a week with Mary's family in Provo before heading back to Texas via Mesa Verde National Park.  The kids spent the rest of the summer at the YMCA learning to be really good swimmers.  In August we took advantage of having Mary's sister in town to watch kids and we took an anniversary trip to Texas hill country.  We are now busy with another year of homeschool, which we try to break up with day trips to Cameron Park, the zoo, and to the Mayborn Museum.

We hope that you and your family are enjoying this Christmas season as much as we are.  We are grateful for this time to focus on Christ and the joy that He brings to us and to the world.  We know that through Christ and His Atonement we can find joy despite our trials.  We hope you can feel the joy and peace that only He can bring.

Love,

The Colletts

Photos by Gideon Photography

November 2016 Update

A NEW CALLING

Jared was called to be the 2nd counselor in our ward bishopric, so his parents came down for his setting apart.  They could only stay for the weekend, but it was great to see them.  The kids really enjoyed having some sorely missed grandparent time and attention.  Audrey has been talking about their visit ever since.  "Grandma and Grandpa far away airplane zoom."

THE ZOO

We are enjoying the zoo, the park, and the outdoors now that the weather has finally cooled down.

DATE NIGHT

My sister Rachel was nice enough to watch our kids so Jared could take me to go see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them.  The movie was fun and it was great to have a night out.

TEMPLE TRIP

Our ward had a temple grounds cleaning assignment so the kids went with Jared to rake leaves and acorns while I did a family name at the temple.  I am proud of the kids learning to serve.

Audrey loved having a rake just her size.  She did a great job picking acorns up and putting them in the bucket (which is empty in the photo because it had just been dumped).

AUDREY BEAR

Audrey decided to try on Nathan's boots while he was having his gymnastics lesson.  You can tell she is really proud of herself.

This mess happened when we left Audrey unattended on the toilet for 2 minutes.  I have never potty trained any of my children this young, but we have attempted potty training with Audrey because she was showing a lot of interest.  She did pretty well for one day and then we had a horrible day after that.  She decided that she is afraid of falling in the big potty and will now only use her little potty at home.  She still likes the security of a diaper so we just help her take it off when she tells us she wants to go.  For now we are letting her take the lead with potty training until she gets older.

THANKSGIVING

Audrey loved helping to "cook" Thanksgiving dinner.  She had fun mixing flour with lemon pepper together.

The older kids were much more helpful with the cooking.  Maddy made the cranberry sauce and the sweet potatoes.  Nathan made the gravy and stuffed mushrooms.  Abby made the rolls and the mashed potatoes.

Since my sister was having Thanksgiving with her in laws, and because I didn't know anyone that would like a vegan thanksgiving dinner, we had dinner on our own.  The kids made these nice Thankful tree decorations where they put what they are thankful for on each leaf.

We woke Audrey up from her nap so she could eat Thanksgiving dinner with us.  You can tell from her face that she didn't quite know what to think of all this new food.

Audrey was a big fan of the rolls and she really liked the olives that were just the right size for her fingers.

Enjoying our Thanksgiving feast.

Abby enjoying one of the rolls she made herself.

DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS

Audrey hanging ornaments with Daddy.

Now that Jared restrung it with LED lights, our tree is beautiful and bright.  We are excited for the Christmas season to begin!

Maddy's 9th Birthday

Maddy decided to have an arts and crafts party this year.

She couldn't wait to open presents when she woke up.

She loved her art sets from Grandma.

She invited some girls from church to her party.  They decorated scriptures bags and made necklaces.  They also had fun jumping on the tramp.

Maddy blowing our her candles.

Maddy was excited to have Grandma and Grandpa Collett come into town on her birthday.  

MADDY AT 9
Favorite colors: purple and pink
Favorite animal: Dolphin
Hobbies: Drawing, reading, LEGOs, playing with dolls, bike riding
Favorite Sports: gymnastics, swimming
When I grow up I want to be: A LEGO designer
Favorite foods: Chocolate, asparagus soup, vegetarian pizza
Favorite movie: Cinderella (the new non-animated one)
Favorite books: Ranger's Apprentice and Harry Potter
Favorite school subjects: art, piano, reading, science, and math

We are thankful for our sweet Madeline.  She is smart, talented, and funny.  She is very driven, and she is always the first one done with her homeschool tasks and asking for chores to earn more money.   She knows how to work and play hard.  We love having her in our family.

Audrey's 2nd Birthday

Weeks before Audrey's birthday, the kids started getting her excited.  She really likes pizza, which we rarely have, so Jared picked some up for her on the way home from work.  Audrey was super excited.  She kept talking about it all day, "Daddy get pizza for Audrey birthday."

Audrey's cousins came over for a party.  They gave her 2 balloons and a purple flower, which she loved.

She had fun doing Ring a Round the Rosies and Bubble.

Audrey got a Little People nativity set, which she loved.

She also got a pack of 12 hair bows from her siblings.  She thought they were fun to put on her arms.

Audrey with her cake.

Blowing out the candles.

Eating cake.

Playing with her Nativity with Joshua.

Audrey was excited to get princesses dresses from Grandma C.  Here she is dressed up like Ariel.

Luckily she isn't too old for cuddling her mom.

Audrey at 2:

Favorite activities: Storytime, going to the park, going to the zoo, playing at the Mayborn museum, swimming, bath time, jumping on the tramp, and reading books with mommy.

Favorite foods: yogurt, cheese, peanut butter and jelly, craisins and chocolate

Favorite shows: Froggytime (what she calls Leap Frog Letter Factory) and Signing Time

We are thankful for our sweet Audrey bear.  She is talking a lot, which is probably due to all her older siblings teaching her things. She already knows all her letters and sounds.  Audrey was our rainbow baby after losing Thomas, and she has brought so much healing to our family.  She is super sweet and strong willed at the same time.  Her enthusiasm for life is contagious.  She is such a blessing in our lives.

October 2016

THE MAYBORN MUSEUM

One of our favorite things about living in Waco is the amazing Mayborn Museum on Baylor campus.  Here is Abby enjoying some flowers in the garden that is part of the historic village.  I love how pretty her red hair is in the sunlight.

Audrey found a flower she liked.

Her favorite part is the playroom where she can climb on the bus and sing her favorite song: "The Wheels on the Bus."

She likes driving the firetruck as well.

Maddy all dressed up to put on a play.

Audrey shopping for some food.

Nathan repairing a brick wall.

The kids love one of the new rooms that allows them to design and build all sorts of fun things.

Audrey mailing a letter.

AUDREY BEAR

It's been super hot this October, so the kids were excited when it finally rained and cooled off a bit.  When Audrey woke up she asked for her coat and wanted to go outside.  I thought she just wanted to watch the rain from our covered back porch.  Instead she went and stood out in it so she could feel it fall on her.  

I've started taking Audrey to storytime every week and she absolutely loves it.  The older kids love it too since they can go check out new books every week.

When Jared gets home he often takes his shoes off and puts his feet up since he is tired from being on his feet all day.  Audrey thinks this is great since she likes wearing "Daddy's BIG shoes!"

Audrey loves popcorn, so she was super excited to have a popcorn & movie night with cousins.

RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL 

In desperation to find a fun family outing in Texas, we drove down south to one of the biggest renaissance festivals in the country.  It wasn't quite what we expected (more the other festival goers rather than the craftspeople and performers--think the biggest gathering of weird, overweight, biker chick meets nerdy cosplay-types in super immodest chain mail underwear, and you get the idea) but we still managed to have some fun despite the 90 degree weather.

The kids had fun jumping super high on these bungee enhanced trampolines.

The best part of the festival was probably the jousting tournament in the big arena.

There were some musicians performing some traditional music, and we enjoyed watching glass blowing too.

HALLOWEEN

The kids were super cute in their matching skeleton PJs from Grandma.  The bones on their jammies glow in the dark, so they did a fun skeleton dance for us in the dark.

Jared helped Maddy carve this pretty mermaid pumpkin.

We did a homeschool field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Welcome y'all!

Picking out pumpkins to decorate.

Audrey enjoyed the hayride.

Probably the older kids' favorite part was jumping and climbing on the giant hay bales.

Bowling

Maddy with the pumpkin she decorated

Nathan with his pumpkin

We did family costumes for the first time.  We couldn't fine a cute Hedwig costume for Audrey, so Jared used his sewing and design skills to make this super cute one for Audrey.

Our friends invited us over for a super fun Halloween party.  The kids had fun making haunted gingerbread houses.

Harry Potter and the Pumpkin Pinata

Audrey loves her owl costume and insists on her owl hat everyday.

TRICK OR TREATING

Ready to go trick or treating with cousins.

The kids got tons of candy.  I was hoping that Audrey would forget about it after she went to sleep.  The next morning she woke up and the first thing she said was, "Audrey bucket, LOTS of candy!"