Christmas 2010 Photos (1)

Wii fun time!

Alex, our TVTroper.

What animal is that behind you, Aidan?

A bug for Bug.

Christmas 2010 Photos (2)

Kyrie on pointe with her new ballet calendar.

The kids listening to the Christmas story before opening presents.

Abi's new jacket matches her new pjs!

Aimee singing in her Dora microphone.

Christmas Letter

Yay! We have our Christmas letter done before Christmas! We are posting the link here on the blog, linking to it through Facebook, and also sending the pdf file as an attachment through e-mail. One way or another, everyone that wants to see our letter should get the opportunity (as well as some who aren't interested at all). :)

Oh, Firefox keeps opening it up at 116% which makes the pictures pixelated. Turn it down to 100% and the pictures should be clear.

Collier Christmas letter

Merry Christmas all!

Love in Christ,
Naomi for the Colliers

2010 Webelos Woods

Well, the Tall Timbers 2010 Webelos Woods is done and in the record books now; over 600 scouts and cubs from the Woodlands/Spring area enjoyed a great weekend with wonderfully cool weather and lots of opportunity for the cubs to visit with the various troops and decide which they would like to join.

A handful of dedicated scouts from the Mato OA (Order of the Arrow) chapter worked tirelessly all weekend to make it all happen: Seth Whitaker, Alex Gumm, Alex Collier and Kevin Dunnican were everywhere -- helping with registration, check-in/check-out and parking, staffing the "Colonneh Cafe" trading post, building and running the campfire, performing an OA call out, and even conducting their first OA Brotherhood ceremony! Without their help, Webelos Woods would not have been possible.

Several OA Advisors were also key to making the weekend work: Chris Jones was the overall coordinator of Webelos Woods this year, and kept things moving -- making sure the camp was prepared and all the campsites assigned, working with the OA ceremonies team on the campfire, call out and Brotherhood ceremony, and pretty much everything else as well. Bryant Dunnican was our camp medic for the weekend, I spent nearly all the weekend in the registration office handling all the paperwork, and newlywed Bobby Warren was our weekend chef (the fajitas were great!).

A number of other scout leaders, parents, and arrowmen pitched in to help at various points during the weekend, and the help was very much needed and appreciated. It's weekends like this when we see scouting at it's best, and I'm proud to be associated with such a great organization!

WWW,

Tartan

I wish Tartan had been there

I'm sitting at Whataburger, taking up a whole corner with my tribe of six- most of us wearing our AWANA shirts. A gentleman passes by on his way out wearing skull cap and shawl; he smiles slightly at us and I incline my head in acknowledgment. A couple of minutes later he returns with a set of toy fairy\butterfly wings and wand and offers them to me for my little ones. I accept, wondering where this will go and he tells us he is a missionary and asks my name and where I am from. I briefly explain and ask where he's from- Wisconsin. Did I ask his name? No- I'm an awful conversationalist with strangers. He asks how many kids I have and I claim all six and then he asks what their giftings are. Um, I'm not sure what he's looking for and say so but I can't find the words to explain that while my husband and I are always trying to discern the gifts God has blessed our children with- I don't like to discuss them lest they feel like their being compared or compartmentalized. (We talk about them one-on-one or as a family, but I *try* not to say "this is the organized one, this one is the people-person" in front of them to others) Aimee pipes up with a wave and "hello" and he delightedly says she's a greeter. Well, that sounds ok. Then he goes on to explain we must give wings to our children and how the butterfly starts off as a gentle, crawling creature that becomes a beautiful butterfly. Okay... I just sit there smiling and nodding my head- and not thinking of anything to say. He finishes off by thanking me for blessing the world with my children; I smile and nod and thank him for the wings\wand. He says "blessings to you" and Alex pipes up with "God bless you" as he walks out the door.

I'm sitting there thinking- I wish Tartan had been here! He would have continued the conversation and asked questions and at least found out who he was a missionary for.

Alex steps away from the table for a moment and then I notice the man's keys sitting on my table. Without really thinking, I send Aidan outside with them thinking that the man must be out in the parking lot and has not realized yet that he's missing his keys. Aidan starts across the lot and I have a moment of panic- I have no idea if this guy is who he presents himself as and I just sent my son out there alone. Fortunately I can see them clearly from where I'm sitting and it's obvious I'm watching intently. As Aidan hands over the keys, they speak briefly and then he walks off. According to Aidan, he was parked at the car wash and was searching the ground around his car when he came out. Aidan says he was told to help his mom, do his chores and be an example to his sisters.


So *now* I'm wondering- was he a Jew, a messianic Jew, or none of the above? Did he recognize our AWANA shirts or did he just guess that since Alex and Aidan's shirts said "Truth and Training", we believed there is such a thing as truth and it's worth training our children to know? Considering the size of our family, did he think we were Mormon or Catholic? *sigh* Wish Tartan had been there.


Tongue-tied,
Naomi for the Colliers

Disney Movie Shoot at Hollywood Studios

I know! I still haven't posted pictures from our Disney adventure. However, I'm posting the 2 videos we took of Tartan and me participating in a "movie shoot" at Hollywood Studios. The first one is about 12 minutes and the second one is about 3 minutes. I recently got the PhotoPass pictures from Disney, so hopefully I'll find some time to put together a slide show.

Swim Lessons

Pictures from swim lessons at the Y from the beginning of July.

Awaken (Ballet performance 2010)

Click on the photo to be taken to the photo album

Aimee Report

Aimee is growing like a weed and it's no wonder because she's much more interested in eating than any of her sisters or brothers. She is the queen of snack. She knows how to sign "more" and "please" and sometimes she'll do "eat". Since I didn't teach any signs to the others, I'm wondering if her increased ability to communicate is the reason. I believe her favorite food is Goldfish crackers followed closely by cheese. She also likes to drink milk, juice and water. She's still nursing but I need to think about weening soon.

Her vocabulary continues to grow. She can say "mama" and "dada", of course. She also says "cheese", "out" (as in "take me out of my crib\play pen\high chair\car seat\stroller,etc.), "up" (as in "pick me up"), "shoes", "cat" (as in any non-human creature, including horses and fish), and others I can't think of at the moment, some of which we've only heard once or twice.

She says "Abi" to mean not just Abigail, but I think any of her siblings whose attention she wants to attract. We have heard something close to "Alex". And, the one that makes us all giggle, even me, is how she attempts to say "Bug". She can't get the g sound so it comes out as "But".

She is very social, rather like Abigail. She walks up to people and waves and says "hi!" That reminds me: she can say "hi" as well as "bye". So far she seems to reserve blowing kisses for family. She really does like to wave at people and passing cars though. Tartan and I take an evening walk around the block most nights and he'll carry her in the backpack carrier. She loves the view of the world she gets way up there. One evening we were out walking and though there was no one around, she started waving and saying "hi!" We figure that she wants to be a parade float queen one day and she was practicing.

Her difficulties with sleeping appear to be over. I have even been able to set her down while she is still awake and get only a token amount of fussing about it. Most nights I don't hear any sound from her at all. She really hated being set down in her crib, even for a daytime nap, so it's a big relief that she's learned to accept that sleep is necessary.

Well, I have a lot of other things to post like: Easter, homeschool PE field day, butterfly and ladybug release, and other things that I've probably forgotten. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch up soon.

Trusting in the Lord who works all things for good to those who love Him,
>Naomi

Blue and Gold Banquet

Aidan had his last, and I guess our last, Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. The theme was knights, so each den decorated their table with that theme. Though Aidan's den had already had their Arrow of Light ceremony at Camp Strake a month ago, they had another ceremony in front of the pack. They take each Webelos cub's neckerchief to see if he's "worthy". It's soaked in- oh I can't remember what, but basically when they set it on fire it doesn't damage the neckerchief. It makes an impressive flash of fire. Aidan has joined Troop 895 and his brother is the troop guide for the new patrol. Alex has been the den chief for his brother's dens since Aidan started as a Tiger cub.

While it's a little sad that we're done with Cubs, it's also a bit of a relief. Now the two boys have meetings at the same time and place.

>Naomi

The Reason I Should Avoid Going to Sam's with Just the Girls

We come home with four huge stuffed animals. I'm such a pushover. :)








































>Naomi for the Colliers (real and plush)

Kyrie's Silver Award Project

Kyrie, Abigail and several of Kyrie's buddies made felt blankets and chew toys for homeless animals and ear warmers and scarves for homeless people for Kyrie's Girl Scout Silver Award Project.

The items were given to the Conroe Animal Shelter and to Star of Hope Houston.

Aidan's Arrow of Light

Aidan's arrow was found to be worthy at the Boy Scout Arrow of Light ceremony on Friday night. His big brother was part of the OA team that planned and put on the ceremony. It was done along the lake at Camp Strake and the only lighting was the bonfire on Ceremony Island, which is just a short bridge length away from shore. The Cubs enter crossing one bridge and after they receive their arrow, they depart on another- symbolically crossing over to Boy Scouts. It was very nicely done, but no flash photography was allowed and I think non-flash photography wouldn't have caught a thing. I'm including photos of Aidan before and after the ceremony and also with the OA team afterwards. Alex got to experience what celebrities do all the time- lots of flash photography. He had to stand there while individuals and sometimes groups of boys had their pictures taken with them. The groups were harder because then he had a bunch of flashes going off at once and repeatedly. He was a good sport about it, of course.

"I'm a baby, not stupid"

Last night, Alex set Aimee down on my bedroom floor quite a distance from me in the hopes that she'd do some walking practice like she'd done at the library earlier in the day. Instead she sat on her knees, reached for one of the two-way radios plugged in near where she was and started playing with it. Alex called to her to go to Mom, but to no avail. So he took the radio away, moved himself away, and held the radio out like the proverbial carrot. She looked at him, swung her arms around for a moment, then stopped... and reached for the second radio in the charger. For some reason that caught us both completely off guard and we laughed heartily.

While at the library, Aidan and Abigail participated in the Homewood spelling bee. Homewood is the homeschool association we belong to. They didn't win, but they each survived a few rounds, did their best and were very good sports when they finally misspelled a word. It was a good, low-key way for them to be in a competition. I'm proud of them.

Trusting in the Lord this day and every day,
Naomi for the Colliers

Christmas Eve

Singing Christmas carols together
Aimee up close and personal
Kyrie, Kayleigh, and Abigail
Alex & Chihiro
The kids in front of the tree

It's our tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve. It's usually pjs.
Kayleigh got a reindeer with hers
Abigail seems to like hers

Aidan can hardly wait ... Wii pjs!

The biggest sister (is that a reality show?); Tartan for T. Alex