Our fun December so far

We have been having a great month! There have been so many new things for Tripp to experience with us! Our favorites are Tripp seeing his very first string of Christmas lights, taking him to the ICE! exhibit at the Gaylord, & just how happy and giggly he is!

Tripp was also able to get in some special Grandaddy time earlier this month when my dad drove up to watch the football game with Craig & Tripp.

Tripp thought the lights were amazing and immediately wanted to stick them in his mouth!
Hanging with Granddaddy watching the "Boys" play

Family pic at ICE!

C^2 & C^3

Another fantastic photoshoot with DeAnna Jones!

We just had some family pictures taken few days ago by our good friend and fantastic photographer DeAnna Jones of Cocoriah Photo (www.cocoriahphoto.com).

I was talking to DeAnna last night and it occurred to me that this woman has been a part of so many wonderful events in my life. So just for fun, I would like to count! She did my wedding photos, post wedding photos, Christmas cards for 2007, 2008, & 2010, Tripp's baptism, 5 month portraits, & family/6 month portraits. That is 8 and I am sure that I am forgetting a couple here and there!!!

We are blessed to have her be part of our lives and it is total bonus that she a truly an artist when it come photography!

Why I LOVE Shutterfly

There are many reasons that I love Shutterfly and their Christmas photo card promotion for 50 FREE cards is just one more reason why I love them! Not only is Shutterfly a great place to share you photos but their website is very user friendly. The best thing about Shutterfly is that they have a great selection of photo cards! I have used Shutterfly's photo cards for Christmas cards, birth announcements, expecting announcements, birthday invitations, and holiday party invitations. I have even used them to design photo books and calendars to share with family and friends. Plus all of these products are printed on quality photo paper or card stock!

I am so excited to design my Christmas photo card this year, below are links to a few of favorites:

I really love the this card, don't you think it is bright, crisp, and colourful?!?
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/red-revamped-christmas-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

I love the red and chocolate brown on this card!
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/merry-blossoms-christmas-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

This card is so bright and cheerful!
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/woodblock-joy-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93496

Also, here are the links to a few of my favorite products that I mentioned above that Shutterfly provides:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-invitations

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Click on this link if you are interested in Shutterfly's blog promotion:

http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year down at Lovey & Big Daddy's place, a.k.a. POTC (Pemberly on Turtle Creek). We were joined by Grand Uncle Rick & Cousin Misty. It was a ton of fun watching Tripp eat his sweet potatoes & have a taste of tart cranberries! The food, family, & football were all good!

On a side note, make sure to check out Tripp's Pics to see him riding his first Griaffe, Sir Geoffery, watching the game with Big Daddy and Grand Uncle Rick, eating some Turkey, and how enchanted he becomes when around the girl with the pearl earring!

Yea...Dad I am really looking forward to eating some REAL food!
I love sweet potatoes!
Tripp enjoyed his first Thanksgiving feast throughly!

Our latest photo session...

This past week we were honored to have DeAnna Jones of Cocoriah Photo (http://www.cocoriahphoto.com/) spend the morning with us taking pictures in the beautiful morning sun!

These 2 pictures of Tripp are our favorites, as these are the faces we see often!

Please take a look to the left of the page to see all of the pictures taken that morning :-)

Halloween

Our precious little dragon :-) being tamed by Lovey!

Us with our little dragon. I just didn't have the heart to put make-up on his face to make him a black eyed pea with us!

Craig & I thought we were pretty cute being the "black eyed peas" this year!

Our first cool morning...

We had a great cool fall morning this past week, so we made sure to make the best of it! We laid in the grass and watched the trees. More importantly, Tripp thought he would like to start driving!

Tripp is thinking, ok Dad quit smiling and lets get to driving!

Tripp looks pretty serious about learning how to drive that Texas Limo!

Aunt Barie & Uncle Stan's Visit

Barie & Stan had a great visit over a long weekend in Dallas. Tripp got to spend the whole day Friday with his Aunt Barie & Uncle Stan! I am so happy that they got to spend some great quality time with Tripp! It is so important to me that Tripp knows all his family and how much they all love and adore him :-) Below are a few pictures from their visit:

Aunt Barie & Grandaddy enjoying Tripp during breakfast at Cindi's. I am just amazed at how much joy this little boy can bring to our family!

Aunt Barie rocking Tripp to sleep before they leave to head back home.

Uncle Stan and Tripp hamming it up!

The red mark above his lip is from Aunt Barie kissing him! Barie is going to be that aunt that always leaves a little lip stick on her nephew!

Better late than never: Tripp's newborn portraits!

Yes, he is 20 weeks old now but here are our favorite portraits from Tripp's session with Lauren Vicars (http://www.portraitsbylauren.com/) just a couple of weeks after he was born.

I was over at Lauren's home yesterday picking his portrait up that I had ordered and she was so kind to give me some pictures from our session to put on our blog!

1st Bowl of Rice Cereal!

Tripp got his first taste of rice cereal today! It was a ton of fun seeing him in his new little feeding chair with cereal all over his mouth. Lovey & Big Daddy were over watching the game, so that got to be a part of the action too! We were all so surprised at how comfortable he was with the cereal & the spoon. Tripp was like a little birdie and would open his mouth for me to spoon the cereal. So adorable!

He was so pleased to be in his new feeding chair.

Tripp really thought his colorful placemat was AMAZING! I eventually had to remove the placemat so he would eat.

Needless to say he loved it and we will be back for more tomorrow!

Tripp to Austin: Texas vs. OU Weekend

Go Longhorns!

We had a fantastic trip down to Austin to see Granddaddy & Gramma Pat, Tripp just adores them both! Aside from Texas losing, it was such a great visit & the best part was that we parked the car on Friday & didn't get back in it until Sunday morning!

I must say, seeing Tripp watch the game with all the guys just might have been one of the cutest things EVER!

Tripp just loves their backyard & enjoyed Gramma Pat walking with him through their "wonderland" backyard. So much to see and touch!

On Sunday we went to church and my Dad was so proud showing Tripp off to everyone! We then had a lovely family lunch with more family back at the house.

We look forward to visiting again in November!

Tripp's Baptism

On August the 8th we had Tripp baptized by Father Clay at St. Philips Episcopal Church here in Frisco. My good friend and photographer, DeAnna Jones of Cocoriah Photo (http://www.cocoriahphoto.com/) came to the service that Sunday and took some pretty fabulous & funny pictures! Thank you, thank you, Dee!

The service was perfect and Tripp did great during the baptism, he truly is a water baby! He has never cried during bath time either. Tripp's baptism was particularly special because he was wearing the same christening gown that my brother wore 34 years ago.

Craig & I choose my step-father, Jim and our very dear friend, Linda Ann to be his Godparents. They both took & take such pride in playing this special role in Tripp's life :-)

We followed up the event with a fantastic brunch with close family & friends! Tripp of course slept through it all!

Cowboys Stadium

This week me & Tripp had the pleasure of getting a personal tour of Cowboys Stadium with Jim! The stadium is beautiful and holy moly that is the biggest jumbotron we have ever seen! When Tripp grows up he can tell his fellow Cowboys fans that not only has he been on the 50 yard line star of Cowboys Stadium but his diaper bag as well has been on the Cowboys Stadium turf!

Amarillo Road Tripp!

Uncle Lucas & Tripp meeting for the 1st time

Just done with lunch at Coyote Bluff

Lovey can do it all: feed Tripp and still sip on her gin & tonic!

Tripp was ready to eat the 72 oz steak!

Waking up & stretching in Uncle Lucas' arms

Just starting to stir awake in Uncle Lucas' arms

Uncle Lucas, Aunt Michaele, Angie, & Tripp



Earlier this week Tripp took his first road trip! Me & mom loaded up Tripp and all his gear to hit the road to Amarillo early Monday morning so that Tripp could meet his Uncle Lucas, Aunt Michaele & their daughter Angie for the first time.

It was a bit of an adventure traveling with a 7 week old for the first time but I think we fared pretty well! The trip to Amarillo from Dallas is normally 5.5 hours but with a newborn it is about 7 hours. It also took us a little while to recover from the time spent in the car. He was quite fussy Monday evening and I don't think we will be asked back to My Thai anytime soon! I was so grateful to have my mom with me!


It was wonderful for Uncle Lucas and his family to meet him. Lucas was so proud to meet Tripp and I think they hit off right from start! We made sure to take great pics of Lucas with his nephew and family!


My favorite part of the trip, aside from Lucas & Tripp meeting, was grabbing a real cocktail at one of the "nicest" place in Amarillo, Marty's. It is a wonderful restaurant with a great bar & lounge area. It was dimly lit and a perfect place from me and mom to have a grown up drink & a little adult conversation! The staff was great and cooed over Tripp as well. We even got teased a little for having a baby in the bar!


Of course the main purpose of our trip was for Tripp to meet his aunt & uncle but we also ate at a couple of hot spots featured on Man vs. Food from the Travel Channel! First was Coyote Bluff. It's a little bitty shack that serves the best hamburgers! They are famous for their cheese fries with green chilies and their "Burger from Hell", which is a Tabasco patty served with habanero hot sauce, grilled jalapenos & onions, topped off with cheese. Being the die hard spicy girl that I am, I couldn't resist! It was wonderful & perfectly spicy. Our next hot spot was of course The Big Texan, where we joined Lucas, Michaele, and Angie for dinner Tuesday night. Michaele works there so we were able to enjoy the employee perks :-) Amazingly, I had never eaten at The Big Texan and I even worked there for 3 weeks when I was 18! My mother and I shared a 20 oz top sirloin that was cooked and seasoned to perfection!


It was a perfect first road trip with my son! It was also wonderful to have the time with my mother & son together. We look forward to the next time we go back to show off Tripp again to his Uncle Lucas & Aunt Michaele!

4th of July Weekend

We had a great lazy 4th of July! We were lucky and got to spend time with both sets of my parents as well. My Dad & Pat stopped by en route to New Mexico and we spent the 4th down at my Mom & Jim's. Craig did not have to work Monday, so we were able to have some extra family down time over the three day weekend.

At my Mom's we were able to see a few fireworks in the distance. Tripp, of course, slept through the whole celebration! We were able to get at least one good picture of him celebrating his first 4th of July!

Granddaddy & Gradma Pat loved seeing Tripp and will hopefully get a chance to see him again on their way back to Austin this week.

Granddaddy got that bottle to Tripp not a minute too soon!


Daddy & Tripp napping away the afternoon.

Father's Day

Craig & Tripp
I think that both Craigs had a great 1st Father's Day! It was a perfect day and very laid back. We went down to my parent's home to celebrate. It was nice to be out with Tripp and get a change of scenery. We even got to enjoy a few minutes by the pool that afternoon!

2 Weeks Old

Our little guy has many expressions!

Well, we have survived our first 2 weeks with Tripp & are all doing great! We have had lots of helping hands and visitors, too.

My sister was here for 2 weeks from France to meet our handsome son. Plus, she was a huge help by cooking & freezing lots of meals for us to enjoy over the next couple of months. It was so nice to have her here.

We have had a few close friends visit us and all the grandparents have met Mr. Tripp.

We also had our first official outing to the Yucatan Taco Stand today for lunch! Craig & I truly enjoyed getting out of the house with Tripp!

Craig Royce Collins III a.k.a. Tripp is here!

Anna delivered Tripp the afternoon of Sunday, May 30th at 2:39. He weighed in at 7 pounds & 15 ounces and is 20 3/4 inches long. He is beautiful & perfect with a full head of dark hair!

We will be staying at the hospital for one more night and then headed home on Tuesday to settle into our new routine. We are all doing fantastic!