Happy New Year!

(a little grainy but i don't think the flash was on. still a great picture I think - regis the professional photographer might disagree...and if he does I'll know if he reads this blog! ha!)

We just got back from a last minute new years eve trip to the farm.  We thought about having people over to our house to watch the hokie game but decided against it with the kids going to bed early and I honestly didn't think I'd be able to stay wake the whole time and felt rude inviting people to our house when I'd probably go to sleep early. Brent, Sarah and Regis came up with the idea of going and spending new years eve there and I wasn't a huge fan of the idea. I love the farm but the lack of sleep has finally hit. Julie asked how I do it every day with only getting 3 hours of straight sleep (if that) and I was doing pretty good until now (I think)  So staying up until midnight when my kids don't sleep already wasn't appealing to me especially when they sleep even worse when we're not home.  But we went.  And it was fun.  Very tiring but fun.  Joel must have known because wednesday night he slept 6 straight hours!  (he has another tooth coming in... not fun for mommy or him) so I also slept 6 hours and was able to stay up until midnight. We held a dance party with colin in the dark with glow sticks and music from an iphone. Then did those party popper things and tooted some horns.  (We definitely know how to party!) Then after Colin went to bed we played games.  We didn't get the VT game on tv but Regis kept looking up the score on his phone and Sarah was getting texts from our friend Christy.  I am impressed Regis cared since he did go to UVA.  It was a fun way to ring in the new year and I laughed so hard I cried several times. Very fun.  Its always fun with Regis and Sarah.  And we introduced Regis to the southern tradition of eating black-eyed-peas on New Years Day.  I'm not sure if he liked them or not but if he has good luck this year he'll be coming back for more next year. Ha! 

Colin was very excited when we were driving there to see snow on the ground. Or "crow" as it sounds when he says it. And even more excited when we got to the farm and there was still snow on the ground.  He loved running around in it and then Brent showed him how to make snow balls.  Regis and Brent had Colin run out into the field and then they threw "SNOW METEORS" at to him.  Colin thought it was great.  When he's older he'll catch on. Then on Friday Ant Ant brought out her snow tube and she pushed him around the fields.  He loved it.  Joel even got in it for a minute.  Joel wasn't so sure about the snow.  He didn't like being out in the cold but he did like to eat the snow. 

Regis, Sarah, Brent and Colin walked down to the creek Friday afternoon. Colin had already gone for a long walk in the woods with Brent after playing in the snow and sledding so its no surprise he asked to go to bed at 6pm that night. And he slept and barely moved all night for 12 hours.  He moves a lot in his sleep.  I never realized until new years eve when we were in the same room and he fell out at 3am. I had gone to bed at 12:30 and then got Colin in bed after he fell out.  He had just fallen asleep again when Joel woke up at 4am. I fed Joel got Joel back to sleep and then finally drifted off to sleep when Joel woke up at 6am ready for the day.  That's my life right now. Lets hope 2010 is a year for sleep!

Colin did not want to leave the farm and kept asking to stay for 5 more days.  He made friends with the ladybugs he found in the house and brought 2 of them home with him.  He was playing with one at the farm and accidently squished it and then his heart just broke when he realized he had killed it. Its a hard thing to learn.  "my friend!" is what he kept saying. He is all boy but has such a tenderhearted side to him.  I hope his "friends" that we brought home will stay alive for a little bit.

As we were packing up to leave Colin told me "mommy, uncle re-re called me buddy. He must love me!"  And I said "he does love you very much" and Colin just beamed. So sweet. It was fun and now I hope my boys will sleep tonight. Sarah got some great pictures that I want so I might post those as soon as she sends them to me (hint hint) since one of my new years goals is to get started on my new blog book so I can do it a little at a time.