Today Brent was home from work and the deal was if he slept in this morning I would get a long afternoon nap.  Sounds pretty good right?  well Brent got to sleep in. So this afternoon I got my turn.  For about 15 minutes. Right when I was in a deep sleep Colin barged into my room. "Mommy you said you would just take a short nap and this is a long one."  So Brent got the kids out of the room and shut the door.  Then for the next 10 minutes I heard Colin whispering to Joel in the hallway.  The conversation went as follows:

C:  Joel, you distract daddy and I'll go get mommy.
I'm assuming Joel didnt understand because then Colin said
C: Joel, do you want Momma?  Momma?  You go distract dadda and I'll get momma.
J:  Must have run to see dadda but then came running back (this went on a few times)
C:  Ok heres the plan. Joel you open the door and I'll go distract Dadda.
J:  nothing
C: Momma?  Momma?  wanna play with momma?  You open the door and I'll distract Dadda.
J: Can't open the door since he is a few inches too short
C:  see you put your hand on the shinny thing and go get momma.  I'll go distract dadda
J:  I guess tried to open the door and couldn't
C: ok I'll open the door and you go get momma while I distract dadda
C:opens the door and runs down the hall i'm assuming to distract dadda
J:  Comes running into the room and pulls himself up on the bed and covers me with slobbery kisses.

My nap didnt happen. and i'm not sure where Brent was during all this. Next time I'll sleep late in the morning and Brent can nap in the afternoon. 

Babble duce

This little guy isn't so little anymore.  He is saying so many things.  Its amazing to us since Colin had his own secret language for a while.  Just a few of the things I can think of that Joel now says:
*babble duce = apple juice
*please
*moo = cow
*duck (for duck but also any bird flying is also a duck)
*bubba = butterfly or any flying insect
*woof woof = dogs
*ROAR = lions, and dinosaurs
*momma
* dadda
*dooo ooo = i think for rooster = he says it when we sing old macdonald which is his favorite right now before nap time
*dis = this
*vroom vroom = for his cars
*weoooo weoooo = firetrucks

I'm sure there are more but thats all off the top of my head.  He calls Colin something different so we'll see what ends up sticking.  Right now Joel's favorite thing is to just yell "momma. Momma" louder and louder until I yell back "joel" and then he'll start again and I'll have to yell "Joel" again and he thinks its funny.  Joel does have a certain whine to him that Colin never did "ehhhhh ehhhh ehhhh" and he'll walk around almost moaning when he doesnt get his way or tired.  Its still pretty cute.  Whats not so cute is when you tell him no he will stop, look at you, fall to the floor and then hit his head on the floor.  Not sure how to stop that one. I've been trying to ignore it and he didnt do it this weekend so hopefully thats done with. 

He keeps us on our toes thats for sure.  He is still into everything he shouldn't be. And he knows it. He already tries to see what he can get away with. And always has to be playing with the same thing Colin is.

 

I guess we can stop calling him baby joel but he's still my little baby. Even though he insists on growing up way too fast.

Another saturday - another soccer game

 

Today we had Colin's first soccer game of the season.  Our coach was out of town this week for a wedding so Brent volunteered to coach practice and ended up doing both practice and the game today. Colin was thrilled.  I am also the team mom so last night I was up making a frog sign (they are the leap frog team) to put behind the goal so the kids knew which goal to run towards.  His team has 3 &4 years olds so many of them are still learning.  It turned out better than I thought and it was easy to tell the kids to go feed the frog the soccer ball when some of them had no clue were to go.  I wish I could take credit for the idea but another mom came up with it. Colin was not impressed with my sign and wanted me to draw another frog but that little girl holding the sign loved it.  haha in fact she looks like the only one who liked it.  oh well :)

Colin scored 4 goals.  He was so proud of himself. This league has goalies.  Which is a big deal.  A lot of the kids wanted to be goalie. I'm not sure all of them will want to be the goalie next time since they realized it wasn't so fun when all the action was at the other end of the field.  And yes if you read the shirts we are doing the homeschooling league this time.  So far its been wonderful. I'm going back and forth with homeschooling Colin next year and figured its a great way to talk to other moms and learn more about how it all works. 

A fun morning.  Colin was so cute and always has the biggest grin on his face when he is out playing.  He also was the loudest cheerleader yelling "go green leap frogs!" over and over when he wasn't playing and cheered on his team mates. 

Joel made himself at home in someone's chair.  He did run out on the field saying "dada" a few times and really wanted to go out there.  Its going to be hard this time keeping him on the sidelines just watching. 

Giving 'coach' daddy a high five after he scored yet another goal. 

tired boy

After lunch I was letting Joel watch a little Curious George with Colin while I put everything away.  Not even 5 minutes later Colin came tip-toeing into the room and whispered "mommy come look at Joel"  Poor little guy had climbed on the ottoman and decided nap time would start right then and there.  So cute.  He's been sleeping for a few hours now.  He needs it.  He was up all night. I did put him in his bed.  He was super cute and if he didnt move so much in his sleep I might have left him there.Now if only I could get Colin to nap - then I could also get a few hours of needed sleep.  I did fall asleep playing dinosaurs with Colin today.  Twice. He had to wake me up.  I think he was getting annoyed that mommy couldnt keep her eyes open to play another exciting round of meat eaters vs. plant eaters so he wanted to play something else.  haha I guess he figured a change would keep me awake :)

saying goobye

We said goodbye to Jamie and Benjamin a few weeks ago but I just found this picture on the camera. We miss them already and can't wait until they come visit. Jamie and Ben were some of our first friends here after we moved and its been fun watching the boys grow up together. And how can you not love Jamie and Benjamin.  In a roundabout way these boys are related - maybe?  by marriage?  not sure how it works but they share an aunt and uncle.  Which is fun for me because no matter where the coast guard sends Tony, we'll always be connected.  Have fun Burley family up north!  Colin wanted to know if Benjamin had seen snow yet (he's jealous of all the snowmen Ben will get to make this winter) I told him not yet but maybe in a few weeks :)

Our week in pictures

Its hard to believe another week has come and gone and its the middle of September.  I went on a womens retreat with our church last weekend and someone commented that it was 9.11 and I remember thinking "wow its already September. When did that happen?"  I dont have any pictures from the retreat but I did have a great time.  Brent and the boys had fun. (somehow he must have bribed them because they slept all night for him...)  But here are some of the things I spent this past week doing.

Joel will sneak up to Colin's legos when Colin is in another room.  He likes to take their helmets off and then try to put them back on.

We fed the ducks.

 

Went to the zoo with some fun friends.

Played for hours with toy soldiers. 

Went to visit ooo-eee and see How-How in what Colin calls his meditation hos-i-pital (rehabilitation) When we got back to my grandmas house I was trying to put Joel down for a nap and came out and saw Colin and Ooo-eee snuggled together looking at a Hokies Magazine.

Both boys fell asleep on the way from the grandma's house and my parents house for dinner. Colin then slept another 2 hours I think.  Wish that could happen at home. 

Soccer started again.  Noah and Adah are on Colin's team which makes it really fun for all of us. (we're doing a different league and LOVE it.  When you get m&m's, bubble gum, sitckers and stamps from your coach after practice it must be great!)  I was a little nervous since Colin wanted to be on the green team again. But I figured his black soccer shorts with the green strip would satisfy him and it did. But guess what team he's on... the GREEN leap frog team.  And I wont go on about how excited I am that he's on the green team again since I wrote it here last spring. But just another reminder for me :) 

The coach said Joel can join in on practice for a little bit. He thought he was big stuff let me tell you.

 When Joel isn't trying to be one of the big kids on the field he is trying to hug and kiss Nathan. (now that lucy is gone Nathan gets all of Joel's affection!) I'm sure Nathan will run from Joel when he can start walking since I'm not so sure he likes all the hugs and kisses :)  My sweet boy - he can kiss and hug me all he wants.

We had church on the beach today and stayed to play.

this is my favorite time of year to go to the beach.  Not too hot, not to crowded

But the biggest thing and most time consuming was fixing Colin's floor issues and installing new floors.  Next weekend we work on Joel's room.  I was putting stuff back into Colin's room and found Joel in here playing with the matchbox cars. They slide much better now on the new floors. But the best thing for me is that Colin has stopped coughing and can breathe so much better. 

And this is a tradition that started last fall.  We make homemade pizza every Sunday night and watch football while eating our pizza.  Anyone is more than welcome to join us any Sunday night! 

Dirt and bugs

The boys like to destroy the brick borders we have on our flower beds in the backyard.  Since bugs like to hide in dark places.  Joel just thought it was fun to flip the bricks over but now he actually looks for bugs like his big bro. Usually we find a few bugs- maybe a worm but this time Colin had so many bugs he couldn't hold them all in his hand.

Just a few of the bugs he found. Gross.  I don't know why he feels the need to actually pick them up :)

This is another daily occurance around here if any bit of water and dirt mix together. 

The latest trend

The other day Colin asked me to buy him Silly Bandz.  So I got him a pack.  A cheap thing really to keep up with the latest fad :)  He was so excited and put them on his arms and immediately started telling me how tough he looked.  He sang a little song on the way home "I'm so tough - look at me - I'm a man now."  hahaha i guess he's seen older boys have them on their arms and he thinks putting neon rubber bands on his arms makes him tough.  Colin may like them and think he's tough wearing them but its Joel who really likes them and a few times has napped holding them.

And in the picture sleeping with him you can barely see "Ba" and "woof woof" - the stuffed animals that always have to be sleeping with him.  He gives them kisses before nap time.  (Woof woof is our stuffed AJ but he has been renamed by Joel)

when brents away...

When Brent is away the kids dont sleep.  Its guaranteed :)  This weekend Brent went to northern va for his yearly fantasy football draft and was gone from saturday -monday.  The kids and I stayed here.  We spent Saturday going to the pool, playing hockey outside and coloring with chalk.

Joel was awake all night saturday night.  We walked the floors for hours and just as I got him back to sleep Colin woke up ready for the day.  Such is life.  Poor baby - his one last tooth finally broke through that night.  So now he has maybe 14 teeth total.  Crazy.  My mom came over Sunday to play with us all afternoon. Which is always fun. My mom asked Colin if Joel was the umpire in the hockey game we were playing and Colin got so tickled at the word umpire. "haha thats a good one ma-ma-maa!"  haha he thought she made up the word.  Joel was in bed early that night and slept well.

Unfortunately Colin didn't.  He has been coughing at night a lot the past few months and we finally discovered mold in his carpet.  A carpet company was coming tues but I was having Colin sleep in my room until the problem was fixed.  Well Colin woke up shortly after going to bed coughing and couldn't stop.  But this time he was having a hard time breathing.  So we went and rocked in a chair while watching tv for a while.  And for hours he wheezed and coughed and tried to get a breath.  I didn't know what to do. He said it hurt to breathe and he was scared. So was I. I tried everything.  Finally at 4am I called Brent and told him to come home instead of meeting Regis for breakfast.  (Joel had woke up from hearing Colin so for a few hours all 3 of us were watching sesame street - Joel thought the late night party was super fun... mommy not so much) So according to the doctor Colin had an asthma attack.  He is hesitant to say Colin officially has asthma since there can be so many things that trigger it.  So he is on two different medications for the next month and then we go back to the doctor to determine if it was the mold and is now cleared up or if there is something else making Colin sick.  But he's doing better now and for once loves to take his medicine. I think he can feel it helping him.  But the good thing about all this - I'm getting wood floors now since it will be much better on his allergies than carpet. 

This is the reason for the mold. see that crack?  Thats the least of our worries. Get a look at the second picture.

Almost all around his room is this crack between the slab and the wall.  They didnt seal it right so moisture was leaking right into Colin's carpet.  When they put new carpet in (the previous owners) they just put some glue in the crack and didn't bother to fix it.  We had our neighbors come look at it who are contractors and they've seen this before - which helped me not freak out too much thinking our house was falling apart.  So once we fix that we'll be good to go.  We're going to rip up the carpet in Joel's room too since its the same way and then re-do the floors in the living and dinning rooms too while we are at it.  In a few weeks I'll be a happy girl with my new floors. And my sweet boy wont have to worry about coughing all night.  And I'm praying that it was the mold that was making him sick and not something worse.

One good thing out of this weekend is that Brent brought back all his old Legos for Colin to play with.  Joel loves them too and has only tried to eat them a few times. 

Football Season

Football Season is upon us.  One of the best times of the year.  These boys are ready and excited too.

These boys love to play football.  Its usually a long discussion on who gets the helmet if Noah didn't' bring his and who gets the uniform Since you can't play football if you are not properly dressed.(I have since gone to Goodwill and gotten a Miami Dolphins uniform so now they can each have one. And yes I know its Miami but they didn't have a hokie uniform or redskins.  But it is green...) Laura and I have been trading off kids while we each grocery shop alone. A huge blessing and something we all look forward to once a week.  Its a win-win for all of us - moms &kids and when its at our house the big boys play football. 

I love the expression on Noah's face and also Colin's in the picture above.

They play tackle football

No touch or flag football for these boys.  Since tough boys play tackle.

Lets hope the hokies play as well as these boys do this year.  Bring on the football!

Our Swimmer

Yesterday I took the boys to the pool after Joel's nap.  On Sunday I spent an hour swimming laps - the first time all summer, and really in years since i was pregnant last summer.  Colin was excited to watch mommy in the lap lane and sat and watched for most of it.  So yesterday Colin told me he wanted to swim like mommy.  So he put his head underwater.  HUGE!  Luckily I grabbed my camera before we left the house and went and got it to video tape so we could show Daddy when he came home from work.  Since putting his whole face underwater is something we thought would happen next summer.  And the next thing I saw him doing this:

The swim coach in me wanted to teach him how to swim all summer but with him refusing to put his face in the water I didn't push it. But I was amazed. All on his own. I didn't teach him how to do any of that.  My boy has natural talent.  He takes after the Gougers I think in this area. After I took this I went back in the water and he kept swimming to me and then wanted to swim to whole length of the pool.  Which he did twice.  I think jumping off the diving board gave him confidence.  He told me this morning he wanted to swim in the lap lane with me and this time he'll be faster than me.  haha.  he was even attempting to do some butterfly yesterday since he watched me swim it Sunday.  I'm still amazed and very proud of my swimmer. Maybe the swim team is a possibility for us next summer.