Santa

We just got back from a long weekend at the farm.  The kids had a blast and should be tired out with all the walks to the creek, bear hunts, and playing they did.  I know I am tired. I'm going to have to wait on my sisters and uncle jeff's pictures from thanksgiving but I just love this one my sister took of the boys.

While the rest of the family went to Blacksburg to watch the Hokies win their football game I took the boys to see Santa.  The Southern States Santa. The REAL Santa. Colin was really excited this year and somehow we managed to be the first ones there.  And this Santa doesnt want you to wait for a long time in line so he came right out and spent a long time with Colin.

Colin told Santa he wanted Legos and Soldier stuff for christmas. I told Santa I wanted a new camera. 

Joel watched Colin love on Santa but when it came to his turn he made sure the WHOLE store heard what he thought about sitting on Santa's lap.

 Poor Santa tried everything.  He told us to wait a few minutes and then do it again.  He didn't want any kid to be afraid of Santa.  But Joel wasn't changing his mind. 

Then Santa took his little buddy and went outside to greet the kids coming in.  Colin thought it was great being Santa's helper. 

This is the 3rd year we've been to see this Santa and it just gets better every year.I never believed in Santa growing up but there is just something about this Santa that makes you want to believe.

Soccer

This weekend we had our last soccer game.Colin scored 4 goals. He made sure I was counting.  And he won again.  I never kept score  just told him he was always winning and in fact he has won each and every game. The coach kept track :) and has in fact never lost a soccer game in all the years she's been coaching. 

Colin and Noah with their medals.  I'm so glad they did medals. If he got a trophy for every season in soccer we would have to figure out where to put them all.  Medals are much better. Plus he likes to wear his all the time. 

Colin and Coach Karen.  Somehow she got a smile out of him!  We really liked her.  I think she only coaches the 3 &4s so maybe we'll get a season out of her if Joel wants to play soccer.   Colin had a lot of fun and it was fun to go watch each week.  We're so proud of our soccer star!

Imagination

This little guy is getting bigger and bigger every day.  I think Joel says around 30 things if you count all the animal noises he loves to make.  He is starting to say short pharases "dadda hat,"  "dadda work," (well work sounds like whosh but we know what he's saying)  or "momma shoes" when he brings me my shoes.  He still thinks he should do everything his big brother does.  He is also into everything - you turn you back on him for a minute and he's found a crayon or marker (that we do put up) and marked all over the walls.  He gives the best hugs and kiss and LOVES to snuggle with you.  He also melts down pretty quick over almost anything. I'm still hoping he'll outgrow that one soon.  One of my favorite things Joel does now is pretend to be animals. The other day he was on all fours being a horse and then he was a lion.  He also had the butterfly net out and was playing with it and all of a sudden he brought it to me and said "butt-a"  with his hand inside the net.  I asked him if he had caught a butterfly and he proudly nodded yes.  Then took his hand out of the net and said bye bye to his hand as it fluttered away.  So cute.  Colin rarely calls him Baby Joel anymore.  Guess my baby is growing up. 

Brothers

Race

This past weekend my sister ran a half marathon.  I'm pretty proud of her since I tried to run 4 miles the other day and was glad to see my driveway at the end. She had a great time too so its going to make it really hard to beat her in the 10K we are running in April.  My mom and I drove up early to watch it and met some of sarah's friends there to cheer her on. We saw her around 6 miles maybe and then drove to see her at the finish line. It was fun to see all those runners.  Sarah did great and made it look effortless. I have been inspired to get out and run more since watching all those runners.  I really do love it - just wish I had more time.  Colin was very impressed and keeps telling me Ant Ant won her race.  We're all proud of Ant Ant.

 

A beautiful day

Today we spent a few hours at a fun park with some great friends.  It was a beautiful day and the kids rode bikes, scooters and ran around.  Joel did great on his bike and stayed on for most of the morning. And then he tried out Adah's bike and also loved Noah's scooter.

And at one point I looked and caught this :)  I'm so glad I got the picture.  he'll kill me when he's older but I just love it.  I told him when he finished that I thought the lake looked a lot higher and he just beamed.  Such a boy.

soccer saturday

I think I have decided I like Spring Soccer games better than Fall. Or winter - which is what it felt like today. We were all up at 4am since Colin was having trouble breathing.  The doctor says he is slightly asthmatic so we've been experimenting with his inhalers to see how much he needs when and I think the cold air affects him a lot more than we thought. Poor guy. So it was a good thing we had the early game and of course the Green LeapFrogs won again.  Colin scored 1 goal but I think the goalies are starting to become really good and its making it harder and harder to score on each other. 

 Joel had fun warming up with the teams. 

 And then got upset when he had to leave the field

 Colin spent a quarter being the goalie.  After letting a ball go right through his legs he was bound and determined not to let it happen again. And he blocked a bunch of goals. They didn't score the rest of the game.

A good game. And I'm surprised I got any pictures. My camera screen doesnt work so I can't see what I'm taking.  Makes life really interesting and somewhat exciting to see what I got when I download the pictures.  I really need a new camera for christmas.

harvest fest

On Halloween we were invited by some friends to the Harvest Fest their church was having.  We in turn invited some other friends and had a great time trunk or treating, watching the kids do the bouncy houses (there must have been at least 10 different blow up things), going on a hayride, and playing games.

 

The best picture I got out of the boys that night. You will all be lucky if you get a christmas card from us this year.  Colin was a soldier and Joel was a Redskins player

 Joel, Laura and I.  I met Laura my senior year of college when she and Mike came on staff with Campus Crusade.  Its fun that they live near us now.  Although it does make me feel old every time i see Kaitlin - their oldest.  She was just 3 when I met her :) 

 The family on the hayride. Once again the best we could get :) Thanks Laura for taking these pictures for us.

Colin standing in line at the bounce house.  Madelyn is the angel in front of him.  Colin didnt want to leave and we had to wait until they were actually deflating all the bouncy stuff before he would walk to the car.  Joel loved eating all the candy and was wired the whole way home.  Never give a baby chocolate afer his bedtime :)