A beautiful morning

 This morning it was already in the 70s so we went for a bike ride to feed the duck ducks as Joel says.  Joel went on his bike but he still can't reach so I just pushed him. He can put his feet on the pedals if he leans all the way forward in his seat so it wont be long.

 The ducks were ready and waiting for their food.

 See the one ugly one - it took a piece of bread out of Joels hand.

 He was amazed. 

 Colin is very serious when he feeds the ducks.  He will only throw it to a few select "favorites"

 He likes to make sure his favorites gets all the food they need.

 Joel ate a few himself

 Colin also likes to go over to this spot and lure the ducks over to him

 Then after all the bread had been eaten we set off to the playground

 Colin was excited to do the monkey bars all by himself

 Something Ive never been able to do very well myself.

He did it over and over.  My strong boy!  See those black steps behind him - thats where he fell and busted his chin open.  He still loves this playground.  Joel fell and busted his lip on a step on the other side today.  Poor thing whispered "Home peas" after he stopped crying so we went home and a popsicle helped make it all better.  We don't have much luck on this playground. 

child labor

This morning I went for a long run and came back to find the boys hard at work.  Joel was in the middle of it all helping but then got interested in something else.  Its almost time to plant our snow peas and the boys were hard at work moving dirt and digging up the soil.  We make them eat for their food around here :) We also moved our garden to another part of the yard so it'll take a little more work this year. 

 Colin was hard at work

While Brent supervised  :) Thats why you have kids right?  haha

Then a break to eat lunch and watch some tv before nap time. I love how Joel is hugging Colin. 

pictures

 Trying to get to daddy in the attic

 Joel is hugging Colin and in the process knocking down some soldiers. This happens a lot around here. Then Joel doesn't understand why Bubba is so upset.

 Setting the men back up again.

Baby genuis.  Guess what he wrote on the chalkboard?   

Just kidding - Colin really wrote that.  He likes to practice writing his name on the chalkboard.

 Sleepy baby

 Snuggling under blankets with Optimus Prime watching tv

 Colin never likes to wear shoes.  Even in winter

Tickling his big brother

Colin loves Waldo books and will pour over the pictures for hours

Just plain cute

61 days

We just got back from a weekend at the farm.  Or as Colin thinks, we are just back to grab his legos and take them back to the farm where we will stay for 61 days.  Thats how long Colin wanted to stay at the farm. We've been planning this weekend since Christmas when we got my dad basketball tickets for the whole family for Christmas. Sarah and I also celebrated our birthday which is tomorrow.   A pretty good gift I think all around :)  On Friday I went up to Ikea with my mom and Sarah and Brent and my dad had the boys at the farm.  They all had fun tromping through the woods and playing in the creek. Joel did a face plant in the water and the spent the weekend telling me "shoes wet"  (good thing I brought extra shoes) Colin and my dad made a boat to float down the creek out of wood.  I think - Colin is excited about some boat he keeps talking about.  We went to the VT/UVA basketball game on Saturday and had a great time - even though the Hokies lost.  Colin was really upset at the end when he realized the Hokies didn't have the most points.  And then he found out they had stopped selling ice cream so he was really upset after that.  What stadium does that?  Apparently UVA :) 

 

 It was a beautiful weekend and a fun relaxing time at the farm.  A little boys dream to just tromp through the woods, peak into the old chicken coop, and pick your path and adventures.  A lot of work is needed at the farm.  Maybe next time we will stay for 61 days - or at least it will seem like it to my little adventurer.  But knowing him he'll actually count the days and will make sure we do stay for 61 days - if that's still the number in his head.

Love is...

Happy Valentines Day

Here are some more thoughts on LOVE from Colin. He made me write them all down and then I had to read it back to him so he could make sure I got everything.  

1 Corinthians 13:4-9

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Patient:  "patient is another word for wait. When you stand in line you are patient when you wait"

Kind: "well kind is a possom-ability. love is doing nice and even sharing with all your friends. But if you dont share friends dont share but if you do share they will share with you." (haha i love his possom-ability) 

Envy:  "well I can tell you examples of not envy but a little like envy. Like - well I want buzz light-year but friends have it and you can check it out at their house and you can see what it does and then you can get even cooler toys than they have."

Proud: "here is one example of proud because if one guy is angry at you then you say your sorry and then tell him that you are both great."

Self-seeking: "If I wanted to go to a playground that Joel can't do I will help him do it the whole way."

Love always protects: "When you make sure Joel doesn't go the wrong way into the street. I try to catch him."

It was fun memorizing this.  The other day Colin randomly started spouting "love is self-seeking" when were in public.  haha he forgot to add the NOT in there but he was really excited to memorize it.  He had great answers too.  It has really helped too when he gets frustrated or annoyed with us or Joel to talk about how he can show love and I've seen a big difference.  Now we need to pick another passage to memorize. Maybe honor your father and mother :)

 We have had a great Valentines day.  The weather was perfect. Colin was so excited all weekend about a surprise they had for me and then moaned all day Sunday "why is it so hard to keep a secret?"  I was sure he would crack under the pressure but he held strong.  I was surprised with a picture the boys drew and also a ring.  Sometimes it pays to be gone the Saturday before Valentines day :)  (I took a CPR class at my church)

We enjoyed some fun friends coming over to play today. The poor kids have had two weeks of not seeing each other and were going crazy - they were sick one week - we got the stomach thing last week.  And a lunch of mainly cupcakes can make any day seem extra special.  Joel loves his e-nat.  He has named Nathan e-nat and always tells me "e-nats house? shoes? hat?"  and will go get those and stand at the door until mommy takes him to e-nats house. 

Snow!

  We woke up this morning to a few inches of snow on the ground.  The kids couldn't wait to go outside. Even Joel was excited until we got him out in the snow.

 Brent enjoyed pelting Colin with snowballs.  In a few years he better watch out.  These boys will be able to fire back.

  Joel actually liked the snow this time. He had fun walking around and eating the snow.

 Then we got the sleds out and went sledding on the one hill in our neighborhood.

 But before we left Joel pelted Colin right in the face with a snowball. (maybe thats why he had so much fun this time. haha)

 "Mommy I can't see anymore.  My eye is gone!"  said my very dramatic son.

 The sledding was fun. They both really liked it.  And the real sleds worked great.  We almost ended up in the pond we were going so fast. Joel would yell "weeee" the whole way down.  We stayed out almost 2 hours this morning in the snow. The sun is now out and its supposed to all melt away by tomorrow.  My kind of snow :)