My Day

 Transformers. Or "more-more" as Joel calls them

 Coloring.  They made their own Iron Man drawings. They called them Iron Man because there are iron man stamps all over their people.  I think I need to work on my face drawings :)

 Joel wanted to pee on the potty.  Nothing came out but he was very proud of himself. 

 Contemplating what they could do with the cushions on top of the ottoman.

 It didn't take long for them to come up with this. 

Dessert Murder Mystery

Last night our community group had a Dessert Murder Mystery night.  It was so much fun. Earlier in the week we got our characters. I was Pepper Keegrip, a television producer who liked to sing everything and Brent was Bill Shananagan, an obnoxious NFL coach.  haha fit him perfectly I thought :)  The fun part was the person who delivered our characters rang our doorbell, and then when I opened the door they sped off in their car so we didn't know who did it. 

 We had to come masked and the boys had fun picking out masks for us. 

And this is just to show my dress. Sarah got it for me marked down to $3.  Isn't she amazing?  She can find some great deals. 

There were several rounds where we had to mingle and find out all we could about each other.  Everyone stayed in character the entire night which made it really fun.  We had different clues we were supposed to bring up in our conversations.  Before each round we would take a few minutes and read our cards. 

And at the last round the ghost of the deceased came walking in and we had to figure out who did it.  For a few minutes at the end I thought I might have been the murderer but I'm glad to say it wasn't me.  Even though he was my arch enemy :) 

It was really fun and we just love this group of people. 

We were out really late and came home to this:

 Ant Ant and Joel snuggled up fast asleep. 

wuv

Joel has learned to say "wuv u" and its so cute.  The other day he said "mommy wuv u"  and gave me a hug.  Love it.

Spring planting

 Spring is here.  And we have started on our gardens.  We now have 4 gardens. Each of the boys have their own garden and then Brent has a few himself. (the picture above is of the kids gardens.  Colins is on the left, Joel's is on the right)  Colin was very excited about picking what he was going to plant.  He picked snow peas, watermelon, sunflowers, and squash.  I think they planted the snow peas and a few watermelon so far. 

 Joel really enjoyed planting his snow peas.

 He took his time and was very careful about placing each seed in the ground.

 Colin and Daddy having a talk about how to plant watermelon seeds

 I'm not sure how many ended up in the garden but we'll see if any come up. 

 We realized we didnt have any watering cans so this was our makeshift watering can.  I have since gotten the boys watering cans so they can water their gardens. 

 Joel has learned that Daddy's water barrel has a hose and its fun to water his garden with the hose.  

We'll be lucky if anything survives in Joels garden but at least he's having fun.

This is where we moved Brents garden to.  As you can see it still needs a little work.  But its doubled the size of his old garden and will hopefully produce lots of veggies for us this summer. 

A genius

Its no secret I have the smartest boys.  At least I think so.  But my 20 month old can find Waldo.  Or Wah-wah as he calls him.  Colin loves Wheres Waldo books and will spend hours looking at them.  So Joel figured he should join in and now they look at them together. 

 Its amazing how fast Joel can find him.  I just tried to post a video but it wasn't loading.  There is one page that has stumped Joel and its funny to hear him say "wah-wah are you?  wah-wah hiding."

And sometime he just wants the book to himself so he will lay on top of it so that it prevents his older brother from finding wah-wah first. 

 

Another thing Joel is obsessed with are puzzles.  He will spend all day with two of our puzzle books and taking it apart and then putting it back together.  From the time he woke up today until right before bedtime he only wanted to do his puzzles. 

My smart boy. 

perspective

Today while I played with my boys, my sister in Japan was packing up all her stuff because she has to evacuate. Without my brother. He has to stay there for now.  I'm not sure of many details.  I basically read the news, check Angela's facebook and twitter to make sure they are ok and find out the real news. And then call my mom to see what she has heard.  I can't imagine what they are going through. The lack of food, water, aftershocks, even just all of what James when through on the train.  But for the moment I know they are safe.  James was supposed to be on the train that went missing but because of a meeting that went late he took a different train.  God protected him through all that and more.  But it has made me look at life a little different this week.  To really see what matters.  Not the stuff in our life but the people.  Stuff can easily be replaced.  I'm not sure when Angela will be able to return to Japan or see James.  I'm praying they don't have to be apart for very long. I'm excited to be able to see her but really wish it was under different circumstances. Please keep praying for them and for all of Japan. It is far from over. 

So I'm enjoying moments like this. When the boys see Daddy's truck outside and wait until Daddy walks in the door and then fling themselves into his arms. They are just bursting with excitement watching Daddy walk up the driveway.  Because this is what life is all about.

Trains

I got the trains out the other day when my friend Jessica and her son were over.  Joel is at the perfect age to begin getting into them.  And he has played with them almost every day since.

Flowers

Today I took Colin grocery shopping.  He was a huge help and when I got near the donut selection I was just waiting for him to ask for his donut (his treat usually. I try to make it so its at the end of the shopping)  But today instead of a donut he saw the flowers and he got so excited. "mommy I'm going to get you a surprise. Its going to be soooo beautiful.  Just like you."  And he went over to pick some flowers for me.  Of course I'm not going to say no :)  And I had to talk him out of the most expensive arrangement.  "But mommy you are so beautiful  I want the best for you and these are the most beautiful and the best."  After that I almost put that expensive arrangement in my cart!  But he settled on one bouquet and proudly put it in his little shopping cart.  Kroger has the kids carts which are fun.  And then he went over to the self check out and scanned his cart and was very careful with his flowers.  The whole time with the most precious smile on his face and he kept telling me I was even more beautiful than the beautiful flowers he got me.  It was hard not to tear up but I didn't want him to think I was sad and instead I told him how special he made me feel and how much I love my flowers.  I love being a mom to boys. 

Japan

***UPDATE***

JAMES IS HOME NOW. 
I don't know much more than that but he is home with Angela.

We don't usually watch the news around here.  The most I read is whatever is on the yahoo homepage.  Playhouse Disney and Sprout always make the TV watching list. By the time the kids are in bed I'm usually headed to bed myself. But today we've been watching the news since my brother and sisterinlaw are living in Japan.  According to my mom Angela was driving when the earthquake happened and my brother was on a train.  He's still stuck on the train. This is what Angela said on facebook:

Please continue to pray for James. He is still stuck on a train in Northern Japan. It looks like he will be there at least through the night (It's 9:20 pm right now.) He said it is pitch black, freezing, and they are still getting heavy aftershocks. He is in a nuclear powered area, which creates more problems. He turned his phone off so that he had enough power to call me in the morning.

So please be praying for my brother and sister in law and everyone else over there.  I think his train is stopped partway on a bridge.  Colin keeps asking to watch the BBC so he can get a glimpse of Uncle Opie. (I told that to my grandpa and he said he was doing the same thing)  After praying for James and Angela this morning Colin said that the people on the train were safe because his Uncle Opie was with them.

If you want to read about their Japanese adventures:  http://wanderinghokies.com/

* he is now safely off the train and in a shelter with food and water.  Thanks for your prayers

Marriage

This sweet boy wants to marry me when he grows up.  He loves to tell me how when he gets older he will ask my parents for a ring and then marry me.  (He always says parents - never grandpa and ma-ma-maa.  I'm not sure he thinks they are my parents - they are his grandpa and ma-ma-maa) But he gets so tickled over the fact that he will marry me and has been telling me for weeks now.  He ignores the fact that I am already married to his dad.  He always tells me that after he gets the ring from my parents he will tell me how beautiful I am and make me feel special every day.  His wife will be lucky lady :) 

When you ask Joel who he is going to marry he always says Ant Ant.  Always. 

what a week

Yesterday I got pulled over... Today Colin puked all over the back of the car.  I dont think we're going anywhere tomorrow.

(and it wasn't for speeding.  I'm still not sure why I got pulled over - the officer was yelling at me for blocking traffic but I wasn't. I was trying to merge into traffic that was stopped because of the downtown tunnel.  A car was letting me in when the officer pulled me over onto the painted median and then got in trouble because I crossed the solid white line.  The officer scared the boys, made me cry and then gave me a warning " well just don't do it again" and stopped traffic himself to let me back in) 

(and today was so pathetic. Colin projectile vomited in the back seat and I gave him a jacket to wipe himself up but he said he was fine and left the puke all over his face. so not only did i have to think about cleaning up the mess but had  to see his disgusting face each time I looked back to see how he was doing. poor thing)

Sunny spring days

 Today a toy car...

 Tomorrow they will both be driving off in real ones (or at least it will seem like that)

 Colin is already asking when he can drive a real car.

Joel just wants to have the toy car all to himself.

Sneak Peak

This week we have been enjoying warm weather, wearing flip flops and t shirts outside.  NOT today.  Today it was COLD very COLD with bitter winds.  And today was the day I signed up for a sneak peak at the zoo of their new Tiger exhibit. Of course :)  It'll almost double the zoo and we've been waiting all year for it to open.  Our friends braved the cold with us.  And it wasn't too bad if we kept moving and didn't stand still for long.  The actual exhibit wont open until April but members got to go this week and get a taste of what it will be like.  We got to see a few animals but most of them were still be quarantined and weren't out.But it was great to hear from the zoo keepers what animals were going to be in which exhibit and more about the animals. I wish the zoo keepers were out each time we went.  I learned a lot and can't wait to see it all finished. 

 It was fun to run around and see the kids excited. I don't think I've ever been more excited about going to see the snake exhibit as I was today since its really warm there :) 

 We got to be up close to the elephants and giraffes.

 Joel was excited.  Joel walked most of the time but still didn't take a long nap.  There is something really wrong about this kids sleep patterns.  Good thing he's so cute and love-able :)

 Isn't this a sweet picture of Colin and Adah? 

 Something about the elephants made Colin really excited.

Colin used to be taller than Noah but I think Noah has grown a lot this winter.  Joel is trying so hard to be right up there with them.  It was a fun morning and now I'm trying to decide whether to renew or membership for another year or do the Botanical Gardens this time.  Our membership to the zoo ends this month.  The whole tiger exhibit opens next month.  Isn't that always how it goes?