Playground fun

 This morning before t-ball we went to see the duck duck and tur-tals (turtles).  Joel LOVES this.  And a few times a day I hear duck duck tur-tal from Joel and he's asking to go feed the ducks.  One day we fed 18 baby ducks.  So cute.  We are also dogsitting this weekend so we took Sampson on a walk - which Colin loved - and stopped to feed the ducks.  Colin always insists on going to a playground afterwards. 

Baseball surprise

Last night when Colin went to bed I told him there would be a surprise on the couch when he woke up.  It was Ant Ant.  She came down to watch Colin play one of his baseball games.  He was so excited.  All these pictures are from her.  It was an exciting game.  One of the players on Colin's team tried to steal 3rd base (which you aren't supposed to do in T-ball I guess)  They are looking more like a regular baseball team and some of these kids have really learned how to hit. 

 Colin is on the right.  He told me he was playing 2nd base so i was video taping the guy on the left for a while.  I think the sort of look alike :)  The boy in the middle is Colin's best friend Noah.

 

 Playing catcher. Colin is number 4.  Ant Ant made a shirt that said "Colin's number 1 fan." Colin thought it should say "Colin's number 4 fan" since he was number four and couldn't figure out why she put number 1. 

 Now he is playing pitcher.  We played 3 innings this time since we were the last game played today.  So they got to try out a bunch of different positions.  (they switch halfway during the inning to a new position)

 He's a natural. Look at that ball going straight for him. 

 I'm not sure if he caught it right away but he took off straight for home to tag that cubs player out. 

 Noah slid into home right before Colin did so Colin had to slide too.  They aren't really supposed to slide but its still fun to do. 

Thanks Ant Ant for coming and cheering for the Braves!

 Joel had a great time today at the game.  He picked flowers and played under a tree with a bunch of older kids. Maybe this whole t-ball thing isn't so bad. 

Knock knock jokes

Knock Knock Jokes from my 21 month old

Joel:  Knock Knock

Mommy:  Who's there?

Joel:  Boo

Mommy:  Boo Who?

Joel:  Shoot!

This is his joke every time.  Pretty good I think :)  Makes us laugh every time

Happy Easter

We have had a busy but fun Easter weekend.  Saturday we had an egg hunt/ cookout with our community group at our house and then later that afternoon had another cookout/Easter meal with the whole family/grandparents and greatgrandparents/ aunts/uncle/cousins.Today after church we had an Easter dinner with our community group and Joel is now napping and Colin and Brent are playing legos on the floor but they might both fall asleep soon too. The egg hunt was so cute.  It was all little boys with Colin being the oldest. I wish we had gotten a picture of all of them together with their baskets.  Colin was fast and might have found most of the eggs.  I don't think he really wanted/knew about the candy inside he just thought it was a contest to see who could get the most eggs the fastest.  So this is mainly what every picture I have of him looks like:

 

 

Colin declared himself the Easter Egg Champion and by looking at his basket I think he was.  But at least Colin started sharing the candy after the egg hunt.  He gave away what he didnt want. Which thankfully was what other people liked so it all worked out I guess.

 Joel was really cute.  He wasn't sure at first but then once he realized there was candy inside he stopped looking for eggs and started eating the candy in the eggs he already found.

 

 

I'm pretty sure all Joel ate yesterday was chocolate and jelly beans. Since Ant Ant had another egg hunt for the kids when we got there.  So he sat and ate more jelly beans.

I need to get the pictures Ant Ant took since she was taking some great ones at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  All I have are of Joel eating Jelly Beans :) 

 This morning before church I might have taken my new favorite pictures of the boys.  All three of them :)

The boys love to pick the flowers for mommy and put them in my hair.  Joel couldn't nap one day because he had to go outside and get flowers for "mommy's air" So he got flowers and put them in my hair and then took a nap. They are picking flowers for mommy in this picture.

Big Boy Bed

This little guy is sleeping in a big boy bed now. We're taking the toddler bed/crib down this weekend.  I guess I no longer have a baby.  He's been coming in bed with us since Christmas. I think I can count on one hand the number of times he has stayed in his own bed.  Usually this is what happens sometime in the middle of the night:

He likes to say "sleep mommy" and he does end up sleeping with mommy most nights. He doesn't start out that way but eventually sometime during the night he ends up that way.  I blame Brent :)  Back around Christmas Brent would go in the twin bed in Joels room in the mornings and they would fall back asleep for a few more hours and then everyone would wake up at a normal/reasonable hour instead of the 4/5am wake up that Joel wanted.  Brent was trying to be nice and let me sleep a few more hours then.  But then it became 10/11pm when Joel would wake up and only want to sleep in our bed.  Over the past few months we've discovered this boy moves in his sleep.  He is all over the bed.  And with Brent and I plus Joel in a double bed its too many people.  So we're hoping he'll sleep better in a regular twin bed and wont wake himself up as much.  He made it until 3:00am the other night until coming in bed with us. Progress!  One night a few weeks ago Brent came home after being out with some friends and frantically woke me up. He came home to Joel's door wide open, the bed rail on the other side of the room, and the crib mattress flipped over.  And a peaceful sleeping Joel was snuggled up next to me.  And I had no clue :)  The monitor was turned up all the way too (he is just across the hall but if you can hear him starting to wake up usually we can intercept him before he makes it into our bed) I still have no idea what happened that night. Guess I never will know what woke him enough to flip his mattress and fling his heavy bed rail across the room without waking me up. I hope he starts sleeping all night in his big bed.  But I do love all the snuggles and the hugs and kissses at night from Joel.  And his sleepy "wvu you mommy" as he climbs into bed next to me and snuggles close and falls back asleep.

Good thing Colin is sleeping amazingly lately.  I never thought that would happen :) But he does complain about his bed.
"Mommy I can't sleep - my back hurts." 
Why does your back hurt?
"Because of the springs in the mattress.  Have you ever heard of a sleep number bed?  They are great for your back and no springs! I need a sleep number bed to really get great sleep. Mommy can we get a sleep number bed? "
This goes on and on every few nights.  He is very informative about the sleep number beds. The little commercial he saw really stuck with him.  He could really be a spokesperson for the sleep number beds.

Just one of those days

Father/son

Hard workers

Yesterday we started a project we've been thinking about and planning for a while now. We've needed some type of awning on our patio to block the sun because in the summer its HOT.  As in 100 degrees in our back room hot. With all the sun beating in we've needed to do something.  After last summer we learned that any outside projects need to be started in the spring so we're not sweating through it all summer.

The patio will be expanding too but that will come next summer since Brent quit his job and will be starting a new business Monday.  So we need to see how that goes before we start spending lots of money.  Thought I'd throw that in there :) He'll be doing the same thing - just hopefully with more money coming in.

So its a good thing we have some free laborers willing to work for cookies and Popsicles :)  We got a lot done yesterday and I'm excited to see it all finished and hope it makes for a much more enjoyable summer.  And hopefully this will not take all summer to finish.

 A different day - same jacket.  But Spiderman does have to sleep every now and then.  Saving the world is pretty tiring work

Spider Man

 SpiderMan has come to live at our house.  Little one LOVES Spider Man even though he doesn't know who Spider Man is or has ever seen anything but this rain coat that Colin has.  We're finding Joel has a thing for superheros.  He loves Batman and anything Batman related.  He now has a Batman shirt, socks, and action figure.  I think we should add Spiderman to the list now.

 Joel will wear this (way too big for him) jacket all the time.  And loves it.  It doesn't bother him that half the time he can't use his hands when wearing the jacket.  He is SpiderMan. And thats all that matters. 

It not all fun and games being Spider Man.  Sometimes you have to walk cautiously when there are bad guys around.  Or just your big brother trying to get his toy airplane back that you have hidden in your jacket.Same thing.

T-ball

 This morning we had our first t-ball game. It was so cute.  Colin is on the Braves team and has really enjoyed it so far. There is a lot to learn.  All the different positions, bases, rules.  Its a lot but Colin just loves it.  I wasn't sure how he'd like it since there is a lot of standing around in tball but he likes it so far.   Noah is on his team again. I hope they can always be on the same team.  Makes it more fun for all of us :)  And another boy from his soccer team is on it - Austin. Colin was really excited about that.  The game was hilarious.  The kids were so cute. Colin thought he should run all over the field to get the ball first.  And then no one knew where to throw the ball once they got it.  But the coaches are so patient and really encouraging.  The coaches thought it was great how Colin always replies "yes" or "ok" whenever they tell him anything.  I took all these pictures on manual.  It was a cloudy day so I think I still have a lot to learn.  But I just guessed at the settings. 

 (Colin is number 4)

Its so fun to see Colin play sports and see his big smile he has the whole time.  Joel isn't too enamored with the whole baseball season but once it warms up I think he'll have more fun. He has one more year before he can start soccer.  Which is crazy to me that Joel only has one more year.  We play until June I think and I know Colin would love to have a cheering section. He told me he plays better when people come to watch. Smart kid :)