Sleep

Colin hasn't taken a nap since the day Joel was born.  But this summer he's been falling asleep in lots of random places. He still wont admit to needing a nap. But you never know when he'll randomly fall asleep. Its usually when we least expect it. 

 Inside his fort.  Brent and Colin will build forts at night while I'm putting Joel to bed.  I came out after Joel was asleep and saw Colin sound asleep in his fort - I think Brent went to get another "friend" (one of Colins stuffed animals) and came back to our sweet boy asleep.

 Around 4pm one afternoon. This didn't last long. Joel thought Bubba needed to be woken up. 

Driving through the tunnel

 At 6pm we went to get Colin for dinner and found him asleep.  He woke up at 7 for a drink of water and then right back to sleep.  Slept until 6. We had spent the morning at the beach with this fun girl.   Colin played hard.  So Kristin I think we need to spent a lot more days like this.

Colin wanted to have a slumber party so last night we pulled out the sofa bed and watched a movie and then the big boys fell asleep.  Joel ended up in bed with me.  Colin wants to do another slumber party where we eat pizza, watch movies, eat popcorn, and play games. And stay up all night long.  I think we'll do it again tomorrow night. We told him his bed needed him back tonight. 

Bowling

 We've been busy marking things off our summer fun list.  Bowling was on the list so today we tried it for the first time. 

 Colin's face this morning when I told him we were going bowling was priceless. He was very excited.  And ended up being really good. He got 2 strikes and 4 spares.

 Joel bowled a little bit and then decided he was done.  It was a lot of work helping him get his ball picked up and then down the lane.  It went soooo slow down the lane but he didn't do too bad.  The hard part at the beginning was making sure he wasn't throwing the ball all over the place. 

 They really loved watching their balls come back to them.

 "go ball go" is what Joel would say as it slowly made its way down towards the pins. He was amazed when he knocked down a few pins. 

 Colin started imitating the other bowlers there by trying to get his fingers in the correct place. After that Joel only wanted to bowl with his fingers in the holes. But then he wouldn't figure out how to get his fingers out of the holes to send his ball down the lane. 

We bowled 2 games.  Which was just enough.  Colin told me he thinks Daddy should work at a bowling alley.  When I asked him why he "I think daddy would be good in a place like this"  haha!   I think that means bowling was a hit with Colin.  A fun morning and another thing crossed off our summer list.

Blueberries

 Today we went blueberry picking. (and yes Joel is wearing the same shirt from yesterday.  He might have worn that shirt Thursday too. He calls it his bumblebee shirt and insists on wearing it) The kids were excited. 

 We have 2 blueberry bushes in our backyard but its just not the same when you get 3 or 4 blueberries a day.  I think all of us ate more blueberries than we brought home.  No one was hungry for the picnic lunch I packed. 

 

 

 Colin got tired at one point and tried to steal Brent's biggest blueberries.

 

 Colin was very particular in only getting the biggest, bluest blueberries in his bucket. He would go through and toss the ones I picked that didnt meet his approval. 

He gets that from Brent.

 Joel was going to pick "one more" blueberry.

 

The annual picture.

Friday night fun

 What we do for fun on a Friday night. We "dump" according to Joel

School

A five year old is so much fun.  Its fun to stay up last reading "just one more chapter" of the Chronicles of Narnia.  Its fun watching Colin want to make a mask store and spend the morning creating masks out of paper plates and feathers. Its fun to spend an entire day at a water park and go down slide after slide with my sweet boy who would exclaim "that was awesome" with a few fist bumps in the air after each one.  Its fun just hearing the funny things that come out of his mouth all the time.

The only bad part about a five year old is that he has to start school in the fall.  As in a few short weeks.  I don't like it.  At all.  I have cried each year on the first day of school watching the school buses go past our house.  In fact the first year when Colin was just a few months old we were helping with freshmen move into WVU and I made a Walmart run that afternoon.  We were stopped at a light and I looked over and saw a mother who was sobbing in the car, having just dropped off her baby at college. I heard Colin cooing in the backseat and started crying too. 

We've been going back and forth about homeschooling/public school and had even found an amazing academy 10 minutes from us that was both. They kids go to school in the morning and then home schooled in the afternoon. The best of both.  I was all ready to sign him up - I loved everything about that school. Still do.  Can't find anything I don't like about the school or the program.  But then I was running by the elementary school we are zoned for and praying about school for Colin and heard God say "send him to school" So of course I was excited about sending him to the academy but then I heard God say "send him here"  To the elementary school.  There are very few times in my life where I've heard a clear voice like that from God.  But I wasn't convinced and spent the next few weeks praying and really going back and forth.  I would run by the public school, cry in the parking lot each time but then kept hearing God say "send him here. I have great plans for him"  So I registered him for school - public school last month.  And I didnt cry when I turned in the paper work.  (I cried in the car a few weeks before when I went to pick up the paper work...)

We sent Colin to VBS with some friends at their church a few weeks ago and he LOVED it.  It was the first time I had ever dropped him off and left him somewhere.  But we thought it would be a good trial for school.  A few nights I went back early to pick him up and was able to watch Colin in his class without him seeing me and he was just beaming.  Loving every minute of it.  And one night as I sat in my car and watched Colin play some sort of tag game outside with his class I heard God's voice again say "Send him to public school.  I have great plans for him."

So I'm writing all this down so that one day Colin can read it and know without a doubt that God has some amazing plan in store for him this next year.  And also so I can read it too as the summer comes to a close and it gets closer and closer to putting my baby on a bus for the morning (good thing its only half a day kindergarten here)

Sunflower Harvest

Colin has 3 sunflowers in his garden.

One of them was ready to harvest.  So Brent cut it down and the boys started to pick out the seeds.

 They didn't finish the first night and today I looked outside and saw the boys sitting in the shade picking out the rest of the seeds.

 Colin had to instruct Joel on how to get out the seeds.

 Colin was very proud of his sunflower and can't wait to roast the seeds so we can eat them.

I love the fact that Joel insisted on wearing a scuba mask and had his tongue out most of the time.  And a soggy diaper that desperately needed to be changed but he refused because he was helping bubba. 

 

They worked for a long time and then had to take a break.  But we have one happy boy that is proud of his harvest.  

(and thats paint not blood. We spent the morning painting)

Glasses

 This weekend Colin wanted to pick out new sunglasses. He was so excited to find these.  Ones that are both glasses and sunglasses. Two for one.

 And it made me smile each time he put them on because it reminded me so much of my glasses back in middle school. 

Birthday Boy

 Happy Birthday Joel!  We started a new birthday tradition of donuts for breakfast.  Or No-nuts as Joel likes to call them.  Both boys liked this tradition and Colin is counting down now until his birthday and we can go get donuts at a real donut restaurant (Dunkin Donuts)

 Bubba was really excited to give Joel his gift so he hid it in the house and then gave Joel clues to follow and go from room to room.  Colin really got into it and Joel had fun too. It was really fun to watch. 

Ma-ma-maa, Grandpa (or dead-pa as it sometimes sounds from Joel), Ooo-eee and Uncle Jeff came over for dinner and cupcakes/ice cream. 

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy.  We love you and can't imagine life without you.  Its hard to believe you are already 2 but at the same time we can't remember life without you.