Hokie weekend

This past weekend we went to Blacksburg for the Virginia Tech football game. Blacksburg really is one of the most wonderful places on earth and I think I've finally convinced Brent of that fact since as we were driving out of bburg he said "this really would be a fun place to live one day." So there still is hope! We went to my grandparents farm on friday night and then drove to blacksburg Saturday. Colin has always loved going to Hokie games. He was even more excited when he learned we were playing the green team which he called Hogs. I have no idea where he got the hogs but Thundering Herd/Hogs.... same thing maybe :) So Colin cheered for Marshall for a while but then towards the end started cheering for the Hokies. And in classic fashion Colin slept during the first half. Colin told me he wants to go back there next weekend and go to another Hokie game. Colin also got a new hokie hat. Its green camo and he looks so much older in it. Joel did great. He does not like being in the car seat but he didnt' do too bad during the trip and just kept looking at me like "where did you bring me now" He slept through the first quarter and then woke up and watched the rest of the game. He just studied everything. When I asked him at the end if he enjoyed the game, Joel just kept smiling and cooing. I think thats a good sign. My boys did great during the game and we won too which is always fun. I brought my donut to sit on and it was a little strange blowing it up but hopefully my tailbone will start to get better. I had to leave during the 3rd quarter because it was getting rather uncomfortable to sit on. It was fun to slowly walk back to the car around campus. So many memories. Especially walking from AJ to Miles... It was a great weekend. Perfect weather and a great way to start the fall season. And these pictures are thanks to Regis. Last weekend our camera got sand it in and wouldnt work so Regis gave us his camera. Such a blessing since I take pictures every day of the boys. Telling Grandma "Go Hokies" in baby coosPlaying football during our tailgate.
My cousin William is carrying on the tradition and is a freshmen at Tech this year.
Colin was NOT happy to take this picture. He wanted to watch the game. Can't blame him
Hokie baby
Talking and smiling during the gameJoel was all smiles for me in the car after the game
Sunday morning my dad took Colin on a bear hunt around the farm. Good thing they didnt find any!

lots of pictures!

This past weekend was a very fun filled weekend. My sister Sarah and Brent's best friend Regis came down to visit. We had Ant Ant and Re-Re here all weekend long. And it was great. In fact Colin didn't want them to have dinner last night because they were leaving after dinner. And then at 4:00am he woke up crying "I miss Ant Ant and Re-Re." Joel got held by everyone a lot and Colin always had a constant playmate every minute. It was a good break for me too. I always feel like one kid is getting neglected during the day since the baby demands a lot of time and so does Colin so someone is always waiting on the other. Which isn't a bad thing for them to learn but it was great to see both having attention all the time. Very busy but also relaxing too. So please come back soon Ant Ant and Re-Re. We miss you all ready. We always have fun adventures with Sarah and Regis so here are a ton of pictures from this weekend.
The boys swinging on our swing
Of course we headed over to the beach. Here Joel is entertaining Ant Ant with storiesJoel & I
Our beach baby
Smiling at Mommy. Isn't he just too cute!
Jumping waves with Re-Re. Colin LOVES the beach. We stayed all day.
Trying to outrun the waves. Then Saturday night Jamie and Benjamin came over to watch the Hokie Game. This picture was for our California Hokies who we wish could've been watching with us.

Sunday we went to Fort Story to look at the Cape Henry Lighthouses. Colin has a book James and Angela gave him with a picture of the two lighthouses in it and was so excited to climb it. This is the newer lighthouse but the original lighthouse is open to visitors to climb. Unfortunately Colin was too short to climb and was so disappointed. But we have promised him as soon as he gets bigger he can climb it.Regis, Sarah, and Brent at the top
Going down the slide with Regis
My precious baby
Brent and Colin
Regis and Brent - I'm so glad they've been best friends for so long. Everyone needs a Regis in their life
At the VERY last minute Regis and Sarah wanted to go on a dolphin sunset Cruise. We had to get both boys woken up from naps and ready and fed in 10 minutes and then had to be out the door to make the boat. And we did it. I was afraid we weren't going to make it. It was a lot of fun. Colin loved walking around the boat and we saw a few dolphins jump right in front of the boat. And even saw a distressed sailboat rescue. Our boat was going to rescue the boat but then the coast guard came up so we went to go find dolphins. I think everyone on the boat wanted to stay and watch the rescue. It was a beautiful night and a lot of fun. I'm really glad Sarah and Regis decided to do it.
Colin is excited about the dolphins
Our family. Joel slept the whole time until the end when he woke up and was so confused about where he was
And here is what Colin does with me almost every morning. I am trying to get back into shape and lose the baby weight and since I have a limited list of exercises with my broken tailbone this is the extent usually to what we do int the mornings.

A few theological questions and thoughts from a 3 year old

"Mommy how can Jesus be in me heart if he's in your heart. He is just one person" (ummm not sure how to answer that one)

"I don't want Jesus in me heart cause then I can't see him and me want to see him and talk to him."

"When is Jesus coming to me house to play with me toys. Me want to see him"

And after singing a song in the backseat today about Jesus where I thought he said Jesus could share his pasta with him, "mommy Jesus can't eat me pasta. that so dilly (his word for silly) He in me heart."

options

Colin has been perfecting the art of bedtime stalling. Its actually comical sometimes what he comes up with but I have started giving him options when he starts stalling and it seems to work. For example, options of carrots or crackers when he is so hungry his tummy is telling him to "feed me!" Or if he is slowly playing with his toys instead of picking them up he has that option to play for 5 more minutes but doesn't get bedtime stories. He has to decide that minute and then can't complain or whine afterwards or he gets nothing. I think he actually goes to bed faster since we've been doing this. So far so good with this technique. And he will start asking for options for other things like lunches or snacks.
Another thing that Colin has been doing is running to Joel the minute he hears Joel stirring from his naps. He hates the fact that Joel has to sleep. "But he wants to watch his big brother play. I can't see baby joel's eyes. I don't want baby Joel to take a nap." I hear this every day each time I put Joel down to sleep. He will literally sprint if we are outside and he hears Joel on the monitor. He will burst open the door and climb into the crib and cuddle with Joel. Its really cute. But today I saw him practically leap into the crib and it made me worried that he might land on Joel. So I told Colin "you have to be very careful if you want to snuggle with Joel. I don't want you falling on him, kicking him (as he swings his legs over the side of the crib) or sitting on him." To which Colin responded. "Ok - are those my options?" It took me a minute and I realized that Colin hadn't heard me say DON'T as I gave him that list. But my 7 week old baby has outgrown the cradle. He looks so little now in the crib. He was scooting over to the side of the cradle and then getting his legs and arms stuck in the railing and then when he would move I was scared he would break something since he would start struggling and moving his arms and leg. So he's in the crib now. Thank goodness for bumpers. The other day Colin held Joel for almost an hour and they sat and cooed and smiled at each other the whole time. It was so precious.

And Colin wrote me a message yesterday that when translated said "I love you mommy. I so glad you got me baby Joel."

Birthday Surprises

Today when Brent comes home he will be greeted with this. (the sign Colin is holding says Happy Birthday Brent) Yesterday was Brents birthday and since he was going to be in Northern VA for his football fantasy draft I recruited my parents to come over and help put this stand together. We had this swing on our front porch in West Va and wanted to still be able to go outside and swing here. So since we didnt have a front porch we have been talking about building this stand ever since we moved in. Isn't Colin so cute on the swing. Here it is in WVA
And here is is now.
The perfect place to stretch out and relax. I think we'll all be doing this a lot. Thanks Mom and Dad for helping. And thanks Dad for doing most of the work. We love it and the boys and I have been outside swinging a lot already so it will be greatly used. And now we just wait for Brent to come home. I printed the picture at the top out and Colin is going to give it to him at the door when he walks in. Should be fun and hopefully he doesnt suspect anything.

More fountain fun

Yesterday we went back to Waterside for some more Fountain Fun. This time Jamie, Benjamin and Vera came with us. Colin loved it again and we stayed for 3 hours! I was only planning on being there an hour and half at the most. But he loved it. Benjamin loved the water too and would randomly start dancing - so cute. Joel complained about being hot and then fell asleep for the rest of the time in the stroller. They have the fountains on until the end of September so we will definitely be going back.
Aren't these boys cute. They ran around for a while holding hands.
The fountains turned off (They go in cycles and turn off every so often)
I still see some water in there mommy! (at this point i was waiting for the water to go back on at any second)
What a sad face. This time they were off for about 10 minutes and I was excited because then we could go home but right as I got Colin dried off and in the stroller they turned back on for another hour. So we stayed.

tiny grins

Don't you just want to eat him up? I could kiss these cheeks all day.

(its fuzzy because I was trying to hold the camera so Joel couldn't see it since he is very intrigued by the black thing we always dangle in front of him all the time. Colin even runs to get his camera every time Joel is cooing and smiling to try to get a picture. haha but I must have had it on a different setting. But I love this smile nonetheless!

I'll "tect" you mommy

This morning I was going to go for a walk and Colin wanted to come with me. So we went on what we call the "loop - dee-loop" It is by the playground near our house where walking paths go in a huge circle and end up back at the playground. At the end of the loop are some HUGE MEAN dogs that scare me and I usually only go there when Brent is walking with us. They almost jumped the fence once when we were walking by. So I usually go another way at the end. But it was really fun walking with Colin and I don't think he ever stopped talking. And he had to bring his back pack filled with 2 lego men. Haha. So funny. But we got near the mean dogs house and Colin took my hand and said "don't worry mommy. I'll 'tect' you from those big dogs. Its ok. Don't be afraid. I right here next to you." And then proceeded to talk me through every step. "thats good mommy. Just keep walking. We're almost past the house. See the dogs aren't there. They sleeping. I brave and keep you safe." When we got past I told him how safe I felt with him and how brave he was and he puffed out his chest and walked a little taller. And in the picture above he is going after the flies in our garage with his flyswatter. And the swim cap makes him invisible so flies can't see him. I love my big boy Colin.

Here is Joel talking and smiling at his great grandma. We picked up my grandma while my grandpa was getting one of his treatments and Colin was very excited to go to his favorite restaurant - Chick-fil-a. "Ooo-Eee we're going to Chick-fil-a" is all my grandma heard when she got in the car. Colin played and Joel snuggled and talked to Ooo-Eee. And here is Joel protesting the fact that Colin put bunny ears on him.

more fountain fun

We posted a few weeks ago a video of Colin playing in the fountains at the Zoo. Well I found another place that has an interactive fountain so we went this week and met Kelly, RJ and Lucy. It was near Waterside in Norfolk and I hadn't been down there since high school so we got a little lost. I overheard Colin tell RJ a few times "mommy went the wrong way"But we finally made it and its so easy to get to and not too far from us. It was a beautiful day. They had a free paint your own pottery, games for kids to play and a steel drum band playing. And then the fountain turned on. Colin LOVED it. He ran around playing in it and would've stayed all day. Until he fell and then he wanted to come home. And proof that Joel was thereJoel slept most of the time. Woke up to eat and then went back to sleep

And then halfway back to the car Colin decided he wanted to stay (this after telling me he was ready to go home) He then cried the rest of the way, woke up Joel who started to cry because Colin was crying. Colin then stopped crying and then started back again because Joel was crying. It was nap time and everyone was crying. So I did what any great mom would do - took this video :) They both stopped crying when I played it back to them and they slept the whole way home. (and a disclaimer - it is rare that they both cry at the same time. Colin rarely has meltdowns like this. So it is funny to me to watch) Colin then slept 3 more hours that day and right after dinner told me he was tired and wanted to go to bed. WHAT??? This is the kid who never sleeps. We will be going back to the fountain again.

mailbox surprises

This week Colin and Joel received some fun surprises in the mail. My friend Leah made these for the kids. A boppy cover and a crayon holder for Colin. Aren't they amazing? Colin has taken his crayon holder everywhere and loves to sit there and take each crayon out line them up on his table and then put them back. Leah and Ryan live in NJ with their two beautiful kids. Leah is so talented. And she not only sews but she and Ryan have turned their little ranch house into a two story colonial. Brent and I look at their website all the time to get inspired and dream :) Thank you Leah!
And in other news I just found out I have a fractured tailbone. Its still painful for me to sit so I asked the doctor about it when I went to my checkup. And she said that its most likely a fractured tailbone since she didnt see any bruising and I have to wait a month and if it doesnt get better then I have to go see another doctor. Who knew you could fracture tailbones during labor? So I'm hoping it gets better soon. I was excited about getting back into running and will have to wait a little longer for that. I think Sarah might beat me this time in the 8k we're running in November. But we'll see...
At least this little guy is worth it.