wedding weekend

This past weekend my friend Sam got married. It was a beautiful wedding and we had lots of fun.  Sam and Mick are a really fun couple and just perfect for each other. The wedding was held in a really pretty park overlooking the river.  Colin ate chocolate chip cookies all night and Joel got passed around and got lots of attention.  Colin also made a new friend in Mick (the groom) and while he doesn't want to go to a wedding anytime soon he does want to go back and play with his new friend.  Sam looked beautiful and it was such a pretty wedding.  We loved the park and the reception was in an old bank.  Such a cool building.  It even still had the old bank vault that the kids found fun to play in.  A very fun day for us all.

Playing in the dirt

We have been playing outside a lot this week.  Brent and Colin pulled up most of the plants in the garden so now there is a huge dirt/mud pit for Colin to play in.  He loves it.  Usually Joel will just sit and watch but today I put him in one of Colin's trucks.  He loved it. Colin laughed and giggled the whole time. He thought it was great to have Joel playing with him.

Joel LOVED it and thought he was a big boy sitting there all by himself.

Until he saw this truck.  Then the thrill of his little truck was gone.

Can you believe it?

Can you believe I am old enough for this?  I can't either but I love spending all my time in it now.

redskins

Sunday Brent wanted me to take some pictures of him and the boys in their redskins gear before the game. Brent was hopeful this week. Poor guy
The boys were disgusted
Better luck next time (and by next time I mean next year)

a long lost friend

Monday night we had a long lost friend over for dinner. She wasn't really lost and we've been in touch over the years but we met Kristin our first year on staff at West Virginia. I don't think we've seen her since we left staff with crusade. She was in our freshmen bible study and we became great friends. (she was one of the girls I stalked for a while the first few weeks of school because i loved her instantly and wanted her in our bible study) She even went with us on a summer project to Snowridge in Colorado the summer of 05. We just love Kristin. And in fact she was one of the first ones we told when were pregnant with Colin after we told our family. We were mean and made her keep it a secret for a few weeks :) She shares a birthday with Colin and saw him probably within hours of his birth.
She has since graduated from wvu and is an intern with campus crusade for christ in the Hampton Roads area. They are starting crusade here and she is one of the ones helping to launch ministries at cnu and odu. I still can't believe it took us 2 months to get together since she's moved here but we are excited she is so close and hope we can get together a lot. After she left Colin said "that was fun mommy. lets do it again." And for fun here is Kristin with Colin when he was 12 months. Which may have been the last time she saw him before this week.And Krisin and I right before we went on a hiking/camping trip in Colorado. Brent and I loved that summer assignment. One day we hope to go back.

tickle monster

Growing up my dad would become tickle monster where he would sometimes take a big pillow, put it over top of us so we couldn't move and then tickle us. A cruel punishment :) and a form of torture in some countries I've heard. But we loved it. Now however the tables are turned and Colin is the tickle monster. And with all this rainy weather we've been having the boys and I have been reading a lot of books on the couch together. I love how both boys are really into this book. We've read it over and over. Good thing it goes back to the library this week

zoo fun

Yesterday we went to the zoo with Jamie and Benjamin. It was an overcast windy day which kept most people away but made it perfect for the boys to just run around. We rode the train, saw Joey of course and even got to see the baby lion cubs that were born this summer. Colin said the best part was chasing the goose with Ben and Jamie. There was a newborn Bongo baby born the day before that Jamie and I were excited to see but it wasn't up against the fence like they said. maybe next time. It was a fun morning and a great way to get the boys out of the house especially since its supposed to rain the next few days.
They both love Joel so much.
His nose is even like a fun button to push (one of these days Joel will learn he doesn't have to sit there and take it)
Watching an elephant poop
Jamie and Benjamin
Joel really likes sucking on these two fingers lately
Watching a giraffe eat its breakfast. I never knew their tongues were that long

Tickle spot

Today I found Joel's tickle spot so I grabbed the camera. He still laughed but you can tell is trying to figure out what I'm holding in my hand.

Destiny comes to town

So we have lived in our house for a year now and Destiny has come to visit 3 times. whats wrong with the rest of you? haha :) just kidding. We love having Destiny here and I think Colin always cries when she leaves. We went down to the beach of course and Colin loved playing on the playground that is right on the beach and also liked playing in the water. We went back to the beach the next day but the wind was so strong it was blowing sand and after dragging all our stuff down to the beach Colin immediately wanted to leave. But the best part was going to play putt-putt. We had a coupon for a free game of putt-putt at two different places and Colin picked the pirate one. Of course. There was only us and another couple there the whole day (we could play all day) so we took our time and Colin got to play his favorite holes over and over and over and over. Perfect for him. And the best part - they had this huge pirate ship you could play on. I didn't think we'd ever get Colin off the ship. We even left, had lunch, went down to the boardwalk and then came back to play more. AND Colin got TWO HOLES IN ONE! I was very impressed. The first time he did it he was so excited. "mommy I just hit the ball and it went under the bridge and then right into the hole! SO FUN!" So he tried for a long time after that to do it again and believe it or not he did! I can't even hit it in the hole when its 2 inches from the hole. He didn't get his golfing skills from me. Good thing we didn't keep score. It was a great start to the weekend and we're sad that Destiny is gone now. But hopefully she will come back again very soon.

Pumpkin time

Sunday after church we decided to go to a pumpkin patch. I had read about a farm in Pungo with a hayride and pumpkins. We got to the farm and there was no one there. So I called the number and they said they didn't have pumpkins this year. (when I went back home I pulled up the website I had looked at to prove to Brent I wasn't wrong and it did say sept 09 they had pumpkins!) So we went to the farmers market instead and let the boys pick out pumpkins. Colin picked out a small one for Joel who looked like he just wanted to slobber on his. Then Colin found the biggest one there and said that he wanted that pumpkin. It was over 80lbs and cost $100. I told him we needed to eat this week and couldn't buy him that big pumpkin to which he replied "we can eat my pumpkin. Its pretty big" ha! good try. So he settled on a really tall skinny one and still isn't that excited about it but its growing on him. Joel keeps looking at his pumpkin and wondering what it is.

The one he wanted and the one we came home with.

Men do it!

Saturday morning Brent took Colin fishing at a lake near his office. They stock it with fish and when Brent was in training 2 years ago he would go fishing during their lunch breaks. Colin was very excited and I really thought they would catch something because Brent always used to get one a day it seemed. Sadly they didn't as Colin explained to me how the fish were sleeping that day. But the greatest thing Colin keeps telling me is that "mommy men do it" He kept repeating it and then the whole story came out. Men can potty behind a tree.

Cutest baby

Colin says we have the cutest baby in the world. And who can argue with a face like this.

dont get any ideas...

But Colin fell in love with a hamster named Elvis yesterday. My sister Mary was home for the weekend and was pet sitting a hamster. Colin LOVED it. He kept waiting for Elvis to wake up so he could play with him. He would walk by the cage or just sit by the cage going "hey little guy" So cute. It would make a great weekend pet so anyone out there who would like us to pet sit a hamster we'd gladly take one for a few days. No more than that.

candy corn

I don't think Joel likes being a candy corn. But he sure is cute!

Mess

Tonight as I was getting ready for bed I passed a pile of Lincoln Logs in my room under the cradle from "sally's house" that we were building this afternoon. They ended up in my room from the garbage truck who hauled it away after the wind knocked it down. I guess underneath the cradle was colin's new landfill.

A Lego girl is on my sink in the bathroom carefully placed so Mommy would have company while in the bathroom.

A pile of books are in Colin's bathroom for his "potty reading"

The dinning room table is the big fire station where every firetruck, fire man, and anything else designated as a fire rescue vehicle is carefully placed underneath each night.

A pile of clothes are in the corner of Colin's room because he proudly gets dressed every morning before he comes out of his room. He also gets undressed himself before bath and then gets his pjs on all by "me self!" He deposits the used clothes in the pile and is very proud of the system he has for his clothes. I am very amused some mornings by his choice of clothes and especially love the shorts that are worn backwards.

Under a stool in the hallway is a pile of bandaid wrappers (not used bandaids thank goodness). Colin would get his bandaids for his stitches ready and wanted to put them in his landfill (this was the previous landfill for all the legos and lincoln logs) He is very proud of his landfill at the moment.

My house might not be the cleanest and yes these piles that Colin makes do drive me crazy sometimes. But there is going to come a day when my boys will not be living at home and unfortunately that day will come much too soon. And then my house will be spotless and I will wish there was a lego girl greeting me from the bathroom sink every morning. So for now I will go to bed smiling at the landfill in my room and wait until morning when Sallys house will be built again. This time hopefully able to withstand hurricane winds.

wish we could stop time

This little boy is growing up way too fast. Its hard to believe he will be 3 months next week. He is the sweetest baby and has the greatest smile that melts your heart. We all fight to be the one to hold him. Especially his big brother. Joel is learning how to play with toys although he spends most of his day watching his big brother play. Sometimes its almost like he's trying to figure out how he can do what Colin is doing. He's already trying to keep up. Joel loves to talk to my baby doll Pam. She will hold his attention forever and he loves to smile and talk to her. We really do need to get a video of it. And he also talks to the giraffe on his wall. Says the same thing every day every time I feed him since the rocker is right there. Wish I knew what it was.This morning I put Joel down to play while I finished getting dressed and came back to see Colin had turned his chair in the opposite direction. He told me he wanted to watch baby Joel play. Everything Joel does is fascinating to Colin. Its a mutual admiration right now. And Joel likes to say "mah-a-ma' when he's tired and Colin is convinced he says mama. I'm not arguing that one :) My boys are genuises :) And these babies are growing so fast. RJ and Lucy came over this morning to play and Joel looks like he's flexing his muscles for Lucy. Lucy in typical girl fashion isn't paying attention at all :)

Stitches are out!

This brave boy is stitch free now! Actually its been a few days but they are out and he was so brave. He wanted Brent to take him and at first I was a little sad because I wanted to be there to comfort him but it was probably better. Especially since I held his head the whole time last time and almost lost it several times. He probably could feel that mommy was a nervous wreck thinking about it. Colin came home so relieved. It was like a huge weight had been lifted and our happy boy was back again. Brent said Colin was very brave but halfway through said "daddy lets whack the doctor and run!" So glad its done with. But considering he was out jumping off the roof of his climbing thing in the back yard this is only the beginning.my brave boys on their way to get the stitches out

A New friend

Today we made a new friend. Her name is Sarah and she and her husband just moved here this summer. Her husband is in the Coast Guard and was sent to Africa right after they moved here which was also weeks after their wedding. Sarah's sister is my friend Abbey who I went to college with. And Sarah also went to Virginia Tech - its great to have another hokie friend. (you can never have too many) We met up with Sarah and rode the ferry across from Portsmouth to Norfolk and then went on the USS Wisconsin. Colin loved the ferry and was excited to ride it twice. And he really liked the big guns on the USS Wisconsin. The cannons he calls them. Sarah was great and became Colin's best friend and took him all over the ship. I had to have the stroller in my sight at all times (a stupid rule in my opinion) and there were parts of the ship where you had to climb the stairs to the top. We were only allowed on the top of the ship but I had no idea how many levels were at the top. Sarah graciously took Colin or stayed with Joel so I could climb more steps. It was a fun day and we're excited to get to know Sarah and Brian more while they are stationed here.

In front of the cannons

Colin and his new best friend. He thinks everyone with the name sarah is great. My sister who he calls Ant Ant is also a Sarah and he told me that Sarah's are fun. But don't worry Ant Ant he still wants to call you Ant Ant. Joel looking around on the ship.
And many of you have been asking about Colin. Thanks so much for the notes and comments. He is doing much better. He felt awful tuesday and wednesday and we had major meltdowns until I finally started giving him milkshakes with tylenol in it since he wouldn't take it any other way. He had a hard time eating because he kept popping his jaw out when they were stitching him up and then he is very bruised from the fall. It looks awful. Today was a much better day and he said he doesn't hurt as much - it just itches. So we have been trying hard to keep him from scratching them. But that is so hard. Good thing we only have a few more days until they take the stitches out. He had fun with the bandaid box today while I was putting Joel down for a nap. Colin also likes to say he had 11 stitches instead of 4. Probably felt like that to him.And when you baby brother is so cute its important to get just the right camera angle :)