Race

This past weekend my sister ran a half marathon.  I'm pretty proud of her since I tried to run 4 miles the other day and was glad to see my driveway at the end. She had a great time too so its going to make it really hard to beat her in the 10K we are running in April.  My mom and I drove up early to watch it and met some of sarah's friends there to cheer her on. We saw her around 6 miles maybe and then drove to see her at the finish line. It was fun to see all those runners.  Sarah did great and made it look effortless. I have been inspired to get out and run more since watching all those runners.  I really do love it - just wish I had more time.  Colin was very impressed and keeps telling me Ant Ant won her race.  We're all proud of Ant Ant.

 

A beautiful day

Today we spent a few hours at a fun park with some great friends.  It was a beautiful day and the kids rode bikes, scooters and ran around.  Joel did great on his bike and stayed on for most of the morning. And then he tried out Adah's bike and also loved Noah's scooter.

And at one point I looked and caught this :)  I'm so glad I got the picture.  he'll kill me when he's older but I just love it.  I told him when he finished that I thought the lake looked a lot higher and he just beamed.  Such a boy.

soccer saturday

I think I have decided I like Spring Soccer games better than Fall. Or winter - which is what it felt like today. We were all up at 4am since Colin was having trouble breathing.  The doctor says he is slightly asthmatic so we've been experimenting with his inhalers to see how much he needs when and I think the cold air affects him a lot more than we thought. Poor guy. So it was a good thing we had the early game and of course the Green LeapFrogs won again.  Colin scored 1 goal but I think the goalies are starting to become really good and its making it harder and harder to score on each other. 

 Joel had fun warming up with the teams. 

 And then got upset when he had to leave the field

 Colin spent a quarter being the goalie.  After letting a ball go right through his legs he was bound and determined not to let it happen again. And he blocked a bunch of goals. They didn't score the rest of the game.

A good game. And I'm surprised I got any pictures. My camera screen doesnt work so I can't see what I'm taking.  Makes life really interesting and somewhat exciting to see what I got when I download the pictures.  I really need a new camera for christmas.

harvest fest

On Halloween we were invited by some friends to the Harvest Fest their church was having.  We in turn invited some other friends and had a great time trunk or treating, watching the kids do the bouncy houses (there must have been at least 10 different blow up things), going on a hayride, and playing games.

 

The best picture I got out of the boys that night. You will all be lucky if you get a christmas card from us this year.  Colin was a soldier and Joel was a Redskins player

 Joel, Laura and I.  I met Laura my senior year of college when she and Mike came on staff with Campus Crusade.  Its fun that they live near us now.  Although it does make me feel old every time i see Kaitlin - their oldest.  She was just 3 when I met her :) 

 The family on the hayride. Once again the best we could get :) Thanks Laura for taking these pictures for us.

Colin standing in line at the bounce house.  Madelyn is the angel in front of him.  Colin didnt want to leave and we had to wait until they were actually deflating all the bouncy stuff before he would walk to the car.  Joel loved eating all the candy and was wired the whole way home.  Never give a baby chocolate afer his bedtime :)

Soldier

Our church had their annual chilicook off and kids costume party last weekend.  Colin wanted to be a soldier.  A Hokie soldier. (we didn't dress Joel up. he takes everything off we put on him)

Happy Friday

Colin LOVES this video.  We have to watch it over and over.  Just a glimpse into what I talk about all day with two boys. 

 Also this is how Colin will sleep sometimes.  Crazy to me.  He doesn't start out in that position. Guess he thinks its comfy.

And this sweet boy can fall asleep anywhere. Maybe if he'd start sleeping all night he wouldn't have to choose between lunch and sleep.

Fierce Face

Joel also makes the Fierce Face that both Colin and I used to make.

 This was me

This was Colin. 

He also LOVES paint,marker,crayons, pencils, pens. You name it.  He will stay at the table and color for at least an hour if we let him.  We are still working on only keeping it on the paper.  He prefers the tv stand, walls, and table.  The magic eraser is a wonderful invention.  Somehow he can find any pencil or marker even though we try hard to keep them out of reach.  He also knows about the Color Wonder markers.  He'll find a marker, take off the top and if it doesnt leave a mark on his hand then he won't use it.  He only wants to use the real ones.  Smart kid.  This one keeps us on our toes thats for sure.  Good thing he's so cute :)

TV time

My grandparents got new furniture so we got their old couch - sooo comfy and this big green recliner.  Its very comfortable just very big and we have no idea where to put it.  We've rearragned the room several times and I keep getting out the tape measure. So for now until we can figure out something its in the middle of the room.  But the boys dont seem to mind.  They climb up into it to watch their tv shows together.

fun friends

Saturday afternoon we had some fun friends visit.  Matt was visiting Kristin from West Va and it was fun to catch up with both of them. I don't think we've seen Matt since Colin was Joel's age. Matt was in brents bible study at least a year.  Maybe more?  The years all blend together sometimes!  Joel warmed up fast to both of them and once Matt started playing soldiers with Colin he became a friend for life. 

 Joel loves Kristin

 Kristin is great with Colin.  He loves her.

And kristin is great at holding Colin and forcing him to get a picture when he doesnt want to :) Thanks for coming over and hanging out with us for an afternoon.  And hopefully we wont go so long before seeing Kristin again.  Since she does live in va beach now :)

Pumpkin Patch

This morning after Colin's soccer game we headed over to the pumpkin patch.  (Colin won his game of course and had a great time.  Its so fun to watch him play) The kids had a blast picking pumpkins. Brent told Colin he had to be able to pick up his pumpkin (if you remember the pumpkin Colin wanted last year) And Colin tried to find the heaviest/biggest one he could pick up. Of course.

But he picked a perfectly round GREEN pumpkin.  I mean was there any doubt after seeing pumpkins can also come in Green?

Joel was incredibly cute.  He's always cute but the expression on his face as he ran from pumpkin to pumpkin was priceless.

Noah and Colin found a rotten pumpkin that was gross and squishy.

 Joel needed to take a closer look.

 

We went on a horse drawn hay ride and Colin got to shuck his own popcorn. And then we left.  Colin wanted to stay and do the corn maze and all the kids games but Joel was ready for a nap so we might go back and do the rest another day. But for now our green pumpkin is proudly on display in our dinning room. 

Football Weekend.

This past weekend we went to Blacksburg for a football game. Brent took Friday off and we headed to the farm.  The kids had a blast playing in the creek - especially since Ant Ant let them get wet!  Then on saturday drove to Blacksburg to watch the hokies beat central michigan.  Colin hasn't liked the hokies since we took him to the marshall game last year and they beat the green team.  So the whole way up in the car he was saying "GO Chippawawas!"  and then I would say "Go Hokies"  and after a while Colin said "mommy are you trying to make me change who i'm rooting for because its not working."  haha

He had this whole routine where he would said "Grandpa ask me who i'm rooting for?"  and then he would say "Go Chippawawas!" He thought it was great to egg on all the family members since he knows this family loves the hokies.

Joel thinks the Hokies are #1.  He even started saying something like "eeesss" when I'd ask him to say hokies.  Pretty close I think.

 We tailgated before and after the game. The kids ran around. Joel discovered his belly button is a great place to put dirt. 

Colin changed his tune when he saw the Corps of Cadets marching in.  He loves playing soldiers and was amazed that the hokies had soldiers. So then he was all about the hokies again.  Joel and I sat with Sarah and Brent and Colin sat with my parents.  Joel slept for the first quarter and did great.  Joel was watching me upload pictures here and kept signing "more" and pointed to the pictures.  So I asked him "more football?"  and he nodded yes!  Glad to know all the driving was worth it for him. 

 Joel is telling Ant Ant that in about 17 years he is going to go to Tech and play football.

A beautiful weekend for a football game.  At the last minute Regis asked Brent to go to a wedding with him on Sunday in WVa.  So they left early sunday and had a great time hang out in the car for so many hours :) I stayed at the farm with the boys. I think Brent and Regis need more guy time together so this was great for them.  And I got all the details of Sarah Lovell's wedding. Joel wasn't too enamored with Uncle Re-Re because he took dadda away. Yesterday when the kids realized Brent had already left for work Joel ran to the window yelling "dadda...Rah-RAH!!!!!!"  haha almost like he was like oh no - Uncle Re-Re took him away again.

A long busy weekend but a very fun one. We all enjoyed it.  I'm campaigning for the extra thursday night ticket in a few weeks.  So is Brent :)  ha! so we'll see who stays with the kids and who gets to go.  Thanks for a great weekend Mom and Dad.

lake

 This past week it has rained every day.  And now we have a lovely lake in our backyard. The kids were just begging each day to go outside so yesterday when the sun came out for a few minutes I let them loose in the backyard. They had fun playing in the water and splashing.

 It was fun until I guess Colin started splashing a little much.

 Don't mess with Joel.  He then went and chased Colin full force.  I love the look of determination on his face in this picture.