61 days

We just got back from a weekend at the farm.  Or as Colin thinks, we are just back to grab his legos and take them back to the farm where we will stay for 61 days.  Thats how long Colin wanted to stay at the farm. We've been planning this weekend since Christmas when we got my dad basketball tickets for the whole family for Christmas. Sarah and I also celebrated our birthday which is tomorrow.   A pretty good gift I think all around :)  On Friday I went up to Ikea with my mom and Sarah and Brent and my dad had the boys at the farm.  They all had fun tromping through the woods and playing in the creek. Joel did a face plant in the water and the spent the weekend telling me "shoes wet"  (good thing I brought extra shoes) Colin and my dad made a boat to float down the creek out of wood.  I think - Colin is excited about some boat he keeps talking about.  We went to the VT/UVA basketball game on Saturday and had a great time - even though the Hokies lost.  Colin was really upset at the end when he realized the Hokies didn't have the most points.  And then he found out they had stopped selling ice cream so he was really upset after that.  What stadium does that?  Apparently UVA :) 

 

 It was a beautiful weekend and a fun relaxing time at the farm.  A little boys dream to just tromp through the woods, peak into the old chicken coop, and pick your path and adventures.  A lot of work is needed at the farm.  Maybe next time we will stay for 61 days - or at least it will seem like it to my little adventurer.  But knowing him he'll actually count the days and will make sure we do stay for 61 days - if that's still the number in his head.

Love is...

Happy Valentines Day

Here are some more thoughts on LOVE from Colin. He made me write them all down and then I had to read it back to him so he could make sure I got everything.  

1 Corinthians 13:4-9

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Patient:  "patient is another word for wait. When you stand in line you are patient when you wait"

Kind: "well kind is a possom-ability. love is doing nice and even sharing with all your friends. But if you dont share friends dont share but if you do share they will share with you." (haha i love his possom-ability) 

Envy:  "well I can tell you examples of not envy but a little like envy. Like - well I want buzz light-year but friends have it and you can check it out at their house and you can see what it does and then you can get even cooler toys than they have."

Proud: "here is one example of proud because if one guy is angry at you then you say your sorry and then tell him that you are both great."

Self-seeking: "If I wanted to go to a playground that Joel can't do I will help him do it the whole way."

Love always protects: "When you make sure Joel doesn't go the wrong way into the street. I try to catch him."

It was fun memorizing this.  The other day Colin randomly started spouting "love is self-seeking" when were in public.  haha he forgot to add the NOT in there but he was really excited to memorize it.  He had great answers too.  It has really helped too when he gets frustrated or annoyed with us or Joel to talk about how he can show love and I've seen a big difference.  Now we need to pick another passage to memorize. Maybe honor your father and mother :)

 We have had a great Valentines day.  The weather was perfect. Colin was so excited all weekend about a surprise they had for me and then moaned all day Sunday "why is it so hard to keep a secret?"  I was sure he would crack under the pressure but he held strong.  I was surprised with a picture the boys drew and also a ring.  Sometimes it pays to be gone the Saturday before Valentines day :)  (I took a CPR class at my church)

We enjoyed some fun friends coming over to play today. The poor kids have had two weeks of not seeing each other and were going crazy - they were sick one week - we got the stomach thing last week.  And a lunch of mainly cupcakes can make any day seem extra special.  Joel loves his e-nat.  He has named Nathan e-nat and always tells me "e-nats house? shoes? hat?"  and will go get those and stand at the door until mommy takes him to e-nats house. 

Snow!

  We woke up this morning to a few inches of snow on the ground.  The kids couldn't wait to go outside. Even Joel was excited until we got him out in the snow.

 Brent enjoyed pelting Colin with snowballs.  In a few years he better watch out.  These boys will be able to fire back.

  Joel actually liked the snow this time. He had fun walking around and eating the snow.

 Then we got the sleds out and went sledding on the one hill in our neighborhood.

 But before we left Joel pelted Colin right in the face with a snowball. (maybe thats why he had so much fun this time. haha)

 "Mommy I can't see anymore.  My eye is gone!"  said my very dramatic son.

 The sledding was fun. They both really liked it.  And the real sleds worked great.  We almost ended up in the pond we were going so fast. Joel would yell "weeee" the whole way down.  We stayed out almost 2 hours this morning in the snow. The sun is now out and its supposed to all melt away by tomorrow.  My kind of snow :)

Stomach Bug

We are still recovering from a nasty stomach bug Joel shared with the rest of the family.  He started throwing up Saturday night and then spent all day Sunday throwing up.  All over walls, cribs, bumpers, you name it.  But after throwing up he was fine.  Ran around like normal.  Then on Monday night I came down with it and woke up Tuesday to Brent and Colin sick.  The rest of us weren't as happy in between throwing up.  Poor Colin got it the worst. He looked pretty pathetic laying on the couch all day.  I hate throwing up and will do anything to not throw up. At one point Colin is puking in the toilet and I'm standing next to him rubbing his back and puking too from watching him puke.  Oh the fun.  I became a human shield to protect the couch and carpet from being hit - not the most glamorous part of parenting and probably one of the worst parts.  But we are all starting to feel better.  And hope it doesn't come our way for a long long time - at least until the boys can make the toilet in time.

Weight Gain

We just got back from Joel's 18 month check-up.  He has grown a ton.  He went from being in the 8% for weight to being in the 95%.  He is now 30lbs and 34inches tall.  (95% for height now - up from 75% at 12 months) I'm not sure where he puts his 10+lbs that he gained :)  But he's healthy and right on track for everything. Even ahead of schedule for most things. 

All morning Colin kept whispering to Joel "you're going to get shots Joel" and was all to happy to tell him of this fact. Over and over.  After hearing it a few times in the doctors office I reminded Colin that it was going to be his turn to get shots at his well check up.  That stopped it for a while.  Joel had to get 2 shots. We are on a delayed shot system if you call it that and have opted out of a few of them. And thankfully this will be the last of the shots until he's 4-6. But the nurse came in and had Joel sit on my lap and for me to hold his legs down.  Fully expecting the delayed scream that usually comes, the nurse and I both looked at each other after the first shot because Joel was smiling and laughing.  Then she did the second shot and the same thing. Joel really liked watching the needle go in and would've taken a few more I think since he was fascinated with watching the whole thing.  The nurse hugged Joel and I heard her telling everyone in the office how amazing it was that Joel never even whimpered.  Another nurse came in then to give us some paperwork and commented to Joel how brave he was and then turned to Colin and said she had heard him teasing his brother about getting shots and that Colin needed to be even BRAVER when it was his turn.  I think Joel showed Colin a thing or two today :)

Play-doh

This past weekend Brent took Colin to a GMU/William and Mary basketball game so I brought out the Play-doh for Joel.  I don't think he had played it before and after watching him wander the house looking for his Bubba I thought a 'new' toy would make him forget that Bubba wasn't there.  I was right.  He has been playing Play-doh non stop since them. Yesterday I think he sat and played with it for 4 hours over the course of the day. He loves it.  In fact he's sitting there now playing with it. 

 He only tried to lick it once but then hasn't since then.Maybe he's starting to turn a corner in that area :)  And he's starting to imagine with it.  Last night while I was making dinner I heard him take one piece  and say "momma" and then another piece was "baby" and the momma had to find the baby.  Its fun to see his little imagination at work.

We just leave it on the table for most of the day now and he'll go up and sit there and play as long as I let him.

What is Love

 (playing a board game can really be stressful at times)

In honor of Valentines day coming up I wanted to teach Colin what love really means.  I'm hoping to go over 1 Corinthians 13 the next few weeks but today at lunch I asked him what he thought Love was.  I wrote them down on our chalkboard which he thought was fun.  Here are his answers:

Love is:
* Mommy (his first response. I teared up. Whenever I'm having a bad day I hope to always remember this)
* Beautiful
*Surprise presents - what you have been looking at for a long time and you get it and open it
*Legos
*Hugs can make people feel love
*Kisses can make people feel love
*Even Hugs AND kisses at the same time can make people feel love
*Saying you love someone can make them feel love
*Legos in Lego Brick magazine.  You finally get whats inside it
*All the Legos in the world at Christmas

I think my son's love language at this point is gifts since I'm seeing a pattern. haha! It makes sense because he really remembers what person gave him every gift he's gotten.  He was serious the whole time about all of these and really thought.  I think its going to be fun learning about Love with my sweet big boy.

 

(and really fun when you win)

*update to our Love series*
Colin has added to his list after we talked about Love is Patient
* its when someone knocks over your creation (what he call his lego building - his creation since he created it) and they say sorry and you just build it back again and dont get mad. (joel has a tendency to go into colin's room and knock over colin's stuff.)


We also asked him where he thought love came from and he was almost shocked and said "God of course." and seemed a little worried that mommy and daddy didn't know.  haha. Colin is really enjoying this and I am too. He asked me to read his list every day. Today we talk about 'love is kind.' I can't wait to hear his answers to this one. 

boo-boo

Joel was starting to sleep well and then started waking up again at night. Last night after the second time I went to get him he kept repeating "boo-boo" or sometimes "be-boo" depending on how he says it. His two year molars are coming in. Poor little boy. All he knew was he had a be-boo and it needed kissing. But I don't mind the extra snuggles at night with my little boy. Last night he was giggling pretty hard in his sleep while I was holding him.  Which was pretty entertaining for me to watch. I wish I knew what he was dreaming at that moment. Definitely better than the moaning and be-boos. 

no snow

We aren't enjoying all the snow the rest of VA has gotten this week. And I know why. My parents came a few weeks ago and brought us some real sleds. Guaranteeing it wont snow until the boys are in high school. That and a friend gave us some snow pants for Colin that her son had outgrown.  Since it always works that way :)  Kind of like the year Sarah and I went shopping with my grandma to help her pick out some snow boots.  I don't think she ever wore them - they  may have dry rotted in the box or something like that since we didn't get snow enough for her to wear them for the next several years. But we're ready - even if the weather isn't. And I'm still holding out hope for one more snow storm to come our way.

 But for now we're having fun playing inside doing the normal boy stuff like shooting Nerf guns at each other

Poor Joel only has a Lego fire hose in his hands.  I think he's trying to figure out how to make it shoot.  Dont worry - he is pretty good with the Nerf gun.  He can aim and shoot pretty accurately.  He just needs help cocking the gun and then he's off.  Joel even got smart enough to hide all our Nerf guns.  For two weeks we had no clue where they were.  But now I know where he hides stuff - under the couch cushions.  We're still amazed we sat on the couch and had no idea we were sitting on hard plastic for weeks.

Gotta pee

 It seems that the toilet paper is always worth trying when you are going potty.  If its good for you bum - it must be good for your mouth too. At least for Joel.  He still has only peed once but he keeps trying.  I'm still not sure he's really ready but we will keep trying whenever he says "gotta pee."

LOVE those skinny little legs :) 

Animals

Animals - according to my 18 month old.  The best part is the very end.  At least we think so. 

Pictures

We've been finding fun things to do inside when it too cold to go outside and throw balls around or skate on our homemade ice skating pond (sometimes its nice to forget to close the sandbox cover when it rains and then freezes)

Playing with shaving cream makes for a really fun morning. At first we started playing in our "snow" with our matchbox cars but Colin decided to make his own fun.

To the enjoyment of his brother

I've also put the kids in the bathtub and given them cups of shaving cream and paintbrushes and let them paint away on the tiles.

Then one day I got out marshmellows and toothpicks to let them create their own structures.

Colin made a storm trooper thing.  He's starting to really be into star wars.

Joel did really well.  He just put one marshmallow on each stick but it kept him busy for a while. And he kept watching how Colin did it.  And we do dress Joel in other clothes.  He just loves his Christmas shirt.  He likes to pick out his own clothes most mornings.

Then Colin got the idea to bring out the chocolate and dip marshmallows in it.  So our storm trooper vehicle  was happily eaten.

I would like one more snow this year but I'm very ready for spring to get here and the boys and I can spend all day outside. I would love any suggestions for some fun creative indoor activities.

sayings

We're having computer issues so I can't upload any pictures but here are some recent sayings we've been hearing pretty regularly at our house. 

Colin:
"this is the life." - either while eating something or playing something
"I dont like it... I love it."  mostly about food.  "Mommy I dont like dinner... I love it."
"I'm having alone time."   As he slams his door so he can play happily without having a little brother come in.  Colin we are finding needs his alone time.  He is much happier during the day if he can spend time alone creating and playing in his room by himself.  Much to his brothers dismay. The other day he had set up his lego men and I heard him walk in his room and say "hey guys" and then heard him go around the room as each lego man responded with a hi or a hey.  haha
"mommy dont come in the bathroom or let baby Joel in the bathroom while I'm pooping. Its going to be stinkier than daddys" he tells me this every day. And he still needs help wiping. I do admit I like it when he poops when Joel is napping.  Colin will sit on the potty and wait until I go in and wipe. It gives me a few minutes of down time.  The other day he waited about 20 minutes until I went to check on him.  I'm not going to make him wipe himself anytime soon :) 


Joel:
Tada!!!!! - usually when he walks into a room, with his arms up to the sky.   He likes to make an entrance.  He also does it when he finds something he was looking for or when he puts some legos or mega blocks together
Oh bubba.... I have to add "come find us"  because Joel will hide under a blanket and want his brother to come find him
Bubba are you?  = bubba where are you?  He does the "... are you?"  to basically any person or toy and we go around the house looking for it.
"Gotta pee" I think this kid will potty train himself. He will say gotta pee and then run to the bathroom and try to pee.  He's only actually peed once but he tries several times a day with no prompting from me. I guess i really should start potty training one of these days.
"hop porn peas" =  popcorn please. he loves to eat popcorn 

I am sure there are more and they will probably stop saying them as soon as I post this.  Although if Joel keeps calling popcorn hop porn for long people are going to start wondering about our family.

Writing

We need to work with boy #1 on writing his letters.  We're getting there but he would much rather type something than write it.  Already tech savvy I guess.  It wont get him to kindergarten so we've been practicing tracing, mazes, and letter writing to make it fun.

And we need to work with boy #2 on not eating/licking the markers.

George Mason

For the 4th year in a row we have gone to watch ODU and GMU play basketball.  We love this event and can't beat the half price tickets and free food that the GMU alumni get.  Plus the special suite/box seating.  Not sure what you call the seating we get but its great.  We almost didn't make this years game.  Brent waited until the last minute (he is a little big procrastinator sometimes) and the game was sold out.  But then the alumni director sent this mass email to other people who were also requesting tickets and we got in. I think there were double the GMU alumni this year. But all the extra fans couldn't get GMU to win this time.  They have never won for us but it was an exciting game - came down to the last few seconds.  My favorite part of the game was watching Colin stand up and imitating the cheerleaders. He started dancing along with them and shaking his pom-poms too.  Even did the cute little butt shake.  So cute. I wish I had brought the camera into the game.  Colin kept asking why he didn't own a George Mason shirt and Joel refused to wear a yellow shirt.  He wouldn't let me get him dressed unless he could wear his hokie shirt.  (It was a proud moment for me)

Ant Ant came down and we met Brian, Sarah, Mike and Ethan at the game. Thanks guys for coming! Joel did pretty good at the game.  He didn't sit still and liked to roam about and for the last few minutes kept telling me "i do bye bye"  over and over. He was done at that point.  

Then after the game the whole Stevenson family came over and we all hung out the rest of the night. Only one of the kids wanted in the group picture. The rest were too busy playing I think.  A really fun day for us.  And makes us excited for the Hokie game we'll be going to in a few weeks.  Colin is already excited for this one since he has a bunch of hokie shirts to choose from - he said it'll make them win.  haha maybe thats GMU's problem all these years.                                             

Happy Wednesday

18 months

My almost 18 month old is always into things. He definitely keeps us on our toes. And he's fast - very fast.  I am reading a book by James Dobson and in it he tells a story where Dobson's dad told him once about his son that if he let that boy get bored he deserved what he did to him.  And I think that fits Joel. If he is bored or unsupervised for a minute he will find something to get into.

Last week I walked into the kitchen and saw him on the counter. And I don't leave that chair right next to the stove.  He pushed it to the counter.  That cookie jar is where we keep the fruit snacks (or nack-nack as Joel says)

Then later that same afternoon I caught him in the dinning room opening our sack from Japan with all the Japanese Candy. Joel is sneaky and quick. He has recently started running to me and crying "boo boo" when Colin wont let him play legos with him. Just to get attention. He also went through a short stage where he would get mad when I went to the bathroom, run into my closet, grab a shirt and go try to stuff it in the other toilet.  My days are anything but boring around here.

But this little guy is also very loving.  He loves to snuggle, hug and kiss anyone - especially other kids his age.  He will climb up on Colin's bed in the morning and just love on his Bubba.  He says please more than any kid I know.  "peas" as it sounds and is so cute.  Colin has been saying all week " Mommy Joel is the best baby ever" and he is.  Joel has an infectious laugh and always has a twinkle in his eye.  I can't imagine life without my little guy,