Hokie Football

 We just got back from a weekend of Hokie Football.  Its a lot of driving for the kids but they do great in the car. 

 This baby girl doesn't sleep in the car.  Except that she sleeps the days when we are almost home from grocery shopping and are down the street and thats her nap for the day :) But she was awake for most of the 12+ hours we were in the car and just sat there and didn't complain. Joel screamed the whole way once to NJ so we are really enjoying this stage with Norah.

 We made a pit stop on the way for a boy who had to pee RIGHT NOW when we were miles from a bathroom.

 I love blacksburg. And hokie football. And we're very blessed by my parents to have taken the kids to a game every year - sometimes more than once. Thanks mom and dad!

 I'm pretty sure 11 years ago Brent had no clue that once he met me he would be a Hokie fan the rest of his life. 

 Before the game we tailgated with our family salsa competition.  Colin was again the judge and people were trying to buy him out.  At least Brent was...

 My salsa was amazing if I do say so myself... actually it wasn't my best salsa batch but the labels don't lie! I mean look at Jeff and Joel going to town on my salsa.  It must have been amazing.  ha! and look at Brents face.  He wasn't liking the fact that my salsa was such a huge hit!

 But Colin declared Ant Ants the winner and then sat down with a huge plate of her salsa and chips.

 And woah look at that big juicy tomato.  THE ONLY TOMATO we got this whole year out of our garden.  Which that is still a post that Brent needs to write. Who knew all those animals were walking through our backyard at night.  We also tailgated after the game and then drove back to the farm later that night.

 Its so fun to tell the kids all about my college days. I loved going to school there and this time I was heavily recruiting Colin.  "Colin you can eat chick fil a anytime you want in the dining halls.and look over there at the coffee shop in the library you can get donuts too anytime you wanted!" ha! But then Colin went down and pretended to play basketball in Cassell and well that might have sealed the deal. Its only 11 more years before he heads off to college...

 Colin sat with Ant Ant and Joel and Norah were with Brent and I.  Joel and Norah fell asleep right after Enter Sandman.  Crazy.  And we were surrounded by students which made the entrance even more exciting and loud. 

 It wasn't a sold out game so Brent and I moved seats to an empty row so we could spread out and watch the game while the kids slept. 

 Norah slept through the first quarter and Joel slept the whole first half.  In seven years of coming with kids we've always had someone asleep during some part of the game.  Which is crazy that I've been going to hokie football games 7 years with kids. It seems like I just graduated a few years ago.  Time goes so fast.

 Little princess waved her wand to get some touchdowns. She probably thought they needed help. we watched the Alabama game with family last weekend and for the past week Norah has pointed to my hokie cup and says "ant ant" raises her hands in the air with frustration and yells "ARRRRR" and then does it again.  Points to the cup, says "ant ant" hands in the air and then "ARRRRR" So I'm glad she saw a less frustrating game.  She also learned to say hokies!  Cutest thing ever.

 Norah was great.  She just entertained herself with a cup of ice and cheering and sitting and standing and then some popcorn and was amazing.  I expected to walk the stadium with her but I was able to sit and watch the whole game.

 After halftime Colin and Ant Ant came and joined us. 

 Colin loves football and is getting really good at following the game.  He's also super excited about a redskins game Brent is taking him to in a few weeks. 

  Joel did really well too.  All the kids did great.  Which makes it much more fun for Brent and I.

It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time.  The perfect way to spend the first weekend of the school year.  Thanks again mom and dad.  The kids woke up today at the farm and played in the creek. Then we came back home to start another week of school. 

Second grade

Today is the start of second grade.  It doesnt get easier sending him off but I'm not a basket case today like I have been in the past waiting for him to get home.  I am worried and hope he's having a great day but nothing compared to the last few years.  It helps that I really really loved his teacher.  I could've listened to her talk forever on back to school night. She is the perfect peronality fit for colin. And he's in the gifted cluster class which means his favorite teacher is going to come and do a ton of hands on activities with him.  And he was so excited to have so many friends in his class from past years.  So all in all I think it will be a really great year. At least I hope so. 

I had a hard time sleeping last night. Partly because Joel was up every hour and partly because I was nervous for Colin.  It also didnt help that he had written in his journal yesterday "its like I cant do anything. its like i am stranded in the ocean" Deep stuff from my boy. And actually pretty good. All over the fact that I bought a football to replace our now autographed worth money one and it was a lot bigger for him to handle.  He had a hard time throwing it and then came inside and wrote in his journal. Another entry was "my mom is making me clean my rom and i'm not even cleaning."    I hope he always writes in his journal so I can read it.  He started to do this all himself. 

 He's riding the bus to school this year. We have always taken him to school in the past. And he wanted to walk down all by himself. It didnt matter that we pointed out all the other parents standing at the bus stop with their kids - he wanted to do it himself.

  He was loaded down with school supplies. Hope everything made it off the bus and into his classroom.

It seemed a little too early for Norah.   

 She is still on summer time when everyone had begun to sleep past 8. 

She was pretty funny once she realized where Colin was going. 

 She didnt like that one bit and made a point to let me know that I needed to go get Colin and bring him back.

Then the bus came and took him away.  He was pretty fun to watch at back to school night waving to all the teachers and kids he knew.   I hope there is all smiles on him coming off the bus.

Flower Child

 

 She loves her hawaiian leis and beaded necklaces. If one looks good then at least 10 must be better. 

This girl cracks me up. She saw the camera and kept making this face.  Oh Norah we love you!

dont let the bed bugs bite!

 We went down to the outer banks this past week for a few days with some friends. On the way down I pulled into the Grave Digger compounds and let the boys take a ride on a monster truck.  Brent was driving seperately since he left the beach to go to work on the way back so it was just me and the kids for a while before Brent met us there.  The boys had to ride alone since Norah was too short to go but Joel went up and sat right down next to Colin and they both loved every minute. 

 They had a whole petting zoo and playground for the kids.  I was really impressed.

 Then we headed down to the beach.

 We had fun playing on the beach - I brought my camera one morning during an early walk with the kids and thats all the pictures I took.  We also spent a lot of time in the indoor pool - the outside one was a little too cold - and the hot tub. 

 And then the last night there we googled some strange insect bites we were getting and might have had bed bugs. So i've spent the past two days since being back making sure these things didnt come home with us. The exterminator for the resort said they were something else but according to google pictures of the bites I'm not convinced.  At least my car is now really cleaned out and so is all my laundry.  Its kinda nice going to a laundry mat and getting 6 loads done at once.  It wasn't the vacation I pictured for a lot of reasons but we had fun with the kids and it was a nice end of the summer for Colin.

Can't belive this guy starts second grade in a few days! 

Forts

They kids have gotten creative with the plastic toys in our backyard.  Different configurations of forts have been built and rebuilt this past week.