Balloon Fest!

So the long awaited Balloon Fest came and went. We were looking forward to it last year, but rain prevented the balloons from leaving the ground. This year we were determined that it wouldn't rain. Okay, we had little say in that, but it turned out great! We made sure Regis and Sarah came into town for it. They told us that if it rained they would never come back to Morgantown! We all enjoyed watching them bring out the balloons and start to inflate them. Even more amazing to see them all take off!




We actually had so much fun on Saturday afternoon, that we went back EARLY Sunday morning to see if we could catch some great photo opps. The balloons were inflated and in the air in less than 20 minutes, so you had to be quick with the camera.





Another highlight from the day was going up in a hot air balloon! Thats right, in two shifts we all went up in a hot air balloon for the first time. And it only cost $5! Of course you get what you pay for.... we jumped in, they shot hot air into the balloon, and then we lifted off! Bummer was, after getting about 40 feet up in the air, we felt a big tug and those darn ropes pulled us back down. Yea, we were in a tethered balloon so thats as high as it went! So we got our taste of riding in a hot air balloon. Everyone but Colin... as he was too little to take a ride and against his will, had to stay on the ground. One day little man!

Princess Snowbird Retreat

A few weekends ago we had mens and womens camping trips. It was a good way for the freshmen to really get connected, meet the upperclassmen and make friends. The girls went to a farm and roughed it out with no bathrooms - AND heard a few coyotes! Whereas the boys went to Sceneca Rocks and stayed at the "Princess Snowbird" campground with an indoor swimming pool nearby, plus hot showers and bathrooms. HAHA - It sounds like the guys were really the "girls" for the weekend!There were over 30 girls who went and about 24 guys. Pretty crazy that more girls wanted to go camping than guys! Dispite the rain, everyone had a great time and plenty of bonding took place.

And the little one said roll over...roll over

Colin is 5 months old today! Its so crazy how fast time flies and even to think about the tiny infant we brought home. Now Colin plays, giggles and talks all the time. Well we both try to get him to giggle - Brent is more successful than I am! He loves chewing on our faces or giving us kisses as I like to think about it but when he does it to Brent, his scruffy face tickles Colin and he laughs and laughs.... its just not the same when he does it to mommy (thank goodness!)



His new thing is rolling over in his crib - when he doesn't want to go to sleep and also when he's waking up from a nap. Lately we have to position him in the crib so he won't be able to roll over or he'll roll over and then whine until we go in and rescue him. I will admit that he's awfully cute with his head poking over the crib bumper with a helpless look on his face like what did I do and help me please. We feel like horrible parents sometimes though because we'll put him down to sleep and he'll babble and start to put himself to sleep - we leave and hear him babbling/whining for a few minutes and then usually he'll be asleep in about 10 minutes. Well a few times we've done that and 10 minutes go by and he's still complaining so we wait longer and then when we finally go in and check on him he's on his stomach (he had flipped over) so we put him back and within seconds he was sound asleep. So when we thought he had been complaining about going to sleep he was really crying out for help.

Little Howard

Colin and his great-grandpa have the same facial expression.

Hokie weekend

Last weekend was a whirlwind weekend as we took Colin to his first football game at Lane Stadium. It was great to get out our orange and maroon and dress Colin up the way a baby should be when watching football (except NFL). We spent the night in Princeton since it was a 12:00pm game and close to Blacksburg. Colin spent the night rolling over every hour in his pack-n-play. He rolled over from his back to his stomach Thursday night and was so proud of himself, every time he woke up he had to make sure he could still remember to do it - and of course he wanted to show his proud parents. Each time we would go check on him, he would have the biggest smile as if to say "see mom and dad I did it again!" (The good thing is that the novelty has worn off and he doesnt do it in his sleep anymore)


Saturday morning we got up early and met our friends Mark and Leah for breakfast before going to meet all the family. My dad had bought us all tickets this summer and I would just like to say that I think its really unfair to make Colin pay for a ticket - especially since he stayed in our laps the whole time. $40 for a ticket is ridiculous for adults - let alone babies. I think Frank Beamer should change all that... especially if he wants to recruit football players of the future. How else would kids be groomed to play for VT? But thanks Dad for the tickets! Colin enjoyed his first game - was high-fived by the man behind us who cheered "hokie baby" when the hokies scored. Colin even managed to stay in our seats for the whole game. At one point his grandma tried to talk him into being a football player. (his mom does not approve) He even jumped up and down with his mom when the team came out. His aunt and uncle would be so proud. Colin loved all the attention and was a perfect angel even after missing all his naps that day. Oh yea, Tech beat Duke 36-0!!

(a funny side note - we took 90 pictures that day and not ONE of them included Brent... and he was decked out in Hokie gear too! I've finally won him over. Good thing my parents got some pictures of Brent wearing orange and maroon)






A generation of Hokies: One day hopefully Colin can become an alum like the rest of us.

MNF is HERE!

We recently found a picture of how Santana Moss prepares for Game Day. He gets some z's in his crib and sleeps like a baby the night before (okay, it was a mid-day nap). Notice the pacifier in his mouth... must give him a sense of comfort dreaming about dominating the Vikings.




We also saw him preparing to make a tackle just in case he gets put on defense for some reason. First he took it out on "lamby," then he took it out on his dad (even though his dad may have slipped and fell beforehand).



But in the end, he's just a football player. Thats what he gets paid (well, maybe not) to do. Here he is practicing his smile for the postgame interviews.

Be on the lookout for #89 tonight BABY!!!!!!

Life Lesson # 567

Life lesson #567

Never play "airplane" with your baby right after he's eaten!

4 months old

4 months old tomorrow!
It is hard to believe Colin is already 4 months old. He's our "little man" and no longer the tiny infant we brought home from the hospital. He is starting to laugh a little more and loves to smile and babble all the time. He is also getting close to rolling over and his favorite thing right now is to chew on his burp cloth or any blanket he can get his hands on. He loves bath time and when he hears the water running he gets very excited.

Game On!

Thats right, the beginning of college football season. For students up here at West Virginia, its everything. Many students come to WVU JUST because of the football team. Which of course is a reality for why many students choose the colleges they do. Academics or sports.... hmmmmm... the world we live in.

WVU trounced Marshall University on Saturday, and we had a huge tailgate party before the game for CRU. We saw many new students come out as well as old ones. It's a great thing for our students to invite their friends to. We had about 50-75 people there at one point which was great. We always grill out hotdogs and have plenty of drinks. Oh, the guy on the far left, his name is Colin too! Great name.

This was also Colin's first GAMEDAY!!! Even though he didn't make it to the game, he enjoyed the festivities with us. If anything, he got to see the same colors over and over again... BLUE AND GOLD! haha

Birthday Boy

Yesterday, Colin turned..... 3 months and some 3 weeks old. BUT, his daddy turned 31 years old. Gulp! It was a great day as we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. Probablly my best birthday present was when Colin was giggling during the day. He is just beginning to giggle, but he let out a few big ones yesterday.

At Olive Garden, we "attempted" to enjoy dinner together while Colin sat in the car seat next to us. As usual, he wasn't very happy watching mommy & daddy but had to be in the middle of the action. So Abigail picked him up and held him while we continued to eat. He was due for a nap, and we were not quite sure how it would all work out. We have been getting him to settle down and fall asleep in about 5-10 minutes now, so we figured, "hey, why not try in the middle of the restaurant!" Abigail got up and stood next to our booth holding him and rocking back and forth. Great news! He fell asleep in about 5 minutes, so we put him back in the car seat and enjoyed another 45 minutes of dinner. Life was good!


Here is a picture of my delicious chocolate/oreo ice "soy" cream cake! I absolutely loved it. Don't worry, us milk allergic people eat good too.

In other news, CRU is going great. We had over 310 at our first weekly meeting last Thursday, and are praying for a lot more this week. Its been so great connecting with freshman and getting a chance to go in the dorms and share our faith with students who are wrestling with what they believe.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special. Many people also gave me "shout-outs' and I appreciate it!

Football season!

Football season is upon us and Colin is ready for his first football game! He is a hokie fan (of course!) and has told his mom he wants to go to Virginia Tech when he gets older. Well not in so many words but he does love his hokie book his grandpa got him and likes looking at the pictures. I told him the campus is much better in real life and he's anticipating our trip down to Blacksburg. Unfortunately he can't wear his hokie onesie around Morgantown if he wants to leave the house....but he is excited about going to the VT/Duke game in a few weeks.

GO HOKIES!

He is also a Redskins fan and will proudly wear his Redskins clothing while watching the games with his daddy on the couch. Today he was glued to ESPN watching football highlights. His dad is so proud!

Our happy boy

Colin is such a happy baby and loves to smile and babble all the time. He loves to tell us stories and get really animated when telling them. We wish we spoke "baby" because we're sure he's a very funny guy!

Sleep Deprivation

The past few nights/early mornings have been amusing as Brent has finally started to be affected by lack of sleep. Colin has been getting up at least twice in the night. Ever since he was born we've had this routine where Brent will go change his diaper while I get a drink of water and then I'll feed him and Brent goes back to bed. Well this week that has not been the case. The other night it was nearing 2am and like clockwork Colin woke up so I started nudging Brent to wake him up. Usually he is pretty good at waking up but this morning he mumbled something several times and all I could make out was "the squirrels are outside!" (we have NEVER seen a squirrel in our yard since we've moved to WV) He did not get up to change Colin that time. The next day Colin woke up super early and was wide awake so I took him downstairs to play to give Brent some more sleep. Colin played and I was putting him down for an early morning nap and walked into our bedroom to see Brent's knees straight in the air and his hands outstretched. I thought he was awake and started talking to him only to find out he was deep asleep! When he woke up he told me he had been having a dream about rock climbing. We can't wait for Colin to sleep through the night again!


On another note.. school has started and this past week has been extremly busy getting ready for the students to come. Classes start monday and we helped moved freshmen in yesterday and last night went to an organization fair. Today we have a rootbeer float social followed by a party at the Dallas house (one of our students homes near campus)there is something planned every day for the next week for us to get to know freshmen and get students connected. Colin loves getting all the attention from the students but is going through some Daddy withdraw as Brent has been home to see Colin an hour (maybe 2 at the most) between meetings and socials for the students. Colin has been very clingy and wont let me out of his sight when we're home. Hopefully that'll pass and in about two weeks life will settle down and Brent will be home more. I'll be on campus a few afternoons so please pray Colin will adjust to that as well.


Here is a picture of Colin and Sarah Blake at a leadership retreat last weekend

Colin's ready for a modeling career! He posed for pictures the other day as his mom thought he looked so cute in the outfit he was wearing. Of course we think he looks cute in everything we put him in. He really does get cuter every day.

Grandparents make a visit!

It was a very eventful few days, as Colin got to spend some time with his grandparents and Aunt Mary! We had a little "excursion" planned for each day, as we saw Pittsburgh, "Coopers Rock", and "Sky Rock." The weather was just about perfect for a few days as it got into the lower 60's at night and only mid-80's during the day.



Pittsburgh was fun riding the incline. Of course it made for a perfect "screaming box" for Colin as he didn't much like the elevation change. It didn't stop us from taking pictures though, or enjoying our time!



I guess Colin's biggest development lately has been his ability to drool. Abigail and I always wondered why people were giving us so many bibs! We've got enough to last years, but only 1 kid! Well, after watching him begin to drool a ton today, we are realizing we will go through a lot of them... that is, if we want to keep his clothes dry!

Spitting Image!

So Colin's latest "thing to do" is to look at himself in the mirror. Now given, we are the ones who actually place him in front of the mirror, but he loves it! Abigail says to him, "say hi to your friend" as he laughs and giggles and then stares at the mirror. We are pretty sure he doesn't fully know it is himself, but he sure is learning quickly. And if nothing else it keeps him entertained for a while, while also entertaining his parents.

On a ministry note, we had one of our last Bible studies last night. It was quite amusing as we watched Veggie Tales "Lord of the Bean!" Yes, maybe having a child now is getting to our heads, but it was suggested by our director. They have a two year old daughter. The Veggie Tales dvd was about using the gifts God has given you. I then led them through I Corinithians 12 on spiritual gifts and we had a great discussion for a while afterwards.

Nothing like learning a little lesson from Veggie Tales, getting in the scriptures, and then applying it....... oh, and singing a few kids songs!

The Day is Finally Here!!

Well, for at least one night anyways. I know I know.... two posts in three days is pretty untypical for us so far! But last night and yesterday were monumental for us as parents and of course for Colin.

He SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! We put him down at 8:45 and he didn't wake up until 5:15. Eight and a half hours baby!!!! Of course Abigail and I couldn't fully enjoy it, as it was blistering hot last night and we both woke up numerous times at like 2am & 3am amazed that he hadn't woken up yet.

We think he slept through the night because he FINALLY is taking longer day naps. Thank you so much for your prayers! He had been sleeping for only 30 minutes at a time during the day, and then his "internal" clock would wake him up. Two days ago he took a 2 hour nap in his crib which amazed us, but yesterday his naps were 45 minutes, 2 hours, 1 hour, and 1 hour!!! They say for babies, good sleep = better sleep. Oh, and the final part of that equation = HAPPY PARENTS!!!!! haha

He will be 12 weeks old tomorrow, and we are so excited that he is making such good progress. Of course on Saturday we are taking him to Northern VA where his schedule will get all messed up. Oh well.... little victories!


Here is a pic of what Colin "used" to think of naps!!! haha

Here are some family pictures of Colin after church on Sunday. As you can see he LOVES chewing on his fist...and also blowing bubbles with his spit but thats hard to capture on camera!

"The Vaccuum Theory"

So if you have a baby that just won't stop crying, I've got a solution for you. Well, at least it works for us and other parents i've heard. THE VACCUUM CLEANER!

Abigail and I read in a book one day that the vaccuum cleaner is a great way to soothe a child. It sounds like a silly idea, but don't knock it till ya try! We even have a movie of Colin when he has been crying for 5 minutes straight; we turn on the vaccuum cleaner, he sniffles a bit, then falls right asleep!!! Its a hilarious video.


So now, every once in a while, Abigail will come down the stairs with a big grin on her face. "yes, he's asleep... the vaccuum cleaner works again!!!" It really sounds odd, but it supposevly reminds them of when they were in the womb. So when all else fails... turn on that noisy soothe machine called the vaccuum cleaner!!!