waiting for the AC man...

Its been over a week. We were promised that our new ac unit would be here by now. But nope. TODAY they have to send someone out to verify that the old unit was a fire hazard and then it'll take another week to order the unit we're told. I'm a little nervous about them coming to check it out today since i'll have to turn it back on and sparks were definitely flying last time. But we are enjoying the cooler weather - hope it stays. But thank you Debbie and Rod. They lent us their window unit and we all seem to go into that room and stand in front of the air conditioning. We put it in our dinning room and have fans blowing it down the hall, into the living room, and into the kitchen. Its amazing what a difference it makes. Brent is convinced we won't need our air conditioning once they finally get it to us since fall will be here :) but I'm more worried about our furnace. It needs to be replaced and I'm thinking we can survive being hot - not sure if it dies this winter if we can wait a few weeks for heat! Here colin and brent are eating popsicles. I overheard Brent telling Colin that when he's older they'll do this and talk about the meaning of life together outside. Colin looked at Brent and said "ba-ba pache dada" which means trucks dada. He loves his ba-ba-pache as he has lovingly named his trucks. He puts them to bed at night, wakes them up in the morning. Thanks Jesus in his prayers for ba-ba-pache. So trucks are very important to him. At the pool the other day a girl asked Colin if he wanted to play (she really just wanted to play with his boat but wouldnt let him play with her dolls....) but Colin was so excited to be asked to play that he shouted "ba-ba-pache - me house" he wanted her to come home and play with his trucks at his house. Sweet boy.Colin loves to dance to music in the kitchen. I love this picture. He gets so into it. Lets hope he doesn't develop his parents sense of rhythm. Colin loves to play photographer. I put our broken digital camera on our tripod for him and he will turn it on (it still turns on and off and does everything but take the picture - great for him to play with) but he'll tell me to say "cheese" and want me to do different poses and makes clicking sounds when he takes the picture.

Bo-bo? perhaps. But not this time. Colin scraped his arm and needed a bandaid and wanted me to put another one on his head. Of course the real bo-bo's bandaid was ripped off as soon as it was put on but the fake bo-bo on his head stayed on the entire day. We couldnt believe it. Tears were shed when we took it off for his bath that night.

And one more story: yesterday colin and I were sitting down making our grocery list and I asked him if there was anything we needed at the store and he mentioned some things that i had forgotten. Like his apple juice. And he then got a sly look on his face and said AJ. His aunt and uncle's dog. He wanted me to bring AJ home with us from the store. So I told him we couldnt buy AJ. AJ was in CA. So he thought for a moment and said re-re. (regis) so I had to explain that you can't just go to the store and bring people home. So re-re and AJ please come visit soon :)

Oh and one more. Last night in his prayers he not only thanked Jesus for ba-ba-pache. "da ta desus ba-ba-pache" but for pe-ta-pee = (uncle opie) So thank you Jesus for Uncle Opie.

for uncle jeff!

Colin helping paint his room. Its really cute and I need to get some pictures of his room to show you. He's so proud of it.
Painting momma was better than the walls (and by the way I'm now momma again - yea!)
Our dinning room. It looks really big in this picture but our buffet that we love doesn't fit. That is in the back room with our games, dvds and videos in it. we need to find something skinnier to fit in here. So you can see the boxes of my dishes in the back. They don't fit in the kitchen cabinets. we are also going to paint below the chair rail soon.
The view from our front door. I don't like looking at the tv right when you walk in but the rest of the layout works. Its an open floor plan and you can see the kitchen and dinning room.
Our front room. Notice our new couch. Its really comfy. For $50 less we could've gotten a redskins red couch.... we thought really hard but liked the chocolate one better. The coffee table looks a little out of place here and we need something over the couch. Any ideas???

Our back room. The sliding glass doors are next to colin. This is where Colin's kitchen set and hobby horse are going :) As you can see there are still a bunch of things against the walls that we have no idea where to put. Here he is watching bambi with his stuffed bambi and thumper. We can only watch the first 38 minutes of it because once bambi's mother dies and then bambi gets caught in the fire its downhill. But the first 38 minutes are great! colin lifts up his animals when they come on the screen so they can see themselves on tv. its so cute.

Our eat in kitchen. Its a $200 table I got for $25 plus the chair. It has a few scratches on it but Colin has already added more. But for $25 I dont mind.... now if I had paid 200 he wouldn't be allowed near it unless he had plastic utencils.
Our pretty green kitchen. Just is deceivingly small. My silverware has to fit in two drawers.

Its hot!

Right now its 90 degrees in our house.... yep our air conditioning is broken. We knew it was old and needed replacing eventually but they serviced it before we moved in and it is covered in the warranty so hopefully the WHOLE thing is covered and they will replace it for a small fee :) And to make it worse half our windows are stuck or the springs are broken so that makes it hotter (we got money in the negotiation from the old owner to fix the windows but that wasn't on the to do list right away. I guess it will soon!) But we did get our internet, phone and cable today so we can update more frequently.We had a busy weekend. Friday night Integrity (the company Brent works for) took us all to a baseball game. Of course it rained for the first time in weeks right when the game was about to start. We waited around, got Colin his yum yum and Brent a hot dog and then right when we were getting ready to head home they started the game. Colin loved it. He was really into the game but it was 9:00 by this time and we only stayed for a few innings. And sad to say by the time he was home he got a second wind and didnt go to bed until after 11:30! And was up bright and early at 6 walking into our room saying "aloaloalo = good morning good morning" and pointing out the window saying "sun" "Aloaloalo".Then saturday we went to Water Country again with my sisters and had fun going down some of the slides together. And again we got home late and Colin became very hyper and didn't go to bed until really late. Some kids sleep in the car and then go right back to sleep when they get home. Not Colin we're realizing. oh and last week my sister mary came to visit and we took Colin to the Childrens museum. A really fun place. Colin just ran from one thing to the next and tried everything. His favorite was the second floor basically dedicated to trains. He kept rounding the corner and going WOW!

who pushes who?

Its much easier to be the one pushing. Colin now thinks that this red car is mine while he is in his other car and its so hard for me to push myself around while holding onto the steering wheel like Colin wants and honking the horn at the appropriate times. He is becoming quite the backseat driver as he loves to look at the stoplights and tell me what color they are. Red = GOP with arms extended in front of him (which mean stop), yellow = slow down, and green (or as he says geeen) = go go go! One day I made a right hand turn on a red and he was so upset because I was supposed to stop. With his love of cars and trucks its a good thing he's learning the rules of the road early.

Little builders

Today Colin and I took a break from unpacking and went the the Virginia beach aquarium. I had never been but had seen an advertisement for an exhibit they have called Little Builders. It was a dream come true for colin. He got to wear a hard hat and orange vest and then move cranes around and play with trucks. He figured out how to move the crane pretty fast. You have to use your arms and use those levers to move the crane up and down but then you use your feet on these bicycle pedals to move the crane around in circles. (A 9 year old couldn't figure it out - but Colin could) We didn't get to see much of the museum as he stayed in with the trucks all morning. It was really fun and Colin absolutely loved it.

such a boy!

Lately every time Colin poops in his diaper, the only way you can get him to agree to change it is if you say "lets go see how big it is" and you have to made a big deal about it being HUGE! He loves it and gets so proud.

colin stories

So pictures will come and more updates on the house. We just bought our couch today which will come friday and then pretty much we're living out of boxes still. Poor colin loves order and everything in its place so its driving him crazy but each day we get a little more settled. We have met most of the people on our street and aparently Ed the guy who met us first has told everyone about us, where we're from, what we do... etc. pretty much going door to door telling people what he knows about the new neighbors. Its interesting living on a street where most people have been there for at least 30 years and seem to have taken it upon themselves to watch over us "young folk". There is a couple next door who just moved in a year ago and they are our age so thats been fun. It is feeling a little more like home only Colin still corrects me about going "to the house" not home. He used to cry in the mornings asking me to take him home - with bapa and ma-ma and nana but that has stopped this week.

Colin has been doing some really funny things lately. First he goes around telling me "dada mess" since Brent went up in the attic and fell through the ceiling. Good thing he was ok and it was over the garage. But it did make a huge mess. He also has a few new words he likes to use. "next" is one. He learned that at the pool since he was "next" to go up the ladder. Since then his trucks are next, the man (his little lego people) are next to drive the truck. Dada is next to play. This particular game was to run and jump on some pillows after dinner. Only dada was always Next. so brent had to keep running and jumping on the pillows with a full stomach. Poor dada! colin thought it was the best game ever. He also likes the word "nice". we cut the grass and he told me "mama - nice" while pointing to the freshly mowed lawn. He was also praying last night at bedtime (he LOVES to pray over his meals which means only he and GOd know what he's saying. It is not uncommon to have him pray and tell us "people" to close our eyes and let him pray several times during the meal) but last night he wanted to pray at bedtime. So he prays for at least a good 5 minutes. Its mostly babbling but i could make out "house". 'ba-pache" (his name for trucks) and then all of a sudden he prays for "foot - NICE" he thanked God for nice feet. haha! I have also discovered how to make him use the potty - FROZEN dark chocolate peanut m&m's. He didnt want to go for about a month now but since we moved its a new novelty I guess. But everytime the freezer is open he runs to the potty so he can get his two (Doo as he says) m&M's. We'll see if this time it works. There are more funny stories but for now we are off to bed. But before we do we'll make sure to thank God for our nice feet!

house not home

Well we are all moved in - although I think it will take us a long time to unpack. Colin loves his room and spends a lot of time playing in it. When people came last night to help unload the truck he yelled "everybody - room" and ran back to show them HIS room. it was really cute. Its slightly bigger than our room (and yes Brent measured!) Perfect for a little boy to run around. It was a busy weekend. On Saturday my mom, Sarah, Colin and I came down and painted the kitchen and Colin's bedroom. Colin was a great help as he painted both my legs blue and for some reason it hasn't scrubbed off very well as I still have blue paint on my legs 4 days later. And then on Sunday my parents, Mary, Brent and I brought most of our stuff from my parents house and then got our beds, table and couch out of storage. What a huge help. And poor Mary got into an accident on the bridge/tunnel on the way home. So scary but at least she was ok only her truck is totaled. Sorry mary! Then some friends helped us get the rest of our stuff last night (and most of it is in the garage right now) Colin started having nightmares around Thursday night and then every night and nap time until we moved in on Sunday. But since we moved in and started sleeping here those have stopped thankfully. Poor guy is so confused. He keeps asking me when are we going to go home. This is our house - not our home. Our home is with grandma and grandpa he keeps saying. He has also told me every time we eat where everyone in the family is going to sit around our table. Its definitely a lot different with just the three of us now. Colin misses everyone - especially after his nap when he and I used to start waiting for everyone to come home. Colin would wait for my dad to come home and then play a chasing/teasing game over his blankie. And then my mom would come home and then Brent. Now its just Brent! But it is nice having Brent home more in the mornings and evenings now that he doesn't have to do that long drive. We are enjoying our house. The neighborhood is great and fun to walk around. Colin and I walked to the lake and two different playgrounds yesterday and then went to the pool. We have had numerous neighbors stop to introduce themselves and tell us about the neighborhood. We've even gotten a plate of homemade cookies. It took us two years in west Virginia to meet most of our neighbors. I think most of the street was washing cars this weekend or doing yard work to get a look at the new neighbors. We will post pictures soon once we get our camera working (I've dropped it too many times) and also once we get some of the boxes out of the way :)

Today is the day

Today is the day we close on our house. We have a walk through at 11 and then sign the mountain of paper work at 12. More pictures to come!

Colin's second haircut

l

Colin was getting a little rats nest in the back of his curly hair so this past weekend we tried to trim his curls. It wasn't an easy task but it did turn out well. I don't have any pictures of what his hair looked like at the end but he is very cute and looks a lot older. But I didn't cut all his curls off as his hair somehow curls up more now. I'm always scared each time I cut his baby curls (and granted he has only had 2 very minimal hair cuts) but I think for now his hair will have some curl in it which I hope never changes.

Oh and ba-pa took these pictures. Squinty face has a name - aka grandpa. But he has now been named ba-pa! Almost as cute as squinty face

High!

my boy is growing up

This past Friday I took Colin in for his 2 year check up. He barely gained any weight this year and weighs 26lbs (just barely) and is just shy of 36inches. Which is pretty amazing since at 8 weeks he weighted 12lbs. So he is extremely tall for his age but very skinny. He is not even in the 25% for weight and over the 75% for height. Which means the basketball scholarship is looking great right now! he loves to go "plain" which means no shirt - or no shoes. "Colin do you want to put your shoes on?" "no PLAIN" so getting dressed is interesting sometimes. He also started calling me mom - MOM. I figured mama would lead into mommy and then when he got too cool to call me mommy it would turn into mom - maybe in 5th or 6th grade maybe. But nope he's already started calling me mom. Its sad watching him grow up. But fun at the same time too. yesterday we made a fort out of the couch cushions and played it in forever. We also just got back from Busch Gardens. He kept asking about the train so he slept until 8am - AMAZING since this is the kid who wakes up at 5 or 6 most mornings. So to celebrate and also get more time in at Busch we went this morning. Along with everyone else it seemed. It took us forever to get into the park but once we were there we didn't have to wait long on the kid rides. He's getting so big too since at the beginning of the summer he didn't want to ride any of the kiddie rides. Today he rode a few. And so proud of himself. Some of them I could ride with him but he really liked riding the ones by himself. ME is what he kept saying telling me he wanted to ride some by himself. We rode the train but they stopped halfway and said it would be delayed for them to get some emergency vehicles into the park so we got off and rode the skyride instead. Here is Colin riding the bug ride and the picture below is on the skyride. He is now sleeping and I think I'm going to go nap too. Its much easier to go to Busch Gardens with Brent with us. Hopefully next time he can come too! Colin already picked where he wanted Dada (Brents still dada - no fair!) to sit on the skyride.

4th of July weekend

This past weekend we went to the farm for our long 4th of July weekend. Brent, Colin and I drove up Thursday afternoon and here is a picture of Brent relaxing under the shade. Sarah joined us Friday and our friend Regis (or re re as Colin calls him) came up Saturday. (my grandparents were there the whole time too) Colin loved watching the parade. Its a small town so it was mostly firetrucks and tractors. What more could a little boy ask for. He also got candy when they threw some out and thought that was pretty cool. Colin ran around everywhere and spent Monday when we got back just lying around. His little legs were so tired! He loved picking the blueberries and sitting on all the tractors. Sarah and Colin have a new game where they run around aimlessly with their hands in the air screaming and they got Regis to do it too. I have some great videos of that!

Colin loves to "GuMP" = JUMP and here he is jumping with dada and re re

Here is my grandpa setting off firecrackers

"Colin, do you want to help Aunt Sarah pick some flowers?"
Yep!
"who do you want to give the flowers to?"
MAMA!!

Dangerous with the water guns!

Swinging with dada

Picking blueberries

We had such a great time as always at the farm. There really is nothing like relaxing away in the country. One of the highlights was enjoying the porches while it thunderstormed. For some reason whenever it rains at the farm.... it always thunders and lightenings. Nothing like it. A hike down to the creek and "old mill" is always a must as we "introduced" Regis to it as well. (Only sarah, brent and Regis... I stayed home with Colin)The name of the woods is poison ivy!!! ha We all got a little bit of that!

good news!

At Water Country

So right now when I got on the computer, Colin is sitting next to me pulling out the dvds, trying to look at them through my sunglasses (upside down) that he insists on wearing (yesterday I accidentally put his on so he now thinks he should wear mine) but he is going "think think think" to himself until he finds one he likes, talking to himself the whole time as if to convince himself what he wants to watch. Unfortunately for him its almost nap time so he wont get to watch any video right now... sorry kiddo!

But we have GREAT NEWS!!!!! we just bought a house. Well, nothing is finalized until the closing - July 24th - but its a cute little ranch house that is just perfect for us. It has a huge yard which is why we wanted it in the first place. Brent is already planning his huge garden for next year. Colin thinks its great because one of the rooms had a drum set and I'm sure when we move in he'll be disappointed the drum set is gone. He already says his room is the drums :) The neighborhood is great - that was also a huge selling point for the house (and also its on our low end of what we wanted to spend - even better!) I'm sure we'll put up more about the house but for now its off to put Colin down for a nap.

Yum Yum= Ice Cream. Whenever Colin asks for yum yum you know its for ice cream.... Pretty appropriate we think

SEASON'S PASS!

So this is a rare "Brent" post so I hope you enjoy. Abigail, Colin, and I are very excited this summer because Aunt Mary got us all season's passes to Busch Gardens/Water Country. We only live about 15 minutes from both so its a great thing to do on weekends, or even for a date night! We had a great time even though we rode ZERO roller coasters. Yes, it is a sad fact, but when you have a 2 year old with you its reality. It's okay cause we went to my favorite spot to eat, DA FESTHAUS (I took liberations with the spelling!) The chicken dinner with German potato salad is amazing.... I get it every time.

Anyways, Colin had a great time too. His favorite part was riding the train. We rode the train...once, twice, three times... okay four! He loved to hear the train noises, steer the pretend wheel, and pump his fist in the air. His other favorite part was running around the small water park they had in his diaper. For some reason he's into squeeling right now, so here I am following after my son as he turns a corner, racing by moms squeeling at the top of his lungs. Little to say there was much laughter from oncoming parents.


So we want to give a big thanks to Mary as we will be enjoying Busch Gardens many more times this summer.... and of course riding the train. The day ended with us riding the shuttle back to our car. It was about 3:30 and it was mostly older people and families with kids. The conductor in the back says on his microphone, "did everyone have a great time today?" There is mostly silence, then he says a second later, "everyone must be tired and ready to be home." I'm sitting there thinking, yes thats a true statement. A sure sign i'm getting old!

Here is my FAVORITE picture of the day. We were sitting on the benches waiting for the train, when all of the sudden it comes around the corner. As you can see Abigail is much more excited than Colin to see the train! She was fixing her hair and it all became one big motion!