Green and Gold!

So I know its a week late, but better than never! Last weekend was a very proud moment for this GMU Grad. Seven of us made the trek (okay only 3 of you really had to travel) to Norfolk to experience the great George Mason basketball team play ODU. Now, the overall outcome was very dissapointing as GMU lost (they haven't beaten ODU at the T.E.D since '04), but I couldn't have been prouder to be part of a school that really treats their alumni well.

For $10 a person we got a ticket in club seating (face value $13) with about 40 other GMU fans, and a all-u-can-eat (that phrase invokes much joy to my heart) food bar with chicken fingers, hotdogs, and chips. Also all the soda you want. Then at half time they had 3 drawings to win a few t-shirts and an autographed jersey by the head coach! We also were given a 2008 GMU calendar, a GMU alumni pen, and a alumni car sticker! So the $10 we paid per person wasn't even as much as the face value of the ticket seats we had! Unbelievable.... I might even give to the alumni association after being treated like that! Maybe thats what they were thinking... ha

So Mason's two top players played very well, but the rest of the team didn't. They ended up loosing by like 13, but Regis and I were keeping score of another statistic in which GMU won hands down. GMU had 5 dunks to ODU's ZERO!!!!! YEA!!! It's the small victories that count in life.The rest of the weekend was a blast as well as we walked around VA Beach and ended up at an unforgetable mexican restaurant that i'm sure we'll all talk about for years to come.

dah-ta dah-ta da ta da-ta da

As you know, Colin loves marching bands and even leads his own. He loves to march around the house with some sort of stick and go "dah-ta dah-ta da ta da-ta da" He is always the band director as he has his stick out in front and moves it like they do in parades. He watches marching bands on the computer and memorizes all their moves. He makes everyone follow after him but his favorite thing is to march outside. Outside there are millions of sticks he can use and he is even allowed to drum the sticks on just about everything. He will even stop halfway, raise his stick in the air and yell "Rahrah" and then change directions. Only everyone else marching with him has to do the same. And everyone who comes over and goes outside with him is asked to march around. He is also very specific on which end of the stick you hold and always shows me the correct way to hold my stick of the day. (I love the picture above showing his little mohawk. He had rather crazy hair this day. Someone asked me the other day if I cut his hair like that! haha nope but its so cute in the humidity it curls up into the cutest curls right into a perfect little mohawk)

Guess what I can do!

A week ago exactly Colin surprised us all with his amazing athletic abilities yet again. It was 6am and Brent had just left for work as I heard Colin waking up. A few minutes later he got quiet and I thought he put himself back to sleep only to have him WALK into my room. He had climbed out of his crib, opened his door and then my door, and walked right in with the proudest smile on his face. Now he sleeps at night with a sleeper blanket (its a blanket that we zip him up in so he stays nice and warm as he likes to kick all the blankets off); so I should really say he shuffled in (imagine Sweet Pea). I couldn't figure out how he did it but the next day after he woke up from his nap, he met me on the stairs after I heard him from downstairs! Very scary. He's fast. So I immediately put him back in and told him to show me how he did it. He listened and did it for me. I wish I had a camera to capture his face as he was incredibly proud of himself and his new found independence. He uses the headboard on either side since it is higher than the railings, almost jumps up and grabs it, then swings his whole body over the side of the crib railing and then flops down to the ground. Very strong for a little boy and very scary for his mommy. We were going to transition him into his toddler bed but waited a few days and he hasn't tried to climb out again. We are now ready as I went and bought bed railings so he won't fall out of the bed. He is a very active sleeper and doesn't stay in one place very long. We are trying not to make a big deal about it so he doesn't think this is something you do all the time. However, we would like to get a video of him flinging his little body over the side of the crib before we move him into his toddler bed!

What do you like?

This afternoon Colin and I were having a conversation about things we liked and I would ask him something and it would either be a yes or no. Then I asked him what Grandma liked and he said Grandpa! (well he didn't say it - he makes a "grandpa" face where he scrunches up his eyes and nose... its really funny and part of me hopes he doesn't outgrow it for a while. It is a little frustrating for him when he is trying to get grandpa's attention and he just makes his face which grandpa can't see sometimes!) But anyways Grandma likes Grandpa. True statement and very cute. SO then I asked him what did Grandpa like and Colin said Fish! haha Grandma likes Grandpa but Grandpa likes fish! He repeated it again for everyone at dinner :)

So cute. And to further brag on our little boy. He is a genius! I know most people say that about their kids but yesterday we were making brownies and I was putting the eggs in and counted 1...2... and before I could say three Colin says what sounds like teeee! (mommy translation = 3) Proof - Colin is a genius!

One more cute story - last night Colin got up at an insane hour - 3:30 - and I brought him in bed with us and he went right to sleep. After a while when I am about to take him back to his own bed, his arm shoots up and he yells BALL and pretends to bounce a basketball! The whole time sound asleep.

I think we can count on those scholarships - both for brains and his wonderful athleticism!

Winter wonderland

It finally snowed! Colin wasn't sure about it at first and kept going uh-oh when we made a snowman and then knocked it down. Apparently when I was Colin's age my parents bundled me and my sister up, took us outside and we cried the whole time. So the first night wasn't a surprise when Colin didn't really like the snow. But the next day he decided the snow was fun and even helped brent put the snowman back together! He didnt think the snowman needed a carrot nose and would eat all the carrots we brought out. Guess we shouldve given him lunch first. Colin ended up loving the snow and here are a few pictures of our snow adventures!

Our Little Man

Colin has developed a love for cereal. And not just any cereal - a mixture of Muselix and Granola. You have to mix them. He insists!! He usually has a few bowls by the time breakfast is over as he likes to share with grandma, mama and his own bowl. He starts with a bowl from mama, then grandma comes down and pours herself a bowl, then he wants his own and then finally dada comes and eats some too! I personally am getting a little tired of this combination. But not Colin! This results in some very interesting diaper changes a few hours later. But along with the cereal every morning he also likes to read the morning paper. He just looks at the pictures but he is such a genius we wouldn't be surprised if he is actually reading the stock reports for future use!

DADDY!

The other day my mom and I took Colin to the Mariners Museum. Its is a really cool museum and they just added a new wing dedicated to the Monitor. They even have actual pieces of the ship on display and a reproduction of the entire ship. It was amazing to walk out on it and realize how big it was. Colin of course found the only puddle and spent some time splashing away. We didn't get to read/watch much since Colin just wanted to see it all at a much faster pace. One day we're going to go back and read everything and watch all the movies. (the coolest ones were on the monitor - when it sank and also the Battle of the Ironclads! Definitely worth the money to go see!) But the funniest moment was when we passed this statue. There were so many all over the museum but Colin walked by, pointed to it and yelled "Dada!" and then kept walking. My mom and I burst out laughing and then on our way out Colin did it again and we just had to get a picture of "Dada." We aren't sure why but it apparently reminded Colin of Brent. So here's to Dada :)

Being a Dad

So it's been a long time since I've made a post. Truth is I think Abigail does a great job keeping up on all Colin does. She also takes more pictures than me, more video's, and let's face it... see's him more than me. Being a dad is THE greatest joy in life next to experiencing God. It doesn't matter what my day is like at work, but when I come home, Colin is there. I walk through the door (unless he meets me at my truck; which is often) and I yell "HELLO!" I wait for a few brief moments knowing that my little boy, with a huge smile on his face, will come high stepping around the corner of the hallway, and run full steam ahead into my arms. There IS no greater feeling than that. And that is just the beginning. I usually get home around 5:30 or 6pm and then have a little time to play with him before dinner. He loves trains and also instruments that make ANY noise. He usually grabs Abigail/grandma/any aunt's around/ and myself and we carry tambourines, cymbals, and a triangle around the house making horrific loud noises that somehow sound beautiful to Colin!

One of my favorite things to do with Colin is drive the R/C car I got for Christmas around the house with Colin following after me. Many times when I arrive home from work, he will pull me by the shirt, and take me to the remote control where he will look at me with his little eyes sternly and say "da" which is a universal word he uses to mean just about everything. In this case it means, "let's go daddy, take this and we are going to play." I grab the remote control and he grabs his pushable cart/toy/thingy with wheels on it. I chase him around the house with the car as he runs faster and faster in circles. Eventually one of us will turn and go in the opposite direction and crash into each other!

Being a dad is such a joy because you realize you are helping mold this little person into who they will become. As a Christian I want to instill values and morals of Godly character. Colin is beginning to get to the age where I can teach him more things and tell him right from wrong, but mostly its just about loving him and spending time with him. Helping him feel loved and giving him security. I want him to know that he can always goto dad and I will help him with whatever he is facing. At this point, its kissing his bo-boo's, looking for lost toys, and helping him up and down stairs! I'll take what I can get for now! I know I will be in over my head when he gets older and life becomes more complicated. For right now, I try not to take any day for granted and just spend as much time as possible with him. I'm not going to lie, I am very selfish and often want to do my own thing when coming home from work, but in reality its not hard to spend all your free time with God's most beautiful creation.... our kids.

Living museum

Yesterday I took Colin to the Virginia Living Museum. It has changed a lot since the days of boring school field trips year after year. It wouldnt have been so boring but they took us to the same thing each year in middle school. But now they have added an enormous new wing and its so much better. It was a beautiful day - 69 and sunny! We spent a lot of time watching the beavers, the bobcat (MEOW! MEOW! as Colin kept saying), and the turkeys (gobble Gobble gobble) There was one turkey that kept talking to Colin. Makes me wish I knew what BOTH of them were saying. Colin kept making turkey sounds and the turkey would answer back. All the fish were really cool too and Colin loved the touch tank where he could touch horse shoe crabs and different fish.

(Dont worry... the snake is fake)

Football

Colin was practicing his "touchdown!" the day before the hokies bowl game but unfortunately he woke up the next day to disbelief when he realized his beloved hokies lost. And to add to that the Redskins lost their playoff game too. It was not a good week for football but Colin is already ready for next year and keeps practicing his "go go go" and "touchdown!" sayings (what he says when watching football) in anticipation of many wins in 2008.

Little Drummer Boy

Colin is very musically talented already. Angela noticed when he was a few months old that he could feel the beat in music and since then his love for instruments and music keeps growing. His new thing is to watch the Highty Tighties on YouTube and pump his arms up and down with the music. He has also discovered that pot lids make great cymbals and after a few weeks of that noise I went and bought him his own set of cymbals to save our sanity. (And also the pots) The cymbals are much quieter. He loves to march around the house and high step it and makes sure anyone who wants to participate gets to join in the fun. (or who he thinks wants to participate. On Christmas day he made Angela and Sarah march around the house many times. Mary is his favorite to march with and he always tries to get her to play the game with him. And usually she willingly does! What a great aunt! As you can see in this picture, Mary is a little tired of watching the same video for the 100th time that day! But Colin is just as excited as the first time)

Christmas in DC

This past weekend we went to visit Grandpa Goedecke (aka Pops) and spent some time in DC taking Colin around to a few of the tourist sites. We first went to see the national tree only Colin wasn't too impressed since it was daylight and the lights weren't on. Uh-OH was the word he kept saying. We then took Colin over to the WWII memorial and spent the whole time keeping Colin from climbing into the fountains. He loved it and really didn't understand why Mommy wouldnt let him splash in the water. (the other day we went to the playground and splashed in all the puddles - Colin and I had a great time but I'm afraid he now thinks any standing water is for him to splash in)

We then went to the Air and Space museum to look at all the airplanes. As you can see he loved driving the airplane! We met a friend Mike for dinner and then went home to open some Christmas presents. And thats when our wonderful weekend took a downhill. Colin opened a present and then puked up his dinner and spent the rest of the night with the flu. The only way he slept was if I held him so no one got any sleep. The poor thing was so sick and had no clue what was going on. We came home early after meeting a friend for breakfast and while Colin has bounced back very quickly, he passed the wonderful flu onto Momma and Aunt Mary. Brent deserved the father/husband of the year as he has taken care of both of us and praise the Lord for his strong stomach as I get queasy with anything flu related. We are so glad we're still living with my parents as they have helped tremendously with Colin so Brent can take care of me and my parents can watch Colin. As I'm writing this I have only seen Colin for a minute today! I miss my little boy and pray that all of us are feeling much better tomorrow. Happy New Year! Hopefully this isnt an indication of what the year will bring.

Christmas day

We had a wonderful Christmas. Colin woke up super early (as usual) and couldn't understand for a while why he had to be quiet since he knew his aunts (sarah and mary) were home. My brother (Ensign Gouger now!) and Angela came over later in the afternoon as well as Grandma and Hoooowwwward (as Colin calls his great grandpa) And angela and James brought their dog AJ! Notice the picture on the right as Colin proudly waves his daddy's Redskin flags with sheer jubilee! His dad said he is always going to remind him where his loyalties lie! His Redskins look (hope) to be playoff bound after this weekend.



It was a day filled with fun and lots of presents. Colin got his train (wooo woooo) and now has to carry it around everywhere. Mary gave him a Thomas dvd so now we watch Thomas all the time. In fact, Colin dreamed of trains that night. He had a hard time sleeping - probably due to all the excitement of the day. But as we're rocking in the glider in his room, I hear him begin to talk in his sleep. At first I thought he had woken up since I had just gotten him back to sleep. But he begins to go - "wooo wooo" - and then "i don't know" followed by an "uh oh" (in the Thomas video a train goes off the track and Colin always goes uh oh) I wish I knew what he was dreaming! Colin also got this huge dump truck. He is really into trucks and the funny thing is that right after he opens the truck, he starts driving it all over the house, but had to first make a pit stop in the living room. There he opens his truck book Santa brought him, flips through it and then proceeds on his way. I guess he had to make sure he was driving the truck right!

Merry Christmas

candy!!!!

Notice a theme here? We learned for next year to put the gingerbread house together first before getting the candy and Colin together. That way next year he hopefully won't eat as much candy. But he LOVED it and our house is still standing (for the moment)

Santa

Last year Colin loved Santa (as you'll recall if you go back to our December archives). This year it was a different story. Probably because the Santa last year was the REAL Santa and this one was obviously Santa's helper. This one didn't even have a real beard! But Santa and Mrs. Clause were great and the elves played with Colin while we were in line. Colin had a great time until we were next. Then he started inching AWAY from Santa and Mrs. Clause and moved toward the exit. Luckily Mommy caught him and we were able to tell Mrs. Clause what he wanted (he went wooo wooooo which in Colin language means train) But then we got close to Santa and he didn't think much of him. Not even sitting on mommy's lap. But at the end he did blow Santa kisses. And we just got back from a walk around the block were there are several Santa's outside and he waved hi to them so I guess we didn't scar Colin with taking him to meet Santa.

outside christmas lights

This morning we woke up to a beautiful day - 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. (We are really loving being back in VA especially since our little boy loves to be outside all the time) Since it was so nice Colin and I went for a bike ride. And unfortunately we had to turn back around almost as soon as we started because of everyones outdoor decorations. At first Colin kept going UH-OH.... UH-OH since the lights weren't turned on but then we passed several houses where the blow up Santa's weren't blown up and looked like they had died. That greatly distressed Colin and he tried to climb off the bike and kept blowing kisses to the houses .Usually that is an indication that he wants to go home- but probably this time he wanted to give the Santa's some extra loving to try to fix him. For Colin, kisses fix most everything as he kisses his trucks when they fall and especially when he bumps any body part we have to kiss it several times. So we turned back around and thankfully we found a cat to play with on the way home and Colin forgot about the dead Santa's. We probably wont go on a bike ride until after all the Christmas decorations are put away.

uh - oh

Colin just loves our christmas trees. He walks in the room and goes "ooooo" when he see them and get really excited when the lights are turned on. He likes to look at all the ornaments and points them all out to us. He also loves the bubble lights my parents have on the trees. You can always hear him going Uh-OH all day and pointing to the lights because the lights aren't turned on. He doesn't understand why they aren't on all day. He then has to look the trees over and make sure every light is on and bubbling properly. Next year we'll have to get our own bubble lights (hopefully our house will have sold by then) He also likes to look at the stockings and really likes Aunt Angela's for some reason. Probably because there is glitter on it.

presents

Is this present for me?

Colin noticed this present under the tree and thought it would be fun to wear.

lawn mower

We have mentioned Colin's love for lawnmowers before but here is a glimpse into every day. As soon as he gets up in the morning he is usually asking to go outside and mow the lawn. He makes his lawnmower noise and also pretends to start the lawnmower. He takes his arm and pretends to pull the string 3 times. I'm not sure why its 3 times but he's very cute doing it. His new thing is to have mommy take the lawnmower, pretend to start the mower (this is a very important step in the game), and chase him around the yard. We're both ready for naps by the time its over.... well at least mommy is ready for one!

arts and crafts

Colin has been to a few different christmas kids events and has come home with some very fun crafts. His first was the christmas mouse that is proudly hung on the tree. (colin likes to take it down and show people) He then made the reindeer the other day and loved it so much he wanted to make another one. I love the position of rudolph's nose on the first one! He's our little picasso! Some of you might get one for Christmas.... a Colin original.

mama, dada, baby, baaaaa

Now that Christmas is near, Colin has found the nativity set very facinating. At first he had to learn what "gentle" meant as he promtly took off Joseph's head. (Joseph has been put back together with glue) But since then he has been gentle or at least tried his best. He loves to take the sheep and go "baaaaa baaaa baaaa." He also likes to take inventory of all the people and point to Mary and says 'mama', Baby Jesus is "baby" and Joseph is "dada." He isn't sure what to make of the shephard or the wise men but he does know they aren't Baby Jesus' dada. There are days I hear him saying "mama, dada, baby, baaaa" over and over.

On another note: he loves to answer most questions with "yeah" or "there"(which sounds like dare sometimes) depending on what you ask him.