3rd annual GMU basketball game

Last night we was our 3rd annual gmu/odu basketball game. Its a lot of fun and Brent looks forward to it every year.  Ant Ant and Mike (or as we call him Witty) drove down to meet us there and we met our friends Sarah, Toby and Lisa there. (We've been trying to get Mike to come every year - hopefully the loss wont keep him from coming next year!)  Witty even ran into a friend of his from freshmen year.  Unfortunately George Mason can't seem to give us a win and this year it was even more embarrassing but there's always next year.  We get to sit in the GMU alum box (i guess it was considered a box) and use the VIP entrance and eat all the hotdogs/hamburgers/cookies we wanted.  The best part is that we can roam around which with kids is great while watching the game. Colin was really into the game this year and Joel just liked to slobber on Sarah's water bottle. Thanks sarah!  Colin finally got to cheer for his green team. Brent was a proud father :)  We had fun and hope next year they can give Brent a win! It was funny though at the end ODU had some cheer about us being the losers and since sarah, ant ant and I are all hokie alums think maybe we should introduce that cheer to jim weaver at tech! haha!  Good friends, good food, and lots of fun - just needed a win.  Maybe the 4th year is the charm...

 

 

Tunnel Fun

The other day when I was dropping off some bags at the goodwill I found this fold up tunnel for $2. The tunnel has been a blast.  Its been a pirate ship, part of an obstacle course, and many other things.  Joel will even randomly crawl into the tunnel squealing the whole time.  The only problem is that when we do the obstacle course, Brent and I get stuck in it which hurts our times.  Colin beats us every time which results in him telling us its our turn over and over while he times us. its been a lot of fun for the whole family.

It snowed again wednesday.  For a few hours. Joel just loves to watch it come down.

7 months

 

7 months.  Seems like a lifetime ago he was born but then it just seems like I was pregnant yesterday.  He thinks he's 3 like his brother and should get to play and eat the same things as his brother.  Joel is even more active I think than Colin was and is always moving.  He's such a sweet boy and my favorite thing right now is the kisses he gives. He loves to give kisses.  He'll give you kisses usually when you ask him to give kisses. He is also the best snuggler.  I'm so glad both my boys love to snuggle.  He loves his big brother and Colin gets the best laughs out of our little guy.  Colin loves him too and sang Joel a song this morning when he woke up "I love my baby Joel" was the theme of the song. He also loves to stand and will 'walk' when we hold his hands up. Our only complaint is that he still wakes up A LOT during the night. We have one more tooth to poke through then hopefully he'll go back to sleeping well. We love you Joel!

more snow

Yesterday we got more snow.  We probably got about an inch but because it rained before we didn't get more.  Its still so pretty coming down. Joel stayed by the window most of the afternoon watching the snow fall.

And what we got yesterday was more than we saw all year last winter.  I'm so jealous of everyone who got 30 inches - we'd love some of that here.  (well I would. Brent doesn't since he wouldn't be able to work for weeks here if that happened) We still managed to have some fun this morning in the snow. My parents came over for lunch and Colin and my dad had fun sword fighting for a little bit. Joel was excited to see the snow since he wanted to just eat it. But this time I put rubber bands around his wrists so he gloves would stay on and he couldnt shake them off. That made eating the snow pretty hard for him and made him a little frustrated until I gave him a handful of clean snow.  Colin and Brent have been pirates all weekend. Brent is his pirate friend. Joel is his pirate baby. And that is a lake in our backyard. Its frozen in the mornings so we can skate on it :) But once the sun comes out it becomes a slushy mess.  I'm loving all the snow but I'm also very ready for warmer weather so I can go outside everyday with the boys.

 

 

bored

 

These boys dont look too excited about Jamie getting her dress altered today but I was excited to see Jamie and her wedding dress. Jamie is going to make a beautiful bride!   - sorry that's all the pictures you can see until the wedding :)

Addition

At breakfast Colin said "mommy, you know 3 astronaut stories and 2 astronaut stories makes FIVE astronaut stories."   And then later he told me that 2 dinosaurs and 2 dinosaurs makes 4 dinosaurs.  We may have another math major in our family :)  Which means I should brush up on my calculus and geometry since its been 6 years...

 

And get a look at some of Joel's pearly whites.  He has 3 bottom teeth and is working on getting his two top front teeth with another top tooth coming in too.  Wow!  We are hoping once these finish popping through he wont be getting up as many times in the middle of the night.  we could all use some sleep.  Colin got 1 tooth at 6 months - Joel has 6. 

More "crow" fun

 

 We had fun again this afternoon playing in the "crow." Joel wasn't too sure in the beginning and then wanted to just crawl around and try to eat the snow.  He was fine until his glove fell off and then he went back inside shortly after that.  Then Colin and I made a Snow T-Rex (use your imagination for that one!)  and then we ventured over to the only hill around near the pool.  Colin had a great time sledding down the small hill and loved to watch the big boys do their tricks and even joined in their snow ball fight.  Its really funny though since we aren't used to this much snow to see kids with plastic bags on their hands and feet - even the teenagers had plastic bags over their shoes. Snow gear just isn't used much around here :)   Colin was so tired on the way home that he fell asleep in the sled. And its not that far of a walk home. We came home so Brent could go back out with Colin but he was too exhausted.  Maybe if it hasn't melted by tomorrow they can go sledding again.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Snow Fun

It really snowed. Or as Colin says "crowed" (amazingly he can pronounce all the dinosaurs names but he can't say snow yet...) The weatherman finally got it right.  And not just a slight dusting. Last I measured we had around 7 inches and its still falling.  We've had a lot of fun outside.  We had a makeshift sled as I went to Home Depot last night and they suggested using a cement mixing tub as a sled. It works great. Joel and Colin spilled out of it once- but they didn't seem to mind.  Colin has been outside off and on all day.  He even helped me shovel the driveway. Colin also wants to "snow plow" the whole backyard and wants us to push him on his caterpillar truck.  Smart kid but its so hard to push when he has the front plow part down!  Once it stops snowing we'll take Joel back outside. He keeps looking out the windows and keeps crawling to the garage door when we go out. He doesn't want to miss anything his big brother is getting to do. Joel may be 6 months but he thinks he is 3 like his brother and should get to do everything Colin does. Colin wants to make a snowman or a snow dinosaur but its too powdery to do any of that. Maybe tomorrow after it starts melting some.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Virginia LIving Museum

 

Yesterday we went to the Virginia Living Museum with my mom.  We went two years ago (click here to see colin ) It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. Colin was our guide and kept referring to the map. At one time he looked at the map and pointed to the water and told me that the water was "an american lake" haha.  We also watched a show in the planeterium about Astronauts. Colin loved it. He understood it better that I did.  At one point I had no clue what they were showing and he leaned over and said "mommy we're in an astronauts brain" and sure enough thats what the announcer said.  Although learning about all the effects outer space has on your body I think it will be safer for him to be a football player.  The otters put on a show for us and would come over and swim near the window whenever we were there.  Joel touched a horseshoe crab which Colin refused to go near. Joel would've touched everything there. And probably would have tried to eat it all too.  They both played in a tunnel and Joel crawled through the whole thing. He was very proud of himself.  Both boys loved it and it was a great way to spend the afternoon.  Colin does want to go back because they had a poster with T-Rex on it advertising the summer attraction.In fact he didnt want to leave because he was afraid t-rex would get there soon. He told me ont he way home that t-rex family was packing their bags to come visit and that we needed to go back and not miss their visit.  haha so funny.  And i'm sure he'll mention it often and wont forget. 

  

 Why is Joel so excited? Because while Colin was busy watching a movie on the computer about dinosaurs...

 

...ALL the firetrucks were his to play with. 

EIGHT IS GREAT!

Yesterday Colin and I played hopscotch outside for over an hour. It was so much fun.  I love this age. Eight was the number Colin kept trying to get his rock to land on.  "Eight is Great" is what he kept saying.  And then when I'd try to say "four is more" he'd correct me and tell me "Eight is more mommy" or "Five is alive" he would say "no mommy five is dead... eight is great"  For every number I had a saying for he would bring it back to eight.  And he wants to turn eight this year on his birthday.... he may be 8 for a long time in his head :)

Random facts from the week

the past few days joel has discovered he can crawl into the bathrooms.  he goes straight for the trashcan and likes to tip it over.  or chew on the bath rug.  gross...

Joel likes to grab my nose and hold it when he's upset or tired. He wont take a pacifier anymore and doesnt have a blankie... he has my nose.

colin's prayer at dinner "thank you Jesus for eyes, eyebrows, and mouthes"

Colin always picks me every dandelion he see and proudly brings it to me. When the kids are older and have moved out I hope to always have dandelions in my yard (Brent might disagree) 

Joel wants whatever Colin is playing with.  And its hard to distract him with another toy. He is very determined.

Joel is becoming very much a mommas boy -always a good thing :) - and wants me to pick him up and snuggle whenever I walk into the room.  He was fuss when I leave the room.  He is perfectly fine in between playing on his own but the minute he sees me or realizes I'm gone he cries. 

Joel is still doing the wounded soldier crawl and is now loving standing.  Its only a matter of time... we're not ready for that yet

Colin has molars coming in. Its very swollen and doesnt look fun. 

 Joel has 3 top teeth coming in. He wakes up every hour at night. We're so ready for these teeth to come in.  Poor kid.

Colin loves to wrestle Joel.  He will wrestle him and roll him all over the floor. For the most part Joel thinks its fun.  Unless he sees a toy he wants and then he complains.

Colin and Joel love to crawl into tents/forts/caves that Colin makes. Just the two of them.  Joel thinks he's such a big boy to be allowed in them. I think Colin just brings him in he can make sure Joel doesn't play with his toys.

One day I sat down to drink my cup of tea that I had reheated 3 times that morning and spilled it all over myself. So I made myself another cup - spilled that too.  Tea is not easy to get out of white carpet. I'm now only allowed to have water in the back room :)  the same day I turned on a burner on the stove. Turned on the wrong one and ended up melting a plastic lid all over the stove.  It was a rough day that day.

I used my $2 patch on my free jogging stroller and got it working. I have convinced the boys maybe 3 times to go in it. Colin usually wants to run too so he can practice for his next race :) But this is how they sit - holding hands the whole time.

I want to hold your hand...

Yesterday Kelly, RJ and Lucy came over to play. The boys played in the tent and sword fighted with these amazing nerf swords I found at the dollar store.  Joel is a big flirt and tried to hold lucy's hand and loved to scoot over to her and try to kiss her.  The first picture is her reaction to him holding her hand.  The bottom picture is right after he kissed her.  Her daddy would be proud!  Joel never gave up and kept trying to give her kisses over and over.  I think we need to have a talk with our little boy about kissing girls. Probably the sooner the better!