Snowball fight take two

 

 

Sledding

I made a little ramp for Norah to sled down.  She thought it was great. I love her giggle inthe first video

Ravoli

Yesteday afternoon the boys made homemade ravoli. 

Squirrell

more snow

Here are a few pictures from our snowpocalypse.  Colin got out of school an hour early yesterday. It didnt start here until after dinner but after seeing the pictures of all those kids stranded on buses I'm glad va beach made the early release call.  And based on our roads I'm pretty sure we wont have school the rest of the week.

 I think this picture sums up what really happened to the dinosaurs - must've been some type of polar vortex! 

 Yay Snow Again!!!!

 Oh wait I can't move the snow is up to my knees.

 WAHHHHH!!!!!!

 Somebody help me! 

 Daddy to the rescue

We've been sledding and now Colin and Brent are shoveling out our elderly neighbors.  I'm hoping the snow melts a little so we can actually build a snowman. Its been so powdery both times. The last time I've seen this much snow was several years ago when James, Sarah, and I built this:

 It will always be hard to top that one!

Basketball

This video was taken this summer on the way to basetball camp. The kids sing it all the time  

 Basketball has hit our house once again. Colin lives and breathes basketball to his fathers great delight. This boy is always bouncing a ball or shooting air balls.  He loves it.  And Brent loves it even more. 

 We went with upward again and love the program.  He has a really good team. They have some really great players and score a lot but also great teamwork too.  It was so sweet to see the best guy on the team pass the ball to the worst guy and try to get that guy a basket.  They are learning to work as a team and Colin has scored a few baskets each game.

 Sometimes his coach can be too demanding and make it so hard to work with.... haha just kidding.  Brent is great as a coach and each game parents keep coming up to me telling me what a great and patient coach Brent is.  I dont go to practice and stay home with Joel and Norah so I only go to the games.  But Brent is having a great time coaching although I think he feels sometimes he's in over his head.  One sweet girl had her father die in an accident after the first week and another kid fractured his arm the last minute of practice by a fall this week. But I think he's the best one for this team because of those things. Lots of prayers for these kids. 

 I've had to chase Norah off the court a few times because she thinks she should be out there with Dah-eee (daddy) and Bubba.

Joel could care less about sports right now and usually thinks that each game is an eternity to watch.  It will be interesting to see what activities he gets into as he's older.  But its fun to watch and Colin is enjoying having Dad be his coach and especially going to Subway with just Dad after practice each week. 

Poop

JThis boy. Our incredibly sweet ornary boy. It's amazing how much he can melt my heart at the same time he is misbehaving and most likely not listening. He had a follow up appointment last week to see the results of all the tests they've run on him. It made me really nervous when they did an ultrasound a few weeks ago and the technician got really serious and spent 30 minutes on his left kidney and barely any time on his right. And then very quietly says "the dr will have the results tomorrow" and then I was left waiting until this appointment. I had to keep reminding myself how incredible it was that we found the sludge in the first place. That the Lord had Laura in this program at this time and needed a 4 year old to practice on and not just to practice on but specifically taking pictures of bladder and kidneys. If He could do all that and have us find it before it caused kidney damaged then surely whatever the further tests found then it would be ok. (For you fellow hokies it was Laura Stevenson) but i still worried. so good news is the sludge is gone and he is fully emptying his bladder each time he pees. That was pretty amazing to see the difference.  We still have to be on him everyday to make sure hes still doing it but that was a relief. And there is no permenant damage done. Bad news is he still can't poop it all out or isn't pooping at all.  So we have a lot more work to do and she is letting us try some natural ways before sending us to GI specialists and send a scope in there and who knows what. I'm hoping we can get the poop on track. I'd post the poop pics  I've been taking to show the dr but I don't want to embarrass him when he's older. You know just until he brings a girl home and then the poop pics might come out. It's really amazing how much poop he has stored in his body. He stood up once in the bath and yelled that poop was coming and it was huge. It went  from his butt to the floor. Ha never thought I'd be posting how big my sons poops are.  But we are working on it and this week he's done great. And more hero factory guys are his prize. He just earned one today and has a few more he's aiming to earn this month. I'm hoping to avoid the specialist and also all the medical bills that would come with all that - we have enough of those already.   I'm also convinced that Joel is still waking up several times a night is because if this poop/ bladder issue. He's never slept through the night so hopefully once we get him straight we can all sleep. He told me yesterday that his stomach doesn't hurt as much since he's pooped everyday this week. So we are on the right track. It is very humbling to go so often to the childrens hospital. Weve gone a lot lately with joel and colin goes regularly for his asthma. Very glad our problems arent too serious. 

More snow fun

 Lots of hours have been spent outside the past two days.  Norah decided she wanted to go back out last night and then has been out a few times today.

  She went out first thing to check on her fishies.  It had a few inches of ice on it but at least no fish were stuck in the ice.  So hopefully they made it. 

 We played snow soccer this afternoon. I'd just like the record to show that I beat the boys. It was boys (really Colin and Brent since Joel didnt really play) against girls and Norah doesnt really contribute much.

So much fun.  We've really enjoyed the snow and our snow days from school/work. Life goes back to normal tomorrow - after a 2 hour delay! 

Chess

We got the call a few minutes ago that we get another snow day tomorrow. Which means plenty of time for Colin to perfect his game. I looked over and Colin was reading his book. I'm glad Brent has never let Colin win because the challenge of beating him has been good for Colin. But that winning streak is about to end very soon!