New Shoes!!

If you know me at all, you know I have a shoe fetish. My motto is "the more, the merrier'! Well my brother-in-law's wife Erin just happens to have the same fetish so when she saw a pair of cute little "Crocs" type shoes yesterday in infant sizes she had to tell me about them! So, last night Joshua and I went off to the mall to get him a pair. They are the most hilarious little shoes I have ever seen for infants! They are a crazy light-weight material and they are very wide so they are perfect for Joshua's fat little feet. It's hard to find a cute pair of shoes for a boy, so we snatched these up when we found them! They will be the perfect shoe for the beach and camping since they can just be sprayed off with water! Aren't they just too cute for words?!?!?!

Simple Summertime Pleasures

Today Joshua and I headed outside to play in his little pool because it was so nice. However, Joshua's pool filled with lots of great toys apparently wasn't good enough for him so he crawled out, up the front walkway, up the steps to the faucet. He tried to turn the water on, but just couldn't get the right motion so I helped turn it on. Joshua stood there putting his hand in the water and squealing. Worried about what my budget-loving husband would do when he gets our next water bill and sees how much our little afternoon of fun costs, I grabbed a bucket and started dumping the water on the plants so at least it wasn't a total waste. Joshua thought this filling up the bucket thing was the greatest! He stood there for about 15 minutes just playing in the faucet. Who would have thought that a faucet and a bucket would make a kid so happy?!?!

Playing at the Park

There is a great developmentally appropriate playground for children 2 years of age and under that happens to be about 5 minutes away from our house. Joshua and I have been there a couple times for playgroup, but the three of us have never gone together. So, off to the playground we went last night. Here are a few pictures of our time there. . .

Trying out the steering wheel


Crawling through a tunnel.


Ringing the musical chimes.


Holding on tight while dad slides him along the track.

Sadness...

Last night my 32 year old cousin Chris passed away. He was battling very aggressive cancer. He leaves behind his wife Ana and their three young children Abby, Aaron and Willem. This family has had amazing strength and faith throughout Chris' illness and I just pray this continues. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families during this very difficult time. May God wrap his loving arms around this family.

9 Years of Marriage and Counting!

June 20, 1997


Today Cory and I celebrate our 9 year anniversary! I really can't believe it has been 9 years of marriage already! I guess the years just fly by when you are married to your best friend and enjoy almost everyday with him. It's amazing how much we have gone through together in nine years! Tonight we get to celebrate with a dinner just the two of us that doesn't include any child-friendly finger food! Thanks Shawn and Erin for taking care of Joshua while we spend some time alone (we are really enjoying this kid swapping thing we have going on)!

Father's Day Celebrations

Dads are such an important part of a child's life! It was fun to celebrate the fathers, grandfathers and even a great grandfather that are in our lives. Thanks guys for all you do! We love and appreciate each of you!

Spare change anyone???

Last night I was going to through some spare change I had in my pocket in Joshua's "College Fund" piggy bank, but decided I would see if Joshua could put the coins in himself. I've tried this in the past, but he never got the concept of putting the coin in the slot nor did he have the coordination. Apparetnly his fine motor skills have greatly improved because it only took him a few seconds to drop the first coin in and he was looking for another coin to drop in. Thanks to his new found skill our little scammer cleaned out almost all our change and put it into his bank! Oh how they learn young!

Joshua see...Joshua do...

It's like that saying "monkey see, monkey do". Joshua has been into the stage of copying what we do. He likes to mimic us talking on the phone, washing our hands, etc. So if we are doing something he has got to try to do it too, which is just what happened the other night when we were putting our patio furniture out on the deck. As you can see, Joshua had to get right in and help Cory put the table together.

Shakin' It

Click on the title above to view the video!

Cat chasing and wrestling!

Joshua's interest in the cats seems to come and go. Lately he has really enjoyed crawling around chasing after the cats. Since Logan is a very tolerant, laid-back kind of cat Joshua is able to catch him once and a while. Logan doesn't even mind is Joshua lays on him, sits on him, or even rolls on him! So, let the chasing and wrestling continue!

Mr. Independent

Our little baby is quickly becoming an independent toddler! A couple weeks ago Joshua became very interested in trying to feed himself with a spoon. So, I bought him his own set of silverware that was kid-friendly and safe. He has been working on feeding himself with a spoon and a fork. We still have to work on getting more food on the spoon from the bowl (he only gets a little bit and gets frustrated when he is hungry) as well as poking food with the fork, but he has the hang of getting the utensils up to and into his mouth. It's amazing just how quickly little children develop skills!