"Rari"

For Joshua "Rari" means Ferrari. He first started saying "Rari" when he saw the picture of a red Ferrari in one of his books and we told him it was a Ferrari. Since then he likes to point at red cars on the road and call them "rari" because to him every red car is a Ferrari. Last night Cory found two Ferrari Hot Wheels cars at the store and even before he told Joshua what they were Joshua declared them "Rari". The funny thing is that the cars were yellow and black, not red! He has never called any of his other Hot Wheels cars Ferrari either! Hmmm, perhaps Joshua is taking after his dad and is becoming a car guy!

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Crazy Cousin Fun!

Yesterday Toni had brought the kids in town and decided to drop over. She even brought the boys and me lunch - YUM! So, after everyone had eaten up our pizza lunch all of the cousins (there are six of them) played together, except for little Sam of course! It's not too often that the cousins can just get together to play, so it was fun to see what chaos five busy children can create in only minutes! It's too bad I didn't even think to get my camera out until the end of our time together so I didn't get but a few pictures and only of Allison and Joshua (don't they look like they could be twins in the picture on the right?). Thanks for lunch and thanks for visiting, we had a lot of fun!

Allison and Joshua enjoyed perusing the toy ads together!


Allison, Joshua and Toni holding Sam

One Lucky Boy!

Last night we headed out to a couple stores, one of them being Office Depot. While Cory was looking around Joshua explored the entire store as I followed. He stopped still in his tracks when he saw a man on a scissors lift going up and down checking the lights. Joshua was completely mesmerized! Every where the man drove the machine around Joshua followed and watched. At one point the man said to me, "Want to give your son a scare? Just hand him up to me and I will take him for a ride." I didn't say anything, but I figured Joshua would be thrilled to take a ride, not scared! So, I handed him up to the nice man and Joshua got to go up and down and forward and backward in the scissors lift! What a dream for a little boy!!! Joshua didn't want to leave the store after this!

Visitors!

Last night Kim and Ally came over to visit. They were in visiting family for the weekend and made some time to stop and see us. Joshua and Ally played with just about every toy they could find. They didn't exactly play together seeing they are only 23 months and 16 months (funny how they are pretty much the same size), but they enjoyed watching what the other was doing! In between watching the kids Kim and I tried to do a little catching up. It was great to see our good friends again! Thanks for visiting!

A Birthday Party!

Friday morning Joshua was invited to his friend Camden's birthday party (Camden is a friend from church and MOPS). This was Joshua's first birthday party for a friend which was pretty exciting. The boys enjoyed playing, eating a little, getting temporary tattoos and painting and printing their hands. Joshua and Owen even got a little book and some suckers to take home. It was a fun time for all!
The boys at the pary - Zachary, Camden, Joshua and Owen.

"Jet!!!!"

Wednesday morning Cory arrived back in GR from his conference out in Las Vegas. The boys and I headed to the airport to pick him up. It was also a great opportunity for Joshua to also see the planes (which he calls "jets")up close and personal. Usually we are trying to spot them through the windows at home. I'm not sure if Joshua was more excited about seeing his daddy again or seeing all the jets! Once we got home and Cory began to settle in he got out a little surprise he had purchased for Joshua in Vegas. Joshua was so excited about getting a new little tiger! He has been carrying it around everywhere he goes and won't let anyone else touch it!

A School Carnival

First let me say blogger and I aren't the best of friends right now! It has taken me two days to try to get the pictures to upload for this post! AHHHHH!!! Anyway, Friday night we went to our first school carnival (well okay our first school carnival as parents). It was at a school housed in a church in which a few of my friends go to. Along with the carnival there was a silent auction. Since our MOPS group did this as a fundraiser this year and will be doing it again next year I thought it would be good to go and see how another group handled their silent auction. The auction was huge!!! We actually bid on a few items and won two of them. Joshua also got to play a few carnival games, got a temporary frog tattoo and got a great balloon hat. It was a bit chaotic, but a fun night out!

Check out Joshua's balloon hat!

Line 'em up!

Joshua likes things neat, orderly and very organized (gee, I wonder where he gets that from?). For the last couple months now he has been lining items up. It began with his Hot Wheels cars, but has moved on to his food, his toy dishes, and anything else he gets his hands on. He can keep himself entertained for quite some time just lining his cars up in one spot and then transferring them one by one and lining them up some where else. This is just a natural stage in development, but Joshua is a bit obsessed with this skill. Today when I was making lunch he proceeded to take everything out of the door of the refrigerator and line it up on the floor! The three pictures you see are just from a couple of hours this afternoon! Here's hoping his obsession with being neat and organized continues well into his teen years!

Spring!?!?!?

Could it be that spring is here? Or, is this only a taste of what may come in another month or so? For now we are just going to enjoy the beautiful 65 degree day! After lunch I took Joshua and Owen outside for quite a while. They were beyond thrilled to be able to enjoy the sunshine and warm temperatures. Since I don't trust Owen's wobbly walk on the cement yet he spent his time zipping around the driveway in the walker. Joshua loved running around, playing with all his toys. I just soaked in as many of the delicious rays of sun as I could! This is definitely my kind of weather and it seems like the boys like it too!

Butterflies at the Gardens

Wednesday was a day of butterflies for Joshua! We met a friend and her child at Frederik Meijer Gardens in the morning because Bright Beginnings (a program Joshua is a part of) was having a special morning there. It was the perfect day to visit since it was bright and sunny the butterflies were very active! The boys were definitely fascinated by the creatures flying around them! As we walked through my friend and I commented on how these winged creatures just reminded us that our God is an awesome God! He put so much thought and detail into these tiny beings, it's just incredible! Not only did we get to spend all morning at the gardens, but we got to go back in the evening for a member's event. This time we met my dad there, which was fun. Flashlights in hand we searched for butterflies for quite a while. Having been there when the butterflies were so active earlier it was interesting to see the difference in activity level. We mostly spotted butterflies sitting and resting on leaves and walls. Joshua also got to do a couple of crafts and get a temporary tattoo during the evening. He still isn't a huge fan of large characters in costume so we found out when we tried to have him say hi to Flutter (the garden's butterfly mascot). All in all this was an fabulous day spent with people we love admiring God's creation! Check out the video below to see a bit of our day.
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A Visit to Preschool

Today I took the boys over to my old school (where I used to teach) to visit the preschool. I needed to borrow something from their classroom for a MOPS meeting. Joshua was a bit unsure as he walked into the classroom, but after 10 minutes he was walking around discovering all the toys. One of my former little students was there today (she was 3 when I taught her and just turned 5!) and she took Joshua by the hand throughout our visit - they became quick friends. Besides playing with the toys Joshua took part in a story and singing time (well, I guess he danced instead of sang). He did surprisingly well for not knowing the environment or the kids surrounding him! He even ate a snack at the table while some of the kids ate their lunches. He really adored trying out the chairs that were his size! The highlight of the visit was when Joshua got to play with the class pet - Wilson the bunny! My former coworker got the bunny out and let Joshua play in a little play-yard with the bunny. Joshua loved playing with the bunny and Owen watched and giggled. It was great seeing my old comrades and Joshua loved playing in preschool!

Shaving Already?!?!

It's rare that Joshua sees Cory shaving because he is up early and off to work during the week and on the weekends Joshua is usually sleeping or eating breakfast while Cory shaves. However, this morning Cory decided to go and dig out our driveway from the several inches of snow that fell since yesterday before taking a shower and shaving. So, Joshua was intrigued when he saw Cory shaving. Of course, being the curious little guy he is he just had to try it out himself (Cory put the cover on and let Joshua go about his business) and I of course had to grab the camera. What a nut!