Lazy Day

Last night Joshua kept asking if we were going to a store after dinner. We kept telling him no. I told him perhaps we would go to a store tomorrow to which he replied, "No, I stay home." Apparently he has had enough running around for the week and wants to spend some time at home, so that is just what we did today.
Earlier in the week I had seen a post on Bradi's blog with a recipe for homemade caramel corn a.k.a. crack in a bowl (and boy is she right!). I checked the cupboards and actually had all the ingredients on hand so Joshua and I made a delicious batch this morning! Is this stuff ever melt-in-you-mouth good! Totally reminds me of when my dad made caramel corn when we were kids. Joshua and I even called him up to make his mouth water and told him we had some saved just for him! I put the recipe at the end of this post.

We also spent some time this morning making a paper chain for Joshua's room. Why? Well we finally decided on a couple days that will work for us to take Joshua up to Great Wolf Lodge with my dad. It's not for quite some time, however Joshua thinks we are going today. It's tough for a kid to grasp that concept of time, so what better way to help him try to understand than to visualize it with a good old fashioned paper chain. Hopefully this will help stop the "we go to great wolf today?" questions! We'll see!


Homemade Caramel Corn
3 bags popped microwave popcorn (she used lite, I used 94% fat free kettle corn)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

Melt butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt in saucepan and bring to boil, stirring occasionally (It should end up having a "creamy" look). Boil for 5 minutes and remove from stove. Add vanilla and b. soda and stir together. Divide popcorn into roasting pans and/or 9x13 pans lined with tin-foil.Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and put in oven at 250 degrees. Bake for 1 hour, stirring about every 15 minutes. Caramel will melt to bottom of pan so you want to stir it up into the popcorn. Remove and cool on waxed paper on counter. Gorge yourself and Enjoy!

Joshua helps make the caramel corn.

Yum!!! The delicious results!

Hopefully this visual will help with Joshua's understanding of the concept of time



Taking the first ring off the chain today!

Can't get enough of those cars!

When we got home from playgroup today we collected the mail from our mailbox and I showed Joshua the Car and Driver and Road and Track that were both in the pile. He was so excited! Instead of wanting to stay outside and shovel he ran to the door telling me he wanted to go in and look at the car magazines. So, I got him inside along with the pile of mail and I went back out to collect our things from the car. When I got back inside the house this is the scene I found - Joshua happily sitting on the couch looking through daddy's car magazines saying, "I like this one! That car is green, it match my truck (a little Hot Wheels truck he has). Mom, you drive this one? You want this one?" He's a car addict at two and a half!

Just a funny quote from yesterday that came out of the blue. . . "Mommy, daddy getting you a Mustang" To which I replied, "Oh, really? He must be rich. Mustangs cost a lot of money" Joshua's response, "It's two dollars!". In that case I guess I'm getting a Hot Wheels mustang, not a real one!

Swimming Lessons

Thanks to his kind and generous Papa, Joshua is once again taking swimming lessons! He was very excited to get in the pool and splash around! It's a different teacher than we had before, but she is good none-the-less. The focus of these lessons really is safety and getting young children used to the water. Today Joshua learned how to hang on to the side of the pool and climb out. We also tried going under water a few times and tried to "swim" to the wall. Thanks to Papa who came to watch and took some pictures for us. Joshua really didn't want to get out of the pool at the end our our lesson, but was happy to hear that we would be going back next week to swim again.

Trying to "swim" to the wall with a push from the instructor.

Joshua learns to climb out of the pool.

Joshua climbs out of the pool all by himself!

Practicing his kicking!

A Winter Visit to the Zoo

We had no plans today. I was debating between taking Joshua to the Children's Museum or taking him to the zoo. Once I woke up and saw the beautiful sun and clear skies I decided we should go to the zoo. The zoo in the winter???? You may be thinking I've lost my mind, but actually it was a great time thanks to the mild winter day we had. The zoo was free and will be through February 29 this year. The zoo was also very empty which meant lots of room to run and not many reminders spoken as far as behavior was concerned because there was no one to walk in front of or bump into. Joshua enjoyed every exhibit to it's fullest as we leisurely walked around. We spent lots of time in the aquarium building and while we were in there one of the zoo keepers told us they were going to feed the penguins. We of course had to linger a little longer to see that! The reptile and monkey building was another huge hit with Joshua. He walked up and down looking at each creature asking "what's that?" or commenting on them. Who would have ever thought we would have such a fun time at the zoo in the middle of winter?!?! The video below captures our fun morning!

Click To Play'

A Dose of Vitamin D!

Finally!!! The sun was shining so beautifully today we just had to go out and enjoy it - getting a natural dose of Vitamin D! Joshua couldn't quite understand why I had him put his sunglasses on, since he probably hasn't had them on since this fall. Not only did Joshua romp around in the snow while I shoveled, but he decided that he should try a little 4-wheeling in the snow with his quad! It was quite the sight to see the little guy all bundled up riding down the sidewalk. Perhaps he is just wishing is were spring like I am. Oh when, oh when will this winter be done? We are ready NOW! Guess we'll just have to make the most of it while we wait for spring.

Quite the Sight!

This is how we rolled around the Home Depot on Saturday! After entering the store we spotted a cart with Pinky (known to others as the pink panther) in it. We immediately knew this was Cory's dad's cart that he pushes around to promote home services for Home Depot, but he was no where to be seen. So, we "stole" Pinky and strolled around the store trying to find him. We definitely got some interesting and funny looks from other customers and some employees! Grandpa had a good chuckle when he saw Pinky and Joshua driving the race car cart! Joshua just kept laughing and saying, "We stole Grandpa's Pinky!!!"

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Heart Day is what Joshua is saying today, since Valentines is a mouthful! We've had fun celebrating in small ways today (we don't do much since I feel that this is a Hallmark holiday). This morning he opened some special cards from Papa and his cousins and then a special gift from us, a Playmobil paddle boat to go with his big boat! He loved his surprises! Then it was off to do a taste test (the second part of a two day test). Unfortunately there were lots of computer problems and major delays so we received $50 instead of the anticipated $40 - BONUS!!!! After the taste test it was off to visit Papa and Uncle Phil at their office, give them treats and go out to lunch with them. Joshua also walked around the office and handed out little treats to all the other employees there. Of course we had to go out in the warehouse and see the forklifts and trucks too! We enjoyed sharing the love today and hope you are too! Ohh and here's something to make you chuckle. . . my husband didn't buy me flowers, candy or a card (that would be out of character) for Valentine's day and that is perfectly fine by me, however here is the kicker, he took my wedding ring to be appraised today (needed to be updated for insurance purposes)! Very thoughful honey!!

More Birthday Celebrations!

Again we headed out to our favorite restaurant to celebrate birthdays at, Red Robin. Perhaps it is our favorite because you get a free burger (you have to sign up for it ahead of time) and a free sundae - oh yes, can you tell we are Dutch?!?! This time we celebrated Erin's birthday and Cory's mom's birthday. With much anticipation all day Owen kept saying, "Josh . . . burger. . . fries!" and Joshua kept talking about seeing the red duck (as he calls the Red Robin mascot that walks around the restaraunt). However, we didn't see the Red Robin this time. Cory asked the waitress who had been with the mascot the last time what the deal was. She told him the mascot is only walking around the restaurant on Wednesdays. Oddly enough the employee who happens to dress up as the mascot was eating with her family in the restaurant (Erin had noticed her walk in behind us when we arrived). The waitress asked her if she would dress up for the boys. This sweet woman actually did it!!! The boys gave the Red Robin lots of hugs and high fives! Of course we also gave the Red Robin a nice tip for being so gracious! It was a fun night!

Joshua steals most of Grandma's birthday sundae!

Erin gets a birthday sundae to celebrate too!

Boredom Buster!

Due to the cold weather and poor road conditions it seemed like everything was closed or cancelled today. This meant I too had to cancel the MOPS meeting we were supposed to have this morning. So, what to do inside again all day???? I rememebered I had tucked away an art recipe with all the ingredients for just such a day as today! It's a recipe called "Drawing Dough" which came out of Family Fun last Septmeber. Simply take 2/3 cup each of water, flour and salt and mix together, divide in two and add washable tempera paint to make two colors of dough (or if you want lots of one color don't divide). Once it is all mixed pour into squeeze bottles (I found some at Walmart for 78 cents a piece) and draw on construction paper! It will take a while to dry depending on the thickness of the dough. I must say I've done something similar in preschool so I prepared for this to be messy from start to finish. If you can get over the messy factor this is a fantastic recipe/activity! Joshua doesn't like to be dirty most of the time, so things like shaving cream and finger paint only last for a few minutes at most with him. He enjoyed the cleanliness of just squeezing the bottles and getting results. It was also good for him to use as a strengthening exercies for the muscles in his hands (muscles he will later on need to use for writing). I must say, I played around with this stuff myself and had a great time. This really is one of the best recipes I've seen for this time of activity! So all of you who are struggling with what to do on another snow day try this one!

The crinkled nose shows just how hard he is working!

Fun for even adults to play with!

A messy creation

Squeeze!!!

Lack of Blogging

It's not that life has been uneventful around here, but I have been busy this last week getting details straight for our MOPS auction. It's the one large fundraiser we do each year that funds what our MOPS dues don't, which is a lot. Friday evening was fairly successful. The crowd just wasn't there which meant that the bidding "wars" just weren't happening which in turn meant that we didn't raise as much money as we had hoped for. A big thanks to those of you who were able to come and support this ministry! Thanks for enjoying the night with us! At least some of us in MOPS can breathe a big sigh of relief now that the auction is over and get back to life as normal.

Enjoying the Snow

With all the snow that was dumped on us this past week and the mild temperatures we figured we should spend some time outside. Of course Joshua was all for this idea! We thought perhaps it would be snowman making conditions, but the snow didn't roll well. The snow did however pack really well so Cory set about making a snow fort. We don't own one of those snow brick makers, but we do own plenty of pails so we used one of those to create the fort with. Joshua wasn't thrilled with our fort, but did play in it shortly. Joshua decided it was more interesting to pull out some of his outdoor toys to play with, even though they aren't exactly meant for the snow. Joshua really loved knocking down the fort, being buried in the snow and eating the snow of course! Cory and I enjoyed a great snowball fight with the "brick" casualties from the snow fort! I'm sure our neighbors thought we were crazy, but we were all having a blast!

Mmmm good!

Knocking down the snow fort.


Being buried in the snow!

Um, wrong season Joshua!

The Real Car Show!

Tonight we went to the much anticipated auto show downtown. Papa joined us, along with Uncle Phil and Ciejae. Joshua was a tad bit overwhelmed by the number of cars and the crowds as we entered, but kept excitedly saying, "I see the cars!!!". Only a few minutes into the huge room of cars and we had already found the Mustangs. Joshua of course had to try "driving" the Mustang! He really enjoyed climbing in and out of the cars. He also enjoyed jumping around in the many truck beds. It was fun to see him recognize the cars he knows and to actually get to see them for more than a split second as when they are driving on the roads. We captured a few pictures, but with all the people around and a toddler on the go as the subject of our photos it was not an easy task. Were pretty sure our little car enthusiast had a good time tonight!