First Preschool Field Trip

Today was Joshua's first preschool field trip! I volunteered to go along since I used to love this field trip as a teacher I thought I would like to go as a parent for once! We went to a place called The Post Family Farm. The family of a former teacher who used to work at the same school I did owns the farm so we took our preschool classes there for years before it became so popular. It has so many great kid-friendly activities like hay rides, a straw maze, farm animals to pet, a pumpkin train, and a playground. But the highlight of every fall trip is the delightfully delicious pumpkin donuts they serve for a snack! Today after munching down our donuts we even ordered some to take home as a special treat! The weather turned out better than predicted today so even though it wasn't sunny we avoided the rain. I must say that going on a field trip as a parent was much nicer and a lot less stressful than when I was the teacher! Below are a few pictures of the trip.

"What a beautiful day!"

Joshua declared as he was swinging on a swing at the park today along side his friend Ally. Today we were lucky enough to enjoy the gorgeous weather by playing and eating lunch at a park with my good friend Kim and her daughter. They visited with us for a short time on Wednesday morning as well. Since Kim is so busy when she comes into town we hadn't planned on seeing each other today, but when her plans got cancelled we were thrilled we had nothing going on and could get together. It's so much fun now that Joshua and Ally are older because they enjoy playing with each other and this allows Kim and I some much needed time to catch up! What a fantastic way to spend a day - playing, soaking up the sun and spending time with friends!

The Circus is in Town!

Since seeing the circus train Tuesday night Joshua has constantly asked if he could go see the circus. I don't think he even knew what he was asking to see, but whatever it was he figured he should get to see it. Even though we didn't want to spend big bucks on tickets we figured this was probably a good age to bring him and since he was asking we obliged. We got tickets for Friday evening for our little family plus one for grandma, who hadn't seen the circus in years. They offered an "All-Access Pre-Show" an hour before the circus in which kids could go down on the arena floor to see and meet the clowns and performers and some of the animals. We got to see some acrobats on scarves hanging from the ceiling, a lady who could keep 60 hula hoops going all at one time, lots of clowns, the horses, the dogs that did tricks, and an elephant who painted! I think Joshua was in awe of everything he saw as he just stood there most of the time with his mouth hanging open. We were even able to take his picture with one of the clowns! Then it was time to find our seats and watch the show! Being the Dutch family we are, we got upper bowl tickets so we were a ways up, but still had good seats. Joshua did really well sitting through the show, just getting antsy in the second half towards the end. The only disappointment of the night was that Cory had told Joshua there would be motorcycles and unfortunately there weren't. Oh and did I mention that all the JUNK they have to sell there is SO OVER PRICED it's ridiculous. I mean who really pays $15 for a snow cone in a cup that has little elephants on it?!?!? Thankfully there was no security so we happily ate our treats we had stashed from home. Joshua did ask if he could get some junky plastic motorcycle, priced at a mere $12, but luckily we talked him into going to a toy store and looking for a better motorcycle the next day. All in all the circus was a great experience and one that Joshua can remember for years to come! Check out the pictures we captured in the video below.

Click To Play

A Foundation for Now

Tonight we made a visit out to our new development as well as another one to check out siding and trim colors before we make our final selections. Then we of course had to make a stop at our lot to check things out. For now we have a foundation and they have back-filled things a bit. Framing will not begin for a couple more weeks because there are a couple houses in front of ours schedule wise. Unfortunately a few weeks ago we had them halt construction because we are still dealing with our old house and the buyers needing extra paperwork to get their financing through. Long story short, we signed a land contract with them so they could move into our old house and pay us until their financing comes through, which should be by the end of the year. Not exactly an ideal situation, but at least we won't be paying our old mortgage, rent and interest payments on a construction loan all at the same time! We are still praying their financing goes through quicker, but for now at least the situation is a bit better. So, with construction on hold until last week other houses were scheduled to be framed instead of ours. We at least could now see the foundation without the forms on it and get an idea of the new space. While we were there we heard the train horn blow so we were excited to hear just how loud the train actually was. To our surprise our neighbors lawn tractor was louder than the train! We noticed it was a VERY long train and as it went by we found out why - it was the Ringling Brothers Circus train! From what we could tell it was all the passenger cars and the circus equipment, no animals. Joshua was very excited about the circus train going through his new backyard!


The picture above is of Joshua waving from his bedroom!

The basement

Joshua running out of the garage.

A view of the front.



And a little video clip of the circus train in our backyard! All you can see in the video is the movement of the train because there are so many trees lining the backyard, but it gives a perspective to how close the train is.

Extending building play. . .to the bathtub!

Lately Joshua has been very interested in building with blocks. He has them out almost everyday and loves to create structures, knock them down and create new ones. We happened to be at our favorite store, Target, last night and in the dollar section we found a package of foam blocks. I immediately thought they would be a great way to extend Joshua's interest in building knowing that foam blocks in the bathtub have much different qualities than wood blocks on the floor. Joshua thought they were cool and tried to do some building with them on the floor, but found they weren't great for building that way. So, tonight I had him gather up his new foam blocks and toss them in the bathtub. He was surprised to discover that they floated in the water and that they stuck to the side of the bathtub as well as to his body! He spent a good half hour building in the bathtub! What a great extension of his play for only a $1.00 investment!

Veggin'

After his nap Joshua usually likes to veg out a bit and wake his body up. As the living room is set up here at the rental house Joshua has found a new favorite place to veg and it doesn't matter if someone is sitting there or not, he'll just sit or lay on top of them. I thought it was just too cute today so I snagged a couple pictures.

The boys have taken a liking to the channel SPEED!

Highly Recomended!

Last year my sweet Aunt Cher sent Joshua a subscription to a new Highlights High Five magazine for preschool age children. Joshua has loved this magazine and literally devours it the minute he sees it come out of the mailbox. Today was no exception. We had to immediately sit down and read through the whole magazine and find the hidden pictures (which Joshua has a knack for). At the back of the magazine is always a little game our book that can be cut out and played with. Today it was a pumpkin matching game which we had to do right away as well. So, when my aunt called a few weeks ago and asked if the subscription would be worthwhile enough to renew I told her it absolutely was. The proof is in the many magazines that have been tattered and torn due to all the use. We would HIGHLY recommend this magazine! Thanks Aunt Cher!

Trial run as a big brother. . .

Yesterday morning we took care of Jon and Missy's little girl, Matea. She is such a sweet little girl! Joshua has been talking about her ever since he saw her camping this summer. He loved seeing her again when we went to the gardens a few weeks ago. Today he was very excited to have Matea come to his house. He absolutely has no clue about babies which is just a hoot- he wondered if Matea would like to see his new cars and when I told him she was hungry he asked if she was going to have Lucky Charms like him! Joshua loved talking to Matea and kept telling her that he loved her. It was adorable to see him interact with an infant and to see his soft, sensitive side come out. I have a feeling that if it really was his sibling things wouldn't be so sugar-coated! We'll have to wait to find out. . . some day.

Fireworks Fun

Friday night we went downtown for the annual Celebration on the Grand fireworks display. We've made it a tradition to go eat downtown with my dad and then find our spot for watching fireworks. This year we switched where we usually sit and thank goodness because they lit the fireworks off from a different bridge so we had a much better view. With treats in hand, cotton candy and caramel corn of course, we sat and enjoyed the fireworks display. Joshua liked to comment on the pretty colors and the shapes he saw in the sky during the fireworks, a big switch from a couple years ago when he was scared! We had a great time and look forward to next year!

Officially a Preschooler!

This morning was the first official day of preschool for Joshua! He was so excited to go that he actually got his other-wise slow rear in gear this morning and we were amazingly on time! Before we left the house Joshua had tucked bunny bear in his backpack (a little piece of safety and comfort). Once at school he looked for his hook in the hallway and hung his backpack up. He had gotten bunny bear out and showed Miss Jessie and they both had to give bunny bear a hug before he hopped back into the backpack. Joshua proceeded to run in the room and join right in the dancing the kids were doing without any hesitation. He proudly shouted across the room, "Mom, look at me! I'm dancing!" Knowing he had settled right in so quickly, I made my exit. I spent the morning solo at the grocery store (the first time I've done so in 3 + years)! I have forgotten how easy and quick the grocery store can be. When I went back to pick Joshua up Jessie told me that he had done very well. The only glitch in the morning is that he had not learned about snack table so he didn't really know what to do (they do an open snack, meaning the children must visit it sometime during center time). He spent forever washing his hands and almost missed his opportunity to eat his snack. When I asked him on the way home what he did he was able to recall a few things, but he mostly just kept telling me that he liked preschool and had fun. Let's hope we are on the road to life long learning and a love of school!

Visiting Preschool

Today was finally the day that Joshua got to go visit preschool! Joshua was very excited to go and see what toys they had and see Miss Jessie again (she had come and done a home visit a couple weeks ago). On the way he kept asking if school was close and when we got there he ran right inside and gave Miss Jessie a hug! Guess the kid is pretty comfortable! He was able to make his nametags with Misse Jessie and have his picture taken by Miss Natasha. He also got to explore the room and play with the many trucks and cars they have. They ended visitation with a little dancing and circle time which Joshua liked, but he really wanted to go back and play with the toys. Before we left I told him to say goodbye to his teachers and he ran to each one of them and gave them a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Let's hope all goes this smoothly Thursday when I drop him off for his first day!

Picture-less Labor Day

For some odd reason the camera never came out the whole weekend. Too bad, because we could have gotten some good pictures. So the word-filled run down of the weekend goes something like this. Saturday we helped move Shawn, Erin and Owen into their beautiful new house! It was lots of work, but definitely well worth it to see them settled in by Saturday night. Sunday it was off to Muskegon to visit Grandpa and Grandma Hager who were camping. With such nice weather we were able to enjoy a few hours at the beach while we were there (like I said, wish I had thought to take the camera along or at least remember to pull the one out of my purse). Monday was mostly a day of relaxing and playing a lot of Wii. Joshua has now taken a liking to playing Wii golf and boxing. He thinks he is really good at it too (ah, yeah 12 strokes isn't exactly Tiger Woods, but he's having fun)! We ended Monday night by going out to eat with Papa which is always a good time. Sad that summer is officially done, but excited at all the new things fall will bring!