Life would be easy if . . .

. . . we could just keep Matthew in a crate! He would also be less bumped and bruised due to the inability to climb EVERYTHING if we could cage him! Actually Matthew was just enthralled by Stella's crate when she was over last night and any time Stella wasn't in her crate, Matthew was. Apparently dog toys are very fun for a 13 month old, as is playing in a cage.

Moving on . . .

Yesterday as Joshua's last day of preschool! Hard to imagine that a whole school year has gone by, but so it seems. Even though it was tough year for me because I felt the program needed some improvement, it was a enjoyable year for Joshua. Some highlights from his year include: making new friends and actually playing with them (last year he still did a lot of parallel play), practicing his social skills, learning zoo phonics, starting to sound out words, writing words(some on his own and tons when we tell him the letters or he copies things), and becoming much more independent. Matthew and I will miss our one on one time this summer, but I think we are all ready for some sunny, warm, lazy, laid-back days that don't involve having to rush to get to school! We celebrated the end of preschool with a trip to the store so Joshua could pick out a treat and a package of gum for himself as well as buying ice cream from the ice cream truck after dinner. Next year my baby is off to kindergarten two/three full days a week (T-TH and every other Friday - at least that's what we signed up for) and will be riding the bus with his friends in the neighborhood, amazing how fast he's growing up!

Joshua, his teachers and his friends Fiona and Jocelyn.

Joshua with Mrs Gallagher

Joshua with Mrs Berens

Best buds from school and church.

Sprinklers

Cory turned the underground sprinkling on last night for the first time this season (long story on why we are turning it on late in the season that involves having to put another meter in for just the sprinkler system so we don't have an outrageous water bill). Joshua, or course, immediately heard the word sprinklers and flew into his room and before we could blink an eye had changed to a bathing suit. The fun of running around in the shade of the evening getting pelted by freezing cold water only lasted about 15 minutes, but the smiles and laughter were totally worth it. Even a couple friends in the neighborhood joined in. Matthew, who loves to play in water, was less than thrilled by the spraying sprinklers and wanted nothing to do with sticking any part of his body in the cold water; instead, he helped Cory adjust all the sprinklers around the yard.

Crazy little water loving kid!

Matthew was content to help adjust sprinkler heads.


Joshua and his friend Corrinne.

The neighborhood three musketeers - Joshua, Zoe and Corrinne



They each tried the slide, but found it was way too fast when wet.

Belated Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day with my Grandma and Grandpa as well as our extended family yesterday. Even Matt and Katie were able to join us as they are back in MI for several days. It was nice to gather with everyone and honor my Grandma for being the sweet, caring and generous woman that she is. The boys love the extra attention they get from anyone since they are the only little kids on that side of the family. So glad we still have these family get-togethers with everyone! Unfortunately for me, I was delayed in getting my camera out so I didn't get many pictures.

Joshua just loves and adores Matt and Katie.

Watch out Aunt Cher, there is a monkey on your back!

Joshua and one of his most favorite people, my cousin Rachel.

Nicholas' birthday

Our nephew Nicholas' birthday party was this past weekend and his family was camping at Yankee Springs so we went out to the campground to help him celebrate. Cory's brother, Shawn, even brought his boat so the kids could take boat rides on the lake. It was a fun evening of boat rides, playing with cousins and eating birthday cake!

Getting life jackets on and loading kids into the boat.

Aiden and Matthew hung out at the shore.

Shawn, Cory, Owen and Joshua taking a ride around the lake.

The cousins taking a ride back to the campsite in the trailed boat.

The birthday boy!

Things that make you go hmmmm....

Upon seeing the rain this morning . . .
Joshua: "Do you think 'Nana in heaven' (how we refer to my mom) is helping Jesus dump the rain down?"
Me: "I'm not sure if Jesus needs any help with the rain or not."
Joshua: "Wait, I bet Nana would help put the sun out, not do the rain. Did Nana like the sunshine?"
Me: "Nana loved the sunshine!"
Joshua: "Mom, you and I love the sunshine just like Nana!"
Me: "Yes, Joshua we do. We are like Nana in a lot of ways and that happens to be one."
Joshua; "I like snow, did Nana like the snow?"
Me: "Nope, Nana didn't like snow at all; kind of like me. In fact the day she went to live with Jesus the first snow of winter that year fell. They were the first snowflakes you ever saw and the last snowflakes Nana ever saw."
Joshua: "I didn't know that."

No my dear, you wouldn't know that. . . you were only 6 1/2 months old.
Keeping the memory of Nana alive even in silly conversations about the weather.

Climbing

Matthew has been climbing stairs and the playground ladder since he was at least 11 months old, if not younger. However, in the last week the child seems to want to climb EVERYTHING! This is a whole new issue for us as Joshua was not a climber and didn't seem to have quite the same adventurous spirit that Matthew has. Of course with all the climbing he is doing the more bumping of his head is occurring because the kid is fast and try as we might to catch him, we can't every time.

He climbed into the walker by himself, the nut.

Joshua's chair is fun to climb.

Ahh, one more level to conquer.

Look at me!

Joshua rescues a climbing Matthew.

Aw man, someone caught me.

The toilet looks like a good spot to climb up on. . .

Ahh, yes the kleenex are up here to pull out one by one.

All that climbing tires a boy out.

Sticky, ooey, gooey fun

Today we got out the old, classic (at least in our house) Jiggle Jelly. I realized that Matthew has had the opportunity to explore such a sensory experience and since he has been less apt to put things in his mouth as of late I figured why not let him try it. At first he was not sure and only would poke at it with a play-dough tool or cookie cutter . . . he liked it though, so that was good!



Joshua loves playing with Jiggle Jelly and today came up with a new idea. . .

. . . interesting (at least his feet were clean).

Footprint in the Jiggle Jelly, mission accomplished!

Matthew did eventually touch the stuff with his hands. He wasn't exactly thrilled with it, but at least he tried it!

Umm. . . yea . . . maybe not.


He loved poking, digging and smashing things into the jiggly stuff so it was all good.

Want some mom?!?


Joshua experimenting with the Jiggle Jelly's ooze-ability.

Crazy kid!

TROUBLE!

I've been asked several times what similarities I see between Joshua and Matthew to which the answer is, not many. Maybe it's being a second child, or my more laid-back parenting this time around, or just his personality, but child #2 is very different from child #1! Child #1 would have NEVER done what is pictured above! Child #2 on the other hand just looked at me, smiled and laughed (almost always seen when he is does something he shouldn't) and went about eating the spilled cereal from the floor! Pretty sure this one is going to keep us on our parenting toes.

Birthday Celebration

Since the big birthday bash was last weekend we did our own mini celebration on Sunday for Joshua's actual birthday. Before going to church we let Joshua open his presents. Out of 4 gifts, 1 will be returned (a bank that miscounts money) and 1 will be re-sold (we purchased a Playmobil construction conveyor belt for $13 that was packaged in a brown box which turned out to be a crane from the Playmobil train set that actually )- kind of a bum birthday. Thank goodness he liked his guitar and Playmobil construction truck so much! At night we went to Shawn and Erin's house to meet their new Silver Lab puppy, Stella and have dinner. Joshua was beyond excited to see Stella, pet her and play with her. Matthew on the other hand didn't care about Stella a whole lot (odd as he seems to love dogs), but did like playing with her toys. The other highlight of the night was the hamburger cake Shawn and Erin bought to celebrate Joshua's birthday (thanks for thinking of him guys)! Big birthday parties can be fun, but small, low-key celebrations are pretty nice too.

He saw the Playmobil logo on the box and got excited!

"Just what I wanted!"

A bank that was supposed to count each coin as it went in and keep a total, too bad it miscounts the money!

Rockin' out on his guitar as his one admiring fan watches.

Stella!

Awww, sweet puppy playing.

A worn out little Stella snoozin'

Joshua meeting Stella for the first time.

Matthew playing with Stella and her toy.

Birthday boy with a hamburger cake!

5

I'm amazed that 5 years has gone by. How in the world is it that we have a 5 year old? The old adage is true "the days go slowly, but the years fly by". This past year has been anything but easy for Joshua as he had to adjust to not being the center of attention, the be all and end all. Let me tell you what a hard thing that is for an only child of 4 years! We've gone through a spectrum of emotions and trials with Joshua over this past year and have really seen some great growth in him! His stubborn streak still runs strong (hmm, wonder where he gets that from) which causes us to butt heads a lot. When he chooses to be Joshua can be a very kind, caring and sweet little boy. He is curious about everything and is therefore constantly asking question after question. He loves school and is excited to start Kindergarten in the fall (oh and ride the bus with his friends too). He is pretty independent these days too when it comes to dressing, cleaning up, eating, etc (much more than we could have imagined). He is slowly realizing that it's better for everyone if he is kind to Matthew instead of terrorizing him - I'm quick to remind Joshua that someday Matthew will pay him back for all he's done. At this age Joshua loves to play outside, draw and color, build with anything he gets his hands on, do puzzles and create with anything. We are proud of the growth we have seen and will continue to work to strengthen those areas of weakness. Despite some challenges Joshua has been a blessing in our lives and we are thankful for him!