Racin' Around

Joshua LOVES to drive around in his race car! Last night we asked if Joshua would take Matthew for a ride in his car; to our surprise he agreed! As expected, Matthew thoroughly enjoyed his spin around the yard (the giggles and grins were a dead give away)! Can't wait to see the wild child drive the race car himself some day! We just had to capture some photos and a video of the brotherly love in the riding in the race car.

n

Baby Turtle

On Easter when Joshua and all his cousins were on an egg hunt in the backyard Uncle Paul spotted a baby turtle! At first we thought the tiny little thing wasn't alive but as we watched closely we saw movement. Of course Joshua wanted to put it in a bucket to keep for a day or so - this kid loves little creatures like frogs and turtles and he has no fear of them! Monday he kept "playing" with his new little friend; he took the turtle out on the deck to walk around sun itself. The crazy kid also took one of his model cars and set the turtle in it to drive and ride around! We contemplated keeping the little turtle, but it sounds like the set-up may be more than we want to deal with so soon this little creature will be released back into one of the ponds by our house to, as Joshua says, "find his mommy and daddy."

Happy Easter!

Yesterday we had the joy of celebrating the risen Lord! All week Joshua and I have been reading the Bible stories leading up to the Resurrection as well as telling the stories with the help of the Resurrection eggs. On Good Friday when telling him about how they killed Jesus Joshua looked at me and said, "that's so sad I have tears in my eyes." No doubt it was a sad day, but I told him that the wonderful part was that the story didn't end there and we could rejoice because Jesus
had risen!
Easter morning we started our day with the annual Easter egg hunt, only the eggs Joshua finds are filled with clues, not candy. The last egg contained the clue to where the boys' Easter baskets were hidden. Matthew was clueless as to how the whole Easter egg hunt went, but he went along with it and was excited by his Easter basket. We then met Papa at our church for a great service and then headed back to our house for lunch. Papa brought a bunny cake to surprise the boys with for dessert and they both LOVED it! Every time Matthew saw the bunny cake he giggled! In the evening Cory's parents, sister and family and brother and family came over for dinner. The cousins enjoyed an Easter egg hunt outside and special treats from Grandpa and Grandma Hager. As usual the kids loved every minute of playing together! So glad we were able to celebrate this special day with family!

The beginning of the egg hunt.

"Reading" another clue.

Matthew found the egg, now Joshua has to "read" the clue.

Another clue!

"This is fun!"

Matthew discovers the goodies in his Easter basket!

Our little Easter bunnies!

Papa and the boys with the bunny cake.

Grandma gives instructions for the Easter egg hunt.

And they're off on the hunt!

The best shot of the cousins I could get. Not an easy task to get 8 kids under 8 to cooperate for a group photo.

Treats from Grandpa and Grandma H!

Dyeing Eggs

It's not my favorite activity, but Joshua likes it so Friday afternoon Joshua and I dyed eggs. Since the weather was so nice we decided to do this activity outside - a little less wind would have been nice, but it worked better than having the mess in the kitchen nonetheless. Once the eggs were dry Joshua had fun decorating them with stickers. Now they are setting out as decoration, at least for a few more days.

What a way to start spring break!

We are staying home for spring break so an 80 degree day is definitely the perfect way to start out our spring break! After preschool we had a picnic lunch on the deck and then I got down an old toy for the boys to play with outside. It's one of the cheapest toys, but provides so much entertainment for both Joshua and Matthew that it occupied them for 40 minutes! Of course, what's not to love about water and boats when you're a little boy?! In the afternoon Erin came over with Owen and Aiden so I pulled out the little kiddie pools for the boys to play. The little boys LOVED the pool! While playing in the pool Erin spotted a turtle crossing the road so we rescued it (and held it hostage for a couple hours) and released it in the pond behind our house. We grilled burgers for dinner and then headed back out to play - Owen had brought over his hockey set and they had fun shooting goals and going in "hockey jail". Even Cory and Shawn couldn't resist getting into some of the hockey action! It was the best start to a week of vacation!

Tongue out for concentration!

Matthew loved playing in the water!

Don't they look annoyed?! Aiden and Matthew wanted to play in the pool, not look at the camera for pictures.

Funny faces from two funny little boys!

Matthew (11 months)

Aiden (9 months)

Owen and Joshua checking out the rescued turtle.

Playing hockey!

Aiden and Matthew playing together . . .

. . . or is that fighting?

A little brotherly rivalry.

Releasing the turtle.

Comfort. . .

You never know what, or if for that matter, your kids will attach themselves to as their comfort item. With both the boys I have put only objects in their beds that I could live with them carrying everywhere - my criteria for such items is that they must me on the small side and I'm able to get multiples of said object for swapping out and washing purposes. About a month ago Matthew seem to have chosen the one item in his bed that comforts him, his little blanket; he sleeps with it, takes it with him after naps for a few extra cuddles as he wakes up, takes it to church nursery and MOPS, recently clung to it when sick and generally has it whenever he feels the need for comfort. I just love how he snuggles with it!

Building a Rocket

This month at preschool Joshua 's class is learning about different vehicles. As a culmination of the month the teachers have planned a "drive-in movie" day for the last day of the month. For this special day each preschooler was to make a vehicle of their choice with their parents and bring it to school to sit in to watch the movie. A couple weeks ago we started this project; it was right around the time the space station could be viewed at night and during this time we looked up pictures and information about the space station on the web. When asked what vehicle he wanted to create Joshua changed his mind from his original choice of a police truck to a rocket. The first step to creating Joshua's rocket was to draw up a plan of what he wanted it too look like.

Thanks to Cory hunting down the perfect box at work the rocket began to take shape. Joshua and Cory worked hard on creating the shape of the rocket. Even Matthew had to get in on the action by testing the window to see if he could peek out.

The next step was spray painting the box which unfortunately Joshua couldn't do a lot of, but he was a good supervisor! Joshua really wanted to paint the entire rocket with glow in the dark paint, but at $8 for a tiny can quickly talked him out of it and talked him into creating glow in the dark designs on his white rocket. So what to paint? Joshua decided I should draw stars along the top that he would trace in black permanent marker and then we would paint with the glow in the dark paint.

Once the details were pretty much complete on the outside it was time to add the details to the inside. Joshua decided his rocket needed lots of buttons and a computer screen in which he drew a picture of his rocket soaring through space.

The finished product is a pretty cool rocket that one little boy is very proud of creating and can't wait to bring to school for drive-in movie day!

More Exploring

Last night we walked a different way around the wet lands behind us to see what we could find and see. We came across a little stream that takes water from the pond to a creek that goes under the railroad tracks. Joshua had to test the water to see how cold it was. Once the temps are warmer I foresee a trip to that stream to dip our toes! Can't believe we've lived here a year and just started exploring what is literally right in our backyard, amazing! We ended up walking the railroad tracks back to our house which Joshua LOVES! Matthew just takes it all in and enjoys the view from the backpack as we walk along. On our walk we picked up a few "treasures" that we took back home - one was a seed pod of sorts so when we got home Cory cut it open to discover, well, not much as it looks like an animal had already taken the seed. Another fun night of exploring was had!

Brrr, the water was cold!

Walking back home.

Joshua tried to step from railroad tie to railroad tie.

"What's inside?"

"Hmmmm, nothing is inside!"

The seed pod we cut open.