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!

Road Trip

A girl's only road trip that is because no men or children would want to go on this trip! My aunt Cher and I headed to Fort Wayne, IN Wednesday night, stayed in a hotel and got up bright and early (not too early) Thursday morning to hit the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale at the Coliseum. Erin and I had been 2 years ago and had a good experience, but Erin opted out of going this year and appointed me her personal shopper at the sale instead. Upon arriving at the Coliseum at 8:15 am we could see the line wrapped around the building, and down a few rows of parking. We hopped into line and waited outside in the parking lot for 1 hour and 15 min (thank goodness for good weather)before we got into the building and directly into the sale. By the time we were in the line outside was probably double what it was when we had arrived. Controlled chaos is what I would call the inside environment, either that or CRAZY! Of course the anything in new patterns was snatched up by those who got in first, but the selection was still pretty good for most items (barring the ever-popular large duffel and the hipster). My aunt and I had our own lists as well as each other's lists memorized so we went with the divide and conquer method of shopping and met up again when we were done. We got tons of great stuff and for half of what it normally is! After sitting down to sort we were still looking for a few items - hipsters for myself, Erin and my cousin Rachel and a large duffel bag for my aunt. So we went "dumpster - diving" in a way and started sorting through the bins of stuff people had thrown aside during their sorting process; amazingly we found 4 hipsters in cute colors/patterns and at the very end in checkout my aunt found a large duffel in the pattern she wanted that someone else had tossed aside. We of course spent too much money but ended up with some great finds and deals! It was a crazy experience, but totally worth it and my aunt and I got to spend some quality time together through it all which was really nice!

Just one shot of the crazy lines outside (we were next to the building at this point and the line on the right of the picture ran the length of the entire Collesium parking lot)!

A shopping job well done!

All my great Vera Bradley finds!

Field Trip to the Gardens

Joshua's preschool class had a field trip this Monday to Frederik Meijer Gardens so Matthew and I joined him. We had a great time looking at the butterflies, playing in the children's garden and walking around outside to see the sculptures. Joshua's favorites were the HUGE horse, the shovel and all of the glass sculptures by Chihuly (they are truly amazing). I'm sure we'll be back to the gardens again soon as we all enjoy our trips there!

The always hopeful, but never successful Joshua trying to get a butterfly to land on him.

Joshua, Matthew and Jocelyn looking at the butterflies.

Joshua in front of one of Chihuly's works.

Posing with the shovel.

Joshua imitating the sculpture.

Joshua and Matthew by the horse.

Posing with Mr. and Mrs. Meijer.

Matthew in the children's garden.

Joshua in the children's garden.

Spring has sprung at the gardens.

Boys' Birthday Bash 2010

Since Matthew and Joshua's birthdays are only 12 days apart we figured we would have one party for both. It's a tad more difficult to come up with a theme for a dual birthday party for a one year old and a five year old, but thanks to much internet surfing we found the perfect theme, monkeys with a modern twist. The family all came over Saturday night to celebrate the boys and we had a great and chaotic time (8 kids ranging in age from 9 months - 8 years can make for some noise and chaos). The kids had a blast playing together and dinner was gobbled up in no time so it was on to the presents and cake portion of the party. Joshua genuinely loved each and every gift he received and was very good about saying thank you (something we are working on) and giving hugs to gift givers. Matthew enjoyed the paper ripping extravaganza and playing with his new toys. Thanks to our families who spoiled the boys yet again! Enjoy the party-in-review video!

1 Year Stats

Matthew had his 1 year well-child visit at the pediatrician's yesterday and here are his stats:
Weight - 22 lbs. 10 oz. (48%)
Height - 30 in. (59%)
Head circumference - 46.2 cm. (45%)

Just for my own comparison and records Joshua's stats at 1 year were:
Weight - 21 lbs. 14 oz. (30%)
Height - 28.5 in. (25%)
Head circumference - 46.4 cm.

The trend continues of Matthew out-growing his brother in height and weight! No wonder I need bigger T-shirts for Matthew - even Dr. Erika looked at him and said, "he's all torso isn't he?!" Interesting the differences between children in all areas of development and growth.

Birthday Boy

After dinner last night we had Matthew open the gifts we had for him. He didn't have much of a clue as to what was going on, but once he figured out that tearing paper was involved he was in! We are pretty sure he liked his gifts due to the grins and giggles we received as he discovered each item under the wrapping.

Hmmmm, this looks interesting. Are they really going to let me touch it?!

Opening his new caterpillar dump truck phone.



Trying out the Bounce and Spin Zebra.

I think Matthew was excited by this new toy! When I was at a friend's house from MOPS I spotted this zebra and told her when she was ready to sell it; thankfully she was ready to sell it about a month ago and it was the perfect gift for Matthew's 1st birthday!

Tearing paper takes concentration.

Making a pizza!

Gotta wear the oven mitt to keep those hands safe.

Taking his new Radio Flyer 3 in 1 walker wagon for a spin and letting his panda from Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher have the first ride.

Trying out the new wheels outside!

Spending some time at the gardens

Tuesday we met my aunt Cher at the Gardens so we could see the butterflies and explore the children's garden together. Joshua loved the butterflies as usual while Matthew could have cared less about the butterflies yet enjoyed any plant that was within his little reach (no worries, no plants were harmed just tugged on with love a bit). Since my aunt hadn't seen the children's garden Joshua gleefully led her through the grand tour and had her join in playing with him at his favorite spots. No visit would be complete without a stop by the giant horse; amazingly this visit Joshua didn't declare the horses gender for all to hear which is what he normally does when visiting this sculpture :) We even got to have lunch with my aunt and she spoiled the boys with gifts for their birthdays - gift cards to Target (always a favorite as it means picking out and buying a special toy) and stuffed panda bears all the way from the San Diego Zoo in California (apparently they are celebrating a new addition to the panda family there). It was another memorable day at the gardens complete with amazing weather!Someone turned into a caterpillar.

Trying to coax a butterfly on to his finger with no luck.

Plants are apparently way more interesting than butterflies, at least to a one year old who isn't strapped in a stroller and has a taste of freedom.

Posing with "mad mom" who Joshua thought looked more sad than mad.

Matthew loved climbing on the eggs in the tree fort.

Posing for a picture without much success.

Playing in the sand. Not sure Matthew was groovin' on the feel of the sand on his bare toes.

Peeking in the little tree house.

Lunch and special birthday gifts.

Matthew and his new panda.