Father's Day Celebration at Pioneer Park

Due to every one's busy schedules we postponed celebrating Father's Day with Cory's dad and the rest of his family. Yesterday we got together at Pioneer Park as Shawn, Erin and Owen and Cory's parents were camping there for the weekend. We gave Cory's dad his gift, a metal detector. After opening it we made him put it together and search for the other two gifts that were buried! The cousins played, we had some delicious pizzas over the fire, walked on the beach and had a nice time with family. A great way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon and evening! When you watch the video do note Joshua and Owen's shirts. The shirts say "Monkey see, Monkey Do, Monkey Get in Trouble Too!" - pretty right on for our two little monkeys who constantly copy one another!

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10 Years and Counting!

Ten years ago today Cory and I tied the knot! We have no idea where in the world 10 years went, but man have they flown by! We have been through the good and the bad together and have leaned on one another through it all. What's not to love about being married to your best friend where you don't even have to speak to know what the other person is thinking?!?! No big celebrations here though - we've never really been the type to celebrate anniversaries in a very big way. Last night we went out to eat with Cory's parents and tonight Cory and I will go out for dinner alone (thanks Shawn and Erin for offering to take Joshua). It's been a great ten years and we look forward to many more!

A Trip to John Ball Zoo

Monday morning Joshua and I met a few of the moms and kids from my MOPS group at John Ball Zoo. Mind you the temps were in the 90's on Monday! It was a bit toasty and the animals seemed to be either sleeping or very listless. The heat was a bit much, but we enjoyed walking around and looking at the animals and socializing with friends. I'm sure Joshua and I will head back later this summer and will hopefully try the sting ray and shark touching experience (the children's museum and the zoo do a cultural exchange, meaning if you have a membership to one you can get in free to the other establishment for a particular month).

Father's Day at the Lake

Once again this year we headed out to Gun Lake to my uncle and aunt's cottage to celebrate Father's Day. Each year we wait with anticipation of what the Michigan weather will be like. This year we were blessed with a picture perfect day - sunny and warm!!! This was Joshua's first real visit to the lake! Two years ago he was just a month and a half old so he knew nothing of what was going on. Last year the weather didn't cooperate for swimming or boating. However, Sunday we made up for it all by swimming, riding in the boat, tubing, and skiing (well only Matt, Phil and I skied, and yes I surprisingly still have that skill). Joshua didn't appreciate the life jacket he had to wear in the boat, but once he got over that he enjoyed himself. He even fell asleep on the boat while on Ciejae's lap and ended up taking a 30-40 minute nap. Our little fish loved every minute at the lake, as did we! It was a fabulous day to celebrate dads and enjoy time with family! Special thanks to Steve, Cher, Matt and Rachel for being such gracious hosts! Check out the video below to see tons of pictures captured that day.

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Tug of War

Joshua has a love-hate relationships with our cats most days. Sometimes he thinks Logan is his best friend and wants to play with him and pet him. Other days all he says is, "No kitty" whenever the kitty approaches him or his toys. Today at the end of breakfast Joshua was whipping a ribbon around and Logan was trying to chase it. Logan got the ribbon in his mouth a few times which caused a tug of war between him and Joshua. Of course, after a few minutes of tug of war Joshua did an about-face and kept saying, "No kitty. MINE!!!" Never thought my child would have a sibling rivalry of sorts with our cat!!

A Spa Escape Night

Last night I had a bunch of friends and some family over for a ladies only spa night. A friend of mine sells BeautiControl and does Spa Parties. They have a couple lines of products out that are geared toward summer - like their Margarita Spa products and their Cabana Girl products in fruity drink smells. It was a fun night filled with lots of girl talk and lots of trying out of different products while sipping frozen strawberry margaritas - YUM!

Having Fun at the Cutlerville Days Celebration

A friend of mine told me that this Saturday was the Cutlerville Days celebration. So we thought we would go check out the festivities with my dad. They had a community BBQ chicken dinner as well as some games and activities for kids. Joshua got to ride a little choo choo train and a huge inflatable slide. He tried out the inflatable bounce, but wanted out of it after only a minute. There weren't many activities for kids so it was a bit lame so we listened to the band play and ate carnival food. Then we headed over to the old South Christian fields to find a good spot for watching fireworks. Soon after settling into our spot a Cutlerville fire truck parked right behind us. Of course we just had to go check it out! The firemen were very nice and told us all about the fire truck and the different equipment on it and even let Joshua sit in the driver's seat! This along with the beautiful fireworks display (it made up for the lame kid's activities) was the highlight of the night! Although Joshua wasn't a huge fan of the fireworks, he covered his eyes! Below are a few photos from our night.

New play space!

Cory has been working hard on re-doing the area under our deck to make a place for Joshua's sandbox. We found that a plastic sandbox in the yard on sunny days makes for a HOT sandbox and HOT sand that a child will NOT touch. Last night Cory got the area for the sandbox mostly completed. So today, I hauled the sandbox over to it's new home and the boys and I played in it for about 45 minutes. It was a nice cool, shady spot on a toasty day!

Bringing Back the Old

Joshua has a few Fisher Price Little People things, but doesn't seem to enjoy playing with them a ton. A few months ago we went to my dad's and raided the storage area with all our childhood toys in it. We dug out the old Fisher Price school house, barn, camper set, ferry boat and lumber yard. Joshua is enamored with these play sets and plays with them for hours at a time. The old, or as some people now call them "vintage", little people are small and easy to maneuver within play sets. I thought he would also enjoy the old Main Street play set, but we never had it as kids, so I put a wanted post on Craigslist. A few days later a woman replied and sold us the Main Street building (she didn't have any of the other pieces that go with it, so we are still looking for those). Joshua loves his new toy! I totally understand why they changed the little people, but I must admit I love the old play sets much more than the new ones and it seems Joshua does too! Thank goodness my mom held on to all our old Fisher Price toys!

Chef in the making

Whenever Joshua hears pots and pans in the kitchen he comes a running. He loves to help out in the kitchen, measuring, pouring, stirring and mixing. Perhaps Joshua has inherited his interest in cooking/baking from his Uncle Dave, because it sure wasn't from Cory or me! Today I had to make a dessert for Cory to take to a potluck tomorrow at work and of course Joshua needed to help. Of course baking and cooking in the kitchen isn't as easy with a little kid; it usually involves a lot of spilling and cleaning up not to mention a LOT of hand washing as kids just can't help but stick their fingers in everything (my policy is if you lick you must wash your hands immediately after and NOT touch anything in between - thankfully with only one child to watch this is very easy, unlike it was in preschool). For those of you at Cory's office, rest assured that no dirty little fingers were stuck in your dessert. Check out how he gets into every stage of the process!



"Reading" the recipe.


Opening the cream cheese.


Pouring the milk in.


Mixing everything up.


A little treat after all that hard work.

Memorial Day Weekend

This long weekend was filled with lots of work and some good old family time. There were lots of outdoor projects just waiting for the right time and the right weather to be done. This weekend was the perfect time to get the flowers purchased and planted, new wood bark spread, and the project of making a play space under the deck for Joshua's sandbox started. We still need to finish up under the deck as well as re-stain the deck, but at least a few projects were knocked off the list. We were able to go out on a double date night Saturday with Shawn and Erin and no children! Then Sunday evening we went out to eat with my dad at a new Italian restaurant in Byron Center that was delicious and then over to Frog Hollow to play. Tonight Cory's parents came over and we did burgers on the grill (it just wouldn't be right to go all weekend without grilling). All in all it was a full, but fun weekend!


Showing Papa the musical turtle at the park.


Showing Grandpa and Grandma the bug we caught.


Joshua checking out how far daddy's gotten on his project under the deck.

Dual Pools

I've noticed that Joshua's little pool has gotten just a bit too small for him. We have a huge pool in the attic, but it needs to be blown up so either we blow it up and leave it up or deflate it every time. Neither sounded like great options. So, last night we found a hard-sided pool that is just a bit wider and taller than Joshua's little pool. Today with the temps being in the 80's in the morning already we put both pools out so Joshua and Owen each got their own pools to play in - this meant separate toys and no tiffs to break up. It was the perfect day for individual pools too since Owen went #2 while in his little pool - NASTY! Owen wasn't thrilled with being taken out of the pool, changing and then waiting for things to be sanitized and sprayed off before he could play again. Joshua never pulled such a stunt so I didn't know that apparently swim diapers aren't great at containing things. So, word to the wise, cover swim diapers with plastic pants to contain things in the case they should occur.

Water Fun!

Since the weather has been so nice the past few days I decided the boys should get a chance to play in the water and get as wet as they wanted. This meant getting both boys in swimming suits and sun screened up which was fun with two active little boys! I got out Joshua's little pool, his sand/water toy and the new water Sit-n-Spin we had purchased at an auction months ago. The boys mostly spent their time in the pool, but occasionally used the Sit-n-Spin like a sprinkler. Both boys were pretty worn out after all of their splashing fun today.

Joshua wants to be like his daddy. . .

Cory happens to be Joshua's hero. Usually on the weekends Joshua doesn't want much to do with me, but wants to spend every waking moment with his daddy! Now that the weather has gotten nicer and Cory has to mow the lawn every weekend Joshua feels like he has to be a part of that weekly task. He loves to watch Cory and follow him around whenever he mows. Yesterday Cory had to put the re-sharpened blade back on the mower and change the air filter, so of course Joshua HAD to be a part of all that. Then when it came to mowing the lawn Joshua wouldn't stop following Cory or stop yelling "DADDY!" So after Cory tried to carry Joshua and mow the lawn at the same time I grabbed the backpack carrier and popped Joshua on Cory's back. Thankfully for Cory's back's sake it didn't last long since Joshua's friend Hannah came riding up in her bike just minutes later!

Playing at the park

Last night was so beautiful we just had to spend the evening outdoors! I thought it would be fun if we went over to Frog Hollow Park and let Joshua play. We invited Shawn and Owen to come with us (Erin had a senior dinner to attend for school). So after a bite to eat we headed over to play at the park. The boys, big and small, had a riot as we figured they would. There is a lot to do at this cute little park and I have a feeling we may be visiting it more frequently this summer. Erin was even able to come and join us at the park when her dinner was over. Above you can see the many pictures of our night at the Frog Hollow Park.

Jets!!!

This morning we had to go pick up a taste-test for Joshua to test at home so I thought it might be fun to visit the airport viewing area. The weather seemed to be cooperating as well since it was a just below 70 degrees with very little wind and clear skies. So off we went. The boys ate their snack, played, ran around and got to watch lots of little airplanes, jets and helicopters take off and land.

One of the helicopters we watched kept taking off, going around in circles and landing again. At one point when we were sitting right by the fence at the edge of the viewing area the helicopter flew right by very close to the ground, went forward, then flew backwards and went in a circle. The boys couldn't take their eyes off of that helicopter! There were a couple of airport workers walking by the viewing area on a break and asked the boys how they liked the helicopter and told them it was showing off just for them (and all the others at the viewing area).



Since Joshua loves jets I have a feeling we will be visiting the viewing area quite frequently this summer. Maybe someday he will get to ride on a jet - oh what a thrill that would be!

Two Year Stats

Joshua had his 2 year old well check up today which I was actually looking forward to since he wasn't going to receive any shots! I was also excited to talk with his pediatrician, who is a friend of mine, and see how their newly adopted daughter was doing. So, here are the stats for Joshua at 2 years old:

weight- 26.1 lbs. (25th percentile)
height - 32.5 in. (10th percentile)
head circumference - 49.5 cm (50th percentile)

We knew Joshua was short, but we didn't realize that 90% of children his age are taller than him! Yikes! The pediatrician was pleasantly surprised that he was potty training himself, knowing his stubborn personality she thought I would have a huge job ahead of me in the arena of potty training. I guess it pays to watch for those windows of opportunity in learning and let the child lead the way! Overall Joshua is a happy, healthy, active two year old boy!

Mother's Day

Today wasn't much different than any other and that was just fine with me, in fact my day was filled with lots of prep work for our last MOPS meeting tommorow. If you ask me Mother's Day isn't a huge deal. I figure my child should be thankful and appreciative that I'm his mom every day of the year, not just one. We did do something special though; my dad bought flowers for my mom's grave and Joshua, me and my dad planted them tonight. It was a nice way to remember and honor her in a small way today.

Birthday and Mother's Day Celebration!

Tonight we went out to Paul and Toni's house to celebrate Nicholas' 5th birthday, Cory's dad's birthday and Mother's Day. We had a great time celebrating! Nicholas got some great new toys that everyone enjoyed trying out. Joshua loved checking out all of the toys at his cousins' house; he especially liked Nicholas' train, or as Joshua calls it his "choo choot". Check out a few photos below from the celebration.

Blessed with Friends

Joshua is so blessed to have not only lots of family who love and adore him, but friends too! Two of our good friends were so thoughtful they remembered Joshua's birthday and got him gifts (totally unnecessary, but loved by Joshua). My dear friend Kim and her family in Ohio, sent up the most adorable backpack with his name embroidered on it and it was filled with lots of fun things like a car, construction vehicle, balls and a jumprope!

Our other friends, who happen to live just a street away came over last night and their daughter Hannah gave Joshua some trucks and a motorcycle! Joshua is a very lucky little boy!

Joshua's 2nd Birthday Party - Part 2

The week long celebration of Joshua's birthday ended on Saturday night with another party with Cory's family. After some playing and a pizza dinner it was time for Joshua to get spoiled once more. He received some fabulous gifts, all of which should keep him very entertained outside this summer and for many summers to come! Joshua really enjoyed being sung to and he did a great job blowing out his candles! All in all it was a great way to end a week long celebration of Joshua's life!

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Safe to Say

I have waited to do a post on this because it seems like every time I say something about Joshua he does the opposite of whatever I just got done saying to someone. I feel like I jinx things as soon as I say something. However, I think it is safe to say that Joshua is potty training himself!!!! YEAH!!!! It all started about 6 weeks ago when Joshua first had an interest in the toilet. I casually put him on it one day to see what he would do. He thought it was pretty cool, but never actually did anything but sit there. Well, I figured that if he had an interest we should just go with it so I bought a small seat to set on top of our toilet seat so I wouldn't have to hold the 20 some pound lug above the toilet. Of course, as soon as I bought the new seat Joshua had NO interest in using it. I laughed and set it aside. Then 4 weeks ago on a Saturday morning Joshua woke up and kept saying "poo poo". We didn't believe him so we got him in his highchair and got him started on breakfast. He kept saying "poo poo". Finally he looks at me with desperation in his eyes and says, "Mommy, poo poo!!!" So, off to the bathroom we went and within a couple minutes Joshua had gone poo poo. We of course made a HUGE deal over it and called Papa to tell him the big news. Well, ever since then Joshua has been almost 100% consistent in going poo poo in the toilet (with a few exceptions including the few days he was sick back in April)! He still doesn't have much of a clue when it comes to the peeing issue, but that will come. For now I am just thrilled that he is the one taking the lead on this issue! I figured I wouldn't be dealing with potty training for at least another 6-9 months, but when the kid wants to do it I'm going with it and am thrilled about it! I can go for no more stinky diapers!

Random Act of Kindness

Today while Joshua, Owen and I were in Sam's Club ordering the cake for Joshua's birthday party on Saturday another lady was having a name written on a cake and struck up a conversation. She asked all the usual questions like, "Are they twins?", "How old are they?", "How far apart are they?" Being the social little guy he is, Joshua was trying to hand her his snack cup, was smiling at her and trying to talk to her. She kept saying how sweet he was. Then she asked whose birthday it was. I told her Joshua's just turned 2 yesterday. She immediately dug into her pocket, pulled out a dollar bill, handed it to Joshua and said, "That's for your birthday, happy birthday!" Joshua's eyes lit up when that $1 was put in his hand(he is well aware of what money is because we periodically put it in his piggy bank at home). I told him we would put it in his piggy bank when we got home. Joshua was so excited!!! Both of us thanked the nice lady for her kindness! How nice is that?!?!

Happy 2nd Birthday Joshua!

Today Joshua officially turns 2! I am in awe of where two years went! Many people said that time would go fast and I didn't believe them (I really doubted this as boring day after boring day passed watching an infant who could do a whole lot of nothing)! Alas, the time has flown! Now I'm not going to lament about missing my baby because I really don't (I'm not a fan of infants, unless the infant is not mine 24/7 and can be given back to the parents)! I miss holding and snuggling with my baby for hours on end, but that is about the extent of it. The past year has been so much more fun as Joshua's personality has really come through. He is such a delightful, laid back, happy little kid (at least most of the time)! I love that he can communicate more now and can actively participate in activities. It's just so exciting to see what God has packed into this little package we call Joshua! What a blessing he is to us!