Carving Time

Last night we decided to carve our pumpkins. Joshua was excited at first,although I don't think he really knew what was going on, but his excitement simmered down as the process of carving takes a bit of time. So, Cory and I kept on scooping and carving while Joshua played nearby and checked back on us frequently. He liked to share in little parts of the process so at least I was able to get some cute pictures. Joshua did however enjoy the end result. He especially loved blowing out the candles and having Cory re-light them. Today it's just too cute, Joshua has kept peeking out in the garage to check on our pumpkins. Just another fall tradition we got to enjoy together as a family!

I roasted the pumpkin seeds last night as well using a new recipe I found online - I'm not one for the traditional butter and salt recipe. They are absolutely delicious. I used Teriyaki sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce because it was what I had on hand. The recipe I used is below and highly recommended if you are interested in something different.

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

1 1/2 Tablespoons margarine, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

2 teaspoons Worcestershire (or Teriyaki sauce works well too)

2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Combine the margarine, salt, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce (or Teriyaki sauce) and pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly and place in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Scooping the seeds out.

Helping daddy get the carved pieces out.

The end result.

Joshua is mesmorized by the jack-o-lanterns.

The Candy Drop!

Yesterday we met my dad and some friends of ours from church at a local nursery for some fun fall activities. First we headed out on a scavenger hunt to find out what some animals do during the winter and collect a prize at the end. Then it was time for the "candy drop"! We all lined up and waited for the loader to drop the candy and then mass chaos ensued (not really since it was a bunch of 5 and younger kids with their parents gathering candy). Joshua and I waited for some of the crowd to clear before we hopped in to gather some candy and a little beanie puppy. Cory and Papa stood by observing the fun while we gathered the candy - Papa spotted a little football that had fallen behind the tarp that the candy was on and grabbed that for Joshua too. The kid got so much candy he doesn't really need to gather any more on Wednesday night! We were going to go on a hayride after the candy drop, but the wind had really picked up and the rain was starting to fall so we had to skip the hayride. Instead Joshua and Cory checked out the loaders that were dropping the candy for a few minutes before we headed to the warmth of our car.

This made a little boy's day

This is what we saw as we came down the street to our house today after playgroup and a running a few errands! There is a major construction project going on at a business pretty close to our house. Most of the time we just hear the noise of the construction machines because the construction sight isn't visible from our house. Today was a different story! For 20 minutes Joshua sat/stood and watched this construction helicopter fly back and forth from picking up a piece of something from the construction site and flying back to the opposite end of the area where the business is to drop the piece off. It kept Joshua entertained and has been all I've heard about the rest of the day.

Dad's Influence

Lately Joshua has been saying "I like _(fill in the blank)__" about everything. We were at Target yesterday and people were actually laughing as he walked by and said, "I like____" to every other item he spotted. So last night as Joshua was looking at a Fisher Price catalog that had come in the mail he found a picture of a ride-on Mustangs. First he identified them as Mustangs (yes he knows what several cars are by name, including Mustangs) and then went on to name them as red and pink Mustangs. Then to the shock of his father he said, "I like pink!" The look on Cory's face was priceless! He never thought his car-loving son would choose a pink Mustang over a red one! So Cory went over to the catalog and pointed to the pink Mustang and made a wimpy sounding engine noise; then he points to the red Mustang and uses a loud, boisterous engine sound. Joshua of course followed suit and has been pointing at the pictures and copying just what his dad has taught him. Not exactly what I want to teach him, so hopefully it won't stick. If you need a good chuckle for today watch the video below.

A Fall Day at the Zoo!

Today we headed over to the zoo for the annual "Zoo Goes Boo" event (going on this Saturday and next Saturday). It's a great way to get more use out of the Halloween costume! We met up with Shawn, Erin and Owen to enjoy the fun together! It was the perfect fall day to enjoy some time outdoors while gathering treats and looking at all the animals. We attended this event last year, but this year Joshua was much more aware of his surroundings and what was going on - he actually gets the concept of trick or treating. He loved collecting and eating his treats as well as looking at and touching some of the animals. The highlights of his day were seeing the monkeys and touching a real snake (he had no fear)! The video below shares our fun.

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Frisbee Throw!

I have no idea where Joshua 's talents in sports are coming from, because they most certainly aren't from me or Cory. We've both played sports, but we weren't extremely good at them! So where in the world Joshua is getting his skills from is beyond me. We play outside all the time with him throwing, catching, kicking, hitting and dribbling balls. The kid has quite the arm for an almost two and half year old! He also has one heck of a kick with a soccer ball! At the end of this summer Joshua found a couple of frisbees in his outdoor toy box so I showed him how to throw it and then helped him do it. Since then he has been praciting his frisbee throw and has gotten quite good. I never expected a two and half year old to throw a frisbee correctly! Check him in action below.

A Visit to Robinette's

Off to Robinette's we headed this morning to meet some friends from my MOPS group. We started with a delightful snack - I had a pumpkin donut and Joshua chose a pumpkin cookie. Before I could even dig my camera out for a picture Joshua had snarfed his cookie (hmmm how come the cookies and candies are inhaled and the veggies sit on his plate?)! After a little browsing through the store we headed outside to play. There isn't a ton to do at Robinette's besides eat, but we had a good time socializing and playing nonetheless.

Birthday Celebration

At the end of September my grandpa turned 92! In the beginning of November my grandma will turn 86! My grandparents aren't ones to celebrate themselves, so we had a combined celebration for them last night at our house with my dad, Phil and Ciejae. In my opinion when you've come that far in life one must celebrate such birthdays! We had a great time eating and catching up with one another. What a blessing to have two living, happily married, generous and loving grandparents in our lives! I also love how Joshua has been able to get to know them and is blessed to have a relationship with them! Happy Birthday Grandpa and Grandma!

Big Boy Bed!

We may be crazy, but with some encouragement from Joshua's pediatrician and many friends we have taken the plunge of putting Joshua in his "big boy bed"! The pediatrician suggested having Joshua in his toddler bed by the time he was two and a half. It's not that I didn't think Joshua could handle it and it's not like I'm trying to keep him a baby, the truth is I just wasn't sure if I was ready to give up the freedom the crib gives me! No worries of him playing in his room or destroying his room, just stick him in the crib and walk away! But he's almost two and half and it was time for a change. Since Joshua's behavior issues have been drastically improving and he has been going down for naps and night time very easily I figured this was good time to try the toddler bed. Now mind you this isn't a ton different than what it used to be since we just took the front of his crib off and replaced it with a bedrail that's only a few inches shorter, but he now knows he can get in and out of it by himself. Last night was his first night and he never got out, although it did take him a while to settle down and go to sleep - perhaps he was just too excited about his new bed. This afternoon was the real test at nap time! He actually tried to get out a couple of times, but before his feet could even hit the ground he pulled his body fully back onto his bed. It's like he knew we were sitting there watching him on the video monitor and he was just teasing us! So far so good, but it's only been a day! We'll give this a while before we move to the next step and get rid of the bedrail all together.

Today we had nothing on the calendar so I decided to take Joshua to Koetsiers (a local greenhouse) for a morning of fun. Koetsiers has a huge area set up with fun fall activities for kids, all inside their greenhouse. We went there last October with a few of our friends from MOPS, but Joshua was so young he wasn't able to fully enjoy things. This year I knew he would get a kick out of all of the activities. We went late in the morning in hopes that not many people would be there - it turned out to be great timing because as we got there a school group was walking out! There were a few other moms with kids, but soon we had the area to ourselves! It's $5 for children over 2, but parents pay nothing. This cost includes painting a pumpkin, popcorn and all of the activities - the corn crib, pumpkin ball toss, maze, big wheels, blow-up train, blow-up pumpkin with blowing balloons, bean bag toss, pumpkin bowling, and face painting. Joshua especially loved the corn crib (a sandbox structure filled with feed corn) and being in the big blow-up pumpkin trying to catch all the balloons flying around! Not being one to take risks Joshua didn't dare try crawling through the blow-up train - although I must say, it's pretty intimidating for a small kid to crawl up and down obstacles for quite a long ways, all on a pillow of air in which you don't have great footing. I did have to coerce Joshua into painting his pumpkin, trying the maze and going on the big wheels - mind you he did enjoy it all, he just had to be talked into trying it! It was tons of fun and not too costly!

Painting a pumpkin!

Catching balloons!

Playing in the "Corn Crib"

Racing!

Finding Snoopy in the maze!

Joshua loved finding all the blow-up creatures in the maze.

Parent Coalition

Joshua's Bright Beginning's parent educator recently told me about a parent coalition that was in need of having more parents join called Great Start. There are meetings for the parent coalition on one or two Thursday evenings a month where they discuss early childhood issues in Kent County - they really want real parent's input!!! Seeing as one of my passions in life is early childhood and educating people in the importance of the first 5 years of life I felt I needed to join this group. Last night was my first meeting and Joshua actually got to go with me because they offered free child care. It was a great meeting! They began by taking a look at a report that a committee is working on that proposes a plan for an Early Childhood System in Kent County. I haven't yet read the report, but from what I heard last night it is just the thing that needs to instituted in our state that would benefit every child. I am excited to read more about it! The second half of the evening we had a speaker talk about basic child development and the five love languages of children. The information was great! If you have a heart for helping young children in our county, including your own, and would like to share your opinions on early childhood issues I encourage you to join the Great Start Parent Coalition. From what I heard you get some awesome free materials as well - one of there first meetings this year they gave every parent attending a free Franklin Planner worth $50! If you are interested in joining just click on the words Great Start at the beginning of this post and you will find a registration form in the information about the parent coalition or contact me and I will give you the necessary info.

A Weekend of Fall Camping

Due to the beautiful weather forecast for the weekend we decided that we were going to go on one more camping trip before winterizing our trailer for the year. Shawn, Erin and Owen had nothing planned for the weekend so they decided to camp with us. We chose Wabasis campground this time and since it is so close to Erin's dad's farm we decided we would do our annual fall trip to the farm while we were camping. Since we had looked back at pictures from past visits to the farm Joshua was filled with anticipation of seeing the tractors, the cows and "Farmer Joel" (as Joshua calls him). So, Saturday we headed to the farm in the morning and spent about two hours playing on the tractors, the combine, feeding corn to the neighbors cows (Joshua and Owen loved this), cutting down corn out of the field, and feeding more corn to the horses. The boys were going to be in need of lunch soon so we headed over to Paulson's Pumpkin Patch right after the farm and quickly picked out our pumpkins and gourds. Usually I get lots of great pictures of Joshua in his fall attire with the beautiful color gourds, but this year Joshua wanted no part of sitting for pictures and the fall attire was not going to happen due to the 85 degree heat! We headed back for lunch and naps back at the campground. It was still hot when the boys woke up, so we walked down to the beach and let them play in the water and the sand for a while - who would have thought we'd be playing in the lake in October?!?! On Sunday we spent the morning playing on the playground, despite the wet dew that covered everything. While Cory and Shawn packed things up Erin and I took the boys to the nature trail for a walk. It was such a beautiful weekend to be camping and doing lots of activities outdoors! We had a great time just hanging out with friends, relaxing, playing, having fun together and enjoying God's wonderful world! Of course I took a ton of pictures to capture all the memories so check them out in the video below!

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Better Late Than Never!

So, we finally got around to getting Joshua's 2 year pictures taken, just a few months late, OOPS. It took two different appointments (we had to cancel the first one due to Joshua being very sick), a little running between the raindrops during our session, and a three week wait to get the CD's back with all his pictures due to the photographer moving. After all this we had to weed through 200 pictures to narrow down the really good ones - not an easy task! So below are the 17 really good pictures we have to choose from. Take a peek and enjoy!

Weeoo Weeoos!

For those of you who don't speak "Joshua" weeoo weeoo means any kind of emergency vehicle (just think of a siren sound). Today we went down to the Children's Museum because they were having a kid's safety day which included having a firetruck and ambulance on hand for the kids to explore. Knowing that Joshua loves these kinds of vehicles we just had to go down and check it out. Before today Joshua has seen a fire truck a couple of times as well as an ambulance once and all those emergency workers were very excited about sharing about their jobs and their vehicles - all of these times were just random run-ins in parking lots. Today the firemen we met weren't exactly excited to be there and didn't really do a lot of interacting with the kids. However, the paramedic let the kids sit in the bed in the back and even put monitor on their fingers so they could see their heartbeat on the screen in the ambulance. Joshua had a great time! I just pray we never have to see either of these vehicles at our house!

Making Playdough

Joshua has really enjoyed playing with his Play Doh lately, almost every day! So yesterday once I was sick of picking up the little tiny pieces falling off the real Play Doh, I got out the play dough we had made months ago when Joshua really wasn't into it. Unfortunately, after months of being stored and hardly ever used it wasn't very nice. We had just been to a Bright Beginnings play group this week where the parent educator gave out a recipe for Kool-Aid play dough. We decided to try to make this new recipe today. Using the Kool-Aid is a great idea because it not only adds the color to the play dough, but a pleasant scent! Joshua had a blast helping make the play dough - notice his cute apron and chef's hat Grandma H. got him! The recipe is pretty good, although I think I prefer my old play dough recipe that I used for preschool. The new recipe seems to be kind of dry. Next time I think I'll use my old recipe and use the Kool-Aid for the coloring. In the case that anyone is interested, here's the recipe for both kinds of play dough below. . .

Kool Aid Play Dough
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1 Tbs. alum
1 pkg unsweetened Kool-Aid
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
2 cups of boiling water
1 additional cup of flour

Mix all the ingredients into a large bowl (except the additional cup of flour). When warming up the water, it is strongly suggested that you warm it up in a pan or a tea kettle. Make sure to use a spoon to stir at first because the mixture will be hot. As it starts to cool, use your hands to mix it. Once the mixture starts turning doughy, knead the mixture on a counter top or table, adding some or all of the additional flour until it reaches the desired consistency. Store the dough in a ziploc bag. It will last for several months if stored properly.

Cooked Play Dough
4 cups flour
4 cups water
2 cups salt
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
4 Tbs. cream of tartar
Food coloring if desired

Cook all of these ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Be sure to stir the mixture constantly until it is stiff. Let it cool and then knead it. Store the dough in a plastic container or ziploc bag. Because the dough is cooked, it will last a long time.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

And wow did I get thrown right back into reality as this week has been nothing but busy! It's a good busy though, don't get me wrong! Between play groups, Chatterbox group, home visits and MOPS our days have been filled with fun. Yesterday Joshua even got to go and visit an early childhood class at Calvin, my former teaching partner Susan teaches part time at Calvin now, so the students could do some observing while he and a few other kids played. It surprised me, but being the social little guy that he is he warmed right up to Susan and even gave her a hug when we left(I think he has seen her twice in his life and one of those times was in the hospital when he was born). He also enjoyed playing with the other kids. Afraid of social situations this child is not! Susan gave him a special treat for coming, Color Wonder Finger paints! Joshua was so excited about his new paints we had to come right home and try them out. They are pretty cool. I mean what mom wouldn't love their child to be able to paint without all the mess?!?! Of course, it's not a substitute for the real thing, because every kid should get messy with real finger paints! There's a lack of pictures from this week, but not a lack of activity!

Back to Reality

What a wonderful time we had in Orlando, Florida! The MOPS International Convention was a time of being uplifted spiritually and gathering ideas, not to mention the fabulous music we got to hear thanks to Matt Redman, Go Fish and Sara Groves! It was a also a time of bonding with six other women from my MOPS group that have a true heart and passion for this MOPS ministry! Not only did we enjoy convention, but we even spent an afternoon and evening at Epcot center! We returned yesterday afternoon and today it was back to reality as we had our second MOPS meeting of the year, which was full of fun and fellowship.

Packing my bags and heading out on a jet plane!

I'm off for Orlando, FL before the sun rises tomorrow morning! The MOPS International Convention is taking place this Thursday through Saturday. Six of my fellow commerades and friends from my group are going to this convention with me. Should be a great time of growing friendships, learning and growing spiritually. Of course we will be trying to get to some of those famous Orlando attractions during our time there too! I'll have lots to share when I return, but for now I'm off to finish up my packing!

A Beautiful Day for Some Fun at the Gardens!

Seeing the weather forecast for this week I knew we just had to spend a day at Frederik Meijer Gardens! This time I thought it would be fun to invite Cory's cousin Missy and her son Eli along. They moved back up to Grand Rapids a few months ago, so now we are able to get together for play dates! Eli and Joshua are just 3 weeks apart in age and are really good playmates, as well as 2 year olds can be! We went and saw the HUGE horse sculpture, but then spent the rest of our time in the Children's Garden. The boys had a blast running around the gardens and chasing each other. They especially loved this in the maze when they surprised each other as they hid among the hedges! The tree house, the sandbox and the lakes were also big hits with the boys. It was also nice that as Missy and I watched the boys play we could also do some catching up! We even sat at one of the pavilions and had a picnic lunch. What a beautiful day to spend playing with friends! Thanks for joining us Missy and Eli!

A Little Behavior Modification

Lately a certain little someone in our household has really been acting like a terrible two year old, and no, I'm not talking about Cory. Joshua's behavior has been a quite a bit less than favorable. In turn he's been learning some hard life lessons in the past few weeks , specifically that there are consequences, like them or not, for his behavior. This is nothing new to him as I have been using Love and Logic with him since his very first misbehavior. However, with the behaviors we've seen this week we've needed to give Joshua more of a visual to help with his disciplining. So, we started a nifty little behavior chart (a lovely little form of behavior modification). I happened to purchase a great magnetic chart back a few months ago at a Scholastic sale thinking it would be great to have on hand. Sure enough, it has come in handy this week. We did have to make a few of our own magnets though since the chart is geared toward older kids. We began the chart on Wednesday after I'd finally had enough. He is doing better than he was the previous days without the chart and right now getting to put magnets on his chart is reward enough for him. We'll see if this continues. Oh the fun of the terrible twos!

A Morning Filled with FUN!

So the circus has rolled into town. We really wanted to watch the parade of animals walking down the street to the arena, but had no idea they did that last night. We were bummed to have missed it and hope to watch it next year. We decided it wasn't worth the money to take Joshua to the circus this year since it's hard for a 2 year old to sit through anything. However, last night on the news I heard that the elephants would be outside the arena at noon today. So, with nothing else to do today we headed downtown and played at the Children's Museum for a bit while we waited for noon to arrive. The Children's Museum was not busy at all which made for a very pleasant morning of play time. Joshua loved the construction site and the bank exhibits. At noon we headed down the street to see the elephants. As we were nearing the arena we could see the elephants parading over to their spot in the front of the arena. Joshua kept pointing and saying, "el-funt, el-funt!!!" He was soooo excited! We found a spot as close as possible and watched the elephants eat away at their delicious buffet lunch. We even ran into our friends Sheryl and Hannah while we were watching the elephants! It was really neat to watch these amazing animals. At least this way Joshua got a little taste of the circus!

Remembering. . .

This is the photo, featured in a Time magazine shortly released after the 9-11 attacks, that sits on the piano in our home as a daily reminder to be thankful - my older brother David is the man in the background in the green pants. I remember vividly the day of September 11, 2001. I was sitting in my preschool classroom with a new class of preschoolers going through our routine for the day. I was sitting on the ground playing with some students as news of the attacks reached us via a phone call from a preschooler's mother. There was also a message from Cory sitting in our voice mailbox. I was immediately panic stricken as I knew my brother worked in the north tower of the World Trade Centers. I finally reached my parents who told me that yes indeed my brother was in the building at the time of the attacks and they had not heard from him as of yet. My principal told me I needed to leave to be with my family. We gathered in my parent's basement watching the news coverage. Thankfully our waiting period was relatively short, because 2 1/2 hours after the attacks happened by brother was able to get a phone call out to us telling us he had gotten out safely just 10 minutes before the north tower fell (the north tower was the first to be hit, but second to fall). We daily thank God for sparing my brother. Today I am once again able to remember this day with thankfulness, but also with sorrow as so many others were not as lucky as my brother to make it out alive. Pray for these many families today.