"Rari"

For Joshua "Rari" means Ferrari. He first started saying "Rari" when he saw the picture of a red Ferrari in one of his books and we told him it was a Ferrari. Since then he likes to point at red cars on the road and call them "rari" because to him every red car is a Ferrari. Last night Cory found two Ferrari Hot Wheels cars at the store and even before he told Joshua what they were Joshua declared them "Rari". The funny thing is that the cars were yellow and black, not red! He has never called any of his other Hot Wheels cars Ferrari either! Hmmm, perhaps Joshua is taking after his dad and is becoming a car guy!

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Crazy Cousin Fun!

Yesterday Toni had brought the kids in town and decided to drop over. She even brought the boys and me lunch - YUM! So, after everyone had eaten up our pizza lunch all of the cousins (there are six of them) played together, except for little Sam of course! It's not too often that the cousins can just get together to play, so it was fun to see what chaos five busy children can create in only minutes! It's too bad I didn't even think to get my camera out until the end of our time together so I didn't get but a few pictures and only of Allison and Joshua (don't they look like they could be twins in the picture on the right?). Thanks for lunch and thanks for visiting, we had a lot of fun!

Allison and Joshua enjoyed perusing the toy ads together!


Allison, Joshua and Toni holding Sam

One Lucky Boy!

Last night we headed out to a couple stores, one of them being Office Depot. While Cory was looking around Joshua explored the entire store as I followed. He stopped still in his tracks when he saw a man on a scissors lift going up and down checking the lights. Joshua was completely mesmerized! Every where the man drove the machine around Joshua followed and watched. At one point the man said to me, "Want to give your son a scare? Just hand him up to me and I will take him for a ride." I didn't say anything, but I figured Joshua would be thrilled to take a ride, not scared! So, I handed him up to the nice man and Joshua got to go up and down and forward and backward in the scissors lift! What a dream for a little boy!!! Joshua didn't want to leave the store after this!

Visitors!

Last night Kim and Ally came over to visit. They were in visiting family for the weekend and made some time to stop and see us. Joshua and Ally played with just about every toy they could find. They didn't exactly play together seeing they are only 23 months and 16 months (funny how they are pretty much the same size), but they enjoyed watching what the other was doing! In between watching the kids Kim and I tried to do a little catching up. It was great to see our good friends again! Thanks for visiting!

A Birthday Party!

Friday morning Joshua was invited to his friend Camden's birthday party (Camden is a friend from church and MOPS). This was Joshua's first birthday party for a friend which was pretty exciting. The boys enjoyed playing, eating a little, getting temporary tattoos and painting and printing their hands. Joshua and Owen even got a little book and some suckers to take home. It was a fun time for all!
The boys at the pary - Zachary, Camden, Joshua and Owen.

"Jet!!!!"

Wednesday morning Cory arrived back in GR from his conference out in Las Vegas. The boys and I headed to the airport to pick him up. It was also a great opportunity for Joshua to also see the planes (which he calls "jets")up close and personal. Usually we are trying to spot them through the windows at home. I'm not sure if Joshua was more excited about seeing his daddy again or seeing all the jets! Once we got home and Cory began to settle in he got out a little surprise he had purchased for Joshua in Vegas. Joshua was so excited about getting a new little tiger! He has been carrying it around everywhere he goes and won't let anyone else touch it!

A School Carnival

First let me say blogger and I aren't the best of friends right now! It has taken me two days to try to get the pictures to upload for this post! AHHHHH!!! Anyway, Friday night we went to our first school carnival (well okay our first school carnival as parents). It was at a school housed in a church in which a few of my friends go to. Along with the carnival there was a silent auction. Since our MOPS group did this as a fundraiser this year and will be doing it again next year I thought it would be good to go and see how another group handled their silent auction. The auction was huge!!! We actually bid on a few items and won two of them. Joshua also got to play a few carnival games, got a temporary frog tattoo and got a great balloon hat. It was a bit chaotic, but a fun night out!

Check out Joshua's balloon hat!

Line 'em up!

Joshua likes things neat, orderly and very organized (gee, I wonder where he gets that from?). For the last couple months now he has been lining items up. It began with his Hot Wheels cars, but has moved on to his food, his toy dishes, and anything else he gets his hands on. He can keep himself entertained for quite some time just lining his cars up in one spot and then transferring them one by one and lining them up some where else. This is just a natural stage in development, but Joshua is a bit obsessed with this skill. Today when I was making lunch he proceeded to take everything out of the door of the refrigerator and line it up on the floor! The three pictures you see are just from a couple of hours this afternoon! Here's hoping his obsession with being neat and organized continues well into his teen years!

Spring!?!?!?

Could it be that spring is here? Or, is this only a taste of what may come in another month or so? For now we are just going to enjoy the beautiful 65 degree day! After lunch I took Joshua and Owen outside for quite a while. They were beyond thrilled to be able to enjoy the sunshine and warm temperatures. Since I don't trust Owen's wobbly walk on the cement yet he spent his time zipping around the driveway in the walker. Joshua loved running around, playing with all his toys. I just soaked in as many of the delicious rays of sun as I could! This is definitely my kind of weather and it seems like the boys like it too!

Butterflies at the Gardens

Wednesday was a day of butterflies for Joshua! We met a friend and her child at Frederik Meijer Gardens in the morning because Bright Beginnings (a program Joshua is a part of) was having a special morning there. It was the perfect day to visit since it was bright and sunny the butterflies were very active! The boys were definitely fascinated by the creatures flying around them! As we walked through my friend and I commented on how these winged creatures just reminded us that our God is an awesome God! He put so much thought and detail into these tiny beings, it's just incredible! Not only did we get to spend all morning at the gardens, but we got to go back in the evening for a member's event. This time we met my dad there, which was fun. Flashlights in hand we searched for butterflies for quite a while. Having been there when the butterflies were so active earlier it was interesting to see the difference in activity level. We mostly spotted butterflies sitting and resting on leaves and walls. Joshua also got to do a couple of crafts and get a temporary tattoo during the evening. He still isn't a huge fan of large characters in costume so we found out when we tried to have him say hi to Flutter (the garden's butterfly mascot). All in all this was an fabulous day spent with people we love admiring God's creation! Check out the video below to see a bit of our day.
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A Visit to Preschool

Today I took the boys over to my old school (where I used to teach) to visit the preschool. I needed to borrow something from their classroom for a MOPS meeting. Joshua was a bit unsure as he walked into the classroom, but after 10 minutes he was walking around discovering all the toys. One of my former little students was there today (she was 3 when I taught her and just turned 5!) and she took Joshua by the hand throughout our visit - they became quick friends. Besides playing with the toys Joshua took part in a story and singing time (well, I guess he danced instead of sang). He did surprisingly well for not knowing the environment or the kids surrounding him! He even ate a snack at the table while some of the kids ate their lunches. He really adored trying out the chairs that were his size! The highlight of the visit was when Joshua got to play with the class pet - Wilson the bunny! My former coworker got the bunny out and let Joshua play in a little play-yard with the bunny. Joshua loved playing with the bunny and Owen watched and giggled. It was great seeing my old comrades and Joshua loved playing in preschool!

Shaving Already?!?!

It's rare that Joshua sees Cory shaving because he is up early and off to work during the week and on the weekends Joshua is usually sleeping or eating breakfast while Cory shaves. However, this morning Cory decided to go and dig out our driveway from the several inches of snow that fell since yesterday before taking a shower and shaving. So, Joshua was intrigued when he saw Cory shaving. Of course, being the curious little guy he is he just had to try it out himself (Cory put the cover on and let Joshua go about his business) and I of course had to grab the camera. What a nut!

A Childhood Memory

Today both boys were a bit crabby so I decided we needed to get out of the house. No problem, I had spotted something in the Kmart ad on Sunday that I wanted to go and look at. While we were walking around the store I spotted this "Paint With Water" book (it's simply a book with pictures that have red, yellow, and blue pigment printed on the pictures and all you have to do is add water to color in the pictures). Amazing, I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid! I remember my grandma keeping these on hand at her house and at the cottage for those rainy days when we needed something fun to do. It instantly brought back some great childhood memories! So, even though I wasn't keen on paying $3 for it I decided Joshua had to have the experience. Besides, it's a pretty clean way for a toddler to paint! After lunch today we got the paint with water book out and Joshua had a great time creating his painting.

Jumping Joshua!

For some time now Joshua has been trying to jump, but every time he tried he just went up on his tip-toes and thought he had jumped. For some reason this past Monday Joshua tried all day off and on to jump (getting both his feet off the ground). Even though he tried and tried all day he was only able to get one foot off the ground instead of two, of course this was already an improvement from the tip-toes. Tuesday he again tried jumping all day long. This time about half way through the day he managed to start jumping getting both feet off the ground! He has continued to practice this new skill all day everyday since - even in the pool at East Kentwood last night. Take a look at him in action in the video below!

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Little Helper

You'll have to excuse my lack of posting, but this week hasn't been very exciting (except for the warm-up in the weather). Just thought I'd share a picture I captured the other night. I was making dinner and Cory decided he would finally shovel off our deck. Of course once Joshua saw that daddy was outside he couldn't stand to be inside. So after a quick gear-up he headed out on the deck to help Cory get rid of the snow. Okay, mainly he just played. We look forward to more time outside if the temps stay up!








Please excuse the flash on the window of this picture. I tried taking it without a flash and it was too dark so thus the nice white light on the slider!

Family Fun

Last night the Hager family gathered to celebrate a few January and February birthdays. We started with pizza and cake at our house and then all traveled over the East Kentwood Aquatic Center to swim for a little while. By the time we left the kids and adult alike were exhausted from all the fun of the evening. Below are a few pictures of the family at the pool.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope all of you are enjoying your Valentine's day! This has never been one of my favorite holidays, in fact I call it a "Hallmark holiday". However, having a child now has kind of changed my attitude. Perhaps it's because any holiday is fun in the eyes of a child! It's also a great excuse to give Joshua lots of hugs and kisses and show him how much I love him. We got Joshua a John Deere combine and a hot wheels car - both of which he was thrilled with. Besides getting gifts, today we celebrated by delivering treats to people. First we stopped by my dad's office to see him and Phil as well as give a little chocolate treat to the other employees there. Then we headed over to our church; I had a few things to take care of there and again Joshua handed out treats to the staff there. Then it was off to deliver a special treat to Owen who is still fighting the nasty flu, poor little guy! Last, we headed out to Cory's office to deliver more chocolate treats to the employees there. As a bonus we got to go out to lunch with Cory! Joshua did a great job walking around delivering treats to lots of people and hopefully making lots of people smile today. So, go share some love, 'tis the day to do so!

*In case you can't read Joshua's Valentine's day shirt it says "Future Heartbreaker". Thought it was super cute and could be worn beyond today.

Joshua's new matchbox car put a huge smile on his face!

Sickness Strikes

Well, for the most part Joshua has been pretty healthy thus far this winter. He had a cold a couple weeks ago, but nothing major. Well, Sunday night he began rubbing his left eye and just wouldn't stop. It was tearing, but there was no goop coming out or redness in the eye. Monday when he woke up his eye looked a bit swollen, but still no goop or redness in the eye. I thought we were in the clear so I brought him to MOPS. By the way, Erin called Sunday night telling me Owen had a fever, was throwing up and had diarrhea so he didn't come Monday and he won't be here today. After my MOPS meeting I picked Joshua up from the nursery and he had green goo in the corner of his eye. Uh-oh! I called Erin's mom Marcia for some pediatric medical advice (she is a public health nurse and has been a huge help with with every question I have had since Joshua was born). After listening to me describe what was going on she told me to call the nurse at the pediatrician's office and see if they would want me to come in. I called the doctor and set an appointment for 5:15 pm (Have I ever mentioned how wonderful our pediatrician's office is? They have the best hours and always do their best to get you in quickly). So, Dr. Pott took a look at Joshua's eye and determined it was a form of pink eye that was just setting in. We have some drops we now get to put in his eye three times a day. So far he has done really well with it so I hope that continues. Now it's time to disinfect the entire house and all Joshua's toys so that we don't pass this junk on to anyone else!

Obsessed!

Do you think this boy is obsessed with balls or what? While running the water for his bath the other night he ran back and forth between the living room and the bathroom grabbing a ball and then dumping it in the tub. When all was said and done he had 6 balls in the bathtub! Thankfully there was still enough room for Joshua! I think his obsession with balls is only getting stronger!

MOPS Silent Auction

Last night was our MOPS fundraising event. This year we decided to try a silent auction. With the help of lots of people it turned out to be a beautiful event. We had 99 items up for bid and tables of items closed every 15 minutes throughout the night. We had items ranging in value from $7.00 all the way up to $1,500. The event went very well and everybody had a great time! We raised over $4,000!!!! It was our groups best fundraiser yet!

We bid on a few different items, but the one we actually one was a box filled with all kinds of balls, a little wagon, a three-wheeled scooter, snow shields and a jump rope (shown below). Probably the best thing we could have won in Joshua's opinion!
I brought the box inside today for Joshua to explore. When I heard a squeal of delight as I walked into the house with the box I knew we had spent our money well!