Family Pictures 2009

Well, the business of birthdays, preping for the holidays, and family picture time is upon us. All of Josh's China friends, as he calls them, are celebrating their birthdays over the next two months, as well as, Josh and I. For my birthday my parents, Matt's parents and the three of us went out to dinner. That's a perfect birthday for me. Josh is having a small, but growing ever bigger, birthday party on his birthday, which also happens to be National Adoption Day. Perfect huh?

Josh has also started a new library time at the Greenwood Library. I like it very much. They teach the kids shapes, colors, counting, letters, and of course they read books. Also, there is a craft to go along with each class. Today's letter was "F" for fall. Josh colored a tree and then glues leaves made of puzzle pieces on. It turned out very cute.

One of Josh's favorite things to do is "help" Dad finish mowing the yard. He loves to drive the mower.

Since Josh likes music so much, I thought it would be fun to take him to the Bands of America competition at Lucas Oil. So on Friday before I went to work we made our way downtown. At first he wasn't to interested, but when the larger marching bands came out he liked those. I enjoyed the bands very much.

The marching band was from Texas and they were really good.

Mom and Josh at Bands of America

Family Picture Time!!!! We are trying to mark the passage of Josh's birthdays with family pictures. Josh was adorable as ever!

The Fame!

Mr GQ!!!

I need more cars!!

We'll post pictures of Josh's B-day party next weekend.

M, J and J

A Spooktacular Halloween!!

It's finally time to reveal what Josh's costume was for Halloween, but first a few cute pictures from the past week.

For some reason Josh decided that this was where he wanted to eat his snack. I'm sure he was mad at me for some reason or another.

The next series of pictures was from when Josh and I went to play in the leaves.

Nothing is more fun then jumping into a huge pile of leaves!

Run, Run!

Finally, the Halloween Costume: Josh was a BULLDOZER!

Halloween was so much fun this year because finally understood that if he said "Trick or Treat" that he would get candy. He couldn't get to the next house fast enough. Plus, Josh also figured out that he could "bulldoze" people. He got such a kick out of bumping into people with his bulldozer.

Three weeks from today our little man turn 3! The party planning has already begun.

M, J and J

Fall is a wonderful crazy time of year!

The past two weeks have been a whirl wind of fun fall activities, friends and work. Matt has worked several days of overtime, which makes Josh grumpy from not seeing his daddy. It makes mom grumpy too. Anyway, we have all survived, but boy are we tired!

Children's Museum

On Oct 16th, we went with the Jones to the Children's Museum. Josh, Delaney and Jonah (a little boy Susan watches from time to time) had a great time. The first thing we did was the Tomb of Doom haunted house. (No cameras allowed = No pictures, sorry) It was a lights on, kid friendly time. They loved it and got all kinds of goodies along the way.

After that we grabbed a bite to eat and visited the rest of the museum, or at least the favorite areas. First off was the Dinosphere.

Look at those little dinos tending to their eggs.

Josh took this model claw and then dragged to the dinosaurs me to show me where on the dinosaurs it went. To funny!

Under the sea! The kids dressed up as sea creatures and then danced around on a blue screen that made them look like they were underwater.


Of course we had to go on the carousel.
Josh, Susan, Matt, Jonah (hidden), Delaney and Will


Jenny, Josh, and Matt

Jonah, Susan, Delaney, and Will

Josh loves to get in the race car and pretend to drive.

The Mad Scientist

First, let me start off with Matt and I love science so we hope that Josh will too. Any time we can do a science experiment with Josh we enjoy it. I found a new kids science book at the library and Josh and I made soap monsters. The monsters sure made a monster mess of my microwave and kitchen floor with soap crumbs, but Josh loved watching the monsters grow in the microwave and then decorating them. We made three total to decorate our table for Halloween.

Here Josh is using some orange (his favorite color right now) map pin to decorate one of his monsters.

So scccarrry!!!

Pumpkin carving time!!!!!!!!

On Oct 24th after Matt and I bought new iPhones, I know now we are soooo trendy now, then we came home and carved our pumpkins.

The before shot

The process.

The final results. So spppooookkyy!

Josh was really into carving the pumpkins this year. He helped clean them out and then proceeded to play with the guts for a long time. He drew his face on his own pumpkin and then helped me draw the face on my pumpkin. It was a great time!

ZooBoo

Oct 25th was another crazy day. After church, where the discussion got Matt and I all fired up (Long Story), we went to see some family that came into town from Georgia unexpectedly. When we left there we picked up Josh Halloween costume and off to ZooBoo. The zoo was decorated with skeletons, bats, witches, etc. We met our friend the Jones, again. Josh was excited to see Delaney and had been asking to call her to make sure he was coming for two days. Anyway, it wasn't a very good time because it was soooo crowded and the candy stations were in the back of the zoo where it was narrow and dead ended. Of course, once we got to the dead end Josh had to pee. He and I fought our way through the crowd and made it to the bathroom just in time.

Delaney and Josh petting the goats. Miss Delaney is the cutest Dorthy I've ever see and Josh's Halloween costume will remain a secret until 10/31. I have to say that he was getting a lot of attention in his costume at the zoo. Unfortunately, it was too wide with all the people and Josh couldn't walk around very well.

Josh, Will and Delaney on the haunted Carousel. It went backwards for Halloween.

When we left the ZooBoo it was back to the phone store to get Matt's iPhone fixed. It was my fault, long story. Anyway, after 20 minutes he was up and running. It is going to take us a long time to figure out all the things about these phones. Now we are going to work on combining cell phones, cable , DSL and cancelling our home phone. The home phone goes to offset the new cell phone service. We don't need it anyway. The only people who call are our parents, Amvets, the FOP and IU Alumni Association.

Over the next few weeks I'll be work on Josh's birthday. He'll be three on November 21 - which happens to be National Adoption Day this year. It will be fun because he wants dinosaurs as his theme.

Who knows what the next week or so will bring, but I'm sure there will be some good stories and pictures to go with it,

M, J, and J

Quick notes in the Fall

We went to the pumpkin patch over the weekend and came home with 102 pounds worth of pumpkins! We had to take a hay ride out to the patch and back which was fun for everyone. There was also a bouncy tent, corn maze, and a T-rex that ate pumpkins!

Here's Josh on the top of a pile of hay bales

7,235,821 pumpkins and we just can't find "the one"

The past month Josh has found a new favorite pastime: sitting in the front yard and watching the cars and truck drive by.

Sunday night was experiment night. We made a VOLCANO!!!

This weekend will be busy. Friday we're going to the haunted house at the children's museum. They have a time when you can go through it with all the lights on. Friday night, Josh gets to stay with grandma and grandpa while Jen and I head down to IU for opening practice of their basketball team. Sunday and Monday we'll be winterizing everything - such a fun fall time ritual.

We're not disclosing Josh's Halloween costume yet. It is fun!!

Josh was re-enacting scenes from the movie "Cars" the other day with his cars. He had the dialog down and everything.

The show "Dinosaur Train" on PBS has taken over our household. We don't normally let josh watch TV very often but this show REALLY is good. Jen and I have learned more about dinosaurs in the past month than we have in our entire lives. To demonstrate how much Josh has learned, Jen was playing with him and said "Josh, is that a Stegasaurus?" His reply was "No mommy, it's a Tyranasaurus Rex from the Cretaceous period, like the conductor said."

Till next time,

M, J, and J

We are Camping Nu, Nu, Nu!!!!!

We know it has been awhile since our last blog update, but things have been kind of crazy for the past few weeks. On Sept. 13th we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant to celebrate Josh's Gotcha Day. Josh's true Gotcha Day was Sept. 17th, 2006. It seems like just yesterday we were meeting Josh for the first time.

On Sept 18th the three of us left for the first camping trip in our new camper. We had planned to go to the Cumberland Gap area in Kentucky, but due to bad weather we made a last minute change to Chain O' Lakes State Park. We really like this park and there were several things we wanted to do in the area. The only bad thing was that the mosquitoes were awful. Josh's face paid the price because you can't put mosquito repellent on your face. Plus, he fell while playing on the playgrounds and gave himself a nice bruise on his left cheek. That's our boy!

Josh really likes to sing. So he created a camping song one morning at breakfast. The song became the theme of our trip. The song went like this: We are camp-ing Nu, Nu, Nu (repeat).

Here's our campsite complete with Josh's underwear hanging out to dry.

Just a short drive up the road, to Albion, IN, from the campgrounds was Black Pine Animal Sanctuary. It was a rescue for exotic animals. Their facility was very nice and it was sad to hear the stories of the animals. After our visit we've decided that we can't go to the circus. The camel at the sanctuary was there because it was to dark to match with the costume the camel had to wear. We couldn't believe that.

Of course we had smores, but Josh liked to eat marshmallows right out of the bag best.

We also went to the Fort Wayne Zoo. It was terrific. I had read that it was great for young kids and it was very true. The animal enclosures were very nice and allowed up close encounters with the animals. There was a train, sky lift, raft ride, carousel, and pony rides. All of which Josh loved. We will definitely be going back. At the end of the day we let Josh play in the splash zone. He so loves water and was soaked from head to toe.

Josh playing the drums in the African Journey sections.

Josh riding Gail the pony.

Everyone loves to feed the goats, but these goats were crazy. There were a few minutes before feeding time so we let Josh brush the goats. The only problem was that they were attacking our pants, coats, and camera bag. Once we did have our cup of food the goats were jumping ON us so much that Josh went outside the pen to feed them.

Chain O' Lakes SP has seven lakes that are connected by creeks which are perfect for canoes or our kayaks. We love to kayak and so does Josh. He plays in the water, tries to paddle, sits and enjoys the ride, goes from mom's kayak to dad's kayak and vice a versa, and he even peed into the lake from the kayak. (That took some skill on dad's part to assist in that process.) It won't be long before we will need to get a tandem kayak for him. Josh really liked all the bridges we passed under. We had to "honk" as we went under each one.

As Josh rides along in the kayak he collects things. Usually it's lily pads, but this time he collected leaves in the water. What a collection!

Mom and Josh heading back in.

Josh loves his big wheel and he is juuuuust big enough to push the pedals. Sometimes dad has to give him a helping hand with a trusty stick though. He especially liked to ride his big wheel through the puddles.

After four days at Chain O' Lakes we packed up and went to Mounds State Park. We were hoping that the rain would stop, but it poured that night. We all had a great time on the playgrounds and walked some of the trails to the Indian mounds at the park.

Josh can't wait to help dad with putting logs on the fire. We had just roasted our last marshmallow before the heavens let loose on us. It was then a mad dash to get the bikes under the awning before our seats were soaked through.

While camping we tried out everything on our new camper to make sure everything was just right. We have been having a problem with one door latch since we brought our camper home, so it currently is in the shop getting that taken care of. Of course, when Matt took it in, the door worked fine. Murphy's law at its' finest.

Today we went to the Children's Museum . Josh likes the trains and the dinosaurs best of all. We don't know what we are doing tomorrow, but it could be anything.

M, J and J

Josh trying to hitch up and go!

A little of this and a little of that

This is a random post about some of the things that Josh and mom do while daddy is at work. There also a couple of pictures of some other things.

See what happens when you leave Josh to color my himself for just one minute. His body becomes a work of art.

Dad found the praying mantis while mowing. Josh thought it was pretty cool.

We try to do some kind of "art project" a couple times a week. This particular day we made a tambourine and maracas. The was followed by an hour of "marching to the drum" as Josh calls it. He even had grandma P march to the drum in her wheelchair.

On one of the few HOT days of the summer, Josh and I went to the Greenwood pool to splash around in the kiddie pool.

Josh likes to play with his Lincoln Logs. He likes to make a car wash or garage and play with his cars.

We went to Muscatatuck NWR birdwatching and brought bacon sandwiches for our picnic. Yum, Yum!

Josh is really getting into birdwatching now a days. We are trying to teach him how to use binoculars. When he actually finds what he looking for he points to it and says "Here it is!" He loves to see what other kinds of animals we can find. Sometimes that include a T-Rex or a triceratops. You never know what you might find in the woods.

There really isn't to much going on around the house right now. In two weeks we are going on our first camping trip in the new camper. The destination has yet to be determined. Matt is off the next couple of days, so we are going to enjoy this holiday weekend. We do plan to do a little fishing in grandma and grandpa's back yard. That will be a lot of fun!

Not to jinx us - but we do seem to be potty trained. He only wears diapers to sleep in and is really good at letting us know when he has to go. We've only had a couple accidents in the past month and a half and those were because we just didn't make it to the bathroom in time. SOOOO, sometimes when we're outside playing and he says he has to pee, we just go over to a tree. THE PERKS OF HAVING A BOY!!!!

M, J, and J

Indiana State Fair

The first thing we think of come August is the State Fair. We love to go and see all the sights. Of course, we absolutely love to eat our way around the fair. Josh was super excited to see all the animals and tractors.

Josh and some calves. He liked to get face to face with them.

Chocolate covered bacon. Sounds disgusting I know, but we all tried it and it was pretty good. It had that salty/sweet combo.

What's more fun that feeding goats, sheep, and calves carrots?

Our little man couldn't resist any piece of equipment!

Josh's favorite thing was the tractor ride around the fair. It was one of the last things we did and he loved it.

At night they lite up the hot air balloons in anticipation for the race the next day. They were quite beautiful.

Josh's Potty Party

What is a potty party you ask? Well, we told Josh when he filled his potty chart that he could have a DQ ice cream cake. On August 12th he filled his chart so we throw a little party for his accomplishment. Josh has been accident free now for 2 1/2 weeks. Of course, the cake did have a toilet on it.

All the grandparents came over for a cookout and cakes. Really, it was more of an excuse to get together than anything else.

M, J, and J

Coming in to the finish

The past three weeks since we have been back from Atlanta have been a marathon. Between work, Matt's class, Matt teaching a class, and just the everyday business of life, it has been crazy at our house. That's the way life goes sometimes.

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of Josh and mom time. So I have been trying some new fun activities for Josh. Of course, some do try mom's patience though.

Here Josh is working on using scissors. It is very difficult to teach a kid who is left handed to use scissors when mom is right handed. Where is Aunt Lisa when you need her? She's left handed.

I love the Family Fun magazine and Josh is now old enough to do some the projects in there. We made the "foamerator." This was a big hit because Josh love bubbles.

A couple of weeks ago we (Matt, Josh and I) and all the grandparents made a trip over to Cincinnati to go to Bass Pro Shop and Jungle Jim's. Jungle Jim's is a gigantic international grocery store and is very cool. Matt has been wanting to try a durian fruit since he saw it on Bizarre Foods. We saw them in China, but didn't try them because they smell awful and we didn't want to stink up the hotel. So we bought one to stink up our house.

I made Matt open it out side. The durian smelled like rotten onions. Yuck!!! It had the texture of firm pudding. Gross!!! At first it tasted like rotten onions which caused us to spit it out immediately. The after taste was something like a cantaloupe.

Here is what one looks like eating the durian.

A few days ago we received over 4 inches of rain which left some puddles in the yard. There is not a little boy on earth who can resist puddles and Josh is no exception. He was soaked and covered in mud. He went straight to the bath after that.

My sister and her two kids were in town this past weekend. We went to the Children's Museum on Thursday. It was utter craziness at the museum. Other adults were pushing our kids around and the kids were so excited to see each other. We, my sister and I, were beat after chasing the kids around all afternoon.

The bobcat is always a big hit.

On Friday morning we went to the zoo. We saw all the animals and the dolphin show. The favorites were the giraffes, ponies, and elephants.

On Saturday, Matt and I did some work around the house before dropping Josh off at grandma and grandpa's for a KID FREE Night. It was Matt's 20th High School Reunion. The reunion was entertaining because 20 years later people were still trying to party like they were in college again. We did get to see a friend of ours we had not seen in a couple months so that was fun.

Today, Sunday, Matt had to work so I am getting a little bit of Josh free time at home. It is amazing how much quicker chores go without my shadow. I'm about go out and grab a bite to eat just because I can.

Josh will be back soon, so I need to get going.

M, J and J

Whirlwind: From Atlanta, GA to Muskegon, MI

Last Monday, a group of us went to Stone Mountain. We had a great time and there was tons of stuff to do. Surprisingly, the park was not very busy which was really nice. We took the train around the mountain and Josh loved that. We took the Sky lift to the top of the mountain where we were treated to a wonderful view. Next we stopped for lunch. After that some of us headed back to the hotel while the others went to the petting zoo.

Josh catchin' a ride with Alyssa

Claire and Josh at the petting zoo

After the petting zoo, Matt, Mom, Dad, Josh and I were thinking of riding the ducks but instead found this play area where we could shoot nerf balls at each other. That was a blast! Next, we went to go get our group pics and headed toward the climbing area. There was a climbing area just for little kids and Josh loved it. He was a natural.

On Tuesday, Mom, Dad, Matt, Josh and I went to Hard Rock to get mom some pins. We had already planned on doing this before they got here. We then had lunch at the Varsity. Yum! It is the world's largest drive-in diner. It is huge and the food isn't half bad either.

Josh was getting super tired so we headed back to the hotel for a rest. That was when we discovered that our trailer was being delivered on THURSDAY! Matt made a ton of phone calls and we were to pick it up on FRIDAY. Once we had rested up off we went to Kennesaw NP, which was really neat. The museum there is chucked full of information. For dinner we went to Fuddrucker's. YUM!

Fast forward to Thursday. (Wednesday night was a flurry of unpacking and packing.) The day started with a dead battery. Thankful the jump box works well. We then stopped to get the loan check, which took longer than expected. Then it was off to my sister's to drop Josh off. We got there just in time to see Marianna jump off the driving board for the last time of the day. She was really excited about that.

It was only two hours from her house to Holland, MI where we had a kid-free dinner and went to see Harry Potter. We liked the movie, by the way. After the movie, we decided to drive up to Muskegon and Matt wanted to find the trailer place. So at 10 o'clock at night we were trying to find it with weird exit ramps and the inability to turn left. For some reason there were no left turns permitted at intersections, but you could drive up the road a bit and u-turn in front of on coming traffic. It was the craziest thing we've every seen.

The day started on Friday with another dead battery as we were going to meet our friend Kathy for breakfast. At the restaurant, the battery died again (thankful again for that jump box). So Kathy directed us to the AutoZone to by a new battery. We didn't want to pull our new camper with a cruddy battery. It took four hours at the camper place to go through the camper, finish the paper work, and wait while they installed some vent covers.

Once we had the camper we picked up Josh and drove the 2 1/2 to 3 hours home.

Check out our new Guest Quarters:

It didn't take Josh long to figure out going up and down the ramp was FUN

Josh likes his new bed!

This next picture is of Josh discovering a new way to play with bubble wrap. Run your fire engine over it, of course.

Love to all,

M, J, and J

More Reunion Pics

We've terrorized a conference room

Maia, Olivia, Claire, Alyssa, and Josh

We terrorized the Georgia Aquarium
Maia, Maggie, and Josh

YES! Let's hold it!!


I bet that feels just like this booger

Under the waves



We terrorized the hotel lobby

Claire, Josh, Jessa, Maggie, Maia, Olivia, Alyssa, Emma



And we terrorized the zoo

Josh, Olivia, Jessa

She smells funny