Christmas of motorized vehicles

Now that the craziness of Christmas is over we can finally find time to update the blog. It has been a whirl wind of time spent with family and friends, which we love.

Do to our crazy work schedule we did not celebrate Christmas until Sunday 12/27 and the following day we went up to my sister to celebrate up there. We had a really nice time and the kids loved playing with each other.

Josh update: Josh's vocabulary is still growing. He can even hold a brief conversation with you now. We are still working on our letters and numbers. Everyday he seems to do a little better. Josh is now afraid of monsters and wants his door cracked when he goes to sleep. We think he got this from his cousin Marianna. We'll just have to get out our monster fighting weaponery. Also, he starting to talk back. Sometimes when you ask or tell him to do something he will yell "no" at you. Of course gets a time out for that. Unfortunately, time outs are funny to him, so we'll have to see how it goes.

On Friday 12/19 we went to Christmas at the Zoo. All the grandparents went except Matt's dad. He decided that he didn't want to push his luck and risk being out in the cold for a couple of hours. The zoo was pretty busy, but we had a good time anyway. Although we didn't get to see Santa. The line was way way to long. Josh really like the Holiday Trainland. Good thing since that's what he was getting for Christmas.

Josh outside Santa's Village at the Zoo.

I love my Grandmas!!!!

I love mom and dad too!!

This was Josh's first time to visit Santa. He wasn't upset or overly happy. He was more like "this is weird." Unfortunately, Santa wasn't very jovial, therefore Josh was not very excited either.

Christmas Morning

When Josh woke up we quickly got the video camera ready to record Josh's excitement about his new train. He ran right to the milk and cookies we left for Santa and didn't notice the train set behind him. We he turned around and saw it he went "OOOOoooo" and ran to it.

Josh absolutely loves his new train, well all of his new toys really. He could, and has, sit and play with with his train for hours. We thought he would like, but we didn't think he would be this crazy over it.

Opening his stocking. Of course there were a few cars in there. What else?

Another favorite gift was his Big Wheel. The only problem is he's just a hair to short. Even with blocks on the pedals to help reach, it didn't matter. He liked pushing himself on his new bike just as much. By spring everyone in the campground better watch out because here comes Josh.

This was just part of the mass destruction from Christmas. Believe it or not we had already cleaned up once that day. Josh is so spoiled. No wonder he is so rotten.

This is a picture of all of Josh's new cars, truck, construction equipment and other vehicles. We know this isn't all of it because there is a giant ladder truck that wouldn't fit in the pictures. Craziness we know.

We can't say thank you enough for all the Christmas gifts and spending time with our friends and family. We love you all,

M, J, and J

Another crazy two weeks

First, I have to apologize that the pictures were downloaded in the wrong order. Blogger must have changed the way pictures are downloaded. Anyway, it has been another crazy two weeks around here. Josh had his two year doctors appointment on 12/9. He was 35 inches tall and 27 pounds. Although everyone that holds Josh thinks he weighs more than that. He was so brave at the doctors office because Matt had told him that he was going to get an ouchie and he faced it like a man. He was his normal happy self with the doctor and asked her if he was going to get an ouchie. She told him no, not yet. When the nurse came in with the shots he started getting upset. He could sit on dad's lap or on the table. He got off Matt's lap and went over to the table. He started tearing up and saying ouchie over an over again. That broke my heart. He cried when he received the shots and then the nurse said "all done." He said "all done?" and the crying stopped. Back to his normal happy self. We did take him out for pizza for being so brave when he knew he was going to get an ouchie.

Matt and I went on a weekend getaway this past weekend in New Buffalo, Michigan. It's a small town near my sister, so she watched Josh for a couple of days. The cousins were so excited to see each other. We went to Wendy's for lunch and an older couple started to make over Josh. Going on and on about how cute he was with his "Cute little nose and slanty eyes." and then they went on to say the other kids were cute but he was just soooo cute. We couldn't believe that they said that, but we let it ride because they weren't being mean. Oh well, at least Josh won't remember it. Despite that Matt and I had a wonderful time and we ate way to much food that weekend. We ate at a restaurant called Timothy's and we had the best sea food. It was yummy. We did get to sleep in too and that was wonderful.

Then on Sunday when we got home, we had a chili party with all our friends from the firehouse. We had a good time. Unfortunately, it was a early night because the kiddos had school in the morning. Hopefully, next year the Christmas party can end up on better night.

Of course, with Christmas coming up the craziness will continue for a little while longer.

Teaching Josh to lick the spoon!!

Matt and Jenny at Timothy's on their weekend getaway.

Josh's first time finger painting.


Of course, he had finger paint all over his face, arms and feet. Don't ask how it got on his feet!

This is Josh playing with some dry ice that came with the new mice for our snake. Matt put it in a cup of water and Josh could not get enough of it. He thought it was really cool.

Our next post probably won't be until after Christmas. So everyone better be good because Santa is watching.

M,J, and J

Oh Christmas Tree!

As is our tradition, we always put up the Chirstmas tree right after Thanksgiving. It was so much fun because Josh now understands Santa, Christmas and presents. He wasn't to interested in putting up the Christmas tree, but he sure got excited about putting the ornaments up. He would pick one from the box and then run to the tree say "there." Josh would then run back to the box for the next ornament. He did the same thing at Grandma's house a couple of days later.

In this video Matt and Josh are dancing to the Beach Boys Christmas. That was a staple at his house growing up at Christmas time.

Watch how excited Josh is to put the ornaments on the tree.

Hope you enjoyed our fun.

Love,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Our Little Melonhead turns 2!!!!

First, we are sorry that is has been so long since we have posted to our blog, but Matt's dad was in the hospital. We were juggling going to the hospital, working and staying with Matt's mom. He is home now. He is back to work and feeling much much better.

Now, Josh is continuing to grow. On his birthday, Nov. 21st, he was 34 1/4 inches tall and 28 pounds. His vocabulary is unbelievable. It is getting easier to take him places because he follows directions better, he walks farther and is better able to handle variations to his sleep schedule.
We went to the International Festival on his birthday with his grandma and grandpa. He loved watching the Chinese musicians and the Chinese play about the Monkey King. The Monkey King kind of reminds me of Curious George.

It wasn't until Sunday Nov. 23rd that we had Josh's birthday party. All his grandparents were there, his great-grandpa and his cousin Julie. He had a great time playing with Julie. This year Josh understood opening presents. He loved ripping and tearing the packages to see what was inside and I enjoyed watching his reaction once he saw the present. He received so many toys. The kid is absolutely spoiled rotten.

Of course, we had to have ice cream cake since ice cream is Josh's favorite. He was so excited as we sang Happy Birthday to him.

We also had brownie with our ice cream. Here Josh is investigating grandpa's brownie.

Brownie pease!!

Josh's favorite thing right now is cars, trucks, trains, and construction equipment. He was over the moon when he saw his cars.


The first thing you have to do with your new cars is line them up, right?

Matt and I got Josh an easel and all the art supplies to go with it. He knew right away how to take the caps off the dry erase markers and draw on the board. He is so smart. We think tomorrow he is going to be smarter than we are.

The rest of the night Josh wouldn't go anywhere without a huge hand full of cars. I caught this picture just as he dropped one. He slept with so many cars that night that he got tangled up with them and started crying in the middle of the night because one was in the middle of his back.

The birthday boy and mom.

Dad getting the birthday boy.

Well, for Thanksgiving we are going to Jonathon Byrd's. That way we don't have to spend two days shopping, cooking, and cleaning. One less head ache with all the craziness that has been going on.

Next week we are going to be busy setting up Josh's college fund and getting pictures. Then the week after that, Matt and I have a weekend getaway and my sister is watching Josh for a couple of days. Yeah!! She already has plans to take Josh to a restaurant that has a train the kids can ride on. He will absolutely love that.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Love,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Playing in the leaves

It's fall and the leaves are falling and that means playtime. Josh loves to run through the piles of leaves and he had a great time carrying the rake around. Unfortunately I went and loaded the pictures in the incorrect order, so we start with a picture from my birthday dinner.

Josh climbed onto the back of Grandma's wheelchair. He was ready for a ride.

This was probably the last 75 degree day of the year, so we just had to play outside in the leaves.

I love playing in the leaves!!!

Josh's vocabulary and pronunciation are growing so fast, but we finally found the word that comes out like duck with an "f". The word is fox. Of course, as adults we would never have Josh say fox just to hear how he pronounces it. No never.

M,J, and J

Trick or Treat!

Doesn't he just look like a little man here?

Goofiness Galore! For some reason one morning, he decided he wanted to sit on on of my closet shelves. We don't know why - but he thought it was great fun.

He is obsessed with cars. We should say cars, trucks, motorcycles, and construction equipment. Everywhere we go he is first to spot and point out anything from a bikes and cars to buses, dump trucks, and cement mixers. Not only can he identify them, he's getting good at saying them.

Grandpa drives a Dodge truck. Now every dodge truck is "papaw's truck!". Not just any truck - but he actually picks out Dodge trucks and says that.

Now when we talk about an obsession, we mean an obsession. He will NOT go anywhere without two handfuls of various toy cars. Bed, different rooms of the house, car rides - it doesn't matter. The only rule is we don't let him play at the table while eating. Now, he will hand us a few when he's headed for bed or the car and say "take for me".

His favorite thing to do with his cars is stack them or line them up - as you can see here.

When we started carving pumpkins, he wasn't too interested at first, at least not enough to tear himself away from his cars. When we started pulling the guts out, though, it was just one of the coolest things ever! He would squish it in his hands and then step on it and squish it between his toes. YUCK. We were all covered in pumpkin guts!

Since we always referred to him as our little melonhead, this year he went as a watermelon slice for Halloween.

A few more weeks and we hit the big 2. then we get serious about potty training.

New tricks:

He does a very good job counting up to 7 on his own now

Knows and says the names of many motorized vehicles (learned from all his books)

We need to branch out on our animals because he knows so many

With assistance, he can put on his shoes and pull up his pants

To Busy!

We're not sure what is going on, but the last two weeks have been extremely busy. It doesn't seem like there is anything extra than the normal stuff like work, gym, cleaning around the hose and of course chasing Josh, but we have been running our tails off.

Josh is getting so excited. His cousins are coming to visit tomorrow. I can't wait to get the kids together and play. I will be sure and post some pictures later. Plus, I am working on Josh's Halloween costume tonight. Of course, I am not going to tell you what he is going to be yet. Check back in a week or so and you can find out.

The story of the frogs starts in our pond in our deck. One of the frog somehow made it's way to live in our pond. The other frog was found in front of our house hopping out of the drain pipe running under our drive way. Until we could transport them to a "real" pond we kept them in our pond. Matt wanted to show Josh the frogs and he went totally crazy for them. He wanted to see, touch, and hold the frogs. He was so excited that he got upset when we had to put the lid on the container to keep the frogs from escaping.

I love frogs!

We set the frogs free in the pond behind Matt's mom and dad's house.

The Pumpkin Patch!

Last Friday we went to the pumpkin patch near our house. We all got to pick out the perfect pumpkin. Although, Josh liked pushing the wagon around best of all.

Here is Josh riding in the wagon with mom and dad's pumpkins.

Josh picked out his own pumpkin. He walked around touching a lot of pumpkins and then said "this," which in Josh language means "this one." Unfortunately, I could not get him to look at the camera, but here is Josh and his pumpkin.

Hopefully, things will calm down a little bit over the next week. Matt and I are going to IU's Midnight Madness tomorrow night. (Opening practice of the IU Men's Basketball season) A big thanks to grandma, grandpa, and Aunt Lisa for watching Josh so we can go.

Love to all,

M, J, and J

Vacation Pictures

Boy oh boy, do we have a smorgasbord of pictures and videos for everyone. We went camping for a week in Gatlinburg, which was great fun and then met grandma and grandpa at McCormick's Creek State Park for a weekend of camping. Josh did super in the car for all those hours. Of course, there was some fussing at times, but all in all it wasn't to bad. The drive to McCormick's Creek was the worst. Josh was over being in his car seat and we were delayed by a over turned truck and grid locked traffic. He survived though and so did we, barely.

Some of the pictures were before we left, but most are from our trip.

Every week we borrow lots of books from the library and Josh loves to sit in the living room surrounded by the books and "rean" them all.

On Gotcha Day, 9/17, grandma and grandpa came over and Josh raided grandma's purse just like he did the nanny's purse one year ago.

We celebrated Gotcha Day on 9/19. We went to our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner. As a little gift Matt and I bought Josh a new book.

Now to vacation pictures

In Gatlinburg we went to the aquarium, which Josh just loved. In the tunnels Josh had to tickle every shark or fish that swam over him.

Hi everybody!

Next to our campsite was a small hill with rocks and tree roots covering it. Everyday Josh would spend as long as we would let him, pushing and pulling his dump truck over them.

Here we are in the Great Smoky Mountain's Nation Park. We were at Clingman's Dome. It was not much fun pushing Josh's stroller up to the dome, but Matt did it anyway and never complained.

It is a must that everyone plays Hillbilly golf when they go to Gatlinburg and we weren't about to break tradition. Of course, Josh didn't quite get hitting the ball into the hole, but he was great at dropping the balls into the hole.

While in Gatlinburg Matt and I renewed our wedding vows for our 10th anniversary. We had honeymooned in Gatlinburg all those years ago. Anyway, Josh needed a suit and doesn't look adorable in it. He didn't like wearing the tie, but what guy does. All I can say is look out ladies here comes one good lookin' guy.

I know I'm cute!

Here's the fam at the park entrance.

While hiking the Laurel Falls trail we found a millipede. Of course, Josh wanted to hold it.

Josh is able to hike a little longer each time. I would say he hiked about 3/4 of the 1.3 miles back to the truck. He waved and said "Hi" to every single person we saw.

The Christmas Place is another spot among the many that are must stops. Josh did a great job of just using one or two finger to touch things. He loved all the lights and especially the train that ran along the ceiling. Although, he wasn't to sure what to make of Santa Claus.

One rule of camping is you get to break some of the everyday rules, like you get to stay up later and eat a little or a lot more. Josh's was that he could ride in our laps while in the park. Here Josh is in grandpa's lap at McCormick's creek.

Here we are hiking the Wolf Cave trail at McCormick's Creek. We would guess that Josh hiked about 1 1/2 miles.

He never is never in slow motion and always is running around crazy.

In order to speed up the hike Matt would carry Josh over the stream that we had to go through so that Josh wouldn't play in it forever. Who knew suspenders had so many uses?

Unfortunately, some parts of the trail required carrying the stroller, but the guys made easy work of that.


Now onto the videos:





This is Josh pushing his dump truck around.






Nothing is better than playing Hillbilly Golf!




Watch out I'm going up the mountain.

Hope ya'll enjoyed the pictures and videos from our trip,
Love,
M, J, and J