How many Easter Baskets does a kid need?

Most people don't believe me when I say that Josh is rotten, but he is. On Easter, not including the Easter basket from mom and dad, Josh received 7 Easter baskets. You can't tell me that he is not rotten with a capital R. Seriously though, it is just a testament to all the people who love Josh and that he loves in return.

Josh was finding what the Easter Bunny left over at grandma and grandpa's house. Josh received his first fishing pole to go fishing with grandpa this summer.

These are some of the other baskets Josh received. One was from his great-grandma Ro and the other was from his great-aunt Kathy and great-uncle Steve.

I think that this was the first picture we have with my parents and all the grandkids.

My sister and the fam came down for Easter. It was awesome to visit and watch the kids play together. The visits are always to short.

The Big Rig Story

Well, all good stories begin with well ya' know, Eva Jo has a friend that has a son who drives a semi and arranged for Josh to go for a ride. At first he was a little scared, mostly because we think he thought he was leaving us. After the initial shock, Josh enjoyed the ride and was even able to "drive" the semi while sitting on dad's lap.

Of course the best part of a semi is honking the horn.

One week from today we leave for our vacation to Dauphin Island in Alabama. We are all so ready for a vacation and are starting to pack. We plan on doing a lot of hiking, birdwatching, have lunch or dinner on the beach, play in sand, and go on a dolphin cruise. Basically, we plan on having a blast.

Thanks again for all the goodies for Josh.

We love you guys,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

First, we want to wish everyone a Blessed Easter. Secondly, I want to apologize for getting the pictures out of order when I down loaded them. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did.

We have all been busy working either inside or outside in the yard all week. It has been totally crazy. Matt has been working crazy on getting the garden redone, but the weather has not been cooperating. I've been trying to get all kinds of cleaning done in the house and have started packing for our trip. (It's only two weeks away. Yea!!!!)

Last weekend our friends Will and Susan came over and Will helped Matt start laying the stone for the garden. We had a great time and Delaney and Josh had a blast.

Josh and Delaney are trying to help by bring the guys shovels full of patio base. Of course, they're not paying attention to the hammer that's flying around though.

This is the picture that is out of order. I had my hair cut on Friday and I had a GRAY HAIR! Oh no!!! It's my first gray hair. Josh is the cause. I am sure of it.

The kids romped outside for hours and at the end of the day the were totally exhausted. They finished the evening with a cookie, milk and the Cars movie.


The Easter Bunny comes early to the Partain house. Boy oh boy, did he leave a load of goodies. Candy, a beach towel, a back pack, Mack (from the Cars movie, and a new Lightening McQueen bed. How come the Easter bunny didn't leave us anything?

Josh and I colored eggs on Saturday. He loved it, but was very sad when the eggs ran out.

Slowly drop it in

Look at my eggs!!

We have a short video of the Josh Toss.

We're going to spend Easter with our families. My sister and her family are coming down and the kids are having an Easter egg hunt. That should be interesting.

Love, M, J, and J

Worms and rolly pollies

Josh is absolutely crazy about finding worms and rolly pollies. Every time we go outside we hear, "find worms?" Now that the weather is turning sour again, it is really hard to keep him inside, which is fantastic. One of the first things he asked this morning was to go outside.

Josh is has also mastered counting to ten within the last week or so. He has been able to count to ten for awhile, but he would skip some of the middle numbers. Not anymore. It really took off when he was playing hide-and-seek with the neighbors. Also, within the last week Josh as come leaps and bounds with his ABC's. He is able to sing the ABC song, for the most part, and he recognizes at least 8-10 letters.

We bought new squeakers shoes for Josh and they arrived today. Oh my gosh, I don't think we will ever be able to get them off him. They are so cute too. The shoes are navy blue with white stripes.

This weekend is going to be CRAZY! Friday we went to the Indiana Home School Convention in the morning and then I worked. Saturday we are celebrating Matt's dad's birthday and some friends are coming over to help lay the stones for the garden and Sunday Matt works. I think we need a vacation from our weekend. :)

Josh playing with the worms he found. Every once in awhile he will even give them a kiss.

O.K. This was Josh and I making cookies for the first time. Chocolate chip cookies. So the making of the cookies went really well, but I had the brilliant idea to use the cutters. Not such a brilliant idea. It was total disaster!!! The dough was way to sticky for cookie cutters, but they sure tasted good.

Just one little lick, Please?

More worms. I just can't get enough.

M, J, and J