Joshua's Empire

2011-03-04T18:52:00.004-05:00

Josh has two careers that he goes back on forth on. The first is a construction worker and the second is a mechanic. He is working on his garbage truck. It needed major repairs.

Just a little tighter!

I took a picture of this just to remember it later. Whenever Josh has to go #2 at home or at grandma's he strips totally naked to go to the bathroom. This time he throw all his clothes out of the bathroom too.

On 2/14 it was Josh's Valentine's party at school. I did the craft and we made love bugs.

By the way, Josh's preschool teachers are so sweet. They are such a blessing.

We were all so excited to go to the Boat, Sport and Travel Show. Josh couldn't wait to climb in and out of every camper, which is his favorite part. Every drive unit he drove us somewhere.

Most of the boats you are not allowed to get into, but Matt let Josh board this one. He was so excited.

Josh's class went to a place called Fundamentals. It's kind of like gymnastics for the not so serious. It was lots of fun. The only thing Josh was leery of was the zip line.

Bong, Bong, Bong!

and roll back

Josh swinging on the parallel bars.

Josh's class in the ball pit

2011-02-09T08:19:00.008-05:00

O.k. I'm finally getting the blog update. I know it's been a while but life is busy. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't download in quite the right order.

Josh is playing is monster truck game he got from Santa.

The monster truck course

The next two pictures are from Josh's last day of music class. His new music class started on 1/30 with a new teacher.

Miss Linda was his teacher

Josh's new loft bed. He loves it!

1/30 was Monster Jam. Josh was so excited to see the monster trucks and was very sad that the show had to come to an end.

1/20 to 1/23 Matt and I were able to take a weekend getaway thanks to my sister and parents for watching Josh. We cashed in credit card points for free air fair to Miami. We stayed on Key Largo. It was a nice break from the grip of winter.

We did a lot of lounging.

One day we went to the Everglades for a little hiking and bird watching.

Of course, we ate to much while there and it was rough having fresh fish for dinner every night.

This was the boat we were supposed to a sunset cruise on. A storm was coming in and kicked up the winds making it impossible.

Matt took Josh to a local indoor water park. They had a great time.

With all the snow and ice of course we had to go sledding. Josh is getting more adventurous as he is getting older. Yea!

We had one snow fall of perfect snowman snow. We built a 7 foot tall snow man.

I'm gonna get you mom!!

Pucker up!

Oh it's being to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-12-10T15:44:00.004-05:00

We love Christmas time and it's even more fun seeing how excited Josh is. Every morning he runs into the living room to see where the Elf on a Shelf has moved to.

Our Tree!

Josh loves to open his Lego advent calendar and see what he is going to build that day.

Even though our first snow fall was only an inch Josh had to go out and play. He played outside for an hour and a half. I could barely get him back inside.

The first snow angel of the year.

Making Christmas ornaments with mom

Our first ginger bread train. It's so hard not to eat all the icing and candy.

My finished train

Mailing my letter to the Big Man in Red. No, I can't tell you what I wrote.

Four Years Old Already

2010-11-23T16:22:00.005-05:00

The last couple of weeks have been really busy. Josh had a test at Tae Kwan Do and of course he turned 4 years old on 11/21. We can't believe he's 4 already.

Josh is circling all the things in the Toy r us ad that he wants for Christmas.

Josh really likes getting of the computer and playing games.

This is Josh's Tip Test. He had several skills he had to do for Tae Kwan Do and then he earned a yellow strip for the tip of his belt.

Fighting stance was one of his skills

Front Snap Kick was another skill he had to perform.

Josh is receiving the board he just broke with a Front Snap Kick.

The sensay is giving Josh his yellow strip on his belt tip.

Josh is 4 Years old !!!!

Mom made Josh a very cool volcano cake that spewed smoke.

Josh wanted a dinosaur themed party again. Here are the three paleontologist. Be careful their bite is worse than their growl.

Wow! The cake was awesome!

Make a wish!

Of course Josh received a ton of gifts. He was so excited to rip and tear that he barely looked at them. Then he couldn't decide which one to play with first.

He had a little help getting his birthday presents open from his cousins, but he didn't mind.

Today, 11/23 we built a tent in the living room. Josh loved hiding in his tent.

Pretending to sleep in his tent.

Riding the Carousel

2010-11-13T16:03:00.004-05:00

After being closed the first time we went to the Children's Museum, we were finally able to take Matt's mom for a spine on the carousel. We had such a good time. What an awesome thing for kids of all ages to be able to ride the carousel not matter what the disability is.

The ramp worked perfectly!

It took some doing to get the ramp just right because the museum doesn't use it very often, but finally it was all set.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T15:48:00.005-04:00

Oct 26th was City Day at preschool. The kids brought their bikes. There were multiple stations for the kids to stop at. Matt and I were stationed at the Bike shop. We spent 2 1/2 hours decorating bikes.

Josh was whizzing around the Student Ministry

His bike needed some gas

Oct 30th, Alex spent the night with us. He went to music class with Josh. He really liked that. Then we met some friends for lunch and went to the Children's Museum haunted house.

Alex and Josh played with the Geotrax for hours

Oct 31st Happy Halloween!! Matt's attacking his giant pumpkin

Giant pumpkin = heavy carving equipment

Our pumpkins!

Watch out he's got some awesome Ninja moves!

Apple Orchard X3?

2010-10-09T15:48:00.007-04:00

Apple orchard X3 you ask? Well, we first tried to go to Apple Works to pick apples. Unfortunately, after driving all the way down there, they don't have u-pick apples just pumpkins. So we drove all the way up to Adrian's Orchard. Like wise, they don't have u-pick apples either. What? They call themselves apple orchards but you can't pick apples. Go figure.

The wheels on the bus go round and round!

We were so upset that we couldn't pick apples at Apple Works, even though their trees were loaded with apples, we let Josh pick one just out of spite.

After two failed attempts at the apple orchards, Matt and Josh picked persimmons from our tree at home later.

On Oct. 6th was Josh's first field trip. His class went to Kelsey Farms in Whiteland. It's a small dairy farm. The kids loved to play on the straw mountain and in the cornbox.

The milking parlor. Josh had a lot of question about what went on in the milking parlor.

How a about a little kiss?

These calves were just 9 days old. They were so sweet and the kids loved them.

On the Oct 2nd and 3rd, Josh and I went to my sisters. The kids had an awesome time together and it was good to see Lisa and Chris. It had been awhile because of our crazy schedule. On the 3rd we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. Loads of fun!

Say pumpkin!

Josh, Marianna, Aunt Lisa and Alex

Our pumpkins in the patch. (Josh wanted a little pumpkin. It came in at just 2 pounds.)

Finally, after some searching we found a u-pick apple orchard. It was Anderson Orchard in Moorseville. Unfortunately, most of the apple were gone, but we were able to pick a peck or half a bussell. We have been eating apples everyday since. YUM!

Josh's favorite part was eating the apples. When we weren't sure how the apple would taste, we would find a good one on the ground and try it.

Waterman's pumpkin patch is the only place to get pumpkins. We walked away with 156 pounds of pumpkin. Matt's came in at the grand weight of 94 pounds. He said he always wanted a big pumpkin and this year he was gonna get it.

Bullseye was the preschool class' stuffed pony and Josh is holding him in his hand. Josh took him home for one week. There was a book that you had to write a story about all the things you did with Bullseye and you were supposed to include a picture. Matt and Josh climbed to the top of the ladder truck for the picture. Awesome!

Monster Mania

2010-09-26T15:49:00.005-04:00

Are you ready to get your redneck on? Well, we did at the 4X4 Jamboree. There lots of big trucks and lots of rednecks. The people watching was fantastic.

If you have a monster truck wagon blasting Johny Cash with a guy in a wife beater shirt you might be a redneck?

The one and only BIGFOOT!

Now that's a hitch!

Josh was so excited to be up close with the monster trucks.

Avenger does the best free style

For a bargain price of 23 dollars for the three of us, we got to take a ride in this monster truck. Josh said that ride was "really really crazy!"

Ms. Bigfoot with giant air

On 9/23 Josh had dad's night at preschool. No mom's allowed. The theme was the farm, so the boys got all gussied-up. They had a blast doing wheelbarrow races and herding animals.

On Saturday 9/25 Matt and I went to an IU football. We did a little tailgating and then went walking around to people watch.

The Marching 100 forming a perfect I

And by the way, IU won the football game, but next week maybe a different story when they play Michigan.

Music in Me Class

2010-09-14T21:47:00.005-04:00

After a failed attempt last year, Josh is finally in the music class we thought he would enjoy. It is called Music in Me at IUPUI for 15 weeks on Saturdays. The focus of the class is pitch, rhythm, and piano. There will even be a recital in December that the kids perform at. To cute I know. Anyway, he loved it. I think we have played the CD from class so many times that we all know the words of every song and Matt and I are ready to throw it out of the window.

Matt wanted to start Family Movie night. For our first movie night we watched ... Star Wars. I'm sure that wasn't a surprise to anyone. We watched episode one because we thought Josh would like the pod race which he did. He wasn't to sure about Darth Mal though. He was kind of scary Josh said.

What do you eat of movie night? PIZZA!

Oh and don't forget the popcorn. Josh loves it!!

On Sunday Sept. 12, Josh and I went to Chinese Fest at Military Park. It was small, but much better than Asian Fest that we tried to go to in the summer. Anyway, Josh loved watching the Dragon Dance, but he didn't like the Chinese opera. I must admit that I don't like it much either.

The Dragon Dance

Josh thought it was funny that the dragon's blinked.

Starting Preschool

2010-09-06T15:33:00.006-04:00

I can't believe it has been two weeks since our last blog update. Anyway, the big news is that Josh started preschool on Aug. 30th. The week before that we had a meet the teachers day at the park and a meet my friends day at the school. Josh had to bring the snack for the first day of school, because the teachers saw that he wasn't shy and would show the other kids how to do it.

He absolutely loved scool and can't wait to go back this week.

Of course life is getting more crazy at our house because Matt is changing shifts and teaching the driver ops class at work which means lots of overtime. The bad part is that we don't get to see dad as much. Also, Josh will be starting a music class next week at IUPUI. It will be on Saturdays for 15 weeks for 45 minutes. Plus, Josh has his first birthday party for a friend that he gets to go to on Saturday.

Here Josh is making dad into a box truck. Notice he is carring the snack bucket for school.

If you look very close to this picture you can see where Josh drew his first stick figures. They are in green on the fountain.

On Aug 29th we went to Bug Fest at Southeastway Park. Who doesn't love bugs? Here Josh is spitting (for distance) a frozen cricket. Later he ate a chocolate covered cricket like it was nothing.

What's he going to be?

The cutest Black Widow Spider you have ever seen.

Josh is fascinated by the fossils that were are Bug Fest.

Josh's or should I say Matt and I's first homework assignment for preschool. It was a poster all about Josh.

The first day of preschool!

Josh is waiting in the car for the teachers to come and get him at the drop off spot. He so excited!! He is hold a card for his teacher's birthday.

Bye mom and dad!! Josh said bye and never looked back. He was glad to see us when we picked him up. He loved preschool.

For those who don't know, Josh loved the show Dinosaur Train on PBS. Josh is pretending to be the conductor and holding up the map showing the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Mesozoic time periods.

What's a garbage burger?

2010-08-19T15:44:00.004-04:00

Let's face it, we love the state fair. What's not to love? The food, the people watching, the food, the smell of animals, the food, the rides, the food, the tractors, and did I mention the THE FOOD. Anyway, we had a blast. The food of the year was deep fried butter, yuck, and a garbage burger. We didn't try the deep fried butter but the garbage burger was awesome. It was a pork tenderloin topped with BBQ pulled pork. It was darn good! Plus, we went to the fair twice thanks to a couple free admission coupons in the paper.

Josh was riding the toy jeeps at the Jeep experience.

We all went to the tractor pulls. Josh though they were totally cool.

The world's largest litter of pigs

Josh loves music and he loves to watch this band at the fair.

Being all boy there isn't a tractor, mower, or combine that he didn't climb onto.

Josh liked the semi truck ride better than the race car ride. It was too rough.

The perfect way to end a trip to the fair is to get an aerial view by riding the Ferris wheel.

I know this picture is small, but it's from Matt's phone. He and Josh had stopped to see Shilo and he was working on his truck. Shilo let Josh take the lug nuts on and off. Plus, he let Josh use the grinder. Josh was in heaven because right now he says he wants to grow up and me a mechanic. He got his wish.

Josh's Big Boy Room

2010-07-26T16:38:00.003-04:00

Fortunately and unfortunately, Josh is getting older and he had really out grown the baby theme in his room. My sister watched Josh for the weekend and Matt and I redecorated his room. We also purged a lot of toys and books that he had out grown. By the end of the weekend, Josh had a new room and we had our living room back. WooHoo!

Before

After

We decorated Josh's room with a dinosaur/Cars theme.

When he saw his room for the first time he said "I've never seen this room before."

Swim lessons good, Kid bad

2010-07-20T16:29:00.010-04:00

So before we get to Josh's swim lessons, we are backing up to July 4th. We actually we celebrated on July 3rd by taking a trip to Dog n Suds for the car show. We all loved looking at the beautiful cars. After that we came home and set of our own fireworks.

Ohhh, Ahhh

Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the fun.

On July 10th, my sister and her family came down and surprised mom for her birthday. She was very surprised and we had a great time hanging out together.

On Friday July 16th, we took a day trip over to St. Louis. We first stopped at REI. That is a sporting goods store Matt and I have been wanting to go to for a long time. Then we headed to Fuddrucker's for lunch. (They have the best hamburgers!) After lunch we went to Grant Farms. It was such a fun time. For dinner we stopped at Del Taco. It's our favorite fast food Mexican place.

Budweiser's Clydesdale's

Josh was picked to help with one of the animal tricks.

That tickles!

Now on to swim lessons. Let me first say that Josh is doing a good job doing all the swimming things the lifeguards ask him to do, but there is a problem. He is wondering off and playing in the water when he is supposed to be at the side of pool. The lifeguards have to keep chasing him. He gets out of the water and runs around. Basically, it's terrible and not safe. So he lost most of his cars after the first day and the second day was a little better but he still kept wondering off. So he lost more toys. Hopefully, day three will be the charm.

This weekend Josh is going to his aunt's for the weekend. We are going to surprise him and redo his room while he is away. It's past time for a big boy room. Plus, we are going to purge some toys that he has out grown. On top of that Matt and I get a weekend to ourselves. WooHoo!!

Hail To The 49th State

2010-07-04T13:07:00.009-04:00

This is only going to scratch the surface of our trip to Alaska. We took about 500 pictures so there are just a few on here.

We flew into a town called Cordova which is on the southeast side of Prince William Sound. We spent a day and a half there before we flew out on a float plane to our floating cabin in the middle of nowhere. Our goals: Solitude - check, beauty - check, halibut - semi check, salmon - NOPE. If the salmon would have been in it would have been an awesome trip. As it was, it was still a REALLY good trip.

Josh had a ball on the airplanes. He thought the take-offs and landings were great fun. Then, he loved it when the flight attendants would come by and ask him what drink he wanted and then give him a snack. We had several comments about how good he was on the plane as we got off.

Here it is - Cordova. Don't blink!

50 miles out of town, at the end of a dead-end dirt road, is Child's glacier and Million Dollar bridge. The bridge used to serve as a rail tressle for the logging industry in the 1900s but was destroyed in the '62 earthquake. It was semi-repaired but no longer is used commercially. The road ends at the bridge. In fact, no roads lead into or out of Cordova. The only way there is by plane or boat.

Child's glacier is really cool and pictures can not do it justice. It's 300 yards tall and looked like a mile wide. The river is 400 yards across. When a big chunk falls off, it sounds exactly like a big clap of thunder and the resulting tsunami can sometimes reach the shore and even wash over it. there are multiple signs warning of the dangers. Right before we left, two huge chunks fell off and it was just amazing.

For Jen and I, hole-in-the-wall local eateries are our favorite. Baja Taco here was one of a couple places you could have lunch in such a small town. The bus is actually the kitchen. Not much to look at but WOW was it good. We ordered a loaded nachos and the three of us could barely finish it.

On to the cabin. It actually floated in a secluded bay which a float plane flew us to.

For a cabin in the middle of nowhere on the water it was quite comfortable. It has a solar cell to power a couple lights and a water pump for the shower and sink. It was stocked full of food for us and the outfitters came out every day to check if we needed anything.

Oh, and the view was decent.

This was taken at midnight. It's about as dark as it got.

Sea otters were everywhere. A couple nights this one came right up to our dock to munch on the mussles underneath. They weren't very shy so we got super up close looks at them. We also saw lots of harbor seals, jellyfish, eagles, and dolphin circled our boat once looking at us.

Josh holding the halibut rod.

Rompin' with grandpa

The fishing was so-so. The salmon hadn't come in yet and the halibut were few and far between. Grandpa did catch this 60 pounder though.

Josh got to drive the boat.

Waiting to land...

Mom's big rockfish. Boy were they yummy!

On the way out, the pilot of the float plane was telling Josh what all the buttons and controlls were. At one point, he let go of the controlls and Josh was actually flying the plane.

Back in town, we had another day till we flew home so we took a drive up another dirt road to the middle of nowhere. Josh (along with us) enjoyed the bananna slugs.

If anyone ever asks if a bear does his business in the woods - say no. He does it in the middle of the road.

Rock Stars, Cars and Guitars

2010-06-19T17:46:00.005-04:00

The Children's Museum just opened a new exhibit called Rock Stars, Cars and Guitars. I was so excited to take Josh because he loves to sing, he wants to play guitar and he loves cars. The exhibit was so cool. We both had a great time.

Josh rockin' it out

Our band. There is studio so you can pretend to make a sound track.

Karaoke anyone?

After our trip to the museum Josh and I were supposed to head up to Lafayette to pick up Marianna and Alex. It was delayed because somehow I locked my keys in the car. My car is supposed to be smart enough to keep that from happening, but it did. Thankfully, mom came to our rescue and we did finally pick-up the kids a few hours later than planned.

The kids had an awesome time playing together. Josh and Alex played Piston Cup Race for hours. We did crafts and had a water gun fight. The kids were worn out after three days.

I'm gonna get you Aunt Jenny!

Hold on I'm out of water!

Since grandma and grandpa had all three kiddos, Matt and I decided to go to Italian Fest. We had never been and had always wanted to go. It was totally awesome! Everything was so good and made from home recipes. We were in a pasta coma the rest of the weekend. Only 358 days until the next Italian Fest, but who's counting.

Our two favorite things were the Italian sausage and Alfredo. YUM!!

The summer heat has kicked in full swing and that means going to the pool. We went with the neighbor girls. It was so much fun. Those two love playing with Josh.

Weee!

Kaitlyn * Josh * Gabbie

On Wednesday we took grandma to see the new Cheetah exhibit at the zoo. It was really nice and you could see the cheetahs up close.

Josh is racing to see if he is as fast as a cheetah.

After the zoo we went to Pizza King for lunch. There is train that delivers your drinks. The pizza was awful, but Josh like the train.

We are spending the weekend packing and preparing for our big trip to Alaska. We are all so excited. Plus, we are spoiling all the dad's in our life because Father's day is Sunday. Josh bought Matt a new drill.

Happy Father's Day,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

2010 Holiday World

2010-06-06T13:52:00.009-04:00

Before we start our story to Holiday World, we just wanted everyone to know that there are two new blog posts. We had so many new pictures from the last week and a half that we had to make two postings. Now, back to our story.

Our annual trip to Holiday World was lots of fun. Josh is well over 36 inches this year so he was able to ride more rides. He still didn't like the kiddie roller coaster, but I can't blame him it is a bit rough. His favorite rides were the jeeps, cars and the train. The new water coaster is a lot of fun for us grown ups.

We were so sad for our week of camping to end, but in two weeks we will be heading to Alaska. WooHoo!

Josh proudly displaying his lighting bugs. (This was his first time catching them.) The next night we put a bunch in a container to look at them all light up - another summertime favorite. But per the rules, at the end of the day, anything we catch has to be let go.

Fishing in the kayak with a three year old in your lap is definitely tricky.

Josh was so excited to hold all the fish.

We caught the fish and now it's time to eat them.

Matt dusting off is filleting skills. I don't think the dust ever really did brush off.

Josh's first ride on the Turkey Whirl. He wasn't sure at first, but he liked it by the end.

Josh could not get enough of the old cars. I think we must have ridden them 4 dozen time over two days. We were to the point, by the end of the day when there were no lines, where we would just keep on driving after we got to the finish and start another lap.

Preparing to get soaked on the Raging Rapids! Josh thought it was HILARIOUS when the other girls in the raft would get splashed and scream. He would yell "OH NO, LOOK OUT!" and then laugh hysterically.

Josh was totally wiped out after the splash area. We checked a couple times to make sure he still had a pulse.

The alligator slide in the kiddie section was a huge hit.

Josh and Matt were racing down the slide. Who do you think won? They did this over and over and over. We were all wiped out after playing in the kids area.

Hitting the open road!
(AGAIN!)

The boys chillaxin' in the afternoon.

One of the things that Josh had been asking to do was catch butterflies. We found a patch of milkweed which was blooming and COVERED in butterflies. He was so excited to get an up close look at them. He also wanted to look them up in our insect guides to see which butterflies we had caught.

I had tried for quite awhile to catch a dragon fly without success. Matt was able to catch a couple. Josh thought that was pretty neat.

Look I have two!

500 Parade and Crash-a-Rama

2010-06-06T13:08:00.008-04:00

On May 29th, my mom, dad, Josh and I went downtown to watch the 500 Festival Parade. Josh likes parades so much I decided that I would brave the traffic and crowds to see it. Actually, I have never been to the parade. I have always watched it on TV.

Josh loved everything about it. The floats, ballons and especially the marching bands.

Chinese Dragon Ballon

Josh, Grandpa, and Grandma (It tooks 24hr for grandpa to get feeling back into his shoulders. Just kidding!)

When we got home Josh and I made a parade in the living room.

Now, for Crash-a-Rama! This was at the Speedrome here in Indy. The premise of Crash-a-Rama is to basically destroy as many vehicles as possible. It was a blast! Josh is still talking about it.

This was the last ride on this school bus before it was destroyed during the School Bus Figure 8 race.

WooHoo! This is gonna be fun!

Grandpa, Grandma, Josh, and Daddy

The night started with this car destroying a trailer.

Followed by a skid car race. What is a skid car? Well, the rear wheels are removed and a piece of metal is attached like a ski. Basically, all you see is a trail of sparks as the cars race around the track. The best part was that the debris from the destroyed trailer wasn't removed from the track and the mattress kept getting stuck under the cars.

Aunt Jane, Josh and Granma

School Bus Figure 8! It was a big hit with Josh. By the end of the race (who knows who won) they just turned it into a domolition derby till only one of the buses was able to move.

Matt and I really like the trailer race. Here vehicles tow a boat or trailer behind them as they race around the track. None of the boats or trailer were more than a pile of junk which made them perfect to destroy.

As the boats and trailers banged around on the track and eventually they separated from their vehicles. Here a car with its' trailer still attached ran over the pop-up trailer.

This car picked up a little something on his hood.

Josh was very upset about the truck catching fire. He asked about a million questions about it.

After the trailer race there was a demolishion derby. The night ended with a really nice fireworks display. We had such an awesome time. We are definitely doing this again.

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Ready for some warm weather

2010-05-18T16:00:00.009-04:00

Although there have been a few nice warm sunny days, the past few weeks have been full of clouds, rain and cold. We are all ready for some warm weather. In a couple of weeks we are going to Holiday World so we are crossing our fingers that we have 80 degree days.

This blog post is going to cover the last two weeks and boy have we been having lots of fun.

It was fairly warm on this day so Matt took Josh out to play in the rain and puddles in the neighbors yard. The rain stopped when they went outside, but it was a splashing good time!

PFTTTT!

While Matt and I checked out the birds at the park Josh filled his bucket with all the creepy crawlies he could find.

Look at all the things I found! He was so excited about all his discoveries.

At our local library the N-scale model trains were on display just before our camping trip. Josh could have sat and watched them all day.

Josh and I took a trip up to the fire house the night before we left for Ohio camping. As a special treat dad got the fire hose out for Josh to shoot some water.

The fire is over there!

Our camping trip was fun, but we had terrible weather. It was rainy, windy and cold the entire week. Since the weather was so bad we took a trip up to Cabela's. It is always fun to look at the aquarium and animals in the store. Josh really liked these two little bears and wanted to have his picture taken with them. Who's cuter?

Josh was fascinated by the animals on display. He was a little up set about the musk ox being eaten by the wolves though.

Matt somehow discovered a Del Taco restaurant in Toledo. On the way back from Cabela's we stopped for lunch. Yum!

Just a sampling of our wonderful weather. The weather was so bad that there weren't very many birds to see either. This was the worst birding we have had at Magee Marsh since we have been going over the past 10 years.

This little fox was at the nature center at Maumee Bay SP. Josh not only wanted to have his picture taken with him, but also sung him the Happy Birthday song.

Although the weather was terrible, we stopped for ice cream at our favorite ice cream place, DG's, everyday. Josh had to have a little candy face on his ice cream every time.

Josh showing off on his big wheel. He was able to ride on the sidewalk toward the shower house without mom and dad because we could watch him from our campsite. He thought that was pretty neat and would say "Well, goodbye mom, goodbye dad. See you in a little while." each time he took off.

The very last evening there was decent so we went to participate in Josh's favorite sport: feeding and chasing the gulls on the beach.

There were so many puddles around that Josh couldn't help himself and before we knew it he was splashing like a crazy boy. The weather had been so crummy that week that we didn't care he wasn't wearing his junky clothes.

Running through a puddle = Pure Joy!

Dad and Josh ridin' their "hogs", as they call them. Josh even put a Harley Davidson stick he got from his grandpa on his Big Wheel.

I am going to try and do a better job of updating the blog every week. The summer is just starting and we are planning lots of fun things to do. Holiday World, swim class, a couple church camps, Alaska - there's lots to do, I hope that I can keep this goal.

First trip to the dentist

2010-04-30T21:04:00.004-04:00

WELCOME TO FDIC!

FDIC is the Fire Department Instructor's Conference held in Indy each year. It's a week long event with classes, practicals, and nearly every vendor who sells a fire related product showing off their stuff. It overflows the city's convention center and Lucas Oil Stadium there's so much stuff. Josh (and dad) were in Heaven.

I don't know how many trucks are displayed at this conference, but Josh wanted to get into EVERY one of them.

He was TOTALLY wiped out by the end of the day.

Josh's first trip to the dentist.

We had been telling Josh about the dentist and that he would be going. Instead of being scared or even a little wary, he had a ball. It helped that the hygienist was a cute girl.

Here he is practicing his "open wide"

Checking out the cool tools.

"I'll just stare into your eyes while you do you do whatever"

The down side of the visit: he has three spots that need some TLC. There are deep grooves in his molars that became soft through no body's fault. His teeth are just genetically prone to bad spots and his permanent teeth will probably need the same thing when they come in. SOOOO, J-man will be gassed up later this month so those little buggers can get patched up. That should be interesting.

M, J, & J

The Rock Show

2010-04-21T20:53:00.001-04:00

P4080251
Originally uploaded by Rnjenp

For the Easter Josh received a Magic Mic from the Easter Bunny. He loves to sing and put on his "Rock Show."

Spring Time!

2010-04-21T20:32:00.004-04:00

Now that the weather has finally warmed up it is very difficult to keep Josh inside. He loves to play outside.

This particular day Josh decided to flood Crabbie with pond water.

Josh was covered in sand and soaked from head to toe. In fact he required two clothes changes because he fell into the pond earlier in the day.

Some mornings Josh wants to make sure puppy has breakfast, but this particular puppy had to poop. When a puppy's gotta go, he's gotta go!

I love spring time and these are some of the tress and flowers from our yard.
Redbud

Bleeding Heart

Lilacs

Sorry it's been so long!

2010-04-06T12:44:00.007-04:00

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter. We sure did or should we say Josh did. Anyway, we know it's been awhile since our last blog update, but enjoying life sometimes gets in the way of updating blogs.

It's been a busy few weeks with everyday stuff and work, and the warmer weather brings more yard work with it. Matt and I bought a composting bin and rain barrels. We have all been having fun learning about composting and spinning the barrel once a week. Matt has already mowed the yard once and will be doing it again in the next few days or we are going to need a bush hog to play outside.

Josh is loving the warmer weather. It's hard to keep him inside on rainy days or days when it is cold outside. He is riding both is Big Wheel and bicycle like a champ now. Pretty soon Matt and I won't be able to keep up with him on our bikes.

3/10/2010 This was the first warm day of spring. It was about 60 outside and Josh couldn't wait to get in his sandbox any longer.

Josh made a course for his monster trucks

Josh absolutely loves to run around in the grass with bare feet

Every kid loves bubbles. Josh not only had his bubble bath bubbles,
but I was blowing bubbles too.

3/19/2010 For some reason Josh got on a playdough kick. He played with his playdough for over three hours this particular day.

Josh was sticking his cars and trucks in the playdough. He was also running the cars on the playdough to see what their tire tracks looked like.

He used cars of all makes and models. Not a one was spared. The next day, Matt showed him how to use his dinosaurs and make dino tracks in the playdough.

3/22/2010 Lisa, Marianna, and Alex came to visit for a few days while Marianna was on spring break. The kids had an awesome time playing together.

After the playdough the kids played with the train track and dinosaurs.

4/2/2010 This year we colored brown eggs for Easter. Warning: if you use brown eggs with green dye the eggs turn out puke green. Anyway, Josh did a good job coloring the eggs until he spilled the pink dye all over the place. Thankfully, it didn't stain anything. After the eggs were colored they received further decorating with dinosaur stickers. Perfect! Josh had to take some of the eggs to both the grandparents too.

Carefully dip the egg into the dye, SPLASH!

I want to do it all by myself.

It's really hard to be patient when there are more eggs to color

The last few eggs

While the eggs dried, Matt and Josh curled up to read a book. It was one of Matt's favorites as a kid "The Monster at the end of this Book."

4/4/2010 For Easter we visited all the parents. My sister and her family came down to visit. We has a big lasagna lunch and then we had an Easter egg hunt. That was followed by some serious romping and then naps for the kids.

Goal: to get the most eggs. Go, go, go!

Checking out the bounty

Hopefully, it won't be so long before the next post. Josh and I are headed back outside to enjoy this beautiful day.

M,J, and J

Spring is around the corner!!!

2010-03-07T15:05:00.006-05:00

We know it's been awhile since our last post, but the creeping crud has stuck with us for over three weeks and we are over it, finally! It took a toll on all of us though. Josh had his first ear infection which required antibiotics, while Matt and I have just toughed it out. Thankfully, Matt's mom is out of the hospital and doing great. She does a have cold right now though.

On a sad note, we had to put to sleep Matt's mom and dad's dog Annie. She was our favorite. Thankfully, she didn't suffer long. I'm gonna miss playing ball with her and watching her tolerate Josh playing with her. I'm also going to miss watching Josh run in and give her a hug first thing. We loved you Anne and we'll miss you.

Spring is starting to arrive in Indiana. The birds are singing and the Sandhill cranes are migrating north. We have all enjoyed getting outside after being cooped up all winter the past few days. We've gone to the zoo, the park and did some yard work yesterday. Josh is now able to ride both his bike and big wheel fast enough that it is hard to keep up with him.

The other big news in the Partain household is that we signed Josh up for preschool today. He will start in the fall. It will be two days a week from 9am to 11:45am. We know that he'll love it and it will be nice to have a little Josh free time to run errands. We enrolled him at our church and they have a very nice preschool program there.

Dad and Josh feelin' the squeeze at the zoo

Cheese!!

Watch out! Here I come!

Head first is the only way to do

I'm so stinkin' cute!

Fun with cousin, snow and Bob the Builder

2010-02-17T15:56:00.007-05:00

It's been a very busy couple of weeks around here. First, Alex came to stay for a few days with us and then Josh and I were both sick with colds. This week I had a doctors appointment, a root planing (fun I know) and Matt is having a procedure Friday that doesn't allow him to eat from Thursday morning to Friday afternoon (more fun). On top of all this, Matt's mom has been in the hospital since last Friday and we have been stopping to see her everyday. She is doing much better now and will probably go home either Friday or Saturday.

Josh is enjoying all the snow we have and can't keep out of it. Mom and dad are definitely over the snow though, but we have all had fun sledding. Unfortunately, the music class we were all so looking forward to was cancelled because there were not enough kids signed up for it. We'll try again in the fall. Also, in a couple of weeks we will be signing Josh up for Preschool at our church.

We had to replace our satellite receiver so I gave Josh a bunch of tools and we took it apart. It was a blast.

Alex and Josh had a blast playing together. Grandma and Grandpa took both boys for the weekend and spoiled them rotten.

The boys were relaxin' and watching Cars.

Painting is lots of fun!!

Josh and Alex's favorite things to play with was the Geotrax of course.

Josh loves to watch Bob the Builder and there is an exhibit at the Children's Museum right now.

Josh playing with all his favorite characters. Scrambler the four-wheeler is his favorite.

Josh and Benny

Josh and Rolley

Josh in Bob's workshop

Josh's favorite part of the museum is the DinoSphere. Here he is dressed up like a T-Rex and collecting his eggs.

He's sitting on his eggs and yes they did hatch.

We had to find an alternate sledding hill because all the snow was gone of the top of the other one. Here we are at the middle school down the street. It has a great sledding hill and a whole lot less people.

Watch out Josh here come dad!!

Our snow angel!!

Hope everyone is surviving winter,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Sledding is SNOW much fun!!

2010-01-30T14:47:00.010-05:00

Who doesn't love sledding because it is SNOW much fun. Although we only had an inch of snow on the ground it was more than enough to go sledding. This was Josh's first time and he loved it. Everytime he went down the hill he would just laugh and scream. Matt and I have scoped out some backup sledding hills when the this spot is super busy.

The hardest part of sledding is going up the hill.

First time down the hill

Weeeeeeee!!!!

Dad and Josh

(Make sure you have your volume turned up for the videos so you can hear Joshie laughing. It's sure to bring a smile to your face.)

Until the next adventure,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Our Super Fun Texas Vacation

2010-01-18T14:43:00.011-05:00

We left for vacation on Jan. 1st for two weeks in Texas. We had an awesome time. Josh did fantastic in the car and we had to make only a few emergency bathroom stops along the way. The weather wasn't great, in the 30's and 40's most of the time, but it was definitely better than the the zero degrees in Indy.

On our trip we stopped in Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and Corpus Christi with a few other stops along the way. We did have a few problems with the camper. First, the heater didn't work on the very first night. It was really cold so we all slept together in our heavy sleeping bag. Josh thought that was great fun. We couldn't find a place to get the furnace fixed until Monday. It took about 4 1/2 hours and 11 dollars to get it up and running. It was still covered under warranty. Then, as Matt was locking the camper door the key broke in the lock. Thankfully, he was able to get it out. Lastly, the brackets for the sway bars shifted and Matt had to tighten them back up. Fortunately, all things were pretty minor so we chock it up to vacation adventures.

We have a ton of pictures, but we are only putting a few up here.

Josh on his new Cars bike. He loves to ride his bike and gets better every time he rides it. We all went for our first bike ride together. By spring everyone better get out of the way, Josh will be super fast!

This is Joshie's monkey towel. It even has a tail. To cute!

This is our friend Nadia and Josh. Louanne and Mike, Nadia's parents, we met as we went through our adoption process over the internet. They adopted Nadia a month before us. We had never met in person. It was awesome to finally met in person, although we didn't get to meet Mike because he needed to finish some work.

The kids loved playing together. They terrorized the house. Sorry Louanne for the mess. We had a fantastic home cooked meal, which of course the kids didn't eat because they were so excited.

Louanne, Nadia, Jenny and Josh

This is Josh using my iPhone. I have loaded some education games on their for Josh. He is really good at using it too.

When we stopped in Austin is was to visit the Boatrights. Their daughter Rachel is one off Josh's China friends, as he calls them. This was the first time we had seen Bryan, Michelle, and Rachel since we left China 2 1/2 years ago other than on the computer. The kids were so excited to see each other.

Playing at the park

Daddy's and kids romping in the back yard after dinner

Aren't they the cutest things ever!!

Also while in Austin, we visited the Great Wall offices since we had never been there. There office is in a very very rich part of Austin. Everyone was super nice and they gave us a tour of the office. Josh flirted with every girl in the office.

This is Leanne and Josh. She was one of the ladies that helped us with paperwork questions/problems.

This is the front office.

We stopped at a place called Choke Canyon SP to see a Jacana. A very rare bird for the US, which we did see and it was very beautiful. Josh was fascinated with the fire ant mounds. Here he is putting grass on the mounds so the ants will have food.

I'm so cute!

Matt saving another bird. Last time it was an eagle, this time it was an Eared Grebe. It was very weak. Matt took it back to the water and it was gone the next day. Hopefully, it recovered.

This is Andy's Kitchen. A mom and pop place we found on the internet. It was yummy!! We went here because they have a train and we knew Josh would love it. He spent his entire meal watching the trains.

This is the Texas State Aquarium. It was small, but the programs/shows they had every half hour were really good. Since it was so cold, the dolphin show was at the underwater viewing room, which was a totally different perspective. Josh loved the touch and feel pool.

One of the shops in Corpus had this big shark as it's main entrance. The boys were eaten alive as they went in.

Josh soooo wanted to see alligators, but we couldn't find any. It was just too cold. So, one day we drove all the way to Aransas NWR , about an hour long drive, to find gators. Still no gators. It was still too cold. Next time I guess.

Josh + Sand = Crazy Boy

Every heard of sand angels?

After leaving Corpus we went to Dinosaur Valley SP. The park has dinosaur foot prints in it's river bed. It also has two dino replicas - a Brachiasaurus and T. Rex.

Super scary!!

Just before the park entrance was Dinosaur World. Josh loved it!! He ran from one dinosaur to the next and roared everytime.

The last stop of our trip was to visit the Gray's. Claire is another one of Josh's China friends. Mary Ann, Jason and Claire were at our reunion in July and it was still good to see them again. The kids were running all over the place.

Claire, Josh, and Mary Ann

Our vacation was wonderful, but the real world calls. Matt went back to work today and I start back tomorrow. The past few days have been filled with tons and tons of cleaning and laundry. Matt put the camper away for another four months until our next trip. How sad.

Hope everyone enjoys the pictures,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Last Post of 2009

2009-12-31T16:18:00.005-05:00

This will be the last post for 2009. Can you believe it? Tomorrow we leave for a 2 1/2 week trip to Texas. We are going to visit with some of the families we adopted with and go to the beach. We are all very excited about going on vacation.

I decide that I was bored with the layout of our Blog so I decided to change it a bit. Over three years looking the same was to long. It needed a change. I hope you like it. Basically, it's the same with a different layout.

Anyway, Christmas was crazy as always. Poor Josh had four days of presents. He is so abused. It was awesome to spend so much time with our family. Unfortunately, we couldn't get together will all our friends, but we will do that when we get back from Texas.

We went to Christmas at the Zoo. It is always beautiful with all the Christmas lights. Matt couldn't go with us this year because he had to work. Bummer!

Mom and Josh

This was my favorite light display. It looked like a water fountain, but it was made of lights. Beautiful!

Santa came on 12/24 at our house because dad had to work. These are Josh's new LeapFrog Tag books. He is starting to parts of words together amazing. Maybe all the reading we do is starting to pay off.

Santa did bring Josh his Toyota monster truck, but Josh wanted a "real" monster truck. Can you believe that? A REAL monster truck.

Josh's big gift - a Cars bike

After a little bit of practice he will be riding it like a pro.

I'm gonna get you Mom!!!!

Christmas at Aunt Lisa's

We all went up on 12/26. We had a great steak lunch and then it was time to rip and tear. This is Marianna with her favorite gift. A Touch and Brush. She has been wanting one for a long time.

All the kids ripped open every gift first and then decided to play with them. What a joyful mess!!!

Alex got a new train table for Christmas. It was a big hit for both boys.

Christmas at Matt's mom and dad's

Josh loved the new garbage truck and crane he got. The books we a hit a few days later.

Knock down that building!!!!

This got out of order but anyway, it snowed while we were at Lisa's and Josh loves snow. The kids went outside to play. That is grown and little kids a like. Josh got extremely upset when I went chasing after my sister when she got me in the face with a snowball. He thought we were fighting. It took a long time for him to calm down from that. Such a tender hearted kid.

Josh loved driving the gator in the snow. Maybe Santa will have to work on one for next year. Hopefully, a gently used one since they are so expensive.

Our snow angels!

The past few days have been spent working at our jobs and working around the house. We have both been working hard to get everything done before our trip. Unfortunately, Matt called earlier and said he was coming down with a cold. Nooooo!!! I think I'm gonna beat it out of him. All I can says is he better not get me sick.

Tomorrow, mom and dad are bringing over Long's donuts for breakfast. Yum!

Happy New Year Everyone,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Ready, Set, Christmas

2009-12-22T23:03:00.005-05:00

We're sure that everyone else is just like us, getting ready for the craziness of the holidays. Fortunately, Matt and I were able to get away for the weekend without little man. WooHoo!! Josh stayed with grandma and grandpa and then his cousins. He loved it. We went down to Bloomington for a IU game, ate lots of food that we didn't have to share and saw a movie. Unbelievable I know.

Josh is super excited about Christmas this year and very into the Santa thing. It is a lot of fun to see how excited he his. We went to the Children's Museum to see Santa this year for their Jolly Days. The best part of the whole trip was the slide. It was super fast and we all loved it.

What would like for Christmas? I want a Toyota monster truck. We don't know where he comes up with these things, but his new favorite thing to do is "crush" his cars like monster trucks do.

The slide was awesome! It was super fast. Of course, we had to ride it more than once.

Do you think Josh liked it?

Josh said he was in his "nice quiet warm spot." Of course that spot is warm he is sitting on the heater vent.

Most of the grandparents, Josh and I went to Christmas at the Zoo. Unfortunately, Matt had to work. The lights were beautiful.

Josh's newest thing to do is try and write his letters. Right now each letter comes out like a squiggle, but I guess it's a start.

Today Josh and I made cookies for Santa. He got bored with using the cookie cutters to make cookies, but he loved icing the cookies. After 45 minutes of icing I had to put a stop to it.

As far as our holiday plans:

Dec 24th - Christmas at our house. Matt works Christmas day so we asked Santa to come early.

Dec 25th - Great-grandpa's house

Dec 26th - To my sister's house in Valpo

Dec 27th - Christmas with Matt's mom and dad

We may have forgot to mention early, but on top of all the holiday maddness we are packing for a two week vacation to Texas. We leave New Years Day. Insane I know. Josh is very very excited about going because we are going to stop and see some of the people we adopted with while in Texas. Oh, we are excited too. We're excited that we are escaping Indiana winter for a few days anyway.

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Love,

M, J, and J

Lots of Pics and Vids

2009-11-29T14:58:00.007-05:00

OK, it's been a BUSY couple weeks!! We had a birthday party, Thanksgiving, and put up the Christmas tree.

Starting with the Birthday:

From aunt Kathy, Josh got a trucks book that comes with a dry erase marker. He loves it and plays with it constantly. Of course, we had to draw on our self at least once!

Having lunch with the cousins at his party

Alex lending a helping hand with the presents - that's what friends are for.

And what else - TRUCKS!

Josh is REALLY getting into the Christmas spirit this year. He's ready for Santa and lights and music and decorations and PRESENTS. He was really excited to decorate the tree on the day after Thanksgiving. He wanted to do everything himself. Santa always brings Matt the Hallmark fire engine ornament each year and they are placed up on the mantle. Nobody could do ANYTHING until Josh got those out, visually inspected them, and placed them on the mantle himself.

I think Josh is trying to tell us he is a gift in this picture but I just think somebody is getting a big, smelly present wrapped up this year.

Another stopping point we had involved the camper ornament we have. That camper could NOT go on the tree without a truck pulling it. We all had to stop while Matt tied up one of Josh's Hot Wheels cars to look like it was towing the camper.

Another of Josh's favorites is those singing snowman thingies that Hallmark has each year. He likes to line them up and start them all up at once. After about half an hour, it's hard to take anymore.

Yesterday, Jen and Josh made some ornaments out of applesauce, glue, cinnamon, and other stuff.

And the finished product:

Some Videos:

There is one particular ornament that when Matt was a kid, the only way to put it on the tree was to stand back and toss it onto it. Where it landed is where it stayed. Here's Josh learning the ropes.

Here's josh admiring his idea of the camper being towed by his Hot Wheels truck

Finally, the Jingle Bell Rock Show!

Written by and starring Josh Partain.

Family Pictures 2009

2009-11-16T14:10:00.005-05:00

Well, the business of birthdays, prepping 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 too 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!!

2009-11-01T14:17:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-10-26T14:23:00.007-04:00

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

2009-10-13T20:29:00.003-04:00

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!!!!!

2009-09-24T12:03:00.009-04:00

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

2009-09-05T15:49:00.006-04:00

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

2009-08-16T17:05:00.004-04:00

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

2009-08-09T11:07:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-20T10:39:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-12T22:13:00.006-04:00

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

A Few Quick Pics

2009-07-11T16:54:00.002-04:00

6 of the 7 families arrived Friday night with one more coming in today and one who lives here in Atlanta. We just hung out at the hotel for the evening since the kids were pretty tired from the travel. However, they were NOT too busy for the pool.

We went to the zoo this morning and having a pizza party in the lobby tonight. Here's just a few pictures from the zoo today. We'll be sure to put up LOTS more tomorrow.

Josh, Olivia, and Jessa on to the next exhibit

A collection of kids, parents, and goats!

Josh and Claire

More tomorow!

Trains and Water Oh my!

2009-07-02T13:00:00.004-04:00

Our Day out with Thomas was a lot of fun. Josh was so happy to have grandma and grandpa go with us because it had been over a week or so without lovin' from grandma while she was on a business trip. Josh was very excited to see Thomas. We hada 25 minute train ride and then we roamed around all the other activities. Josh loved the pony ride (Grandma has those pictures) and the petting zoo. He would laugh hysterically when the goats would eat the corn from his hand. He also like the wooden train tracks the kids could play with and the little kiddie train he rode. We all ended our day with ice cream. The perfect treat for a 90 degree day. Matt and I had planned on buying Josh a toy while there, but when we discovered it was almost twice what the stores wanted for the same thing we ended up not buying a thing. Even a tooth brush was five dollars. Highway robbery!

Josh and Thomas the Tank Engine

Dad and Josh feeding the goats.

Josh started swim lessons on Monday. He is a crazy boy in the water. He loves to splash around, "swim" and jump into the pool. The only thing he isn't sure of is floating on his back. Unfortunately, it has been very cold (for July) this week which makes the water cold too. Josh doesn't mind, but I sure do. By the time we are done with swim lessons our fingers and lips are blue.

Today just dad and Josh got in the water because it was 63 degrees this morning.

Kick Josh kick!

We are one week away from our Adoption Reunion in Atlanta. We will be taking our computer along and will hopelly be able to update the blog while in Atlanta.

Have a wonderful July 4th weekend. God Bless America!

M, J, and J

Rain, Rain Go Away

2009-06-16T19:07:00.005-04:00

It seems to rain everyday right now which sure makes it hard to play outside and it hasn't been quite warm enough to go to the pool yet. So we are trying to find indoor activities that burn lots of energy. All I want to know is are we going to have a couple dry days soon because we are going to need a bush hog to mow the grass. For heaven's sake, we don't live in Seattle.

Anyway, the other day Matt and I worked out in the yard, between rain storms, to finish the garden. We were putting more gravel down and distributing the last of the dirt. Of course, Josh wanted to play the dirt or should I say mud. He was covered in mud from head to toe and so were we. He had a blast though.

Josh has discovered a new toy. He is now strong enough to squeeze the hose nozzle and he has pretty good aim too. He soaked me a couple of times.

It's hard to make out, but the newest neighbors are six mallard ducks. We have had to much rain that the neighbors yards is constantly flooded and they have been hanging around for about a week.

What do you do when your stuck inside the house all day? Get the play dough out!

Cookie cutters are awesome for play dough.

We are super busy this week. Matt is teaching a class and he has to work an extra day this week. The extra day of work is so he can have time off to go to the reunion in Atlanta. Plus, I'm working and Father's Day is Sunday. Oh well, we'll get through it.

M, J, and J

Holiday World Mayhem!

2009-06-05T10:14:00.011-04:00

Before we get to our trip to Holiday World we must start with Josh's first time fishing. For Easter he received a Cars fishing pole. So we went to grandma and grandpa's house to fish in their backyard. The pond behind their house is filled with bluegill and you can catch them very easily. Perfect for the fishermen with an attention span of about 5 seconds. After Josh caught his first fish he was asking to catch another. He may become a fisherman yet.

Grandpa is showing Josh how to put the meal worm on his hook without sticking yourself of course.

The first cast.

The waiting can be torture.

Look at that lunker jump from the water!

Meet Crabbie the sandbox. To help keep Josh from digging in my garden now that it is actually planted, I broke down and bought him a sandbox. Of course, every kid needs a sandbox too.

Josh played in Crabbie for a couple of hours. It's on our deck so he can play outside and I can keep an eye on him while in the house.

Holiday World

We had an awesome time at Holiday World. We love, love, love Lincoln State Park. It rained a couple of times, but only at night so it did not ruin anything. My sister and her family tent camped so the rain was not so much fun for them, but they survived. The kids were absolutely crazy. They didn't know what to do first. Josh was just over 36 inches so he was able to ride the kiddy coaster and log ride. Unfortunately, he did not like either one. Maybe next year. Josh did like the raging river ride though. The first time was O.K. and the second time was much more fun.

Notice the total chaos. Toys were everywhere!

Uncle Chris and Josh playing a little catch.

Marianna and Josh are sharing a bottle of water.

The kids were so excited about going out in the kayaks that they couldn't wait to get in them. Each one took a turn in the kayaks. They all loved it!

Josh and Mom in the kayak

Three little munchkins lined up in row.

Every one loved the water park. Marianna road all the rides. The scarier the ride the more she loved it. Josh and Alex were too little for most of the rides, but they still had fun.

Josh liked this slide in particular because he could go down all by himself. For twenty minutes he just slid down and went right back up again.

Again, Again!

Marianna and Josh crashed into everyone and everything on the bumper boats.

Lisa, Chris, Alex and Marianna

Hopefully, we can all go to Holiday World next year. Our next big adventure with Josh will be swim lessons. Greenwood pool offers a parent and tot class. I'm sure it will be a splashin' good time.

Potty training is going Very well now that were back home. We've had a few accidents but we're most excited about him doing his number 2s on the potty now. That's been our biggest sticking point and now it seems we've gotten over it. He's even tells us he has to poop. It's SOOO sad that grown adults are so excited about poop.

M, J, and J

Josh survived the last camping trip, Barely!

2009-05-17T22:11:00.005-04:00

On our camping trip to Maumee Bay there were a few issues:

1) I lost Lambie, Josh's favorite stuffed animal, in Findlay Ohio when we stopped for gas. He must have fallen out of the truck when I got Josh out of the car and I missed him.
2) One afternoon we were playing with Josh in his bed in the camper and he disappeared. On of the canopy tie-downs was not secured and Josh fell through it. Thankfully, he landed on his feet because he could have busted his head on concrete.
3) We had a major battle over a PBJ sandwich. Josh didn't feel like eating it, but that was what was for dinner. After 16 hours and missing out on ice cream the sandwich finally went down. I hope nobody is thinking we were to hard on Josh and let him go hungry. He was NOT going to starve to death. He was eventually going to eat it and he did. The parents won one battle!
4) We have photos of this one. We were playing chase on the boardwalk and Josh fell off. He fell about three feet into several inches of muck. He wasn't hurt just scared. The best part of that was we had a several mile bike ride back to the camper with a cold wet kid. By the time we got to the camper his legs were blue and there was muck in his diaper. He went straight to the shower.

Despite all that, we had a great time. We went for ice cream everyday and sometimes twice a day. We went up to Cabela's. Josh loved all the animals, the fish, the boats, and ATV's. Who doesn't love Cabela's? Josh liked going birdwatching and the older people liked playing with Josh too. We fed the gulls. Josh's favorite part was chasing them.

Josh would run toward the gulls roaring.

To cute for words!

This is Josh just after falling into the muck.

This is the spot where Josh went overboard.

One of Josh's favorite things to do is run and I mean run up and down the roads in the campgrounds with his dump truck. He also does stunt dump truck by tipping it up on two wheels. He has gotten very good at looking both ways for cars and moves over the to side of the road when a car comes.

In about two weeks we are going to Holiday World with my sister and her family. We are all very very excited to go camping with them. Josh is so looking forward to playing with his cousins. I'm sure there will be some good camping stories from that trip too.

M,J, and J

OOOHH BOY!!! A Boy and the Ocean

2009-05-06T22:09:00.011-04:00

Since telling Josh about our trip to the ocean and beach, it is ALL we have heard about for the past month. "Eat dinner on the beach" was the standard reply to any questions concerning what he wanted to do or eat. THANK THE HEAVENS we finally made it there.

But first, we stayed a couple nights in a state park in Mississippi. We found a place that gave air boat rides into the swamp to feed gators. Yea, it was as fun as it sounds. The first part of the tour was holding one:

After holding this beast Josh actually said "let's get bigger one!"

THAT'S MY BOY!!

We had to wear hearing protection on the boat, but he didn't mind. When the boat went faster, the grin got wider. We stopped at a spot and our guide threw some marshmallows into the water and the gators (6-8 footers) came right up to the boat. He even let Josh throw one in which he just thought was too cool. Soooo, for the next couple days all we heard was "I hold baby alligator" and "I feed bigger one marshmallow"

The first Day on Dauphin Island, Alabama we went to the estuarium. It was a neat place that had numerous aquariums and displays about the geography of Mobile Bay. Crazy boy, of course, could hardly be contained

Despite the "Please do not touch the animals" sign on the tank, Josh did. Hey, he can't read that well yet.

That night we thought we would make a quick trip out to the beach to just get our feet wet. We didn't even bother putting on our suits. What were we thinking. Josh went straight for the water and jumped right in

Then, he decided to run up to the dunes and roll in the sand.

The result:

We had to take him back to the water, rinse him off, and then carry him back to the campsite. what a mess.

One day we went to a civil war fort on the island and took the "first-class" tour

After a while, Josh discovered he liked not being able to touch bottom. So we had some impromptu swim lessons. He has NO fear of the water.

No, Josh isn't drowning in the sea behind us.

Of course, Josh wanted nothing to do with naps. So he would just pass out at odd times; like on the back of the bike.

On our last day, we took our left-over hot dog buns to the pier and fed the gulls.

Josh is beyond learning new words. He's putting together whole phrases. He counts to ten with no problem and almost has the alphabet down. Sometimes we can hear him in bed saying it.

He is really jumping right into the terrible 2s. He knows how to push our buttons and challenges his limits all the time.

Potty training is still in progress. He understands it, but he just doesn't want to do number 2 on the potty. He'll sit there for a couple minutes and say "it's not working". He'll usually then go right into the other room and do it. We've tried several bribes and giving him privacy but he just won't do it. GRRRRRR!!

How many Easter Baskets does a kid need?

2009-04-20T17:22:00.003-04:00

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!!

2009-04-11T15:19:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-03T13:14:00.002-04:00

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

Enjoying spring time!

2009-03-22T18:15:00.008-04:00

We love this warmer weather where we can get outside and blow the stink off. There is nothing better than playing outside all day. Josh loves to be outside so much that we can barely get him back in the house - even for food.

Josh goin' crazy on the swing set

Who doesn't love this cute boy?

While Matt was pressure washing the deck and house Josh was having a grand time playing in the mist.

On Saturday night after dinner we all finger painted. Of course, Josh was covered, but that's all part of it. We all had a lot of fun!

Mom and Josh mixing the paint on their hands

Gooey Smooshy Fun

As I was getting ready for church on Sunday Josh was playing, but when I came out of the bathroom I found him laying on the couch under the blanket reading a book. To cute!

Today Josh spent the entire day with grandma and grandpa. He was spoiled all day and exhausted by the time he came home. Unfortunately, I have been sick again and it was nice to have a day to chill out and not chase him around. Thanks mom and dad, I love you guys!

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Boys will be boys

2009-03-10T12:39:00.007-04:00

Did you know that having the flu really stinks? Both Matt and I have been sick with the flu for the past week. It's been six days since we started getting sick and we still aren't 100%. Thankfully, Josh has not come down with the flu.

The weather has been terrific the past four days or so. We have been playing outside a lot. Josh had an awesome time going around the yard filling his wagon with his "yard discoveries" the other day. He was even a big help cleaning up the yard. Unfortunately, it is supposed to get cold again starting tomorrow. I really want winter to end sooner than later.

As everyone knows we made the switch to Daylight savings time on Sunday. It has really messed with Josh's sleeping schedule and he is definitely out of sorts. Hopefully it won't be to long before he has recovered.

This is a picture of Josh's mystery bruise. We don't know where it came from but Josh had a huge bruise on his cheek.

Josh is wearing Matt's SCBA that he brough home for his HazMat class. Josh thought he was pretty hot stuff wearing it.

What happens when you eat a warm fresh chocolate chip cookie? You get a chocolate covered kid, of course.

Nice warm day = Gettin' the big wheel out

Josh's yard discoveries

So while Josh was trying to nap we heard him playing with his art easel. We wondered what he was doing, but decide to let him be to see if he would sleep. Well, when we set him free (by the way he never did sleep) there was dry erase maker on the wall and all over Josh. Sometimes it is really hard to discipline and not to laugh at the same time.

He wrote all over his legs and even the bottom of his feet.

What has Matt been doing in his HazMat class? Playing dress up in funny looking suits.

Holiday World Update = In June my sister and her fam and the three of us are going to Holiday World. Josh must be 36 inches to ride the rides. On his 2nd birthday he was 34 1/4 inches tall. Since then he has not grown at all!! We're not even sure that three pairs of socks and tennis shoes will make up the difference in height. He had better grow some between now and then

M, J, and J

Another Crazy Weekend

2009-02-22T20:42:00.007-05:00

Another weekend of running, running, running! Friday morning we went to the Children's Museum, which we'll get into more detail later. Friday night, Josh's cousins came in for the weekend. Since Friday night was also the night of Matt's awards banquet, Josh stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house with the cousins and Aunt Lisa. Well, they all stayed up late romping.

Saturday night Matt's parents had a big fish fry with quite a few people. There were a couple other kids and they, with Josh, just ran crazy all over the house for nearly two hours after dinner. Again, another late night. Josh fell into a coma when he went to bed and didn't stir until about an hour and a half later than he normally gets up.

Sunday, We went to the Boat, Sport, and Travel Show to look at campers and get various travel guides. Josh LOVES going in every camper he can. Up, down, in, out, under, around. He was everywhere. We've been working on having him "freeze" when we say "FREEZE" so he doesn't get too far away. He did really well with that today which is good because there were a LOT of people there today.

Now, on to some pictures

This is monkey boy doing one-armed push-ups on the table

We had been telling josh for a week that we were going to see dinosaurs at the museum. Every day for a week we heard "next week see dinosaurs". When we finally got there, Josh ran to the middle of the exhibit and started jumping screaming "dinosaurs! dinosaurs! dinosaurs!" The exhibit is in a darkened room with growling and rumbling sounds overhead which scared his cousin a couple years ago when we took her so there was some concern as to how Josh would react. Uhhhh, not a problem! It took us half an hour to get him out of the room and then we had to go back before we left.

Here he is digging for dinosaur bones

What a stud!

In another exhibit, there was a pond with a viewing glass under part of it. There was a giant bullfrog sitting on top of the glass

Now were to the meat and potatoes! Heavy Machinery!!!

And what happens after a hard weekend of romping??

We decided to have a different kind of bubble bath. Blowing bubbles, while in the bath!

Laundry day is always fun - for Josh, that is!

We survived! Barely!

2009-02-10T14:08:00.007-05:00

Well, we start before all the kids were at the house. Josh had a cold which he so kindly passed on to his grandparents and Matt. Thankfully, I have not gotten sick.

Josh is a rock-star. Everywhere we go someone knows him either from the gym or the library. It is not unusual to get stopped once whenever we are out running errands. At the gym many of the other parents know who he is even though we have no idea who they are.

Here Josh is pulling around his two cases to hold his cars and yes he needs both cases to hold his cars. We have overflow of the bigger cars in his dump truck.

Josh and Matt are reworking the train track in preparation of his cousins coming. Josh loved digging in the box for track pieces and did a good job of putting them together to.

O.K. I took this picture because Josh does this all the time when he plays with the train table in his room. He is always the monkey!

Playing with my cousins!

Mariana and Alex came to stay with us on Thursday 2/6 to Sunday 2/8. We all took turns watching the kids and they stayed both at Uncle Matt and Aunt Jenny's house and grandma and grandpa's house. Grandma and grandpa even kept Josh on Saturday night with the other two kids. Of course, we had a few battles over toys, but for the most part the kids did great. Some of the things we did were stopping at the fire house, playing with the train a lot, using the bath crayons on the walls, tub and each other, visiting great-grandpa, and romping outside.

All snuggled together for a bedtime story after a soaking good time of romping in the bathtub.

Marianna holding our snake. She couldn't wait for Uncle Matt to get home on Friday to get her out.

Our band! At the library Josh loves to march to the drum so we do it at home too. I had to stop and change Alex so Matt took over the flutophone, xylophone, and drum. Marianna was banging on a pan with a wooden spoon. Josh just wanted to march.

Although we do have one lasting nasty effect from the weekend - Josh is now terribly afraid of dark and going to sleep. We're not sure if the monsters subject was brought up again or what, but it has been a real challenge getting Josh to sleep. Today for example he won't lay down for a nap he just screams and cries. We are resorting to a drive to see if he'll fall asleep.

As far as we are concerned, Matt is enjoying his HazMat class. It looks like Matt's dad has decided that he wants to go to Alaska next year on a fishing trip with Matt. The plan is for Josh and I to meet them in Anchorage and tour Alaska for a week. Sounds like fun! I'm still just working and somehow have been roped into an Infection Control Committee. I didn't even volunteer for it, I was simply chosen. Mom is working very had at finding us a good hotel rate for our reunion and we should be deciding soon. So far she has gotten some good deals and a couple not so good deals.

Happy Valentines!

Love, M, J, and J

Gung Hay Fat Choy!!

2009-01-27T13:38:00.005-05:00

Gung Hay Fat Choy!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

It is the year of the Ox. We celebrated by making dragons, reading books about Chinese New Years and we'll have a Chinese dinner one night this week.

Unfortunately, Josh has not been himself the last couple of days. He has been overly tired, running a low grad temp off and on, and isn't eating well. We think that it is his 2 year molars bothering him.

Matt starts is Hazardous Materials class tonight, I think. The weather is bad and I'm not sure if C-9 will cancel classes or not. On Sunday we had a fish fry with Matt's parents and bunch of friends. That was a lot of fun to sit and talk with everyone.

We are gearing up for next week. On Thursday February 6th, Matt, Mom, Dad and I are watching Alex and Marianna for five days. It should be a fun experience to go from having one kid to three just like that. I'll let you know if I survive on Thursday because I'll have all three kids by myself. If no one hears from me in 24 hours please, please come looking for me. We do have some fun things planned like taking the kids to the Children's Museum.

Josh is riding his giant fire truck he received for Christmas. Sometimes his animals ride the fire truck with him.

Here we are making our dragons for Chinese New Year.

Josh was making lots of growling noises. It's a dragon of course.

Josh is picking out which one he wants to make for grandma and grandpa.

The only other thing going on is trying to get a head count of how many rooms we need for our reunion in July. We can't wait to see all our friends and Josh's girlfriends.

Oh, a couple of other things about Josh I forgot. First, Josh is giving his favorite stuffed animals, lambie and puppy, food and toys to play with. Also, Josh said "I Love You" for the first time this week. I was changing him in the morning and he gave me a big hug and said "I love you mommy." That just melted my heart.

M, J, and J

Conversation begins

2009-01-13T12:46:00.005-05:00

I'm not even sure where to begin with all the growth Josh has done in the last several weeks. I think I will start a list to make it easy:

He consistently says "Bless you or God Bless you" when you sneeze and waits to hear you say "Thank you." Plus, he is beginning to say "excuse me" more and more too.

Josh is speaking in four and five word sentences more and more.

He can carry on short conversations with you.

He will talk on the phone and not just listen, although he still does that sometimes.

Yesterday, when my allergies were a mess and I needed a shower to get dog hair off, I asked him to play with his train table in his room while I took a shower. He said "OK", and did. I was very thankful for that.

He is able to sit at the table without a high chair or booster seat and eat his dinner. He doesn't monkey around in his seat as much either.

When we went birdwatching on Sunday, Josh was more interested than ever in the birds, water and other animals we saw. He even walked a good three-quarters of a mile on the trail.

Josh is doing better at dressing himself. He was able to pull his shirt over his head all by himself the other day.

We're still at a stand still on potty training. He knows to pee in the potty, but anything else is a no go. We keep at it, though. It will come.

He is stuck with his ABC's and numbers. He combines the two 99% of the time as in - A,B,8,9,10. Plus, everything is red. Sometimes he will recognize green or yellow, but he calls everything red.

Josh's library time starts on 1/20. He has upgraded to the 2's class.

The biggest thing is that he is finally calling the grandmas "Grandma." Thank goodness for that.
His imagination is really taking off. Just today, on the way home from the gym, he pointed out the car window and said "there's elephant". We said "there's an elephant over there?" His reply "Yes, and monkey". Us: "There's an elephant AND a monkey over there? is the monkey riding the elephant?" Josh: "yes, it's funny!". A couple nights ago he was eating some chips and after every bite he would point to it and say it was an animal. I think we had an elephant, a Rhino, and a puppy. He would then point out the different body parts of the chip animal (leg, feet, nose, tail).

This is Matt and Josh playing with his tunnel.

This is too funny. Matt puts the tube on and than "eats" Josh. It was hilarious watching them.
The things that go on at night when I'm at work!!

Josh has no where to go between grandpa and daddy.

Josh's convoy!

This is the latest picture of Josh's battle scars. Josh vs. Table. Obviously the table won. It was right at eye level and he walked/ran right into it. I was trying to get to him, but it felt as if I was moving in slow motion. Oh well, there will be more to come.

As far as Matt and I are concerned, which we know everyone just wants to hear about Josh, we are just working and playing with Josh. Matt starts a Hazardous Material class in two weeks. My sister Lisa is coming down this weekend, I think.

M, J, and J

Christmas of motorized vehicles

2008-12-31T12:27:00.005-05:00

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

2008-12-16T19:18:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-12-01T20:34:00.005-05:00

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!!!!

2008-11-25T17:41:00.007-05:00

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

2008-11-10T14:39:00.004-05:00

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