Party At The Park!

This year we decided to celebrate Josiah and Elijah’s fourth and second birthdays at Monteocha park.  It’s a little park out in the middle of nowhere that we love to visit because it has everything you could want and no one goes there, so we never have to share our space!  The day was windy, so most of my decoration plans were for naught and never even made it up.  Oh well, simpler is usually better anyway.

Here’s the evidence in a semi-organized manner:

I was excited about my cake pop and cup cake idea, but I don’t recommend making them.  They were a pain to make and didn’t turn out quite right despite my best efforts.

These boys love playing together!

The grill master!  He had to fight the wind the whole time.

I love how Savannah confiscates people to hang out with.  We all love her for it, though!

This was immediately Elijah’s favorite present.  I love how the farmer’s orange hat matches his hair!

Lizard huntin’

The girl caught it!  This poor lizard endured so much.

Pin the tail, I mean the stinger, on the bee!Nathan was first to go and pinned his stinger perfectly.  We were all amazed, but I’m pretty sure he could see :)

Everyone else was WAY off!

And the younger ones refused to wear the blindfold, but then thought they were supposed to pin the stinger way off to the side.

Nathan and Savannah won the prizes – big bubbles!

Lunchtime!

Presents!

Cake Time!We had to beat the wind to light candles, sing, and blow them out before it did.

Thanks, Chad for contributing pictures!

And thanks to all of our guests for coming!  The boys really loved it!

The Sweetest Things

Josiah is constantly saying things that I think would be worth noting in order to remember this stage later, but sadly, I rarely take the time to do that.  Today, however, he said something super sweet that I cant help but note (and since I’m procrastinating on my bill paying and I’m on the computer anyway, now seems to be a good time!)

We were sitting at the table after church eating pizza, which is quickly becoming a new norm and Josiah said from across the table, “Mommy, do you know what I love?”  I asked what, and he said “I love your hugs and kisses and cheese on my pizza.”  My heart melted.  For Josiah to compare something to food he loves is a big deal!  Jacob responded, “well, wouldn’t it be even better if Mommy’s kisses tasted like cheese pizza?” to which Josiah answered “no, it couldn’t get better.”  Awwww….   Then he followed up with comments about how pretty I am, which cracks me up because he does that just about every time I’m looking half decent from dressing to go anywhere.

One day he’s going to woo the girls!

Jeep Action!

These are just more Jeep pictures that never were posted, but I want to print in the blog as an album…one day.  Josiah loves to drive through puddles after a rain, but I don’t usually let him get out and play in them as mentioned in the last post.

I love this action shot with one wheel out of the water!

This Jeep is by far one of the most useful, generous, and enjoyed gifts we’ve received for the boys (and us).  While we vowed we’d never spend the money on one, had we known the great benefits, we’d have dropped the money on it in a heartbeat!  I think I am thankful for it daily.

Writing this reminds of a conversation I had with our neighbor this week.  She was coming home as we were walking/driving by and she mentioned to me that she loves to come home and find the Jeep parked by her house.  She lives at the bottom of the hill and occasionally the Jeep battery dies and I just don’t have the gumption to push it up the hill with the kids in it, so there it sits waiting on Jacob :)  We trust and like Ms. Dale!

Horses, Horses, Horses!

In early March, Jacob and I took the boys to meet Annie and Henry (their favorite playdate-mate) at the Retirement Home For Horses north of Alachua.  I’ve lived here for almost 14 years and have heard raving reviews that whole time and always wanted to go, but just never have, so I was really excited.  It is free to go, except the price of a bag of carrots.  We ran out of carrots long before we visited the last paddock, so next time we’ll need two bags!

Here’s our bag of carrots!  It’s almost as big as Josiah, but it still wasn’t enough!

All the boys loved the mini donkey:

I love this picture!  The horse’s shadow looks more like a giraffe shadow :)

We had a good time and afterwards headed to Moe’s for lunch!

World, Meet Jo!

We will be welcoming Baby #3 in mid November!

Here “she” is at about 7 weeks!

I say “she” because Josiah is certain this baby is a girl.  He’s also decided he’s going to call her Jo :)  He’s so excited about her coming that he often talks about everything he will do with her and what things we need to make sure we have before she arrives.  He’s also careful not to “smash” the baby when we rough house or cuddle.  Too cute!

We are really excited about this new little one coming!

The Good And The Bad

Since I am such a fun mom (ha!), I decided to (ok, so I gave in to their pleading) let the boys play in the puddles from heavy rains we had a few weeks ago.  The fun started and ended in water pooled in a canoe Jacob had left in the yard the night before.  Josiah drove himself and Elijah in the Jeep down our dirt road from puddle to puddle.

This is Josiah moments before his accidental nose dive into the puddle.  He’s still reasonably dry and clean from the waist up...

…and this is after.  I actually caught the fall on video and it’s pretty funny.  Maybe one day I’ll get around to posting it.

This looks like a lot of fun, right?  Well….it was, until I really messed up.  I took the boys back to the canoe to let them play more while I ran bath water and switched the laundry, except I forgot the shut the water off in the bathroom!  I proceeded to go back out to them and rinse them off with the hose, toted them to the back porch, got them stripped naked…then remembered the water!  It didn’t matter how fast I ran back inside leaving screaming, freezing, naked boys on the porch.  The bathroom was still flooded and nobody was happy.  The good news is our air vents are in the floor so the rest of the house didn’t flood.  The bad news is that our air vents are in the floor and collected over 5 mop buckets full of water.  Just ask Jacob.  That’s how many buckets he got out from the bathroom and 3 neighboring rooms with the shop vac when I called him and begged him to come help me get through the cleanup, baths, lunch, and naps.  I was SO thankful for him!  By the end of bath time, the boys were so cold they were blue because all of our hot water was in the air vents!

What’s the saying?  “No good deed goes unpunished?” :)

Two And Four Year Dr Visits

Today we celebrated April Fools by taking the kids to the pediatrician for their wellness checks, but it was no joke!  Taking them both is always a big deal because they give you paperwork to fill out for each kid, send two nurses in to get vitals while grilling me with questions as I’m trying to get them both naked.  Add to that vaccines and blood draws for both and hearing and eye screenings for Josiah and I’m usually frazzled by the end if I do it by myself, so Jacob gets daddy and husband bonus points today!  (Then he came with me to VPK signup and stayed in the car with the kids – that’s extra bonus points!)

All that said, though, both boys did fantastic!  There were a few tears associated with needles, but that’s ok.  Dr. Worthington always comments on how well the boys do for their exams.  Maybe she says that to every parent to make them feel good, but she insists it usually is not so pleasant. 

Here are their stats for the visit:

                           Height                     Weight                        Head

Josiah          41” (75%)           37 1/4# (70%)     

Elijah           35” (70%)           25# 7oz  (20%)       47.6cm (20%)

Can you believe Josiah’s percentages???  He’s never been so big percentage-wise!  He’s always been a really great eater, but until now he’s just burned it right off and stayed tiny compared to his counterparts.  Elijah, on the other hand, refuses to eat most things but is managing to hang in there reasonably well, considering his caloric intake.

The only other major topic of discussion was Josiah’s ongoing GI saga.  He’s been on Miralax for two years now.  That’s much longer than the originally prescribed six months.  When we last tried to withdraw it two months ago (without his knowledge) it resulted in accidents and complaints of stomach pain.  So, now we are going to make yet another attempt to add yet another GI supplement and see if that helps.  Please continue to pray for this ongoing issue.  Every time it rears its ugly head it makes our whole household sad and frustrated that he struggles and it worries us that there is an unidentified underlying issue.  It would be so great to get him stable before he starts school in a few months.  I don’t want him to be labeled or hampered by accidents or discomfort from the start.  I want him to be able to be confident and focused – as focused as a four year old is, that is!

Overall, we are so thankful for our generally very healthy kids that bring us so much laughter (and fatigue!).