Father and Son go Camping

Jason and Joshua headed to the Fathers and Sons camp out this past weekend aided by the xtracycle. It was about 35 miles each way, a little longer on the way there because of a wrong turn). Jason said it was one of the coolest things he has ever done!

Joshua's got his book ready for the long ride
(3 hours there and about 4 hours on the way home)

I cannot imagine pulling that load up any hill, let alone the hills I know he had to go up!
Jason, you are way cooler than any rockstar - thanks for all the great times these past 9 years.
Happy Anniversary - I love you!

Just Pictures

Joshua's Birthday

Happy Birthday Joshua! I can't believe my little boy is six!

We had a pretty low-key birthday party. Jason did some science experiments with the kids, we ordered pizza, and ate cupcakes.

Remember how we were loving our friends congas the other week? Joshua got a bongo drum for his birthday - it's so cool! Thanks, Grandma Ellen & Grandpa Bill.

Learning to Count

Joshua was helping Delia count the butterflies in her book.
He tends to play a little rougher than I would like with her - so I thought I would capture the sweet moment.

But as soon as I brought out the camera he took off!

Airplane Making

Joshua loves for his dad to make him paper airplanes, so when I was at Goodwill the other week I picked up a book on airplane making, called The Complete Airplane Book. It's available, but don't buy it! Jason was excited when he saw it, he said he had that same book when he was a little kid, but it wasn't the good one.

Then his parents came last weekend and brought a bunch of his books from when he was younger, including both of the books on airplane construction (we're not positive they don't belong to one of his brothers - but we're not giving them up!). The better book is called The Best Paper Aircraft and there are used copies available through Amazon and it's totally worth the penny they are charging. I've never seen planes fly like these!

And a Happy Birthday Shout Out to my brother, Jason!

Halloween Recap

Delia decided to be a Princess

Joshua wanted to be a Ninja Turtle, mainly because he was excited about the nunchuks (which his dad crafted out of toilet paper rolls), too bad they went missing between the church party last week and the trick-or-treating yesterday!

And we didn't dress up our baby, but here's a picture anyway!

I love this kid!

Yesterday I was not such a fun mom. I think that my level of "funness" is dependent on the amount of sleep I get, Monday night was not so much! Hopefully today will be better.

The kids had Trunk or Treat at the church this past Saturday and they each have a bag of candy, which gets dumped multiple times a day on the floor.

So, this was yesterday:

Me to the kids: "Pick up that candy and put it away, or I'm going to eat it all today!"

Joshua: "Mom, I don't think you could eat all of that candy."

Me: "I bet I could."

Joshua: "But your belly's not big anymore and you can run now."

I just had to laugh - and that was exactly what I needed!
(along with some ibuprofen for my sleep deprivation!)

Helping Hands

Joshua and Jason helping me with my knitting project
(it's my first project after a couple of wash cloths).

I'm making something for the baby and if I ever finish, I'll post a picture!

Joshua gets a new bike

About a month ago we rode our bikes over to a park that's a couple of miles from our house. It just so happens that the park has a BMX track and that there was racing going on while we were at the park. Jason asked Joshua if he would like to give it a try some time, and so it began.

Joshua had outgrown his 12 in. Trek this year, and we went looking for a bike for him on my birthday. He fell in love with this 16 in. Redline, and it was birthday happiness to me to get the bike for him. He got his bike on a Tuesday and went out to the BMX track for a practice ride that Friday.

He wants to ride his bike everywhere. He rode it the other day when I went to visit some ladies from church (it ended up being 5 miles round trip) and then still wanted to go to the BMX track when his Dad got home (another 4 miles round trip - not counting the laps around the track). He fell lots of times that first week getting used to the new bike, but always wanted to get right back on.

Joshua posing with his brand new bike.

Joshua feels that it's important for everyone to know it's a Redline.

His Dad sets him up at the gate.

And a little wobbly, as we hold our breath!

And he makes it through the lap. (Phew!)