More firsts

We took Levi on his first hiking trip on 8/18 at Busiek State Park.  Jason used to mountain bike here when he was younger, so he knew his way around the trails.  Some of them may have changed...we took a wrong trail on our way back and ended up a little bit lost, carrying a 22 lb baby and eventually also a 42 lb 4 year old!  Jason has a very good sense of direction, so when he started saying "I'm not sure where we are", I got really worried.  I was having visions of being on the next episode of "I shouldn't be alive".  Our short hike turned into 2 hours, but we made it back to our car and learned a couple of lessons.  First, we will not be hiking again until Levi can walk really well.  Second, always take water.  So on the upside, we learned some lessons, enjoyed the nice weather, and got a GREAT workout!! 

 Josiah started his 2nd year of preschool on 8/28.  He loves school and is doing great.

 Also on 8/28, Yoda and Spiderman tackled Jason.  I think he has recovered.  :)

On 9/1 Jason and I dropped the kids off with his mom (THANK YOU DEBBY!!!) and took a little roadtrip down to Bentonville/Rogers, AR.  It a was beautiful and relaxing birthday gift for me!  First we went to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  It was a gorgeous facility, and we enjoyed checking out all the artwork. 

My favorite piece of art!  They had some nice hiking trails on the museum grounds so we hiked around some after checking out the museum. 

Then we went to War Eagle Mill.  It is one of the few remaining working mills of it's kind in the US.  Afterwards we went to War Eagle Cavern and did a tour.  Then we went out for some yummy seafood.  We were only away one night, but it was really fun.  Jason went running with me in the morning, and then we stopped and got some fresh nectarines on our way home.  Mmmmm....

9/3 - Josiah's first time shooting a gun!  It looks like a big gun, but it is only a BB gun.  Even so, he was beyond excited.  :)

 9/5 - my 35th birthday.  Yikes, that sounds old!  :)  Luckily I don't feel as old as I did last year.  That sleeping through the night thing really makes a difference!  Here are the boys being cute for my birthday!  Also on 9/5 Josiah started gymnastics!  He really likes it so far, and got a ribbon today for mastering his somersault.  :)

Levi took his official first steps on 9/8!  He is still not confident enough to walk around on his own, but he is getting there!

Disclaimer: All the pictures we show on the blog of Levi are when he is happy and smiling, but he is currently going through a phase of whining and fit throwing.  It is not fun, but I know part of it is teething, part is testing boundaries, and part is not being able to communicate effectively yet.  We are surviving, but some days I put him in bed early just because I cannot listen to him cry any longer!

Commentary: We picked one of the worst years to start a farm.  July was the hottest month on record, and this summer's drought was the worst in over 50 years.  For a while our cattle had almost no grass to eat.  Everything was dead and brown.  We contemplated selling them vs. having to buy hay ($50 a bale, once a week, plus the high cost of grain) if there was no grass for them to eat.  We were SO thankful for the rain the hurricane Isaac brought us!  It was amazing how quickly everything greened up after just a few inches of rain!  Hate what some of the people in Louisiana went through with Isaac, but thankful nonetheless.  I have family in Plaquemines Parish, but thankfully they are all okay and did not have any flooding.  So we still have the cattle, and we are praying that the rain continues! 

August Travels

I left on 7/31 to drive the boys to my parent's house for the week, then my mom drove me to the airport on 8/1 to fly to Seattle to see one of my best friends in the world and meet her new baby boy!  I was there for 8 days, and added one day on each end to spend at my parent's house.  That was the longest I had been away from the boys or Jason!  It was a great trip, but I missed them like crazy! 

Here is baby Roen, only 1 month old.

This is Genevieve's mom, Jason's cousin Amanda (who also happens to be Gen's brother's girlfriend!), Genevieve and me at a local play at a small theater.

I had an amazing week.  I ran whenever I wanted to, watched movies, enjoyed the amazing Seattle weather, and helped out where I could with the baby and cooking.  Genevieve and I also got to do some kid-free shopping!  I was so relaxed when I came home!  When Levi (a.k.a. momma's boy) first saw me at the airport, he only wanted my mom!  But he warmed up to me the next day and then did not want to let me out of his sight, even for a second!  Josiah did great and had a blast playing with his cousins, swimming, and getting some Ooo Ooo and Paw Paw time.  A HUGE thanks to my mom and dad for doing such an amazing job taking care of the kids!!

After flying back into St. Louis, we stopped at Nate & Jen's for dinner - thanks for having us guys, it was great to see you!

 Daddy playing with his boys after missing them for a week!!

And that brings us to today!  I took the boys to the Springfield airport for a cool event featuring some WWII era airplanes.  This one is the only B-29 still in flight.  It was fun but would have been even better if we could have stayed to tour the cockpit.  Alas, we had to get home for nap time.  But we did get to meet a WWII veteran who flew B-29s in the war!  Amazing. 

We are loving this cooler weather!!  It has been so great to get outside!  Speaking of, time to go out and gather some eggs!

Levi turns one (and other July fun)

I am a delinquent blogger, but I will make up for it with pictures!

6/18: Levi and his daddy.  Too cute!

 6/23: just hanging out and being cute.

 7/1: fun trip to St. Louis to visit friends!

 7/6: Levi's birthday!

 7/7: Levi's birthday party!  Since we now live close to family, we just decided to invite everyone!  We had a full house, but it was really fun and Levi did surprisingly well - he smiled at everyone and didn't get scared!

 Just like we did for Josiah, we gave him a choice of chocolate and vanilla cake (since I don't like chocolate and Jason is a chocoholic).  The verdict?  He didn't like either one.  :)

 Enjoying one of his new toys!

 7/15: two baby deer that periodically come get water from our pond.  It is fun to watch them (Josiah is especially enamored!).

 7/17: playing outside...enduring the heat!

 7/23: Lego explosion!

 7/29: Levi's cute smile.  He loves this duck!

Also in June:
*Jason and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary by going out for dinner at Doe's - they specialize in huge, super yummy steaks - while Mi Mi and cousin Alex watched the boys (THANK YOU!!).  We also made a stop at Home Depot which has become our annual (very romantic) marriage tradition.
*Josiah got to ride in a combine at Uncle James' farm!
*Josiah took a weekend trip to Dallas with his Mi Mi (Jason's mom).  He had a blast!
*I did my first race (5k) since Levi was born.  It was not my fastest race, but it was fun and it was great to get back into running!

Also in July:
*We had a week of VBS (Josiah's first) while Levi stayed home with his daddy (I love my brave husband!).  I helped with the three year olds which was fun and entertaining.  The first night, Josiah talked his way up on the stage by telling them "I know everything about airplanes" (aviation theme).  He took someone else's spot as co-pilot.  He loved every minute and still asks me when the next VBS will be.
*I weaned Levi - hooray for freedom!!! 
*We took the boys to Incredible Pizza for games (Josiah loved the lazer tag!).

Coming soon: first half of August updates (and me being caught up with the blog!)

104 days of summer vacation...

May 17th was Josiah's last day of his first year of preschool!  He had fun, learned a lot, and met a lot of new friends.  It was a great outlet for him, even if he was the youngest kid in his class.  The last week of school they took a class field trip to Jump Mania.  He had a lot of fun until close to the end when his chin had a collision with his friend's head, causing him to bite his tongue.  Mouth injuries always bleed a lot and look really bad, but thankfully they heal quickly!  No stitches required.  Also thankful he was wearing a red shirt!

Josiah has had a fun and busy summer so far!  The day after his last day of school I took him to Bass Pro to celebrate.  They had a big pool set up so people could try out the kayaks.  He had a blast and didn't even tip over!  :)  He also got to play on the boats, 4 wheelers, and gators, as well as play with the toys.  His idea of a perfect day!

The next week (21st), we had Josiah's cousins Trent (6) and Bryan (16) stay with us for a night.   Josiah had SO much fun playing with them.  They drove around in his police car, climbed trees, and basically did as many boy things as they could think of.  That night they went fishing in the back yard and then made s'mores.

Here is a turkey that lives in our woods.  We occasionally get to see her come drink out of the pond.  Josiah is hoping she has babies so that he can kill and eat her, then raise the babies.  Then when they get older and have their own babies, we will kill and eat them, and raise their babies (and so on and so forth).  He thought up this plan all on his own!

On Sunday the 27th we went to Branson with my side of the family for a week.  Josiah loved getting to play with his cousins, and Levi started to warm up to them by the end of the week.  :)

A few of the things we did in Branson:

1. Relax (it was a much needed break!)















2. Play on the playground and eat popsicles.

 3. Silver Dollar City (Josiah even rode a couple of roller coasters!)

This is one of the kid rides, but they still love it!

 A ride where you get a gun - not entirely sure Josiah didn't invent this one.

 They even had stuff Levi could do!

 Thankfully he didn't try to eat the balls!

 The day we went was nice until the afternoon when we got drenched on a water ride, and then the weather quickly cooled off and it started raining.  This is the kids trying to warm up when we got back!

4. National Tiger Sanctuary - this place was really cool.  You are literally 3 feet away from these 600-750 pound cats.  The pic below is one of the smaller tigers.  They have about 10 tigers (some of them white), 1 lion, 1 panther, and 1 cougar.  It was a little intimidating being that close to such powerful animals.  Even the 70 lb panther - it can carry a 200 lb person 50 feet up a tree!  All of these animals were born in captivity and rescued - a lot of them were being kept at people's homes as pets.  Craziness!!

Since our Branson trip, we have also visited Grandma Regehr and made a trip to the pool.  It is shaping up to be a fun summer!

Levi now has 4 teeth - two on top and two on bottom.  He has more hair than Josiah had when he turned 2!  He is 11 months old now and I have started weaning him, which he is not a fan of.  It has been a little rough but he is starting to get used to the idea.  He is not walking yet but I know it won't be too long.  I love my little joyful baby!

Josiah is getting so big.  He wears a lot of 7T shirts and he looks so much older than he is.  He makes us laugh every day.  He is still having some tummy issues, but seems to be doing a little better as of this post. 

The heifers are doing great, and hopefully next year they will be moms!

We have officially been in our house for over a year now.  It is hard to believe it has gone by so fast.  It has been a very intense year of change and transition, but we are very thankful for everything God has done for us, not the least of which is surviving it all!