Walrods in KC

We were very excited for Jason's sister and family to come visit! Our nephew Trent saved up all his money because he wanted to stay in a hotel room. So he was able to stay on the Plaza and pay for it (mostly) himself. Pretty impressive! We all got to hang out at the pool:

Trent and Josiah had fun playing in the hotel room closet. Trent kept reminding us that this was HIS room.
On Sunday we all went to the zoo. It was a great day and Bryan pulled the wagon with Josiah and Trent in it, so Jason and I got off easy!

Josiah and Trent had fun riding the caurosel. I think Josiah liked that better than seeing the real animals. Probably because he can't ride on the real ones. Pesky zoo rules.

Have a great week everyone!

Fire Station

Josiah had a blast at the Parents as Teachers fire station visit. He loves anything to do with trucks, especially when he gets to drive. Here are some fun pics. Enjoy!

Easter at BPS

We went to Bass Pro Shop for Easter. What? That's not everyone's Easter tradition?

Josiah had a great time getting his picture taken with the Easter bunny, and was not scared of it at all.

BPS is one of Josiah's favorite places. He likes to go to the boat center and "drive" the boats. I'm sure the employees hate us. We generally do not buy anything, and Josiah runs around screaming "dive boats!". And of course he is not a gentle boat handler. But, I figure we make up for it with Jason's purchases. Plus I am indoctrinating a future BPS shopper.

Fire Station and Walrod visit pics coming soon!

St. Patricks Weekend and Easter

The weekend after St. Patrick's day we visited Jason's side of the family.

We got to see Grandma Mary (who had just had shoulder surgery):

Josiah bonded with his 4 year old cousin Trent over some fresh fallen snow (retrieved through the doggie door).

Cousin Samantha helped babysit:

Discussing big trucks with Paw Paw:

The week before Easter, we went to our friend Lisa's house for a great party. She had fun activities including planting flowers, making/decorating wear-able bunny ears, and of course hunting for Easter eggs. The party was complete with egg-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches and a take-home goodie bag with an egg-shaped rice kripy treat!

Josiah, however, was most impressed by the lawn mower in Lisa's garage. Here he is with his friend Asher:

On the hunt for eggs:

Driving his friend Andrew around in the yard:

We went to visit my family for Easter.

This is the "before" picture in the Easter egg dying process. Josiah quickly got bored with this, so there isn't an "after" picture.

We got to meet our new baby niece (Josiah's newest cousin) Ella for the first time!

Josiah enjoyed riding on the toy tractor. Especially when someone else was willing to push.

Hanging out with Grandma Lucy (this was the first time he had been to her house!):

Posing with Daddy at the church breakfast:

Happy belated Easter! Hooray for spring!!!

Coming soon: picture with the Easter bunny at Bass Pro Shop, Fire Station tour, and visit from the Walrods!

1Q 2010

Playing in the snow...

Our friends Genevieve and Olivienne visit!

Which one of these blocks is the lighter?

First time bowling:

Daddy's boots are fun toys.

Jason's birthday:

Wearing Daddy's hat:

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Blog updates coming soon: St. Patrick's day weekend and Easter!

Story time

Josiah is hilarious. Just wanted to fill you in on a couple of things that have happened over the past month.

Snow Days
When we first had our big snow (just before the insanely cold temperatures came and before he got sick) I took Josiah sledding. We got all bundled up and went to Antioch Park. We found a good hill and I got him out of the truck along with the 2-man sled. Unfortunately he had no interest in walking in the snow. So I ended up carrying him and the sled to the top of the hill. The first time we went down, when we got to the bottom I asked him if that was fun and he said "yeah". Do you want to do that again? "No". So being the good mother that I am, I told him "too bad - we are already out here so we are going to sled and you are GOING to have fun". After carrying my 30 lb little guy up the hill a couple of times, my arm was getting tired. So while I was walking up the hill he would gradually start sliding down my hip. He did not like the feeling that he might fall, so he would start grunting as if he was trying his hardest and using all his muscles to stay up. It was hilarious. I had to stop in the middle of the hill several times because I was laughing too hard to continue. Sorry that was SUCH hard work for you Josiah! By the end of our time in the snow, he was having fun and had discovered that he could make snowballs and throw them at me. I guess I deserved it. And now he loves to walk in the snow - in fact today he was tromping through the yard in the drastically decreased amount of remaining snow. We even built a miniature snow man today. Well, mostly I built it - he just enjoyed knocking it's head off and laughing. Sorry there are no accompanying pictures, but I just wanted to share that story (which I'm sure would be much funnier if you had been there...).

In other news, Josiah continues to amaze me with his talking skills. A couple weeks ago he said the words "mistletoe" (I got him a clearanced Christmas book with mistletoe in it) and "green anaconda" (which sounds more like 'geen conda'). He got the latter one from watching this song/cartoon. He also loves this song about elephants. And this song about rhinos. He is only 2 and already addicted to YouTube.

To make up for the lack of pictures in this post, I am adding a cute video. Enjoy!

Neglected holidays

Christmas is an important holiday, but it seems that I have overlooked Halloween and Thankgiving altogether (at least as far as this blog is concerned). So I am back tracking to remedy the situation.

HALLOWEEN
Trick-or-treating with his friend Andrew at the businesses close to our house:
Showing off his loot (M&Ms were his favorite):
This picture is just so you can see his authentic Samurai pony tail:
Indiana Jones and the littlest Samurai:
Trick-or-treating at the Parents as Teachers playcenter:
We got fun Halloween balloons and decorated cookies at Whole Foods:
HUNTING
While not technically a holiday, hunting pretty much has the same status in our household.
Making cookies with grandma:
Posing with daddy's 4 point buck (he still says "daddy broke deer"):
Making a pie with granny:
"Driving" one of Paw Paw's tractors. I could barely get him away from them:
THANKSGIVING
The highlight of Josiah's Thanksgiving was getting to "drive" the fire truck at the fire station where my cousin Kurt works:
He also had fun hanging out with his cousins:
We also had fun visiting family and getting to see my mom's cousin Pat who drove up from TX to see everyone.

This ends my tribute to Halloween, hunting, and Thanksgiving. Happy New Year's Eve - I won't be blogging again until 2010!