My Little Book Worm

Josiah has always been interested in being read to and now is very motivated to learn to read and spell himself. Some days Greg and I can't even spell words to each other without Josiah figuring out what we are saying. Here is a little video from one of the cool websites we frequent to practice reading.

She's Growing up - 1 year old

A Birthday Celebration

Today we had a few friends and family over to celebrate Naomi's 1st birthday. Her Birthday is actually on the 26th, but we had a fun today anyway. She took a good nap in the morning before everyone arrived for lunch. The menu consisted of Korean Bulgolgi, brats, hot dogs, salad, fruit and mac 'n cheese. The Bulgolgi was a big hit and the kids loved the hot dogs and mac 'n cheese. Even Naomi. We have been slowly introducing her to regular food. I think after today she is not going to go for the rice cereal and pureed fruit and veg. She is a big fan of big people food. After lunch and lots of outside play, we brought out the beautiful cake that Laura made for Naomi. It was not only beautiful, but delicious too. Naomi LOVES cake and ice cream. She was even diving for the spoon for more ice cream. Watching her dive into her cake was priceless. Needless to say we had to give her a bath after eating it. After a quick bath and change of clothes we worked on opening gift. Greg described the event perfectly. He said that all the older kids were like a bunch of Parana fish just digging into their prey. They all helped rip the wrapping paper off all her gifts. She has played with all her new toys already. She got a baby doll from Greg and I, A popping toy from Josiah, a baby stroller from Grandma and Grandpa, a wooed alphabet puzzle from the Zoeller"s, a pretty pink book from the Donaldson's and a fish bowl toy from Granny and Grandpa. Naomi took a nap after lunch, the other kids played in the basement and the adults still standing played the Wii. We had a great day.

And She's Off

Father's Day

For Father's day we bought Greg and new hammock stand for his hammock so that he can lay in the shade in the backyard and relax. After assembling the stand and hanging the hammock last week we had a really big storm and the box for the stand got filled with water. No sooner had the rain stopped, and my two kids were outside playing in the water. Greg I hope you had a good Father's day. And Happy Father's day to all those Dad's that read my blog.

I Have a New Nephew

On Wednesday June 11th my sister had a scheduled C-section for the birth of her 2nd son. She was scheduled to be at the hospital at 7am, but at 1am her water broke. My Dad tells me that even though my sister is much like him most of the time, at 1am she was definitely just like my mother. Before she could go to the hospital, she had to iron her clothes so that she would look "respectable". This is absolutely something my mom would do. Any way she did have the C-section and mother and baby are doing fine. Her son's name is Hein and his big brother is Jaco.

Pictures from top: Granny, Mom, Jaco and Hein
top right: Grandpa and Hein
bottom left: Great Granny, Jaco and Hein
Bottom right: Proud big brother, Jaco, and Hein

Fun with the Zoeller's

This weekend we went to Clifty Falls State Park to visit with our friends that were camping there. The hour trip was fairly uneventful until the last 20 minutes. Josiah started crying and whining about wanting to be there and not wanting to be in the car. He said that he was going to throw up and that we needed to get there. We of course thought it was one of his ways of trying to make us do exactly what he wanted. I gave him a small cup and told him if he had to throw up to make sure it landed in the cup. Greg thought I was cruel. Josiah promptly said he didn't think he was going to need the cup. About 5 minutes later we arrived at the park and saw the Zoeller's. We got out of the car and Josiah proceeded to throw up. We were all shocked. "I feel much better now!" he exclaimed and then went on with his day like nothing happened.We all went on a hike to see the waterfalls and then went back to the campsite for lunch and some good old fashioned fun (run them 'till they can't go anymore!) After playing soccer and football we all went swimming. Poor little Naomi had very little rest that day and was rightfully cranky by the time we changed into dry clothes and headed home. We had so much fun and we were all exhausted by the time we got home. Thanks Chris and Laura for the fun day.
See our slideshow bellow.

To Market, To Market...

(in the style of the poem To Market , To market)

To Huber's Farm Market for strawberries big
For short cakes, pies and a lemonaide swig
Picked 'em all picked 'em all, more than we ate
Big fat and juicy, Boy they were great

We chased all the geese and fed a small goat
Rode an orange tractor, Did more than we wrote
Home from the market, baskets filled to the brim
With berries and memories for us and for them

Six Flags - fun, fun, fun

Yesterday we went with Aunt Melody and Leah as guest to Six Flags for the day. Josiah started out very tentative of the rides and didn't want to try anything. Of course the pushy mom that I am forced him onto a ride or two. After he had ridden a ride once with force he wanted to ride that same ride over and over again. We have noticed with Josiah that even though he plays very rough and is very rowdy most of the time, if something is new he is very tentative and scared. He doesn't like to try new things and we have to force him into new experiences a lot. After a tearful morning of wanting to ride and not wanting to ride we decided to have lunch and then go to the water park. We had a very expensive chicken finger and fries lunch and then off to swim.

Josiah loves to swim and this was the highlight of his day. His most favorite part of the water park was the wave pool. He jumped over the waves, got knocked over by the waves and dove under them. He had a blast. Unfortunately I didn't get any water park pictures. I spent my time with Naomi sleeping for half of the time and the other half in the water with her. We relaxed down the lazy river a few times, but for her, she wanted to be in the water splashing even though it was ice cold. We had a great day in the sun and water.