Random cell phone videos from our time in Midland

These videos don't really belong in any specific post, so here is a smattering of clips of the cutest boy in the whole wide world.

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Riding the Big Rig at Walmart

June 26, 2010

Funny laugh he learned from Uncle Steven

July 5, 2010

Dancing to the truck song

July 9, 2010

Scared of Monsters

July 20, 2010

Splash Park

July 26, 2010

Counting with Blocks

July 28, 2010

Falling Asleep in High Chair

August 8, 2010

Josh Learning to Read

August 26, 2010

Camping

A couple weekends ago, we joined our friends at a campground for some yummy tin foil dinners and outdoor exploring. We chose not to spend the night because our last experience in a tent with Josh was possibly the worst night of sleep ever. So, in our opinion, we got to do all the fun parts of camping without all the work! Only because our friends were so wonderful to invite us. Amber made foil dinners for everyone, brought all the supplies for a fire and smores, and set up the camp site. Here is the WonderWoman herself with our munchkins.

The boys loved checking out the creek. They were really set on finding a crocodile out there.

But apparently they weren't completely fearless. Whatever I said to make them look at the camera, it seems to have scared them! (And don't even think about saying "Maybe it was your face!")

A couple of natural beauties!

I took the boys on a very short hike to collect firewood. While I trudged back TigerLily-style with two armfuls of  fallen branches, the boys were more interested in sticks that looked like spears or guns...anything to be used against crocodiles (a serious threat in the Michigan woods).

Precious little girl. This was her response when her mommy told her to get ready for the dinner prayer. Doesn't she look like she came straight from the Sacred Grove?

The little ones  found this secret clubhouse between some trees and liked to hide in it. I'm so mad I didn't get a good picture of both of them looking! It was the cutest thing. Very romantic.

I showed my little buddy how to write in the air with a smoking stick. One of my all time favorite camping activities -- playing with fire!

On our walk to the creek, Mark picked a bunch of flowers and constructed this pretty little bouquet for his lady. He was real proud of it, too. It was a very sweet interaction to behold.

And of course I'm not in any pictures because I'm always behind the camera. But I promise I was there. It was a splendid evening! 

Sometimes parents just don't understand...

During the closing prayer at church on Sunday...

Matt (whispering):  "Don't pick your nose, Josh. It's gross."

Josh (very loud and assertively):
"I have to pick my nose so I don't have boogers!"

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After watching The Dinosaur Train on TV, 

Josh lets out a loud roar from the couch...

Me:  "Oooh, are you a scary T-Rex?"

Josh:  "No, I'm not a T-Rex."

Me:  "Are you a stegosaurus?"

Josh (getting impatient with my dumb questions): 

"Noooo, I'm not a stegosaurus."

Me:  "Are you a...triceratops?"

Josh (almost angry at my ignorance): 

"No, I'm not a triceratops! I don't have three horns on my head!"

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We are such a disappointment to him.

Josh the Big Boy

It's time to admit that I no longer have a Baby Joshua at home. He is officially a little boy. A wild, messy, coordinated, talkative, affectionate, opinionated little boy.

Some of the things he does and says lately:

Upon seeing me climb onto a chair to take a picture of things on the table: 

"Mommy that dangerous! Get down please!"

When I offer something he wants, like a drink of juice or a trip to the park, or if I answer one of his questions in a way that pleases him:

"Exactly!"

Holding my face to get my attention when I'm ignoring him or talking to someone else:

"Um excuse me..."

Desperately, standing on tiptoes below me, reaching as high as he can, begging me to carry him, in a voice broken up by fake pouts:

"Mommy I wanna hold you so much!" 

Showing off my new clothes I ordered online, I walked into his room wearing a collared button-down feminine shirt yesterday. He looked up from his toys and said "You're silly, Mommy. That's Daddy's shirt!" and kept insisting it was Daddy's even after a long discussion. Then when I showed him my new skirt, he said "Oh, are you so handsome?" Quite the fashion critic.

For a few days, his first answer to everything was "No thank you." Even to good things. And when he really meant it, he would yell it in an angry voice that made me laugh every time. Now he's got the hang of it, but only uses it when he's trying to be nice.

I cannot believe how BIG he has gotten! He used to be a tiny, skinny little infant! Now he's so tall and solid and I can hardly carry him without losing my breath.

When he wakes up, he always greets me with "I had a nice nap!" or "I had a good sleep!"

He "helps" me sew by playing with pins at the table, sticking them into fabric scraps and dropping them onto the floor. When I lay out a new fabric to cut, he gently smooths it out with his hands whispering "It's sooo pretty."

He is so dang coordinated. He can work his trike pedals, catch and throw a ball, climb everything, and he had amazing fine motor skills. Already he tries to color in the lines, and he holds a pen like he has a purpose. The above picture was in Nursery one day at church. He didn't want to leave because he was very focused on finishing his picture. (Tongue out and everything.) I love this picture because he looks like a super nerd, like me.

He is really into pretend play now. It's a good thing and a bad thing. Somehow he has decided that there are monsters in all dark places and they are going to get him if he's alone. He wouldn't even play in this cool fort I built him without me laying down in it with him. Have you ever heard of a two year old being scared of monsters?! I'm sure it's genetic. His parents don't like being alone either.

He pretends to catch fish in our now-empty fish bowl and "feeds" them the colorful rocks from the bottom.

He pretends to go potty in the toilet, standing in front of it, pulling the front of his pants down, and making a "pssss" sound. Keep it up 'til potty-training, buddy!

He likes to pretend to cook whenever you put food, multiple dishes, and utensils in front of him. Any time we sit at the dinner table as a family, he snatches our leftovers and tries to create his own delicious concoctions, always asking for a shake of the salt, pepper, and paprika most recently. As you can imagine, we are in the market for a toy kitchen very soon so he'll leave ours alone!

When Grandma Snow came to visit for a week, she and Josh immediately started this game of counting at every stoplight until the light turned green. Some of them were pretty long waits, and they'd get up into the 40s together. Now he counts on his own so well! Yesterday I heard him counting all the way to 30 by himself! (skipping number 15 and number 20, but still, I was impressed!)

He's becoming very good at organizing. He likes to help me sort buttons into piles according to their color. Sometimes I'll find a stack of books neatly piled in the middle of the floor. He loves to stack things -- tupperware, blocks, cans, you name it. Here is a picture of him lining up his toys in a very straight train.

Okay sorry for all the gushing and gloating. It's over now. I love my baby boy!

More of Michigan

We've been trying to take advantage of our summer and all the fun things Midland has to offer. There's not much time left! Here's what we've been up to....

This is the Tridge. It's like three bridges that meet in the middle at a fork in the river. It's absolutely gorgeous, and very romantic at night when it's all lit up. It reminds me of my hometown because Redding's best tourist spot is also a bridge.

Matt has been missing out on our days at the Country Club pool this summer, so we decided to go after work one day. He took Josh into the big pool and played basketball with him. They had so much fun! Josh kept asking to jump off the diving board, but that wasn't going to happen in the deep end with no floaties, so he had to settle for jumping off the side. He was extremely upset to leave when the pool closed at 8:00.

These pictures are from "Touch a Truck" day at the library last week. A bunch of city trucks (garbage truck, fire truck, tractors, SWAT team truck, etc.) came and parked in the library lot and let all the kids take turns sitting in the driver's seats, pulling levers, pushing buttons...a dream come true! Almost. I'm pretty sure every single child in Midland was there, so there were huge lines for every truck. Josh didn't quite understand the concept of waiting his turn, so we ended up heading into the library to play with trains instead.

You can tell that the hype kind of died down by the time he reached the front of the line. Nose picker.

This is an awesome little spray park at an elementary school. Our ward has a huge play group every Monday and this was the spot last week. Josh was a little tired and intimidated by so many kids I think, so he didn't play much. But he loved to watch!

This magical place is "Bronner's Christmas Wonderland" in Frankenmuth, a little German-style town about 45 minutes from Midland. It is the biggest Christmas store I have ever seen!!! So big, they give you a map when you walk in. Any kind of ornament you could every want, they have it. Seriously. And they're all about keeping Christ in Christmas, which is very refreshing, so there are all kinds of nativity scenes. It's glorious.

Anyone with an upcoming December wedding need a dress? Everyone would be jealous if you wore this!

These are some of our favorite people in Midland. I love these kiddos!

This was in Saginaw, 30 minutes away, waiting for a table at Olive Garden. I NEED Olive Garden's soup, salad, and breadsticks in my life. It's worth the drive, worth the wait, and worth the money occasionally. However, we happened to show up right after an enormous group of Jehovah's Witnesses, coming from a  convention in town. I guess Olive Garden to them is like the Red Robin of LDS General Conference. Everyone goes there to eat afterward. We waited 45 minutes for a table. Luckily, Josh is easily entertained by rocks and bushes.

I'm not done yet. I need to take my camera around Midland and get some shots of my favorite parts. Lots of character here. Stay tuned!

Josh's First Pets

On Monday evening, we took a family trip to Walmart and came home with SIX GOLDFISH! Josh always spends some time watching the fish in the back of the store, and last week we decided it was good time to get his first pets. We chose goldfish because they were 28 cents a piece and we didn't want fish that would live too long since we're moving back to Chicago in a month.

Little did we know that it would take a whopping SIX DAYS for every last fish in our bowl to keel over. Six days!!! What in the world?! I cleaned the tank on the third day, hoping it would help the survivors of the first death plague, but apparently it didn't. I probably did something wrong to help them on their way even faster. I know nothing about caring for pets, even the simplest ones. So there you have it -- I'm probably a murderer of innocent creatures.

Though they didn't last long, Josh sure loved his little fish. He was so excited to feed them every morning and night that I didn't even have to remember to do it myself. He really loved them. Maybe too much. After we fed them the second morning, before I put them back up on Josh's tall dresser for the day, I caught him fishing around with BOTH hands in the bowl, laughing hysterically and splashing stinky fish water all over the table. Not good. The next day I caught him shaking a Thanksgiving feast into their bowl after I thought I had put the fish food away. Not good. Apparently if you feed goldfish the slightest bit too much or too little, they die. I'd like to think that Josh and his disgusting little hands were responsible for some of the casualties, but they were probably due to the one night we forgot to feed them. And the bleach I may or may not have spilled in their bowl. Just kidding.

I'm not in any hurry to buy more fish. Not unless they can clean their own bowl and bury their own dead. This morning when we found the last one floating lifeless in his bowl, Matt said "It's a good thing we're better at raising humans than fish." Let's hope so.