Our Trip to Nebraska

We had so much fun in Nebraska. It was nice getting to see everyone and the wedding was great! Congrats to Dustin and Emily again! I had too many pics to share, so I thought I would put them in this little slide show. We had a great time relaxing, celebrating, swimming, going to the park and much, much more! It was a great mini vacation!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Big Plane + Toddler = Adventure

So, this past weekend we went to see Dan's family in Nebraska. I will post more about the weekend in the next blog. I just wanted to talk a little bit about the plane ride in itself. This was actually Joshua's 2nd plane trip to Nebraska. We went over 4th of July last summer, but he was only 7 months old and didn't have a whole lot of interest in the plane trip. This time was a different story! Joshua was very well behaved considering all the sitting that he had to do. I had brought lots of snacks and books for him to do while we were on the plane, or waiting to get on the plane. We were told on more than one occasion by other passengers on our flights that Joshua was a very good traveler(ahhh, a proud mommy moment). Ok, back to the post. Dan had this brilliant idea to load a bunch of kid songs on one of my old ipods for him to use. I thought what the heck couldn't hurt. Man oh man was this a BRILLIANT idea. Joshua loved it! When he would start to get restless we just turned on the ipod(don't worry it was at a safe volume, so his ears were not harmed). Joshua kept himself occupied throughout the plane rides and waiting in the airport. I have posted a few pics to show you what he did on and off the plane.


Joshua was very attentive while the flight attendants demonstrated all the safety information. So, much that he followed along with them! Of all the books that I brought, this emergency/safety pamphlet was his favorite thing to look at while on the plane. I am not kidding!

Here is Joshua listening to his wonder pets song on the ipod! My husband is brilliant! What a great idea this was. We will be using this idea again!

Everyone knows a toddler can't sit still, so Joshua would make laps around the seats while waiting for the next plane. Thank goodness are layovers were not that long. Daddy and I got really dizzy going round and round. Joshua on the other hand thought it was hysterical!

The view was incredible(of course). Joshua loved looking out the window and would point and say "whoa". Too cute!

Joshua also did a lot of this! He would already be asleep by the time the plane was off the ground. I guess the engine put him to sleep, well and the fact that most of the flights were around bedtime and nap time. He partially slept on 3 out of 4 flights! What a great little man I have! He is a wonderful traveler! More about the actually time spent in Nebraska in the next post!

For Your Entertainment:

This video is of Joshua climbing into his stroller all by himself! It is a scary and proud moment! Scary because we are now at the climbing phase and the fact that we found him climbing and standing in his stroller. All it takes is a second, seriously! This little one is quick! We are proud of him as well, because he is accomplishing tasks on his own and becoming more independent! What a big boy he is becoming!!

This is the video of Joshua trying to "pet" the ducks. If you listen real close, it sounds like he is saying "quack, quack". I am not sure if that is exactly what he is saying but we will go with it, ok? I apologize in advance for me laughing, it was just too funny to watch him with those ducks. He loved being with all the animals this weekend. Who knows, maybe he will grow up and be a veterinarian.

A weekend at Grandpa Don & LeeLee's...

This past weekend we went to my Dad's and step mom's (Grandpa Don and LeeLee). We had so much fun feeding the baby ducks and geese and petting the horses. Joshua was especially found of the dog, Cambrick! I don't think Cambrick was too excited about Joshua though. Joshua just loved to chase her around and try to "pet" her. On Saturday we went to Kemah Boardwalk. Dan and I had never been there. It was really neat! There was so much to do and see. We had a wonderful time watching all the boats come through the channel and we even ate at this really cool restaurant called The Aquarium. They have tons of huge aquariums with each one having a different kind of species of fish. It was a great day! We enjoyed our time with Grandpa Don and LeeLee. We don't get to see them as often as we like, so when we are together it is a great time of fellowship, great cooking and relaxing! Thank you for a wonderful weekend!

So the boardwalk had a splash zone like the one I posted about before. Of course, Joshua was all about it! I had looked on the website and saw this, so I had packed an extra outfit just in case we came across the water!!!

This was inside the restaurant where we ate. This was one of the aquariums! Joshua was enthralled in all the fish swimming about!

Family picture in front of a pretty landscape


Joshua loved this area of the boardwalk. He loved looking at the water and all the boats. He couldn't keep still! The chase was on!

This was Joshua's first ride on a carousel! He wasn't too sure about it at first, but slowly decided it was a fun ride and didn't want to get off the horse when it was over. We also rode the Ferris wheel. Mommy was more nervous about that than Joshua. He loved looking at everything from way up high in the sky. Mommy isn't really afraid of heights, she was just nervous about Joshua wanting to get down while we were stopped in mid air...

Relaxing in the hammock and Grandpa and LeeLee's

This is Mocha, the horse. Joshua loved petting him. He wasn't even afraid to go into the stalls at all. He kept signing "more" after each petting. It was really cute! Mocha loved the extra scratching and attention Joshua gave him.

My dad also has a bunch of baby geese and ducks that he is raising for his pond. Joshua was quite intrigued by all these animals and had a ball getting to help feed and water and pet them all. I think Joshua's favorite was trying to catch them. I have a video I will post of him trying to "catch" the ducks!

Soundless Television....

that is what are TV in the living room is right now! For some reason the sound is out, but the picture works perfectly. Dan seems to think it is the cable box, because the Wii and DVD's all have sound when played. So, this leads me to the question what do you do when you have a TV that has no sound?? Well,....

1. You blog about it, because you would like everyone to feel your pain

2. You are forced to work out, because there is really nothing else to do.

3. You turn on the closed captions and try to keep up

4. You read ALOT of children's books(this really isn't bad, it was actually nice just sitting and reading to Joshua. He enjoyed it! I think I was up to 10 books read last time I counted)

5. You let Jillian from the "Biggest Looser" kick your butt with her new video that you bought(LEGS feel like JELLO!!!)

6. You watch your sweet husband try to figure out what is going on and try everything possible to fix it.

7. You call your cable company and sit on hold for forever, just to be told things that you have already tried and then say that they can't get someone out to the house until Thursday! Nice!!!

8. You make time to go outside and enjoy the evening.

9. You watch an episode or 2 of The Wonder Pets on DVD and play the Wii!!!

10. Gives you time to think about how much you depend on electronics and that it isn't really all that bad without the sound of the TV in the background. We are surviving the evening and it has actually been quite nice.

Mother's Day Weekend!!

First off, I would like to wish every Mommy that reads this blog a very Happy Mother's Day!
This was my 2nd mother's day and and it was just as special as the first one! Joshua has brought me such great joy over the past year and a half. I love being a Mom! It is one of the best blessings in life. I am so thankful that I had a mother that had great values, and was strong, loving and caring! She taught me so much and I hope Joshua thinks I am as good as a mom as she was and still is too me! I love you MOM!!! My mother's day was spent hanging out with family. We had such a great day! I opened my sweet cards and present from Joshua and Dan, it was a digital photo frame...pretty awesome!! Then we went swimming in our pool this afternoon and then out to eat with my brothers, sister n law and my nieces. I ended my mother's day with reading a sweet book to Joshua called, " I Love You This Much". It is such a precious book. Joshua actually picked it out and brought it to me to read to him. He handed me the book and climbed up in my lap and snuggled close while I read him the book. I wanted to freeze that moment, because that doesn't happen that often these days. Now that he can walk and has become more independent. It was a good way to end mother's day. Below is a picture of a cute little poem and foot prints that Joshua made me for Mother's Day at his daycare. It is on our fridge and I just love looking at it and reading the poem. So sweet!

I am going backwards in our weekend, but oh well! On Saturday we went to this FABULOUS, FREE Park. I just happened to stumble upon it online, while I was looking for other fun, water places. This place is amazing. It is totally kid friendly. It is called Brushy Creek Lake Spray Park, or something like that. When we chose to go here, we had no idea what we would find. Well, we hit the jackpot! It is fenced in and has all kinds of neat spray, shower, fountains. The kids went nuts! Joshua love, love, loved it! He ran through the fountains and sprinklers with all the other kids. On top of having the water/spray park, they had a huge covered sandbox, tons of shade and tons of pavilions for picnics and such. We will definitely be going back for sure. Did I mention the best part....FREE!!!! The kids had a blast and they all slept until 8 this morning...WHOO HOO!!! I got to sleep in on Mother's Day!! Below are some pics of the water/spray park and the park in our neighborhood.

UPDATE: Life with TWO kids in the house

So, a couple of post ago I shared that I would be watching my niece this entire week because her parents were on a week long cruise(Sun to Sun). So, I thought I would give everyone a little update and share some thoughts on how the week has been going, because I know everyone is dying to know! To be honest it hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going be. Jordan, who is 7 has been a big help with Joshua. She loves to play with him, which comes in handy when you are trying to cook dinner, get baths ready, etc. On that note, Joshua loves her as well. It is cute to watch them interact together. Jordan has to read 20 minutes every night and Joshua sat down one night to listen. Of course, he wanted to point and turn the pages. Jordan was a great sport. She continued to read while Joshua was trying to turn the pages. After she was done reading she turned the book around and showed Joshua all the pictures in the book. How cute is that! Right now, I am going to let you take a peek into a day at the Feldman's:
Wake up around 6:15am which is about 30 mins earlier than usual. That has taken some adjustment. Get Jordan fed, dressed and teeth brushed(thankfully Joshua is still alseep during most of this). Then it is out the door, oh wait can't forget the hair, have to fix the hair( it has been done a different way everyday)...haha! Ok, now it's out the door by 7:05. Dan takes her in the mornings because she has to be at school by 7:35. Now, it is just me and Joshua with our normal morning routine. School and work. Pickup Jordan around 5 and then head home to start dinner and homework. So, Dan and I take turns helping her with her homework, while the other plays with Joshua and then we eat dinner. After that there is some free time, which has been spent swimming, playing outside, etc. Around 7:15pm it is off to the bathtub, then teeth brushed, pajamas on and then quiet time. The magic time for bed is 8:30, which both kids go down at the same time. They go to bed without a fight...thank goodness! So by 9 Dan and I are zonked! Dan and I are in bed around 10:30 and then we wake up and do it all over again. Exhausted yet? I know, me too. Now that I have let you have a glimpse of our days, I have to say even though it has been hetic and crazy having to juggle everything, it has been great getting to spend this time with Jordan. She is such a delight and a big help. She told me the other night, that her favorite thing about coming over was that she gets to play and see Joshua, loves milo and she gets to take long, relaxing bubble baths(seriously, she said that)! She is soo funny! The other night after both kids were down, Dan was laying on the couch and I was reclined back in the chair watching TV, Dan piped up and said "ya know babe, two kids are exhausting!" I laughed and said "yea, I know, and the older one is self sufficient, imagine if she was younger" He said he didn't want too!

On Friday I will be going to get the other 2 that are staying with grandma. They will be staying with me until my brother and sister n law get back on Sunday afternoon. I know, that would make a house with 4 kids in it, but you can't leave the other ones out! They were thrilled to know that I was coming to get them and they were spending the night! How interesting it will be to go from ONE, to TWO to FOUR! It will be a great weekend filled with ALOT of time OUTSIDE!!!

"More Please"

We have been signing to Joshua since he was little and the only sign that seemed to stick was the "all done" sign. He chose to say the word more (mo) instead. The past week or so he has been signing "more" and "all done" back to back. Which is quite confusing when you are trying to figure out what he wants. Yesterday, we were playing with the bubble machine and Dan was turn it off and having Joshua sign more. Joshua finally got it and signed more and then we added the sign for "please". The video below is him signing "more" for the bubbles. We tried to get a video of him signing " more please", but he lost interest in the bubbles after a good 20 minutes of turning the machine on and off. Sorry the video is graining it was taken with my cell phone.

Random Happenings of the Week

• My step-brother and sister n law are going on a cruise for the week, so we are keeping my niece Jordan. Should be interesting to see what it is like with 2 kids in the house.

• We went to Super Target on Saturday and found toothbrushes that play music in your head while you brush your teeth. The vibration on your teeth causes the song to play in your head. It is really cool! They had everything from transformers to my little pony! Dan bought a toothbrush that plays the Indiana Jones theme song. He says it makes brushing your teeth more fun! I didn't get one because we didn't think it would work, now I wish I would have!! What can we say, we are kids at heart!!!

• When you give a child sidewalk chalk, your whole sidewalk becomes a canvas. Jordan has created a life size image of her mom on our sidewalk. Beautiful!!!

• Joshua is slowly mastering how to bend down and pick up an object without having to sit down completely. He just started trying this. It is funny to watch him. He goes down in slowly and takes his time and then after he comes back up he has a look of shock on his face, like he can't believe what just happened.

• Watch what you say! Every once in awhile Joshua will repeat something that we say. It isn't exactly what we say, but it is pretty close and we know what he was trying to say. Smart little boy!

• Joshua slept with a blanket through out the night last night for the first time!

• Joshua greets us at the door with a hug and "Hi"! It is the best thing to come home to!

• We signed Joshua up for swim lessons this past week. He will go Mon-Thurs. for 10 sessions starting June 8. We are looking forward to those lessons! We took them last year, but it was cut short, because he got a cold. Hopefully this year we can complete the lessons!

• Bubbles make everything better! We have a bubble machine that according to the box shoots out thousands of bubbles a minute! Entertainment for hours! Just make sure you buy an economy size bottle of bubbles!!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful week to come!!!!