End of Summer

What marks the end of summer for us is when we take down our pool. It is easier to take down than it is to put up for sure. It is always cool to me to see all the water come rushing out once it is taken down. This year Dan had a little help in taking down the pool. Joshua was so excited to see all this water coming from everywhere. He was a great helper and did exactly what daddy did(literally)!

And the walls come down...

Like father...

like son.

Joshua was pushing with all his might and making grunting noises. It was funny!

Now to the fun part...playing in all the water from the pool. It was like a mini lake in our backyard! Joshua loved it!!!

You can see how high the water is in this picture. Almost to Joshua's knees.

Good-bye Summer!!! Hello Fall!!!

A Trip to the Zoo!

Today, we met Mimi and Papa at the Waco Zoo! It was a great day and the weather was perfect! This was Joshua's 3rd time to go to a zoo. In his short little life he has been to 3 different zoos, The San Antonio Zoo, The Nebraska Zoo and now he can add The Waco Zoo to his list. I will have to say that today's trip he was a little more into seeing the animals and making the sounds that they make. Granted he was only a baby when he went the other two times!

Joshua's 1st trip to the zoo went a little something like this:

His 2nd trip was in Nebraska and he is about 8 months old, at least he is awake, right?

and now 3 years later; we got to the zoo right when they opened so, it was not very crowded while we were there. It was really nice and Joshua was having a blast!

Showing us on the map what animals he wants to see first

Mimi and Joshua in the Rain forest.

Fierce lion! Well, not in this picture, but he did show off a little for us by rolling over and putting his tummy in the air...funny!!

So, towards the end and after alot of walking Joshua was about done and all he wanted to do was play with his cars.

He did stop long enough to view the elephants and tell us what sound an elephant makes. He was pretty close!

The giraffes! I can't get over how tall these animals are! Super tall! Joshua wanted to "pet" them, ummmm I don't think that would be a good idea!

This "big cat" was asleep when we first went to look at him and then he woke up and rolled over like he wanted us to scratch his belly. Ha! He put his paw up and Joshua gave him a "five". In the picture below it looks like Joshua is saying you want me to do what!?!? haha!

Joshua had such a great time at the zoo and getting to spend time with Mimi and Papa. He loved looking at all the animals and trying to "call" them over to him so he could "pet" them. His favorite part of the zoo, I think were the aquariums and the otter exhibit! He loved that otter exhibit. He would get so tickled and excited every time the otter would swim towards him or spin. It was really cute to watch him. After the zoo we met uncle Eric and all went to have lunch. It was a great time and Joshua did very well for all the walking he did and not getting in a good nap. He actually fell asleep about 10 mins after we sat down for lunch and slept throughout the meal.
He woke up just as it was time to leave to head home. Thanks for the fun day Mimi and Papa!

Nursery Rhyme Parade

Joshua's school put on a Nursery Rhyme Parade today! It was really cute and each class (including the babies) presented a nursery rhyme. Johsua's class recited "Little Boy Blue". They have been practicing for the last couple of weeks and we even practiced at home with Joshua. Ms. Maria let them pick if they wanted to be a cow or a sheep and Joshua chose to be a sheep. One of Joshua's little friends said that he didn't want to be little boy blue, he just wanted to be Lukas(hahaha)! So, I went early to help get the kiddos dressed in there cute costumes, but when it came time to put on Joshua's sheep costume, he was not having any part of it. He refused to put on the sheep costume and then I tried a cow costume and he said "NO!" to that one too. Oh well! I decided I would sneak out so I could go and get a seat while Joshua was distracted with some blocks(I really didn't feel like being part of the parade).

They all marched in a line starting with the babies and ending with pre-k.

and when Joshua's class came around the corner, I see Joshua holding his blanket and Ms. Maria's hand.

Then Joshua decides he doesn't want to march anymore and just stops right in the middle of the parade. So Ms. Maria had to pick him up and carry him the rest of the way.

"Little boy blue come blow your horn, the sheep in the meadow and the cows in the corn. Where is the boy who watches the sheep? He is behind the haystack fast asleep..."

Yes, Joshua has his finger in his mouth, not his thumb, but his index finger. He has been doing this lately. I don't know if it is a nervous habit or what. Still cute!

All done! YAY!!! Great Job Turtle class!!

So, today showed Joshua in true form with doing the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do, but that is ok, because there were no tears and he sat there and they all did a great job!

YAY FOR THE NURSERY RHYME PARADE!!!

Casual Conversations

There are alot of random conversations at our house these days. Joshua's vocabulary is expanding and his personality is full steam ahead! These conversations are random, but if I don't blog about it then I will forget them since everyday is a new day!!

Dan: Joshua please take a bite of your rice
Joshua: No, thank you, just chicken

Dan: Let's play bowling on the Wii.
Joshua: Oh yeah! Give me a five!!!

As he is drawing a circle : It's a fish, it's a "b", it's a "6", ummm, no it's a circle!

After he eats anything that he likes, he says "mmmm, delicious"

Me: Joshua did you play with Andrew at school today?
Joshua: yea and with cars.

Me: Joshua it is time to get up and get ready for school
Joshua: Where's daddy?
Me: Daddy is at work, but mommy is here
Joshua: (sighs) and then says "bye, shut the door!"

When he is trying to decide what to do he says " how bout ______"

When watching football, he yells at the TV "go, go, go, touchdown!!"(even if it isn't a touchdown)

We are working on the concept of sharing. In Joshua's mind it is one-sided.
Dan: I will play with the red car and Joshua can play with the yellow car
Joshua: No, I play with red car
Dan: No, you have the yellow car, you have to share.
Joshua: Daddy, share wit me
(Still needs some more work, because apparently you share with Joshua but he isn't to keen on the idea of sharing with you.)

Joshua to our dog: Get down and go time out, right now!

Before bed one night:
Joshua: Go see Andrew
Me: Not tonight, in the morning when you go to school
Joshua: Go see Andrew, please!!!
Me: If you close your eyes and go to sleep then you can wake up and see Andrew
Joshua shuts his eyes and then opens them and says "where's Andrew" I guess I should have explained it a little better. Genesis kid!!!

Joshua: Momma, I have hiccups, hear them....as he makes this crazy noise with his throat and shrugs his shoulders

These are just a few of the conversations or sayings that I can remember. I know there are many more. It is so cute to hear him talk and have actual conversations. He is growing up so fast!

A little something to start your week...

Joshua does one of his favorite dances...The Hokey Pokey! Turn up the volume and enjoy!!!

Sneaky Sleeper

Joshua has become a sneaky little sleeper. For awhile we were having problems with Joshua getting out of bed and completely melting down unless I held him until he fell asleep. Well, we thought we had resolved that issue but apparently every once in awhile he sneaks out of bed and tries to escape his room. He can open his door with no problem, and usually does and walks out smiling but I guess sleep got the best of him, because when Dan went to check on him before bed, he just happened to look down before opening the door(thank goodness) and found this:

We never heard Joshua get out of his bed and try to open the door. We even had the monitor turned on. Sneaky, sneaky! After Dan pushed his little hand back under the door and squeezed his body through the small opening he made with the door, he found this

Attempting to escape is exhausting!

Dan picked Joshua up without ever waking him and put him back in bed where Joshua stayed the rest of the night or at least we think he did...heehee!

Hook'Em the Bear

I had heard about this new Lego store that had 8ft Toy Story characters built completely out of Legos, so I thought Joshua would love to see them and enjoy looking at all the Legos. So, on Saturday morning we headed down to Barton Creek Mall which is about 20 to 30 mins away to the Lego store. I am not going to lie I think I was more excited to see these Lego characters than Joshua. We walk into the Lego store and to much disappointment the 8ft characters were nowhere to be found. Apparently we missed them by a day! They had just been there for the grand opening that was a month ago and they were on there way to Detroit for another grand opening. BUMMER!!! I am actually thankful that Joshua still doesn't understand some of the things we take him too, so therefore when there is a disappointment like this one, he is still good to go. He was all over that Lego store. They did have some really cool displays and Legos. So we left the store and Dan said that we needed to do something else for Joshua, because we didn't drive all the way down to this mall just to leave after being there for 10 mins. So, Dan decided that we should take Joshua to Build-A-Bear. We both thought he would really like that, since he loves to see how things work and get put together. So below is the picture story of how Hook'Em the Bear came to be.

Joshua trying to see which one he wanted from outside the store. He eventually went in and chose a bear.

About to stuff the bear. He didn't care too much for the stuffing, he wanted to push the buttons on the side(4 little heart buttons in the pic)

watching the lady stuff the bear

choosing the perfect heart for his bear

helping put the heart inside the bear

"Bath time"!! This was Joshua's favorite part. He washed the bear 3 times until we finally had to pick him up and move him to the next station

Time to choose the name and make the birth certificate.

Meet Hook'Em the Bear!!!

Joshua loves "Hook'Em"!!!(at the time he was playing and didn't want to take a picture with the bear, so this is the best I could get.)

So, that is the story of how Hook'Em the Bear came to be! Joshua loves this bear. He sleeps with it, does the hokey poky with him and covers him up when it is time to go "night, night". Last night Joshua told Dan to take the shirt off of Hook'Em because it was time to go to sleep. I guess he thought since he has to change clothes to go to bed so should Hook'Em.

Hook'em Saturday!

This weekend our friend, Jana came for a visit and she surprised us with tickets to the UT game that was on Sat. We were all stoked, especially the guys! Luckily, my mom was in town and was able to watch Joshua so we could enjoy our Saturday, kid free. I was so thankful she was able to watch him, because I think Joshua would have been miserable with all the walking that we did and how he would not have wanted to sit and watch! The game started at 6 and we left around 230, because we thought the traffic was going to be terrible, but it wasn't, so we decided to go hang out at a bar and grill among the other fans until it was time for the game. We had so much fun! It was extremely HOT, but despite the heat and us being nasty sweaty we had a great time and Texas won!! It was a good time with my husband, my brother and my friend! It was a great surprise and we thank you again, Jana for the fun filled Saturday!!!

Make-up melting off but still having a great time

The band performing