Joel is almost three- I can list

wow! Where has the time gone. How is my baby almost three? I think back to a year ago and am happily amazed at how much he has developed into an amazing little boy. this time last year he was trying to talk but still only in single words and he used lots of grunts to get his point across. a banana was a nannnn. how he counts bananas and tells us when we need to get more from publix! he has long known all his colors and counting to 20. he can recite the three billy goats gruff almost. he reads to us, brown bear, Thomas train books and alphabet books. he rides a two wheel bike with training wheels way too fast! he shows tons of compassion and empathy. he is especially concerned if josh cries, which doesn't happen often. he gives my boo-boos a kiss. loves to tell a story and play pretend. built a tent in the den last weekend. loves his woody and buzz figures from toy story movie. still loves to sit in mamas lap and cuddle, but doesn't stay still long. likes to color and knows what he wants to draw. knows all tne turns on the way home from school and likes to request a route. knows the roads to get to our common locations. still my sweet baby!

what a day

testing to see if this works

Try again

When I got pregnant with Josh, the usual tiredness set in and I just got out of the habit of writing here. I have kept a little journal by my bed and write down a few things here and there. However, when I just read through some of my old posts, I realized how much I really enjoyed seeing more of the details and even brought back things I had already forgotten! So I would like to try again to post some here and there.

We have had a great year plus! Joel has grown and changed so much and is really becoming a very interesting and fun guy. Josh joined our family in February and could not be a happier little guy.

We are experiencing the challenges of juggling two children with such different needs, but it has gotten so much easier in the past couple of weeks.

I will get back in the swing of updating, so we have this nice history of our family.

Outside

Where we have been. I am really behind in posting, because we have been outside. Joel's favorite place to be. We are making some great progress on the yard as well. Jason has the nice wood fence up, the HUGE garden is going in, we added a second small table and chairs for coffee under the tree spot. Joel's favorite activity is running up and down the hill of the driveway. He has also enjoyed some nice rides in the stroller while I have been exploring the neighborhood more. We have two parks we can stroll to that are each less than a mile from the house. So if I am behind on recording all these memories we are busy making, its just because I am too busy making them.
Happy Spring!

Made me cry!

The comic in today's paper made me cry. I am such a sap sometimes, but it was just a nice little reminder to enjoy how much Joel wants to be with me right now.
Of course there are times when this is a bit tough when I am trying to get something done and he wants me to read another book, so it helps to keep it all in perspective.

Smiles!

Arts and Crafts

We are having fun with some arts and crafts. Mom brought us the perfect table to use for art projects and play dough. Joel is enjoying learning to paint with watercolors. He also really enjoys playing with crayons, especially sorting them. Last week, we also make a collage of different shapes. He enjoyed gluing them on the paper.
At school they also make snowmen art work.
It will be fun to see his artistic abilities grow!

First Family Hike

Joel went on his first hike, where he did some of the hiking!
We had planned to go to river and waterfall if the weather was nice. It did not look like it was going to stay nice all morning so we changed plans a little and went to a state park a bit closer to home. I had never actually been there even though it is just past the sail club where we go all the time. There is a 4 mile trail with views of the lake. We took the back pack carrier and Joel alternated between walking and riding. He probably walked at least half a mile. Just the that short outing he learned about watching were he was going and staying on the path.
I have a feeling we will go back there soon. It really was a perfect outing.
Joel will be able to walk more and more himself over time!