Catching up on stuff

Jason left for his spring break mission trip today so I am trying to catch up on stuff and get a head start on things I will have to do next term. I am hoping to have things organized enough that when life gets busy I will have a cushion to fall back on. It is crazy how a couple of busy days seems to set me back a week and I feel like I can never catch back up. As soon as Jason gets back we will be super busy again. Exactly one week from Jason's return from California we will be team teaching a class on working with college students at the Kingdom Builder's Seminar at Cascade. While we already have an outline ready it will take some time to polish it all up to make it good. The same week another term will start which means Jason and I will be busy doing Bible studies and teaching classes again. I have a feeling we will be ready for summer break by the end of this term. Anyway...Jason was kind enough to download pictures off of his camera so I have pictures to share this time. Enjoy!!

To get Josiah and I out of the house during rainy weather we joined the Corvallis Indoor Park. This is a place full of toys for 0-3 year olds to come play and for moms to come and talk. Josiah loves it. Here is a picture of him going down the slide.

It's March Madness so we have been going over to some friend's apartment to watch basketball. Josiah likes to get into the game like everyone else. He yells at the refs and cheers when something good happens. He has learned to take off his clothes and in this picture he decided he didn't want his shirt anymore. I guess the game was too intense. :)

On Tuesday we had 3 trees removed from our yard. If you click on the picture to enlarge it and look through the window you can see what is left of the big fir tree and the men working to cut the rest down. Josiah had fun watching the men work and the men enjoyed putting on a show for him.

This is Josiah helping daddy move dirt to cover the big hole where the tree was. Unfortunately, Josiah didn't realize that the dirt was suppose to stay in the yard. Most of the dirt Josiah moved ended up on the sidewalk. At least he tried.

Cute stories about Josiah

I don't have any new pictures but I thought I would write a little note about what is going on. As usual we are staying busy with campus ministry. Jason has been doing a great job of trying to balance ministry (which can suck away all your time if you let it) and spending time with family. Only 2 week left of this term and then Jason will be taking a group of students to the San Francisco Bay area for a spring break mission trip. Then he will turn around and begin the spring term. Poor guy...never gets a break. But I am so proud of how much he doing and how much the students are growing from his leadership. He is in Bible studies with 10 students and the students learn so much from him. Keep him your prayers as he continues to try to grow our students and reach out to the students on campus.

Josiah is now at the throwing fits stage. While it is really frustrating at times dealing with an irrational toddler, we are handling this phase well. We mostly try to ignore him. Sunday when we were at the student center Josiah was getting ready to throw another fit. I very calmly told him that if he was going to throw another fit he was going to have to go into another room because people didn't want to hear it. So he got up off the floor, walked into another room, laid down, and began to throw his fit. How many of you mothers out there are jealous and wish you child would throw a fit in the other room? :)

That same night Josiah was eating some food and dropped some on the floor. One of the students, just being funny, told Josiah that he had to clean up his mess. So Josiah walked into the kitchen and came back with a broom and tried to sweep his mess off the carpet. He is very helpful when it comes to cleaning. I hope he continues being helpful when he can actually help clean.

Josiah's vocabulary is increasing everyday. We are amazed at how quickly he learns the meaning of a word and can use it correctly. Sometimes it only takes him hearing a word once for him to add it to vocabulary. One of our students called his sister a dork and Josiah is already using it. So if you come to visit or converse with him on the phone, be careful what you say because he may repeat it back to you.

We're sick again!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post, but we have been sick and then the computer had issues. Now the computer is fixed and my sick son in taking a nap so I am taking the time to give you an update.

Around Monday Josiah's appetite took a dive. A meal consisted of a few bites of a banana or a few grapes. We weren't too concerned because he will still running round like a crazy man. Wednesday night I got sick and threw up a couple of times. Thursday I spent the day in bed because my body ached too much to move. Friday morning after Jason fed Josiah breakfast he threw up on Jason. Josiah hasn't really eaten since. He hasn't thrown up a lot but has had some diarrhea for the past couple of days. He is still in a good mood, but would preferred to watch movies instead of playing. He hasn't lost any weight and has been good about drinking so we aren't too worried yet.

Jason had a busy week of work. He only had one day off and worked overtime on several of the other days. He is tired, but excited about the spiritual growth that is happening with the students. He is hoping for a slower week this week so he can recover.

I think that is all the excitement here so here our some fun pictures.

Auntie Kate bought Josiah this cowboy outfit for Christmas. We had a formal dinner at the UCC followed by country swing lessons taught by Jason and I. We took him to the dinner dressed in this outfit and then Auntie Pam took him home while we went and danced. He looks good!!

This is Josiah attempting to help me with the dishes. We went to get some things off the dining room table and turned around to find that Josiah had pushed a chair up to the sink and was trying to wash the dishes. I hope he will still like to do the dishes when can actually do the dishes.

Jason and Josiah came home from a trip to the store. Jason put Josiah up to the window to say hi and he gave the window a zerbert.

Josiah talking

I can't believe another week has gone by. This week has seemed like a blur to me. Last weekend we went to Bend, OR to worship with the congregation there. They have been sending regular contribution to the UCC since the ministry began so we wanted to make a trip to encourage and thank them for their support. We went up Saturday and went sledding. We had a lot of fun and took some amazing pictures. I wanted to post some, but Jason has them on his camera at work.

Monday we all got up and had breakfast together before Jason went to work. While Jason was putting on his coat he got a horrible muscle cramp. He stayed home and laid in bed because he couldn't do much else because of the pain. After dealing with the pain for several days he went to the doctor and found out he strained a ligament in his back. He is getting better but it is going to hurt for a while.

I worked for the church secretary Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday which is probably why the week went by so fast. By the time I got home I had just enough time to work on our taxes for a couple of hours (we have to organize our information to give to the tax guy) before I packed Josiah up and we headed to a church activity. The next thing I knew the house look like World War III hit it. So I used some of the money I made working and hired a college student who is looking for a job to clean today. While she cleaned I took Josiah to a Valentine's Day party with other kids his age. He had a lot of fun playing with the toys and other kids. I had a lot of fun meeting other moms. It was nice to come home and have the dishes done, the laundry folded, and the bathroom cleaned. Now Josiah is taking a nap and I am working on taxes again. Can't wait until they are done and I can move with my life.

Anyway, here is a fun video of Josiah talking.

The Finish Pottery

While my mom was here we went to a pottery shop and glazed our own pottery. Here are pictures of the finished product.

This is the piggy bank mom made for Josiah.

This is the chip platter that I made.

Mom loves tea so she made herslef this cup and saucer. Overall I am pleased with the results.

Mom's visit

My mom was here visiting for a couple of weeks. It went by really fast and it wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be. Just before she showed up I picked up a cold. Then Josiah picked it up and became really clingy and didn't want to have anything to do with other people. He was also very fussy and he was quick to tears. This made it very difficult for us to go and do anything. On top of that we decided when my mom first showed up that would we try to remodel our bedroom thinking that mom could watch Josiah while we worked. Just as we took everything out of the room and pulled up the carpet, Jason came down with a cold. With everyone feeling sick, progress on our bedroom is taking longer than we had hoped. But toward the end of this week everyone started to feel better and we were able to make it out and do some fun things.

On Wednesday mom and I went to a pottery shop downtown where you can glaze your own pottery. You pick out a piece of pottery from their selection and they provide glaze for you to use. Then they fire it and you can pick it up a couple of days later. Ours won't be ready until Sunday. I did a chip platter that is in the shape of a leaf. I am a little nervous about how it is going to look. The last time I glazed something was in junior high and it didn't turn out very good. Mom glazed a cup and saucer, because she loves to drink tea, and a piggy bank for Josiah. We had a lot of fun and she wants to go back when she visits again. Then Wednesday night we all got bundled up and went out with our life group and gave coffee, hot chocolate, and blankets to the homeless people who were unfortunate enought to have to sleep out in the near freezing temperatures.

On Thursday we went to the aquarium over in Newport, OR. We couldn't have asked for a better January day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was about 50 degrees. Josiah enjoyed looking at all the fish, sea lions, sea otters, and birds. His favorite part was the tunnels you walk through and the fish are all around you. My favorite part was the sea otters. There is one sea otter, named Judge, that sits right by one of the windows. He likes to hangout with humans so I sat on the ledge next to his window which was right in the sun. I warmed myself in the sun and watched Judge clean himself and do flips for me for 30 minutes. It was so relaxing.


Mom left today and she and dad will be back this summer time for a visit. Hopefully when they come back we won't be sick. Now I will show you the pictures.

This a picture taken when mom first showed up. This is Josiah and I sitting on the couch snuggling with a warm blanket and reading a book because we felt too sick to do anything else.

One of the days mom took Josiah down to the toy store and bought him a couple of things. Mom bought him a car set, and ball and ramp thing, and a toy tool set. Here he is playing with the car set.

I just thought this was a fun picture so I thought I would post it.

Here is mom and Josiah going for a walk. The wind was blowing just right to make Josiah's hair stick straight up.

This is Josiah watching the birds dive and swim around for their food.

Josiah and daddy looking at fish.

Josiah trying to catch the sea horse.

Josiah playing with Judge the sea otter.

We have internet again!!

So after of month of looking around we finally found an internet provider that wasn't outrageous, so today we got the internet hooked up. Now I can update the blogspot more regularly. I went through my pictures to find something to put up, but the only thing I really have is house pictures instead of Josiah pictures. So I thought I would show you the before and after pictures of our bathroom remodel.

Before

As you will see from the next two pictures, the bathroom hadn't been remodeled since the house was built in 1976. It boasted 70s gold for the countertop. Pieces of the mirror was peeling off. The bath tub had already been replaced due to a leak a couple of years ago so all we had to do was paint and replace the fixtures. A much easier job than the Port Orchard house. The only snag we ran into was when we removed the vanity there was a little bit of mold growing behind it on the wall. So we cleaned it with Clorox and put Kilz on it. Shouldn't be a problem anymore especially if you saw how much Clorox I put on the wall.

After

I am rather proud of how this turned out. We went with a warm, rustic idea to match the existing floor so we didn't have to put new floor down. The paint on the walls is called "Peanut Shell". The vanity is oak and we accessorized with oil rubbed bronze. We still have to put the trim up, but other than that it is finished. Only took three days.