Preschool

Once again blogging has fell by the wayside. I think about it often and then get overwhelmed with all the things I could write and then I don't write at all. This year I have lined out a schedule for myself so I can keep up on things. I have been doing pretty well so I decided I would add this to my regular schedule. I hope to blog once a week. We will see how it goes.

There are so many things I could put up from the past two months, but I am going to start with the present. If you want to know what we were up to over Christmas you can call or email. :)

Since Josiah is 4 he could go off to preschool, but for lots of different reason we are choosing to keep him home and we have been doing a regular preschool time 3-4 times a week. It has been fun seeing the progress Josiah is making. He knows all his letters and sounds. If I give him a word he can tell me what it starts with. He is beginning to sound out simple three letter words. He is getting good at writing his name. One top of the basic reading, writing, and math stuff, I also provide an activity where he gets to build and be creative. Below our some pictures of what we have done.

Not a great picture of Jaron, but we turned a cardboard box into a house for them. This a picture before we put in the door and the windows.

Josiah making a nest out of blankets and pillows.

All three got to play with dried black beans and cooking utensils. This entertained even the little ones for 30 minutes.

One day I put shaving cream on aluminum foil and Josiah practiced writing and then he drew pictures. He really liked this activity.

Jaron got to play, too.

Lately Josiah has been interested in outer space and rockets. We went to the library and got a few books on the topic. Besides reading to him, I decided I would give him a chance to make his own space ship. I collected a bunch of materials he could use and told him to design and make one. First, he made a drawing so he would know what his rocket should look like.

Here is what he put together. After this picture was taken he decided the rocket boosters (yes he calls them rocket boosters) were not correct. They were too flimsy and they wouldn't hold rocket fuel. So he cut some more cardboard and made better rocket boosters. Unfortunately, the space ship could not fly because there was no astronaut to fly it, so today we made an astronaut and a moon. The astronaut has made several missions to the moon today.

Boating

In August some good friends of ours invited us out for day of boating on the lake. We could not have asked for a better day. The temperature was just right. Here are the pictures.

Josiah's first time out on the tube.

Jaron in the captains's chair.

All the boys hanging out on the tubes when we stopped for a lunch break.

This trip was my first time being pulled behind a boat. Eric (the driver) was really good at making the ride fun without making you feel like you were going to get hurt.

We were on the lake all day and eventually the boys needed to take a break. You can see Josiah in the background sleeping under at towel.

Colorado

Our final stop was in Colorado to visit Jason's sister. She just had a baby a few months before. Here is Josiah with his new cousin Logan.

We went on an easy hike one day. Here we are playing in the creek toward the end of the hike.

The family.

There was an outdoor water park near Pam's house, so we had to go visit. The boys love to swim.

Jason has a camera that takes underwater pictures. Here is Josiah swimming.

Josiah diving for the car.

Wyoming Trip: Worland

After a week in Lander we headed up to Worland for a week with Jason's family. It was relaxing My favorite part was Chuck and Debbie gave me money for my birthday to go on a date with Jason. We went to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and head a great reconnecting time.

Everyday Josiah went out with Grandma Debbie to pick raspberries. Here is Josiah cleaning his bucket before picking that day.

The boys got to help Grandpa Chuck mow the lawn.

One of the days we went to the fair. The boys like looking at the animals.

They also got to play in the bouncy house.

Josiah has wanted to go fishing for a long time so Grandpa Chuck promised to take Josiah fishing. Josiah loved it. The reason why he wanted to go fishing is because he wanted to eat the fish because dragons eat fish. (He likes to pretend he is Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon")

Wyoming Trip: Lander

The first part of vacation was with my parents. We stayed with them for a week. Considering it had only reached 80 about 4 times the entire year here in Oregon, the Wyoming 90+ temperatures were rough on us. Even though it is dry heat, it was still hot. To stay cool the kids played in the swimming pool a lot.

I thought this was a cute picture of the boys reading together. Papa Darrell and Grandma Nancy like to buy books and boys definitely like reading them.

We went to City Park and played a couple of times. The park has a nice play structure. They even have a toddler play area. Here is Jaron going down the slide.

Josiah and Papa Darrell playing in the creek.

Earlier this year, my high school friend Sarah almost died due to an appendix rupturing. By God's grace, I was able to get together and talk with her. We met at the park and the boys played with her daughter Katie.

Auntie Kate came up from Laramie to visit for a few days. Here is Jaron stealing ice cream from Katie.

This is what sugar does to Josiah. :)

Toward the end of the week, we hiked to the Sinks Canyon falls. We found a little pool that was safe for the boys to play in.

Josiah and I hanging out on the log.

The family at the falls. Josiah once again was a real trooper. It is a 3 mile round trip hike. He ran a lot of it because we had 2 little dogs with us and Josiah liked to run up with them. The last hundred yards he was really tired and hot, so I carried him.

I realized after going through my pictures that I didn't take any pictures of the kids with my parents. Sorry mom and dad. I think it was because when the boys were with my parents, I was off enjoying my free time. :) The next post will be on our time in Worland with Jason's parents.

Wyoming Trip 2011: Part 1

Every year we make our annual trip to Wyoming to visit family. This year we left on a Saturday and drove to Boise and stayed with the campus minister for Boise State. We went to church with him on Sunday and drove a short 4 hours to Idaho Falls and stayed at a KOA campground.

The next morning we got up and drove to Jackson Hole, WY. Below is a picture of Jason and the boys with the Tetons in the background.

We stopped at the visitors center and Jason asked about a hike we could do. I was thinking a short 1/2 mile hike and then get back into the van to head to Lander. Jason was thinking he wanted to see something cool. Against my better judgment we hiked the Hidden Falls Creek trail. It is a 3 mile hike in, making it 6 miles round trip with two kids and one pack. Jason reassured me it would be okay and we headed down the trail.

Here are the boys about 2 miles into the hike. The lake is Jenny Lake.

At the falls. Josiah walked/ran the whole 3 miles and it was not a leisurely stroll. There were some rocky parts and the end was a steep uphill. Josiah did run a lot of it. We kept getting weird looks from other hikers heading back from the parking lot. I know what they were thinking, "Your taking your 4 year old on this hike!" I was thinking we were crazy, too, but we made.

While I was glad to see the falls, I was grumpy because we had an exhausted 4 year old and 3 miles back to the van. That was when Jason decided to tell me we were 200 yards from a boat that would take us across the lake back to the van. I was relieved and Josiah was so excited. Josiah's smile tells it all.

Here is Josiah at the trail head before we got in the van. We had to document Josiah's first 3 mile hike at 6,000 feet elevation.

That night we made it to Lander and spent a week there. Pictures of our time in Lander will be in the next post.

Celebrating Josiah

This year Josiah turned 4 years old. We have never done anything big for his birthday. We are usually traveling to Wyoming and Josiah doesn't have any friends his age so I feel kind of weird inviting a bunch of boys that are 4 and 5 year older to his birthday party. But this year, he really understands his birthday and I wanted to do something special. After much thinking I decided we would do a day dedicated to him. Everything we did would be show him we love and him and that we are so grateful that God gave him to us.

So on July 9th we got up in the morning and had donuts (something we rarely do) and headed out for a day of fun. First we went miniature golfing. The picture below shows that Josiah actually parred a hole. He got the ball in the hole with 2 shots. Watch out Grandpa Chuck in a few years he might be beating you on the golf course!:)

Then we drove up to Salem. He chose to have pizza for lunch. We order some and headed to a park to play. We also took time at lunch to share why we loved him. He would just smile and give us hugs saying, "I love you, too."

For his birthday present we took Josiah to Toys R Us and he got to pick out a new bike. Jason laid out a few options for him and without much thought he knew he wanted the Lightning McQueen bike.

Here he is enjoying his new bike. We go for bike rides all the time.

We love you Josiah and we are truly blessed that God has given us 4 wonderful years with you!