He is TRICKY!!

Josh will be 2 in April. I have always said he was super smart (what mom doesn't say that right?) Well I have recently discovered that Josh is smart AND tricky. The other day I gave him some crackers and he crushed them on the kitchen floor. He then said "vacuum?"  I didn't catch on. Then after he ate lunch and was very messy about it ( he can eat neatly) he said "bath". AHHHHH Now I am catching on, Josh is making a mess with food in the hopes I will vacuum (he adores the vacuum you know) and is messy with his food so he can have a BATH!!!!! He in sneaky to get what he wants! I do not like that he is already sneaky and isn't even 2 yet! Not fair. Today Brianna's mamaw picked her up and I ran outside to say hi. Now I should have known something was up because I couldn't hear Josh screaming for me as he always does when I am out of sight for more than 4 seconds. So when I come back in, he has a cup of milk, I am not too worried because the milk gallon was out and only had a little milk left in it, that is until he said COFFEE!! I realized he had gotten my coffee creamer and filled his cup with it! Bummer. I go into the kitchen to empty his cup and can't get in because he has the drawer open on the fridge and I can't shut the door. ALL the condiments are in the floor. Thankfully he didn't dump them out. He has also brightened up my life recently by fighting me at EVERY nap time, pouring his cup of milk down his slide (in the living room) and taking music DVDs out and opening the cases to read them like books. TGIF!!! Until next time!

midwinter break

Again another break from school!  This of course means Josh thinks the kids want to spend every waking minute with him, and they of course DO NOT! Today my 2 nieces were over from last nights sleepover, so Josh did enjoy some cuddle time with my niece Sophia who is 4 1/2. They enjoyed some cartoons under a blanket. This was very cute! Josh enjoys "dropping" chair heights. He always makes his high chair shorter so then he can't see into his cup or bowl at meal time and then makes even more of a mess than usual. He also get a huge kick out of dropping the level of the computer chair WHILE I am sitting in it. This I do not care for, but he laughs about it. Today I was in the bedroom hanging up laundry, when I exited the bedroom what do I see? JOSH! holding a stick of unwrapped butter! UGH. His newest kitchen trick is to turn on the dishwasher! Even if it isn't full or has no soap, this does not bother him.  He spends hours each week hollering at the laundry room door crying out to the VACUUM! He drives my blood pressure up sky high. The newest phrase we are enjoying from Josh is "BORED" or "boring". It drives me insane. ( This is a result of his brother and sister always telling me they are bored) He also gets pleasure telling me "no, no, no, no" whenever I ask him to do something. At this very moment he is driving racing game on the xbox. This I do like and find adorable! Good night and God bless!

Gone awhile, but not without tales to report...

Valentines party, notice the sugar on his sweater!

big fork! gotta eat the whole egg at once!

Well I must apologize for neglecting my Josh tales! I guess the time just gets away from me. Josh has been very busy though! He has been enjoying running away from me. For example at Brianna school valentines day party, he ran all the way to the other end of the school. He is so tiny and fast, I get a kick out of watching him run, but am not too big of a fan of MY having to run to catch him. Yesterday at church, I was talking to our awesome nursery worker and off he went again. By the time I went to find him, he was gone! I was a little worried because he is tiny, we do have an elevator and he can reach the button. As I was asking my friend Mary if she saw him go by, I noticed his tiny head running into a room. WHEW! Josh loved football but that has ended for a while, soooo now we are on to NASCAR. We watched the Daytona 500 yesterday, he was more interested in making circles through the living room and kitchen than watching. This prompted my sister to ask him why he was doing this. Jeff said he was waiting to be noticed, and good grief! HE WAS. When he came around the corner and saw all of us watching him he was happy to oblige us with smiles, laughs, and cuteness. The other day he got my coffee cup and poured it into the mop bucket. He is constantly climbing, (we suspect he is 1/4 monkey) He climbs the counters in the bathroom to clean the mirror, he climbs up so that he can reach anything on the kitchen counter, including the coffee pot, the toaster and has been caught putting things into and turning on the toaster oven!! We were shopping at Meijers the other day and we could hear the in store music so Josh and I were happily dancing in the aisle. People were smiling at us, it was very fun. It reminded me that there are many fun times among a few trying moments! As you know he can open the fridge, last night he appeared with a strawberry, we thought Ian gave it to him, until he appeared with a second one. Jeff got up to check and found that Josh had dumped my coffee creamer all over the floor! He often helps with chores like laundry and dishes, this is nice EXCEPT when he climbs on the dryer  to get the stain remover spray (thankfully these things can be locked to not spray, if I could just remember to lock them) or when he gets dirty dishes out of the dishwasher to use. The other day he got a (clean) serving fork to eat his eggs with. He did enjoy the kids Valentine's parties and gave out lots of dinosaur valentines (which he either was telling the recipient he was scared of or taking it back from them!)We got 10 inches of snow last night so I hope to get him out to sled today. Have a wonderful week!

Super bowl Sunday

Josh is as super as super bowl Sunday! He helped me to carry groceries in on Friday. What a great little guy! BUT while we were at Meijers he had his foam door hanger I made him at MOPS and tossed it out of the cart. Only I didn't notice until later in the store.(Thankfully my little sister found it later that night when she was working there) We got our groceries in and I was putting them all away. Josh had disappeared, I kept calling to him but was getting no response (par for the course in my house, no one answers me). When I finished, I went on a Josh hunt. Where could he have been?? OH Standing upright on the bathroom counter!!!! Pretending to clean with the hairspray. GREAT!  He got into the bathroom cleaner I had in the laundry room (don't ask me why it was in there because I don't know) and sprayed it around, effectively ruining clothes on the floor with the bleach in it. He has decided every single thing everywhere belongs to him. Example, I bought goldfish (the cracker snack) at Kroger and he screamed "MINE" until I gave him some, He takes the condiments out of the fridge (he can now open the door on his own) and when I try to take them from him he screams like he is being tortured. Please explain to me why a 2 year old needs Worcestershire sauce??? Briannas very best friend Kara slept over Friday night, when Josh woke up he started calling for Kara! I loved this, but can't understand why EVERY day at school when she says hi to him, he screams at her! He loves to play Kinectimals on the xbox and is starting to enjoy dancing! He still wants to put on all my makeup, (which drives me crazy when I am trying to get ready and out the door) He gives lots of kisses, and talks on the phone (in fact steals it right out of my hand when I am on it.) Today we ran to Target after church to get Ian some new tennis shoes, Josh started saying "cookie" and heading for the Starbucks when we walked in . (I suspect my sister bought him a cookie there before.) His memory is amazing). We found Ian some shoes, but while looking for Ian, Josh started pulling toddler shoes off the rack! So I found some camouflage slippers for $3.00.  I tried them on him and they fit well. So I took them off of him since I would have to have them scanned at the register to pay for them. He immediately started screaming :MINE" and hugging the slippers. He WOULD not let me put his shoe back on him,  so he walked to the register hugging slippers and wearing one shoe! We are always a circus everywhere we go, but I  know I am truly blessed so I am grateful. (well at least at night when I lay down and reflect on the day I am grateful) God bless and GO STEELERS!!!

SNOW DAY

Our snow day started at 6:30 am when Josh woke up and was hungry. Normally I would make him wait until at least 7 but since he threw up all his food last night, I figured he was probably REALLY hungry. So we got a bowl of cereal and I let him eat it in bed. Josh and Brianna played outside in the snow, he kind of likes it, but it's hard for him to walk around in int while wearing his snowsuit.We made grilled cheese for lunch and then while I was vacuuming the dining room, Josh climbed into the chair and put some cheese into the toaster oven, which was not on thankfully. He then put more cheese onto the griddle and turned it on, "to cook" he said. Luckily I was right there so I don't have melted cheese all over the floor story today. Josh so wants to be like the big kids and it is becoming dangerous! I have to figure out some way to block off the kitchen. Josh has a playskool toy that you put balls in and it pops them up into the air. Well Josh put a fork in it. When he turned it on the fork was against the motor or something because it started making a high pitched squealing noise. Josh was terrified! Got the fork out and now all is well. Josh is currently trying to get cords to plug in, pushing the vacuum around and watching the snow fall. Have a great day!

OH JOSH!

This morning started at 5 am, with Josh vomiting all over our bed and me. We changed and laid back down. All was calm for a few minutes until he got sick again. I picked him up and he got sick right in my face! Ahhh, the life of a mom. So after that he seemed fine. Real morning arrived and we started to get ready for the day. Last night we used the flour for dinner and someone (Jeff) left it too close to the edge of the counter, so this meant Josh got it, spilled it, danced in it and ran through the house leaving tiny flour footprints!! Josh took a bowl he had and went to the dishwasher which was running and opened it and put his bowl in it. I can appreciate his desire to help clean up, Lord knows the older two don't! We had pancakes for dinner, the kids left Josh alone at the kitchen table, so he helped himself to ALL the extra pancakes and the butter. I went to get him down and he had like 6 pancakes on his plate and had climbed onto the table to get at the sausage! We have a snow day here tomorrow and Brianna and Ian want to take Josh out into the snow, (we already have like 7 inches on the grass and are expecting up to 12 more) they want to see how much of his body will stick out of the snow! Josh is loving on his auntey Katey right now because she takes him to the mall and buys him stuff (his words!!) and enjoys talking on the phone. If you live in MI, enjoy your snow day! Until next time....