Faster, Faster!!

We spent Memorial Day getting ready for the Wrights and Harrisons. The Wrights (Tim’s family) have had us over a couple of times and it was time to reciprocate. Instead of doing the usual, which is ordering from Capozzi’s or Mellow Mushroom, Kevin hooked up the grill and fired it up with Max’s help. The men grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and I “prepared” potato salad and baked beans (thanks Publix – yum). It was a success! The burgers were delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

The kids played in the pool for a little while, but Joshua is not a fan of getting splashed in the face (it's going to be a long summer for him since it seems like all toddlers like to do is splash each other in the face) so pool time quickly came to an end. Moving on to more fun activities - we busted out the jeep for the boys and they sure had fun! Driving the jeep was one huge giggle fest!

The boys decided that they needed a break from their road, I mean grass trip. Joshua wanted what his father, Jenn and Kate were having - a nice cold one! Way to get Kate and Joshua to follow in their parents' footsteps. Luckily no tequila on Memorial Day!

After having a few refreshments, the boys decided it was time to jump back in the jeep. The pool was put away and it was getting hot so the boys put on their hats to help keep them cool.

Uh-oh, the Jeep wasn't going fast enough for the boys so Joshua went to check out the engine to make sure that everything was in working order. Thank heavens it doesn't go any faster!

What a day! I think the Harrisons will cross their fingers and hope for another girl when it's time for them to start thinking about number 2. Joshua and Tim may have traumatized these two for sure!

Thanks Fitzgeralds!

Joshua had a play date with Conner on Saturday. Conner is the son of our friends Todd and Jenn. The boys played well together; splashing in the pool, digging up sand and pushing trucks around the Fitzy's house. Conner is an excellent role model for Joshua because while we were there (everyone sit down b/c you are not going to believe this) Joshua tried 3 new foods and liked all of them. Thanks to Conner and Jenn, he tried Ruffles, Doritos and yogurt covered raisins and loved all of them especially the Doritos and raisins. He loved the raisins so much that he had them again this morning for breakfast. We're so excited - yeah Joshua!!

Look closely and you can see the packet of yogurt covered raisins.

He's not very happy with us in this picture because we made him come inside to eat breakfast and he would much rather be playing outside with his tennis racket and chalk.

Pool Season Begins!

TT joined us for a trip to the pool on Sunday. I don't think she realized that when you go to the pool with Joshua there is no relaxing. By the end of our hour stay, Joshua warmed up to the idea of being in the cold pool and in typical Joshua fashion decided that he wanted to play and splash in the big pool despite almost being dunked by TT. He was eyeing the slide towards the end of the day, thank goodness he didn't throw a fit to go down it. All of us were exhausted after chasing Joshua around the pool and making sure he didn't jump into the water and from going up and down and sitting in different places around the pool steps a gazillion times. His new thing is to boss you around and tell you where to sit and when to get "out, out" of the pool.

Joshua pondering whether or not he's going to get into the baby pool.

Joshua on his way out after playing at the pool.

Joshua looking like one cool tot!

It's Almost Summer!!!

Dinner and More at the Harrison's

It’s so nice to have friends who know how to cook. Jenn and Max made a delicious meal. We started off with a spicy cheese dip, zesty salsa and homemade guacamole and then we had steak fajitas and black beans for dinner. We can't wait for the beach trip! It will be like going to a gourmet camp! Rumor is that Max may replicate the Mother's Day lobster meal. They provide the food and we'll provide the liquer - no MezCal!

Joshua was very well behaved and played nicely with Kate…I mean with Kate’s toys. For some reason he’s obsessed with little kids’ toys as shown to the left. He some how managed to squeeze himself into Kate’s exersaucer. We were all saying, "oh Joshua, you are so silly!" He was like, "whateve crazy people!" He also loves to jump in the Jumperoo that his cousin Austin gave him for Christmas a year or so ago. He’s so silly sometimes!

Travis was in town and Max invited Kevin to spend the night so they could have a reunion. Needless to say, lots of drinks were had and Kevin was not feeling very well on Sunday. Rumor has it that Max made them drink some special, authentic tequilla from Mexico that actually tasted like piss and there may have even been some smoking.

I was impressed that Kevin was still on board to head down to the zoo with the Webers and was able to suck it up and chase Joshua around at the zoo and ride the carousel although he was feeling a little queasy afterwards. Thank heavens there wasn’t any barfing in Kerri’s new minivan (aka Black Beauty)!

Her ride is pretty impressive. Joshua and Harrison watched the Wiggles on the DVD player that comes with a remote that Kerri worked from the 3rd row and even more impressive is it fits 3 carseats and 4 adults!

Looks like we’ll be at the pool a lot this weekend as Joshua has been doing “pretend swimming” and school this week Hopefully his aunt TT will come over and go into the big pool with him since the water is practically freezing! Hopefully we'll have some good pics to share of Joshua in the pool!

Who Loves Cookies?

Cookie Monster Jr. -- Joshua

The Original Cookie Monster -- Daddy

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo at a margarita and drive-way play party at Tim's house. The parents and all the kids had a blast. Joshua played nicely with all the neighborhood kids. The only temper tantrums he had involved Payton's purple bike, which he had to ride even though his feet didn't reach the peddles and the other fit was when we left the party. Sorry Joshua!

The kids ran around the cul-de-sac while the parents pigged out and drank beer and margaritas. At one point it started to rain and we moved the party into the garage and feared that we might have an early ending. However, the showers quickly passed and left a few puddles for the kids to jump in. They loved splashing in them and getting each other wet. Payton, Tim and Joshua are enjoying the puddle in one of these pictures. We're enjoying the burbs that's for sure!

A Busy Little Bee

Last weekend was very busy for the J-man. On Friday, we had a playdate with his friend Tim. We enjoyed a very good meal that included a delicious salad, hotdogs and hamburgers, tater tots and chocolate chip cookies. In his usual fashion, Joshua only ate the cookies. He touched the hotdogs and tater tots but opted not to eat them. Here is a picture of Tim and Joshua eating at Tim's adorable table on their family's deck.




On Saturday we went to a festival at the square where we visited with the Currys and the Fitzgeralds. Jenn and Todd brought Kiern (sp) with them who is absolutely adorable. He's about 3 weeks old. His big brother, Conner, and Joshua enjoyed the numerous trains that went by. Robbie (Curry's little girl) was just too cute in her little outfit and is almost walking on her own. Impressive for a 10-month old! Joshua is into her big time and she and Kate may have to duke it out although it appears that both Harrison and Bridger (Putzer's son) are vying for her attention too. Here is Kate with her Mom.




After the square festival, TT joined us and we went to the spring fling at our n'hood where Joshua went crazy over the inflated, jumping activity. He got right in there with a bunch of 3 - 6 year olds and held his ground fairly well consindering he's just a little guy. We were very impressed when he climbed the vertical wall and slid down the backside without any help or injuries.

The Webers came over with Harrison and Hollis later in the afternoon. The boys play together really, really well and had a great time playing in the Weber's new minivan -- "black beauty." They each took turns in the driver's seat and Harrison taught Joshua how to put the keys in the ignition. These two are going to be just like their Dads when they get older! After playing for a couple of hours, we headed over to our local Mexican restaurant for dinner and drinks. We all enjoyed margaritas (I had a Miami Vice), except for TT who opted not to indulge in an alchohol beverage since she was saving herself for the clubs and bars later that night.

On Sunday, we tried to have a pool date with Harrison but we messed up on the time -- sorry Harrison maybe this weekend if the weather is nice. We played in Joshua's new pool and sand box that came with an actual castle, dragon, knight and princess. Later that night we went to dinner and we were able to eat our entire meal together since Joshua sat in his chair for an enitre hour -- there is hope! Grandma Stephanie came over to visit later in the evening and she and Joshua went on a neighborhood stroll looking for dogs. A tired Joshua was asleep by 8:30 PM and we wern't too far behind him.

Joshua, Kevin, Jaime and I went over to the Harrison’s yesterday for an Easter celebration. We went to the park where Kate and Joshua had a great time. Joshua must have gone down the big kid, spiral slide at least a dozen times and Kate and Max went down the slide for the very first time. After about an hour at the park, we headed back to their house for a very good meal: BBQ chicken, Anita’s rice and potato salad and homemade cookies for dessert.

Summer Is Almost Here

Easter Sunday was so nice that we were tempted to buy and bust out a slip and slide for our front yard since the pool isn't open yet. Since Joshua loves to play in the sprinklers, we decided to turn them on instead so he could run around and try to splash us

The Lady's Man

The other day Tim's mom (one of Joshua's friends from school) shared with me that Joshua is quite the lady's man. Apparently, one of the little girls in his class is smitten with Joshua and was trying to hug him and hold his hand. Joshua, who at the time wanted nothing to do with her, was fending her off by swatting her away. It seems as if the shopping carts, trucks and cars were more appealing. Kevin and I must treasure these days as I'm sure when he's 16, it will be all about the girls! This is his most recent school picture. The outfit is from his GG Anne and Great Grandpa Jim. It's very "Palmies" and he's rather handsome and pulls off the preppie look just as well as he does the camo shorts and t-shirt look. No wonder the girls love him!

Oh My Gosh -- Hurry Up!

Joshua had his first visit to the pediatric dentist yesterday. Oh my, it was not a pleasant experience what so ever. We were there for about an hour and he cried for at least 35 minutes, straight. I guess I would too if strange ladies were holding me down and shoving their gloved fingers into my mouth. The good news is that we’ve been doing a great job at brushing his teeth. The bad news is that he may need treatment later to correct an under bite and he has “deficient” enamel on one tooth. The treatment for the under bite isn’t nearly as scary as we thought – it’s simply wearing “head gear” at night to help train the upper jaw to grow outward and the enamel thing isn’t too big of a deal. We just have to watch it and make sure it doesn’t turn into anything more serious. As his 2-year molars come in, we’ll watch those too to make sure the enamel is okay. If it’s not, they will just put a sealant on them since he’ll have those until he’s about 12.

When they did the fluoride treatment, I got very upset and sternly said, “is he choking?” I guess that’s the protective mother in me – who would have ever thought! While it was torture for all of us, I think we made the right decision in taking him to the dentist.

Wheeee

Joshua's friend, Kate, came over on Sunday for a play date, Italian food and beer... okay the parents drank beer and ate and the kids played together as much as a 20-month old and almost 6-month old can. Joshua was a little jealous when either Kevin or I would hold Kate, and would try and sit in our laps too. However, he would quickly get over it when Mr. Max would give his panda bear some of his beer. Joshua thought this was hysterical and brought his dog over to get some beer too.









Because of the earlier infestation and snake, we decided to go to the park rather than hang out w/ all the creepy crawlys. Kate did amazingly well in the swing, especially for only being 5-months old. Joshua likes the swing, even more so when we push him super high. He will crack up laughing sometimes.

What the Hell??

So Sunday was an interesting day for us. First, Joshua and I saw a snake in our front yard. While it was super small, it was still gross and scary. Kevin wasn't home so Joshua and I immediately went into the house. I probably should have tried to move it or something, but I was too scared. When Kevin got home, he tried to see if it was still in the island in the front where I last saw it slithering away. Ewwww! After my snake research, I've decided it was either a worm snake or a Pinewood snake-either way, it totally freaked me out. And just when I'm totally creeped out, Kevin, Joshua and I walked out of the house to find a swarm of flying termites near our garage. I'm not kidding, there were like 300+ of them "swarming." Apparently, this is the time of the year that they do it and it doesn't mean we have an infestation. We had our termite and pest control company out this morning and all of our traps came up empty and there wasn't any sign of live ones by the tree/garage so we're hoping that it was a one time thing (which is more common that we thought).

It's Cuddle Time!

He Does Eat!

Who has the pickiest eater? Unfortunately, we do. Joshua is the WORST eater right now. He’ll eat dried fruit from Gerber, goldfish, cereal bars, crackers, cookies, Lucky Charms and Cheerios, yogurt and Zaxby’s chicken fingers. We rely on strawberry yogurt and Zaxby’s chicken fingers quite often, like at least 3x a week! Two staples we can always count on and here he is enjoying them.

The Grandparents Were in Town

Mom and Jim came up for a visit this weekend. It was Jim’s birthday and we went out to dinner to celebrate. We had to make a pit stop at the urgent care center as the b-day boy had a severe outer earache. After he received his meds, we went to Aspen’s where the dinner was delicious. Jaime’s meat was, “rough” but the rest of us had no complaints and especially enjoyed our desserts. Oh and the jalapeño and bacon cream corn was good too… oh and Jaime and Kevin said the escargot stuffed mushrooms were fabulous too… Here is a picture of the birthday boy, Jim, and my Mom.


In typical grandparent fashion, Joshua was spoiled this weekend. Here he is with his new vacuum, which he loves to use. Too bad it doesn't actually work!

This is worse than when he was a newborn!

Why on earth won't he just go back to sleep. We're looking at 6 nights of little sleep. First it was the pressure of Joshua's sinus cavity, congestion and a fever of 102 - 103. Now it appears that he rather enjoys getting up in the middle of the night to watch the Sprout channel in our bed. While he slept until 11:30 PM last night (that's great considering the past 5 nights he was getting up at 8:30 - 9:30 PM for his first round of manipulating Mom and Dad), he proceeded to want to "play" and didn't fall asleep (in our bed) until 2:00 AM which is when I moved him to his crib. It's no wonder this kid is always sick. The combo of daycare and lack of sleep is one vicious cycle. Tonight -- please let it be the night that he sleeps through the night again -- PLEASE!!

A Great Read

One of the best books ever. Kevin and I read this while we were on vacation in Puerto Rico.

Joshua gets a new style!

"How you doin'?"