Evelyn turns 1!

It is hard to believe that my little baby girl is one year old.  She is a precious little girl, who loves her mommy, daddy, and brother very much.  She usually always has a smile for you, and is full of spunk.  Evelyn is always on the go these days, seeing what she can get in to.  Cabinets, books on the bookshelf, rolls of toilet paper, trash cans, and even big brother's potty seat.  We are enjoying watching her grow and her personality develop.  Her first year has been full of joys (lots of love and smiles!) and trials (nursing and weight gain issues), but we wouldn't trade any of it!  We look forward to the days ahead with her-- we know the babble will soon turn to words, and the walking to running!  We love you Evelyn, with all of our hearts.  We thank the Lord for the gift He has given us in you!

Fun with Worms

We have been preparing our garden, and Josiah has been "helping" us out there recently.  While digging around, we came across some worms.  It was his first exposure to the little slimy things, and he was very interested in them, as most little boys probably are.  He wanted us to keep finding him more.  He would pick them up, carry them around, and then find a new one to play with.  I really do not like worms, so Jason was teasing me by telling Josiah to let me kiss one of the worms.  Unfortunately, he didn't get the "teasing" part of it.  If it's good enough for mommy, then it's good enough for me.  So, he kissed a worm.  At least he didn't eat it!

"BigGirls"

Today was the teacher appreciation luncheon for Josiah's preschool.  One of Josiah's teachers was chosen to give a little inspirational talk.  She started out with some funny stories from their classroom.  She talked about a little boy that came up to her and said "I biggirls." (That's what it sounded like to her.)  "I biggirls."  She knew that couldn't possibly be what he was saying, so she asked him to show her.  He stuck his finger up his nose and said, "I biggirls, see?"  I automatically thought it was Josiah who said this, but I wasn't sure.  This evening we were driving home from Chikfila, and I told Jason this story.  He said he really didn't think it would have been Josiah.  So I decided to test him. 

"Josiah, say 'Boogers'." 

"Biggirls."

Laughter.  "Biggirls."  More laughter.  "Biggirls!!"  The more we laughed, the more he said it.  Well, now we know it was him!  :)

Sis and her chocolate pudding...

Time to practice using a spoon... but the mess comes very quickly!  

Chocolate pudding makes a great hair mousse:

And here a cute and clean Sis holding two different "Georgies" as I affectionately call them (Curious George).  Sis loves the little one-- he frequently visits her mouth.  She has recently started to hold stuffed animals, like the big George you see here.  We have several stuffed Georgies in our household.  Josiah calls the biggest one "Daddy George."  

Spring Fest

Last weekend we all went to Purdue's Spring Fest.  It was awesome!  I have never gone before, even though we have been here for years!  But, the weather was great, and Josiah is of the age that he can really enjoy it, so we went.  If anyone reading this lives near Purdue, I definitely recommend going-- in my opinion, it is better than going to the fair.  Lots of animals (especially baby ones!),  lots of bugs, plants, tractors, reptiles, science stuff, etc!  So here are some fun pics from the day.

Josiah touching a snake.  

The guys checking out the tractor.

Sis riding an old tractor, while savoring her first taste of a dum-dum pop!

Big brother's turn.

Kids had the chance to take a "ride" on a seat made for handicapped farmers so they could still access their tractor.  It lifts the farmer up and over so they can then get into the regular seat to drive the tractor.

This is a piece of equipment for spinning honey out of honeycomb.  They let the kids spin it if they wanted to, and Josiah enjoyed the opportunity!

Checking out the bees as they are making honey.  They had a room dedicated to bees, and if you wanted (we wanted!) you could taste test 8 different kinds of honey.  It was neat to taste kinds that I had never known about and may never taste again!  

Here we are in the Insect Petting "Zoo"-- and Josiah is petting a huge cockroach!

There were lots of baby animals-- including this adorable baby duck!  I want one!  :)

What a fun day!  Summer here we come!  :D

One more Easter Pic...

Had to include a picture of Josiah in his bunny ears that he made at preschool.  Isn't he cute?  :)

In other news, Evelyn is officially a walker now.  She is a couple weeks away from being 1 year old!  Can't believe it!  She made her first steps a couple weeks ago, and has steadily been getting better.  I think she enjoyed the new challenge.  She is also displaying a big personality, and she lets you know when she is not liking something.  The other day I was playing with a toy of hers.  All of sudden she stares me in the face and does her little frustrated growl sound-- telling me to get you hands off, MOM!  I want to play!  She also displays this frustrated growl when she is trying to get to me, but has something in her way.  So I hurry and move the obstacle in her path, and she is happy again.  She is very sweet, but I am starting to believe that her brother has met his equal!  She is going to give him a run for his money.  Evelyn is also doing better with eating, but her drinking has been our biggest concern lately.  She just doesn't care about getting the liquids.  That is our biggest prayer concern for her right now.  

Josiah is continuing to improve in his language.  I really need to get some cassette tapes and record him talking.  It is so cute to hear.  Jason reads Bible stories to him every night.  Josiah has the story of Jonah pretty much memorized.  Jason will start the sentence and Josiah will finish it.  He says thank you quite often, which I love to hear.  It comes out "Tank oo" though.  Love it.  At bedtime, he loves for me to sing songs about Thomas the Engine, and Lightning McQueen.  I make up the songs (I never remember what I sang the night before, so they are new every night), but he loves them anyway.  He is so sweet.  Love me children!!

Easter Fun...

We spent our Easter weekend with Jason's family-- there was plenty of good food, candy, and gifts to go around!  Josiah is starting to get the hang of the concept of an egg hunt.  However, his cousins Grant and Taylor helped him greatly by directing him where he should go to find eggs.

Here are some pictures from Sunday: