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:

It's been a loooonnnnggg time...

I really didn't mean to wait 3+ months before updating this blog again. :( Well, I have quit a bit of updating to do. Hmm... well, Evelyn is 11 months old very soon, and Josiah is a few months away from being 3! They are both just as sweet as can be. Josiah loves Thomas the Train and Sesame Street right now. He is always asking to watch the videos. He currently wants a Thomas the train cake for his birthday, but we'll see if that changes between now and his birthday. His language is really exploding right now, which is exciting. Seems like he is constantly learning new words. He is still being quite a pest towards his sister right now. I often find him locking her into wrestling-type moves. He has just started becoming a lot more affectionate. He is saying "I love you" and "Thank you, Mommy." He likes hugging me more, which I am glad-- since he wasn't much of a hugger up to now! The other day he was playing in his room, and then he came out to get me because he needed my help connecting part of his car track. I helped connect them, and of his own will he said "Thank you, Mommy!" It was so sweet! Before bed we read him Bible devotional stories, and then sing songs. His favorite songs are the "Gum Song" and the "Choo Choo Song"-- I made both of them up, but he likes them anyhow! :) He is also *very* persistent right now when he wants something. He will ask for it over, and over, and over, and over until I get it for him. It can get quite... frustrating. Especially when he sees that I am getting for him-- like a sippy. He sees that I am making it for him, and yet I am just not fast enough or something. And one last thing I'll write about him. He sometimes plays Mr. Bashful (especially when we ask him to say hi to someone he might not know). He flirts those little eyes upwards and bats his eyelashes. Too cute. Just want to scoop him up and give him kisses!

Evelyn is doing well-- she will take a step before falling to her knees. She is so close to walking! It is hard to believe my baby girl is almost a year old. She is babbling like crazy. I so want to know what she is wanting to say! :) She is almost 16.5 pounds. For a couple weeks she had a great appetite and gained almost a pound. Her appetite has slowed down again, perhaps from teething. Hopefully it rebounds again. All tests done so far have come back normal. Looks like her slow weight gain has no medical reason. She is so beautiful-- she has the greatest smile that just warms your heart. I love my children so much! Josiah gets a bit frustrated with Evelyn every now and then, because she is interested in playing with all of the toys he plays with. So she often picks up the track he so carefully put together, making big brother quite upset. It will be great when they can play "nicely" together (does that exist?)!

Okay, hopefully I can get back on board now with frequent updates, and it won't be months until the next one!

Picture Day

This morning we went to JcPenney's for some annual pictures.  It was TONS of fun.  (I'm not being completely honest with that last statement).  We weren't in the best mood to begin with upon arriving.  Then I realized I forgot Evelyn's hair brush (I hadn't brushed it at all yet), and her pretty red bow I was going to put in her hair.  Then Josiah and Evelyn wouldn't smile.  Usually they are pretty smiley kids, but not this morning.  I get a kick out of this-- the one time you *really* want them to smile, they don't.  And Josiah-- the little booger-- everytime we asked him to smile, he closed his eyes and often looked away from the camera.  We got a couple cute pictures, but definitely not all I was hoping for.  Oh well, I guess there is always  next year!

On another note, I did something today that I really enjoyed.  While Evelyn was napping this afternoon, Josiah and I sat on the couch and talked.  Though he is only 2 and still has limited language, I still think we did a good job communicating.  We talked about the construction workers who were digging a hole near our building, how they wore yellow vests, how the sky was blue, how there was a squirrel in the tree and how that squirrel likes to eat nuts just like Josiah does.   It is amazing the conversation you can have with a 2 year old!  I am looking forward to more!

Evelyn is extremely close to crawling.  Any day now I expect her to bolt across the room.  She is such an adorable, beautiful little girl.  However, I would appreciate anyone's prayers though who reads this blog.  She is just extremely slow in gaining weight.  She had some blood work done this past week to check for allergies/digestive issues that might be contributing to this.  As her mom, and her main food source, it has just been a *huge* burden on my shoulders.  It is hard to express in words the emotions I feel-- you just feel like a big failure to your child.  I have cried rivers of tears since her birth (over the many issues surrounding nursing)-- just ask Jason.  Poor fellow has seen and heard it all.  So, long story short, we would appreciate your prayers.  (Part of me feels silly asking this-- especially when I see so many people around me struggling with what can be considered far worse problems.  But, she is my daughter, I love her, and I am asking for prayer even in a "small" matter.)

And in closing, I have read and heard some edifying words during this stressful time as a mom.  I thought I would include them, too.  Unfortunately, I do not have the source of these quotes-- I have just been writing them down here and there as I have heard them:

"Don't try to crawl out of your problems and hard times.  Are you looking to God because you want a quick fix out of your troubles?  Stay in them-- God is wanting to *change you* in these difficult times.  He will move you out of them when it is time."

"I will never be enough-- because only my God is enough."

"My focus needs to be on Jesus-- He will keep me at peace and still through the ups and downs of life.  If you keep your eyes on the situation or on people, you will ride the waves up and down.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, and He will keep you steady."

and finally, a Scripture:  Isaiah 61:3

"To appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified."

A Whole Month-- Yikes!

I can't believe I have waited this long to write another post-- sometimes life just gets the best of your blog! Well, things are going pretty well on the home front. Josiah and Evelyn are as cute as can be. Evelyn is 7 1/2 months now, and weighs about 15 pounds. She is a petite little thing weight-wise, but she is so active, just like her brother. She is so curious and attentive, and really reaching at anything in her grasp. She is doing great with sitting now-- hardly ever falls over. And it looks like any day now she will be crawling. She is just about there-- then watch out mommy! It will be *very* interesting to have a teeny home with a crawling baby and energetic toddler in it! This Friday she goes for another weight check. If she is still falling in the weight percentiles, the doctor said that they would be "obligated" to do some blood tests and make sure that there are no allergies or other problems that are causing the slow weight gain. I am hoping and praying that she is doing well enough that she doesn't have to go through blood tests. Josiah went through the same round of tests, and I thing he handled it much better than I imagine she would.

Josiah is enjoying the first snow this season. Last year he was still young enough that snow wasn't all that exciting yet. But this year, I think he will have lots of fun in it. We got out of the car today after preschool and he stood in the same snowy spot for about minute, and jumped up and down in it. Then he stuck his fingers in it, and then looked at it closely and smelled it. Snow is curious stuff! I am looking forward to playing in the snow with him this winter-- and maybe even sledding!

They are such blessings-- Thank you Lord for my children!!