For Your Entertainment Pleasure...

What to do on a sick day?  Both boys have fever today.  Its not too high and they have no other symptoms but it's enough to keep us home.  So after playing downstairs for a while we decided to head upstairs to the special costume chest.  It proved to be hours worth of fun.    

poor giraffe...no one was interested in this guy

Josh decided he wanted me to join in the fun and then offered to take pictures! 

 If you're going to be sick this is the best way to do it!

Price and Lacey's Wedding

Year 4 is the Winner

Four years ago we planted our first garden.  After hours of preparation, lots of love and tender care, it produced one small green tomato.  Year two wasn't much better.  Year three brought tomatoes and green beans galore but it looks like year four is the winner.  It is actually pretty amazing considering we've only had one good rain since we planted in April.  None the less, we have an abundance of cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell peppers and a few green beans.  It has been so much fun "harvesting" for dinner!  The boys are completely engrossed in the whole process and it is so rewarding to know it only took four long years to get here! 

Between the garden and the boys pool we spend alot of time in the backyard these days. 

New Hobbies

The week Dash was born my mom took Josh fishing for the first time.  The first cast brought back a fish and it's a good thing because that was about all Josh had the attention span for.  He was much more interested in feeding the turtles.  She has taken a few times since and while he still loves to feed the turtles he has developed a real interest in the whole fishing experience.  Last weekend we decided to take the boys out to see what we could catch.  

Dash wasn't too involved in the fishing process but he LOVES to "ride" his brothers old bike!

Josh did great with the worms...he loved touching them and
had no problem showing his brother the long slimy things!

Josh reeled this bad boy in himself.  Of course we went ahead and put him back.

Look at the determination.

By the end of the morning he held the fish so that Daddy could unhook em.
(Notice the helmet...required fishing gear in Josh's mind)

Brothers

Muddy Bliss

The pictures tell the entire story...

The Simple Stuff

To be totally honest we've been so busy lately with trips, showers, and conferences, it seems we haven't had time to enjoy the simple stuff.  While all the busyness above are deserving of their own posts, it almost seems more relevant at this time as we start to slow down to share some pics of everyday life around here.  

The first is my favorite.  Kevin wasn't able to get home one night until way past dinner time, so the boys and I had already eaten.  Kevin hadn't eaten though and the boys were so excited to see him they crawled up in his lap during the entire meal to "help daddy eat".  Not sure if Kevin actually ate any dinner that night but I know he didn't complain one bit!

This is our Dash-a-dude!  He is so stinkin cute it drives me crazy.  He is really starting to talk and sing and while most of it is still indistinguishable, he can usually get his point across.  He does have a few favorite words: milk, ball, more, up, down, please, money, Maggie, jsh (for Josh), book, snake and of course NO!  He and Josh are the sweetest friends and while we are continually working on sharing they play together so beautifully.  There is nothing I love to hear more than the giggling coming from those two boys entertaining each other.  Dash mimics everything Josh does (which actually isn't driving big brother crazy yet) and he is at the stage of being more confident in his physical abilities than he really is...leading to a new bump, scrape or bruise everyday.

 Big brother Josh never ceases to amaze me.  His vocabulary is astonishing and he has some rather remarkable insights in his conversations.  He still has a few words that aren't perfect, like cooter for computer or last day instead of yesterday, but I'm reluctant to clarify because its so cute.  He is swimming like a fish and loves the water.   I am so thankful for the role he has undertaken as big brother.  He does a wonderful job looking out for his little brother, including him, and comforting him.  He is also known for getting very upset when Dash breaks a newly built tower of legos of takes one of his favorite toys.  However, at the end of the day he wants to be with his brother and claims him as his best friend.

 These pictures crack me up.  This is how Josh watches a "scary" movie.  Let me define scary:  here he is watching Vegetales and one cucumber has tricked another.  Scary stuff let me tell you.  But Josh doesn't like anything mean or bad.  Now he still wants to watch the movie but he protects himself by watching from the kitchen, under the table, with his guard dog by his side.