Happy Fourth of July!

We celebrated the Fourth of July this year first by once again gathering with friends and family to watch the annual Fourth of July parade in our neighborhood. Nora really enjoyed the festivities, and of course, so did Joel. Joel absolutely loved watching all the tractors in the parade this year, and he LOVED the fact that people threw candy at him for a solid half hour! I think he wishes there was a parade every day! Here's the little guy waiting patiently for more candy with Daddy: 

And for fun, here's little Nora in her Americana......followed by the same shot of Joel two years ago on his first July 4......what do you think? They look like siblings, right?

We also got to visit with Aunt Kim and Uncle Justin over the fourth, which was fun. They are expecting their own little bundle of joy this coming December, and we are thrilled for them! 

More Joel-isms

Joel continues to amaze me with his conversation and problem-solving skills. The way this kid puts things together and thinks critically is just unbelievable! For instance, today, we were at the grocery store and he looks at me as I pick up bananas to put them in the cart and says, "Where to bananas come from?" I reply, "Bananas come from the banana tree." Joel then retorts, "No, Mommy. I harvest bananas with the banana head on my combine." Seriously? Wow. Then, we get in the car and he has a sucker in his hand that he got at the checkout. He says to me, "Why do suckers taste yummy?" I reply, "Because they taste like mangoes (the flavor he picked out)." He says, "No, it's because the sugar." What???? What two-year-old knows that?

Joel also knows his birthday as well as mine and Nora's. We're working on Daddy's. He is such a smart, cute kid, and we love him so much!

By the way, Joel is apparently part fish as well....he's been swimming a lot lately, and he even swims by himself (with water wings on) in the 10-foot at the Country Club pool. He amazes me! And he's great at floating, too!

Wedding Bells

On July 3, my brother Matt and his longtime girlfriend tied the knot. It was such a beautiful and joyous day for both families, and we are so very happy for them! Joel and Nora were both in the wedding, but, as I expected, neither one cooperated very well for the big event. The plan was for Joel to pull Nora and Charleigh (Anna's niece) down the aisle in a big, white, wooden wagon. Despite practicing it for days and talking about it for just as long, when those double doors opened at the back of the church, it was an absolute no-go. Jack ended up hauling Joel down the aisle while poor Charleigh's daddy pulled the girls in the wagon. And just when I thought the worst of it was over, just as Anna made her way to the front of the church with her father and the music stopped, Joel blurted out, "I need a snack!" Ha! Oh well! Here's a picture of the beautiful bride:

After the wedding, though, the kids both had a ton of fun at the reception. Joel was the life of the party on the dance floor and is still talking about "spinning round and round and round and round." What fun memories! Here's Mommy and Nora cutting a rug:

And here's Joel and Uncle Logan dancing the night away:

Boys of Summer

Joel is having a fun-filled summer already with lots and lots of playing outside, mowing the lawn and swimming. This kid is a FISH! Seriously, I am shocked at how Joel swims. I just put water wings on him, and away he goes! He floats on his back by himself and is not scared at all to paddle around the three-foot. I'm so impressed and so happy that he loves the water so much! Joel's also very witty and thoughtful these days. He loves to be sarcastic and crack jokes whenever he can. And just the other night, he told me this when I was putting him to bed, "I'm a big boy. But sometimes I'm a little boy and I need you, Mama." So sweet!!!!!

We've also been working on potty training with Joel. We are really letting him take the lead on this (which is the advice that I've received from nearly everyone I've talked to), so it's really hit-and-miss. We have had a few successes with pooping on the potty so far, and I'm hopeful that we'll have it down by summer's end. Time will tell. 

I'm continuously impressed with Joel's knowledge and grasp of concepts that I feel should be beyond him. He is beginning to understand the days of the week (and their order), and he recently learned that his birthday is February 7 and will tell anyone who crosses his path! He also knows the name of literally EVERY different kind of John Deere tractor/implement will correct you if you tell him otherwise. Joel's also very inquisitive right now. He is often asking us, "What's this?" What it doos? (i.e. "What's it do?" He's such a smart and sweet kid, and I feel so blessed to be his mommy. 

Right now, Joel's having a bit of a hard week because Jack is currently in Haiti doing mission dental work at a medical clinic there, and Joel misses him sooooo much. He asks me all the time when Daddy is coming home, and every time he hears the back door open, he thinks it's Jack. It's sweet to see how much he loves and misses Jack when he's gone, but it's going to make for a long week I'm afraid! 

Here's a picture of Jack with the kids on Father's Day. He's such a fabulous daddy to them! It just warms my heart to see how much he loves them. Joel has so much fun with him, and I love seeing the adoration in Nora's eyes when he plays with her. It's just too sweet! 

Happy Half Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Nora turned 6 months old on June 10. Man, time really does fly (especially when you have two kids!!!). I can't believe out little sweetie is already a half-year old, but it is so much fun to see her growing and changing. When I took her to her 6-month doctor's appointment, she was 14 lbs. 3 oz. and 25 inches long. She's just a little peanut, but we love it! As I've mentioned before, Nora has quite a content and fun-loving personality. She is literally all smiles, all the time. The girl just loves life! She is also becoming quite good at playing. In fact, just yesterday, I witnessed her playing a game of ball with herself. She would push a little ball across the floor and then roll continuously until she got herself to the ball again and repeat. It was so adorable to watch! She is sleeping consistently through the night, which is a huge blessing, and she has started eating baby food. So far, she loves pears, peas and bananas, and sweet potatoes are growing on her. She also loves to interact with Joel, which is just too cute for words. And Joel takes such good care of her, too! I often overhear him telling her that he loves her, and he loves to give her toys and read her books. And the first person he asks for in the morning? You guessed it...."Nowa." I pray that they will continue to be close through the years and into adulthood. What a blessing for both of them!

Recently, Nora attended her future Aunt Anna's bridal shower with Mommy. Here's a couple pictures from the event of Nora with Mommy, Grandma Traci and Great Grandma Marilyn and also with Aunt Anna. We're so excited to have Anna in the family when she and Matt get married on July 3. Although it feels like Anna's been a part of the family for a long time, it will be wonderful to have it finally be official. We love her! 

Welcome Home, Uncle Jay!

June has been an exciting month for our family so far as Uncle Jay (Aunt Elaine's husband) recently returned from his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Jay is in the Navy, and he spent a year overseas while Elaine lived here in Bethany with Jack's parents. We are so thankful that the Lord brought Jay home safely and that he and Elaine are now reunited. Sadly (for us), they are leaving very soon to move to Germany where Jay will serve for three years. We will really miss having Elaine around, but we're so happy for the two of them to finally start their lives together.

Joel is especially sad about Aunt Elaine's move. The two of them became pretty close throughout the last year, and it has been hard for him to see her go. Thank goodness for technology though because they can Skype as often as they want to! I forsee many Skype lunch dates in the future! Here's a picture of the kids with Jay and Elaine while they were in Bethany for the last time before leaving for Germany.

May Adventures

It seems like the past month has just flown by! We've been keeping busy by enjoying each other and enjoying the great outdoors. The beginning of the month brought what seemed like an endless amount of rain, so Joel discovered the joys of jumping in mud puddles. I don't even know how many hours we've spent watching Joel splash around in puddles throughout the past few weeks. He's such a boy! 

Just before Mother's Day we had a bit of a scare concerning little Nora's health. Around May 6, she broke out in a rash all over her back and torso. I thought she just had heat rash, so I didn't think much of it. But over the next few days, it seemed to get worse. She also developed a slight cough and a runny nose. Again, I didn't think anything of it because she's teething, too, and 'tis the season for allergies. Anyway, Saturday, I took her with me to St. Joe to run a 5K and by the time we got home, she was a total mess. She had a high fever and a rash that overtook her entire body. She also had bloodshot eyes and was the most pathetic I've ever seen a baby look. We were pretty freaked out, so we took her in to the ER that night after dinner. After a lot of waiting and some bloodwork, the doctor on call diagnosed her with measles! We were shocked! After all, she is a stay-at-home baby, and there are absolutely no outbreaks of measles documented in this area of the state (or the state at all for that matter). That's just not one of those things that you just "pick up" somewhere; they are almost completely eradicated. After a few more days and some more research, I concluded that she more than likely had roseola, a much more common and less severe childhood disease. Thankfully, she has now recovered fully and proven that she is one tough cookie! Through the whole ordeal, she kept smiling and laughing. What a sweet little angel! You can kind of see her rash and sad eyes in this picture.

After Nora recovered from her illness, we decided on a whim to take a trip to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. It was a fun afternoon, though I think Joel would have rather stayed home and played in the mud puddles as all he talked about at the zoo was the water! We're standing next to a cage of lion, and he wants to talk about the pond behind us! It was funny! Here's a shot of Jack and Joel feeding the koi fish. Joel loved that! 

Lately, Joel's moved on from splashing in the puddles to swimming in a bucket in the yard! What a nut!

He is more infatuated than ever before with tractors and lawnmowers, and he loves riding the lawnmower with Jack. I think by summer's end, we'll have the best-looking lawn in town! He even sings about John Deere tractors and literally wakes up talking about tractors and mowing the lawn. He's such a  funny kid....and smart, too! He's been very into talking about time concepts lately. He wants to talk about tomorrow, yesterday, and knows the days of the week "Sunday" and "Monday." 

Here's a funny Joel story for you: One night Joel was in the bathtub and Jack was in the bathroom talking to him. Joel "hid" his boy parts between his legs and says, "Where'd Bowl's (Joel's) pee-pee go?" Jack replies, "I don't know, Joel, where is it?" Joel: "It's on the ceiling!" Jack: "What's it doing up there?" Joel: "Playing baseball! Beeeee careful pee-pee!!!!" We laughed for days...actually, we're still laughing about this one!

Joel also attended Vacation Bible School at our church for the first time the last week in May. He was the youngest in his class by far, but he did great and loved playing with the other kids...he took really good naps that week, too!!! Here's Joel on the first day of VBS.

As for Nora, she's started eating cereal and some baby foods, and she has been rolling continuously to get around where she wants to go. We've got a mover, ladies and gentlemen! On the downside, she's not been sleeping very well lately, so that's a bummer. I hope she outgrows that pretty soon. I'm ready to sleep through the night! She did go through a phase of sleeping all night (or pretty close), but right now she's having some trouble...perhaps it's separation anxiety? Or teeth? Who knows!?! That's the guessing game of having a baby!