So Big!!

Nora, Nora, Nora. Where has my little baby gone? In the past month and a half, Baby Squirrel has gone from barely balancing to sit up to full-fledged crawling, pulling up on furniture, eating everything in sight and chatting up a storm. She also popped her bottom two front teeth through, which has become very helpful in eating the tons of table food that she devours each day. Yes, she's still a little tiny thing in size, but her attitude and determination is mighty big! She'll even tell you that herself if you ask her the question "How big is Nora?" Her arms will immediately go up to the "so big" pose! It's stinking adorable!

This next picture is Nora's "duck face." It cracks me up!!!

Now that Nora is crawling, Joel has been thrown for a total loop. He is in a constant state of panic and annoyance as Nora cruises around looking for things of Joel's to play with. I don't know how many times a day I hear Joel say, "No, Nor!" or "Mommy, hold her!" And so it begins...sigh....

Last month, Nora had her first and only ear infection. It started as a nasty cold (brought to her through my work in the church nursery) and turned into a full-blown ear infection within a week. Poor girl...she was just simply miserable. She literally screamed for two days straight before she started to feel better with the help of antibiotics. However, after giving her a couple of days of amoxicillin, we discovered that she is allergic when she broke out in a horrible rash. So, after switching her antibiotics, she fully recovered and was her happy self again. As a side note, our tiny girl is still tiny...when I took her to the doctor for her ear infection, the weighed in at a whopping 15 pounds at 8 months old. That's about what Joel weighed at 4 months!

Welcome to John Deere Country!

Our little tractor-loving boy has taken his obsession with the green machines to an entirely different level as of late. Here's a conversation we had the other day while driving in the car down a gravel road:

Joel: "Mommy, look at all that corn on the cob in that field!"
Me: "That's cool, isn't it, Joel?"
Joel: "This is John Deere Country, Mommy."
Me: "We live in John Deere Country, Joel?"
Joel: (In a disappointed voice) "No, me live in Bethany, Missouri."

Recently, Joel has really started to enjoy attending Sunday school and church. He's learning a lot thanks to his wonderful teachers and often comes home to tell us all about it. I'm just amazed at how much he comprehends the stories that they are teaching from and grasping the simple concepts of the Bible. It's such a blessing to hear him speak the truth. The other day, for example, we were sitting on the deck on a beautiful morning. Joel looks at me and says, "Mommy, this is a nice day....(long pause).......Thank you, God!" Awwww.....what a sweetheart!

Joel is also really getting into role-playing and playing pretend. He loves to pretend he is different characters or objects (the most favorite being....you guessed it....tractors and combines) and engaging me in his games and pretend play. It's such fun to see his little imagination at work. And I am telling you, this kid has the biggest vocabulary! He uses words such as "actually," "humongous (i.e. hu-bungus)" and "interesting" in the correct context.  He also knows his days of the week and truly grasps the concept of time from one day to the next. He amazes me and we are so blessed to have him!

Watch Out, Nora!

Such sweet little angels!

Watch out, Nora! 

Sorry, sis!

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!