Dying Easter Eggs with Mimi

Mom called last Saturday and said she wanted to do a 'Ah-prise' with Josh.  (That's how Josh says it.)

Her suprise was messy and fun.  Just what Josh wanted.  He was very interested from the moment he saw it....Dying Easter Eggs!

Mimi was soooo much more patient and laid back than I was.  I really tried my best, but it's hard with a 2 year old Tazmanian Devil and Dye.

Josh would drop the eggs in....it seemed from 2 feet in the air.......

Then Mimi would help fish them out.  He knew all the colors.

Then Josh wanted to get the eggs out.  Yeah, that was a mess.

Then the whole spoon thing became too much.  He'd just reach in there with his hand. 

I think I might have squealed the first time he did it.

Then he pushed too hard on the egg and cracked it.

I think he might have put that one back in the dye to dye the actual egg part that started to show.

Then we started to dye the eggs multiple times, even if they had already been dyed.

They're soooo pretty.

Then we just stripped.  I took off his shirt and just let 'em at it!

He REALLY got into it then.  We finally had to cut him off.  There's only so much mess and so many times you can dye an egg!

His had didn't stay dyed for Easter Sunday...thank goodness.

I'm not sure who had more fun....Josh or Mimi!

Zoo Trip

Last Saturday we took a family trip to the zoo.  (We were very fortunate enough that my mom and dad bought us a family pass for a year!  Woohoo!) 

It was tiring, but so much fun.  It was neat to see Josh's interest in all the animals.  I love to see Josh's excitement.  This time he also had a 'fear' of the animals.  He didn't really want to put his hand up to touch the animals, and didn't realize that there was REALLY thick glass between them.  I mean if you think about it, the glass he knows is like our sliding back door where you can open it and shut it and let the 'animal' in and out!

This picture is important because the whole way thru the zoo, Josh's choices were "Mommy can push you in the stroller or Daddy can carry you."  It's getting a little hard (and very tiring) to carry a five pound baby, plus other weight I've put on, and a 30 pound toddler.  Uh....not happen' boys! 

Here they are looking at Daddy's favorite animal....the lion!  Josh can even roar like a lion.  Chad always says the lion is either sleeping or sleeping.  He's right.  I think in all the years I've been to the zoo I've only seen the lion awake and/or moving twice.  Do you think that's why Chad likes him?  Ha Ha.... 

And here we are looking at the tiger.  This is a newer exhibit at our zoo.  I'm sure they had tigers before, but this is one of those fancy donor sponsored exhibits. 

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The tiger kept pacing by the window.  At one point he even turned around and squirted something at us from a very inappropriate place.  I'm sure it was a warning sign.  The mama lion was lying in the corner, so we deduced that she was either pregnant and he was protecting her or it was feeding time and we were his dinner!  Josh wouldn't even let go of Chad or I.  He was really scared!

Josh's new favorite animal is the alligator-right behind a tiger and a lion.  The alligator was under water with just his eyes sticking out, but Josh enjoyed seeing him. 

He also enjoyed seeing the turtles swim! 

They were little and there were lots!

Then after being there for about an hour or a little more, the pregnant one and the toddler started to get hot and cranky, so Chad decided it was time to cut the visit short. 

We sped thru the penguin exhibit, but by this time Josh's fear of the animals had diminished (or the penguins just looked really friendly) and he was trying to pet them thru the glass.

I, of course, had packed some quarters to feed animals.  We decided against the petting zoo.  That's all we need is for me to get some funky hand, foot, hoof disease eight months pregnant.  Yeah, that'd be an adventure. 

So, we fed the fish and left.

We had packed a picnic lunch (or as Josh calls it a pic-pic) and hit the park.  We hadn't been to this park, but it's REALLY cool!  It's handicapped accessible which actually works well for Josh since he can't do all the bog-boy park stuff.

Josh's favorite part was swinging.  We tried getting him to do other things because we have swings at home, but he really only wanted to swing.

It wasn't terribly hot by Kansas standards, but it was hot enough to make for a cranky toddler and mama. 

We both took a good nap!

Backyard Fort Part II

WE finally got the slide.  We picked it up before church one Sunday.  We shoved it in my SUV.  It was over the top of Josh's head and the passenger seat.  We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies.

This is his first time going down the slide.  I had to run over to get the first shot.

He picks up some real speed going down the slide!

And here we are hamming it up for the camera at the top of the slide.  He now can say "Cheese!" when you take his picture.

It has a cool ladder going up. 

This is the best picture of them all.  After Josh was done sliding, he went over to Chad WITHOUT BEING TOLD and gave him a hug and said thank you. 

Helping Daddy put the finishing touches on the fort.  (It still has to have a roof put on, but that'll come later.)

Then Zoey felt left out and wanted to play.  She loves to play with big balls like these.  She can't pick them up, but she tries and is so fierce when she runs after them.

We had so much fun building that.  (WE did not build it.  Chad built it and I supervised.) 

It turned out good, don't ya think?!!?

Big Boy with Yogi

Our newest craving is yogurt.  (Josh calls it Yogi.)

He loves to be a big boy and feed himself. 

If you look close in the top picture, you can see just a little Yogi by his left eyebrow. 

Sometimes he hits the hole and sometimes he wears it.

Most days I just think that it would be easier to run him thru a car wash than take a bath.

Building the Best Backyard Fort EVER!!!

Josh is finally getting his fort and swing set.  Chad is building the fort and we are getting Grandma and Grandpa's wooden swing set.  We looked at buying one and/or buying the instruction to build one, but they are soooo expensive!  The cheapest we found was $800 and they go all the way up to $2,000!!!

The first day was a family affair.  We were all out back 'helping.' 

Here Daddy and Josh are looking for the nut Daddy lost in the yard.  I told him not to worry.  He'd find it with the lawn mower one day.

Chad started to build it out in the yard where it was going to go, then decided he should do it somewhere level.  So he had to carry it to the patio.  Yes, I did end up helping him carry.  But boy was it fun to sit and watch him try by himself in the wind!

I had a craving for a chocolate shake on the way home from the mall (the boys had gone to get the supplies for the fort) and here Josh is finishing it off.

Josh had to remeasure to make sure Daddy was right.

Here's Josh playing with his football.  The wind kept blowing it (which he loved) and he'd chase after it yelling "Wind STOP!"

The hardest worker of them all.

Then Josh took a play break to go play in the sandbox.  (Which I might add his Daddy also built!)

And thanks to the big kids at the park and church, he now does a few 'tricks' on the slide.

Back to business.  Here he is helping Daddy test the sturdiness of the fort.

And again remeasuring Daddy's work.

Josh's newest thing is to hold hands.  We both love it.

After that Josh and I went inside.  The wind was just too much and we were getting hungry.  Daddy stayed out there and worked for about another hour by himself.  If you look closely, you can see he's putting the railing on the top.  Daddy says just about one more good day of work and we'll be in business. 

To be continued....