Joe and Evie Together at Last
I didn’t get to take a picture yesterday, Joy spent the evening sick and then yesterday was long. I had a fun one from new year day. J was all for climbing in the tree with his cowboy boots, Joy and E were not having it at all. I am learning that children always surprise you.
A highlight of yesterday was overhearing E tell Joy “your named Joy because you brought joy to our family.”
The year started out with a come back of family movie nights. Joe was up first to pick and chose “Return to Treasure Island”. We watched the first episode, the boys are hooked and I foresee the rest of the episodes in our near future.
J finished his first year of Sparks. It started out rough, but ended with him finishing his book and extra credit book! We are so proud of our boy who hid God’s word in his heart and learned many Bible stories along the way.
E had an amazing first year in Awana’s as a Cubbie. He loved every minute! He excelled at memorizing verses and singing the Cubbies song. He completed his book and is ready for next year.
Joy thinks she is ready for Awana’s, she wanted a picture just like the boys with the Awana and American flag in the background.
J had a very long week of birthday! He finished his birthday week with a trip up north to camp and fish with Daddy and Papa. It was a success with J catching a few fish and enjoying exploring the great outdoors.
E was not happy to be excluded from the trip, but did discover that he can roll his tongue!
Joy is just perfectly adorable in short dresses!
J is 6! What a crazy 6 years it has been. He had lots of celebrating, including a small all boys party. His Nana took him for an ABC zoo scavenger hunt. At the end she got him a tiger hat.
I couldn’t make up my mind on a picture of Joy. She adores the baby dinosaurs at the zoo, but wanted to be closed in between the front door and the screen door.
Celebrating J turning 6, my little tribe.
J fell in love with etch-a-sketches, it may have had something to do with a certain movie, Toy Story. He also re-figured out how to take pictures with my phone. The highlight of the week was visiting a working dairy farm. J had so much fun petting a baby donkey, trying fresh milk and fresh ice-cream, and most of all playing on a tractor. We ended the week at Paseo Park, where J overcame his fear and climbed all the rocks!
E loved our trip to the zoo this week with Daddy. We happend to go on the same day as the Earth Day celebration. E created a flower from a plastic water bottle, brought home a seed to plant a flower, learned about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In reward he earned a knorp (knife, fork, spoon). So far that is his favorite eating utensil and is only not used when it is dirty.
Joy is loving “spring” she played in a parking spot next to our van for a good 15 minutes and probably would have stayed for an hour. She loved catching/stomping the little yellow flowers falling from the Palo Verde tree. She also enjoyed the first time of this season Lagoon visit. She loved the sand and just having her feet dip in the water. The boys loved on her this week as J figured out how to pick her up and then of course E had to. The scariest part of Joy is her love to climb. Joy discovered the curved ladder and almost made it all the way up. The last step alluded her to get on the deck. I tried stoping her, but she kept going up until I lifted her over the last step.
J got a black eye via his brother this week. It was awful, but J told the true story that E pushed him into the high counter top when J was throwing something away. Even after Joe came up with many other renditions, like “you should see the other guy”. J learned “wh” this week and drew a really cool whale. We also got to visit Aunt Jenni’s baby goats again, this time with our coop. J was so comfortable catching and holding the baby goats.
The big deal of the week was E getting a big boy bike! He figured it out really quickly and loved being like big brother. Joe might have tweaked his ankle running after E. E also loved petting the baby goats and his cousin caught him a rooster to hold, which made his day!
Joy had quite the week, she commandeered my phone on Monday and took over 55 pictures in a very short time while I was schooling J. Wednesday, she went grocery shopping with only me and got the car cart all to herself. She proudly drove around Bashas waving at people and smiling. She loved it so much that she wouldn’t exit to her car seat! She got very into playing peek-a-boo with E and I and stayed in her crib for almost 30 minutes after she woke up from nap time.
First time at the Arboretum. The boys and I loved it. We saw so many different types of dessert plants and some wild life. The boys got to taste mesquite flour, prickly pear and aloe syrup.
This boy kept on giving me goofy smiles, I kept one to remind me of his antics. J had a wonderful week getting ready to celebrate Easter. He staid with us during Good Friday service to sing songs. He also enjoyed listening to the Bible and hymns while we made our way on the Road to Calvary. He also was super excited to put “Jesus” in the tomb and even more excited the next morning as we celebrated the resurrection.
E is in full swing of being all about Daddy. He doesn’t want to do anything with Mommy and is wailing if he doesn’t get his way, which is most the time. He is also super excited about listening to the Bible. He put of the circles with gusto on the Road to Calvary and loved the last supper book the best, because it was about a boy who hid in a closet and spied on the Last Supper.
Oh, Joy! She is climbing all over the park. I don’t if they are meant to be climbed on, but Joy does. She also loves baby goats and chickens. We visited a friend that had both. Joy petted one very patient hen who was laying an egg in a stroller. Joy couldn’t hold the goats well, but that didn’t stop her from trying. The Easter egg hunt was a hit and Joy raced around putting eggs into her little bunny basket. She was so eager and quick, she even got some of the big kids eggs!