Send warm weather, please

Here we go again - that time of year when my family & friends in AZ complain about the heat as I sit wrapped up in 3 layers of clothing and a quilt trying to stay warm.  :)  It doesn't help that for 2 of Noah's first 3 soccer games it has been absolutely frigid and this Saturday's game is looking like it will continue the trend.  It seems that Michael is the warm weather catalyst for soccer.  The one game he has been able to attend was warm & sunny, though a bit windy.  I brought our nicer camera to that game in an attempt to get better pictures.  There are a few and they are definitely better than the other camera's shots.  Noah's team has shut-out each team with 1-0, 3-0 & 9-0 victories!  This Saturday we will face the final "new" opponent before we replay each of the teams.  I think he's enjoying soccer this year and I love that he is out there running off some of his energy!  :)

As I was looking at our calendar this morning, I counted 23 more school days (counting today) and then realized that I have to go to school myself for all but 7 of those days!  I'm sure things will pop up and I'll end up over there even on my "off" days.  For the first time since Noah started school, I'm actually counting the days until summer break so that I can have some time away!  lol  But I absolutely love it (even if I do complain occasionally) and can blame only myself for agreeing to do so many different things at the school.  I'm just so happy that I have the opportunity to volunteer at the school.  It is a blessing to me and I hope the school as well. 

Josiah is as feisty as ever and just being 2.  He repeats things over and over and over and it gets a bit annoying after awhile.  But he's just so darn cute!  We still converse daily about Noah riding the school bus, whether or not the Jeep is in the garage, and about taking the car to run our various errands.  Since our trip to Boonshoft a few weeks ago, he talks quite a bit about that and asks almost daily if we can go to "Boon" today.  He has also added a few tv characters to his growing list of favorites.  Team Umizoomi and Super Why are now on the list and seem to be his pick over Boz the bear, Elmo & Mickey.  We've also discovered the joy of stickers and with just a little help, he will peel & stick stickers for quite some time.  Fortunately, he still sticks them to the paper or the sticker book they go to and not to the carpet, walls, couch, etc.  :)

Picasa, my photo storage site, has changed so many settings that I've decided to switch to something else.  So, let's give Winkflash a try for awhile - hopefully you'll be able to view these pictures - just a few from soccer & our smiley Josiah.  You should just have to click on the link and then click on the folder with today's date to view these pictures.
This week's pictures

boys, boys, boys

Josiah is really starting to show us his personality and we are finding that he is just as dramatic as his brother, if not more so.  When Noah was little (and still, actually), he loved to look at himself in the mirror and make faces.  Josiah does the same (as I'm sure most kids do) but he takes it a step further...

I have caught him doing this MULTIPLE times - I thought this was a tween girl thing but apparently, it's a Josiah thing too!  ;)  He does keep me laughing...

And I always love taking sleeping shots of my boys (some days, when they're asleep is my favorite part of the day...) and I couldn't resist this one.

Soccer games started on Saturday and Noah did a great job.  His team, the Cobras, won 3-0.  The fact that it poured during half the game did nothing to keep those boys from having a great time.  I did not have nearly as much fun though at least I had the umbrella with me.  Josiah sat for most of the game with his teddy grahams and watched

that is until it started raining... then he wanted to play in the rain.  Needless to say, we were all soaked and just a little bit cold.  (Notice Josiah is wearing his winter coat... I had mine on too PLUS gloves)  Oh, and did I mention that Michael "unfortunately" could not attend this game because he was teaching confirmation? ;)  Noah played goalie & defense for the first half, sat out during the 3rd quarter and then played forward during the 4th quarter.  Because of the rain and the quality of my camera, I only took a couple pictures.  I'm hoping some friends of ours with a really nice camera will come to a game WITH their camera.  I'll be sure to share those pictures with you then!

 
Though we avoided the severe tornado weather, we did have quite a bit of wind the past week and a butterfly attempted to take refuge in our screened-in porch.  I caught the butterfly and got it to sit on Noah's hand for quite some time - long enough for me to run into the house and get the camera even! :)  Josiah looked but did not touch -that butterfly wouldn't have stood a chance with him.

where did spring go?

Our weather has sadly returned to winter-like temps.  Josiah & I got out our winter coats to go to Tiny Tots Gym this morning and I'm not happy!  ;)  Hopefully we'll warm up again soon.  We decided to take the plunge this summer and purchase a season pass to one of the local pools, so this summer will probably be the coldest, rainiest summer we've had since I moved to Ohio... but I hope not!!!

After blogging on Wednesday, Grandma Alice's Easter box arrived, so lots more pictures of the boys digging into a goodie box!  Thanks to the grandmas, we are well-stocked with candy.  :)

On Saturday we finally got Skype up and running with Gummy & Grandpa Bruce.  Now, whenever Josiah sees me turn on the laptop he says, "Gummy?"  We hope to get Skype set up with Grandma Alice & Grandpa Bob when we visit this summer and definitely plan to enjoy this great technology!

We colored eggs on Saturday and had fun at the Easter egg hunt at church on Sunday.  Once again, Easter Sunday was cold and wet, so the egg hunt was held in the church basement.  Not a lot of hunting going on since a majority of the eggs were "hidden" in plain sight!  But all of the kids had fun.

On Monday, we went to Boonshoft Museum of Discovery down in Dayton and had a very nice morning running around and playing there.  Michael even got to join us, which is always a treat! Trips are always more fun with him along.  :) 

Noah's Spring Break was just over Easter weekend this year (Friday-Tuesday) so today it's back to normal.

4-11-12

Bugs beware!

I think there are only 2 or 3 bug pictures but Josiah is quickly learning that bugs are great for squishing.  An ant was walking through the kitchen and he ran and got me, showed me, asked, " 'Siah touch?" and then stepped on it.  Bugs that aren't quick don't have a chance around here!  :)

Gummy sent a care package so there are lots of pictures of the boys checking out their goodies.  I finally relented and allowed Josiah to try a peep.  Another sugar-fiend has been born... and, as Noah always says, "It's just not a holiday without peeps!"

Josiah is showing signs of being anal like the rest of this family - as you'll see in the pictures, he has an alphabet game for the refrigerator and though he doesn't like the letters to be on the fridge if he's not playing with them, he does like to play with them while I'm making supper.  First, he throws them all over the kitchen floor, then picks each letter up, puts it on the little box that sings a song for each letter and then carefully lines the completed letters on the fridge.  When he runs out of room in the straight line, he tries to make the letters fit into the line and when they don't fit, he wipes the fridge clean and walks away.  (at least he doesn't throw a tantrum like another young boy I know...) 

Noah continues to do great in school, piano and soccer.  He's having fun at soccer practices and is looking forward to games starting next week.  Can't believe we've got less than 2 months left in 3rd grade.  Where has the school year gone?  I'm not even going to think about the fact that in less than 2 months, we'll have a FOURTH grader in our house.

Michael continues to work a lot and I continue to over-extend myself with volunteer activities at the school.  So what's new?  ;)

4-4-12