Thursday, June 14, 2012

Josephine is...




Three years 2 months old.  My favorite thing about her at this age is her friendliness.  My least favorite thing about her at this age is the emotional highs and lows.  But more about the favorites....she loves to meet new people.  Wherever we go she is interested in the other people there and after a few minutes of being shy is usually talking their ear off.  She is always very sweet and gentle with children younger than her, except Lillian of course...lol.  She is definitely a social butterfly.
Her favorite play lately is with her babies or anything pretend/imaginary.  She has a baby with her almost constantly.  Now that our yard is fenced in she'll take her baby out in the yard and push her on our baby swing.  She loves to play restaurant.  And the best part is all you need is pretend money and pretend food.  She also enjoys puzzles.  She has a 24 piece puzzle she can do by herself and some 36 piece puzzles that she needs a little help with.  
We're constantly working on letters and numbers, days of the week, manners, obeying, and learning about Jesus.  I can already see the difficulty I will have with home schooling her.  She likes to play dumb (ok, maybe a little blunt!)  Today she knows A, B, & C but tomorrow she'll tell me they are Q, R, & S.  She'll definitely keep me on my toes and force me to be creative!
I haven't registered her for pre-school this fall.  As of right now we'll be doing a family style Kindermusik class and she will probably have another activity like gymnastics, dance, or swimming.  We'll see what she's interested in.  I'm excited about next summer for her because she will be old enough to participate in some day camps at the zoo, solo swim lessons, and other camps and activities for kiddos age 4 and up.  
Where does the time go?  I am so grateful I've been front and center for all of it.  




Science Center of Iowa

We had a lot of fun at the Science Center today.  This is only our second time visiting and the last time Lillian wasn't even walking!  We added it to our zoo membership and with the hot summer months ahead I think we'll be visiting often!  


 Why don't our bubbles at home work that well?
 Lillian is obsessed with wet floor signs.  No matter where we are if she sees one she has to play with it. 

 She is such a big girl now!  

 "What are you doing, Mom?"  This is a total Josephine face too!
 As you can see, Super Oliver is protecting the girls from what may be lurking in the dark cave!




What outing would be complete without a meltdown over a little blister on her foot?  I think she must have been pretty tired because she was fast asleep after about 5 minutes in the car, which I had to carry her to while pushing Lillian in the stroller because she couldn't put her shoes back on.  But you know, I sure do love my weeping angel:)

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Our Trip to Missouri

 Well the girls and I survived our first girls only 10 hr drive!  We drove to Missouri for a family reunion and Daddy had to stay behind and work.  I know he was disappointed to miss all the fun;)
 The above picture was taken just before we pulled out of the garage at 7:15 am!  Fortunately for me those frowns and tears didn't last long and our drive was pretty pleasant!  
 Our first stop.  Josephine really liked the dinosaur.  She did an awesome job riding in the car in her big girl panties!  For previous long trips we've reverted back to pull-ups but she was a big girl this time and no accidents!  After another few hours we stopped for lunch and took it to a nearby park.  The girls ran around and played for a good hour.  Although it was sweltering they had fun and it definitely helped them endure the remainder of the drive!  

 The girls and Great Grandma Ginny, aka Nannie Boo.
 The girls and Great Grandma Lucille.
 Great Grandma Lucille and cousins Sarah, Katie, and Christopher.
Lillian loves to "smell" flowers.  The favorite part for both girls of going grocery shopping is stopping to admire and "smell" all the bouqets.
Nannie Boo has a friend who has some pet goats that the girls enjoyed feeding.

 And a pet llama but he wasn't in the mood for entertaining guests!
 Adorable tire swing photos:)

Saturday, June 9, 2012

John Deere 175th Anniversary Celebration






Who wouldn't have fun with tractor shaped bouncies, free food and drink, tractors, and cotton picking machines galore?  Well we sure did!!  We even got to take a tour of Daddy's factory and see his office!

   








           Lillian 20 1/2 months                                                                                              Josephine 3 yrs 








This is the Pinnacle--the cotton picking machine that Josh's department helps build.

Mommy, Josephine, and Lillian.  I'll be 24 weeks tomorrow!


Friday, June 8, 2012

My Little Mommies

The girls were so cute this morning playing with their babies.  And I think Lillian has finally gotten the hang of smiling for the camera.  She was even saying "cheese!" Her hair looks so red in this photo!  I love it!