Everything but the kitchen sink...

goes into an evening that happens once every year or two. This particular evening came almost exactly 18 months after the last one of this kind. So we did everything from eat dinner together, to celebrating birthdays to swimming.

My Mom and Dad - have been married 37 years!

The original 4!

"Papa" and Josiah

Josiah, "Nana", Mia and Me

Mia and Grandpa

For not intending to get wet-I was soaked~!

We had a blast!

Mia showing off for Grandma.

Both of the kids got comfortable enough to put their faces underwater!

Josiah is our fish but this was huge progress for Mia.

Rob's day was made when he got to play with his nephew.

Josiah is pretty happy about it too.

All in all we had a beautiful evening! Short and sweet!

Have a beautiful rest of your vacation- Mom, Dad and Rob!

We love you!

"Mom, when will you teach me to mow?"

"When you are dressed appropriately and we are mowing."

So as you can see the very next time Daddy mowed she was dressed appropriately. And so was Daddy~!~! In our house "dressed appropriately" means wearing long pants (preferrably jeans) and tennis shoes and socks or in Daddy's case work boots.

Of course the lesson included the basics: when the mower is running you only touch the handle!!!

She did great!

Tot School

I think it is safe to say Josiah absolutely loves Tot School! ~not to mention having his picture taken! He wants me to read "cocoon" all the time and he loves to follow along with the book's predicatable pattern, counting what the caterpillar eats and of course the cocoon and butterfly parts! Our friend gave us a life cycle set for the caterpillar and that just makes him love the whole thing even more!

I am sorry I waited so long to start doing things like this with the kids! But you know what ...

that just means that the possibilities with the new baby are absolutely endless~!~~!

God is so good!

I am amazed at how pieces begin to come together when you are not even trying! Once you start doing this kind of thing you find materials all over the house. He loves to have me write "Aubrey" on anything and everything. He loves using magnets on cookie sheets. He wasn't too sure about the spagetti noodles in the parmesan (sp) cheese dispenser (an empty plastic seasoning container of any size with holes 1/8 of an inch wide or bigger may even work better).

The best parts of the whole process are his enthusiasm and Mia's joy at being able to teach him all kinds of new things.