More Joshua Funnies

Joshua is just going through this really funny stage, right now. Tonight at dinner, he asked me if I was able to use glass cups when I was a kid. I told him I didn't remember how old I was when I started using glass cups, so he'd have to ask my mom.

Joshua - "Does your mom know more than you?"
Me - "Yes."
Joshua - "Why?"
Me - "All parents know more than their kids."
Joshua - "I know more than you."
Me - "You do? What do you know more than me?"
Joshua - "I know how to cook."

He then went on to list a few more. Apparently, I need to spend more time practicing my cooking. Or maybe I should just let him take over. That sounds like a plan to me. :)

Flocks

Did you know that the word "flock" is good for describing any number of things? Not just birds, but anything? Just ask my kids. Today, I had to put a few stones into a pile of stones. Joshua said, "Just put it with the flock of stones. It'll be nice there." :) But it doesn't end there. Flock has been used to describe paper, toys, food. You name it, we have a flock of it. Emily has picked up on it as well and has also started calling groups of things "flocks." Kids are so cute with the things they come up with.

Cranky Mommy

As I was working on my Christmas newsletter, I thought of a funny story about Joshua. Then I figured it was too self-deprecating for a good Christmas newsletter, and Peter thought I should include it here. Just so we can all look back and chuckle. Well, Joshua is really sensitive to my mood, among other things. I think he may just be a fairly sensitive kid. This makes him so so sweet. He is also very observant. He has figured out that some mornings, mommy just wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. When this happens, Joshua sometimes ends up telling me, "Look Mommy, I'm being very nice (or helpful) right now, so you don't have to be so cranky today." How sweet can you get? Of course, this almost always makes me smile... unless I've fallen out of the wrong side of bed. :) I am thankful to have the little reminder that I don't need to be so cranky. I am so blessed in so many things, I should be able to see through the sleepiness, and still crack a smile. Thank you for helping me out there, Joshua.

Funny Things

I've noticed a lot of people telling me I need to be more grateful for things everyday. Not people telling me to my face, but talks at church, stories in magazines, etc. I've also noticed that my Aunt Pam likes to put on her facebook things she is grateful for. I like that, so I think I'm going to try to start doing that on a regular basis as well. To start off with, I want to mention that I am thankful that my son, Joshua, says funny things. He thinks things through, and when you think about the limited information he has, his statements really make sense. But they are funny when added to the additional knowledge of a few more years of experience. For example....

The other day, we were talking about the German language. I told him that in German, they say "Nein" for "No." He thought about that for a moment, then asked, "What do they say 'five' for?"

He is so bright. And I am thankful for the smile that he always manages to bring to my face.

Follow The Prophet

Today, we had our ward primary presentation. It was Joshua's first program to participate in. He did a really great job. For his part, he was assigned "Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer." He decided, though, that he wanted to say "Jesus Christ is Our Savior and Our Redeemer." We talked about it, and he wanted to make sure that everyone knows that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer for everyone, not just him. So thoughtful and knowledgeable.

One important thing to know about Joshua. He can project his voice with the best of them. He's the type of kid that will never NEED a microphone. When he got up to say his part, it was clear and loud enough for all to hear. It was really wonderful to hear. Because of his projection talents, we were also able to delight in his contribution to the songs. I don't think most people noticed, until we got to the song "Follow The Prophet." This is a song with a really fun to sing chorus. All the kids know the chorus line very quickly. Joshua, even as a Sunbeam (first year in primary when you are 3 on the 1st of January), knows it VERY well. He sang his heart out. Not exactly WITH everyone else, but definitely LOUDER than everyone else combined. This song has 9 verses. The kids sang 8 of them. Each time through the chorus, he became a little more obvious. The entire congregation was rolling by the end of it, and Peter and I were in tears from laughing so hard. He was able to keep up the volume for each of the subsequent songs. People throughout the congregation kept glancing at me and winking. I think they wanted to reassure me that I shouldn't be embarrassed. Thank you for your concern. I do appreciate it. I think if I hadn't seen another little girl do the exact same thing several years ago, I may have been mortified. But, as it is, I was just proud of him. Proud of him that he knew his songs. And proud of him that he loves the gospel enough to want to make sure that everyone knew that he knows that these things are true.

Emily is still in nursery, and will be there for another year. In our church, the kids get to go to nursery when they turn 18 months. Then, when they are 3 on the first of January, they move up to a class called Sunbeams. The Sunbeams meet with the rest of the primary, who are the children ages 3-12. The nursery kids don't participate in the program, so Emily was sitting with the rest of the family for the presentation. As she was sitting there listening, not so intently, she suddenly stopped what she was doing (she was playing with a nice girl who was sitting behind us) when she heard Joshua singing, and said "That's my boy." She likes to say that Joshua is her boy and Jessica is her baby. She is so funny. But even Emily recognized her brother's voice as he sang with all his heart, and at the top of his lungs, with all the other primary children.

Good job, Joshua. I hope to be able to hear you sing each and every year you are in the primary program... even when you are 11 years old. I love you, Joshua. Follow the prophet, and you will always be where you need to be.

Jessie turned 1!

Okay, so it probably didn't need the exclamation point in the title, since it was a couple weeks ago already, but it was exciting. 1 year ago, on October 22, this beautiful little girl joined our family. She is the most cuddly little person I have ever met. I couldn't ask for a happier child. We are so blessed to have her with us.



The pure joy that is my little Jessie

Apparently, when you have older siblings, you don't get to open your own presents. :) She didn't seem to mind too much, though.

Here she is figuring out how to tear open presents... Okay, so she already knew how to tear paper, but that is beside the point.

Jessie also happens to have figured out how to eat her cake without too much mess. Too bad... No great messy pictures this time. But we do have a video of her eating just the flowers in the bear's hair... and then her brother and sister promptly joined her when they realized they were going to miss out on all the pretty purple icing. In this picture, she had already begun destroying those nice little flowers. That is what she is putting in her mouth.


Happy Birthday, Jessica! We love you so much and can't wait to see what your next year has in store for us all.

Paynes Prairie - Adventures With Alligators... and banana spiders

One beautiful Saturday in September, we decided we would take our first trip to Paynes Prairie. Okay, so it's our second trip, but our first trip was to the wrong place in Paynes Prairie. Sorry, Nathan, there was nothing to speak of there. Except a tower I thought would fall over. If you're curious about that story, click here to read it. But this time, we found the right spot to go view the alligators and were not disappointed.

After parking, it's about a 1/2 mile walk to the viewing pavilion that is set up for your convenience and comfort when looking at gators. How nice. The end of the walk is along this board walk. Nicely raised and caged so you feel more secure when staring at an alligator down in the water. Here is a picture of the daddy and the kids taking a look at an alligator swimming down below.

Here is Jessica taking advantage of the few minutes she was allowed to get out of her stroller. Looking around, checking things out. At this point she wasn't walking, but she could sure get where she wanted anyway.

When you get to the end of the boardwalk, there is a little pavilion so you can sit in the shade and see a lot of alligators. It's apparently positioned in a very popular area for the gators to rest. As we were gazing to our hearts content, we noticed there was a ginormous wasp nest in the roof of the pavilion. We also noticed that the wasps had come down to check us out. Needless to say, we did not make anymore use of that small building. Too bad, it was quite a warm day, too. But leaving the pavilion and walking over into the grass allowed me to get this really good shot of a gator sunbathing. What a relaxing way to spend the day.

On the way back to the car, we first had to sprint through the pavilion. I was quite weary of the wasps by that point. And then walked all the way back along the boardwalk and on a path through some meadows and some woods. This tree was quite interesting. It looks super old. And it is huge. This picture definitely does not do this tree justice.

One other interesting thing we noticed on the way back was that we were surrounded by all these banana spiders hanging in their webs up in the trees above the path. Yuck! We have them all around the complex here where we live, but I think these ones may have been even bigger. For those of you not familiar with these creatures, they are not really aggressive, but they are grossly huge. I'd suppose some of these could be compared to a dollar bill for size.

By the way, I am NOT a spider person, but these are interesting to look at.

11 Monthday Present

Yesterday was September 22. It was also Jessica's 11 month day. She got a special present.

Her 1st tooth! Yes, it is FINALLY here.


Congratulations, Jessie! I know you'll make good use of them in the times to come. :)

Dissertation Update

Just wanted to post an exciting little update for all you out there. Peter has finished writing his dissertation! Yes, it is complete. Now he has taken it to the printer. He will get it to his committee and the grad school (who reviews it for formatting issues). His committee will review it and then he will have to defend the dissertation hopefully in the first or second week of October. Yeah for us! After defending, he will be all set for graduating in December. Life is GOOD! :)

Think, Think, Think

Joshua has found a way to nearly always get what he wants from Emily. He has become VERY good at this manipulation technique. For example....

When it comes to shower time, we have Joshua and Emily take turns going first, in theory. Jessie always gets in with whomever is first. However, Joshua loves to play a game with Mommy or Daddy, whoever is not giving the baths, while both the girls are in the shower. Of course, he has to go second in order for this to happen. So, when it is his turn, like tonight, he asks Emily if she wants to shower first. Here's an example of the conversation.

Joshua: Emily, do you want to go first?
Emily: No.
Joshua: Do you want to think about that? For longer than you thinked about that?
Emily: No.
Joshua: Think, think, think. Do you want to keep thinking about that?
A little time elapses
Joshua: Keep thinking about that. Do you want to go first?

Half the time, he gets her to finally say yes. It really is quite amusing to watch.

Outcome for tonight? Emily thought long and hard, and took the first shower. Boy is he good. :)

Our Big Summer Trip - Part 1

This summer, we took a big trip to Utah. It was absolutely wonderful. Couldn't have asked for anything better for our vacation. Got to see my family, got to see Peter's family, a few friends, and had a blast in the process.

We left on our trip on July 13 and returned on the 20th. It was a week full of fun and birthday celebrations. My birthday is on July 18. Anyhow, we decided to celebrate my birthday 1 week early, on July 11. We were so busy getting things ready to go, we decided to do store bought cupcakes. Mmmm mmmmm good. From the looks of this picture, though, you'd never know it was mommy's birthday. :)

On the morning of Tuesday, July 13, we woke up really early so we could be to the airport by 5:15 am. Peter's advisor, David, was kind enough to come pick us up so we wouldn't have to pay for the parking for the whole week. That was really great. We flew out of Gainesville to Atlanta. Then it was a straight shot to Salt Lake City. The kids enjoyed the plane so much that they actually behaved the whole time... of course, it's been over a month, so my memory may be cloudy. :) I believe this was a picture of the flight from Atlanta. The other plane was a little smaller than this. One other thing. We had a layover of something like 50 minutes in Atlanta. We sprinted the whole way, other than the train ride between terminals, and made it without a problem. On the way back home, though, we had a scary moment with the trains. We ran to catch the train that was there when we got to the train area. Emily stopped before climbing on the train, and the doors were trying to shut. I had a hold of her, but I had to push her into the train to get her on while the doors were shutting on me. It was a frightening moment, but we survived, and all stayed together. Emily was visibly shaken, but she got over it by the time we stopped to eat.

After we arrived in Salt Lake City, we went over to Temple Square and explored for a little bit. We also left the camera in the car. We did have our phones, so we have a couple pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I'll post those later. After Temple Square, we headed over to our friends' house. The Merkely's are a family we know from our Clemson, SC days. Since then, they have moved to Salt Lake, and they were kind enough to allow us to stay with them for the night after we got to town. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast. They have 2 little boys, and Joshua and Emily couldn't have been happier with them. Camille even watched the kids the next morning so that Peter and I could go to the temple together. It had been quite some time since we had made it there together, so that was a very nice experience. Not to mention it was in the Jordan River temple where Peter and I got married just over 7 years ago. Thank you so much, Camille!

On Wednesday, July 14, the second day of our trip, we met some of my family at a farm in Murray. I don't remember the name of the farm, so if someone can fill me in, I'd appreciate it. (My mom has informed me that this is Wheeler Farm. Thanks Mom!) Joshua still talks about that farm and the animals, and it's over a month later. Great idea, Grandma! This is a picture of my mom (Grandma, here) and all 4 grandkids that can walk, Abby, Joshua, Kaity, and Emily, walking through the farm.

Joshua petting a goat. We had had the chance to milk some goats in June, so Josh was super comfortable petting this one.

Wyatt and Jessica. The other 2 grandkids who could not walk, therefore, could not be part of the other picture. But they seemed plenty happy just taking each others' pacifiers as entertainment. Jessie's not used to having someone ride with her, so I think she was just happy with the company.

Earlier, you saw pictures of my more immediate family. Here is a picture of almost everyone who came to this little gathering. I don't remember all of the names for sure, but I will give it a try. Some are my cousin Kirsten's kids. She's the one taking the picture. Others are my cousin Matt's kids.
back row: Jacob, Taylor, Cameron, Amber, Shawna, Allie, my sister Robyn, my sister Heather, her husband Travis, me (Angie) and Peter.
front: Joshua, Emily, Grandma Barker, Kaity, Wyatt and Jessica.
Abby is hiding somewhere. (Help with the names I missed would also be appreciated)

This also happened to be Kaity's 5th birthday. Happy Birthday Kaity! Such a beautiful little girl.

Grandma carrying Emily. I think Emily loved this. The girl in the pink shirt in the back is my cousin Kirsten who was missing from the other picture.

I liked this picture of my mom and Emily a bit better. But I included the other just for the sake of getting Kirsten on here. :)

Kaity and Joshua. Awwwww, how sweet. This reminds me of this post from 2 years ago.

Swimming with Alligators

On July 10, the stake had it's annual picnic lunch. We meet at Manatee Springs, a little over an hour away from here, and eat and play and swim. The springs here are cold. All year round, they stay a constant 72 (or was it 74) degrees. Cold, cold, cold. Anyhow, last year, the kids flat refused to get in the water once they felt it. We thought we'd try it again. So, after eating lunch, we headed over to the little dock to walk down into the springs and go for a swim. This year, we pulled them into the water. Again, they wanted nothing to do with it. After some crying and complaining and begging to get out, we left. Oh well. It's hard to go from swimming in a warm pool to swimming in a cold, cold spring. I'd say maybe next year, but hopefully, we will be somewhere else, so maybe not.

On the way over to the dock, we saw this sign. Makes us feel like smart swimmers, doesn't it? Fortunately, alligators don't like to be near a lot of people making a lot of noise, so I hear, so we felt pretty safe. There were no encounters with any, so maybe they're right on this one.

Independence Day

Since the 4th of July was on Sunday this year, we celebrated our Independence Day on the 3rd. The city had a firework show that night on campus, so we decided we should attend. We haven't gone to any firework shows since Joshua was born, and we figured he was old enough to enjoy it. The ward typically meets at a certain place to watch the show together. There is also a stage with music and entertainment leading up to the fireworks. It was a grand time.

The Bishop brought bubbles for the kids to play with. I think the bubbles went on for over an hour. Peter said his arm was a bit tired by the end of it all. Not to mention, he kept blowing bubbles long after our kids were done with them. Such a good entertainer he is.

This blanket is where Jessica spent most of the evening. It's a wonderful quilt Peter's Grandma Datin made for him long ago. I think Jessica was just happy to be outside for so long. She never really got grumpy that night... even though we didn't go home until nearly 10:00. Outside makes all the difference in the world.

The last time we had a family picture taken, Jessica was 2 months old, so we needed an update. I asked my friend to snap this picture just in time. Right after this, it started to pour. Thanks, Janene, for the beautiful shot. And in just one frame at that. :)

Earlier this year, Joshua kept asking for an umbrella of his own. I didn't figure he really needed one, so I let the kids start earning money for the chores they helped me with around the house. They still do so, but after about a month, I figured they'd both worked hard enough, and we got them a couple umbrellas, and the kids pitched in what they could. Emily wanted the Ariel umbrella. It's a good thing we got them, too. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had enough umbrellas for our family.

Josh got the Cars umbrella. Can you see the joy in these kids' faces? They were so happy to have a chance to use these umbrellas. And there's just something magical about sitting in the rain in the dark.... 2 things together at the same time that they would normally not really have the chance to do. Although I have been known to let them run around in the rain from time to time.

And here's Jessica and me. Sitting on the blanket, not doing a good job staying dry. Did I mention it was pouring? This was no drizzle. You can see the drops in the background. How pretty. Not long after this shot, the kids started to get really cold, and Jessie fell asleep sitting up right there, so we got up and left... with no firework show. Oh well. I heard they had the fireworks about half an hour or so after we had left. It was worth it, though. The kids had such a blast and it made the 4th of July far more fun for them.

Polar Opposites

Just take a look at how these two eat their toast...

Is there any more that needs to be said about how different the two of these kids are?

2 Months of Sun

Can this really be the same girl?

Jessica and Daddy in April for our first outing to the pool. The water was so cold, I didn't even get in. They were white white white. (Her legs are even a little purple from the cold... and we weren't in it for that long that day.)

This is also Jessica... in June. Can you tell she's from Florida now? And the doctor was worried about making sure she got enough vitamin D. I think we're there. I was actually worried that she would have a problem burning since she seemed so pale, but now she is the darkest of the family... at least her arms. Her face and legs still have room to catch up. (Daddy has also started to get a bit darker, though not as drastically so, since he has to work inside all day... poor guy.)

Famiy Home Evening

Last night, Joshua wanted to teach the lesson in Family Home Evening. He really wanted to teach from the nursery manual, so we let him teach us. He opened up to the page that pictures the beginning of the world with greenery and animals and water. And he was telling us that the elephant was born, and then the zebra was born, and then the giraffe was born. Then he stopped and looked at one of the pictures and said, "What is this?" Daddy told him it was a fox. And I expected him to go on with the previous explanation, but he stopped and thought for a good 10-15 seconds. Very seriously, mind you. Then he said, "I was wrong, the fox was born first, then the deer..." etc, etc around the picture. It was very cute, and very thought out. He also told us that Jesus made the world, so he is picking up on the important details as well. I know I forgot some of the important details of the lesson that made it super cute, so I'm going to have Peter fill in what he recalls.

Joshua teaching us a lesson about the creation of the world

Computer Down

Hey Mom, Dad and Grandma, and anyone else who's keeping up. Our computer screen is temporarily out of service, so I only have spotty computer access at the moment. I apologize that there has not been any new posts in some time, but I will take care of that as soon as I can.

We are doing well. Jessica is pulling herself up to standing as often as possible. She is so fun to watch. Emily is getting quite good at using full sentences when she speaks. I think you may have to be Peter or myself to understand, but I promise, it's there. And Joshua is quickly learning sight words. After sight words comes phonics and he is so excited to learn to read. Mostly because he has to be able to read to be able to type and send emails... or something. I think I said he couldn't do much typing until he knows how to read. I really think that's the driving force. In any case, I'm glad he's interested.

Peter's project seems to be coming along nicely. He's finished with all his physical testing and is currently working on some analytical modeling. He says he should be completely done with everything... other than writing the dissertation... well before we head off to Utah for our family reunion. Here's hoping.

Not much going on with me to report. Just same old, same old. :) I'll get more pictures up when I can.

Elder Russel M Nelson

Elder Russel M Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Last Sunday, we had the privilege of having a special stake conference with Elder Nelson. It was a very good experience. I don't remember a lot of what was said, but I do remember that the spirit was strong. I know that this man is an apostle of God.

After the meeting was over, we were able to get in a LONG line and shake Elder Nelson's hand before we headed home. It's neat getting to meet any of the church leaders. We were also blessed to have Elder Larry R Lawrence of the seventy there for the conference. I was hoping to get a picture of the kids with Elder Nelson, but he was greeting people in the chapel... can't take a picture there, so this one above will have to suffice.

Just for my own memories, I wanted to record the events of the day. Peter was asked to help with parking at the stake center, so we arrived 2 hours early. We saved our seats, talked to some of the people around us, and went for a walk. We ended up in the nursery to play with the toys for a while. Then about an hour before the meeting started, the family in front of us came and got me because we almost lost our seats... they were really trying to let as many people sit in the chapel as possible. So, we got to sit in the chapel for nearly an hour BEFORE the 2 hour meeting. I thought it would be really rough. But the family who sat in front of us needed an extra seat, and we had a bit of room, so one of their daughters sat with us and helped play with the kids. It was SUCH a big help. One amazing thing about the meeting was that the kids were very well behaved the entire time. Not just mine, but all of them. It was relatively quiet for the whole meeting. During Elder Nelson's talk, he had all the primary kids stand up and sing "I Am a Child of God."

Overall, we had a really good experience and are very thankful we were able to be there.

Jessica over the past couple months

I have been really bad about posting for quite some time now. Probably since Jessie was born. We'll see if I ever recover enough to catch up. :) Since I'm so far behind, I think I need to do more combination posts... posts that involve several stories and pictures at once... so I can get caught up more quickly. I'm also losing the stories. I look at the pictures now and wonder what I was thinking at the time, so we need to get going on these.

I noticed that I had several pictures of Jessie just hanging out, so I thought I'd give you a quick look at how she's grown over the past couple months. It may be hard to see in the pictures, but she is still quite big. She is 7 months now, and weighs over 20 lbs. I sure get my arm workout with this one.

March 25 - I think I was just getting a picture of how cute she was picking up her head and smiling at me.


March25 - Here's a picture of her scooting. She would scoot around with her head on the floor. It's amazing she didn't end up with rug burns on her forehead.

April 3 - Jessica and Mommy - This was on Easter and I wanted to make sure she had a picture from Easter even though she didn't get to decorate any eggs

April 7 - Jessie loves flipping through the little book on this exersaucer. I think she's really working on figuring it out. Of course, now, we have to make sure there are no books on the floor when she is down there, otherwise, that is what she goes for. She prefers the paper style so she can eat it and tear it. So much fun... isn't that what books are for?

April 17 - Our first trip to the pool. It was cold. The air was warm, though. I didn't get in, but no one else seemed to mind. I've always known Jessie had significant rolls, but this picture was the first time I'd ever noticed how much she really does resemble the Michelin Man. So cute... on a baby.

April 19 - Jessie was starting to sit on her own very well. Now she's quite proficient at pushing herself up to sit on her own. In fact, she's now starting to crawl a little. She'll crawl a couple steps, and then needs a little break, so she'll sit herself up for just a moment before continuing on. If you had to move that much weight (at 7 months old), you'd take a break, too.

April 25 - I was trying to get good scooting pictures here as well. At this point (6 months) she was getting up on her hands and knees and rocking, then plopping down on her belly. Somehow, she always seemed to make forward progress.

May 12 - I was trying to catch her in the process of sitting up, because she had just started to push herself up to sitting at this point. Now, she sits up and is crawling all over the place... though the crawling has barely started, so it is still a little slow. It will speed up by next week, and I'll have to be more attentive to make sure she doesn't disappear somewhere in the house.

Colorful hair?

I took the following pictures. However, I was not in the room when all this began, so I don't have a story for you. I'm going to have Peter fill us all in on this when he gets a chance. But for now, enjoy the pictures. They are amusing. :)

Emily needed a little help with the process. She wanted to get it just right.

Reminiscent of Raggedy Andy, don't you think?

Could she be any happier in green hair?

Here's the miniature version of the Raggedy Andy Datin