Easter Egg Hunt

Our friend Jennifer hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at her house today. Josiah was already really excited about Easter eggs this year. I pulled out some plastic ones left over from last year, and he seriously played with them for an hour one afternoon.

Heading out to hunt with Adeleigh

He found one!

His strategy was to find one, open it and stop the hunt.

Going for the eggs on the play set

That's a keeper!

His bestest buddy Jack

Jennifer's amazing Easter bunny cupcakes and cookies and sandwiches. This gal throws an amazing play date! Thanks for having us!

Deja Vu

This is one of my favorite pictures of Parker; it's on a Christmas ornament on Mom and Dad's tree, and it brings a smile to my face every time I see it.

This little house at the tot lot has always reminded me of it, so I finally snapped a picture of Josiah in an attempt to recreate the adorable "Christmas cottage" picture.

The houses looked less alike than I remembered, but it still has the essence.

More Sunshine

Saturday morning was beautiful again, so we hit another local park.

He used to only do this shaking bridge while holding my hand. He's still tentative, but much more willing.

The big slide. Once again, he's much more daring than he used to be, but the park was crowded that day and other kids were whizzing by him.

Welcome Spring!

It's been a long, cold and rainy winter here, but today was gorgeous! We even broke out our shorts later in the day. We tried to grab every moment we could outside.

First we headed to the botanical gardens.

We fed the geese.

And looked at the gigantic goldfish.

We met Caitlin, Heather and Cameron for some lunch.

After a nap, we headed out to our favorite "dump truck park" as Josiah calls it.

I finally got a smile, though a little toothy. I love this picture, but he looks way too grown up!

Once again, he's a real little boy now! Too grown up!

My Little Handyman

Josiah was a great helper at the Home Depot yesterday. He really liked riding on the cart, and then he had fun helping me plant the annuals in the front yard.

Ruffner Nature Center

We had an open house on Sunday, so we had to be out and about for most of the afternoon. I decided to go check out a nature center nearby where they had just finished some renovations. We'd been hiking there before, but all the animals were new.

The turtles were definitely the most fun, because they moved the most.

They also had some snakes (yes, Uncle Parker, snakes again), lizards, frogs and a flying squirrel. They also had really cool owls outside. It wasn't as much to see as I thought, but paired with a hike, it would make a lovely family outing. We'll have to take Daddy there when the weather gets warmer.

Then we headed for one of the train tables in a local bookstore. These train tables and the libraries are where I've been hiding out during house showings. Josiah is kind of funny at the tables because he thinks there are a certain way things ought to work on the Island of Sodor, and he gets a little annoyed with children who don't play the way he thinks they should. He did pretty well today, even though this is a popular table.
Today was also the first day he has left a train table without having a complete breakdown. I don't know if it was the fact we stayed for 1.5 hours, the lure of a hot dog party to go to or the post-nap scheduling, but I was proud of my cooperative little boy.

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Cousin Caleb is one already! Time flies! Josiah took a picture next to the Number 1 engine for your first birthday. I asked him to smile and hold his finger up at the same time, and I think I maxed him out (not to mention the evening was falling apart in general).

Here's a picture of a cute smiling one-year-old! We love you Caleb!

Covered in Grandparents

Last week, Mimi came down for a visit. We had such a wonderful time with her, but I didn't take a single picture. I'm kicking myself big time! We made a trip to Montgomery to see the great-grands, and she and the Olive grandparents watched Josiah while I went to Bible study and my doctor's appointment. They took him to story time at the Homewood Library and to the train table nearby. Then we tortured him by taking him to the Smocking Bird, so we could pick out some things for Mimi to make for baby boy #2.
Then on Thursday, Mimi drove Josiah to Nana and Pop's house to stay for the weekend while Jonathan and I went house shopping in our future new town - Hickory, North Carolina. Did I mention we'll be moving there in June? Jonathan's joining an internal medicine practice there. We're excited to be back in Tar Heel country (and basketball country for that matter)!

Here are some pictures Pop took from his weekend. Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Gail, Jaclyn and Baby Christian were in town. Sadly, this meant Josiah got to meet Christian before me (otherwise we would have seen him this weekend). But I was glad Josiah got some good cousin time with Christian and Davis.

As you can see, Josiah is super-interested in the babies.

Uncle Ronnie with sweet Christian

Aunt Gail with Davis

Mom with Davis

After a bath

When Life Hands You Lemons...

Make Lemonade!

And when the power company attempts to reach your power lines by driving onto your backyard...

and then gets stuck and needs to get towed leaving two foot-deep craters and lots of turned up soil to the backyard of your house that is currently on the market...

You should at least let your 2-year-old boy enjoy having his own personal construction zone in his backyard.

Luckily I had just picked up this bulldozer on consignment.

Josiah calls this his house.

He also got to see some really awesome trucks that day.

The other way to keep this in perspective: this was the day the earthquake hit Chile killing hundreds, and my parents were in Hawaii, possibly about to be affected by the tsunami that ended up not happening.

Josiah Says

(After a discussion about Bible verses)

Jonathan: Do you want to go to the potty, Josiah?

Josiah: The Bible says, "I don't want to go potty."

Theology of convenience.

Ella Ruth and Josiah

Ella Ruth came by for a visit (oh, and her parents Aaron and Erin).

Josiah came running in the room because he heard Ella cry. He said "Ella upset?" She calmed down, and he asked if he could get on the blanket with her. So sweet.

Being gentle. Though we did have to tell him to touch the top of her head, not her face. He looks so big next to her! It seemed like just yesterday he was the size of the blanket too.