11 Months

 I can't believe we are coming up on one year with Joanna!  I'm not sure how much has changed in the last few weeks.  She is cruising pretty well along the furniture and occasionally will let go for a second or two.  She still won't eat green vegetables, but anything on the floor is fair game.  Crayons seem to be a favorite.  Mealtimes are getting easier as she will eat more and more normal foods (a cut up peanut butter and jam sandwich, some chicken, etc.) so I actually get a few bites of warm food sometimes now.  No new words, but she does love to say "Ahhhh Choo".   Orrin and Joanna loves to play together most of the time, especially with their little play kitchen.  Sometimes they chase each other, too.  Its so fun to watch.  Just as often, though, they are fighting over a toy. 

3 years old

 Can you believe this kid is 3?!  Some Orrin fun facts to remember:

For his birthday, he wanted a cat and a cuckoo clock.  And green cake.
When he grows up, he wants to be a farmer.
His favorite color (at the moment, changes daily) is green.
Favorite Bible Story is "Cheus the little man", with "Guyloth" being a close second.
Current likes: "mac-o-cheese", trains, thomas the train books/videos, helping Scott with just about anything, veggie tales music and dvds, playing outside, playing the guitar and drums, liger pajamas, switching everyone's names (mommy is daddy, daddy is Orrin and so on - it gets very confusing to carry on for a long time), making up words, helping me bake
Current dislikes: most vegetables and meat (exceptions are carrots, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs), loud buzzing noises, haircuts, wearing sandals without socks, the potty or anything associated with using it,
Current best friends: Katelyn and Naomi
Favorite phrases: "not anything"(said emphatically and stubbornly), "draining your injury", "Jonada is a nada" (translation: Joanna is a banana), "not be real, be tend", "a couple whiles"

I tried to make his birthday special.  I told him he could pick something fun to do (like the zoo or gardens) and got the standard "not anything" response.  So I packed them both up and told him I was bringing him to a surprise.  We went to Centerpointe mall, where they have these coin operated rides.  I let him play on them for awhile, then before we left I let him pick one that I actually put money in for him to ride (too bad the first two that he picked didn't actually work!).

Since when I asked him what he wanted for dinner, I also got the "not anything" answer, I chose macaroni and cheese with cut-up hotdogs.   I think he might have been on to the hidden squash because he didn't actually eat much of the noodles, he was mostly picking out the hotdogs.  Maybe those rank higher to him now.  

With his green cake.

He seriously only ate a couple bites before he was done.  He'll always act excited for sweets, but doesn't really seem to like them.  

Opening presents.  We decided that on each birthday, we would give the kids one new privilege and one new responsibility.  This year, Orrin will start helping set the table, and we will allow him to play some of the wii sports games with Scott or I.  It was hard to come up with stuff now, but we want to at least set the stage for years to come when it might be more meaningful.

The best for last - a set of wooden train tracks to use with his trains!  He was pretty excited. 

It was a great day, and I am exhausted!

Summer

 We've been having a fun summer around here.  A while back we went to Binder Park Zoo with Jeremy, Marilee, Jennalynn, and Lydia.  We loved seeing the animals, and especially the Africa part.  The only part Orrin was interested in was the train.  He was pretty excited for the "train" (a tram" ride) to the Africa exhibit.  And of course the giraffes were a hit.

Orrin and Joanna painted rocks for Scott for Father's Day.  It was an adventure finding the rocks (had to climb a large dirt hill on the other side of our neighborhood where they are building a new house).  Joanna was absolutely covered in (non-toxic) paint, while Orrin neatly painted with his brush and bowl - not a speck of paint on him when we were done.

Orrin is ready for the Grandville 4th of July parade.

Playing with his cousins after the parade.  

Our jungle/garden.  This was taken several weeks ago.  Unfortunately after harvesting a bunch of zucchini, we had to pull out the plants.  So the back third of the garden is empty now.  Zucchini and pumpkin got infested with squash vine borer.  I'll spare you the gross details of what we found in the zucchini stems.  Sad to lose the pumpkins especially since there were a bunch that were growing, but it was clear that they had been infested as well so they had to go.  The watermelons have escaped the garden now.  And we are being overwhelmed by cucumbers.  Scott has had to cut them back a few times already to try and save the tomatoes.  The poor pepper and eggplant plants have just been swallowed up and are barely growing.  Its a learning process I guess.  Next year - not so many plants, more cages and more space between plants!  :)

Orrin loves to help wash the car!

Joanna just loves to watch.

Orrin has been pretty obsessed with umbrellas lately.  He would carry his around everywhere, a very sad sight in this drought.  So one day during dinner, we got like 5 minutes of a light rain.  So we quickly left our plates and ran outside so Orrin could stand under his umbrella.  Since then, I think he has been able to use it in one more rain.  

In mid-July, we went camping with friends.  It was a lot of fun - and a lot of work with two young kids!  Especially with Joanna, who is very difficult to contain at the moment.  We also forgot to take many pictures.  But I do think Orrin is hooked and camping will always be a fun family vacation for us.

Remember how I said we are overwhelmed with cucumbers?  So far, we have made 30 (!) quarts of pickles - 20 of bread and butter, 10 of dill.  Then we harvested a whole bunch more, so we've been giving them away, and Scott is hoping to try canning some relish.  Next up - the tomatoes!

Orrin is super excited about his new Scooter from Oma!

We went up to visit Lisa and Creig this past weekend.  Orrin learned how to skateboard.

We spent some time at the beach.  We had a blast playing in the sand and water, but it is difficult with Joanna b/c she missed her afternoon nap.  She was grumpy after a while, and it was tough keeping her from eating handfuls of sand.  But overall a fun time.

Lisa made Orrin a cake to celebrate his birthday.  This was the smile when everyone started singing to him.  So cute.  I'm not sure I can top that on his actual birthday this week, but I'll try.  :)

10 Months

 

 Joanna is growing up!  She now has 6 teeth with 2 more coming in.  She has been crawling for a few weeks now, and is pulling up on the furniture, and as of this weekend is even starting to take some steps holding on to the table or couch.  She is calling us mama and dada now, and also says "uh oh".  I forgot how cute that is!  She says it over and over while crawling around like she's so proud of herself.  Or like she's practicing.  I'm not sure.  She has been babbling more lately, too, trying to make new word-like sounds.  Its fun.  This age is fun and challenging at the same time!  She is getting a little bit naughty, and is quite persistent.  Mostly trying to get into Spot's water bowl, or flip the switch on the power strip in the living room.  I'll pick her up and say "no no" and move her away, and back she goes again and again and again.  She is to the point where she'll be near something, I'll say "no", she'll  look back at me, smile, think for a second, then take off as fast as she can to quick touch/splash/push the button before I can get to her.  :)  We are also beginning the fun stage where she throws a tantrum whenever she doesn't get her way.  Thankfully she gets over it pretty quickly when I just walk away.  We are getting closer and closer to sleeping through the night as well.  Scott had to deal with her for several nights in a row to get her out of the habit of eating between 3 and 4, so at least I don't have to feed her anymore, but she does still wake up at least once or twice a night.  Most of the time we can wait a minute and she'll go back to sleep, sometimes we have to go in there and give her a pacifier.  Once life settles back down, we'll work on giving that up, too.  She doesn't like to give up smiles to people she doesn't know, but around here she is so joyful and fun (I've probably said that many times before, but those are the best words I can think of to describe her)!