Thanksgiving

We had a really nice time at my parent's house for Thanksgiving this year. My brother Brent and his wife Katie came as well and we had a wonderful feast of food as well as some sweet times of fellowship together. We played "Cranium" after dinner, girls against the guys, and the girls won! Brent was miffed because "Mom never really tries to win at games, but she was the one answering all the questions!" I guess she just needed the right motivation to win against the guys! Ha ha! Anyway, we laughed and laughed and laughed at the various things that came up during the game. I can tell you a more detailed story if you would like a real belly laugh sometime.

As usual, Josiah knew he was the center of attention! He has been into hugging everyone lately and my parent's dog Torrie was no exception to that rule. He attempted to hug their cat (used to be my cat) Callie, but she would have none of it. David and Brent call her the "Evil" cat, but really, she is only friendly to "her people" who know how she likes things. I know some people like that too, but I don't call them evil! Anyway!

Then later Josiah had my Dad's cell phone and was walking around the kitchen holding it with his head onto his shoulder (like I do sometimes). I didn't quite catch that moment, but I got a similar moment in its place on camera. For some reason he likes to hold phones backwards. We give him the phone the right way and he turns it over to "talk" into it. He babbles things into the phone like Mommy does. Although, hopefully Mommy's babbling makes more sense to the person on the other line!

This was also the weekend that we got my Dad and my brother hooked on World of Warcraft (an online computer game). I let them try out a character on my account and now they have their own accounts and are enjoying the game. It is fun to see them online now once in a while and it gives us a fun thing to do with my brother and Dad as well.

Another Trip to the Mall

As a family, we have started the tradition of taking Josiah to the mall once in a while to let him roam around and see all the neat things there. We go to the play area (as previously pictured in another blog entry) and we walk around with him and he likes to sit in all the little toddler "machines" like this Bob the Builder deal. We don't actually pay the money to make them go, he doesn't know any better...he just likes to sit in them and press the buttons and turn the steering wheels.

He especially likes it when Daddy takes him into the arcade and sits down at the car racing games and lets him turn the wheel. They usually have some simulation of the game running to entice you to play and so Josiah thinks he is really steering!

It is important to get in all the little toys though and so here is another shot of him in the little race car. He looks like he knows what he is doing in there. I guess we had better watch out when he turns 16!

Happy Mess

Every so often now I find things for Josiah to eat with a spoon. He prefers to pick things up with his hands still however. Having him use a spoon and bowl requires much more supervision of course, so that he doesn't end up covered in whatever food he happens to have in his bowl and/or dump the bowl over onto the ground! Really he likes to take the spoon and move the food around in the bowl rather than eat it, but it is fun to watch anyway. He doesn't seem to want to put the spoon in with the food on top, but will turn it over and then all the food ends up on his bib instead of in his mouth. As you can plainly see though, Mr. Josiah doesn't mind being covered in food gunk.

Our Curtains Are Finished TOO!!

When we first arrived at our new place in July, I decided to make some curtains for our bedroom sliding glass doors since there was no window covering for them at the time. For the longest time we have had one of our blankets to block out the morning sun and heat of the day, but FINALLY the curtains I set out to make are finished! I got the material on sale at Jo-Ann's and made them using the rough design of the shower curtains that we have. It was fun to create them from scratch and I think they turned out pretty well considering.

For those of you with a discerning eye, I know they need to be ironed, but I was too exited to get them up to iron them! Maybe when my Mom comes over I will let her do it. She likes that sort of thing! :) She says that cleaning & helping is how she shows us she loves us! I say, "More power to you Mom...clean away!"

Josiah's Whiny Face

Josiah has taken to whining for things these past few months to which Mommy and Daddy are not very sympathetic. This is his "whiny face" (pictured above). He loves to be pushed on this little toy that he got from our friend's in Spokane (the Grahams) for his birthday. Sometimes he tries to push himself on it by moving his feet, but he hasn't gotten that down yet and sometimes manages to push himself off of the little car. It is funnier yet though to watch him try to get on it. He rides side saddle at first and can't quite get his other leg over. This usually ends in him tipping over the car and falling on the floor. He doesn't hurt himself, but cries for Mommy comfort anyway. He also likes to get behind this toy and push it around the house to scare Echo away. She doesn't like it coming toward her and runs the opposite direction when Josiah is using it. He gets a big kick out of seeing her avoid it and tries to run after her with it.