Josh...the cone thief!

A little follow-up on the giant ice cream cone mentioned in the previous entry...

The giant cone was taped on the wall of the hallway for about 1 week total before Joshy, the ice cream bandit, decided to torment his big brother! It goes like this...

Let me preface this little tale by saying, do not let Josh's timid spirit fool you...he loves to tease! I am not sure where he gets that from!! Anyway, Caleb's precious measuring cone hung on the wall and every few days Josh would get a little sparkle in his eye and decide to torment his big brother. He did this by walking down the hall at the same time as Caleb and just very slightly reach out to touch the treasured cone. This sent Caleb into a monologue on how he was not to touch the cone and 'leave it alone"! All the time, Josh just had a smug smile and then took his hand off the cone. This went on for about a week and then Josh must have decided that he was sick of Caleb's monologue on how he was "not to touch my things"! He got up a little bravery and walked down the hall once again with Caleb very casually, but this time he snatched the cone off the wall, ran into the living room and proceeded to take the precious work of art and crunch it up for all it was worth! I of course, ran to the rescue of the cone after hearing Caleb's painful screeches and pleading. Josh had a huge smile on his face like..."ha, I finally got that cone"! I coaxed the cone out of Josh's little sticky fingers and then did all I could to straighten it out. Caleb cried about it for 10 minutes...no kidding! I assured him that it would be fine and that maybe it was not a good idea to hang it in the hall where Josh walks by 30 times a day. It all ended with Josh saying he was sorry and giving Caleb a big hug. 20 minutes later, they were playing together as if the 'horrible' incident never happened!!

14 Scoops Tall!

The other day, Caleb was busy in his room cutting out a ton of circles and coloring each one a different color. Then he wanted some tape. About 1/2 hour later he came out with a huge ice cream cone! He said, " I am 14 scoops tall"! His creativity never ceases to amaze me!

Apple Day!

Caleb had his first field trip last Monday at the apple orchard just outside of Sioux Falls. He was so excited to go back again...we went to the apple festival last year and he had so much fun. Now that Josh is older, I decided to go along to help out and bring Josh. We started out with a fun (and loud) bus trip...Josh was most exited about this! Then we boarded a tractor trailer and started our ride out to the apple orchard to pick a bag of apples.

Josh enjoyed picking and so did Caleb.

This is Ella, Caleb's good friend at school.

After that we went to story time and learned about different kinds of apples and what apples are used for. They got some apple cider and apple wedges. The kids really enjoyed a few games too!

After story time, we went to look at some ducks, chickens, goats and miniature horses.

Then, all the kids ran on these huge hay bales for about 1/2 hour! Josh and Caleb really enjoyed this and all the kids enjoyed a good old fashioned hay fight. There was hay flying everywhere!

At the end, a class picture! We had a great time with lots of good memories!

Clay County Fair Adventure!

We decided to head off to Spencer, IA for the Clay County Fair this weekend. It is about a 2 hour drive each way, so we figured the boys could handle that! We had never heard of this fair before, but got a hold of a little ad from somewhere and it is apparently quite a famous fair in this area.

We put Caleb in charge of navigating the trip with his trusty magnifying glass! He does a better job than I do!! (Not really, but he had fun studying his maps and the ad for the fair! He wanted a magnifying glass after seeing a kids science show on PBS a few weeks ago!)

Josh stayed entertained for the first half of the trip with his farmer and John Deere trucks!

Our first stop at the fair was the tractor display area. I know, wrong color, they did not have any small John Deere tractors in this area! Josh did not seem to mind though!



After looking at tractors, we headed to a cheesy tropical rain forest show consisting of a very strange ventriloquist young man with a huge adam's apple! The show featured puppets, a snake, macaw, lemur and a few magic tricks! We probably could have done without the show, but Caleb seemed to enjoyed it! The guy was dressed somewhat like Diego, but with spiked hair, so maybe that was why! After that we took a ride to the other side of the fair on this Sky Glider ride. It is kind of like a ski lift that takes you over the fair. It was fun...sort of! I am a bit afraid of heights, and Jon mentioned that I had white knuckles the whole time! Jon, Caleb and Josh loved it and wanted to go again...once was enough!

We went to see a group of tigers that were in the line up for a show later in the evening. They were huge, and the boys loved seeing them up close. After that, we went for some ice cream and then off to the animal exhibits. We saw horses, miniature horses, milk cows and calves. The swine were gone (I did not mind missing those) and we could not find the sheep building.

We caught a steer roping competition in progress and really enjoyed watching that. Josh was absolutely fascinated with all the horses walking around. Caleb was pulling leaves off a nearby tree as he stood on the fence...to each their own!!

After the horse arena, we headed to the rabbit and goose house. Caleb really wanted to see the rabbits! This rabbit won grand prize. You can't see it very well in this picture, but it is so velvety and very soft!

We ran into a 4-wheeler lot and Joshy was in heaven! He wanted on one right away and could have spent a lot of time trying each one out!

Notice how he has his hands on the shifter...ready to go!!

After the 4-wheeler lot, we stopped at a table for a break. Caleb and Josh did not take a break for long...they found a HUGE mountain of corn cobs to climb on. It was a display for alternative fuel, but to them it was a challenge...can we get to the top!?

They made it to the top over and over! Go figure, the best part of the fair for them was an old pile of corn cobs! Kind of like how a baby likes to play with the box and bows, not the gift!!

Of course, Jon and I did a bit of climbing as well!

We had a great time at the fair...it was a cool and cloudy day...but still lots of fun!

Josh the Corn Lover!

Josh loves anything to do with corn! Shopping for corn...he sees corn and yells "corn, corn!" He sees a book with corn and yells "corn, corn!" A side note...he seems to say things twice when he is really excited about something...Caleb did the same thing!

He REALLY loves to help daddy husk the corn...can you see him drooling?!

And his favorite...he LOVES running into the house with the husked corn for me to wash and cook yelling "corn, corn"! Of course, the best part is eating the corn though!!

And, a picture of his other favorite thing...playing with the tractors and barn. He is feeding Grandpa Bill's appaloosa horse in this picture! Grandpa got this little toy horse for Caleb when he was about two and Josh has taken over its care!

School Begins...Finally!!

Caleb started school on Tuesday this week and he was so excited to get back! He is with Sioux Falls Christian School again but they completed the new elementary section of the school, so he is in a new building. It is a very nice facility. He was pleased to see that 3 students from his class last year are in his class again. He has 17 students in his class and there is an aide to help also. He will be going for 3 - 1/2 days this year...Monday, Tuesday & Thursday. He seems to have hit it off with a girl named Ella. She was in his class last year and really likes Caleb. They were holding hands on the slide the other day when they played on the playground before class started! I asked her mom if she saw that and she said that Ella really likes Caleb! I told her that he seems to have more friends that are girls than boys, so he probably doesn't mind!

Caleb has been wanting to go to the Science Museum all summer, so as a little celebration of his first week at school, we surprised him with a visit Friday evening. Josh loved it this time too now that he his older and able to enjoy the exhibits. He really liked this 'floating' ball...

and catching some fish in the water room. Caleb enjoyed making dams and floating his boats down his 'river'.

They both enjoyed the space room and especially these little space stations...they kind of look like cars, right Josh?!

We had fun making this arch out of blocks...it was a family effort to not let it fall over during construction! After we explored the museum exhibits, we went to the Alps Imax movie. Josh seemed to enjoy it more than Caleb...his popcorn ran out 1/2 way through!

We are so proud of Caleb and his love of learning...we know that he will have a great year!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Daddy had a busy week at work, but Joshy welcomed him home on Friday with his cars & trains. Daddy offered his tummy as a place to drive them all!

Daddy loves to give bucking bronco rides to both Joshy & Caleb.
Saturday morning with the M&M heads!

We went to Lifelight (a Christian music concert) for a few hours on Saturday. The boys liked the children's booth and liked playing in the corn box instead of sand box! I thought that was a neat idea!

Caleb enjoying lunch and some music and Lifelight.

We took a long bike ride on Sunday afternoon. We biked several miles and the boys like daddy's bike train! I ride behind and try to remind Caleb to peddle! We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch and at a few parks to enjoy the day.

Daddy and Caleb camped on the back yard again Sunday night. They boys enjoyed running in and out of the tent and jumping on the air mattresses! They just loved the tent and making smores later on the campfire. (sorry for the sideways picture...could not get it to go the right way!)

Joshy absolutely loves corn (we have it almost nightly lately)! One night we did not have corn on the cob and he started crying and was so disappointed!

Caleb made some orange juice pops and could not wait until they were frozen! He opened the freezer every 1/2 hour to check on them...which only prolonged the freezing time! I guess the wait was worth it...he enjoyed them very much!

We had such a warm day that we thought that the boys would enjoy a water balloon fight, running in the sprinklers and just throwing some water around!

Josh enjoyed rolling around in the sandbox with his trucks like a little pig after he got all wet. He had sand everywhere and I had to hose him off after we took off the swim diaper!

Ready for a water balloon fight...look out!

Jon enjoys the water games as much as Caleb & Joshy!