Starlighting 2013

The Star Lighting is an annual event that our town has been doing for many, many years.  There are different activities that take place including cartridge rides, chili at the fire station, carolers, ice skating and fireworks!  At the end everyone gathers to sing songs, pray and then light the big star that sits on top of The Rock.  The star stays lit all the way until the 1st of the year.  It is such a fun way to get into the holiday spirit. 

About 2 weeks before the event I told Joshua about the Starlighting and explained to him what it was all about.  He was so excited and talked about it almost every.single.day the weeks leading up to it.  While we were on a tour of our fire station, surrounded by firefighters and big red trucks, the the star lighting was all he could thing about.  He told his friends mom more than once, "I am going to the starlighting.."  Almost every time we would drive past the Rock he would shout, "STARLIGHTING!" 

The day finally came and we were so excited for him!  The high for that day was a crisp 24 degrees.  Of course it would be cold that day!  We had nice sunny 50 degree weather for days and days before the starlighting.  Because of their nap schedules we weren't able to make it to any of the festivities before the lighting of the star

 

 but we got there right in time for the actual lighting, that is the best part anyway. 

Kayla getting all bundled up to leave. 

Just for fun, here is a picture of Joshua
wearing the same snow outfit around he same age.   

She was not loving her snowsuit but she was
really corporative and didn't fuss even though it
looks like she is giving me the stink eye. 

Since our families both live in the same town as us they come out and celebrate too making it a whole family outing.

Waiting for the star to light!

 

And there is the star in the background!

 

Watching the Fireworks.

 

Joshua reenacts the Starlighitng with his toys now.  He gets one of Kayla's star toys that lights up and says, "This is like Starlighing."  He also takes all the people from his nativity scene, lines them up in front of the star on the stable and acts like they are saying, "LIGHT.THE.STAR" (which is what the crowd shouts right before the star is lit). 

 

What a neat tradition!  We love our little town!

Just for Fun

The younger pcitures are from when Kayla was only 19 days old and the older ones are from when she was barely 6 months old.  They were playing around the floor like this and I imeediatley thought about the pictures I took when Kayla was really young.  So I grabbed my camera.  I love how Joshua is touching her in the top set and in the bottom set he is looking at her. 

 

 

 

A few other shots

 

Joshua's 2.5 year update

Whew, this is a looongg blog but I guess that is what happens when you are doing updates every several months instead of every month.  Enjoy!

 

 

It is so hard to believe that Joshua is 2.5 years old.  He is such a funny, smart, and kind hearted little boy. 

 

Here are some of the fun things he is doing at 2.5 years old.

 

*He has quite the imagination.  Every day when I get him up from nap he tells me he dreamt about "2 blue rabbits."  The story goes a little something like this, "I dreamed about two blue rabbits.  They were running downstairs and caught them.  Then I go back to sleep."  When I ask him how he got back in his room he says,  "I fly in my window like Buzz." 

 

*He loves to ask what people's names are.  When we are out in public he will point to people and ask, "what's his name." He has even started asking people, "Hi, what's your name." and sometimes he will say, "Hi I'm Joshua, what is your name?'

 

*His memory is unbelievable.  The things he picks up on and remembers amazes us.  He went with Daniel to drop off our election ballots.  A few weeks later he randomly hands me a stack of papers and tells me, "these are for the election." 

 

*He loves to walk through model homes with Daniel.  Almost every weekend he will ask his daddy, "Should we go look at houses?"  He especially likes to find the pantry and the basements in the homes. 

 

*He can be very shy in new situations or around a large crowd of people, especially if it is people he is unfamiliar with.  But once he warms up he is such a friendly little guy. 

 

*When one of us tells him he cant do or have something he wants he is starting to go ask the other parent.

 

*He hasn't started asking the big "why" question yet but he does ask "what happens if ______" a whole lot.

 

*If you have followed my blog for any length of time then you know that he adores his baby sister.  He will often come over to her, put his arm around her, and say, "I will protect you Kayla."  He has also given her his own nicknames.  My favorite is "sweetie girl."

 

*He has really great manners and will often say please and thank you unprompted.  The other day for lunch he had mac in one bowl and yogurt in another.  All on his own he said, "Thank you Mama for aallll dis"  as he was circling his hand around the bowls. 

 

*Like many two year olds he will whine out of frustration when something doesn't go the way he wants it to.  For the last several months we have really been working on not whining and we are really starting to see the fruit of that.  So many times he will ask for help or tell us what he needs in a big boy way.  A lot of times he will catch himself whining and then correct himself by saying what he needs to say without whining. 

 

*He is really into letters and letter sounds.  He knows more than half of the alphabet sounds.  If you ask him what sound a letter makes he will tell you and can usually also name something that starts with that letter.  When we were doing the letter L he told me "L says /l/ like Kay-LA!  HA-HA!  Close!  He will often ask us, "what sound do you hear when I say _______?"  We usually work on one letter a week and do fun crafts and activities that have to do with that letter.  He recognizes almost all the letters and will sometimes even point out lower and upper case letters. 

 

S is for spider.  Making a felt spider. 

 

T is for Teddy Grahams.  

 

While playing with chalk he came running in the house to tell me he made the letter A.  He sure did!  He also makes letters with his train tracks, string, pipe cleaners, toothpicks, basically anything with a straight edge. 

 

*He is very observant and will compare things he sees.  The other day he saw a picture of someone standing on foot and he said, "he is standing on one foot like a flamingo."

 

*He has a great sense of direction.  We ate Frosty's at Wendy's one night with Omah and Papa.  A few weeks later as we drove by that same Wendys he pointed and said, "Hey, does that say ice cream?"  We were going on a fire station tour at the station right outside our subdivision.  We were a few minutes early so I decided to circle around the subdivisions.  As I was heading back into the subdivision he said, "We are going back home!"  The other day Daniel took a different way home and as soon as he took the turn that isn't in our normal route Joshua pipped up saying, "Hey, we don't go this way."

 

*He is really developing a heart of compassion for others.  Here are two stories that warm my heart.  Boy scouts were outside the store collecting donations for the Colorado Flood victims.  I took the opportunity to explain to Joshua that Jesus wants us to help people.  I told him about the fires and how some people lost everything they had because of the fire.  He was bright eyed hanging on to my every word saying, "uh-huh.  Yea!"  So we bought something off the list and Joshua carried it over to the boy scouts.  He will now tell you all about it.  Another story is when we were talking about being thankful for our food.  When I told him some people don't have food he said, "Yea and they be hungry.  That makes me sad, I don't like that!" In light of it being the month of Thanksgiving we have been doing quit a few Thanksgiving crafts and talking about what we are thankful for.  He is really getting the concept and with some prompting he will tell you what he is thankful for and will sometimes tell you why he is thankful for that certain thing.  For example he told me, "I am thankful for my blankets because if I didn't have blankets I will be cold.  I am thankful for my water because if I didn't have water I would thirsty."   

 

Making his thankful tree. He was thankful for, "Mommy, Daddy, Kayla, blankets, toys, friends, markers, water, food and (my favorite) SOAP!" 

 

And now for some pictures from the past several months.

He tells his Daddy, "We are friends, and family."

Playing a computer game.

Trying to make his own sandwich.

He still loves watching Mickey Mouse.  Occasionally he will ask for Barney, Thomas the Train or Super Why. 

Playing in his cardboard box house.

 

He is very into building these days.  He has large blocks, small blocks, soft blocks, hard blocks, big Legos, small Legos and the list goes on.  I love seeing all the ways he finds to play with his blocks.  He uses them to build roads and garages for his cars, makes houses, trees, lines them up and his favorite thing of all is to build towers. 

He made himself a little city complete with trees and houses.

 

 

 

City of Towers.

 

Playing with flour.

 

My boys!  On the weekend when Daniel asks him what they should do he says, "mow lawn and play toys!"

  

Cutting play dough.

 

TRAINS, he loves his trains!

Breakfast with the Village People.

Waiting for Papa to come pick him up for the day.

All aboard the Joshua train.

Fire pit and marshmellows!

Silly boy kept saying he was cold and it was 70 degrees. 

I was baking cookies one day while he was playing outside.  I had to run up stairs to grab something and when I came down I found this little boy with a mouthful of cookie dough. 

Playing cars.

 

 

Fire station tour with MOPS group. 

We drove by Home Depot one day and he exclaimed, "HOME DEPOT!" When we asked how he knew it was Home Depot he responded with, "Because I know things."  We get that response and "because I am learning things" a lot.  So funny! 

 

He asked for some tape to "fix" his sun glasses..  I love his finished product.  (No, they weren't even broken.).

Watching Toy Story with Daddy.  We think he thinks the whole movie was about Woody loosing and finding his hat.   

 

Aunt Anna and Uncle Andrew took Joshua on a special trip to get some frozen yogurt!  

 

It was snowing on his half b-day and this is how we spent the day...

Helping Mom bake cinnamon rolls. 

 

He loved the dough.

Playgroup at the Grange.

Mattress slide fun!

  

We sure do love this big guy and have really enjoyed watching him grow and learn.  He owns my heart, that is for sure!