Just Joshua a hodge podge of fun stuff

So the other day, I was making lunch and hollered at Joshua to get up to the table, it was time to eat. I hear him come into the kitchen and say "I want to wear this" without looking at him I say "sure just get up to the table" as I dish up whatever it was we were going to eat. I turn around to find this...

He had found his clown nose that he got from one of his friends birthday parties, and as serious as could be thought he was going to wear it to lunch. Does a sense of humor really start this young?

One of the first things James does when he gets home from work is take off his socks. Well, the other night while James and Joshua were playing catch, Joshua decided that he needed to put Daddy's socks on in order to keep his legs warm.

We are currently house sitting for some friends, and Sadi has found her "spot" where she always lays. We are so happy that we get to have her with us while we are staying here, we really missed having her for the short time we were living with my parents. For the first few days Joshua followed here around petting her and laying on her and cuddling her. He did not ask for her when we did not have her, but he sure missed her.

We enjoyed living at my parents house, Joshua loved having so much attention. He was also a big helper, as you can see he loved helping Grandma sew.

My parents were watching a movie one night and Joshua pulled up a cushioned footrest cube thing, and watched almost the entire movie in this position.

While packing up the apartment, Joshua found James' Filipino rice hat in one of the boxes and wore it around for a while. It has always hung on the wall or sat on a self on display, I have no idea how he figured out that it was a hat.

Back in September Joshua got sick, and then James got it, and one night after dinner James fell asleep on the sofa, while I was cleaning the kitchen and Joshua was playing. I called my Mom for something and while talking on the phone with her I turned around and Joshua looked as though he was asleep on the floor, I called his name and he barely moved, so I figured I would finish in the kitchen and then go put him to bed. Once I got off of the phone I turned around and Joshua was gone, so I assumed that he was just pretending and had gotten up and went into the other room to play. I then finished the kitchen and went out to find Joshua like this...

Like father like son. Aren't they cute.

Don't you just love the way little kids put their own underwear on?

James newest "toy" and our lot

Before we bought James Dozer, we had someone clear part of our lot, and we had a TON of trees piled all the way around the clearing. So one day James decided to burn them all, and used the Dozer to push some into a pile and started a fire which he then continued to feed with the Dozer. That night we had Steph and Brandt and the kids come over for pizza and a bonfire. I don't have any photos of while they were there, but this is a photo about 10 hours into the burning process. James did not finish for another 5 hours, but he did have a "class C" fire going, and there were so many phone calls into the fire dept. they had to come check it out at about 10 pm that night, as well as a few curious neighbors.

Joshua loves all sorts of trucks and equipment (what do I expect, he is 100% BOY), so while the lot was being cleared we had to go check it out and of course look at the excavator.

This is the newest addition to James' growing collection of "toys" a Bulldozer with a 14 foot wide blade. He is such a big kid. Of course it is saving us money by him doing some of the work instead of paying someone else to do it, but really I think he is just having fun.

Joshua loves getting rides in the dozer, and of course pretending to drive it himself. When he is lucky James will leave the blade up so that Joshua can push the lever and let it down.

Just so you can get a feel for the size of the dozer, it is monstrous.

Sorry I just had to add this one, I think it is cute. Joshua is potty trained at home, but when we were out marking where to clear the land and playing on the lot, we had to teach him how to pee outside, now he loves being able to do his business outside.

Halloween!!!!!!

In years past the church does trunk-or-treating, but this year the wind was so bad, they decided to do it inside of the church (thank you!!!). Steph and I were both Husbandless, so she handed out candy while I took the kids around with the help of Steve and Cammie (thanks to you as well, I could not have kept all the kids together without you). From left to right we have Logan as a Tiger, Bryce as a Bear, Vyrl as a Lion, Carli as a Witch, Joshua as a Cowboy, Myself as a Cowgirl, and Jason as a Tiger.

Poor Joshua had Pink-eye (which he corrects me still and says he had yellow-eye), but his costume was just too cute to not go out anywhere. Of course I could not find his cap gun anywhere (until the next day) but luckily for us our friends had a stick horse we were able to use.

He is such a good little model (when he wants to be).

He had so much fun being dressed up, he wore his costume all day, and even asked to wear it the next day.

Our last and only family hike we went on this past summer

Every year we say we are going to go on tons of hikes and camping trips, and every year we barely get out, but I think this year was the worst ever and on top of that it was the most beautiful and warm summer we have seen in years. Anyhow, we started the Lane Hut hike up Hatcher Pass on a beautiful sunny afternoon, and then got stopped but somewhat sudden rain clouds that made things a bit chilly and of course we did not come prepared (no coats, short sleeves, you get the idea). We had fun and we got to spend some time together enjoying mother nature, and I guess that is all that really counts.

Joshua and I went on quite a few hikes this summer with friends, and he has become quite the little hiker. I am so blessed to have such an adventurous boy!

I somehow manage to hide my little baby bump in all of the photos without meaning to, Sorry.

Just being goofy (we are good at that) on the way back to the truck.

James has been going back and forth about buying a snow machine for this winter (he sold both of ours last winter), anyhow, when we saw this treasure I told him to buy it on the spot.

One day Joshua will be old enough to trust with the camera so that we can have photos of the two of us that don't look like this. I know that I could have flipped it over for you all, but it looks better this way, believe me I tried it.

Cousin Jason, and my projects

My sister had her little baby Boy! They named him Jason, and Joshua just loves holding him and stroking his head and giving him kisses. I am so glad Joshua loves babies so much, but we will see how things go when his own little sister arrives.

The other day while at my Mom's house Stephanie arrived with her kids and all of a sudden all of the boys stopped playing and rushed over to see Jason, it was really cute.

I did not bother to turn these the right direction, but you get the point. I finished piecing the quilt I made for Joshua and for the little Miss. Now all I have to do is figure out how thick I want then and how I want to quilt them. We will see how long that decision takes me.

AK State Fair

We took Joshua to the fair again this year, and decided no to ride the traditional rides since he is not big enough for very many. He did get to ride the little monster trucks, which I remember being one of my favorite rides as a little kid. He loved it and although James had to ride with him because of his height, James let Joshua do most of the driving, and only had to do a little corrective steering. Joshua loved it so much he threw a big fit when his turn was over.

He also got to ride the Horses over and over again, which he LOVED! I will add that he cried every time he had to get off of the horses.

It was pretty rare that we actually got a photo of Joshua looking at us in the photos instead of looking at the horse.

Joshua also loved looking at all of the animals. And once again it was rare that he looked at the camera for a photo while looking at the animals.

He also go to go to the petting zoo, but of course there aren't any photos of him looking so I don't have any to share.

James 1st Moose

Moose Season started Monday night at midnight, and by 2:30 Tuesday afternoon, James had killed his first moose! We are so excited, we love moose meat, and it means no buying hamburger for the next year:) As you can see it is a 3 brow tine and measures 41".

This is the view the guys had from camp.
Greg and Tim went with James. Neither had ever been hunting, and I am not sure how much camping and 4x4 they had done before, but they sure had fun. Unfortunately I do not have a photo, but while skinning the moose Greg managed to put his knife through James' thumb. James is ok, it is a blessing that it did not hit any of the nerves or tendons.

Not the best photo, but as you can see James drove the deuce and a half up to camp, and then they set the tent up in the bed and put a big tarp over everything. It sure was nice taking the Deuce all of the gear, the two four wheelers and all the meat fit in the back, meaning there was only one trip home. And on top of all that, the Deuce is street legal.

Independence Mine (part two)

It is hard to see, but about 2/3 up the photo there is a building that has fallen over and crumbled with time. We stopped hiking just below the remains of the building to have a snack. It does not seem quite so steep or so far while you are hiking. It was absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun. We went with some friends and while hiking my friend asked me "What do other Mom's do during the day?" I have no Idea, but I think it is only the crazy ones who bring a 2, 3, 5, and 10 year old on a hike like this. Oh well, I guess that makes us true Alaskans?

Joshua had so much fun climbing up the big rocks and wanted to do it all by himself.

Hiking behind Indepencence Mine

I love how Joshua's nose gets squished when he drinks from Water bottles!

Joshua had so much fun hiking, and did such a good job. It was so nice that he actually hiked almost the entire time, I am so proud of him, he has come a long way since the beginning of the summer when I had to carry him most of the way.

Joshua loves to try on my glasses, and always scrunches up his face to try to keep them on.

One of the few 4 wheeler trips this summer

Since I am pregnant, we have not taken the 4 wheelers out much this summer, but we did manage to get one good trip in earlier this summer.

When we stopped for lunch Joshua was so cold without his "helmet" on that he had to borrow my hat. Goes to show just how big his head is, or maybe how small mine is?

We had to show our friends the willow side of Hatcher, because it is one of our favorite places to go ridding.
Joshua's all bundled up and ready to go!

A quick family photo at the top of the mountain.

Joshua fell asleep on the ride back to the cars. Lucky James the kids were constantly fighting over whose turn it was to ride on the back with him. For some reason this always happens, he just attracts little kids, I guess it is a good thing that he loves kids so much.

I cannot find the photo, but somewhere we have a great one of James stuck in a Big puddle, and I had to rescue him and push him out. Okay, okay, really he was just high centered since he was on the smaller machine, but it is not very often that the woman has to get the man unstuck.