Some fun videos...

A video of Joel on his new bike (a birthday present from Nonie & Pop Pop). He especially loves his new bike helmet. It came with knee pads and a horn for his bike. He likes to wear his gear around the house when he's not out riding his bike!

Here's another video of Joel and Grace hanging around the house. Grace is getting so big! And, yes, that is Joel's hand in his pants. I didn't think guys learned the "hand-in-the-pants-while-watching-tv" trick until much later in life!

We hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful spring weather!

Daddy Says I'm Beautiful...

Gracie loves her new onesie from Dan, Jonni, & Ellie Hoeksema. We had to put something special on today since Grace got shots this morning. As soon as she got poked and started crying, Joel ran up and said, "What happened?!?" He is very protective of his little Gracie.

He walked up to her in her swing today while she was crying and said, "Oh, honey...it's okay."

Nice Look...

This is how I found Joel when I got up this morning. He came into our room while Curt was in the shower and I was feeding Grace. Yes...that is my mascara. Apparently, he wanted to enhance his look before heading off to Chicago today! He also had mascara all over his hands and feet.

The Things He Says...

I have to write down some of the things Joel says every day or I'm sure I will forget them! There are too many to count, but here are a few...

We were getting ready for church on Sunday. I was getting Joel's jacket on, and I told him how handsome he looked. He put his little hands on my face and brushed my hair and said, "Mommy...you handsome too."

That felt so good!

I asked him if he wanted a glass of juice today and he said, "Great idea, Mommy!"

He was eating his snack of pretzels on the couch. He accidentally broke one and said, "Oh no! So sorry, pretzel!"

I asked Joel what he wanted for dinner. He said, "Pancakes with Grandma & Grandpa." (Grandma & Grandpa DeBoer have been taking Joel out to breakfast for the past few weeks, and he loves it!)

ALSO...
Joel & Grace got a wagon for Christmas from Grandma & Grandpa DeBoer. The weather is finally getting nice, so we took them out for a walk yesterday. Joel loved it! Grace decided she would rather have mom holding her, but she liked it for awhile. Maybe when she can sit up a little more and isn't completely at Joel's mercy, she'll have more fun!

The Photo Shoot

I took Joel & Grace for their first pictures at JCPenny the other day. Here are a couple shots. It was hard to keep Joel from running all over the place, but they were able to get a few decent shots in!

Awww...aren't they cute?!?!

Let me just say that the pictures paint a much more serene image than what was actually experienced. My saving grace was an emergency pack of Nemo fruit snacks that I used to lure Joel towards the camera!

More fun Joel Moments...

For those of you who enjoyed my last entry about Joel...I thought you might like this:
I asked Joel to get me some toilet paper so I could wipe his nose. This is what he brought me...

Technically, he DID follow my directions, so he didn't get in trouble.
And then...How many of you can ever say you've had this conversation before?

Loving life with a two-year old...

amy

Sweet Grace...

Just wanted to share a cute picture of our little Gracie!

We love her like crazy!

A Beautiful Day...

It was a beautiful day today! The sun was finally out and it was warm enough to go outside. It has been a long winter of being stuck in the house with little kids! We had a great time taking Joel to the park for the first time this year. He was so excited! It made me realize how big he is getting. He wanted to do everything by himself. He climbed up all the slides and went down on his own. He even climbed up the chains and ladders. What a little monkey! Grace was not nearly as impressed with the trip to the park. She slept through the entire adventure. She did wake up however when we met Grandma & Grandpa DeBoer for dinner (where she cried through a good portion of the meal!).

Our other big adventure this week was our trip to the Backyardigans LIVE show. Thanks to Auntie Cate, we found out that there was going to be a show in Battle Creek, so we took Joel along with his friends Layla and Brady. Grace stayed back with our friends Jason & Kelly. Joel was thrilled to see Tyrone, Pablo, Tasha, Uniqua & Austin live and in person. He was singing and dancing and loved every minute of it! Here are the dads with all the kiddos...

Finally, Grace is doing great. She's such a good baby! We love having her around. She is sleeping through the night like a champ which is making life a lot more enjoyable! She has started to give us her first smiles. We just can't imagine life without her!

Joel is very gentle with Grace, and he gives her kisses every night before bed. He does have his times of jealousy, too. This week, he wasn't feeling well and needed some extra love and care. Whenever I picked up Grace to spend some time with her, he would come up to me and say, "Gracie BACK IN SWING!" In his sweeter moments, he'll walk up to her and say, "Hi Little Missie!"

Curt and I laugh literally every day at something Joel says or does. Lately, he's started saying "yeah...okay" to every question we ask. Do you want something to eat? "Yeah...okay." Should we go to the store? "Yeah...okay." He loves showing us all his tricks and skills. We get a lot of "Daddy, check this out!" and "Mommy, watch! Watch Joel!" We love him like crazy!

But he looks so cute...

This is my little man Joel. I love him like crazy and he's as cute as can be...but he's been driving me nuts this week! I thought you might all enjoy a glimpse into my crazy world. I'm sure one day I'll look back and laugh at these stories...but I'm not there yet!

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I took Joel & Gracie out to look at toddler tuxes on Monday (Joel is going to be the ring bearer in Joe & Amanda's wedding). All was going well until he saw some toy trains across the store that he wanted to see. He jumped off the back of the stroller and went running. I was momentarily paralyzed with the decision to leave Grace and grab him, or stay with Grace and let him wander off. Fortunately, it was not a big store and I was able to catch up to him with the stroller. I sat him down in his seat and told him that he could not leave the stroller while mommy is driving it. He sat down, crossed his arms and said, "Goodness sakes!" He then pouted and repeated over and over again, "back to trains! back to trains!"

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Yesterday, Joel and I were eating dinner at the table. He was going slow, so I finished up and brought Gracie out to the living room to change her and wash her up before bed. In the middle of my diaper duty, Joel started saying "More bread! More bread! Mommy...More bread!" I assured him that I would be there in a minute, but that just wasn't fast enough. When he realized that he was getting nowhere with the "Mommy...mo bread!" approach, he said "Hey Amy! Mo bread!" I looked at him and said, "excuse me...what is my name?" To which he giggled and said "mommy!" Isn't he a little young to be calling me by my first name??

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Today...I walked into the living room to find Joel scribbling with pen all over the back of my leather couch. Ugh! It was not good. After a spanking and some time in his room, I was able to get MOST of it out. Thank goodness for leather cleaner. When he finally came out of his room, he gave me a hug and said "sow sow, mommy." (as in "sorry mommy"). I asked him if he was ever going to write on my couch again...and he said "Yes."

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Fantastic.

I'm glad to see that my discipline is getting us somewhere.

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Is it really only Wednesday?

SURPRISE!

We had a fantastic surprise this past weekend...My Aunt Kathy, Aunt Dawn, Aunt Jane, Aunt Diane and cousin Shannon all came up from Chicago to surprise me with a baby shower for Grace! It was so much fun! I was more than a little surprised to open up my front door on Saturday morning to find them all standing at my doorstep! Joel was thrilled, too...especially when he saw that they came bearing gifts!

They were all so generous! They had lots of cute clothes and gifts for Grace, Joel and me! They brought Grace her first Jarosch cake and cookies (our favorite bakery back home). They even got Grace a swing...which both she and I love! She's such a cuddler that it's hard for me to put her down. When she's in the swing, she doesn't fuss a bit, and I have two free hands to play with Joel and get things done around the house.

Joel got to go back to their hotel and swim in the pool with Shannon. He was a little cautious at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly.
Curt and I got to go out on a dinner date Saturday night which was fantastic! It was such a treat to have some one-on-one time.
We all went out for breakfast Sunday morning, and then they had to head back home. It was so sad to see them leave! We had so much fun together and were reminded of how hard it can be to live away from family. We're looking forward to seeing everyone again when we come out to Chicago in April! Thank you all so much for such a wonderful surprise!

I decided to try to get some photos of Joel holding Grace...It didn't quite go as planned! It went from "I'm not sure I want to do this" to "I'm losing it" to "GET THIS BABY OFF ME!" in a relatively short period of time...

A picture of the three cousins...Alyssa, Joel & Grace

And a picture of Curt and Joel going out for some "guy time." Curt took Joel to watch his high school basketball team play in the state tournament. Joel was thrilled, and mom & Grace got some girl time (and some much-needed rest). Thanks Dad!