Laughter

Beautiful weather + a new bubble gun = hysterical laughter!

Taking a break in the spring

Spring Break took us to South Carolina to visit family. To say that Joshua is a champion car rider is an understatement. We made it a little over 400 miles Saturday with only one 15-minute stop and no tears or tantrums. What an answer to prayer!

Joshua loved having undivided attention from the Nolens. Buddy showed Joshua that popcorn can be popped in something besides a microwave.

Gran and Joshua read stories.


Dave and Joshua lined up Star Wars figurines while discussing "who is a good guy?" and "why?" and "who is a bad guy?" and "why?"

Buddy, Joshua and Dave played basketball in the driveway.

Buddy, Joshua and Dave played soccer in the driveway.

Buddy, Joshua and Dave played football in the driveway.

Joshua got to parade around Gran Robbye's assisted living facility as though he were a royal dignitary from a far away rich land.

And the same thing happened at Grandma's assisted living.

We had a sweet time visiting family we don't get to see often. We were blessed with beautiful weather and lots of memories.

My pet butterfly?

Joshua's good friends S & A gave him a pet for his birthday. S & A have an identical pet and their mom thought it would be a great idea to give Joshua one too. And in my opinion, this is the greatest pet ever. This battery operated butterfly in a jar meets all of our pet needs.

Joshua named his butterfly Jar "because she is so cute!" Jar lives in a jar, of course, but requires no food, water, walks, baths, shots, vet visits, hair cuts, collar, training, or house breaking, only the occasional battery change. She "sleeps" most of the time but wakes very easily with just a slight tap on her jar. When she wakes up she flies all over her home. Jar is disconcertingly realistic but upon close inspection is not real and is attached to something that resembles fishing wire. See, I told you this is the greatest pet ever.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. "How can she lie to her child and tell him he has a real pet butterfly?" S & A's mom and I discussed the reality of our children believing the butterfly is real and our omission of the truth. But I have never told Joshua that Jar was real. Although I haven't ever told him she is a toy either. Ok, so maybe I am knowing allowing Joshua to believe and non-truth. But he loves this butterfly!

Joshua will sit at the table and talk to the butterfly while she flies around her jar. He makes sure to tell her "bye" when we leave the house and even accused Dave of "scaring Jar" the other night.

Dave thinks the whole thing is a little weird and I guess the more I write in this post the more I think maybe I should fill Joshua in on Jar's toy-ness.

But I think I will wait until after he stops hugging her. :)

I just saw Lightening McQueen

Joshua became acquainted with the characters from the movie Cars by wearing Pull-ups. Lighten McQueen and Mater are featured on each Pull-up and were loved and talked about long before Joshua knew there was a movie they belonged to. He received the movie for Christmas and now identifies every red car on the road as Lightening McQueen. It matters not the make, model or state of disrepair the car is in, if it is red, then it is the trophy-winning race car from the movie. Last week Dave spotted Lightening McQueen and Mater mock-ups in the parking lot of a towing company just outside Meridian. So naturally we made a U-turn and he and Joshua posed for pictures in the rain.

Joshua could not believe we had seen the real Mater and McQueen.

Life really doesn't get much better than this!

ps...I was finally able to complete last week's blog post, check it out.

Complete Report on Coach Camp 2012

Coach Camp means several days away from mom and dad spent with Coach and Nana.

Coach Camp means playing with toys that stay at Coach and Nana's house.

Coach Camp means piling up in Coach and Nana's bed to watch cartoons with Abigail.

Coach Camp means getting to go to the Children's Museum and learning new things and dressing up as a pirate with Princess Abigail.

Coach Camp means going to Bass Pro Shop (or the indoor zoo) and "driving the boats and 4-wheelers".

Coach Camp means eating blueberry donuts each morning and coming home with a dozen to eat for the next 12 mornings.

Coach Camp means mom and dad got a few nights of good rest.

"I hope I can go to Coach Camp again!" -Joshua Nolen, age 3

Say Cheese!

Joshua and I stayed home together the other day for a "rest day" as we haven't been feeling well for a little while. You know it is a good day when pajamas are still on at 4:00 in the afternoon! Joshua had been enjoying a time of coloring when I noticed the marker smeared on his face. He agreed to pose for a picture and these are the results...

Say Cheese!

What's Your Power?

(Note: The names have been abbreviated in this story to protect the innocent.)

On the way home from school last week Joshua reported the following about his day:

J: Mom, I am Superman, O is the Green Lantern, R is Batman and K is Supergirl. We have powers.
A: Really? Wow! What kind of powers?
J: Powers to change things.
A: Oh, well Superman, what powers do you have?
J: I flash bugs away with my flash saber like Luke Skywalker.
A: Amazing! What about O?
J: You mean Green Lantern? Well O's power is to take big spiders away with his new wing. But R has bad powers.
A: Bad powers? Goodness gracious. What kind of bad powers does he have?
J: R has bad powers. He takes lots of houses away. Like little houses. And I do SHA POW (spoken in a very loud voice) to big houses.
A: (trying not to wreck the car while writing this down and stifling laughter) My goodness Joshua! What about K?
J: K has tools on her belt to fix stuff...hammer, saw, wrench, screwdriver and a hammer. And G tries to take away rain clouds by yelling at them.
A: G? Well if you are Superman, O is Green Lantern, R is Batman and K is Supergirl, who is G?
J: She is Supergirl too.
A: Did you play super heroes with your friends today?
J: No.
A: Did you tell your friends which super hero they are and what power they have?
J: No. I just tell you what I think. I'm finished talking about it now.
A: Ok. Well what else did you do at school today?
J: Nothing.

Sound Bites and Snap Shots

Translation:

J: Knock Knock

A: Who's there?

J: Amos

A: Amos who?

J: a mosquito just bit me!

Saturday after Joshua woke from his nap he joined me in watching some college hoops.

The conversation:

J: Why are those basketball mans sitting down on those stools?

A: Because it is a timeout.

J: They are in timeout? The basketball mans have timeout? What they do?

A: They have timeout so their coach can tell them what he wants them to do.

J: Why they in timeout? The basketball mans disobey?

A: No, timeout in basketball is different than at school. It is so they can talk to their coach and get something to drink.

J: Timeout is nose in the corner. Basketball mans are in trouble?

A: They aren't in trouble they are just taking a short rest from playing the game.

J: Why are they in trouble?

A: I don't know. I guess they disobeyed.

J: Oh, ok.

racing a truck down the slide

Translation:

J: Knock Knock

A: Who's there?

J: Norma Lee

A: Norma Lee who?

J: Normally I don't knock on people's doors but would you like to buy a pizza?

Pardon the Interruption

Busy week = a break in my every Wednesday blog post. I promise a double post next week!

3.0 years of age!

"I'm done with the 2s and now I am 3. Am I growing up?" -Joshua as his birthday party ended.

Joshua has been anticipating turn 3 since we celebrated cousin Abigail's birthday on Thanksgiving. We celebrated with family and friends while playing sports, of course.

3-year old Joshua loves: singing, counting, reading, playing ball (of all kinds), playing guitar, asking questions, trucks, pirates, dinosaurs, Cars and watching Dora and Diego.

Joshua was recently heard telling Nana, "My favorite food is cole slaw and cookies." Joshua loves to eat salad, bread and fruit. I never seen him turn down an Oreo either. A frequent question at the dinner table is about what animals eat..."Dad, what animal eats hot dogs?"

Joshua loves going to daycare or as he calls it "school work." This was his report on his day yesterday, "We talked about dinosaurs today. They can talk like us. Big dinosaurs and little dinosaurs talk and so do birds. The man could not walk but 4 people took his mat and he picked up the mat and walked straight to Jesus. I didn't hit or push or scratch or tee tee in my underpants." As you can imagine some days are better than others in various aspects of the report after school but it never fails that he had fun.

Frequently heard Joshua quotes:

"I can do it myself."

"I don't need help."

"Help me please!"

"How was your hospital work Mama?"

"Dad, how was your library work?"

"Watch out for that car, Mama."

"Did you sleep good dad?"

"Let's play_________!" (fill in the blank with basketball, baseball, football, bowling, soccer, bouncing ball)

Dave is teaching Joshua about Star Wars and Super Heroes. The other day at a local restaurant Joshua swung a breadstick, as though it were a light saber, at the college student sitting at the table next to us. Good times!

Dave and I are grateful to say "goodbye" to the terrible twos and look forward to saying "hello and please, stay a while" to the terrific threes!

1...2...3...SURPRISE!

Nana turned 60 last week and we surprised her in Birmingham to celebrate.

To make the surprise even more exciting, it involved Aunt Glo, Abigail, Luke and Aunt B too.

Continuing with a long standing tradition of exchanging mean spirited birthday cards with our dear friends "Miss Brenda," "Miss Marilyn" and "Mr Jim"we all gathered around for the reading of the cards.

It was a sweet time of reunion with faithful friends and celebration of our lovely Nana.

As an added bonus, Joshua got to ride a carousel at the mall.

The carousel was fun. But the free to ride escelators were the best!