Diesel's in the Shed

A friend of ours gave us a Thomas the Train book a few months ago and it was a story about Diesel the Train. Diesel is a bit of a pill in the book and he is grumpy and mean to the other engines. I guess Diesel is the grumpy train in most of the books and videos. Regardless, Isaac picked up on it and he no longer likes to play with Diesel! At first he would say, "scared" any time that we asked him where his Diesel train was from his train set. Well, now he just puts him in the train shed so that he doesn't have to see or play with him. So funny! A few days ago we asked Isaac where Diesel was and he started singing, "Diesel's in the shed, Diesel's in the shed" as he swayed back and forth and bopped his head back and forth. Pretty clever.

Wipe the Tears

Many months ago Isaac was upset and crying about something, so I bent down and said to him, "Isaac, one day Jesus will wipe away all of your tears," and I wiped the tears off of his little cheeks with my hand. He apparently heard me because now he asks me to "wipe away the tears" whenever he gets upset. :) It magically makes him all better.

I love my Johnny Jump-Up

Our friend Rachael is letting us borrow her Johnny Jump-Up right now and Hudson loves it! We put him in it while we eat dinner every night and he can't wait to get in...he starts kicking his little legs so fast that we can barely get him in it! The other night Isaac was running around the living room burning off his after dinner energy. Hudson enjoyed watching his brother so much that he would pivot on his little toes and turn so that he could watch Isaac run by. It was quite the sight to see. I did catch it on video, so maybe I will post it when I get around to it.

Team Retreat '08

Last weekend our team snuck away for a little retreat. We wound up staying at a large rustic blue house right by the beach. It was a great location and a very spacious house. We spent most of our time in the living room because it had a nice warm fireplace. Ahhh, it was so warm and cozy. Hudson slept in a room with Josh and I and Isaac slept in a room with Lacey and Sarah. Sarah mentioned that the first morning Isaac woke up at about 6:45 am and lay in bed talking to himself. He was talking quietly for about 15 minutes and then he shouted really loud, "Pooh and Tigger!!!" Sounds just like the little guy...so funny. Thankfully Hudson slept really well in our room. It was a bit cold, but he slept straight through the night. At one point I heard him snoring. :) I think he was pretty worn out from all of the interaction with our teammates. Here are some pics from the weekend. Sarah made us suvlaki the first night.....soo yummy!

Isaac at 27 Months

Isaac continues to crack us up on most occassions. Of course, he is a typical two year old that likes to test his boundaries and whine from time to time, but for the most part he is a true joy. He has been talking so much lately. He enjoys repeating everything that we say like a little mocking bird ( as my dad likes to call it). I thought I might share a few cute things that Isaac has been saying lately:

• "Strawbe" is a strawberry
• He use to call cookies "coo coo's" until yesterday when he actually asked for a cookie
• "Magens" are magnets
• "friger" is the refrigerator
• He will say "hold you" when he wants to be held
• "Cake cakes" are pancakes
• "Baby Jacobs" is baby jaguar from his Diego videos
• "Daddy pay with train set"
• "No hold Hudson" when he wants us to play with him and not with Hudson
• "No pumping" when I am about to pump milk for Hudson...my pump is pretty loud. :)
• "Bonke head" when he hits his head on something
• "Hudson talking" when Hudson squeals or yells

Hudson at 6 Months

I can hardly believe that Hudson is already 6 months old. Wow! I think that I have felt this way at every stage of Hudson's wee life...he is growing so quickly. I thought that I might mention some of the things that he has been doing lately, so that you can get a better picture of what he is up to. He has started sticking out his tongue and he has definitely found his voice. He enjoys making high-pitched noises full of joy, humming, laughing, and playing with his tongue. In regards to movement he is moving his hands and grabbing onto small objects, sucking on them (what baby doesn't like sucking on things), he smacks his arms down to his side when he is excited or he pounds his chest with his left arm. Hudson is definitely a solid baby with very strong legs- he likes standing up on my lap and looking around. Lastly, Hudson loves drinking from a bottle. He sees the bottle coming and he gets soo excited!!! He starts to squirm with delight and he follows the bottle with his eyes until it is put in his mouth. Funny kid. Oh, and speaking of eating, when Hudson is nursing he likes to stop and humm for a bit, or talk, then he gets back to business. Unfortunately, he is easily distracted when eating, like yesterday when Isaac kept making him laugh; kind of drives me nutso, but what is a mom to do?

William's 2nd Birthday

Isaac and William have been friends since we first arrived here in 2006. We had a great time celebrating Will's 2nd birthday with the VanRij's and lots of other fun friends. Enjoy the pics!

Currently, anything that Isaac can't see is officially, "hiding". So, for example, if I am in the bathroom and Isaac can't see me he woud say, "Mommy hiding in bathroom." Pretty cute. If he doesn't want to eat something, or he does not like a song, he will say, "yucky food" or "yucky song." Anything that he does not like is "yucky". Isaac loves running, jumping, playing in the mud, playing with balls, splashing in puddles, dancing, singing, listening to energetic music, and did I mention, running? When we spend a day at the park Isaac enjoys running everywhere! He is perfectly happy running down the trails, picking up rocks and throwing them in the stream, searching for leaves and dirt, and getting dirty. He isn't very interested in the playground equipment right now. He just wants to be free to run and play in God's creation.