Joseph's mission and other tidbits

Joseph enjoys doing map puzzles, so I was talking about where mommy and daddy served their missions with him. He informed me that he was going to go on a mission to the jungle. I told Joe, so today Joseph told him. He said that Jesus would tell him where to go and he would walk there. He said that he and Samuel would go on their missions together. It was fun to hear him explain that Jesus would show him where to walk.

Samuel is a lot of fun too. He is so dang cute. He smiles a ton and is just getting bigger and more vocal. He grunts when he is not happy and likes to say, "dadadadadada" while biting his finger. He laughs a lot and is just a little joy in our lives.

Joseph is almost 4. We are planning a dinosaur birthday party for him. He is going to be a pirate for Halloween, but the costume I won on ebay has yet to arrive (over 1 week and counting). Samuel is going to be the treasure and I am going to be a treasure map. Joe thinks it is silly that I want us to have a themed Halloween, so he is going to be a Mexican wrestler.

Joseph enjoys:
1. Dinosaurs (still, especially daddy's old definitely dinosaur toys)
2. Raspberries then blueberries/strawberries (tied)
3. Thundercats (Panthro and Monkian are his favorites)
4. Ducktales
5. Going to the library. We have checked out tons of books. Some of the ones he has liked are:
How To Be
Runaway Bunny
I Spy books (I think we have checked out every single one)
Pirate Pete's Great Adventure
Others that I can't think of right now
6. Asking what begins with the letter that he learns about at the library (What begins with C?, What begins with R?) all day after his lesson.
7. His little brother Samuel. He is always giving him hugs and kisses.
8. Playing with daddy.
9. Mommy being home.
10. Maps.
11. Signing Time.
12. The Lorax movie. Mickey and the Beanstalk.
13. Coloring.
14. Talking and making up songs (once upon a time...)
15. Cooking and washing clothes/dishes.

Samuel is 8 months. He enjoys:
1. All toys (especially ones that spin).
2. His family.
3. Smiling.
4. Eating prunes, peaches, banana, pears, pear strawberry granola, harvest vegetables with whole grain, prunes with apples, banana peach oatmeal, among others.
5. Gnawing on his fingers to feel his first tooth and the second one that is coming in.
6. Milk.
7. Touching everything, especially feeling material.
8. Rolling everywhere.
9. Babbling.
10. People carrying him.
11. Bouncing.

I love my boys so much and am so grateful for them. They are my joy as is my husband who still amazes me every day. :)

And so...

Sunday was a hard day for Samuel at church. After the meetings, there was supposed to be a munch and mingle, but because Samuel was super tired, I decided not to go. They let me take some bread for the road. I got a piece of cinnamon raisin bread for Joseph. He ate it on the way home from church. We pulled into our garage and he started to chuckle to himself as we were coming into the house. He showed me the bread and said, "It looks like a parasaurolophus head." Here is a picture of the bread. The left portion is the head of his imagined dinosaur.

My hubby's back!!!

Joe got back from Austin this morning. We are so happy to have him home. He had a wonderful time in Austin with his brothers. Thanks Michelle for planning such a great birthday surprise for Jeff.

Go BYU...

Joe is not here, so I decided to take the boys to the BYU tailgate party to occupy some of my day. Alison and Ryan dropped by, so we all went together. I got a couple of coupons good for $2 off a meal at Bajio (just thinking of you sweetie). They also gave me a Bajio t-shirt.

Samuel supporting the BYU cougars. Unfortunately, Joseph's only BYU apparel is a winter sweatshirt, so he wore a blue and white shirt. I just wore white since I have no BYU shirts to wear at all.

Joseph...a self-portrait. This is right before we took off to the tailgate party. He is buckled into the Joovy Caboose.

The boys all ready to go in the Joovy Caboose. Samuel enjoys looking out at everything as we walk. I did put sunglasses on him, but that only lasted about 10 seconds before he took them off to chew on.

They had games to play, but most of the lines were too long. Joseph got to play one where he tried to make the football in the hole. He got a little help from the guy who then rewarded him with a pen. Joseph also got a Go Cougars banner. He likes it and went to bed with it tonight.

My hopping baby

This is what Samuel likes to do when he is tired but fighting sleep. I tried to record him doing this in his pack and play. It is funny because you will periodically see his little butt jump up in view. For Samuel, it is a very effective way of traveling where he wants to go. :)

Family Home Evening

Monday we went to the Provo Library for a magic show. It was fun to go out with the family for an FHE activity. Samuel was already in his pajamas in case he fell asleep on the way home (and he did). Joseph really enjoyed the show. He loved the leprachaun that disappeared and appeared on a boy's back.
Here are Sameul and daddy at the show. Samuel was super smiley before it began. I couldn't get any good pics of Joseph because he was in the front and middle of all the kids.

Daddy and Samuel again.

Samuel loves to play with his tongue.

I need to find the picture where Joseph has a look just like this.

He was just making us laugh before the show started.

I had better run. Samuel is crying up a storm in the room Joseph is sleeping in. He is tired but refuses to sleep. It might be more teeth, but he needs to get some sleep. Joe is in Texas with his brothers. I hope you are having fun sweetie!! :) We love you and miss you.

Murphy's law

So, I went to dry some clothes that I washed last night to dry again this morning. I thought that the clothes didn't feel warm, but when I walked in, it was on cool down. I tried again and to no avail. Alas, I realized that our dryer died. Go figure. It is part of what is staying with the house when we sell and I still have more clothes to wash. I am looking at getting a new dryer.

On a better note, for FHE last night, we went to the library for a magic show. At least Joseph enjoyed the magic show. :) I need to run so I can color with Joseph. He finally picked up hsi toys in his room (I have only asked him to do it like 10 times today). :P

Joovy caboose

Having 2 kids is a lot of fun. One thing that gets hard is when I am pushing Samuel in a stroller and Joseph is tired and he wants to be carried. I concluded that I needed a good way to get both of them around without buying a large double stroller. I did a little research and decided that I wanted a Joovy Caboose. It is a sit and stand stroller. Well, last week my mom took me to SLC and we bought one from someone that sold it on KSL.

It is an awesome stroller. It rides smoothly and Joseph loves to sit in the back while I push Samuel. It is a tad heavy, but I didn't want to shell out almost $300 for an Ultralight Joovy Caboose. I got mine for $60 and it came with a drink holder. It is red and black, so it matches our car (not that it would have mattered to me in the first place). Now we need a booster seat for Joseph and we can sell our Graco Snugride with the 2 bases and the Snap-n-Go stroller. I am leaning towards the Recaro Booster Seat. It is relatively inexpensive, about $100, and has good reviews. Samuel will then graduate to Joseph's Britax Marathon. He is getting to heavy for the Snugride.

Family pictures

So Saturday morning we went to Target for family pictures. It is amazing how stressed out I get when I don't want the boys to spill on themselves or have their hair a mess. We finally made it to Target and they were running behind because their 11 o'clock arrived right before we did for our 11:20 appointment. Samuel was tired and Joseph now likes to cover his face with his hands when we take pictures, so it made for an interesting time. :P It is not letting me upload more than one at the moment.

As for Samuel, he is all over the place now. He doesn't technically crawl, but he gets into anything that interests him by rolling and by planting his face in the ground and pushing with his little legs. The past few nights have been rough with Samuel not wanting to sleep.

Joseph is practicing his letters and is a sweet boy. He loves to play and is learning new signs with baby signing time. The other day he was showing me lizard and caterpillar.

My little artist

Art and Photographs courtesy of Joseph Azro Rankin, age 3 years and 11 months.

Painting: "Daddy growing up"

Photograph: "Samuel stepping"

Photograph: "Bubble wrap on carpet"

Photograph: "Instrumental toy"

Photograph: "Samuel is dog-gone cute"

Photograph: "My lunch"

Photograph: "Samuel's lunch"

Photograph: "My size toilet"

Photograph: "Plant and Rock"

Photograph: "Revolving Doors"

Joseph loves to use the camera now and likes to take pictures. He also is a good abstract artist.

"Cheesy" cards

This will be out for all the realtors that come on tour tomorrow. It has a little note from us on the back. They will get cheese and crackers as a treat. Maybe it will work...

New tooth

Samuel finally had his first tooth break through his gums. It is the lower right tooth. On Wednesday is when I noticed it. I have been checking his gums periodically each day because he is gnawing on his fingers so much...especially because at his 6 month check-up the doctor told me one was close to coming out. Needless to say, he has only tried to bite me once while feeding, but that was before the tooth...so technically he gummed me. :)

His therapy is going okay. He is doing better but he is still not where the therapist wants him. It is funny because he wants Samuel to lean his head 45 degrees each way. He does to the left, but to the right he doesn't. As he was explaining to me what 45 degrees would look like, he drew a diagram. He then explained that Samuel has a big head and no neck, so 45 degrees to the right would be his ear squished into his shoulder. He also wants me to go back next week because he said that Samuel is big and I am petite and he is afraid that I am not able to do the stretches as effectively because he is so strong. I agree there. It is hard to do them.

Joseph has also started to pee by himself in the big toilet. He is so proud of himself, as am I. He likes to say, "I will go to the bathroom by myself." It makes me happy, especially because that means in the morning I can lay in bed for a few more minutes.

We went to lunch with Grandma Nunez yesterday and then we went to D.I. We found a kitchen set from 1987 that was dirty and had a lot of the toys. It was the best $3 spent at D.I. ever. Joseph loves it. After I cleaned it and the stuff with soap and water and then disinfected it, I let him have it. He has been cooking and washing dishes. His favorite part is the phone. He has been making phone calls to his friends and inviting them to dinner. So far, his favorite person to call and talk to is his friend Bryan.