Tonight, I asked Yehoshua who his best buddy was. He said, "Eliyahu and Hippo". Hippo is the stuffed animal he got when he broke his leg last year, and he sleeps beside him every night now. :)

Then I said, "Who is Eliyahu's best buddy?"

And Yehoshua said, "I'm Eliyahu's best buddy, and I'm Daddy's best buddy, and I'm Mama's best buddy, too."

"So we're all best buddies?"

"Yep."

I love my family.

And all those people who said that when Yehoshua started talking, we'd just wish he'd stop-- well, they were wrong. Really wrong. :D

Having children is so... good. Besides all the fun, there are the many glimpses into faith and love that I would have missed if I weren't a mom. It's tiring at times, and definitely challenging at times, too! But it's good to be challenged. It's good to be stretched. It's probably even good to never get to sleep in anymore... my little guys really keep me going... even when I'm soooo tired!

But enough rambling... here are a few pictures of life as a toddler... in our backyard... :) Read more...

Here's a picture of tonight's bedtime snack. Doesn't it look delicious?! ;) Read more...

"But Mom, we were just trying to get some more animal crackers!"

Yehoshua dumped the whole 2-pound bag of animal crackers on the high chair tray for Eliyahu and himself. I started cleaning them up, and realized that I should take a picture. ;)

My grandma had knee surgery last week, and has been staying in the hospital here in town. One of the things that kept us busy this past week was going to visit her. We've gone a number of times, and each time, Yehoshua takes a page from his coloring book that he has colored for her. He loves coloring, and it's a good excuse to make sure we sit down to do it. ;)

Yehoshua's coloring book has lots of "old fashioned" pictures, and we've been picking out ones we think Grandma would especially enjoy... clotheslines full of clothes, big gardens, a windmill, animals, and barns. ;)

Today I snapped a picture of Yehoshua with his page, right before we headed out the door. :)

Eliyahu, on the other hand, still tries to eat crayons. We have to color during his nap time. ;)

My children are becoming increasingly difficult to photograph. I think it's easier to take pictures of food! ;)

These pictures were from the day's "races", up and down our sidewalk. It was a beautiful, cool day today, and we even made time for a walk this evening.

Tomorrow morning is strawberry-picking, with music lessons for the rest of the day. I sense another quick-and-easy dinner in the makings... :)

Let's see... what have I been doing lately? Not blogging, that's for sure! ;)

Strawberries are ripe here, and I've thus far gone to my parents' patch for two pickings, getting about 3 quarts each time. We've mostly just eaten them fresh. Eliyahu and Yehoshua are both little piggies when it comes to strawberries! :)

A few nights ago, I told Yehoshua that it was his bedtime. He said to me, "I could help you with dishes, Mama! Would that make you happy?!" ;)

I'm still trying to pull out of a major cooking slump. Actually, a general everything-slump! I'm just barely keeping on top of the laundry, and today -- tonight -- I am actually going to bed with every single dirty dish washed. Woo hoo!! :)

The bad news is that in the past 3 weeks, I have forgotten to pay not one, but TWO bills, resulting in extra expenses. Grrr! Where is my brain?! I hadn't forgotten a bill in the whole first five years of our marriage. I guess that's what happens when I don't pay them the very next day after they arrive... I'm resolving to do better.

Yehoshua's current favorite song is "O-b-e-d-i-e-n-c-e". He knows most of the words, and frequently asks me to sing it with him! :) He likes to sing. :)

And now, I think I hear Yehoshua waking... so I'll tend to him and then get ready for bed myself. :) Good night! :) 

Last evening, I put Eliyahu to bed early, and got to have a fun time with just Yehoshua, teaching him more about helping in the kitchen!

I am often guilty of falling into the trap of "just wanting to do things myself", especially now that I have two little helpers. It can be quite challenging at times to manage two little boys, both helping with the dishes... trying to keep them from fighting, or falling off the chair, or breaking a dish, or dumping water everywhere... ;)

I know you ladies with many children are probably laughing at the idea of being challenged by just two little kitchen helpers! ;) I do think it's sometimes easier to focus on training just one at a time, though.

And since Yehoshua's the oldest child, there are moments when I realize that he's been capable of much more than I've been requiring!

I remember when Yehoshua was 10 months old and Joshua told me it was time to make him pick up his own toys. After putting aside my skeptical attitude ("Great! Now it'll take me twice as long!"), I watched in amazement as I saw my 10-month-old BABY putting his own toys away when prompted!

Well, last night was one of those times. Recently, Yehoshua (3) has been helping to set the table for meals, putting away some clean dishes, and can also bring the dirty dishes over to the sink. But last night, I had him do much more, and he loved it! He put away most of the leftovers (I gave him a container and lid for each item, and he filled it and put it in the fridge), dumped the garbage outside on our compost pile (by himself!), and cleared the table of all the dirty dishes!

He had a lot of fun being "my special helper", and I'm looking forward to involving him in more of these new tasks. :)

Yehoshua is spending the afternoon and evening at Grandma's house. It's so quiet here right now! Eliyahu (16 months old) is napping, and Joshua's asleep (he worked all night last night). I'm basically home alone!

This is the first time Eliyahu has been away from Yehoshua (well, not counting Yehoshua's hospital stay when Eliyahu was 2 months old), so it'll be interesting to see his reaction when he gets up from his nap. :)

And as for me, well, I'm pretty thankful for the break. Parenting is a lot of work! It was a pleasant surprise when my mom called yesterday and said they wanted to have Yehoshua over for a visit. We do basically everything together as a family, which makes it a special treat to go off by one's self. ;)

Isn't it funny how the definition of "a break" changes with the number of children one has? :)

(The pizza is just a little one I made for myself one day... I took a photo to use randomly...)

Today while I was working in the kitchen, Eliyahu (16 months) got into my cupboard. I caught him with the mixer stuffed inside a bowl. :) He didn't have any beaters for it, though. I didn't realize we used the mixer often enough for him to decide to pretend to be using it like that! :)

Well, the good news is that I've been cooking and have lots of new recipes to share... the bad news is that between children with colds and a teething baby, it's already past my bedtime and my "to do" list isn't done. :)

So I guess I'll say as I often do at night time, "Tomorrow will be a better day!" I'm forever aiming to be a little more productive the next day... setting my alarm clock is probably the first step, but my flesh resists.