Airplanes and Baseball

Just like last year, Steve took Judah to the Quad City Air Show. They made sure to take ear plugs this time around!

Steve organized a family outing on Father's Day for the GO! Kids ministry at our church. We went to the Quad City River Bandits baseball game. The Bandits are the farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals. After the game, all the kids got to go out on the field where a helicopter had dropped tons of candy in the outfield. After the kids were running frantically to pick up as much candy as they could, the helicopter made a few more passes and dropped large and small marshmallows on top of the kids just for fun. After the candy chase, the kids could run the bases if they wanted to. Here is Judah chugging from first base to second.

The Cutest Chipmunk You Ever Saw

This Spring, Judah and I found the cutest, sweetest little "orphaned" chipmunk you've ever seen. Judah named him "Chicky" and we took care of him one afternoon by giving him birdseed, water, lots of exercise and lots of affection. I'm pretty sure his mommy found him because I saw an adult in the same area we found him later that evening. Judah still thinks that every chipmunk we see (and we see LOTS of them around our house) is possibly Chicky...and he might just be right.

May The Force Be With You

About a month ago, I decided that Judah was old enough to understand and "get into" the original Star Wars movies that Steve and I grew up with. We introduced the first one to Judah and let him watch it several times to get to know the characters, etc. before we let him watch the 2nd and 3rd ones. To say that Judah is now a Star Wars junkie is an understatement. :) He's all about light sabers (light savers as Judah says) and Imperial Walkers and Yoda now. Anyway, when he and I were sitting in the John Deere combine harvester simulator the other day at the Bettendorf Family Museum, Judah stood up on his seat and began flipping lots of switches and turning knobs. I said, "What are you doing, Judah?" and he said to me, "I've got to switch all of these so we can make the jump to light speed." Um, okay. :)

Judah Lost His First Tooth!!!

Back in mid-December, Judah told me his front tooth felt "funny." I took a look and realized it was a bit loose. I told him not to wiggle it and that maybe it would tighten back up since I didn't think he was old enough to start losing teeth yet (he hadn't even turned 5 yet at that point!). After another week or so I realized it was still pretty loose so I called the dentist. They told me that, unless he had knocked into something (which he hadn't) or the gums around it were swollen and red, it might just be ready to come out. I chose not to share this information with Judah since that would give him license to start yanking on it, which I didn't think was a good idea just yet. Well....by mid-January, Judah had begun working on that tooth and on January 26th he excitedly called me upstairs. I went upstairs to see what he wanted and found him...sitting on the toilet having just done his business and smiling a big toothless grin. :) I asked him where the tooth was and he said he didn't know. Uh Oh!!! Could it have fallen in the toilet??? Thankfully, it had just fallen into his pants that were around his ankles. :) Of course he put it under his pillow that night and the Tooth Fairy came but, before he went to sleep, he told me that he was going to sleep close to the wall on the far edge of his pillow so the Tooth Fairy could reach under his pillow easier to get his tooth. Such a thoughtful little guy! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of Judah will his new toothless grin (one of which includes Steve joining in the fun--with a mashed up chocolate chip over his tooth). Judah was, and still is, so proud that he was the first kid in his preschool class to lose any teeth.

Birthday Party #2

After returning home from Elkhart, Teri's parents threw a birthday party for Judah at a local bouncehouse joint called Monkey Joe's with his cousins. Two hours of bouncing around went quickly and burnt a lot of energy so we headed over to Happy Joe's (Apparently, there are a lot of guys named Joe starting businesses around here.) for pizza, cake and ice cream. Judah got some fun gifts and had a GREAT time with his Grammy and Grandad, Aunt Becki & Uncle Matt, his cousins and, of course, his awesome Mom and Dad. Thanks Grammy & Grandad!

Judah Turns 5 @ Grandma & Poppy's House

Our little Judah turned 5 on December 30th while we were in Elkhart, IN visiting with Steve's family. We were blessed to spend time with Steve's parents, his sister Lynette and her hubby Dave and Steve's sister Karla and her kids Lily and Jack who were visiting from Hawaii. Judah got some really awesome BIG dinosaurs from Grandma and Poppy and a cool cake with little dinosaurs on it. The big dinosaurs were ready with spoons in mouths to eat that de-lish cake! Judah also got to visit the Elkhart Train Museum with Mom, Dad and Poppy. What a great time we had with Steve's family and Judah had a very special birthday. He even shared some of his cake with his feathered cousin, Claude. :)

German Feast Anyone?

Steve had a hankerin' for German food one day so he and Judah made a German feast complete with HOMEMADE pretzels. Judah was a big help in making the actual pretzels and they turned out totally delicious. Nice work, guys!

Such A Profound Statement

Tonight Steve and I were doing a family devotion with Judah. After watching the short Bible lesson on DVD, Steve started reading out of the discussion guide. Judah said he wanted to read so he took the discussion guide and began to "read" from it. The next words out of his mouth were so profound...

"The God of Israel came in words."

The lesson was all about ways that we can communicate with God and how He communicates information to us through the Bible...His Word. What a nice summary that Judah put together in that 4 year old brain of his.

That's My Boy!

We've been anxiously awaiting May since that is when some of our favorite things open for the season. The other day, Judah says to me, "Boy, I can't wait for the zoo and the (farmers) market to open!" I LOVE that Judah loves the farmers market as much as we do!!! I had other commitments but Steve and Judah rode their bikes down to the opening day of the outdoor farmers market this past Saturday and had a great time! We plan to ride our bikes down there as a family this Saturday. Can't wait!

Crazy Hair

As you know, Judah has some pretty curly hair and, some days, it can get to looking crazy and unruly. This morning as I was wetting his hair down and trying to corral the curls into some semblance of a style, this conversation took place...

TERI: Judah, you've got some craaaaaazy hair today. Those curls just don't want to lay down!

JUDAH: Maybe they aren't tired.

What a clever boy! Makes me smile. :)

How Was Your Day?

Steve typically asks Judah how his day went once he gets home from work. The other day, as we ate dinner, Steve asked Judah about his day. Judah told him some stuff that he did throughout the day and then he said to Steve, "Can you tell us about your day, Daddy? What did you do today?"

He said it with such genuine interest and really wanted to hear about his daddy's day. Totally adorable. Made this mommy's heart so proud!

Pre-Reading

Preschool has been really great for Judah. He is learning a ton and his social skills are getting better being around other kids more often. He has begun to recognize "his" letters from his name and points them out whenever he sees them in sentences and random places. The other day, he called Steve and I in to show us that he had written three of the letters from his name all by himself, without looking at anything to copy from. Wow! He's also "reading" books that he knows the story of already, which is so fun to watch and listen to. He'll be reading for real before we know it!

Sending "E-mails"

Judah has shown an interest recently in wanting to send e-mails to his friends and to Word Girl and her sidekick Huggy Face. Of course we don't really let him use our e-mail to do this but we've been letting him type into Word and then we pretend to send the "e-mail" once he's done with it. It's so cute because he puts his fingers on the keyboard and tries to immitate the way we type. So cute!

The Turtle and the Mouse

I took Judah to the Putnam Museum yesterday. We were playing with some cute hand puppets in a big treehouse they have. Judah's puppet was a turtle and I had a mouse. Judah's turtle was playing host to the mouse and offering him something to eat.

Turtle: Help yourself to some lunch. It's on the table.
Mouse: Oh, thank you. I'm so hungry!
Turtle: I promise I won't eat you.
Mouse: Well, I hope not! Turtles don't eat mice!
Turtle: Oh, sorry. That was just a turtle joke!

I was totally cracking up at how quickly his little mind came up with that. I grabbed him and hugged him as we both laughed hysterically.

Superhero for Hire

Judah has been really into Word Girl lately. He watches episodes online at PBSKidsGo.org. He dreams up elaborate trips and adventures that they will take together fighting bad guys and mean robots. He's even invited me to join him on these trips, which I guess I should feel pretty flattered about considering that I'm his mom and I might cramp his style. Anyway, he saw Steve's Team Tri-Fit "calling cards" (business cards) the other day and said that he wanted some of his own for his Superhero work. So I set to work and quickly put together a superhero business card for Judah. I used some of the design elements from the Mr. Incredible Valentine card I had made for him to make the process go more quickly...since he was standing over my shoulder saying, "We're NEVER going to get these done!" Anyway, if you ever find yourself with a bad guy or mean robot hanging around wreaking havoc, don't fear...Super Judah is here!

Sorry For Being Temporarily Out Of Service

Once again, I find myself playing catch-up on what's been happening in our lives. I guess that's good because that means I'm enjoying each moment but it leaves you out of the loop of what's been going on, especially with Judah. So I apologize for my absence.

A lot has happened over the last few months. Nothing earth shattering but we did celebrate Christmas and Judah's 4th birthday. Wow, my baby is getting so big! For Christmas we were able to give to Samaritan's Purse again and provide needy families with a couple of stocked fish ponds, 30 fruit trees and some honey bees. Thanks to Teri's parents and sister, Becki's family for contributing this year! We know that many of you give to those in need in ways that are meaningful to you so, thank you for giving, too! Judah received many wonderful gifts for Christmas and birthday but one in particular has been really exciting. Grandma and Poppy Meek got a neat wooden train set for Judah and we've all had fun setting it up and playing with it. It came with a train table but Judah seems to prefer to take the tracks apart and set them up everywhere BUT the table. He has lots of fun reconfiguring the track. I'm amazed at some of the cool ways he sets it up! There have been many days when I've heard him upstairs playing quietly except for the train sounds he's making. Woo Woo!

Judah celebrated his birthday at Grandma and Poppy Meek's and, while there, he also got to race Aunt Nettie's bird, Claude, up the stairs (see video).

While celebrating at Grammy and Grandad Barman's, Judah had his very own Vanna White (cousin Alex) to show off his gifts after he opened them. :)

Grandma and Poppy haven't been feeling well the last few months so we continue to pray for them and hope they feel better soon.

Despite the cold, snowy winter we've had, we try to get out with Judah to do things when our schedule allows. We've gone to John Deere to climb on the tractors, hiking at Scott County Park, playing in the bounce houses at Monkey Joe's with cousins Will & Maddie and Bald Eagle watching on the Mississippi. Besides that, Judah has been busy making lots of art projects at preschool. Steve has been keeping busy with his church responsibilities and the Triathlon Team. He even spoke to the kids at Judah's preschool this week about what he does as a pastor (they've been learning about community helpers at school). I've been keeping busy with Judah, keeping the household running smoothly and doing some design/copy writing work for Steve and a friend who's raising money to become a missionary in Poland. I also designed Judah's Valentine's cards for him. He wanted three kinds: The Incredibles, Lightning McQueen and Word Girl (from PBS). Life is busy but good! We are soooooooo ready for Spring!!

I didn't mean ME, I meant someone else...

Those of you who have children know that sometimes God speaks to us very directly through our kids. That happened just the other day at breakfast...

STEVE: I'm going to thank God for our warm house (it's been sub-zero here for a while now). How about you, Judah, what do you want to pray for this morning?
JUDAH: I don't know.
TERI: Maybe you could pray for all the people who don't have a warm home and are living outside in the cold. Some boys and girls don't have a nice warm house to sleep in like you do.
JUDAH: Well maybe some kids could share their house with those boys and girls.
STEVE & TERI: That's a great idea, Judah. Should we let some people stay at our house who don't have a house of their own?
JUDAH: I didn't mean MY house. I meant that maybe some OTHER boys and girls could do that. If boys and girls stayed at our house they would mess my things all up and I don't want my things getting all messed up.

Wow, God really spoke to me in this conversation! This could very well have been a conversation I was having with God inside my own head. God, please forgive my selfishness and lack of compassion (love turned into action!) for people around me who are suffering. Help me to show your love to others in practical ways and to be your hands, feet and voice to a hurting world.

Stay Off The Roads--Judah's Driving!

Judah's Poppy and Grandma bought him a remote control race car back when we lived in Reno. At the time, Judah was a bit too young to play with it. He's old enough now and he's having a blast! He's not the best driver, however, so you'd be wise to stay off the roads while Judah's driving!

SNOW!

Winter has officially arrived here in Iowa, despite what the calendar says. We got blasted with our first snow storm last week and ended up with about 8 inches of snow. Judah's been having a great time in it though. He and Steve went sledding on our neighbor's hill (on the other side of our backyard fence) and on our little hill in the backyard. Judah also loves to bundle up and play with his diggers and dump trucks in the backyard and on the deck. He scoops up snow with the diggers and fills up his dump trucks with it. He comes in all rosey-cheeked, wet and cold--ready for a nice cup of hot chocolate, with marshmallows, of course. Cassidy loves the snow, too, and had a great time "sledding" with Steve and Judah.

A Bit Excessive

Typically, Judah is only allowed to sleep with one or two of his fave toys. On this day, for some reason, he managed to persuade either Steve or I to let him sleep with all of his cars (his "friends") for nap time. A bit excessive to say the least! Notice, though, how he has all of them neatly lined up. I'm sorry, Judah, for passing my "everything has to be 'just so'" gene on to you!