Jayden has settled in to his preschool routine fairly well. We have had a couple rough days of actually getting him out the door. He loves going and playing with all his friends. Mommy likes the free time to spend with Josie! It’s amazing how calm and fun she is when Jayden is not around! But, as soon as he gets in the van, she turns back into high maintenance! As fall as almost gone, I look back on all the stuff we did. We spent a Saturday at Howell’s Pumpkin Patch. Always a good time! And it was such nice weather! That makes it even more fun. The kids also got to go trick or treating and loved every minute of it. I usually try and find a nice, warm costume for them to wear. Well, this year we didn’t need the warmth! Jayden was sweating pretty good in his dragon outfit! But a good time was still had and lots of candy brought home that we didn’t need! Josie loved being a butterfly and still talks about it. She liked to have daddy lift her in the air so she could “flap her wings”.

Kevin and I got to enjoy 4 days away from the kids! A much needed break for all. Thank you Grandma Pat and Aunt Chris! We were actually supposed to be going to California for a week, but that was canceled. So we settled for “balmy” Minneapolis. It’s our home away from home. We like to go there and just walk the mall and eat fun food! The rule was that we couldn’t eat anything that didn’t require utensils!! So we managed to eat Italian, Mexican, Chinese!! It’s great to eat food that doesn’t require it to be dipped in ketchup.

Josie is working on potty training. She’s about 80% there! She does really good for the most part, but then there are the random moments where she just comes and stands by you and pees. It can be so frustrating! I’m at least glad I am not changing diapers anymore!! I’d rather change wet jeans any day!

The last week was a busy, stressful week. My oldest brother Kevin was in the hospital. It comes down to that he is having liver problems. Hopefully things will get a little better for him, but we’ll see what the weeks ahead prove. Last week, we also lost a great, great family friend! I had known him since I was around 7-8 years old. He was like a Grandpa to me! He will be greatly missed by all. We just got back from spending time on the farm this weekend. Our little farmer had a good time and had to be out with Grandpa as much as he could. He loves to help feed the cows and ride the loader tractor! It was a nice relaxing weekend after last weeks stresses.

We are very excited to spend time with family this week and Jayden and Josie cannot wait for x-mas. Jayden’s list is about 10 miles long, but we’ll get it narrowed down. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Hopefully we will, as I have to take Josie to the doctor today. I think she has pink eye! I hate pink eye! We’ll wake up tomorrow and Jayden will have it, too! That happened the last time. Oh–the joys of kids and germs! Update: They both have it. Just like last time.

The most exciting thing from the weekend was actually witnessing a birth of a cow! Tis the season for births and after 6 years, I actually got to see one live. “Ace” as I like to call it, was born around 9:30 Friday night. I gave him/her the name Ace because it was the first birth of the season and my first birth to see. (Except my own children). It was really really cool. Man, to think we as humans get the opportunity for drugs to cope with the pain! Poor animals have to go through it all naturally. Thank Goodness for an Epidural! The cow really didn’t make any noises, she just kind of walked around/laid down and had him/her. It was fun watching the process afterwards of the mama cow, owning her child. It takes awhile, but she warmed up to it and started to lick her clean. (could you imagine if humans had to lick their child clean, yuck!!!) I’m glad it was a good birth and not one of those where Kevin’s dad would have had to pull it out! So it was a happy ending!

Kevin, Jayden, Josie and I, rode out in the bucket of the tractor (loader bucket) the next morning, to see baby Ace. They had moved the mom and baby so that they could be alone. The kids thought that was really cool to ride on the tractor like that. They were also excited to see the baby. Great papa was even more excited to take us out on the tractor to see it! What a ride!!

How does a single parent manage to handle two kids? All I can say is I don’t know how. Take the simple thing as having Jayden needing to go to the bathroom. We stopped near Ft. Dodge on the way back and had some McDonalds (I know, I usually dislike eating there, but it’s quick and the kids usually eat something there). Well, about half way through our lunch, Jayden needed to go use the bathroom. Not a big deal if Kim and I were both there. Obviously, I took Josie (with chicken nugget in hand) in with Jayden and I. Everything worked out okay, but still, it’s not fun having to deal with both of them at the same time…making sure Josie doesn’t touch something she shouldn’t and keeping her chicken nugget off the floor.

All in all, the kids were pretty good for the whole weekend. But, it sure is nice having Kim back home.

Josie started making some funny tongue noises the other day so I thought I’d share them with you. Enjoy the video.

Funny Tongue Noises from Kevin Minnis on Vimeo.

Till next time…

On a brighter note, Josie’s all better now and constantly grazes the cereal boxes whenever she can. She’s also trying to talk more. You can kind of understand somethings that she says. She’ll make the sound a cow, sheep, monkey and horse make. And she’s also said tractor. She does play with Jayden’s toys quite a bit.

Only 9 days till Christmas!

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Howell’s Tree Farm to get the kids their pumpkins and to have some fun playing with all the stuff they have setup. While there we also saw Amy and Zach Larson so that was cool. It had rained the night before and it was pretty muddy, but we had a good time anyway and washed our shoes when we got home.

More pictures can be seen at the Halloween 2007 Picture Set.

Karrie, my sister, made a surprise visit to my Parent’s home and it happened to fall on the same weekend that we had Jayden’s B-Day party so she was able to make it too.

Jayden wasn’t the only one to have fun during his birthday weekend. Josie likes wearing his hat and does a pretty good job modeling it.

They also both had fun with shaving cream in the bath tub. If you’re ever looking for something fun for the kids during bath time, shaving cream is another option.

And of course after a long day’s work, you just gotta take a rest from it all. Jayden feel asleep on his pillow in the living room during the middle of the day.

We made the trek north to my Parent’s home the first week of September and had a great time. My Aunt and Uncle, Iris and Gary Baxter had their 40th Wedding Anniversary party so we went and helped them celebrate.

It was a great weekend to go up as the weather was perfect. Jayden and Josie got to go outside and checkout the farm. Jayden helped Grandpa feed the calves and Josie got to play on the trampoline and other toys.

We also got to play with Great Grandpa’s four wheeler.

And Jayden got to ride on Uncle Kelly’s forklift with Brianna and Madison.

More recently, Jayden has started riding his bike. It’s getting different going on walks now as he’d rather ride his bike over riding in the wagon with Josie. The next thing we need to work on with him is using his brakes. Instead of pushing back on the peddles, he puts his feet down only and his toes touch the ground. He’s also trying to use the potty more. We’re gaining ground which is good. Josie has been trying to say more words, “Belbo” for Elmo, baby, and “Daday” for Jayden, “Belba” for belly button and bubbles. She’s cruising like none other and would climb up on anything if she were allowed. She got another tooth on her left side so she now has 6. We’re hoping she’ll get some more on her right side. We’ve also concluded that she’s a Daddy’s Girl. The minute I get home from work she’s at my feet if she isn’t eating.

More pictures of can be found under Jayden’s Birthday and at our trip up north links.

Jayden now asks for a Dewski whenever Kim goes into Quicktrip or Kum & Go to get her fountain Dew. I’d say that’s a pretty good accomplishment. He’s almost there with using the peddles on his trike and bike. If only he were there with potty training. We’re hoping that a switch will flip and he’ll want to finally use his “big-boy scibbies”. He talks about everyone else using the potty, but still no go. He still has the occasional melt down, but, knock on wood, they don’t seem as frequent as before. He’s also looking forward to his birthday and now asks for things for it.

Josie has started to walk on her own. She does mostly walking now instead of crawling. It’s fun to watch her make her tiny steps. She’s kind of wobbly at times, but is doing a pretty good job so far. She’s also good at getting into trouble. It won’t be uncommon to turn your back for a second and find her standing on top of the kid’s picnic table. She is learning a lot fast. She’s also good at being a Daddy’s girl.

House painting is done for the most part. I painted the back last week so the “normal” areas to paint are done. I’ll probably try and get the garage door and the concrete part of the foundation done sometime before it snows. I also have to make a cover for the sandbox. I’m tired of looking at the blue tarp that covers it now.

A lot has been going on with Josie too. Josie got baptized on May 27th with her Grandpa and Grandma’s and Aunt Chris and Kacie watching along. She had surgery on a blocked tear duct on June 6th. It went very well and by the next day we could tell a difference already. It was nerve racking none-the-less, but everything turned out okay. Josie now has 3 teeth and is working on her fourth. They haven’t been too difficult which is nice.

Yesterday Josie turned one. I took the day off of work so that I could be with her and Jayden and Kim. We went to the Jordan Creek area to get Josie’s 1 year photos and then went and hung out at the Jordan Creek Mall for a bit. The kids played in the play area and Josie got to make a teddy bear. After coming home we went to Big Creek State Park to play in the water and beach.

We’ve had fun building a sandbox for the kids. I think Josie was more interested in it at first, but now, they both seem to like it. It helps when Jayden’s friends come over and play in it too.

 Oh, and we reverted back to a minivan. We were so cramped in our Pontiac Vibe so we traded for a Chrysler Town & Country.

So, all in all we’ve had a very busy month. Hopefully the summer will get a little quieter, which I’m sure it will once the house is done being painted.