Easter 2013

   After many years around 3-4 years any way Joel has not got a picture with the Easter Bunny. For some odd reason he was scared of him. I never pushed my son to get a picture with the Easter Bunny. I knew that someday he would get over his fear, and finally he did. 
   The reason I never pushed the Easter Bunny (at Christmas I don't push Santa) is because I want him to concentrate on the real meaning of Easter, and that is what Jesus did on the cross, and Him acending into heaven. We still do the fun Easter things though: Easter egg hunts, color eggs, and have an Easter Basket.

  Joel looked very handsome in his Easter outfit. Blue really does him well. He was really decked out this year. He looked so grown up. His godfather and him love flat caps, and so they wore one each this year. It really topped off the outfit. 
  

Joel helping with offering.

 
    We of course started out day at church in the house of the Lord. We had sunrise breakfast with our family and church family. Then we had Sunday School, and regular morning worsip time. Joel loves to help out at church more and more all the time. This Sunday he helped with taking up regular offering and Easter offering (goes toward missions).  It is nice to see my son want to take part in helping out around the church. He doesn't do it for attention to himself, but away to help Jesus. It was neat to see my son have his head bowed during prayer for offering, and again when we had family altar prayer time. Joel loves to talk to God.

    This year I wanted to do something really fun and educational for Joel. So, I came up with an Easter Basket Adventure Hunt. I did it for many reasons. First, reason is that my son concentrated on the true meaning first, and that is Easter being about Jesus, and church. Second, is to just have a little learning fun.
   So, this year the Easter Bunny wrote Joel a note telling him that the Easter Basket was hidden somewhere in Winterset at someones home. Throught out the day Joel was given clues to find Large Easter Eggs that had words on them. Each clue had Joel do some learning fun: Count, give directions, spell last name, color awarness. When all the eggs were together Joel put them together and found where the basket was. I hid eggs at different places, and Joel had to go to different homes to get them. Joel really loved it. 

    After all was said and done of finding the eggs and getting his Easter Basket we went home. We decided since it was a good nice windy day the two of us would go outside and fly kites that he got for Easter from his godparents, and from me. Joel loved it. It was his first time flying a kite on his own.  He did a very good job too. We can not wait for another good day to fly his kites again.

   This was a great Easter. Can not wait to see what next Easter will bring.
   

March Madness 2013: Making Healthy Changes

Trying Chick Peas in a meal

  Making healthy changes: Physical, finacially, Nutritional, and Relational. We decided to start making things healthier in our family's choices and things we do.
  
  One of the changes was how we ate. We decided that we would eat fresher, and only eat out once a month. One of the challenges was to try new foods. Which is harder for Joel than on me. I learned that making a variety of color, and mixing new foods with foods he already likes works best. Chickpeas was one of the new foods for Joel to try. We had a meatless Monday meal where I made Chickpeas with sauteed Onions, tomatoes, and fresh baby spinach. Sure enough as expected Joel was hesitant to try, but he did. He ended up loving it and wanted 2nd and 3rd. It was a meal that was healthy for both of us filled with protein, iron, vitamins, ect.

Joel double fisting meal

   We decided that our once a month meal that we ate out was in DesMoines (Thank goodness I have gift certificates) at Joel's favorite place to eat. Joel loves to eat at Bang Bang. He usually eats very well. He loves it there because he has a favorite waitress that he adores, and she adores him as well. It is nice that they staff knows both of us by name (tells you how often we go). Really it is not that expensive for us over all. Bang Bang has an all you can eat buffet which we do. Which I can spend less than at McDonalds and not have all you can eat.

On Our Mom and Son Date

  Another one of our healthy changes was Mom and Joel dates once a week. It lets us just enjoy each other's company. For first week of our new change was after Joel's dentist appointment. We went to lunch at Bang Bang, and then headed to the mall. We enjoy just walking and looking around mainly. Plus they have a good play area since the weather has been too cool to play at any outdoor parks. Joel wanted a frostie so he enjoyed one as an afternoon snack after playing at the play area.

At The Play Area at Jordan Creek

  Like I said Joel loves to play at the playarea at the mall. It gives him chance to run off energy as well as interact with other children. He really enjoyed the day we went to the mall. It gave him a little extra exercise, and me a chance to sit down and rest.
  One of our changes is doing some type of physical exercise that we can sort of enjoy together which is hard because of my heart issues, But we do what we can together. I am allow to walk atleast 15minutes every day. So we walked and while I rested Joel got to play.

  It has been some good positive changes in our home. We also have made our relationship with God better as a family. We went back to reading a bible story every day, and making sure to say our prayers together at night before Joel goes to bed.

 

March 2013 Madness: Part 2 (The Heros)

   Joel really had a blast not only doing arts and crafts, and also playing games but he had fun meeting and seeing all his hero characters.

   Spiderman was one of the characters there. I never saw my son run so fast as he did to get in line to see Spiderman. He has saw him before at the mall. It was really funny because Joel has been asking was is real and fake to everyone when seeing things on tv. Well we had told him that Spiderman was not a real person, just a character.  Joel went to him and said, "Spiderman you are real, and my Uncle Chris is in big trouble for lying and saying you are not real." I think Spiderman was floored just as much Joel's Grandpa and I were.

 Joel was also excited because Star Wars characters were there. Another one of his big favorites. He pretends he is different characters all the time at home. Joel had also seen them before at the mall, and got pictures with them.

  One of the other characters he got to meet was Batman. It was the first time Joel had ever seen batman in person. Joel was so thrilled that he got to hug and get a picture with batman.  He wouldn't stop talking about seeing him for days and days.

   Seeing all the different characters really made Joel's day.  It was so neat to experience it with my son, and I know his Grandpa Rick enjoyed sharing the memories with Joel and talking about boy stuff together. 

    Yes money was spent that day. It really didn't matter, because seeing my son get to have fun, do arts and crafts, see character, play games was worth every penny, because Making GOOD memories is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!

March 2013 Madness: KidsFest Part 1 (The Fun)

  The first weekend in March Joel's Grandpa came up for a visit. So, we

decided to have some fun the three of us. The weather was half way decent so we chose to take a trip to DesMoines. They were having kids fest. It was worth the drive and the money to see my son have so much fun. All focus was on him. He loved it so much. There were things for every age. Games, Arts and Crafts, inflatable rides, snacks, different characters were there, and different buisness. It cost to get in about $7.00 each, which to see my son have a blast it was worth it every penny. Some things did cost while much of it was free

Making Sand Art

Finish Product

   
   The first art craft he did was sand art. He loves Green Bay Packers so he decided to make a Green Bay Packers character. He loved doing it. He used Green and Yellow, but through a little black in there next to yellow. He said it is for my other favorite team "IOWA HAWKEYES".

Spin Art

   The next art craft Joel did was spin art. He had done it before at the Iowa State Fair before with cardboard. This time it was a fresbe. He was so proud of his art job. I didn't get a picture of him and the final product but he was so happy with what he did. He can't wait for weather to be nice to play with it outside.

Finish Family Art Project

  The next art activity was one that Joel and I did together. We were to make a family flag. We both got our hands painted, and then lay it on some fabric. Joel helped press my hand down, and then I helped him. It was a fun art project that we did together. It helped me come up with a fun art project for this summer. I am going to get some fabric and fabric paint and make a quilt with it. I might make a big quilt for our grandparents to put on their bed.

 Joel also got to enjoy some games and sporty challenges. His favorite was the Big Dart throw, and kicking the soccer ball. He was so proud of himself on how well he did. He loves soccer alot. Wished that I could of got him on a team this year, but couldn't well there is always next year.

Making the Best of the White Stuff (aka SNOW)

  February was filled with lots of fun for Joel and I. There were many snow days in February this year so I had to do something to entertain my son in the midst of bordeum of no school, and eventually being tired of the snow. Yes, sledding did play into the factor one day when it was nice.

 One Sunday afternoon since Joel had been really good all week he got to go sledding. I was very worn out from a busy week and a bid day at church. So, his godparents took him and spent the afternoon with him so I could rest.
   He has so much fun they tell me. He loved riding in the saucer by himself. I can not believe that he is getting to that point of more independancy. He loved being a big boy. He did ride down in the other blue sled with his godfather a few times. Those two are a crack up when they are together. He godfather loves sledding, and anything winter fun like snowboarding and skiing. Someday we hope to take Joel to learn how to snowboard and ski. Maybe next winter.

Our next fun was making snow ice cream one night. We use 2-3 solo cups of fresh snow, little bit of sugar, Almond Milk, and vanilla (just a 1/2 tsp). It looked like homemade soft serve ice cream. It was so awesome. Can't wait until next winter to have some more.

 

  Joel really enjoyed his snow ice cream. It is hard to get ice cream for the two of us because we both are lactose intolerant. So, it was a nice treat for the both of us to enjoy together.
  We actually made it a couple of times right after it snowed or was still snowing before our landlords plowed our sidewalks.

 Our next thing of winter fun was snow painting. It really brightened the snow for a little while, so we didn't have to deal with the blahness of just seeing white outside our apartment.
  I went to the dime store and spent $3.00 on 6 squeeze bottles. I filled them up with cold water, and added food coloring. There was red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple. Joel had so much fun with them.

Joel and his flower bouquet

Joel still having fun

Joel and his masterpiece