some pictures..

What josh does after church every sunday.. I don't know why.

Anyone want to blog for me?

'cause I just don't have it in me lately.

We have been so busy lately- but in the last couple days we've come to a dead stop thanks to the flu.

Thankfully, we're all starting to feel better. With the three of us laid up, poor Mauser has had her hands full.

Here's a fun video. I'll fill you in on the rest later.

Lots and Lots

Lots of firsts have been happening around here!

Josh started preschool!! He only goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12-3 but he LOVES it. And let's be honest, it's a good break from his smothering Mom.

Pictures from his first day.

Saying bye to Wyatt, telling him to be a good boy while he's at school. What a good brother.
I think Josh and Mauser have finally come to an understanding! As long as Josh doesn't restrict her airway or throw her into his bubble bath, they get along just fine! Proof, here are some pictures of them being so cute in my bed the other morning.. watching cartoons together.

Unfortunately, Mauser and her dolly have not met that same understanding. It's missing one eye and two feet now.. she has literally loved this poor dog toy to death. It doesn't even squeak anymore. I don't want to replace it, since she has a perfectly fine red one and blue one.. but she's a brat, and only loves the pink one. I don't understand her. Poor dolly.
Another first: I got a babysitter and had a girls night! Becky, Lissy and I went to see Salt last night. (Super awesome movie, by the way)

Josh didn't have much to say about the babysitter or what they did- but I found these pictures on my computer so it couldn't have been all that bad..

Pretty cute, I think.

ahhh, that's better.

Tyler finally go the quilt and pillow that Josh and I worked so hard to make for him. Josh picked out everything from the fabric to the yarn. I think it turned out pretty cool looking. Ty said with the blanket, pillow and mattress pad, he's never been so comfortable in Iraq. :)

Mission accomplished.

Joshy, The Artist

I was so impressed with this drawing Josh did for Mauser, I had to post it.

The things he comes up with, whether he is drawing, writing or just talking, amazes me every day! Earlier today we were at my sisters house and he was going to sing the Spongebob Squarepants theme song for us.. He started getting kind of shy and said,

"Mom.. I'm just kinda upperhensive."

I was just in shock, trying to figure out if he really said what I thought he said.. my sister becky started giggling.. Josh looked over at her and said,

"Auntie B, do you know what that means? It means nervous."

I couldn't help but just smile from ear to ear and try to calm his nerves.

Sweet boy, he's just so wonderful.

7 Weeks Gone.. 1 cute baby added..

Well, we made the journey back! It was a great trip- It was awesome to spend so much time with my Mom and Dad, and watch them interact with the boys. It went by super fast- and of course, we didn't take enough pictures. In fact, all the GOOD pictures were taken with my cell phone! Ugh. I'm terrible at that. I'm already contemplating another trip out there.. but I need to find someone to take care of my yard this time if I do it.. 7 weeks with no attention is a BAAAAD thing for a front and back yard. I'm not looking forward to cleaning it all up.

Instead of driving the whole 17 hours in one shot, we decided to stop in Wichita. Boy, that was a GOOD decision! The drive home went a lot better, I think.. even though I was sick the whole time. Yuck. Being sick on a huge road trip is the worst.

I did manage to snap some cute pictures with my phone though..

Josh and Mauser watching They Might Be Giants.

Mauser's favorite spot.. on the lap of the driver (in this picture, happens to be my Mom)

And yes, she really does snuggle her dolly like that.. She loves that thing. I think she has a thing for pink. She doesn't play with her red or blue dolly, just the pink one.. and as you can see, her nails match.

Edit to Add: Another funny picture of Mauser my mom sent me from her phone. This is in her sock monkey kitty bed on the dashboard.

Josh was sound asleep and Wyatt was a little fussy- so I turned the DVD player towards him.. He LOVED it! He cooed and stared at it forever! It's always amazes me, watching my babies grow and learn.. just soak things up. So cute.

Credit: They Might Be Giants: E Eats Everything

Mauser is the best kitty ever. She really loves the car- hopping from lap to lap getting undivided attention from each one of us.. She's an attention hog, for sure.

Ethan Michael Mientka!!!

Yes!! Becky had her baby!! As some of you know, Beck REFUSES to find out beforehand if the baby is a boy or girl when she's pregnant.. it seriously drives me crazy.

She already has Reagan, an adorable little toe head girl, who is a year and half- and now she has Ethan! A beautiful baby boy, who I just can't seem to get enough of!

Here is Wyatt and Ethan together. I know, you can hardly see Ethan's face, but I had to post this picture because Wyatt's face was cracking me up! He just lit up when we went in there to see him! He was ALL grins!! I loved it.

And here's my sister Becky with her sweet family. Danny, Reagan and Ethan.

Congrats, guys!

Video from Ty to Nate and Chad

Happy Birthday!

Mauser's New Doll

Mountain Dew

I got this email from Tyler today.. It made me laugh.

Check this out! The Iraqis love these little bottles, but we haven't had them on the fob before. It's cool, but the arabic on the other side is a downer.
Love ya,
Ty

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!!

Best part of the night: During the fireworks finale, Josh threw his arms up in the air and yelled, "Yeah, Dad! You're so AWESOME!"

My family is so awesome.

Snail Mail

Tyler FINALLY got his Father's Day box! admittedly, I sent it a bit late... but sheesh! I forgot how long it takes!

It's a good thing I'm sending his Birthday box today, since his birthday is July 29th.. maybe he'll get it in time.. or early, to make up for the late Father's day.

A long time ago, Josh was making a list of things he wanted to send Tyler for Father's day- and on that list he had "Daddy letters."

Of course, I was thinking about letters we would write to Dad.. but Josh had something else in mind. You see, before Ty left for Iraq he worked very hard on some Josh letters (J O S H) and Wyatt letters (W Y A T T) for their bedrooms. You know, the wooden block letters? Joshy's are camouflage and Wyatt's are brown with white polka dots. I thought it was SO cute once Josh explained to me that he actually meant D A D for Daddy letters.

So, we went to Hobby Lobby, got the letters and some paint pens and spray paint and worked just as hard on those letters as anyone has ever worked on any Daddy letters.

As you can see here in the pictures, it was a hit.

We also found a cute question mark box full of candy. Josh had to get some for Dad because, after all, they are the Super Mario Bro's Wii champions.

And here are the luxurious living conditions for Ty.. Please notice the comfy looking cot mattress pad there.. that was a very sad anniversary present to Ty from me.. hoping it would keep his back from giving him agonizing pain.. He said so far it's working and everyone else in the tent is jealous. However, this is making me wonder.. Ty, do you want me to send you a better pillow? That one is so small!!

Not pictured: Water balloons, bug repellent, wipes, magnet game, a hacky sack, and two grow-your-own Venus Fly Trap kits. (I'm very excited to see how those turn out..)

The Little Gym

I decided since we're here in Arkansas with my parents for so long, I would enroll Josh into a class during the week so he could play with some kids his age and just get some of his ya-ya's out.. It's hard to keep up with him when I have a new baby to take care of too... I'm still just getting the hang of having two kids.

anyway..

I was talking to Tyler about it and rambled off a list of classes we could enroll him in. Immediately Tyler says, "Gymnastics!"

ok.. Not really my first choice, but sure.

So- Monday was his Gymnastics class. We walked in, and he went into the room and all of the other kids started filing in. Yes. Josh is the only boy! And all the girls are wearing adorable little gymnastics suits! And no, you're eyes aren't playing tricks on you.. those ARE tiaras! It just happened to be "Fairy Princess Day"... which promptly changed to "Fairy Princess and the Prince Day."

Too bad though, to that Josh replied, "Uhh, that's good but.. I'm not a Prince. I'm a King." ahh, yes. He seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit.

So, I look at all the other mom's and say, "No wonder my husband thought he'd have more fun in this class! Look at all the cute little girls!"

All the girls were very nice to Josh and talked to him and invited him to sit by them when they were listening to the instructors.. It was a lot of fun to watch and VERY cute.

Well, he had a blast at Gymnastics as Ty was sure he would- but I wanted to give him a couple choices so I decided to enroll him in Karate the next day. The problem was, the instructor decided that since Josh is so big and he did so well in Gymnastics class, he should be in the 6-8 year old class instead of the 4-6 year old class. errrr... ok. Keep in mind he just turned 4 in March.

Karate went great. They started out with some basic exercises, which Josh helped instruct.. This is Josh almost losing balance out of his hoola hoop.

After the basic exercises, they went around to different stations and did cartwheels, balance beams with high-kicks, etc. Pretty much the same thing he did in Gymnastics, but with a cool karate flair.

Well, we did have one little run-in. Josh was going pretty slow on one of the stations.. he had to grab onto some straps with handles on the bottom and do a swing/jump type thing and land on his feet. It made him kinda nervous at first- and one of the boys behind him (who was older than him) was being kind of impatient. So- what does a boy do?? But PUSH the kid in front almost knocking him off the stand. Josh didn't like that too much. He turned around, kinda got in his face and said sternly, "DON'T PUSH ME.. I'M TAKIN' MY TIME."

Josh turned back around to swing off and he got pushed again.. and again I heard, (a little louder and a tad closer this time) "HEY! I SAID DON'T PUSH ME!"

At that point, the instructor ran over and broke it up and told the kid to stop pushing and helped josh with the exercise.

I have to say, I was grinning from ear to ear and SO proud of my boy that 1) he stood up for himself and 2) he didn't push back!!! Of course immediately afterwards, the boys were back to smiling and having a great time.

SUCCESS!!!

Well, on the way home from class I asked Josh what class he liked best so far.. His answer? Gymnastics. His reason? "The cute little girls." ..I guess he heard me talking about it or something? Or maybe we're just in big trouble with him.

He has another class tomorrow.. a Pre-Sports class for 4-6 year olds. We'll see if that changes his mind.

Otherwise, he will continue to be King.