I've been wanting to tape Josiah saying some of the words he knows, but whenever we pull out the camera he just stares at us.  Today, however, I was able to take a good video of him.  You only need to watch the first minute.  The rest isn't very eventful and will probably be boring for most of you.

what we've been up to

Wow!  I can't believe that June is almost gone and we've yet to experience any summer-like weather up here in our neck of the woods.  It's actually getting quite ridiculous.  We still have our heat on because our house is usually sitting at about 60 degrees.  I'm really close to packing my bags and heading south.

We did, however, get to enjoy some nice weather when we headed to the cities the beginning of this month to visit with Thomas' parents who flew in from California.  We had about 5 days of beautiful weather, fun times with family, pool time, thrift store shopping, birthday/graduation parties, baby showers, soccer games, going out to eat and even visiting with my dad, brother, sister-in-law and niece.  It was really hard leaving everyone this time around.  It's so nice to see family and especially nice for Garrison and Josiah to be able to play with all their cousins.

This month has also brought some change to the Bush household.  After much prayer and tears I've decided that I will no longer be doing daycare for the three children I currently have.  I tossed and turned over this decision for a long time.  Thomas and I spent much time talking, prayer, trying to find other ways to continue (maybe cutting down to only three days a week), but in the end needed to be completely done.  It was so hard telling the parents, but I feel so much better for making the decision.  As soon as I was able to find the courage to do it it felt like this enormous weight was lifted.  I know that God was calling me away from this and I finally had to stop fighting and just let faith take over.  I will be done the end of July.

Garrison and Josiah are continuing to crack us up with how stinking cute and wonderful they are.  (I know I'm their mom.  I can pour it on heavy.)  Garrison talks a lot now and comes up with the funniest things.  He's also busting at the seams to go the "movie feater" and watch Cars 2.  He likes to tell everyone he sees that "Cars 2 is coming out soon and I'm going to the 'movie feater' and am going to get popcorn."  We have our count down going.  Only a few more days!

Josiah is becoming a little boy and is not so much our baby anymore.  (tear)  He's such a cuddle bug who loves to gives hugs and kisses.  He's also trying to talk a lot more.  Which is so cute and he loves to do everything Garrison is doing.  I wish I could video tape their entire lives so I could always remember exactly what they did, how their little voices sounded and I could capture every single funny thing that goes on among these walls.

I was doing the dishes one day when I heard my name being called over and over.  I walked into the dining room to see what they needed and this is what I found...

He had climbed onto the chair, but it was pushed in too far so he wasn't able to stand up.  I'm not sure how he even got his head through, but he was stuck in this position until someone could come and help him.  Of course, before helping him I had to run and grab the camera.  It's the cutest little head I've ever seen.  

thunderstorms

Parenting is such an adventure and I love every minute of it.  As a parent, you always have to be on your toes.  There have been many moments where I've felt like the boys were always one step ahead of me and I couldn't keep up with their demands, questions, problems, etc.  So many times it's because I'm trying to do too many things at once.  Sometimes it's because I'm going on lack of sleep and my brain just isn't functioning properly and I'm sure other times it's just because I'm too lazy and just want a few moments to myself so I just let them do their thing (which usually means I'm cleaning up big messes later.)  I had one of these got-to-stay-one-step-ahead-of-them parenting moments last night. 

We don't get many thunderstorms up here.  I guess it's because we live by such a big lake or something.  It's such a bummer too.  I love thunderstorms.  However, last night there was a thunderstorm going on as Garrison was heading to bed and, of course, he was scared.  He didn't want Thomas to help him.  He wanted his mommy.  I sat by his bed and we talked.  Well he mostly told me his really funny and crazy stories.  Which usually consists of multiple movies all bunched together with us (his family) as different characters.  As we talked the lightning flashed and the thunder boomed and then God gave me a thought that I shared with Garrison about the lightning and thunder. 

I told him that when the lightning flashed he should think of Lightning McQueen.  Anyone who knows Garrison knows that this kid is obsessed with Cars.  He's so excited for the second one to come out.  We'll be doing a construction paper chain link to count down the days until it comes to theaters when we come back from the cities.  Anyway, back to the lightning and thunder.  I told him that everytime the lightning flashed he should think of McQueen yelling Ca-Chow and everytime the thunder followed it was like Chick Hicks and Lightning McQueen crashing into each other as they raced around the track.  He was very excited about that.  A few minutes later the lightning flashed and I said, "Ca-chow."  Then when the thunder boomed he said, "Did you hear that?  It's Chick Hicks and McQueen."  I kissed him good-night and asked him if he'd be ok with the lightning and the thunder and as he rolled to his side he said, "Yes, that makes me very happy."  Success!  Thank you God for giving me that idea and for turning something scary into a fun little thought for my little boy.

Today we are still experiencing the thunderstorm and every now and then Garrison will say something about Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks racing and crashing.

I felt a little guilty for not telling him the real truth about lightning and thunder, but Thomas reassured me that he can learn about that when he's old enough to understand.  For now he's having fun with the thunderstorm all because God cared enough about us to give me this little thought to share with my little boy who was scared of something so wonderful... a simple thunderstorm.

Prayers!!!

Today my heart is breaking.  Today I am looking at my boys in a totally different light.  Today I'm not thinking about my needs, wants, hopes and dreams.  Today the tears won't stop falling.  Today I'm lifting a little girl named Maggie up to the Lord.  Her little body struggled in the womb and now she is struggling in this world.  I ask you to please pray for this family and little Maggie.

Thomas and I have a connection to this family as they attended York the same time Thomas and I did.  My memory is failing me now, but I believe Stephen played soccer with Thomas.  Not that whether we know them or not makes a difference, but it shines a different light.  It touches a different heart string.  It tugs a little harder.

Today and this week please pray for this family as they will be saying good-bye to their first born, their daughter, their little baby.

Future star?

Josiah loves baseball.  I'm not sure when this started, but it seemed like overnight he was a fan.  He carries a small bat around the house like he's ready for a pitch.  He can say the word "ball" really well, but can't quite say "base" so it sounds more like "bay ball".  It doesn't really matter what it sounds like, we all know what he's referring too. 

Thomas says he has really good hand-eye coordination.  To me he's just really good.  I love watching him play in the yard.  Here is a very short video of him playing.  I have more, but watching them back I realized how annoying I sound on them.  (side note:  Growing up I remember my mom saying the same thing about home videos.  Now I know what she was talking about.)

What's everyone looking at?

Talk about the uh-oh squad.  When you get pulled over in front of the Bush household be prepared for 4 little heads and a big vicious dog to be watching you the whole time.  They may even start to bang on the window and yell for you to move.  Yep, that might just happen if you get pulled over in front of our house.