Touch-A-Truck

Mike heard about this event called "Touch-a-Truck" that he knew Josiah would love so we trekked all the way out to Chesapeake Square Mall one Saturday morning and boy was it worth the drive!  It was like a little boy's dream land!   Trucks of every kind that the kids could climb up in, honk the horns, push the buttons and gaze in amazement at!   They were even passing out candy at each truck since it was close to Halloween.  He got in a monster truck, dump truck, cement mixer, grader, tractor, school bus, tow truck, mack truck, fire trucks, ambulance, swat team truck, rescue boat, police car, motorcycle, bobcat... you name it!   What a fun fun day!

The Costume I bought Twice

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, although I don't mind some of the non-scary aspects, so we were kind of half-hearted about what we'd let Josiah participate in this year.    I did find this cute zebra costume at Target back in September so I had picked it up, and shown it to Josiah then.  He liked it, but when we put it on him, he wanted it off after 30 seconds.  So I decided to just take it back.  Why spend $20 on something he wouldn't wear anyway?   Well then last week, someone asked him if he had a Halloween costume, and his reply was a very excited:  "I have a costume in my closet.  It's a zebra!"  I cringed!  This was like 3 days before Halloween!  Well... he ended up talking about that zebra several more times in the next couple of days, so the morning of Halloween, I didn't make any promises about finding it, but I told him we could go to Target and look for a costume!  Thankfully, I found it in his size stashed among Lightning McQueen and a few lingering Princesses and as soon as he saw it, he said that was what he wanted!   So...  we decided to let him dress up and go to Trunk-or-Treat with his cousin, John, at Nana & Buddy's church and Grammy & Gramps church which are right across the street from each other.  

It was a hit.  He wore it, hood and all the whole night.... and loved getting candy (especially smarties - which were my favorite as a kid too!)  John (a.k.a. Black Spiderman) was his usual sweet self with Josiah, holding his hand and showing him how to "trick-or-treat."  I'm so glad they love each other so much and I know as they get older, they'll have even more fun together! 

Fall Fun

Love his reaction when he saw that there were more tractors coming!

I have so many more great Fall pictures to share, but they are taking too long to download, so I'll just start with these.  :)  We've had such a fun Fall this year.  The weather has been beautiful and we got to go to Taylor Farms twice for hayrides.  Josiah loved watching the tractors pulling the hayride and seeing the pumpkins and animals.  It's hard to believe October is over and it'll be time for Thanksgiving and Christmas before we know it!   

Friends

Josiah goes to storytime at the library every Thursday and it is wonderful! It makes me think preschool would be really good for him. His teacher always tells me how smart he is and he has a lot of fun. We also occasionally go to storytime at the aquarium on Tuesdays but that is much less structured. He has gotten to see a live vulture, hold some live worms (ewwww!) and see some cute puppet shows though and it's a fun outing. Here are some of his storytime friends. I think he's telling us that there are 4 of them sitting on the bench :)

I'm trying to write this post from my phone since I have some unexpected free time during my first day back to subbing. But I'm not sure how to arrange the photos in order so you'll just have to figure out which is which. The rest are of our time visiting the Hortons last week. Josiah loved playing with Lily and Silas!

Freedom

I've felt like I needed to do it for a while, but I finally did it:  I deleted my Facebook account.  What?  Crazy?  A little.  I'm sure I'll go through some major withdrawals. I know we live in a very Facebook-centered culture right now... but here's a news flash:   Facebook is NOT essential for life!  It is NOT the only way to stay in touch with people!  It's a really fun tool to use, but when it becomes something that keeps you from your real priorities in life... it's time to reconsider how beneficial it is. 

Check out what God's Word says:  "You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you. And even though "I am allowed to do anything," I must not become a slave to anything."  1 Corinthians 6:12

For me, it was addicting.  Like a drug, or alcohol, or cigarettes, or sports, or shopping, or gambling, or anything else that can control your life.  Sometimes even "good things" can enslave us.   But here's the thing:  God is doing some incredible things in my life.  He's doing some incredible things in our marriage and our family and in our friends' lives.  And He has a purpose for me that requires me to live in complete FREEDOM, not enslaved to anything of this world.  So honestly, I'm excited.  It's just one small step of obedience, but I know He has so much more for me.

I will try to update this blog more often... not because I need to fill my time with this blog instead of Facebook, but because I do enjoy having a central place to share with lots of friends and family about what's going on with us.  So coming soon... some pictures from the last few weeks.

Here's just one that made me smile.  I was going through coupons one morning, and he wanted to "read the paper" so here he is with his breakfast and morning news (ie: a Toys R Us ad):

Reality

I usually try to post "flattering" pictures or videos of my son, but I couldn't resist sharing this one.  What you may or may not be able to decipher is that he goes from intense/mad whining, to speaking in "voices" (like a really deep/low man-voice - which I can't help but laugh out loud at) and then to cocking his head to the side and trying the "sweet" approach.  He keeps saying "I want some TV" over and over.  (He REALLY wanted to watch TV, but he'd already watched enough and I had said no and stuck to it). 

Oh the joys of parenting a 2 year old. 

One more OAMC post

*** Disclaimer:  If you're not interested in freezer cooking... don't read any further.

Okay, so truth be told, I don't think that the way I do once-a-month cooking is the easiest option.   It works for us, but I don't think it's as easy to replicate as some other methods.  It does take a lot of time to plan all the meals, shop for them, prep the day before and then spend an entire day of cooking.  However, here's why I do it. 
1.  More than anything, I really like spending the day with my two cooking friends!   
2.  We split up the labor (ie:  I plan the menu and make the shopping list, the other two girls do the shopping and prep) so it's not so much on any one of us.
3.  We save money.  A lot of money.  This past cooking day was our biggest yet, and we spent $130 each.  Because we're buying in bulk, we don't have a lot of waste and we take advantage of bulk pricing. 
4.  As busy of a week as it becomes (I try to plan the menu the weekend before, do the shopping list by Monday or Tuesday and send it to the other girls for review.  They shop on Thursday, prep on Friday and we cook on Saturday), it's DONE!  For about 7-8 weeks, I don't have to think about what to cook, find time to cook it or make huge shopping trips.   SOOOO worth it!
5.  We get to try lots of new recipes. 
6.  As much as I'd love to think that I would do a little extra cooking each week, or something like that, chances are, I wouldn't make the time for it... and this makes me do it, and then enjoy the fruit of our labor for almost 2 months!

That being said, I'm starting to throw in a few extra things throughout the month.   For example, this morning, I was going to make some pancakes from a Pumpkin Pancake mix I just got at Trader Joe's, but instead of just making enough for me and Josiah to eat this morning, I went ahead and made the whole box.  So we had breakfast, I let the rest of them cool, and then I put them in a freezer bag, cleaned up the mess, and we can have pumpkin pancakes anytime we want!  It might have taken an extra 10 minutes!  Very easy!

I have also made cookie dough and some healthy energy bites to have on hand.... again, super easy, just double the batch, eat what you want then, and freeze the rest.

Or if you see a super good sale on meat or something, buy a bunch, and just go ahead and season it and freeze it.

It doesn't have to be a big overwhelming cooking day, but having a 2 year old (or several little ones) and trying to plan, shop, prep, cook and clean up from dinner every single night was already plenty overwhelming to me. 

:)