Our Grand Adventure

Today I planned what I think was the first activity that was soley for the enjoyment of Josiah... meaning it wasn't a "play date" so that I could hang out with other moms. :) I've been wanting to take Josiah to the public library for some time and start a routine of going each week, picking out books, and start learning some stuff - from ABCs to potty awesomeness to geography... and such. So - today was the big day. We did our regular morning things and got ourselves into the car to head over to the library in the Hollywood district. (I wish there were one close enough for us to walk comfortably to, but all of them are at least 3 miles.... one way) Our plan was to hang out there for about 30-45 minutes and then go pick up our friend, Briana, and get home in time for Josiah's nap at 11.
The plan was FOILED. The library was CLOSED until 10 and our travel time would not allow for such a late start. (sigh..)
On the plus side: we went to the park next to Briana's house until it was time to meet her and sat on the swings watching people walk their dogs (I think Patrick called them the "work from home hippsters"). Josiah LOVED it because he has just learned the sound a dog makes. He spent the majority of the time pointing his little blue-mittened hand at the dogs, smiling at me, and saying "woof,woof".

Patrick has jumped in with both feet and is swimming hard the first couple weeks of school. His reading load is massive... so we're really glad he chose to take less credits (even though it's not really less work, like we were hoping). Thankfullly, the LORD has given us both great attitudes about it and I feel like we are in good spirits - which is great!
Josiah and I are trying to develop some sort of routine to have a good balance of fun activities throughout the week as well as some learning time and quiet "just us" time at home. I've started watching a few more kids on a regular basis to help some friends out and it's been great for Josiah to have company and learn how to share his toys. I'm really blessed to find that my availablity of time from being a "stay-at-home-mom" is a rich blessing to others as well. We also might start going every other week to an aquatic center with a friend and her twin one-year-olds. Josiah loves playing in the water and I think he will enjoy that option probably the most of all.

The flow of newborns has begun with the birth of our friends Melanie and Jonas' baby girl, Olivia! We're awaiting the Lanser baby sometime in the next week or so... and the fun just keeps on coming from there! Patrick and I have a new-found LOVE for picking out baby items in a way that was unkown to us before the arrival of Josiah Patrick... oh, how he has opened our eyes.