Truck Show

On Labor Day we brought Jordan to a truck show in Holland. Despite the cold weather, he had a wonderful time. No surprise considering there were tons of trucks for him to look at. He even had a chance to sit in some of them.

The first thing Jordan wanted to see was this flat bed trailer. Here he is eating fruit snacks while standing on it.

Jordan and Daddy climbing up the back of the fire truck.

Jordan pretending to drive the fire truck.

When I was showing Jordan these pictures I told him that this was a picture of him standing on the garbage truck. Immediately he corrected me and said that it is actually a recycling truck. Jordan sure knows his trucks!

Here is a picture of Jordan at home wearing a lei right before my school Luau. I had to include this picture because of his cute smile!

Jordan's 3rd Birthday

Last night I told Jordan that the next day would be his birthday. His first question was if he would be taller when he woke up in the morning. When I told him that it didn't work quite that way he said, "When Jordie eat birthday cake then I get taller and taller and taller?" Then I said that he wouldn't get taller from eating birthday cake but would get taller from eating all his vegetables. So this morning when Jordan woke up I reminded him that today was his birthday. His reponse was, "Did I eat all my vegetables?" I didn't realize Jordan was so excited about growing taller!

Here is Jordan checking out his excavator cake that I made. He was thrilled when he saw this cake but then said, "Mommy make an ice cream truck cake now."

Jordan was so, so excited to receive a package in the mail from Grandpa Tim and Grandma Deena. So Luke had the idea to save the box and put some of our presents to Jordan in the box. Then when my parents came over for his little birthday party, Luke told Jordan that the mail truck came during his nap and there was a present for him outside the door. Little does he know that the mail never comes on Sunday! He loved opening up the box and seeing all the presents inside!

Jordan received trucks for his birthday. Of course! That child never tires of getting new trucks!

Here's a shot of Jordan's birthday cake. Of course it had to be a truck cake!

Jordan couldn't wait to eat his birthday cake! Jordan is typically a pretty good eater but he finished his dinner in record time tonight because he couldn't wait to dig in to his cake.

Jordan was allowed to have his pick of the candy on the cake. It's rare for Jordan to be able to eat candy to his heart's content, so he was so excited. He ended up not eating much of it, but did take at least one bite of all the different types of candy that was on his cake.

Here's Jordan playing with the moon sand that my parents bought for him. It was messy, but Jordan loved it and used it to set up his own construction site.

Playing outside all day with Daddy + No nap= Falling asleep at the dinner table

Minnesota

We recently returned from our annual trip to Minnesota. Jordan survived the 10 hour car ride with very little whining. He did much better than last year thanks to a large supply of movies and my dad's DVD player!

This picture was taken at home, but I had to include it because of Jordan's cute smile. He loves eating nectarines!

Playing a game with Aunt Emily.

Playing with his cousin Alexa

Jordan's cousins Alexa and Logan

Jordan had so much fun with the Ford cousins!

Playing with his birthday present

This is a perfect birthday cake for Jordan!

Jordan's favorite thing to do at the cabin was driving the pontoon boat!

He also spent a lot of time swimming in the lake.

A rainy June and a sunny Fourth of July

This past June has been very rainy and gloomy and my spirits have not been much better. But Jordan has remained cheerful despite the weather and found plenty to do on the rainy days. One of his favorite things to do is to help us in the kitchen. Of course there isn't much he can do at age 2 so it takes a bit of creativity to figure out ways that he can help. He has become very good at picking grapes off the stems and then washing them in the sink, and he is a master at using the salad spinner. And believe it or not, he has learned how to crack an egg! This is all Luke's doing, not mine. I couldn't believe it when Luke told me. But one day I watched and sure enough, he was able to crack an egg into a bowl without getting any pieces of shell mixed in. Here he is adding seasoning to the breakfast he is cooking with Daddy. When he is helping us in the kitchen or anywhere else he will often say, "I'm helping my Mommy!" or "I'm helping my Daddy!" It's very cute.

A little rain doesn't stop Jordan from going outside! He loves being outside no matter what the weather. During the rainy June we had Jordan often went outside whenever it started to clear up a little bit.

One evening after it had been storming really hard Luke brought Jordan outside. They found Reily and his mom outside rescuing some baby birds that had fallen from our tree. Reily and Jordan had so much fun jumping in the puddles. I could hear them squealing the second I opened up the door!

After all the rain we had in June I was thankful to enjoy gorgeous sunny weather on the fourth. We went to the parade in Grandville which had more candy than any parade I have seen in my life. Before the parade we spent some time at nearby park.

Here's Jordan sitting on the curb holding the bag he brought for his candy. I was amazed by the amount of candy that was thrown out at that parade. The bag Jordan brought was overflowing by the end, and he consumed quite a bit while he was watching the parade. He probably had more candy than he received on Halloween and Easter combined!

I'm usually quite strict about limiting Jordan's treat intake, but it was almost impossible at this parade. Here he is enjoying a piece of licorice.

Here's Jordan showing off the beads he got at the parade. By the end of the day he was exhausted and slept easily despite the loud fireworks show at our neighbor's house.