Sorry doesn't fix the problem.

Only two weeks have passed since I left my last blog in the draft box. Josiah is blowing us away by his clarity, extended vocabulary, and mastery of 5 word sentences. He is incredibly creative and innovative, leaving us scrambling for the camera or falling over in giggles. The most striking memory I have of the last two weeks was when he woke up in the morning, rolled over, looked at me, and propped his head up on his hand to talk to me. I thought to myself, "Who ARE you that at 2 years old you are lounging on your side with your head propped up so you can chat?!" I amused him by copying him. We laid there on our sides, heads propped in a hand, and chatted about whatever he wanted.

Clearly I have slacked, so a picture review might be the most concise way to sum up our first month of 2010. Here are some pictures from January:

playing at the new "Monkey Joes" we discovered. It's actually called Leaping Lizards, and it's a 5 minute drive from our house, but Josiah refuses to recognize it by any other title than MJ's.

He loves his boots from Uncle Cliff and Robert. You will see many more pictures to come, as those boots just make him so incredibly cute!

reading with "Addy."

I walked into his room to find him playing Firetruck.

definitely the #1 entertainer...

Josiah is giving "Baby M" and Valerie a hug. He loves the "baby in the bellybutton" on Valerie, and he has since told me that the baby is "stuck." I've tried to clarify and explain the baby is coming out. He has also taken to patting my tummy and saying there is a baby in there. (There isn't.) After that, he started patting his own tummy and saying there was a baby in there. We have settled with "only mommies can have babies in their bellies." Now Josiah often giggles and points at the picture hanging in our hall of my overly distended abdomen and talks about Josiah being in the bellybutton.

A couple of weekends ago I took a FABULOUS Mommy-only trip to visit one of my best friends in Waco, TX. On the way, I visited with my wonderfully close cousin, Eli and his girlfriend Sara. We had a great time together. It was a real treat to see each other more than once a year. Our family has a strong tradition of drinking unhealthy amounts of Dr. Pepper at Thanksgiving. I'm honestly not sure how we came to that place, but we all anticipate drinking more Dr. Pepper in those three days that the three months on each side of it. It was only appropriate that we visit the Dr. Pepper museum together and discover our roots...ha.

Eli and Sara at the soda fountain.

That statement explains it all...

Anna and I spent the weekend at a missions conference at her church. It was so fantastic, and the Lord really used it to refresh me and speak newness into my heart. His presence was SO heavy and real, and He got a hold of me in a new way. It was so filling to delight in the presence of the Living God!

On our way back to Fort Worth, Anna insisted we stop at a place called the Czech Stop. Apparently, a large community of individuals from the Czech Republic decided that the middle-of-nowhere West, Texas was a good place to settle. That being said, they set up shop and produced these FABULOUS gas station bakeries fondly referred to as the Czech Stop. Their pride and joy is a kolache--a yeast-roll stuffed or topped with all good things. If you have never had the pure joy of partaking in a kolache, I highly suggest you find yourself a way to West, Texas before your time is finished. I cannot explain the goodness that is a kolache! They are filled with meats, cheeses, fruits, and cream cheese...not all in one of course. I brought a dozen home to share and within 24 hours I was whimpering as I watched Josiah jovially devour my last one. He, just like Jonathan and myself, was asking for more.

Thank you to all Czechs that produce kolaches. I must say, you are welcome in my home town any time as long as you bring those with you!

Now, fast moving into February--

The other day I heard Josiah chatting to himself in his room. He was saying, "Ice cream place? Yeah! Ice cream place? Yeah, yeah!" I walked in to find him like this. I about died laughing. He told me he was taking his fire truck to the ice cream place. That "place" is the local yogurt shop we recently discovered. I had to explain that it's the "ice cream place" because it's far too confusing to a 2 year old to figure out why we are talking about yogurt when we are eating a frozen treat.

Today Josiah got up from his nap and started to play. I couldn't resist taking another boots picture when he came in to me looking like this:

Why would this be unusual? No one knows!