Aunt HeHe and Uncle Peter TIME

Aunt Hehe and Uncle Peter so graciously watch our boys weekly on Mondays for me to go to work and Josiah gets to hang out with Uncle Peter while we got to church. Uncle Peter passed on some photos that he had been taking of the boys and I wanted to share some, they are so wonderful!!!

Uncle Peter and this boy have a very special relationship and it is so sweet to see

We have a lot of photos of Caleb with various trucks driving down their driveway:)

 This is one scary sequence for a mother to look at, BEWARE!!

PHEW! He made it!

Thanks for all the love you show our boys! We are blessed!

The Chicken Coop

We had been thinking of raising chickens, NEXT year. However, the more we got to thinking about it, the more impulsive we got. Next thing we know, we are ordering chickens online and Matt thinks this is okay to order chickens without a coop yet built, it'll be more motivation to finish it. So the chickens are ordered, Matt goes to Home Depot, grabs the foundation stuff, investing our first bit of serious money, and BAM! I come down with Pneumonia! I remember him in these first pictures, cause I just had a little cold at the time, I even went out to visit a few times.

Matt used as many recycled materials as possible, but as we try not to have a junk yard, there weren't too many extra chicken coop matierals lying about. He had to pull the roof off one of his work building to get some of these foundation materials.

It was perfectly square! His sheeting fit perfectly!

Chicks arriving in their box. I had to pick them up after a Dr. appt. I am officially free of the "huge" pneumonia in my lung, however it is going to take a really long time to recover still.

This is pretty much what it still looks like all the time outside, Addie just staring at chickens.

My sweet boy loved just watching the chicks

Caleb making his own chick coop, the chicks totally dug it and preferred to stay within his four walls, until Josiah knocked them over

And the walls go up!

Mimi and Poppi visits were always fun for us. Mimi would play with the boys and Poppi would help Matt, and I could feel less guilty about all I couldn't do to help anyone.

lookin kind of mangy and too big for their box

This one was Caleb's, she'd literally fall asleep when he pet her, still kind of does. She'd hop herself up and just sit there.

Temporary, larger lodgings in the garage

Homemade feeder

a tough way to figure this out. This is their roost, in it's cleaning position. It normally sits down on the ground, with shavings underneath, ready to catch the poop.

SOOOO ready for a new home!

Move in day!!

Where it sits - out in the orchard. The chickens have full run of the orchard and love running back and forth in it, eating everything they can.

Pully windows

Isn't it lovely!!? - Chicken door on the right side, storage for food on the left side and man door to the coop on the right

The coop has long since been completed, thoroughly painted inside and out. It is truly a lovely work of craftsmanship and I am so proud of Matt, for doing something that he was so unfamiliar with. We worked together and did a great job I think. We love having chickens, it just makes the property feel more like a ranch. We haven't even gotten our first egg! Oh, and there are two roosters in the bunch, but so far, no crowing here. It's funny, the most obvious rooster is the first to bed down at night and the last to make his way out of the coop in the morning. I am fully over my pneumonia as well, which is a relief!

Content with the toilet

So I was just thinking how wonderfully content I am and happy with our toilet situation. No, seriously! There is no pee on our floor anymore! Caleb did a fantastic job of potty training at two and a half years, it was wonderful. I never mentioned anything on a social network site as I was worried that the goodness may not last, but it did. He was so easy! But then came the pee on the ground, in the bathtub (overshot), all over the back of the toilet, etc. I just realized this morning that he is surprisingly tidy nowadays and that makes me happy:) I also realized that Josiah is still so happily wearing his diaper and we are happy with that. No one is asking me when I am going to start training him, no one is making assumptions, asking if he is successfully trained or not. I've still got at least a year of "potty" free time. The potty is not a topic of conversation and that makes me content with the toilet:)

I thought that this post without a picture would be okay

Life with Two Boys

Life with two boys has been so so wonderful. They do keep us very very busy and oh so entertained! They are very different from eachother, which keeps us on our toes and intrigued to learn more about them as they grow. God has definitely blessed us with these two children to love, teach and care for.

The boys get some weekly time with their Mimi. She's so fun and active with them, joining them in their play world. This is a common sight to see when I come home from work.


Our Caleb. He's going to be four in July. He is truly a little boy now. He is sweet, clever, caring, a little slow on following directions, a cuddler, a little shy and he still has a fantastic smile!
Our Josiah. He's 15 months old now. He can understand a lot of what is said to him and around him. He is strong-willed, has an amazing smile, some startling tantrums, a laugh that his brother can't get enough of,
oh, and bright blue eyes.Cuddling up at the windy park.

This was a good moment to be a mom. The moments swing wildly from good to bad, but it really is so, so good.
We LOVE this look. Caleb got this on camera. I think he'll get the better expressions from his brother:)

Introducing Josiah Adrian

Josiah Adrian Sytsma was born on November 23, 2010. He was 8 lbs. 3 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. We think it is funny how you can see a child's personality right from the start and it has been a blessing trying to understand our new little one. He is an absolute blessing, just so chill and easygoing. Caleb has been an outstanding big brother and we are so proud of him and the love he shows Josiah!

A Favorite Pic

Caleb on his bench that he insisted on taking so many photos on. I forgot this classic in my last post.

upcoming post, pics of the new baby, in Shellie's belly of course:)

Camping at Cedar Grove

This last weekend we went on our first camping adventure to the mountains. We have not done this much on our own, we realized as I noticed that I had forgotten some key items and it was a lot more work than when you are in a group. Anyways, we had a lovely campsite in Cedar Grove (near the end of the 180 East), up the cliff from the mighty South Fork of the Kings River. Let me tell you, it was Mighty! We have never seen a river run that hard and be so scary. There is no doubt that if you found yourself in that river at any point, you would die very soon. Here is a picture.
Before we really got to camp, we stopped in Grant Grove to see the famous General Grant tree, the third largest in the world. We had a great time wandering through the forest and big holy trees. This is us in front of the General Grant.Caleb insisted on taking many pictures on this bench, with mom, dad, mom and dad, just Caleb....



Daddy and Caleb in a dead, downed tree, he loved going through it!
Caleb was very good for the car ride which made us very happy parents!
The view from Grant Grove to Cedar Grove.
After enjoying our sight-seeing morning and making camp we just kinda wandered around that , getting our bearings and trying desperately to get Caleb to take a nap. He finally did in the car and so we parked and looked at this view.

The next day we had decided to leave early for a hike since it was going to be so hot and I just don't do well in the heat. We took off for an easy, 2 mile, flat hike to Bubbs Creek:) but when we got there in just 40 minutes, we decided we couldn't stop. However, immediately upon heading up the next trail to Mist Falls, we hit a roadblock

What were we to do? We had just made the decision to keep going, so we made our way up and around, which we had to do for about 200 yards. Once we hit the trail out from under water we were good to go and made amazing time to our destination.along the waythe destination - Mist Fallsthe Rattlesnakeour hiking self-portrait, my favorite:)
and, a classicCongratulations if you made it this far, just wanted to be thorough:)