Merry Christmas Ya'll

A Joseph Christmas retrospective...

Christmas #1...no idea!

#2...starting to figure it out!




#3...I want a truck and a trailer and a rubber track and a...

The boy knows what is going on this year, and is very excited! We've had a lot of fun, cutting, baking and decorating cookies to leave out for Santa (and eat ourselves). Joseph has a tree in his room, which is featured in his #3 pictures, and he's very proud of it. He decorated it himself, and in most cases hung more than one ornament per branch. He also helped decorate the big tree and likes to count the ceramic Santa Clauses on the mantel. Another favorite is his Little People Nativity set. We went to the Christmas service at Rock Creek today and he did great for his first visit to "big church". He sat very still and really seemed to like the music, which Mom and Dad enjoyed as well.

To all of our loved ones who read this, Merry Christmas and take care!

Pumpkin Patch Parties, Biking & more

So, back to Halloween for a minute... Ever since we went to Cara's birthday party at the pumpkin patch (see previous post), Joseph calls every pumpkin he sees a "pumpkin patch party". So, imagine seeing a field of lit pumpkins at Boo at the Zoo! What fun!

Here, with Dad at Boo at the Zoo. We didn't costume up for this, but he did wear his lighted Halloween shirt...thanks Aunt Claire!

The party at KidCo on Halloween day. We just dropped in for the party. And I must say, the juice boxes were a BIG hit! Joseph is sitting by Brooks, his partner in crime.

Now, where did I put that candy?

YEE-HAW!!!

Opening weekend of deer season, and Daddy got an 8-point buck (or as Joseph would say "That's a buck deer, have horns") Kid was totally into it! Kinda grossed me out!

Jon's office had a weekend retreat at Petit Jean State Park, which was awesome. They treated for the weekend, and we enjoyed our stay in Mather Lodge. Saturday was very cold and windy, but we bundled up and got outside anyway! We hiked the Bear Cave Trail and the Rock House Trail. That afternoon, Jon had fun orienteering with the group while Joseph and I took a nap.

Sunday was much nicer and we hiked the Cedar Creek Trail before heading home.

To get Joseph excited for the weekend, we talked about it alot. When asked what we were going to do, his answer was always "Um, go BIKING!" Finally after 2 days of actually doing it, he said "Hiking!".

The coveralls were a great handle to keep him from barreling off the edge of a cliff...

A little bit of rock climbing thrown in for good measure.

Pumpkin Patch

My Be TWO!!

Cowboy Joe

(Blowing out the candles, with Mom "in motion")

As Joseph likes to say! We really talked up his birthday and party for the few weeks before. He would go around saying "my birf-day comin' up" and "my be 2!!" He was very excited as we talked about grandparents coming, opening presents and eating cake. We went the Saturday before the party to get his cake because the bakery is closed on Sundays. Well, as you can see below the cake was pretty awesome and amazingly heavy. I had Jon bring it to me to hold in the truck...Joseph watched all this and kept saying "my hold it, my touch it". He was very excited about the thought of eating some of that tasty cake! Blue Cake Company did a great job and it is always so fun to create an original design with them. The price doesn't seem so bad when you divide it out by the pound! And it had to only be 1/100th of a penny per calorie!

(front)

(back)

Joseph had a great time, and got lots of fun new toys! We were so glad to see everyone who made it, and those of you who couldn't were missed!

Here's a great shot of Joseph walking up with Cara, a friend from school...don't worry, she's only 1 month younger!

More of an update...he had a good visit for his 2 year check up. He is 34 pounds, 37 & 3/4 inches, and a 21 inch head! He's still the average size of a kid 1 year older!

His language is expanding so much every day with longer sentences, adjectives and complete thoughts! He knows his colors, shapes, alphabet, lots of songs, names of friends at school, can spell the first 2/3's of his name (J-O-S-E)! He is learning left and right, how to pedal a bicycle, and how to play basketball. He knows animals galore, including the sounds they make, and can even tell me where to turn to go see the animals at the zoo! A surprise to mom and dad was that he knows the theme song to Bob the Builder!

He's a busy boy!

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here...

I say that as we are about to enter the Twilight Zone of 2 years old! Joseph's 2nd birthday is Monday! Hard to believe. Although I think we have already been seeing many 2 year old traits, I'm hoping Monday doesn't flip some built-in switch!

Because of that birthday, we've got some busy days coming up! His official birthday party is Sunday at Pinnacle Mountain (yes, again...I'm boring!), and he'll share cookies with his class at school on Monday. Pictures of both will hopefully be posted before he turns 3!

But, here are some cute older pictures to get you by until then...

How much will Blogger let me post???

I've got alot of catching up to do...we'll see if I have the patience and Blogger has the space!

Here's some video of our little singer performing "Blah, Blah, Black Sheep" in the bath...

Just a fun shot from the Zoo. Can you say accessories?? No, there is not anything in the backpack! It's a leash that I haven't had to resort to using (yet!).

Here is Joseph, not participating, at Josh's birthday party at Gymboree.

He decided he would rather slide instead!

He would watch, but not join in...

BUT! He did eat cake and wear the hat, which caused a meltdown last year!

If you had seen some of the pictures of his daddy that I have, this would be HILARIOUS!! My little Bucket Head!



Climbing the ladder on the slide that is older than his parents at the Warren City Park!


Here he comes!

Sitting on the train (same park) with Mamaw Mae & Papaw Jack!

On the deck at Cock of the Walk in Maumelle after feeding the fish (and the geese, snapping turtle and racoons) some leftover cornbread from dinner!

Ok...that's enough for tonight! I'll try to do more soon, but maybe that will sate a few appetites for pictures of JJ! I'll post more again soon!

Zoo Fun

The Little Rock Zoo had a members' night picnic this past Friday night...unlimited carousel and train rides, along with dinner (pulled pork, hot dogs & trimmings, and ice cream sundaes), keeper chats, and a less crowded zoo! It was lots of fun, but Joseph's favorite, as usual, was the carousel. Our zoo has an awesome carousel. It is called the "Over the Jumps" Carousel where the track moves up and down instead of the horses. It is over 60 years old, and quite painstakingly restored, and I believe the only one of its kind still operating.

Here are 2 videos of Joseph riding with Daddy.

The little man is smart, I must say! I don't have video of it yet (except on my cell phone...with no way to transfer it yet), but he can pretty much sing his ABC song...very cute. I'll try to get video for here soon. Here's just another picture or 3 just because!

Notice where his head is at...the architect in the family says the bars aren't supposed to be that far apart!

Big Boy!

Joseph has been busy...here are some pictures to get you up to date...

We'll start with the most recent and work our way back in time!

June 17th, Watching the Arkansas Travellers playing at Dickey Stephens Park. Every year, my hospital has an employee night at the park, so we went to check out the game. Joseph had lots of fun.

June 14th, Papaw Joe's new tractor...Joseph helped him drive it as soon as it was off the trailer!

Joseph's new tractor to match Papaw's!


Helping Daddy "fix it".

Letting Daddy ride it!

Can you tell he loves that tractor?

June 13th, Here is Joseph at the 52nd annual Bradley County Pink Tomato (Salmonella Free) Festival...his favorite part was the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission aquarium, full of "big fish and turtles"! Don't you just love that grin!

June 8th, A very hot day at the Little Rock Zoo...feeding the fish with Daddy, followed by the messy hair photo!

Now for some random shots, including JJ running, smiling, wearing Daddy's bubble hat, just hanging out, doing some light reading, and finally, JoJo the contortionist...