One Happy Family

This photo was taken at Christmas time. I was bound and determined to get a family photo, but the boys had other ideas. Joshua was not happy about getting dressed up in his christmas sweater and sitting still for the picture. Because Joshua wasn't thrilled about it Joseph figured it must not be the best idea either and they both fought against it. Finally, after many tears and two frustrated parents, we got this shot. Not bad considering what we had to go through to get it.

I can't believe that I have let so much time go by without adding to my blog. Since I started working in September, I don't seem to have much time for anything. I work from home, so I never get to leave the office. I just have to decide on a time that I am going to quit working and quit for the day. Unfortunately, the phone doesn't cooperate with my schedule. It usually starts ringing as early as 6:30 am and doesn't stop until sometimes after 7:00 pm. Joseph has seen me with the phone to my ear so much that he thinks that he needs a phone too. He will come to me and demand the phone by looking at me with his big blue eyes and saying "phone!!" When I tell him no and put it away, he just climbs up on the counters to get it. He is such a climber. One day I was cleaning the kitchen and he was playing on the floor. I went into the bedroom to put something away, and when I got back he had pushed a chair up to the stove and was sitting on one of the elements getting ready to turn one of the nobs. Needless to say, I keep a close eye on him now when he is in the kitchen and if I have to leave the kitchen and he is playing there I take the chairs into the livingroom. I tried putting the chair on top of the table, but Joseph tried to pull them down. He is my very busy little boy.

Joshua is officially no long a toddler. He turned 3 on January 23 and likes to remind me how big he is on a daily basis. One day Joseph decided to tease his brother and and called him "Joshua, baby." Of course that did not go over well with Joshua. I am amazed at how grown up he is now. I remember when I was working on my degree in one of my child development classes the teacher talked about the age of three being a magic age because the child's brain seems to just open up and is ready for new things to be poured in. Joshua is very interested in colors, numbers, letters and shapes. He points out circles and triangles to me all the time and even draws them or makes them out of things that he finds around the house. He is very interested in writing and coloring so we do a lot of that. But, we have to protect the crayons from Joseph and our puppy Blaze because they like to chew on them.

My babies are officially growing up. I look at little Jos and I know that he really isn't a baby anymore, but I still call him my baby and I still cuddle him whenever he will let me. I am just amazed at how much my life has changed over the years and how thankful I am for where I am at now and for the family that I have.

Snow Day!!!!

This was the first real snow fall we had this winter and the boys and I loved it. Joseph was so bundeled up that he could hardely walk, but he had fun falling in the snow. Joshua throughly enjoyed the snow. He made snow angels and footprints, and even had fun sliding down his slide into the snow. This was in December, and later when it snowed more, Larry pushed the snow in to a huge hill tall enough that we could sled down it. Joshua loved that. Josie on the other hand missed out because he was napping. Since the first snow fall, the boys have had fun tromping through it and just being wild boys in all the white stuff. We bought the boys a snow shovel so that they could help keep the walks clear. Of course they fight over it, we should have bought two, but they have fun. Josh likes to throw the snow up in the air and watch it come back down. He also likes to get shovels full of snow and throw the snow at Mom and Jos. We have had fun with the snow, but I'm ready for warm spring days when we can play outside without having to bundle up so much.