O-N-E

It's amazing to me how fast a year flies by now that I am "older". My sweet Jayden boy is one.

No more babies to cuddle close when their born.

No more milestones to snapshot like discovering little toes

No more learning to "stand up" because I'm going to be running soon!

Happy Birthday, sweet Jayden boy!

I'm so thankful that God chose me as your mom and I pray that you would continue to grow into a special young boy that is blessed beyond measure! Your smile lights up our house, sweet baby boy! :)

F-I-V-E

Can you believe it? I have a FIVE year old? Time has sure flown by, but I've cherished every moment and look forward to more....

Dear Joshua Eric,

My heart grows with joy every time I look into your eyes and see the wonder and love in you. I see how you have compassion, are gentle, and speak with genuine love towards others. These are precious characteristics in you. You were created for a purpose. I know. I prayed for you.

We named you "Joshua" - which means "warrior for Christ". And that you are. You are bold in your faith already. You reflect Christ's character to everyone who meets you because you have His tender-heartedness.

I love being your mommy. I love that you still crawl up into my lap and give me "butterfly kisses" and tell me that you'll never be too old to be my "cuddle bug". I love the young boy you've become and the leader God is shaping your young heart to be. I love you....

I have so many words to write, but none will compare to the way you make my heart leap when you run up to me after school and jump into my arms to say, "Mommy, I missed you today."

Thoughts on Turning Two

Joshie here. This past weekened I had a birthday party for my 2nd birthday. It was a lot of fun! We had to reschedule it because of the hurricane, but I dind't mind - my friends and family still got to come and play with me. We had a race car theme because I love cars! Vroom!! I really liked it when they sang Happy Birthday to me. It made me smile and laugh. The cake was good, but I wanted to play more than eat cake, so mommy saved my piece of cake for later. I played so hard that I fell asleep early and slept until 7 the next morning. I was wiped out!! Here are some pictures of my party:

The sign mommy made for the mailbox

My cool car cake!

Grandma Sherrie got my a tent and filled it with balls!
That was a lot of fun to play in

Grandma Debbe and Grandpa Joe gave me a tricycle...
I'm not quite tall enough, but its fun riding with Jenna

Jenna is turning into a little acrobat

Here's all my cousins!

From L to R: Caitlyn (3 mo.), Jacob (3 yr), Jenna (10 mo.), Megan (5 mo.), Joshie (2 yr) and Elisha (1 yr). Elisha's birthday is only 2 days after mine - he's my birthday buddy too, not just a cool cousin!

Thank you for looking at my special birthday pictures! I've grown a lot since last year. I love to talk in sentences and am learning so much more each day! I know how to crack jokes too. When we take daddy to work in the morning, I tell mommy and daddy "joshie sleeping....shhhh"...I'm really not sleeping, just pretending. Its funny though and it makes mommy and daddy laugh when I pretend to snore like daddy. :)

26

I turned 26 this past Thursday (May 15th) and I think this was the first birthday that I wasn't really all that thrilled about. I had really enjoyed being 25 and all the wonderful things that it held. Don't get me wrong 25 was also the hardest year yet. There were a lot of financial and career decisions that were tough - but worth it - and our marriage is in its 3rd year which is finally feeling like we "know" each other beyond that new married state. PLus two kids in two years really "jump started things" LOL. Wouldn't change it for the world.

Anyways; I was truely blessed this year for my birthday. Jason really stepped up and took initiative and had the whole evening planned. He arranged for my dad and Sherrie to come over to watch the kiddos. We then had a quick bite to eat before heading off to a mystery location...The movies. I know that that might sound a little "teenagerish" - but how often to we get to go to the movie theaters alone?? Knowing that the kind of movies I like, he had pre-bought our movie tickets to see Narnia: Prince Caspian on opening day!!

The movie was awesome and the only problem was there was a glitch in the film reel . It was an adventurous scene and then everything just stopped and the lights came on!! Looking back it was kinda funny - a sort of intermission to the whole thing- just at the wrong time. We came home and the kids were in bed and asleep. Such a wonderful evening. So far being 26 is alright. I guess I'll give it a few more weeks to grow on me...