Thomas Birthday Party

Josh turned 2 on February 22nd and we had a Thomas the Train birthday party for him. He had a blast! He loved the balloons and streamers and is still talking about them 1 1/2 weeks later. Brandon created a Thomas engine for the birthday cake and his sister Jess and I assembed the "troublesome trucks". I'm not sure why we thought we needed so many box cars but it turned out pretty cute.

Josh had his cousins and friends over and they had snacks with everyone else before Josh opened presents.

The hardest part for Josh was that he wanted to play with each present as he opened it and we had to move on and have him open the next one. "Here is your birthday present - don't play with it!" Ha ha! Don't worry - he has had a lot of fun playing with his gifts since then.

I am pleased to report that Josh did much better with his cake this year. He was excited about it and did a great job of blowing out the candles. (Last year he touched his cake once and freaked out because his hands were dirty.)

He mostly liked licking off the frosting.

We bought Josh a tool set since Grandpa Boehme and Brandon are always working on projects and Josh can't touch any of their tools. He was excited to try them out and even put on his goggles so he could see to work.

I cannot believe that Josh is 2 already! The time has gone by so quickly. We are so grateful for Josh and the fun little boy that he is. He makes us smile every day and is proving himself to be one smart little cookie! Happy Birthday Josh! Mom and Dad love you!

Vacuuming and Reading

I got a new bookcase and was so excited to put it together. Brandon and Josh were quite helpful in the process (one much more so than the other) while I sat on the couch and read the instructions. Josh insisted on breaking up all the styrofoam so he could vacuum it up with his vacuum. Suffice it to say I ended up getting out my vacuum to "help".

Josh was able to find some "books" in the styrofoam packaging. For a couple of weeks he has faithfully been reading his new books.

Thomas the Train

Josh has become a huge Thomas the Train fan. The train sets are so expensive so he owned one that he got for Christmas and that was it. I have been checking craigslist almost daily for a baby bassinet and came across someone selling Thomas the Train sets. For $20 we got 5 trains and 3 train sets which we were going to unveil at Josh's Thomas birthday party. He was with us when we purchased them and couldn't wait to play with them so we put the tracks together and Josh has played with them for HOURS!! Happy early birthday.

This is how excited Josh gets EVERY time he plays with his new train sets. Yeah for craigslist for saving us at least $60, for entertaining Josh and making the kid so happy!!

Update

Josh has been so cute lately and is actually smiling for the camera. Here are a couple of pictures I have taken in the last couple of weeks.

I am really excited about this picture -- Josh puts his reading books up on the piano and then "plays" from them. Hopefully he will learn to love playing the piano as much as Brandon and I do.

My mom let us borrow this horse that my brothers played with growing up. Josh can now get on and off all by himself (although it is really SCARY!).

I thought I better get an updated picture with Josh in his new snow clothes (snow pants, gloves, boots, the works). He had a much warmer snow experience.

Christmas Cards

This year I decided to make my Christmas cards. I worked on them from the beginning of October until I finally finished/mailed them the week before Christmas. That is almost 3 months of making Christmas cards and I LOVED IT! Here is a sample of a few of the cards that I made.

Snow!!

Monday night we went out to watch/help Brandon put some Christmas lights on our house. Josh was as bundled up as we had supplies for -- a jacket and coat, thin adult gloves, and rain-type boots. He loved walking in the snow and we stayed outside for a good hour. (Of course the sun was down so in all reality it was absolutely freezing.)


I got too cold and had to go inside but Brandon played with Josh in the snow (I think this involved walking around the yard some more). In talking to my mom, who provided the boots, I found out that they are supposed to be worn over shoes. Josh just had socks on inside them. His hands and feet were FREEZING by the time he came inside.

We'll work on upgrading the snow clothes for future snow outings. Hopefully then we can have fun and stay warm!!

Crazy Boy

I started teaching piano and violin this fall. When my students come I let Josh know that I am going to teach a lesson and he needs to go play in his room. Josh now likes to put books on the stand and say "lesson". Then he leads the "music" or turns the pages to new "songs". What a funny boy.

Josh absolutely loves his daddy. He also loves to crawl in the smallest spaces he can find and invites everyone else ("By Josh?") to do so as well. This was daddy sitting by Josh reading books. I wasn't about to crawl back there.

Josh likes when he gets to play with Grandpa. They are making music/messes with empty perscription bottles. Safe? We'd like to hope so. He had a good time anyway.

And this picture is the reason that I titled this post crazy boy. What other kid tries to stick to cups in his mouth at the same time to take a drink? "Look ma, no hands!" Josh really is a crazy boy!