Family Photos

Our first family photos were such a success!  We meet Jessica out at a huge park in Lincoln in April.  I found Jessica online and loved her photos and her affordability.  I was thrilled to do an outdoor photo session with the natural scenery.  She did an amazing job and we are so happy with the way the photos came out.  You can check her out at: http://www.jessiesphotos.com/

Here's a few of my favorites.

Happy Birthday Joseph!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 2 years to this day that I went into labor and gave birth to our Joseph.  With every day, he is sweeter, more loving, more entertaining, and smarter than the day before.  I never thought that something so challenging and demanding could be so rewarding and fulfilling at the same time.

Here are some of Joseph’s 2-year stats:

• Has 16 teeth and is working on his bottom 2-year molars
• Weighs 34 lbs. & is 37 inches tall (such a big boy)
• Is in a size 5 diaper, 3T clothes & size 8 shoes
• Can almost count to ten (leaves out 4 and 5)
• Can identify over 15 body parts, and a wide variety of other things
• Is learning the alphabet and identify letters & colors
• Knows almost all of the words to the “I Love You” song
• Is putting 3 & 4 word sentences together
• Loves coloring & “drawing” cats, dogs & fish
• Absorbs everything we say and repeats almost everything
• Is becoming more independent with certain activities
• Can open doors, wash & dry his hands, and likes “swimming” in the bathtub
• Loves reading ABC books & ones that identify objects
• Is in LOVE with cars and making ramps out of his books

Happy Birthday Joseph!!  We love you so much and can't imagine our lives without you.

Model in the making....

This is by far one of the cutest pictures that I’ve taken of Joseph this year.  It is so hard at this age to get good still photos of him, most of the time he’s running around like crazy and refuses to look at the camera.  We love this boy to pieces!

First magical experience!

Earlier this year, Brian and I volunteered at the Placer Nature Center up in Auburn for Disney’s “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” program.  Disney set out a goal to get one million people to volunteer a day’s service in return for a one day free admission to a Disney park.  The Nature Center has a nature trail, gardens, and a ton of hands on learning exhibits for kids.

Aside from the 8-hour drive down to SoCal, we all had a great time.  Our friends Scott and Jen were kind enough to let us stay with them in Huntington Beach.  Between Scott and Jen, there little ones Jack, who's 4 months older than Joseph and baby Charlotte who is only a couple of months old, we had a blast.  Joseph and Jack were instant best friends and ran and played with each other the entire time we were there, aside from the occasional fighting over the same toys of course! 

One of Joseph’s favorite rides at Disneyland was It’s a Small World.  We went on it twice, and each time he was blown away at all of the colors and the little people moving around.  I forgot how long of a ride it actually is!  He didn’t really care for the Pirates of the Carribean ride, but we managed to go on it twice anyway and he fell asleep on the Haunted Mansion.  We even ran into Peter Pan!  All in all we had a great trip and ended our day with the fireworks, which was awesome!!!

Eggcellent Easter!

Joseph had a ton of fun going through his Easter basket this year...one thing remained the same as last year, the Gerber sweet potato puffs inside the eggs were his favorite!!!  He got an extra treat and had a basket from grandma and grandpa too.  Last year I picked up the cutest, softest little bunny that I added to his basket at the last minute, so this year, while getting together with the Easter bunny, I thought it’d be a fun tradition to add the little bunny to his basket again.

That weekend we met up with Josette and Ross at the Fair Oaks park where they have their yearly Easter egg celebration.  There were tons of jump houses, face painting, huge egg hunts, and even a fire truck for kids to sit in.  Joseph loved pushing all of the buttons, and even cried when we took him out!

Carpenter in the making...

DIY --Joseph had his first experience using the sander.

My Valentine

Enjoying his valentine treat!