2 1/2 years old...already??

At 2 1/2 Joseph knows his: ABC's, can identify almost all of the alphabet, can count to 20 (pronunciation can be iffy), can identify numbers to 10 (working on 11-20), and knows his basic colors and shapes. He loves to paint and color, play with his legos, dress himself, any of the Toy Story 1,2 or 3 movies, Max and Ruby, is fascinated by dinosaurs and cars, and still enjoys reading books and playing with puzzles. 

He is a very independent, energetic, talkative, and an overall happy boy. He is starting to understand rules and consequences, and beware, he is known to make a cute shy face when he knows he's done something wrong!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a blast this year! Joseph loved saying "trick or treat" and ringing all of the doorbells. His favorite Halloween decorated house ended up scaring him, so we had to hold him most of the time after that. Once we got done he helped hand out candy, but refused to hand out candy to the kids dressed in scary costumes. 

 Skeleton with "Jason" from Friday the 13th.

Pumpkin Farm

This year we drove out to Fog Willow Farms, a pumpkin patch in Wilton.  It was such a nice ride in the country and Joseph had a blast yelling and pointing out all of the cows and horses along the way.  The pumpkin patch has a petting zoo, where Joseph got to pet the little pygmy goats, they were so cute!  The farm has all sorts of animals, a huge pond, a giant haystack for kids to climb and even tractor rides.  Unlike some of the other pumpkin patches we’ve been to, this one felt really family oriented and owned.  We look forward to going again and making that our annual pumpkin patch trip.

Creepy Cupcakes

I made these super cute skeleton cupcakes last weekend that I had found online.  They were a little time consuming, but very easy to do and came out so spooky!  Everything was edible except for the backbone (lollipop stick.)  Joseph loved them.

 Here he is dissecting the cupcake...so serious!

Splishin' and Splashin'

Last Summer 09' we signed Joseph up for swimming lessons at the Aquatic Center near our house.  It was nice to see him learn the basics in the pool.  This year we did not sign him up, and it became a challenge for us to get him in ANY pool.  We tried at Grandma's house, and we ended up going swimming, while Grandma and Joseph ran around.  Finally towards the end of Summer, we finally convinced him to get into the water, well Daddy did!  Honestly I think the majority had to do with the fact that the water was cold, not anything like bathtime which he loves.  Pool time became a group effort, and unlike before it finally worked!  Mind you, the pool sat for three months before Joseph finally used it.  Next year, we definitely will be doing a couple rounds of swimming lessons!

  

San Francisco

We wanted to do something low key for our anniversary, so we decided to go the San Francisco for the day!

It was such a beautiful day, a little chilly though.  We walked around the Piers, looked at the sea lions, ate at Bubba Gump's.  All in all we had a great day just the two of us. 

Our Anniversary!

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary :o)  We have been married for 1,826 days!  I know once you’re married that date becomes your anniversary, but I do remember some other specials dates...

• September 20, 2002—First Kiss

• December 24, 2003—“Will you marry me?”

• August 6, 2005—Our Wedding.

• September 10, 2007—The day we found out we were preggers (I already knew!)

• May 7, 2008—The day we had our precious Joseph!

We've grown so much in the 5 years we've been married!  I am so thankful for a wonderful husband and for our son Joseph, who I can’t imagine life without, a roof over our heads and supportive family and friends.  Here’s to many more!!

California State Fair

We were on the fence this year about going to the California State fair, after back and forth debating we opted not to go, and go to Costco and splurge instead!  So when Aunty Josette asked me last week at work if she could take Joseph, we jumped on the opportunity to spend time alone.  Sunday morning we prepped Joseph and told him he was going to the fair with Aunty Josette and Brienna (her daughter), and that Mommy and Daddy "would not be going."  He was totally excited.  Once we got the car seat, stroller and diaper bag together he raced and stood by the front door.  Josette and Brie came by and swooped Joseph up and were gone 6 LONG hours.  Let me tell you the day went by suuuupper sloooow.  We ran a couple of errands, and visited my mom where we had normal conversations that didn't consist of Joseph yelling "fishy, fishy, fishhhhhyyy!!!"  I must admit we did miss him :)

Joseph had an absolute blast and was so well behaved that Josette is looking forward to her next adventure with him without Mommy and Daddy!  He clapped and started yelling, "YAAAAAAYY," when they pulled into the parking lot.  He went on the train ride, "choo choo," with Brie, they spent a ton of time at the petting zoo (Joseph insisted on petting every.single.animal), ate fair food, and got a free bandana from Camp Smokey for collecting all of the stamps.  Here's a few iphone pics.  More pics to come.

 

Zoo Fun!

We took Joseph to the Sacramento Zoo a couple of weeks ago, and although it was hot we had a blast.  
 

 Our little kangaroo.

This year was especially fun for us because Joseph has learned what some animals are--zebras, lions, giraffes... thanks to Madagascar, as well as a few others.  He liked watching the otters (who put on quite a show for us), all of the different types of birds, the flamingos, and he loved looking at the koi fish they had.  We got to see the baby lion, who was huge already!  And last but not least, the reptile area.  I think Joseph loved looking at the lizards, turtles and snakes the most.

Looking at the tiger exhibit.

 Joseph planning out our day with the map!

Checking out the flamingos.  Somebody wanted to climb the fence.

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!

All gone!

There is a really neat house on our street that goes all out for Christmas, and has been for many years according to the local newspaper. On the way home from work we would stop by there several times in the month of December, tune the radio in to the station and show Joseph. Fast forward--this afternoon daddy and Joseph took a walk around the block before naptime, as they made there way in front of that particular house, Joseph said, “All gone! All gone!” referring to the Christmas lights...it just amazes me how much Joseph is learning and growing each day. =)