Ancy, Elephants, and Coloring

 

Joseph’s day could not have been better!  His Ancy Barbara, my aunt, came to spend the day with us and he loved it!

In this picture, they were coloring pictures of “Dumbo” and Joseph was covering his nose, thinking he was making a trunk and going “WHOOOOOO, WHOOOOO, WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” like the sound of the elephant!  This child was in HEAVEN!!!!

Here they are giggling and pointing to Dumbo’s trunk!

Joe Joe and his Ancy Barbara!  Sweet adoration! 

If you can remember, please keep my aunt in your prayers, she is dealing with some severe medical issues that are both very scary and overwhelming!  She is the woman who helped raise me when I was little and in a lot of ways she is a pure gift from God!

Joseph’s 1st parade–go Cowboys!

 

Joseph had so much fun cheering for the Cowboys at their Homecoming parade!  He did not like Rowdy, the mascot, at all.  He was crying and shaking, poor boy, but thankfully he recovered quick enough to enjoy the marching bands and floats!

He was so thrilled to be there!  He was super fast and there was a rather wild crowd, so he wore his monkey backpack!  Once the parade began he was in my arms for the whole hour!  It was fun family experience that we all needed!  It helped the older boys see that we are fun to hang out with and they were perfect gentlemen the entire time.  I was so proud of them!

Joseph and his big newly 15 year old cousin, Mitchell!

 

Joseph and Matthew hanging out waiting to the parade to begin!

Joseph and Daddy, Joseph is more interested in our parade neighbors than the camera!  We were around the best people for the parade!  So thankful!!

Meeting Baby Matthew

 

Joseph and I had the honor of meeting our sweet, new (6 days new) friend, Baby Matthew Abel.  He was just so loving, beautiful, and perfect!

Baby Matthew is really the first baby that Joseph greeted with adoration in close proximity!  The last time I tried to hold a new baby was with Baby Max who was born in January of this year and Joseph wanted nothing of it!  Joseph was so much better around Baby Matthew, I really think his growing helped in that department.  I still cannot fathom having a new little one and Joseph AND two teenagers.  Oh, I do desire it, though!

Well, you know you are Catholic when . . .

you wake up in the morning and give the cats fresh water in their bowls and then look behind you and see your child purposefully dipping their hands (so proudly, too) into the water and making the sign of the cross over and over and over and over again!!!!

Love, love, love this kid!!  This explains why I am always wondering why the cats are so messy and spilling their water – haha!

So I ended up with Joseph looking like this and gleefully smirking at his big accomplishment!!!  Yeah, trying to explain to him that it was NOT holy water was not gonna happen, especially before breakfast!!

He has been loving the camera lately, “Cheese”  I bet he is thinking “Now that I am thoroughly blessed (by the cat water, no less) I am ready for breakfast!!!”  Oh, the joys of toddlerhood!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

 

Is it only in Louisiana that you have to hog-tie your sweet husband to bring you to the pumpkin patch BEFORE hunting season starts so you can actually all go together?  I love this sweet picture one of the volunteers took for us!  Joseph loved the pumpkins so much this year!

He looks like a mini-quaterback about to throw the pumpkin!

Love his expression here, he was thrilled!!!

Cheese!!! 

Joseph’s thought “How can I sneak away from Momma & Daddy???”

A wheelbarrow full of love!

Daddy chased, Momma took photos

Run, run, run!!!

Love the owl and big “cheese” grin on Joseph’s face!

Going home with his pick!!!

Our little guy has grown up so much in the last year!

Here is a few pictures from last year – just for my memories!

Love those little piggies!

Sweet pumpkin!

He sure is bigger now!

A picture of my aunt, Joseph, and I.  (2011)

One of my favorite pictures of Joseph!

So glad Daddy could join us this year!!

Our Learning Fun

 

 

 

Joseph is a go-getter, nothing is going to stop me boy!  He and I (sometimes his Daddy, too) had many battles about his constant pulling our dining room chairs up to the cabinet and sink because he wanted to do what I was doing.  The desire to participate was no the issue, safety was the issue!  When he got out that chair, I was distracted taking care of him and the dishes would take longer or the food would cook without my rotating it or some other crazy kitchen issue!  Since he was not letting up and I was not letting him get his way with the chair unless I made time just to watch him in it, there were lots of tears!

I remembered a friend on the blogs mentioning a learning tower and so I began a mission to find one.  I called all the thrift stores in the 90 mile area, no luck.  Tried craigslis.t, nothing.  I found a plan and had a great carpenter, but we never got the materials fast enough so finally Jessy said just order one online.  I found a awesome deal, coupon, and free shipping and ordered it on Saturday and it arrived at 11am on Tuesday!  I was thrilled!  As with all fun projects, we decided to let Joseph help us out with putting it together!  I love these pictures, they are here for our memories only!  I love how it is the simple things, like pushing the cordless screwdriver that gives our little munchkin a thrill!  He is all boy and loves power tools, frogs, dirt, and his Momma!  I am so blessed!

He had the orange bag with the extra screws and he held onto that bad throughout the project!

“I help, Dada”

Look who is rocking and rolling now!

“Hey Dad, look, my keys fit in the screw hole!! – I don’t need the screwdriver ”

“TaDa”

I just LOVE this view!!!!

Shower happiness

 

Joseph is at a new stage where everything is new – to us!  So imagine my surprise when I asked him last night if he wanted to take a bath and he tells empathetically “NoNONoNoNO” with a bold shaking of his head.  So expecting the same answer, I asked him “Are you ready to take a shower?” and he runs to the bathroom, stripping off his clothes and nodding his head up and down “YES!  YESSSSS!”  When I look at this picture, I wonder where my little baby has gone, there is a precious little boy staring back at me!  I love you forever Joseph!!!

Tough, necessary lessons

I have finally realized that a big part of my stress comes from having three kids in seven months and acknowledging all three of them depend fully of Jessy and I! Parenting is all I ever dreamed of and now that I am in the midst of raising two teenagers and one incredibly spirited toddler I realize that I was cleverly naive to think that it wouldn't be THIS hard!! It is not bad or anything I would trade, it is just hard!
The secret "hard" thing I am speaking of is the reality that for truly great kids to come from truly imperfect parents is that 90% of the discipline has to start with you first, the other 10% is actually disciplining them!
In reading the secrets of the baby whisper for toddlers and learning the total transformation I have learned that I have to be "on" all the time and be consistent, and not laugh when it is just so darn funny because by the 5th time it will not be funny anymore!
I love these three boys so it is worth the sacrifice!

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