Happy Birthday Daddy-O!!!

 

It is always so much fun to celebrate my Honeypot’s birthday!  As I just wrote that last line, I remember that the only two nicknames I have given him in the last 15 years are honeypot and sugarlump.  I think both of those sweet titles perfectly describe him.  He really is the most loving, kind man I have ever known and I am lucky enough to be his wife!

Jessy is really not a huge fan of big cakes or being in the center of attention so I think this year was likely his favorite birthday that we have celebrated together!  We stayed home, made a simple new year dinner (it was simple, but DELICIOUS), made a homemade ice cream cake, per his request, and played with Joseph and Matthew!

Jessy refused to let me buy fancy stuff to decorate his cake, so I used what I had on hand and with Joseph’s help, this was the finished!  Thank goodness it tasted a thousand percent better than it looked!

These pictures will win us no awards, but these are the memories I want to keep close to my heart.

I love this picture of Jessy giving Joseph a bite, he thinks it tastes better if his Daddy was feeding it to him

And for party games, well, silly string of course!

We played with those two little bottles of string for an hour and we mostly just enjoyed the giggles of Joseph as he was amazed by the silliness of such fun!

 

Here he is giggling and his face was turning red he was giggling so hard!  There is nothing as healing to hearts than listening to the innocent laughter of your precious child.

The only thing he did not like about the silly string was the thought of having it on him.  Look at this face!!!!!

Jessy, if you ever read this, always know you are so loved and I love to celebrate YOU!  Your love has brought me so much joy, your simple way of being exactly what God wants you to be is an inspiration to me, and your gentleness of spirit has healed my heart in so many ways that I never knew would have needed healing.  Your faith is such a gift to our family and I am so grateful that I have been able to love you and I long to celebrate you all the days of our life together.  I love you!  Your Sugarlump!

Alexandria Zoo Train

It is so funny how a child changes your thoughts.  The first thought I had about going to the zoo is “I wonder what the train will be like?”  To our great enjoyment, the train was awesome and Joseph loved the whole experience of meeting the conductor, responding to his call “ALL ABOARD”, and simply just watching the train drive by!

When we first arrived, the train was leaving the depot.  Joseph waved to the conductor and looked forward to having his chance to ride after exploring the zoo.

WAITING for his turn!

So happy!!!

Upon hearing the conductor holler “All aboard”, Joseph began running to be the first in line to give him his ticket!

He was beyond excited, I love this little guy!

Happy Daddy-O and his little shadow

Why, yes, it was chilly, but Joseph was in three layers of warm clothing! 

Train Ride (two times).  It was worth the $3 to give Jessy and Joseph another ride on the train!!!

There are moments in time that you want to freeze time and save in your heart, the joy of this time is really our blessing! 

In all the behavior struggles of late, it is this happy boy that matters and why we do all we do to help him know what, who, and why the important moments are really the treasures our heart seeks.

Alexandria Zoo

 

It has been a whirlwind around here with the wonderful Christmas Season and all of the holy celebrations/feast days, crazy infections (sinus/breathing), and Jessy’s birthday and eleven day vacation that we are trying to make the best of the last few days.  For the majority of his vacation, I simply had no energy and felt odd but did not know I was really that sick until on Sunday, I was coming back from church and it all came back with a vengeance.  Jessy brought me to the doctor first thing Monday morning and within hours of getting the shot and starting the z pack, I was feeling better.  We are watching Joseph close, making sure he doesn’t have any adverse health issues that he might pick up from me.  We had a long night Monday, but when we all woke up on Tuesday, Daddy-O had a great idea to take a 2 hour drive to go to the fun zoo!  Joseph was SO EXCITED!!!!!!   

He was so excited to ride in his wagon and having his Daddy-O pulling him along!  It really is the smallest moments that bring the greatest joy to pure, little hearts!

This gorgeous alligator was carved out of one large piece of wood! 

He had a ball being able to climb on the alligator!

So much pure excitement, that it just made us all so happy.

Heading home, I love this picture of him pulling his wagon to meet his Daddy-O!

Next up, train ride pictures