Birthday Party for Joe Bug

We celebrated Joey's 1st birthday today...a few days shy of his actual birth day! Joey, obviously, had no idea what was going on, but he could sense our excitement and thus was anxious for the festivities to begin...he sat at the front door eagerly awaiting his guests arrival!

In the past couple of weeks Joe has developed a big affection for Elmo, or "MO" as he calls him. We were happy to cater to his new found love and attempted to cover up some of the Christmas decor in the house with Elmo! Not an easy task.

We had mostly family and a few close friends over for the party...shout out to Abby who is in Spain teaching. We love you and missed you and can't wait to see you in a couple weeks; it was weird celebrating one of our boys' birthdays without you! I posted these pictures as fast as possible for you since I know you were with us in spirit today! Uncle Craig, we missed you too! :)

Everyone ate food and enjoyed watching the end of a sloppy but victorious Colts game. After the game it was clear that Joe was getting hungry (since he was mooching food off everyone's plates) so we decided to give him the traditional 1st birthday piece of cake (in this case a cupcake). Predictably, Joe loved it! He was confused by the candle and singing but then tore in with gusto and devoured every last bite.

He did share one bite with mommy though.

He even paused for a second for a picture with mom and dad.

After a quick cleanup and outfit change, it was time for presents. Joey had a blast opening his presents and had lots of helpers :) He was actually really into the gifts and was appropriately pleased with all the loot he scored. Everyone spoiled him rotten and it was nice to see him enjoy all the attention and gifts since it seems as though he always gets all of Benny's leftovers and rarely gets to enjoy a brand new toy!

Ben rockin' out on the guitar he gave Joe!!

By the end of gift opening Joey was clearly tired and partied out. He never really got fussy, but we noticed that he was no longer smiling and kept trying to crawl to his bedroom...probably for some peace and quiet! The guests departed and Joey enjoyed a bath (and a vigorous game of basketball thanks to his new bball bath toy from Aunt Sissy and Uncle Clint) and a cup of milk before heading to bed without so much as a whimper of protest just after 7:00 p.m. I am sure I will be emotional and nostalgic on Wednesday, Joe-Joe's actual birthday, but for now I will just sign off a happy and proud momma. It was a joy as always to spend time with loved ones tonight. There is nothing better than sitting back and watching people shower your kiddo with love.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

It doesn't seem possible that we are already fully emerged in another holiday season. Time goes so fast and try as I might I can't seem to slow it down or bottle it up for later use so I suppose I should just sit back and enjoy the ride. The season kicked off with a bang yesterday with one of my favorites...Thanksgiving. I really love Thanksgiving (especially now that the Pacers no longer have home games that day and Dean can actually spend the day with us! We started our holiday celebration Wednesday afternoon when daddy surprised us by coming home early from work. We decided to reward him with some yard work!! The fun continued that night when we ordered pizza (Aunt Mallory and Aunt Sissy joined us) and put up our Christmas tree. Ben was so excited and he and daddy did pretty much all of the decorating, while I ran Joe control, which is a definite break from tradition since I have always done the majority of the tree decorating in the past. The tree went up without incident...except for the fact that Dean had to make not one but two emergency Target runs for tree lights!! Joey was very impressed with the tree and kept staring at it and saying "oooohhhh" and then clapping his hands. Thanksgiving morning we all got up in a great mood and sent Dean down in the basement to get out the rest of our Christmas decorations. Ben and I turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and set about the daunting task of putting out our plethora of decor including my ever growing snowman display. I love all of our pieces and had fun telling Ben the story behind each and every item. Ben's favorite thing was putting up the nativity scene. Joey's favorite thing was crawling all over the place and seeing what he could put in his mouth before being caught! He was also terribly impressed with the blow up Frosty the Snowman!Joey not particularly thrilled at being told to get his little paws off the tree... We got showered and dressed and headed to my parent's house around noon for an amazing meal. We hung out with my family for the remainder of the afternoon and returned home exhausted but happy around 5:00 p.m. I can't even begin to list all of the things for which I am thankful this year...my gifts are too numerous to count. Family, friends, faith, health, love, security; all of this I have in abundance and am so grateful to God for being so, so good. One of the new gifts I am thankful for this year is the fact that I have gotten more involved with our church. For the first time in my life I am a member of a church that truly feels like home, surrounded by people who feel like family. I feel very blessed for this gift this Thanksgiving. There is one thing I am not grateful for this Thanksgiving, and that was the absence of my brother at the Thanksgiving table. It wasn't the same not celebrating with him. He was in Tennessee working and was grately missed.

Dean had to work today...a long time actually. He had to leave for work before 5:00 a.m. for a ticket promotion and won't be home until after 11:00 p.m. tonight! Poor guy! The boys and I were treated by a visit from Ethan, Cherrylynn, and Cadalyn. As always, the boys attempted to out do one another for CJ's attention. She was not overly impressed with either of them, but did enjoy their book collection!

This picture is for Uncle Craig, Ethan and Benny say "hook em horns!"...

Later in the morning Nana and the boys and I headed up to Aunt Sissy and Uncle Clint's new house to spend the day with Michelle and Mallory. The boys had fun playing at Sissy's, especially with the box tunnel/fort Nana made for them.

We are gearing up for a busy weekend...culminating with Joey's birthday party on Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to celebrate with my little man, though I truly cannot believe he is about to be 1 year old. Time truly does fly when you're having fun!

Weedend Update

We had a great, but typically busy weekend. Friday night Oma watched Joey so Ben and I could go on a date to the Pacers game. Ben proudly wore his new TJ Ford jersey, and everytime TJ scored Ben would cheer and say "That's me!" The best part is that TJ Ford is #5 so Ben actually thinks that there are 2 TJs on the team..."TJ Four" and "TJ Five!" He, obviously, wears a TJ Five jersey! So funny! We had a great time at the game. At one point I had all of the following items on my lap: my coat, Ben's coat, my purse, 2 candy cane "bangers," a balloon animal, a bucket of popcorn, and a bottle of pop. I was a little loaded down! I had to hold everything, however, so that Ben could cheer and delight everyone around us with his comments. A crowd favorite was when Ben looked at me and said "Man, the Pacers are really bringing the heat tonight!" Ben made it all the way to the 4th quarter before he was ready to go home. We packed up and headed out and made the long walk to our car. Immediately upon getting in the car and buckling our seat belts Ben announced that he "really" had to go to the bathroom "so bad." I was irritated and started to get fiesty with him and asked him why he didn't tell me he had to go to the bathroom when we were inside the building, to which he sweetly responded "Well, mommy you said we could only get up from our seats one time to walk around when we got popcorn." Oops. I did say that. We ended up pulling over at a McDonalds so Ben could go to the bathroom and I sheepishly apologized for ranting at him! Saturday my awesome mom watched the boys so Dean and I could go on a trip to the IU/PU football game. We took a bus with 56 people to the game and enjoyed a hardcore tailgating party, the likes of which I don't think I have ever attended. We had an absolute blast...probably a little too much fun judging how I felt today. It was freezing cold but hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps kept off the chill! The game was fun (even though it wasn't really a game...IU was pretty terrible) and we even got to see Michelle and Clint, which was nice. Today we did the usual, church and McDonalds (which may have saved my life, there is nothing better than a little grease to cure the common hangover). After church we worked in the yard...which is a bit frustrating since there are still a ton of leaves on our trees so we know we'll have to work again next weekend. Ben had choir tonight, I had youth group, and Dean and the boys made chili and cookies. The boys are now asleep and Dean and I are watching the Colts game...kind of. I am mostly listening to the Colts game! Go horse!

Portrait of a Climbing Joe

This photo montage was too cute not to share...in my humble opinion! To set the stage...Ben was lounging on this couch my dad bought him for Christmas a couple of years ago. I actually got it out for Joe as Ben is clearly too big for it, but regardless, Ben was lounging. Joey crawled over to the couch and harassed Ben until he finally got off the couch at which time Joe scurried up the couch Joe yelled at whatever was behind the couch tried to figure out how to get down and promptly fell backwards off the couch! He was less than amused and stared at the couch for a minute as though to say "how dare you?" and then crawled away to another activity!

Brotherly Love

The bigger Joey gets, the more fun it is for me to watch my two big boys interact. They are SUCH good friends. Ben remains an amazing big brother. He is (for the most part) kind, gentle, patient, and loving toward his little shadow and Joey adores his big brother; you can tell he already wants to be just like him. Whenever Ben is gone Joey crawls through the house like a little crazy man on a mission saying "buh buh buh buh" over and over and over! He always ends up in Ben's room where he quickly gets over the fact that Ben is no where in sight and relishes the uninterupted time to scope out big boy toys! He feverishly makes his way around the room, shoving as many objects in his mouth as he can! This kids has a serious oral fixation.

One of our favorite things to do now is play in the basement. The boys like to do things together, such as build castles out of blocks (which Joey tears down...this usually makes Ben angry but he ends up laughing when he screams at Joey and Joe looks up at him with his big, doe eyes and innocently hands him a block!), play ball (Joey is actually really good at throwing and rolling a ball back and forth with Ben), play super heros and little people, and a recent addition is wrestling. I am already testing the waters as a mom of two boys and trying to stay out of their way when play time gets a little rough. I don't want to constantly be discipling them so I try to hang back and only get involved when Joey is actually hurting Ben!!! HA! The other day they were wrestling and Ben was holding Joey down which made Joe mad and he started making his monster noises (truly hillarious, I really have to figure out how to post videos so I can share his gutteral growling) and then began purposefully headbutting Ben.

Another favorite activity for Mr. Joe is climbing. He has figured out how to climb stairs (much to his dad's delight and my dismay) and is constantly trying to climb up things...the fireplace ledge, the couch, the cabinets at the library (he clears them out and then climbs on in), and most recently, boxes. Ben encouraged the box climbing I think!

It is really funny to see how different my little boys personalities are. Ben has always had an awesome personality but when it comes to trying new things and most physical activities he has been cautious, at least initially. Joey, on the contrary, has no fear whatsoever. He dives head first into anything and everything. He literally will fall down 10 times and have bumps all over his head and just keep going back for more. He is a stubborn little monkey, that is for sure. He is definitely not a wimp; if Joe crys you know something is really wrong!

I love these little boys so much. We went to the Children's Museum this afternoon and though I always have fun there, this was one of my favorite trips as it was the first time that Joey was really able to express his desires. He spent about 20 minutes crawling through the 0-2 year old obstacle course in the Playscape area and was squealing with delight the entire time as he crawled in circles up and down the bouncy bridge, up the steps, through the fort, rolled down the ramp and waved to himself in the mirrors, and then completed the circuit again. Ben and I had so much fun watching him and he was so filled with joy that several other parents were laughing and checking him out as well.

I can hardly believe Joe is going to be 1 year old in a couple of weeks. What happened to my little baby? Who is this crazy big boy who insists upon feeding himself (favorites include all breakfast foods, spaghetti, and macaroni and cheese), tells me "no no" and wags his finger at me when I try to discipline him, and has developed a crazy, nose wrinkly sneer whenever I try to get him to smile for the camera? I do love this face, but am not sure how it will translate when we have Christmas pictures taken in a few weeks!!

Boomer Birthday Bash

Ben is so lucky to have several good friends a mere stones throw from his front door. Kirin, his "best friend" lives 5 doors down, Hannah and Mason (7 years old and 4 years old) live next door, and Abbie (4 years old) lives across the street. Abbie invited Ben to her birthday party a couple of weeks ago and Ben was thrilled to attend...even more so when a surprise guest arrived...Boomer! Ben LOVES Boomer. He was so excited to see him and kept asking Boomer if he was getting ready to "go see his dad?!" The Pacers had a game that night and Ben knew Boomer would be seeing Dean! So cute!

Here is Ben preparing to do a flip with Boomer's assistance. I was SHOCKED that Ben attempted this (as was Ben, I think!) As you may know, Ben is an extremely cautious kid and had he known Boomer was about to have him do a somersault in the air I don't think there is any way he would have gone for it...Boomer kind of just sprang it on him which made it fun for everyone!

Ben was nervous the rest of the party that Boomer was going to spontaneously throw him into the air, hence the fingers in the mouth in the picture below (classic nervous Ben pose!). Boomer is holding birthday girl, Abbie.