Our baby turns 2

Really hard to believe that our baby is 2!  Joshie has turned into a little boy, even though we all still see him as our baby.  He is full of personality and pizazz and is always sure to make his presence known (which may sometimes include screaming at the top of his lungs to get your attention:)  Like his brothers, he is a late talker, but his vocabulary has really taken off in the last few months and while a lot of what he says is hard to decipher, he pretty much repeats anything we say and is trying very hard to communicate with the rest of the family.  His favorite these days is "Joshie do it, or Joshie come to."  He is just as daring and crazy as his older brothers and like them is completely into anything sports related.  He also loves to ride his scooter, which he is insanely good at, he loves all of Alec's old trains, he loves construction equipment, and reading books.  More than anything he loves the approval, attention and laughter of his big brothers.  While he is not the mild-mannered, laid back 3rd child we often hear about; we adore him, his strong personality, his brick like build, his crazy climbing skills, his butt in approach to sitting in our laps, his ability to eat a perfect circle in any piece of bread, his love of the "hancock tower" and his big hugs.  Here is a photo tribute to Joshie and his celebration of turning 2.   

We started the morning opening presents

We spent the day at the apple orchard, but it was so crowded that we had to skip actually picking apples.  Luckily there were a million other fun fall activities for the boys.

We ended the day with cupcakes, Josh approved

Hppy Birthday to Joshie

The smile on his face sums up his feelings about the whole day:)

7!!

 Hard to believe our first little boy just turned 7!  We had a great weekend celebrating Alec.  Grammy flew in, and we had an action packed weekend.  We celebrated as a family on Friday and Alec was thrilled when we all picked him up from school and took him to lunch; then he had a sports birthday party with all his buddies at the community center on Sunday.  They played every sport you can imagine for 2 hours straight and all left soaked in sweat, a complete success in Alec's book.  We were all talking about how 7 seems so grown-up, and we really see a difference in Alec.  He's so much more mature and seems to have really turned a corner into being more of a grown-up kid.  He LOVES sports, his brothers, his family and his friends, American Ninja Warrior, going to the park and the skate-park, being outside, studying sports facts and stats (especially football,) anything related to math and numbers, and exercise!  I have never seen a kid with the endurance or strength that Alec has - he just keeps going and works harder at mastering things  than any kid I've ever seen.  We adore him, his perseverance, his determination and his kind lion heart.   

  

A new grown-up watch - he's always loved telling time

 

A new fishing pole from Grandma Susan and Papa Gene

Definitely his favorite present - a new trick scooter.  He was pretty excited when all the big kids at the skate park wanted to check it out yesterday

 

The "ME" poster he got to take to class

 

The birthday crew

                                       

                                                                        At lunch

                 His request this year was a Ninja Warrior cake, I think Grammy did pretty good!