Happy brithday Josie!

Josie is 2 today! She was born on December 27, 2006. We thought for sure that she would be born on by Thanksgiving, then on Jack's birthday, and then maybe on Christmas, but she had her own date in mind. I can hardly believe it, the last two years have flown by. Looking at her now, she is definitely not a little baby anymore. Now she is talking, walking, jumping, playing with dolls, having tea parties, hugging her animals... all of the fun things that little girls do!

Here she is a week old with big brother Jack, who had just turned two.

We love you so much Josie, you are such a delight to have in our lives. Your sweet smile lights up the whole room.

Happy birthday sweet girl!

A gingerbread party!

Since Jack turned 4 on the 12th and Josie will be 2 on the 27th of December, we decided to do a combined birthday party this year. The theme was gingerbread and each child got to decorate their own graham cracker gingerbread house. It was really fun, a little crazy, but the kids all had a blast!

The week before Tyler and Jack put together a gingerbread house to have as the centerpiece. Then I made a sign out of gingerbread cookie letters, and made a bunch of gingerbread boys to pass out. The night before we made 20 little graham cracker houses, after two trips to the store for more graham crackers and 6 different kinds of frosting attempts! Finally it was party time and Jack and Josie could hardly hold still they were so excited. We rented a long kids table that everyone could sit down at and then brought up the houses and tons of candy! I was really surprised at how well they did. It was fun seeing some of the kids get really into it and try piping frosting all over the houses. Other kids were pretty quite with their mouths stuffed with candy!
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Afterwards we had pizza and snacks. We sang happy birthday and had candy cane cupcakes with peppermint ice cream. Jack was ready and know just what to do to blew out his candle. Josie was a little shy so she got some help from some friends with her candle.


Even though I had told everyone not to worry about presents the kids were still blessed with some really nice gifts. Thank you so much! I think one of the highlights was after opening gifts the older kids took all the colored tissue paper and started throwing it up in the air. They were having such a delightful time, I didn't worry about the mess.
Even the parents got to sit and relax and enjoy the party. I think we had 26 kids in all, with a couple little babies. Little Ketziah sleep right through it! Jack and Josie both had a great time, I think that they still felt their birthday was special even with it being during such a busy season. Thank you again for all those who helped to make it so special. Whew, now for the clean up!

Happy Birthday Jack!

I can't believe our little guy is 4 today! Has it really been 4 years since that amazing day that he was born? tHere he was on December 12, 2004. We had no idea how much our lives would change and how you could possibly love someone so much! Happy birthday Jack! You bring us more joy then you could ever imagine!