4 years have come and gone so fast–seems like yesterday we were bringing home our baby boy. To watch him grow over the last 4 years has truly been a blessing. It is so much fun to watch his growing independence yet I love how he still wants to hold my hand when we walk or how he runs to give me a hug “good morning” everyday. I thank God everyday for my sweet-spirited little boy and can’t imagine my life or our family without him.

Happy 4th Birthday Josiah!

Anya was “sweetie bat”, Josiah was “batman” and Elia was our little “tootsie”! They were all so cute and had fun running up and down our street collecting candy. The good thing about living on a street that most people don’t know exists is that everyone on the street gives you LOTS of candy because they don’t get many other trick-or-treater’s other than those already living here. Of course Anya & Josiah had a joke ready to tell and they did an excellent job delivering the funny!

Here are a few more pictures of our Halloween 2011!

Not so much for the score (although we are glad the Hawks won) but more for the weather monsoon that attacked Iowa City during the game!

I won’t lie, I was nervous for Jason when I heard that Iowa City was getting pounded with rain at the start of the game…I had visions of Josiah having an emotional breakdown because he had to stay in the rain and making life miserable for everyone near him in the stands. Much to my surprise (and delight) Jason says that Josiah handled it all very well (although at first wasn’t fond of the downpour) and wanted to stay for the rest of the game even after having to wait out the 90 minute weather delay. I’m impressed

Josiah is all smiles when he talks about his first Hawkeye football game and is already wanting to go to another one. Look out folks, I think we have another die-hard Hawk fan in the family!!

Funny Boy!

IMG_9706.JPG, originally uploaded by farmboymac.

Basically Bam Bam can be summed up by saying it is a bunch of 3&4 year-olds running around the baseball diamond and the corresponding parents chasing after them The team on offense hit a 4-square ball off of an orange road-construction cone and then run the bases while the team on defense takes turns “fielding” the ball from the pitcher’s mound. It is nothing short of unorganized chaos and it makes me laugh to sit and watch!

Here are a few pictures of JP playing Bam Bam. He has a lot of fun and is VERY tired after his games (so is his dad )

Monday was Josiah’s birthday. How fast can 3 years go? Feels like just a snap of the fingers. What a great little boy he is–and how lucky we are that we get to watch him grow up.

We had just a small celebration with the 4 of us on his actual birthday and plan on having a bigger party once the baby arrives. He had specifically requested a chocolate Barney cake–nothing better than a kids who knows exactly what he wants!

Here are a few more pictures of him with his cake–he really was in love with it.

Another funny addition to this story is that JP refers to his pants as his “britches”. After going potty tinkle, he will come running out of the bathroom yelling “help me with my britches”–it is hilarious!!!!

….or in this case, an amaryllis!!

The kids have been having fun watching (almost literally) the amaryllis that Grandma Barb and Great G’ma Ruth brought down for us to grow. They are simply amazed at how fast it grows. We (ok, mostly Jason) has even resorted to measuring it from day to day to track the growth and we are averaging more than an inch per day right now!!!

So, here are the pictures of our amaryllis:

January 3rd, 2011 (the day we planted it):

January 16, 2011:

Amazing isn’t it!!!