It was so fun to get to celebrate Josh's fourth birthday while at home in Scappoose. On his actual birthday he got to open presents with us in the morning and then celebrate with friends and s'mores in the evening. The next day we drove to The Dalles to celebrate with the Morris side of the family (stopping for much missed Thai food on the road). That evening we had pizza, cupcakes and a water balloon fight. It was a great birthday!
The birthday boy
Sam made Josh some binoculars so he could pretend hunt with Ellie
Seth made Josh a creation with perler beads with a "J" on it
We got Josh his own spinner that can actually fit into his small hands
A crew of friends to play with is always fun on your birthday!
Sticking four candles on a marshmallow was a challenge, so we stuck with one
We're so thankful that we got to do a firepit with friends while at home. It's one of our favorite activities and ways to enjoy our yard.
Thankful for a great family picture!
While the kids ran around with flashlights, the adults got to catch up. Nothing beats sitting in front of a crackling fire!
We squeezed in our Morris family celebration in a couple hours before everyone was leaving for hunting. Ben and Nate were looking over maps of the area they would be at (between distractions of children, of course).
Totally easy to concentrate like this, right?
Family pizza dinner
A new game for Josh's birthday!
Josh and Ellie have perfected the pick-up hug. It's hilarious!
I managed to get four candles on the cupcake.
Yum!
Water fight!!
Look at Seth and Sam in this one
Little Hailey Rose is always in the middle of the action
It was a hot day, so all forms of getting wet were accepted
Full of personality
Kids scavenging blueberries
I love this next series of pictures. Somehow, Ellie talked Caleb into peeling a plum for her.
Here, Ellie is showing him that clearly she doesn't have the skills to do it.
So, in between kids leaning on him, Caleb meticulously peeled the plum.
All the kids just love him and we're so thankful for his willing presence during family events.
After about twenty minutes, the plum was peeled. And by then, Ellie forgot she wanted it, lol.
Big cheese from our big four year old.
The night ended perfectly: with a story from Grandma
-Nothing currently delights Josh more than showing anyone his "four years old" on his fingers. He will then proceed to show you how old he will be on his next birthday...and his next...and his next...all the way until 10 years old. It's so sweet.
-He can finally consistently count to ten...now in both English and Spanish. He actually can get almost to 20 (with a few skips in between).
-He is really into reading Dr. Seuss books (I can remember the twins loving these at his age too). It is delightful to read him those familiar stories. It has led into us playing a lot of rhyming games daily. Let's rhyme "goo" or let's rhyme "bee."
-That leads me into the next point: Josh is actually getting into learning a little bit! Whew! All in his own timing, right? Not only is he rhyming, but he's learning his letters and told me the other day, "I'm going to learn my letters so I can learn to read!"
-Favorite books include "Mercy Watson" (compliments of the Plato family for his birthday), Otis books, Horton Hears a Who, and Duck books.
-He loves playing tag: at all times and places. Tag in the car, tag at dinner...he even tried for tag in church. He also loves hide-and-seek tag. He's a great hider and will stay quiet and still for a really long time if needed. He's very competitive in both of these games and does not like to lose.
-Daddy is his favorite and he loves quality, one-on-one time with him.
-Ellie and Edmund are his second favorites and he loves playing with them.
-He loves building forts with blankets and boxes and using a flash light underneath.
-Food continues to be inconsistent for him, but with a gluten and dairy allergy, who can blame him? What he likes one day, he turns his nose up to the next. Apple juice one morning, orange juice only the next. Most the time he eats Mexican and Asian food great. The one thing that remains consistent (besides a love for bacon): he's a kid who loves snacks...which is frustrating, especially with the amount of traveling we've been doing. When we travel, we're just surviving (especially because of our food allergies), so Josh gets in the habit of getting granola bars, fruit snacks, jerky. He then believes that every day should be like that.
-Speaking of food, he's fascinated by the food chain. At least three times a day, he questions me (and/or Ben) on what a particular animal eats. What do giraffes eat? What do cheetahs eat? What do butterflies eat? My personal favorite: "What do wolves eat?" My reply, "Wolves or moles?" Josh then said, "Actually dragons. What do dragons eat?"
-He continues to be a great sleeper, although he moves around a lot; we get a lot of good laughs from the positions we find him in each morning.
-"Paw Patrol," is his favorite cartoon (even though we only watch it in Spanish).
-He likes to play anything with the big boys and waits all day for them to come home from school. He also likes to bug his big brothers and will tantalize them with things like, "I have a special surprise for you in the bedroom," then makes them look and look until they are irritated and realize there is no special surprise.
-He loves swimming! He jumps right in with his water wings and doesn't mind at all his face getting wet. I only note this because when we first moved to Mexico, the kid would literally scream every time he took a shower because of water in his eyes (we don't have a bathtub). We had even tried goggles in the shower for him because of the drama. I am amazed at how far he has come in four months!
-"Mom, today I want to swim and watch Paw Patrol. Put it on your list." He makes me laugh so often!
-He tells us that he loves us many times a day and we have a joke that we tell him that we love him more. To which he always replies, "I love you a million and five."
-He is persistent, brave, aggressive and stubborn.
-His smile and laughter can light up a room. He is an absolute joy to our family.
Love the crooked cowboy smile
Also love the muscles and the wonky underwear
Joshy and Ellie occasionally skype with one another. It's so sweet!
This may be one of my favorite pictures of all time. These goggles couldn't match his personality better.
Just to prove that we weren't kidding about the goggles in the shower.
Perler beads (in which he does patterns now) and pumping some iron
Left: he would have been a cute girl!
Right: Not a big fan on mom taking a picture of him dressed as a pant-less knight
Can you spy Josh? This is him keeping busy during mommy's 2 hour Spanish lesson.
This is another of my favorite pictures of him. He is always doing goofy things like this, especially for the camera.
These three pictures are all the things he decided to do for the camera except smile
He's been really into duplo legos recently. This is him hanging out on my bed while I blog
Josh and I are slowly getting into a system together while the big boys are at school. I'm treasuring this time with just me and my youngest! When I asked him if he wanted to go to school, his reply was, "But, mom, who would hang out with you then?"
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