Josephine is 2 years old!

Josephine after eating her cupcake.

Josephine's 2nd birthday was last week! She had 2 parties and our living room is covered in new toys. Parties are her favorite things. It's been awhile since I put up a blog, so I'll start with what else we've been up to.

For Thanksgiving, we had breakfast at Grannie and Papaw's then had dinner at Granna's. It was a busy day, but Josephine had a blast -- she loves parties! My aunt and uncle from New Jersey came down for the holiday. Josephine was still asking for Uncle George and Aunt Betty last week. She wanted them to come to her birthday party.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the Fantasy of Trees with Naomi (who spent the night with us), Granna, Grannie, Papaw, Uncle George, Aunt Betty, and the Randolph's. It was quite a crew! The girls enjoyed it, but lost interest in the trees fairly quickly. They had a great kid's play area that we spent alot of time at. And, of course, there was the carousel. Josephine's second favorite thing is a carousel.


Josephine and Naomi in the play area at the Fantasy of Trees.

For Josephine's birthday, we invited the Randolph's and Naomi over for pizza and play time. The kids had such a good time! (The adults too.) Josephine insisted on playing Ring Around the Rosie most of the time. She had a willing crew, which helped.


I love this picture of Drinnen and Josephine!!!


Josephine giving Naomi a hug. She can still be a bit rough with her hugs.

On Saturday we had "The" birthday party. The whole family came. There wasn't a theme, I just had about 20 balloons inflated and put them around the house. Josephine was so excited about that. Josephine had requested an orange and white cake (no, it wasn't Nathan's idea). I managed to make orange icing. I've never experimented with food coloring before. Josephine also chose pink plates and yellow napkins. Hey, it's her party. : ) Josephine has so many new toys now -- and Christmas is 2 weeks away! We gave her a new puzzle and a Thomas the Train set (she loves Thomas!) Grannie and Papaw gave her a Pooh book (she loves Pooh!) and "The old lady that swallowed a fly" book and doll. She was scared of the doll at first because it looks a little scary, but she has warmed up to it since. Granna and Paps got her a baby and all the furniture that could possibly go with it -- stroller, high chair, crib, etc. They also gave her a little kid's Bible. Aunt Leah and Uncle Brian gave her a Little People Farm. Aunt Moug and Naomi gave her a cash register. If I left anything off the list, I'm sorry! Josephine slept for 13 1/2 hours last night. We wore her out at her party! Naomi had fun playing with Josephine's new toys too.

Nathan and I gave this puzzle to Josephine the day before her party. It's still a bit advanced for her, but she'll get it soon.

Josephine and Nathan at her birthday party.




Josephine with her new doll that she has named Sylvia. Not sure why Sylvia, but that's what she chose, so that's what we're calling the doll.


Josephine and Elizabeth at her party.

It's hard to believe it's been two years since Josephine was born. She has grown so fast. On the other hand, I don't really remember life without her. Nathan and I are truly blessed to have such a wonderful daughter. The repetition of the day-to-day needs like feeding, diapers, etc. can wear on us a little, but being able to watch her grow and learn is such an amazing experience. We're amazed every day at what she can do.

Kindermusik is still one of Josephine's favorite things. I completely forgot to take her to class a couple weeks ago. I felt so bad! Luckily, she's not old enough to know or care about that kind of thing. She's singing more and more both with the cds and without. She can also follow directions on the cds too (like hop or clap). My favorite song that she has sung is "You Are my Sunshine". I sing it to her everytime I take her up to go to sleep. I've only heard her sing it once, but it was so sweet. I've even made up a verse that is the same tune and she sang that too. I usually give Josephine a few minutes after she wakes up before I go get her out of her crib. She often talks to herself and I like to listen to it over the monitor. One afternoon last week she took Pooh with her to sleep. When she woke up she started singing "Winnie the Pooh". However, I don't know the words to the song, but I know the basic tune. My version of the song goes "Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, Mama needs to learn the words to the song called Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh". She was singing my version of the song to her Pooh bear when she woke up. It was funny.

Josephine still loves to learn. She gets very excited about seeing the moon in the sky so I got her a book on the sun, moon, and planets. She can visually tell the difference between the moon, sun, and Earth. She knows that we live on the planet Earth. She knows that the sun is made of fire (we aren't going to explain plasma to her) and that the moon is made of rock. She doesn't quite get the concept of the moon revolving around the Earth and the Earth revolving around the sun. There's a page with all the planets on it. She calls Jupiter the "Daddy", Saturn the "Mommy", and Uranus the "Baby". She knows how to bring it down to her level. : )

Nathan and I irritated Josephine with our singing for the first time last night. We were getting in the van and the song "Unskinny Bop" from the 80's came on the radio. Nathan and I started singing it to her. "Stop! Stop!" she yelled at us. We could only laugh.

Now that the birthday has come and gone, we will be getting ready for Christmas soon. Hopefully we'll get the tree up this week. Josephine is getting her pictures taken on Tuesday so I will have some pictures to add later this week.