Happy Birthday Joseph!

I have been a bit of a slacker with my blogging, there has been a lot going on here, so this is the first of 3 new posts.

The big news around here is Joseph is 9. And he is not letting anyone forget it! He really wanted to go to Asian Star, a Chinese restaurant in town that we had not been to. So we went to dinner and then came home for dessert and presents. It was a fun night and very low key. After all the parties I have thrown this year it was a welcomed change. I should mention that he decided what we did, I didn't give him the shaft because I was partied out. I would have thrown him a big party, but he is too much like his dad to want that. Anyway I digress...

It is hard to believe he is 9. He is growing up so fast. He has taught Ben and I so much about being parents and about how to love unconditionally. He is a great kid with so much to offer. It is fun to see him grow and develop into his (more) grown-up self. He likes to try new things now which has been difficult for him in the past. He is also developing a Ben like sense of humor. It is fun to see him trying to be funny and watching for peoples reactions. He is very smart and very stubborn which can be a difficult mix in a personality but he is also very sweet and has moments of great tenderness. I am grateful to be his mom.





SHIVERS UPDATE
I thought that some of you might enjoy an update on our puppy. It has been an interesting week and a half with plenty of ups and downs. We are all finding our selves getting attached to shivers. In some ways having a puppy is not as bad as I thought it would be, but there are plenty of times when it is as bad and worse than I thought it would be. There have not been any major incidents...but lots of little accidents! I will keep you posted on the puppy front.

And the winner is...

Just over a month ago I wrote about a photograph that Joseph submitted to Reflections. Last week we got a call telling us that Joseph was getting an award for his photo and that we should plan on attending the assembly. I did not know how the awards worked, but was excited to see him get whatever it was. Once I got there I realized there were two types of awards, an honorable mention metal and a trophy for the top 5 in each category. Those top 5 also got a pizza party and they each go on to compete at the district level of Reflections. First they had everyone who participated in each category stand, then they read the honorable mentions then they got to the top 5 from each category and handed out trophy's.

The photography category ended up being more popular than I thought it would be and there we quite a few entries. It turns out that Joseph was one of the top 5 for photography. He was so excited to get his first trophy. I was so proud of him. I know that winning isn't everything, and we try really hard to teach our kids good sportsmanship and how to handle disappointment, but it was so great to see him get recognition for something he was so proud of.

Hello, we are missing one!

Van is a very smart little man. Although he doesn't talk much he has great non-verbal communication. Here is just one example...

A few days ago Joseph and Lillie put up Christmas trees in their bedrooms; a tradition that we started last year. Van was of course fascinated with them. So the next day he grabbed my hand and drug me down to Joseph's room, stood in the doorway and said "Tree." I said something like "Yes, do you like the tree?" Then he grabbed my hand again and took me back upstairs to Lillie's room, stood in the doorway and said "Tree." Then he walked over to his door way and stood there for a second then turned to me and asked "Tree?"

We had neglected to realize that not putting a tree in Van's room would be a problem. Apparently this over site did not go unnoticed. After telling my grandma this story, she very sweetly donated a small table tree to Van's cause. We put it up and decorated it today. He was so excited and wanted to sit right next to it, he even laid down for a nap without complaint because I told him I would leave the Christmas lights on. I love it when they are this easy to please!