Frosty the Snowman!... x 4

Last weekend was perfect for Christmas decorating. We even got a little (very little) snow to add to the ambience of the day. It was perfect packing snow. Mommy showed me how to make a snowman (with LOTS of help).
He looked a little lonely, so we made a family for him.

Stocking Spree

Mommy found a free Christmas stocking pattern online and decided to make stockings for our whole family. She's been working really hard on them and had lots of fun too. Apparently sewing can be very therapeutic when you've got two kids driving you crazy.
And here they are. Can you guess who each of them belongs to?
Left to Right: Josh, Daddy, Mommy, Josie
Daddy was given a little creative license in the process as well. He had this cool idea to make a stocking out of an old pair of jeans. Apparently Daddy's got a little redneck in him... and Josh inherited it, poor guy. I think NIH needs to do some gene therapy research on how to cure this devastating disease.
Mommy helped my cousin Breanna make her own stocking too. It was lots of fun to watch.
Breanna designed and sewed the stocking all by herself.
She is sooo talented! And it even matches her shirt.

'Tis the Season to Bake Cookies

I helped make my first batch of cookies last week. Mommy and I made peanut butter cookies. We only needed three ingredients, peanut butter, egg and snow. Mommy called this stuff sugar, but I still say its snow. One of my jobs was to roll the peanut butter balls in the snow and put them on the cookie sheet.
Mommy says I look exactly like Grandma R. in this picture.
Then we smashed the peanut butter balls with a fork and put them in the oven.

Enjoying the fruits of my labor. What? I'm not supposed to eat the cookie first?

Mysteriously, half the cookies were gone when I got up from my nap. Mommy said it must have been Joshua, but her story doesn't quite add up. I think I need to launch my own investigation.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Not!

Hey its Josh. Just in case anyone was wondering how MY Christmas is going...
Nothing like a good nap on the couch and the smell of Christmas tree.
Its not always all about Josie around here. I do get some time with Mommy too.

Josie does play with me sometimes. But whenever Mommy pulls out the camera, things always end up the same way.

Josie ALWAYS has to be...

the center of attention.

This is my parents' idea of a fun time.

See what I've got to deal with here. I get no respect.

It's all fun and games until somebody gets labeled as a 6ft.-7ft. Frazier Fir.

O Christmas Tree!

Daddy went out and killed our Christmas tree last weekend and dragged it home in the back of his pickup truck. Mommy mentioned something about him exercising his hunting/gathering instincts.
Can't you feel the testosterone flowing? Way to show that Christmas Tree who's boss, Daddy.

Mommy handled the more delicate details.

But Daddy also has a sensitive side.

I got to help decorate the tree too!

I also had the very important job of strength-testing the branches. As you can see, I'm very good at what I do.

Deck the Kitchen!

In addition to our big family tree, I got my very own tree. I decorated it all by myself (except for the lights, of course).
And I put it in my room next to the kitchen.

Now I can feel festive when I'm making my donut and chicken leg soup.

The other cool thing is that Mommy and Daddy use the tree as my nightlight.

My Day

Josh here. I know you hear a lot about what's going on with Josie, so I decided to let you know about what a typical day is for me.

My day starts at 7am and I'm wanting my breakfast drink right away and a diaper change promptly after that. From then on, I'm constantly fighting the paparazzi trying to get my picture. Everyone wants a piece of me.

The rest of the day is spent eating, taking naps, and having fun. I don't have to go in my crib to take naps. I get to sleep sitting up in my bouncy chair or swing or highchair because I've got a big dent on the back of my head that Mommy and the doctor are trying to smooth out.

This is my floor gym. It used to stress me out, but now I kinda like it for short periods of time.

Mommy makes me exercise too. I don't like it very much, but occasionally I won't cry when I'm on my belly. I'm comfortable enough with my manhood to be seen with a pink tummy time pillow.

Mommy likes to make me laugh whenever possible. Unbeknownst to many, she is sometimes very funny. (Betcha didn't know I could use big, underutilized words like that.)

I also enjoy spending time in my swing watching the birdies...

...and sucking on my lower lip.

I like to spend time with Daddy when he comes home from work.

Now that the weather is cold, I get to enjoy some time by the fire too!

I love watching the fire. It's very relaxing.

At the end of the day (about 8:30pm), its back to the crib I go. Through the night, I enjoy spinning around so Mommy never knows what direction I'll be in when she comes to get me in the morning.

Life is good!

My First Backpack.
Josie here. Just wanted to tell you about my cool new backpack. It has a sleeping bag, a flashlight and a water bottle. Just put me out in the wilderness and I'll be able to survive for a week. Daddy's been taking me on "hikes" around the house, saying something about starting training early. I don't know what he's talking about.

My backpack looks like an owl from the back. Isn't it cute. Oh yeah, I need my party hat to survive in the wilderness too!

Here I am on a practice run with the sleeping bag. Then I took it to Grandma R's house for Thanksgiving. It was lots of fun.

I've got another cool thing recently. I've been coughing a lot at night for a few weeks, so Mommy took me to the doctor. Now I get to take a bunch of asthma/allergy medicine to see if I start feeling better. One of the medicines is taken by a nebulizer. But the fun part is, that I get to wear a fish mask to take it (aka "fish-face"). After a few rounds, I can hold it all by myself. I have to do this twice a day. The best part of all is that I get to watch TV while I'm doing it. I'll do anything to watch TV.


See the vapor coming out. I promise its a prescription drug and its legal.

It seems to be helping a little. I'm not coughing for 3 hours straight and I'm sleeping better. Only one minor (sarcasm) side effect, "MAY AFFECT GROWTH RATE in children". Fortunately, I've got a little height to spare.

Happy Thanksgiving! (Yeah, I know, we're late. But better late than never.)
We had lots of fun up in PA at Grandma and Grandpa R's house. Uncle Aaron and Aunt Kristin came to visit too. I had fun playing playing a card game with Uncle Aaron. When I get bigger, he's going to teach me to play poker.

I helped Grandma make her awesome pumpkin pies. The secret is they're not actually made out of pumpkin. You use Hubbard squash instead. Here I am squishing the squash. It's hard work, but we ended up with seven pies. We made sure to eat them all before we left!

The day after Thanksgiving, we had Raisin Bran Muffins for breakfast, a family favorite. It doesn't sound that great, but if you knew all the bad things that go into making it (ex: Crisco), you would know it tastes good. Mommy tells me the "right" way to eat these kind of muffins is to cut the top off the muffin, place both pieces cut-side up, put on butter and brown sugar, and then pour milk on top and eat it with a spoon, as demonstrated by Uncle Aaron in the picture below. There's actually about four different ways different family members likes to eat these muffins. Let's just say, Daddy doesn't do it the "right" way.

I got a modified version of the "right" way, with less milk and no spoon. Someday I'll be able to eat muffins just like my Mommy. (Holla all you Marylanders, check out my crab plate. Represent.)

Josh just had to sit and watch. Maybe next year buddy.

Check out the duds. He's one cool dude with his Harley onesie and saturday shirt.

Note: saturday shirt is in reference to Grandpa's typical saturday attire, a casual long-sleeve shirt unbuttoned with a T-shirt underneath. He's got a Harley too!
This one's for you Grandpa!