Happy 2nd Birthday, Joshua Scott!

Our boy turned TWO today.  We celebrated on Sunday, like any family of a Buzz and Woody fan would:  with aliens.  Jeff wanted to make one of his grandiose cake creations, but I told him that a 2-ft tall 3-dimentional Buzz would be too intimidating for a toddler, so he let me try my hand at alien cupcakes.  :)

We had practiced all day:  singing "Happy Birthday" and then blowing the candles out.  He was excited to try, but needed some help in the wind department.

He is very excited to be TWO and has been saying TWO and showing two little fingers all month long.  He can't quite do two fingers up on one hand, but this 1 + 1 version makes his mathematical father very proud.  :)

 Mmmm...

 What a happy day for our family!

 Cousin Megan got to be an only child, coming up to the party with G'ma Joan and Papa Greg!

Cousin Anthony was so excited about this party--Joshy was having a Toy Story party just like Anthony did last summer!  :)   Janie just celebrated her birthday, but was not sick of cake and ice cream!

 Harvey and Colleen (and Scott who always evades my camera) were out soaking in the 60 degree weather that came out of nowhere as a gift!  We hauled out the lawn furniture!

Josh got spoiled with all sorts of gifts.  This one is, of course, from Uncle Ben.  Caterpillar runs in his blood.  :)  Josh instantly started loading treasures in the back of it.

 The tallest present from the Morrows...blocks!

 Josh had lots of helpers...

 He got a Woody doll from G'ma Joan and Papa Greg...

 ...and a Thomas train from G'ma Colleen and Papa Scott.

 Anthony and Josh posing for a matching-shirt picture...

Henry LOVED the truck.  I even hauled him around in the back of it before the party ended.  Henry, if your parents ever tell you that I let you get dumped out of the back of that truck, it isn't true!  :)  Auntie would never let that happen!  :)

 Love this shot.  Grandmas in their natural pose.

We couldn't believe the weather!  Papa Scott is the best pusher--Janie even asked her dad if he would let Papa push instead.  :)

Building a "Rapunzel Tower" with Dad...

And we were so lucky to have Megan and G'ma Joan and Papa Greg spend the night with us!  Megan even decided to lose her 2nd front tooth for us that night!  Isn't she the cutest thing?!?

We had a fun birthday with you, Joshua!  Your daddy and I love you immensely!

In the Shop

This kid loves to feed the cats in Papa Greg's shop.

 And after Joshy's fed them, Papa doesn't have to feed them for days.  :)

Ben was so great to change my snow tires before I left--we laughed, because the next day we got spring SNOW--and he even changed my oil.  It was a spoil LE day.

Josh wasn't sure about giving high five to those dirty Uncle Ben hands, but he was braver than Gracie...

And this is Ben humoring me with one last picture.  I kept telling him that with his first child due in the next few days, this was the last time I'd get a picture of him before fatherhood.  As I post this today, there's no baby yet, but I'm sure the next picture of Ben will show him much more TIRED. :)  We are so excited for him and Kelly!  They'll be such great parents...

G'ma Trudy and Papa LeRoy's House

And, of course, no farm weekend is complete without a visit to G'ma Trudy and Papa LeRoy's house!  We ended up staying until Monday (since I didn't have to work, and poor Jeffrey was left at home to coach at a track meet and MISS US the rest of the time) and spent our morning watching Grace and Josh sneak M&M's from the candy dish, pull out every single toy in G'ma and G'pa's toy box, and staying long enough to have dinner at noon with them.  We had all sorts of stories to hear and tell, and we may have even had time to put a few things out of place on our way out.  (Just to remind them that we love them!) :)

 Gma brought out the singing/rotating cake plate for Josh, since his birthday was right around the corner...

And the wooden toys were the biggest hit!  We were so blessed to have time with G'ma and Papa all to ourselves!  Spoiled.

Carmen's Bridal Shower

Carmen and my cousin, Zach, are getting married in May!  We were so excited that we were in town to celebrate her at her bridal shower.  One of the games was the Toilet Paper Designer Gown contest.  I personally and unbiasedly think that Megan was the winner, although Kelly should probably win for her amazingly sleek 9-months pregnant gown.  (Shhh!  Don't tell her I put her on the blog!)

And Gracie tried on her flower girl dress--it fit just perfectly!  She's already a pro at this--last year she was honored to be in Auntie Debbie's wedding.  And this time around, the wedding is on her birthday!  What a fun memory for her 4th birthday!

It was so fun to spend time with the (growing!) Moser family--and we got to learn a lot about Carmen through the fun shower games that her sister planned.  We are so excited to welcome her, officially, to the Dobroth/Moser family! :)

Abby McMorrow Turns EIGHT!

She's EIGHT.  How did this happen?  Yesterday I held this little potato-sized girl in my arms, looking at my sister's eyes looking back at me...and I blink and she's eight.  Sigh.  She is so entertaining, this girl!  This year, Abby celebrated her March 22 birthday the weekend before--on St. Patrick's Day!  Brooke told us years ago that, "[They] are part Irish, you know."

 Green everywhere...

 An Irish Blessing said before the meal of...

 ...green food!  Guacamole, green jello, GREEN mac and cheese, and Irish potato soup and Brady's famous Reuben soup.

Even Aunts Cindy and Christi came for the fun--they were in town for Carmen's bridal shower the next day.

 Look closely...Lucky Charm cupcakes!

Turns out even some of her gifts were green.  :)

It was a long day for Josh--Jeff had his first track meet, so I brought the kids to the farm on my own,
and when it was time to split, Josh couldn't find his exit-buddy:  Dad.  So Brady stepped in.  :)  Josh was so tired he started saying, "Car, car..."

The whole crazy bunch of Mosers and McMorrows.  I think George and Connie won the costume contest.  :)

We love you, Abby girl!  We hope your eighth year is amazing!

Losing it!

So, we've been losing things in the Lochhead household.  I don't know why this surprises me--we're pretty NUTSO at this house.  One day last week we were even more nutso than usual...it was a day I decided to use a gift card someone had given me, and when checking out at the cash register, I couldn't find it.  I was SICK! Not just sick about losing the gift card:  I rubber-band all of my gift cards together in my purse, and the WHOLE STACK was gone.  I didn't panic at first, I just thought through the places I'd look to find them:  the car, the kids' toy box (it happens), the cupboard in the kitchen...  I prayed that God would help me find them--if he cared about a lost coin, I figure He cares about the small things in my life.  :)

Going on simultaneously, I had been using the extra set of keys for the van, because our others were misplaced.  Every time I'd needed them we were in a hurry, so I'd been using the extras for a few days.  I kept having great intentions to search all of my coat pockets and clean out my purse, but alas, it never became a priority--after all, the spares worked just fine.  

This all sets the stage for the next scene:  I am realizing it's time to get the hungry herd fed, so I open the fridge (how every good meal starts!) and start scanning for potential dinner inspiration.  But instead of inspiration, I found humor:

 Don't see it yet?  Look closely at the fruit drawer...

...VAN KEYS!!!  A very logical spot for a toddler to put these after he makes the van "honk" by locking it through the house/garage walls.  [Insert 2-year old maniacal laugh here.]

What cracked me up even more, is that I could almost hear God telling me:  See, you didn't even KNOW these were lost and I helped you find them.  Trust me with the gift cards.  :)

And the happy ending/misplaced goods MIRACLE concludes when I find the gift cards in my purse drawer at school.  I was on the phone with a parent when I found them and ended up telling them the whole story, I was so relieved.  :)  Ahhh, sometimes it takes losing it to remind you you never had it to begin with.  :)  Control is so hard to give up...

BTW:  My mother has amazing stories about finding desperately lost belongings--with God's help.  She found her WEDDING RING in the last scoop of junk being filtered out of the burn barrel...and found Grandma's bracelet while working in her garden...

Us, these days...

These days... Josh has been practicing taking off his own diaper.

This is a fun shot--the not-so-fun shot would've been taken of his crib this morning when Jeff found that he'd taken off a POOPY diaper.

 These days...the kids have been playing more and more dress-up.

These are the Mickey/Minnie hats that our friend, Emma, had at her birthday party.  I try putting them on stuffed animals for the kids to find in the morning and they quickly snatch them off as soon as they spot them.

These days...Grace's favorite game is "put this up so Joshy can't get it."

This little pouch is filled with Gracie treasures.  I find them stashed up on counters and desks "where Joshy can't reach."

These days...we're fighting colds and taking medicine, fighting siblings and hugging it out, fighting to be big kids and snuggling with mom and dad.  We love these days.