A certain redhead turns 2!

Back in August: 

First the cake (which I was pretty proud of!) and then the cape...the two highlights of birthday #2. 

Josiah has what we call a "slight obsession" with trains, specifically Thomas the Train (and friends--Percy, James, Toby, etc.). We have a Thomas the Train set and he will play with it for hours. So the birthday cake idea was pretty much a no-brainer. This was my first 3-D mold, but it worked out pretty well. I baked it Friday morning and frosted it Friday night, using one of the boys' trains as a model. 

I think he likes it!

The party ended up with a hat theme--not sure how that happened, but it was fun!

A brother and a cousin look on, ready to help if needed!

Aunt MB sent Jojo a Super J cape. Thomas has been wearing a bandana for the last 8 months or so whenever TJ put his cape on, so this gift was a huge hit! He runs around yelling "Super Jojo!"

You can picture him yelling that here.

The bandana cape got passed down to cousin James.

I love this photo.

It's a good thing we have so many hats for our guests to choose from! The Brewer helmet is mine from high school softball--I don't remember anymore why we got them, but it's signed by everyone on our team.

Monster bowling: another popular gift!

The party was the Saturday before Jojo's birthday when the Ellestads were in town--just cake with them and the neighbors after dinner. Plenty of fun, which is good because Jojo's actual birthday (Tuesday) was a bit rough. He fell off a toy truck while we were playing at a friend's house and ended up with a concussion. You can see the dazed look in his eyes. Poor kid! Good thing he won't remember this birthday.

 But he did love the stool from Grandma and Grandpa! So now instead of TJ and Jojo fighting over TJ's stool, they fight over prime placement in front of the sink. I think it's an improvement.

He's a bit more perked up in this picture, but it was an early night. Fortunately he was better the next day.
Happy Birthday Sweet Josiah!

The Ellestads come for water fun

Jenn, Pat and James came to hang out one weekend in August, and we filled it with water fun! (And Jojo's birthday, but that will be another post.)

We spent part of Saturday hanging out at School Section Lake. James loved the lake and did his best to drink as much of it as possible.

Thomas tried out his big kid skis for a little shore pulling

  I helped him balance while Ed and Pat each took a turn pulling him.

Just need to work on the standing up part!

On Sunday we went to the dunes at Van Buren State Park for another gorgeous day.

 Dune jumping!

James spent the time in the back carrier--no sand fun for him this year!

Love this picture of Jojo walking on the beach.

Our family with the lovely Lake Michigan backdrop. Our primary color shirts were purely by accident!

Thomas played so hard that this is how he slept the whole drive home!

Beightols in Kzoo

The Beightols stopped by for a weekend on their way to visit family in Canada. The last time we were all together, Josiah had just been born and Jacob was only a few months old, so we knew the boys would have a great time playing now that they were older.

We walked over to the airfield to see our neighbor's plane. Justin even got a ride!

Jojo is flying!

We headed over to Ribfest. Yum!

A great panoramic shot of the Ribfest booths

Delicious...

We had apple pie to celebrate Ed's birthday. Carrie with Ed:

Me with Ed

Four boys in the tub--cleaning up from Ribfest!

Four boys means lots of train playing!

Warren Dunes with the Goods

Near the end of July, we met the Good family from Chicago at Warren Dunes. We'd driven past the dunes the weekend before when it was 85 degrees and the line to get into the state park was several miles long. Fortunately (or not?) this Saturday was cool and mostly cloudy, so the dunes were much emptier! 

The kids and adults had a blast climbing up and running down the huge sand dunes.

Here are all 5 kids:

Edison was insistent on climbing the dunes himself.

Jojo "jumping"

Ed and the bigger boys

Elliott and TJ running (and falling) down a huge sand dune

Loved watching this soar over our heads!

Juice boxes and snacks for all in the back of the car after our hike.

The Goods came back to our house to spend the night. We had delicious pizza, lots of kids running around, many baths, a black eye for Elliott courtesy of TJ, and then Jojo throwing up all night. All in all, much more fun than not!

It's a zoo out there!

We met my cousin Andrea and her two boys, Vince and Dominic, at Binder Park Zoo on a beautiful Friday. The boys had a great time--they loved seeing the animals and getting to hang out together. We (mostly) loved having the wagons to pull the boys around in, although much of the time Thomas wanted to be out running around and Jojo wanted to be the one pulling the wagon.

 On the train to "Africa."

Ultimately the boys ended up switching partners--big boys in one wagon and little boys in the other. Andrea and I took turns pulling the heavy wagon!

Feeding the giraffes lettuce. I think Thomas ended up being the only one willing to do it!

Baseball in the backyard

We spent a wonderful number of nights playing baseball in the yard this summer. TJ tried out his new glove, and both boys took plenty of batting practice. 

A+ for effort!

And the video:

We started Jojo out on the tee, but he wanted to hit like TJ. He's doing amazingly well for an almost 2-year-old!

Especially when the camera is out, it feels like 100 swings for every hit, but when he gets in a groove it's probably 1 hit for every 6 or 7 swings. And yes, he prefers lefty for hitting though seems to be a righty for everything else.

Working on getting hands ready to catch.