The Wood Between the Worlds: joshua and 10

4/22/2012 | Author: kate

Joshua turned 10! A WHOLE decade old!! I seriously can't believe that.

Going through 10 years of pictures takes a seriously long time. It was very hard to narrow it down to 24 pictures. But it also brought back lots of memories and emotions. First, the shock of becoming new parents. Joshua was planned, but I do not think anything could have prepared us for parenthood. Then the amazing amount of cuteness and fun and laughter that Joshua brought into our lives. Next, I cannot deny that there was a lot of frustration with him from preschool through early elementary. He was just a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. I sure wish we would have done some things differently with his education, instead of trying to do what everyone else was doing. Those years came to an abrupt end at about the time the Elsa died. Then there were the years that we grew together as a family, learning together, having fun together, enjoying each other, and supporting each other through our times of grief and sadness. Then came Ollie and all the fun we've had since then. I really think a lot of our Joshua. He is turning into a really great young person! Most notably he is so kind and thoughtful of others and their feelings. He is also smart and fun and a big helper. He is a great son and big brother.

I asked Joshua to share a few things about himself right now:

~Best thing about family:

A lot of things. Love. Having fun together, playing games together.

~Best thing about church:

Learning the gospel.

~Favorite color:

Light sky blue.

~Favorite food:

Tamales

~Favorite activites:

Playing games with family, reading, going to the beach, going to the park.

~Favortie vacation:

Going to Alaska

~Favorite thing to learn about:

Science

For his birthday party this year I offered to let him pick two friends and go somewhere fun with them. He picked his friends T and K. But because he's such kind person, he wanted to invite K's younger brother J too...so he wouldn't feel left out. And of course, Toby is his best friend so he came too. And since the two older Mansius brothers were coming, we just had their mom meet us there and all four of their kids joined the party. Ah...so much for two friends! So we all went to Pump it Up, so jump and play...and then we brought everyone back to our house for pizza, cake and ice cream with the aunties and cousins too (we would've invited the aunties and cousins to pump it up also, but it was on a weekday when they were working). A great time was had by all!

All of the kids got a great work out at Pump it UP!

Joshua's birthday cake!

I thought with all those kids and the aunties and cousins that we had enough people for a big, yummy Costco cake (and normally I make the cake, but we got home from Seattle the night before)...but after everyone finished we still had a ton of cake left to put in the freezer! Yummy though...I'm not complaining {though maybe I should be keeping my sugar intake in check so I don't have a 12 pound baby!}

Joshua and all the friends!...

I think he's holding out his arms so the littler kids won't blow out his candles. :)

{Oh...and I'm loving the windows and light in our new house! For once we have light, bright birthday pictures!

And I love that it finally isn't pouring on Joshua's birthday...this is the first year in 5 years, I think.}

One of Joshua's best friends "T" playing with his new Perplexus...see I told you the kids LOVE it. He was so engrossed in it that he wouldn't even look up for the picture.

Wow!! Joshua LOVED the books that the Mansius family gave him...interesting how they just happened to know how much Joshy LOVES the Basher Science books and wants to collect them all.

Ollie was loving my sister's little doggy

Oh! The babies loving on little Leelou.

And finally, we sang happy birthday to Joshua again when the aunties and cousins came over...

We would've done it once, but we had to rush Joshua's friend "T" home so he could leave on his family vacation.

We had a great time this year! Thanks for everyone who came to celebrate with us!

birthday, books, Joshua |

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1 comments:

On May 2, 2012 at 8:15 PM , Ariana said...: Fun stuff! I can't believe he's 10!! Looks like a great b-day... we have a perplexus too. It's so fun!! Jeff did the whole thing a couple times without missing, but it's pretty hard. Good for coordination.