Joshua turns 3!!!

Yep, another month late but two days after Christmas we celebrated Joshua's 3rd birthday. The night before we enjoyed decorating the downstairs with streamers and balloons.

The morning of his birthday we all woke up to a lot of 'wows' and 'oohs ahhs' just as on Christmas Day. Joshua is smothered in gifts and fun celebrations due to his birthday and Christmas being within 3 days of each other. It's crazy! He once again enjoyed opening gifts in mommy and daddy's bed - a tradition we have continued on from Aaron's family.


Later that afternoon we met up with some family and went bowling. We got a fantastic family package with bowling and delicious food. We all had so much fun and Josh came in second on our first game, he nearly beat us all. It was so cute to watch him pick up his 6 lb bowling ball and roll it down the lane (he used the guide of course :)).















After bowling we all headed back to our house for cake and ice cream and more gifts from grandma and grandpa. I made a delicious two layer brownie cake that Josh seemed to enjoy. I am not extremely creative but I did include a train track on it - I think he appreciated that...


We had a fantastic day and I cannot believe our little boy is already 3. Time flies by so fast and here we are awaiting the arrival of our first daughter.

Christmas a month late!

We had a different Christmas this year but enjoyed the fun we had with Joshua.

Christmas Eve was spent acting out (teaching Josh) more about the nativity and birth of Christ.
Afterwards we made some of our favorite chocolate chocolate chip cookies and set a plate out for Santa and his reindeer. Joshua also wrote out a cute letter with his daddy to put with the cookies.

We then opened one gift on Christmas Eve as it has been tradition in our families. Joshua got a really nice pair of blue polar bear pjs. He loves wearing them...

Aaron's cousin Marcus and his wife Nichole joined us this Christmas and came down on Christmas Eve.

Once Joshua was in bed Nichole helped me decorate his new room in Thomas the Train. We spent a good hour or more putting a border on his wall. It turned out so cute! We then finished off the night playing games and watching a movie.

Christmas morning Joshua woke us up around 7:30 and first thing he did was run right into his 'new room'. Christmas day we moved him over from his older 'baby' room to his new 'big boy' room. We also transferred him from his toddler bed to the bottom bunk. The first word out of his mouth when he saw the room was "WOW" he was stunned. Needless to say he loved it! He ran up to the bed and pointed out all the trains and also stood to admire the new border.

We then convinced him to go wake up Marcus and Nichole and we all headed downstairs for our wonderful gift opening.

We all got some amazing gifts. This year was so much fun with Joshua as he understood more of what gifts are and why we give them. After ever gift he opened we had to pry him from it to get him to open another one. I guess we could have just gotten him one gift then right? :)

Early afternoon my parents, brother and sister joined us for a traditional English Christmas dinner. I made a turkey, along with all the other wonderful side dishes. It was delicious and so much fun to make. Everyone was stuffed full of food and ready for a big nap afterwards, kinda felt like another Thanksgiving... We then exchanged gifts with my parents and I have to say, I was shocked when I got a new vacuum. YAY, it's what I wanted and sooo needed.
Thanks everyone for such a wonderful Christmas this year and for all the fabulous gifts.

Events before Christmas

On November 29th we celebrated Aaron's birthday with a morning of gift opening. That afternoon we surprised him with 8 tickets to the Jazz game. Before heading to the game we had dinner at my parents house with more gift opening and Cake eating. I made Aaron a delicious brownie cake. It was extremely rich in taste but oh so good. It just didn't turn out looking as great... I tried to decorate it like a soccer field. I'm sure he appreciated it :)

15th December we headed to the tumble gym for a farewell party for Jess Ben and Jack as they were moving to Denver in a couple days. Although I didn't embark on the facilities equipment I sure had fun watching Josh and Jack interact. Along with the crazy stunts Aaron and Ben were pulling.

On the 19th we helped Jess and Ben pack up their apartment and move out. A big snow storm ended up rolling in that afternoon so they spent the night with us until it was clear for them to head to Denver. Although it took them a long time to get there they did arrive safely.

This is a picture of the 'frogman' Josh and Aaron made in the snow. Their attempt to build a snowman failed as the snow was too powdery.

Final catch up...

I have been horrible at this but here I am again... Before we hit Christmas (yes only 3 days away) I have to finish off about our trip to England/France back in late September, early October.


The remainder of our time in France was spent touring Paris. We visited many places and it brought back a lot of memories of our Honeymoon and Aaron's mission. One of the evenings Josh went back to the villa with Mama, Pops, and Beth while we spent more time in the 'romantic city'. We stopped by a little place before heading back and had yummy chicken kabobs. MMmmm so good.
Below are some places we visited:

Notre-Dame Cathedral

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Arc de Triomphe

Moulin Rouge & Trocadero

Sacre-Coeur

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Statue of Liberty

Eiffel Tower

Before heading back to England Aaron's Mum and Dad treated us to a delicious dinner at the Planet Hollywood near Disneyland Paris. Thanks so much!!!

I Love this Picture - There was a lovely young swan near our villa in France and I think this picture says it all!

When we returned to England we were able to visit a few more places before Aaron returned home. Grannie and Grancha took us to the Croft Castle where I was able to embark in a whole new experience of ancestry. It was such a neat experience to visit the castle where my mother's ancestors came from and learn a bit more about their history. It was such a neat experience to be in the surroundings and imagine what had taken place there many years ago. It was incredible! Thank you Grannie and Grancha!

Croft Castle

We also visited Chatsworth House (Mr. Darcy's house from the Hollywood version of Pride and Prejudice), Sherwood Forest (Robin Hoods Home :)) and spent more time visiting friends and family. Before Aaron returned home Mum and Dad took us out for dinner while Beth and Josh stayed with Auntie Sarah, we had such a fun evening out with the four of us and also got to stop by the home Mum and Dad lived in when they were first married. It was so cute to see them reminisce.

Chatsworth House

Sherwood Forest
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The Church where Robin and Maid Marian were married













Me & Aaron

Mum & Dad

at a Mexican restaurant for dinner

Visiting the first home of Mum & Dad

Joshua Playing 'Trains' with Finley and Chester

After Aaron headed back home we had another week to enjoy our time and relax before following him. Grannie took us to Foxton Locks for a day and that was definitely a new experience. I have to say, I've never seen anything like it, it was incredible.
One of the days Pops, Josh and myself headed to Drayton Manor and Thomas Land. That was the neatest experience and we wish that Aaron could have been with us. Joshua was in heaven, it was like nothing I had ever seen or experienced and to make things even better, hardly anyone was there. It was fantastic. They also had a big shop where EVERYTHING was in Thomas the Train so I got a few Christmas and birthday gifts while we were there.

Joshua K., Olivia and Joshua P. (such a cute pair)

Among all of the fun things mentioned above Joshua loved spending time with his Pops the best. He continually talks about how fun it was to feed the goats and chickens and to ride the horses and asks when he can go to Mama, Pops and Beth's house to do that all again! We had so much fun while we were over there and can't wait until we all live a bit closer so that Joshua can spend more time with them. If Joshua had his way we would probably have chickens and goats of our own... yikes... He does exceptionally well with our two cats though and they love him to bits. Its amazing how gentle he is with them and how they will go to him for attention!

I just love this picture of Joshua feeding the goats! Sooo Cute!

The morning of September 25th brought gifts in bed :) That morning I opened birthday presents as we were headed to Paris later that evening. I got some really nice gifts, thanks so much Mum, Dad, Beth, Aaron and Josh...

We headed to the airport for our flight to Paris a little later that afternoon. Check in went very smoothly but then we ended up spending a few hours in the airport because of some traffic control issues. Between the 6 of us there was a lot of walking around, eating, and card playing. I was quite surprised at how well Josh did considering it was so boring. 

We finally arrived in Paris late that evening. There was a shuttle that picked us up at took us to our Marriott Village Hotel. We arrived there and checked into our village house at 9:30 pm. We were all so tired and ready for bed.

September 26th - My Birthday - Disneyland Paris!!!

Yes, I am so lucky... for my birthday we went to Disneyland Paris. We all had so much fun, even me considering I didn't get to ride much being 13 + weeks pregnant :( That's ok though, I enjoyed every minute of it and Joshua still talks about it.

We started our morning at Walt Disney Studios and then headed over to the Disneyland Park. 

One thing to my surprise is that everything closes at 7:00pm over there, I am so used to parks and attractions being open till 10:00 I was shocked once everything closed at 7. I felt like we were cheated on time... but it was good to get out of there at a good time and get Josh back to our townhome and in bed. So needless to say we ended up splitting up, so that I could take Josh on the little rides and the 'big kids' could ride all the adventureous rides.

The parade was a huge hit and was so much fun! Josh loved seeing all of his favorite characters and the music was fantastic! For dinner Mum and Dad treated us all to dinner at a Steak House within the park. Mmmm I LOVE steak! They surprised me at the end of dinner with the staff singing Happy Birthday and presenting us all will yummy desserts. There was one very odd dessert on our plates (I won't mention what) but hey, we were in France right...

Thank you so much for a fabulous birthday and for takign us all to Disneyland Paris mum and dad!!! We will never forget it and had the time of our lives...