Talented Friend

Did I mention my friend Kristen is an awesome professional photographer here in Birmingham? She took some precious pictures of Josiah at the park a few weeks ago. Her disclaimer is that these are "not photoshopped or aiming to be professional in anyway." So imagine how awesome her professional shots would be! Actually don't imagine it; go check out her website and see for yourself.

Love this one, of course. He's really likes balance beams; I don't know why.

Josiah is having more and more fun with Kate and Lexi as he grows up. With Lexi's encouragement, he even tried the tire swing.

Love those Stewart gals. They dressed themselves that morning; don't you think they did a good job?

Akinah

Country Boy (at Wal-Mart)

Trip to Abingdon

We made a long trek up to Abingdon, Virginia this weekend for an interview for Jonathan. That's right, we're already starting the interview process even though Jonathan still has more than a year left in residency. We had several meetings, mostly during meals, but also lots of downtime. Josiah flew wonderfully, slept great in the hotel, and was well-behaved during all of the long, adult-conversation-driven meals. He was a real trooper; we are very blessed with our flexible, easy-going little guy. The rocking chair picture really encompasses Abingdon: a historic, charming Southern town.

On Saturday morning, our schedule was free, so we went for a bike ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail. It is a gorgeous, mostly flat trail for runners, bikers or even horses. The scenery was beautiful, and the weather was ideal.

The bike ride conked Josiah right out. He woke up on the way back and was quite ready to get out. We knew the bike was kicking a little dirt on him, but by the end of the ride he was covered. The poor kid had dirt flying in his face the whole time. And he had a stick that an fallen into his cart, but he didn't mind that.

Our attempt at a self-portrait on the trail.

That cow was staring us down.

Josiah and I at the start of the trail. I got some really good snuggles this weekend. Josiah did fine in the hotel pack and play, but we woke up each morning at 6:30 a.m. I thought he'd stay awake, but when I got him, he snuggled back in the bed with me for another 45 minutes or so. It was so precious. Plus he slept on me for most of the plane rides too.

The boys in front of our hotel, the Martha Washington Inn. It was a really lovely place to stay and right in the center of downtown.

Did we mention what the absolute best part of the town was (at least for Josiah)?
A choo-choo train went right through town and right behind our hotel.

The child was utterly entranced. He kept asking about the "choo-choo" throughout the weekend and for a solid 20 minutes as we were driving to the airport. Choo-choo? Choo-choo?

We went to a nicer restaurant on Saturday night, and these fellas spiffed up so nicely, I had to take a picture. How handsome are my boys? It was good to get some quality time with Jonathan/Dada this weekend.

"High-five!"

And one for you!

I took this last picture just so that I could giggle at myself later.
The town had lots of Revolutionary and Civil War history and historical markers everywhere. Josiah and I were on a walk Friday afternoon, and I stopped for every marker and read each one aloud. Josiah, of course babbled, completely bored.
And then I realized I'd become my father. He would do the same thing to Parker and I as kids, most of the time in the car, pulling over whenever there was a historical marker or a battlefield. I know I rolled my eyes as a kid at this, but now I'm very grateful for the history lessons I learned from those stops and from my dad's love of history. So I may well torture my son in the same fashion. Maybe one day he'll appreciate it too.

The North Carolina Easter Bunnies

The Moseley grandparents and Anna came in town for a whirlwind trip through Alabama. We got to eat with the family last Tuesday night, and Josiah got his Easter basket.

He got a book, sidewalk chalk, some candy and a fun new rubber ducky for the tub. Mrs. Sharon found this hilarious plastic egg that says things like, "I'm hiding. Come find me."
But his favorite part was this fun construction hat.

"Hat!"

On Wednesday, they all watched Josiah while I went to Bible study. As the blog faithful know, we've been calling Sharon Grammy. Josiah will occasionally get out the "G" sound, but nothing more. Well, during that morning, he started calling her Mimi, several times in a row, very consistenly.
Given his first grandbaby status, he gets to choose the name, and in this case, change the name of another grandparent. For the history of this blog, the grandmother formerly known as Mimi is now Nana, and the grandmother formerly known as Grammy is now Mimi.

Coloring

We tried coloring for the first time yesterday. I wouldn't say Josiah is crazy about it yet. We might need some fatter crayons.

I don't mean to brag, but look at how well that digger arm is colored. OK, maybe Mama helped a little...

The "smile" face

On a side note: Today at the dinner table, Josiah had Jonathan and I giggling because we were nearing the end of the meal, which is often when I tell him that it's bath time (which always makes him happy). Today he looked at me at said "Bath?", but he raised him little eyebrows the way that I do when I ask him about something exciting. Hard to explain, but extremely cute. We busted out laughing, so of course, he laughed really hard too.
He's also started mimicking my "nnOK" that I say when I'm getting packed up or ready to go. Only he says "NnnTay." Also he mimics my sighs, so many things I never notice I do. I better watch myself these days!

Easter Sunday

We celebrated the Risen Lord on Sunday! Praise Jesus for reuniting us with God, for dwelling among us, for being our substitution, for washing away our sin, for giving us eternal life with our Lord... I could go on and on... I think that may be the point!


We had to do a timer shot for our Easter picture, but at least you get to see some of the boy's outfit. Should have gotten a better shot of it. I'll be sure to do it the next time he wears it.

I also didn't get a shot of his whole Easter basket, but I honestly made and put it all together the night before! I made him some Kool-Aid play dough. Really easy - we'll be trying this out this week.

I refilled our previous bubble container with homemade bubbles. Unbelievably easy. The play dough and bubble manufacturers have a serious racket going. These were both so simple to make, and I had most of the ingredients on hand.

I printed off fun coloring pages and crayons that we had collected from our beloved Publix and restaurants. Cheap? Yes, but I prefer to be called resourceful.

Josiah seriously pigged out on the jelly beans and graham crackers in his basket. He shoved a way too many in his mouth; it was really quite funny. This was his pre-Easter outfit (aka I didn't want to get his Easter clothes dirty before church).

Later that night we all pigged out on Easter dinner with our friends Aaron and Erin, and Lisa and her son Silas. Erin brought crock pot mac and cheese, and we also had yummy ham, yeast rolls, summer squash gratin and peach cobbler. And the delicious coffee Aaron and Erin brought us from Hawaii! Quite a feast with great friends.

Easter Egg Hunt, Part 2

We hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for our JCRMA Moms and Tots group this afternoon. It alternated between gorgeous, sunny weather and fat drops of rain and wind, but we were blessed to miss the bad thunderstorms they were predicting. We had a fun time, and the kids really got into it. Our backyard turned out to be a great area for an egg hunt, thanks to my husband's lawn care skills.

Josiah caught on to the hunting concept this time and collected several eggs. He immediately went for the jellybeans this time!

Most of the group

Adeleigh

Carter racked up!

Melanie and Jack

Annalee and Wyatt

The classic Moseley Easter spread: bunny cake, pear bunnies and Jiggler eggs.
I did buck tradition a little and omitted the bunny's bow tie. For some reason it didn't fit on the tray this year.

Happy Birthday, Pop!

We love you!

Go Tar Heels!

TS Walk

Some of the JCRMA ladies participated in the Tuberous Sclerosis Walk in support of one of our members who has a son with the condition.

The whole crew: Robin and Anna, Leah, Josiah and I, and Megan and Will

After the 5K, there was some fun things for the kids so Josiah and I stuck around.

I asked for a special order from the face painting ladies because it was Game Day.

And he got an airplane on a stick from the balloon man.

Easter Egg Hunt, Part 1

The Lucas family invited our Bible study to an Easter Egg Hunt at their house. Josiah didn't totally catch on to the concept, but it was still a really fun day. We have another one for JCRMA on Friday at our house, so maybe he'll be an egg-hunting pro by then.

Getting ready to go out

Found one!

Sharing - sort of

Obviously searching for this egg in a dump truck was the most fun. Most of the time he looked at me like I was nuts when I tried to tell him to pick up these eggs and put them in a basket.

"Why is Mama making me clean up silly eggs when there are some awesome toys around?"

"Taking them apart is pretty fun."

Discovering jelly beans. "Maybe this egg hunt thing isn't such a bad idea..."

Buddies

How cute are Jack and Josiah? We had a great play date at the park with the little guys, and of course, Melanie snagged a great picture.

High Five

Josiah hasn't been happy with the playground swings in a while, but I decided to try again and swing him really high. He's a big fan now and especially liked this little high five game. Sorry for the crazy camera shake and bad angles. It's hard to videotape and push a swing!