Happy 43rd birthday, Joshua!

Last Sunday, April 18, Joshua turned 43 months old. Here are him and Caleb on his bed watching a Veggie Tales movie on his little TV in his room before nap time (I think - it may have been just after since his bed isn't made). Doesn't the Bean look so happy in the picture above?

This was another month where all the sudden we could just see a difference in Joshua and know that he got a little older. His expressions are a little 'older,' if you know what I mean. For example, he says "are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" and others that he didn't used to even know what they meant. He continues to sing along to songs, and it amazes me the words that he just picks up. He told me the other day that he wanted the 'please don't stop the music' song. We just got his feet measured, and he's now solidly in a 9 1/2 shoe. He's also gotten taller, we think. Another thing we noticed is that he plays more 'interactively' with toys, making them talk and say things to each other and carrying them around and moving them with motion that he creates, etc. It's hard to describe, but he just seems bigger. He also loves to paint and no longer waits to see what I'm doing but rather makes his own creations. He loves to cut with scissors and adores playing with stickers.

He also enjoys playing simple games and putting together a little bit harder puzzles. He's starting to toss a Frisbee decently well, even though he's too nervous to even think about catching one. He likes going for walks and enjoys looking at what's around and telling us about it. He also loves movies, and he's getting more into characters of movies. He's really into Cars and Toy Story right now, but he also likes Finding Nemo and others.

The day of his birthday, we baked our pineapple stuffing and headed up to Berks County to celebrate Easter once again, this time with Shawn's side of the family. Even though it was cold that day, they did a little Easter egg hunt. The boys enjoyed it, I think.

Nonie also gave the kids Easter bags that had a toy for each of them - Joshua got a little guitar and Caleb got some 'whistling hippo' bathtub toys which both boys have enjoyed playing with during their baths. They also got lots of healthy snacks, which have been great (thanks!).

Don & Jess brought little Ben's jumpy slide/house and the kids all had fun playing in it.  Here's a picture of Jess helping Ben grab an egg off the window ledge.









The little ones took the first turn in the bounce house.

They LOVED it! Jumping and sliding is their kind of action - thanks for bringing it along and setting it up, Don & Jess! Thanks for sharing your toy, Ben!

Later we all feasted on dinner, which was delicious, and enjoyed dessert and catching up. I got to see Grandma Good for a little bit, which is always nice. :) We left around 8 pm, pretty tired from a busy week and weekend. We put the boys to bed and got ready for our busy week ahead. Happy 43rd birthday, my Bean!