He's Such a Poser

We always take pictures of the birthday kid with their gift and the sibling that gave it to them. This year, Josiah's personality really showed up in the pictures. He's such a poser...

Christiana and Josiah

Kaitlyn and Josiah

Micah and Josiah

Josiah and Jim.

Gee, I wonder where Josiah gets it from???

He's On Facebook Now

Now that Josiah is 13 he's allowed to have a FB page. I'm so proud of him for waiting until he's 13 (because those are the rules) to even want to open a FB account. We actually asked him when he was 12 1/2 if he wanted a page (just to find out what he would say) and he told us he wanted to wait until he turned 13 because those were the rules. Now that really showed us his character. I'm so proud of his desire to do what's right.

Of course there are rules set up for him, because we all know how FB can become addictive and can be a distraction from other more important tasks. He's learning :)

Josiah so happy to have a FB page.

Day one on my computer checking FB.

All of the sudden, he looks so grown up.

Josiah

Well, it's official, I am the mother of two teenagers. Josiah turned 13 on Saturday. I can't believe it, it just doesn't seem possible. He has filled our lives with laughter and joy and enriched these last 13 years of my life. He is so handsome and I am proud of of the young man he is becoming.

Josiah I am so proud to be your Mom. God has blessed me by giving you to me as a son. I pray that you will continue to seek God in all that you do and remember that He is the answer to everything you will ever endure. Allow His word to be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path and you can't go wrong. I love you.

Wordless Wednesday - It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

Big brothers are great.

SUPER MATTHEW!!

Up, up and away

Brotherly Love

All of my boys love their new brother, Kyle, but Josiah seems to have taken a special interest in him. Josiah absolutely adores Kyle. Every moment he can he is holding Kyle and this scene is not a strange one.

Kyle completely trusts Josiah and any time we need Kyle to go to sleep or calm down and I can't get to him Josiah is the one we call.

I love the relationship Josiah is building with Kyle, it is so precious to watch.

The Nutcracker

My oldest son, Josiah, is performing in "The Nutcracker" that is presented by the Appalachian Ballet Company out of Maryville along with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra playing live along with them. They did a matinee today and will do another one tomorrow for school children then Saturday night at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm they will be performing for the public at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium. Then Next Saturday, December 11th at 2pm and 8pm at the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville.

He's having a blast and I'm so excited for him to have this opportunity. It is keeping me busy though, so if you don't hear from me tomorrow, you'll know why. Wish I had better pictures but my camera is on the fritz and I only have my phone camera right now so these are the best I can do. Hope you enjoy them and if you get the chance come watch live, it's a great show.

Josiah in make-up and costume for the show.

Act 1 "The party scene"

Act 1 "The party scene"

Not Yet...

Understand as you read this that we lived in Vermont for 4 1/2 years where there is plenty of snow to play in.

This morning we had a few snow flurries and my children headed outside as quick as possible to enjoy it. We have been in Tennessee one winter so far, so we are very aware of how quickly snow disappears here. What I found amusing, though, was that although we were having snow flurries, there was nothing on the ground and yet my children drug out the sleds. "Poor things", I thought, "they can't sled without something on the ground." But they had to try anyway, gotta give them an "A" for effort (my kids have found out that if they can get outside while there is still frost on the ground that they can sled on a frost covered ground).

So anyway, I just had to take a picture of Josiah pushing Joshua down the hill on the sled (because otherwise it wouldn't move). Oh well, hopefully soon we'll get enough snow for them to enjoy :)

Josiah pushing Joshua down the hill on a sled.

My delicious cup of hot chocolate that Christiana

made for me after they came in from the cold.

To Shell or Nut to Shell?

Today we learned about hickory nuts. My husband and older boys went on a hike this past weekend and Micah brought back a box full of nuts (that at the time I recognized but didn't know what kind they were or if you could eat them). Since doing a little research, we have learned that they are hickory nuts and can be eaten like pecans, in fact they are part of the same family as the pecan.

Hickory nuts

We did learn that you cannot break them open with a regular nutcracker. It takes a hammer and hitting them in the right place to get the meat out.

Tried using a nut cracker, didn't work.

These cracked nuts were done with a hammer.

Kaitlyn cracking hickory nuts with a hammer outside.

A closer look

One of the things that we love doing around Thanksgiving is buying nuts in their shells and breaking them open ourselves. I know it takes more time, but it's fun for the kids and has become a tradition around my house. In fact, when I buy the bags of shelled nuts I get, "Aww Mom, why are you buying those. We like to break them open ourselves." So this year we are breaking open our nuts (I may buy some small bags of shelled nuts, just in case the ones being shelled get eaten, that happens often).

For now we are working on hickory nuts and enjoying the fruits of our labor. Next week we will begin shelling pecans and walnuts for our Thanksgiving meal.

Joshua wanted to try.

(Excuse the toothpaste stains)

Josiah digging out the meat from the hickory nut.

How about you? Do you ever shell your own, or do you always buy the bags of shelled nuts? If you've never shelled your own, try it out. It's a lot of fun for the kids and keeps their hands busy for quite some time :)

Learning and Helping

Since my husband is a subcontractor, there are days when he takes our oldest son to work with him to help out. Since going to work with his Dad, Josiah has learned quite a bit about the world of security. He can pull wire; run wire; install keypads, contacts, smoke detectors, transformers and sirens. Because of all this experience he has become quite a help around the house whenever we need something fixed. For instance, we have a rabbit that every once in a while we let roam freely around the house. Well, he has a habit of chewing wire (a reason why he doesn't get out unattended anymore). Because of this habit it has been a great help to have Josiah cut, splice and bean wire back together so our electronics aren't ruined or we are not spending tons of money on new wire.

I think it is awesome that Josiah is learning a trade and getting experience in the work world. I think it helps him to better understand the work his Dad does for us every day to provide for us. It also helps Josiah decide if this field is something he may be interested in one day or if he would prefer to do something all together different.

I'm thankful that he has this opportunity and really thankful that it is beneficial to us here at home when his Dad is not around.

Josiah splicing and beaning a chewed wire.

Thanks, J-Boo!

Where's Josiah?

The day before yesterday I was in the kitchen and Josiah was in the living room reading some history. All of the sudden I noticed that he sounded very far away and muffeled. Wondering where he was I began to search for him. Once I found him I had to grab the camera and record what I saw. Please excuse the mess in my living room. I had been sorting clothes all morning and hadn't had the chance to put them all away or do any other cleaning, but this video was too cute to keep to myself.

It's amazing where kids choose to read sometimes, but hey, as long as he's reading, I'm ok with it :) Enjoy.