Joshua is 3!

This year, Joshua has been obsessed with all things Thomas & Friends. In lieu of a birthday party, we took him to see and ride on Thomas. You can read about our fun-filled day here: http://cheneyfamilyof5.blogspot.com/2015/01/joshuas-day-out-with-thomas.html

For his birthday cake, Joshua only wanted Gator (a newer engine from the Thomas & Friends line) on his cake. When I saw an idea to put railroad tracks on a number 3 cake, I just had to!

Joshua loved it, of course, and kept telling me, "Thank you for my Gator cake, Momma!" Love that boy!

The next day, Joshua took my camera and took a few pictures of Gator. This one is actually my favorite of the ones he took. Joshua has been a hard core thumb sucker from day 1. With prompting from his dentist, we told Joshua that when he turns 3, he can only suck his thumb at nap and bedtime. He has been doing a good job of keeping his hands busy playing and only needs a few reminders during the day. So, this wrinkled little thumb will soon be a thing of the past and I just love this precious reminder of how little my big boy really is. 

At three years old, Joshua...
is curious! He asks lots of questions all day long.
is talkative! If he's not asking questions, he's telling stories.
still likes the color blue--teal blue, especially. (He has been liking green lately, too.)
LOVES HIS DADDY!

loves to play trains, planes and cars. He knows each one by name and often takes them to "parties."
does not like Luke taking his trains or messing up their order. 
enjoys playing outside in the sand or riding scooters.

says "I love you" and "thank you" frequently.
loves all of his brothers and is a very sweet brother most of the time!
wants to do whatever Eli and Micah are doing.

is "proportionately small" according to his doctor.
can now tolerate eating egg whites and dairy products, although he doesn't really like cheese.
loves to eat cereal, oatmeal, and all desserts. 
likes to help out-especially with cooking (licking the bowl is his favorite part!) and washing dishes.

knows and can recognize the first letter of all of our names.
recognizes his own name in print.
can count to 12.

enjoys messy crafts and activities, like finger paint and shaving cream play.
likes to cut paper.
will often give me "gifts" of paper he has cut with the scissors.
is funny and energetic.

Joshua, you keep us all on our toes with your questions and funny stories. We laugh a lot in this house because of the things you say. We enjoy your curiosity and creativity. Daddy and I pray you always keep your sense of humor. We love you, sweet boy!!

November 2014

Joshua really enjoys helping me in the kitchen, especially when I'm making a sweet treat. When I told him we needed to make a dessert for his school Thanksgiving Feast, he was happy to help me cut out and sprinkle the sugar cookies.

 You know how there's always "that one kid" who goes out to the middle of the gym during chapel and all of the parents laugh? Well, Joshua was that kid this time, but thankfully chapel hadn't REALLY started yet.

 Such a big boy!

 Tomball has a holiday parade every year and I thought it would be fun to take the kids--even with the threat of rain. We were planning to meet our friend, Rachel and her family, but were surprised to see our other friends, Lauren, Brett and Mila there too! It was great to have extra hands getting the kids settled in to watch the parade.

 This HEB float was Joshua's favorite because HEBuddy was on it!

 This was Eli and Micah's favorite float because of the "American flag cross."

 Later that day, G'pa and G'ma Cheney came over to play. Eli and Micah transformed themselves into pirates and put on a play for us. They created these costumes themselves.

 They also made themselves swords and a ship with a plank so they could shout, "Walk the plank!" It was hilarious!

 Nana and Papa came to visit during Thanksgiving break. Papa put together the basketball goal they got for Eli and Micah for Christmas. Of course, the boys had to test it out right away.

 Joshua got to open his birthday presents from Nana and Papa

 and Grandma C.

 All of the boys got Christmas ornaments to open, too.

 Paul and Papa got the Christmas boxes out of the attic and the boys were thrilled to start decorating the tree.

 

When the decorating was done inside, we went outside to play then hang up a few lights and ornaments. Luke enjoyed playing with the "ball!" on our pine tree outside. (He actually asked to touch it every time we came home in December.)

Luke is 1!

How can it be that our little baby is already a big 1 year old?!?! With the pumpkin obsession in our house, we just had to have a pumpkin party for our little punkin.

Luke loves to scream, talk and laugh.

 Nothing makes him laugh more than a game of peek-a-boo.

 What started as Luke pointing to the sky looking for airplanes turned in to him showing everyone that he is now "1."

 Sweet, sweet boy and his two little teeth.

  Luke's party day was really fun and I had a great time thinking of snacks we could have.

We ended up with apple cider, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin hummus with apple slices, Cutie pumpkins (made by G'ma Cheney) and popcorn with "add-ins."

 Joshua's painted pumpkins served as our centerpiece. Joshua was glad to contribute.

 Luke was so curious about the pumpkins on the floor for a ring toss game.

 His favorite part of the party were these "pumpkin" balloons!

 Luke wasn't the only one who loved the balloons.

 Our sweet friend, Mila, just loves Luke!

 We had a little snack before the cake.

 Singing to the birthday boy!

 

 Momma and Luke waiting for the cake to come back.

 Luke's first cake.

 Our little family.

 Luke with his friend, Mila, and Godmother, Lauren.

 Luke and our friends, Rachel and Reid.

 After cake, we took advantage of the beautiful day and played outside.

 We were blessed to have our Sister-in-Law, Rebecca, and our niece, Britton, join us for Luke's birthday party.

Luke, you are sweet and curious. You laugh easily and often--and make us laugh, too! You pull up to standing and cruise on everything you can. You try to climb EVERYTHING--and are sometimes successful. As independent as you are, you love to be held and carried--as long as we are moving. You love splashing in water, playing ball and being with your big brothers. We are so blessed to have you in our family and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you! We love you, Momma and Daddy