Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A very Elmo 2nd Birthday

We had John David's second birthday party on Saturday.  We decided on an Elmo theme.  He had all of his friends over, both big and small, and just ate up all of the attention.  Below are a few pictures.

This was on our front door and I only took one picture which is out of focus....but you get the idea.

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No Elmo Party would be complete without a visit from the guy himself!
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John David's Elmo Birthday Shirt
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Favors (I made these with my Cricut and while they took forever I was very happy with how they turned out)
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Hanging out with his buddies
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Sunday, March 25, 2012

John David is 2!

It is so hard to believe that John David is 2 today.  It has been such an amazing year.  David and I feel so blessed to have such an amazing little boy in our lives.

John David continues to surprise us with his words.  While he was a relatively late taker (around 18 months) he has definitely caught up with all of his peers.  He says more words than I can count and has started to put two and three word phrases together like..."where are you," "I did," "Mama sleep," "bye bye Dad," "please cookie, cup, etc." My personal favorite is "that's a bee" which he picked up from me this past week when I saw a bee on the balcony, however when John David says it, it sounds more like "taxi bee" and bee refers to any bug he finds.

John David is still an extremely joyful child who loves playing with his friends and never tires of being chased by anyone with the energy to keep up with him.  He loves watching the cars, buses, and trains from our front windows or the balcony and rarely lets one drive by without letting us know.  He has an amazing memory and now knows whose house we are going to before we have even arrived, which can be troubling when we are just driving by and not actually stopping.

While John David is certainly strong willed he is a pretty agreeable child who is very willing to share his toys and loves any opportunity to interact with other kids. However, we have started to see a little of the "terrible twos" creeping in here and there.

John David loves Elmo and Sesame Street in general, Curious George, and Thomas the Train.  He can recognize and say all of his letters.  He can recognize and say all his numbers up to 20 and count with meaning to 4 or 5.  He can recognize tons of animals and knows their sounds. He loves to color, play with play dough, drive his cars and trucks, and loves throwing and catching the football. 

Below are a few recent pictures....

Looking out the window
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Playing with his Little People farm
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Bubbles
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Classic John David face
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Playing on the playground
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Playing video games with Dad
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Loving his new trains
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John David it is amazing to think that it has been two years since you entered our lives.  You truly are a gift from God.  We are so grateful and thankful that we get to be your Mom and Dad each day and experience all the joy that you bring to this world.  We love you!       

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Lisbon Part 2

On our last full day in Portugal we took the train to the beautiful town of Sintra, which has some amazing castles and great views.


Our train from Lisbon to Sintra took about 40 minutes

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John David loves ridding on trains

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Despite this, John David refused to take a nap while we were in Lisbon so he feel asleep every time we got on a train.

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Sintra, Portugal

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Castle of Moors (Sintra, Portugal)

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Palacio de Pena (Sintra, Portugal)


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View of the Atlantic coast from inside Palacio de Pena

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The Mark Family

The Mark Family