1st Birthday Boy!

Saturday was the big day! We celebrated with a monkey themed party. We can't believe our little guy has been around for a whole year already; the time has gone so fast! He is so much fun these days, and he's into EVERYTHING! He is a really happy baby, always with a smile, laugh and squeal at the ready. We are so blessed!

Modeling his "I'm the Birthday Monkey" onesie.


Motoring around with his chosen green balloon.


The balloons were a source of endless fascination.





Josh did not particularly appreciate the "I'm 1!" hat.


Pausing to smile between cupcakes.


We did manage to remove the chocolate cake from his ears before his doctor's appointment Monday, but I was not sure what they'd find when the looked in there.



People are always telling me that kids just play with the boxes. No one warned me that he would use the boxes for climbing.



The monkey cake that we made. My mom is really good at decorating cakes -- I never could have done it without her!


The monkey cupcakes that we made. These worked as favors and served as a useful serving size for the birthday boy!

Our Supervisor

We recently put up a small shed in our backyard. Josh was eager to assist. Here he is helping Mommy with the rake.



Reminding us of the importance of staying hydrated:



Not thrilled about the finished product

Attempting to use ninja mind power to open the back door:

Josh is walking!

Josh started walking June 30th and this video was taken Thursday so he has a couple weeks of practice under his belt. As you can see from Otis's reaction, Otis is thrilled with this new development.

Belated Father's Day

Unfortunately, this is the only picture of Josh and Matt together on Father's Day. Matt was busy studying all day. I tried to capture both of them looking at books, but Josh abandoned his book in hopes of grabbing the camera away from me.



Celebrating Father's Day with your puppy and some ground cloves - what more does a fella need?



As the temperature was over 100, I thought it would be a good day to try out the pool from Grandma Wallace. Josh wasn't so sure at first.

Then he realized that splashing is kind of fun.

But what's really fun is standing up, leaning over the edge and picking the grass in order to


eat it, of course!



This picture wasn't taken on the holiday itself, but was intended as our Father's Day 2009 photo.

Happy Father's Day, Matt! We love you!

Further Adventures with Josh

When Josh heard that Texas is thinking about implementing stricter driver's permit requirements to include more hours behind the wheel, he wanted to get a jump on practicing his driving skills. Look at the concentration!


He was pretty disappointed when he realized there was no way he could reach the pedals.



Josh loves to stand on the porch and bang on the lid of the fire pit, whether it's 100 degrees outside or not.



It seemed appropriate that Josh was wearing his "Mommy & Me" onesie when he wrestled the ice cream out of the freezer. A boy after my own heart!

My Little "Helper"

Josh was all about kitchen time this weekend - lots of help (or extra clean up).

The plastic vegetable steamer is Josh's pot of choice.



Josh helps himself to the spice rack inside our cabinet, pulls his snacks out of the pantry, and rips down the hand towels in addition to playing with cooking utensils. His favorite spices seem to be onion powder, cream of tarter, ground cloves, and bay leaves.



Saturday night Matt was grilling and Josh really wanted to stay outside despite the fact that he was getting way too hot. He was able to comfort himself with the vegetable steamer and his lion.



A biter biscuit in each hand, and the rest of the box emptied onto the floor. No wonder he looks so proud of himself!



I turned around from washing my hands and this is what was waiting for me.



With his love for the kitchen, it's no surprise that Josh is a great eater. We gave him spaghetti for the first time the other night, and he enjoyed it. Mommy was silly enough to think he'd eat it out of the bowl, he cleared that up right away.



Two fisting broccoli!



Trying to pet Otis and showing off his new shoes.



Crazy, sweaty hat-hair.

Weekend Update

A few new pictures of Joshua:


The other night, I picked Josh up from his highchair and discovered a green bean stuck to the back of his head.



Josh's first time in a pool. As he's been unhappy with bath time lately, we had no idea how this would go. Aside from a brief foray onto the steps, he mainly wanted Mommy to hold him. He just knew Daddy was going to drown him.



Josh really liked Ollie, the new dog at Grandma & Grandpa Wallace's.


Josh got a kick out of swinging.



Practicing the walking skills. Josh is so close - all it's going to take is him not realizing that he's letting go and taking a step or two...any day now!