Celebration Cupcakes!

Mads and I made some "Celebration Cupcakes" for the Josephs Family to share with you. Make sure to take a good look before choosing one! :)







Did you figure it out? We're happy to announce that we're expecting!! "Twosie" is due to arrive June 19, 2010!!

I finally got it!

Mads has been able to count for about a month or so. It started with a few numbers at a time, then she could reach ten by alternating every other number with us. Now she's able to do it alone! She just needs a reminder when she reaches "seven." I've wanted to get this amazing new skill on tape for awhile now, but whenever I bring out the camera Mads wants to see the baby on the back. I was able to sneak the camera in today while Mads was playing. You can see here that she's a bit distracted by her book which is why she says nine a few times after she's gotten to ten, but I think she's pretty awesome! We're so very proud of our big girl!!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Last week had us running errands in preparation of Christmas. On Wednesday we met Jill, Claire and Nick for cousin pictures at Sears. It was quite the interesting experience. Mads was not feeling pictures at all and it was very hard to get her to sit with Claire and Nick. Claire and Nick were absolutely awesome and would get into the pose, wait for Mads, and smile like fools while we dealt with trying to get Mads to smile. We were able to get one decent picture of the three kids out of the deal, luckily.
After pictures we went into the mall to go say hi to Santa. If you remember last year, Nick was afraid of Santa and the only way he would go up to Santa was if Jill and I sat by Santa too. We got a great picture of the three kids, Jill & I, with Santa. This year Nick wasn't a bit afraid. He ran right up to Santa and told him what he wants for Christmas. Claire told Santa her list as well. Then it was Maddie's turn. And she wasn't having this either! We tried to calm her down by having Claire and Nick nearby to help her, this is the picture we got:

Poor Peanut!! I want to go back and try again. Mads just had so much attitude that day that I'm inclined to say she wasn't feeling well, she just normally doesn't have 'tude like she did that day!

All wasn't sad that day, though. Mads and Claire did have fun with their elf hats that they got from Santa's helpers. Nick, on the other hand, was not digging the elf hat.


I also did some present wrapping on Wednesday as well. I quick got up to go to the closet to grab more items to wrap and this is what I came back to:

My little elf! :)

On Saturday we put the wrapped presents under the tree and had Mads sit in her Christmas jammies near them. We wanted the pictures to add to our Christmas cards. How cute is this little love-bug?



Last week we got all of Maddie's cold weather clothes ready to go. So glad we did since it's been so chilly yesterday and today!! Here she is trying on her new mittens. She was very excited to show them off!
One thumb up for mittens?

No, TWO THUMBS UP! :) :)


Well, that's all for now. I'm not going to promise much of a post next week as I just realized I haven't taken a single picture all week this week. We've pretty much just been staying in the house away from the cold and snow!
Hope everyone is staying warm too!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Josephs Family!
Andrew, Nicole, Madeline & Lily

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

No Nuk!

Since I haven't had a good post full of updates in awhile, thought I would share a little what's been going on in the Josephs' household.
Somewhere in the last few months Mads has turned into a big girl. She continues to do awesome in her big girl bed and she's also given up her Nuk completely. She had stopped using it during the day a few months after she turned one and was only using it for naps and bed. It's almost three weeks now that she's been Nuk-free. She still asks for it from time to time, but when we say there's no Nukies she moves on. Such a big girl. Also, like I said, she's still rocking the big girl bed like a champ. She lays down without any fussing and sleeps through the night. There are a few nights that she does make a few peeps during the night, but falls right back asleep without us going in. She also stays in her bed in the mornings once she's awake until we tell her that she can come out. I love hearing her yell out "I'm coming!" Then we see this:

How could that not start your day out great?! :)

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend last weekend. On Thursday we went to Green Bay to have lunch with Grandma Mamie, Jill and the kids. Mads, of course, had fun playing with her cousins. They also got some sleds for the upcoming sledding season. Too cute!



Thanksgiving evening, after we got home from GB, we decorated the house for Christmas. Mads had lots of fun helping decorate the tree. She couldn't quite get the ornaments to hang on the tree. Her technique consisted mostly of just throwing the ornament at the tree and hoping it would stick. She had a blast, though!!







Friday morning we headed down to Monroe. We saw Grampa Jeff, Grandma Marie and GG on Friday for lunch. Then we had a big turkey feast at Gramma J's on Saturday with Grandma Honey, Aunt Kimmy and Jake. The turkey was so yummy!! I had been looking forward to it all week! We ended up leaving Monroe around 10:30 on Sunday as our church had Advent Night at 3:00 back in Oshkosh. It was the annual night for decorating the church for Christmas and crafts for the kids. We were home by 6 and I was quickly in my jammies as I was beat from a busy but fun weekend!!

Well, that's all I have for now. I really need to start taking more pictures!! One or two pictures a week just isn't cutting it!

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

Thanks for stopping by!