Joel's 5th Birthday!

Our little Joel turned 5 at the end of August! What a fun time it was! My parents and grandmother were all able to come help us celebrate! Friday we ate lunch at Chuck E. Cheese Pizza (Joel's favorite!) and then Saturday morning he had a pool party with all his friends from church, school, and t-ball! It was so fun to watch him open all his gifts and express true joy and gratitude for each one! What a memorable weekend it was! Enjoy the pics!

Joel and his new Iron Man.

All the "Bubbas" driving the cars!

Enjoying the water! Ahhh!

Enjoying all the snacks!

Toy Story 3 gifts were popular and a big hit with our little "Buzz"!

A Buzz costume!!!! To infinity and beyond!

joel and a train.

(Be sure to pause the music on the sidebar before viewing!)

Hope this works...

This is for you Granny (& Pop-Pop) !

He and Pop-Pop would have been best buds, no doubt.

Love you and miss you!

the "Incredible" party!

Well, Joel's party was a huge success and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it! We had a bounce house, a craft, presents, and then cake! A pretty good setup for a 4th birthday party! Enjoy the pics!

The birthday boy bouncing and having a blast!

Grandma enjoying her two newest grandsons!

The infamous birthday cake! Thanks for your help,

all the way from North Carolina, Jeanna!

Mr. Incredible and Mommy!

Assuming the "pose" of Mr. Incredible!

So cute!

Kiddos headed to the bounce house!

"The Balloon" that captured Joel's heart

at the party store! I HAD to get it for him!

4 years old!

Happy 4th Birthday Joel-er Bear! We love you more than you know! What a fun, imaginative, and silly little boy you are! You continue to be a miracle and blessing to us everyday! Just 5 short years ago Mommy and Daddy were longing for a child just like you and now our cup overflows! Isn't God good?! We love you Pumpkin and hope you have a memorable day with your brothers and a fun party on Saturday!

Love your Mommy & Daddy!

Joel and his new Wall-E robot toy!

Brothers!

countdown to party

Only 4 more days until the long awaited "Incredibles" party! Joel is VERY excited and Sam keeps reminding him that he will have to share his new toys with him! All I can do is laugh (to myself)! I then lovingly remind him that he will have to do the same at his birthday.

I'm hoping to be able to duplicate this image on his birthday cake...it seems the easiest option. Not sure what to do on the cupcakes...maybe the same thing or just yellow icing w/ red sprinkles. The kids don't care; all they want to do is eat the silly things! Of course it matters to me and I wish it didn't. Oh, motherhood pride and vanity....

WALL-E song

Joel loves to sing the song at the beginning of Disney's Wall-E movie! It's pretty cute if you ask me...though he's pretty hard to understand!

potty training...part 2

You know in that children's book, Once Upon a Potty, when the little boy (or girl, depending on the version you have) poo-poos, but "not exactly in the potty"... Well, Joel understands that part better now!

He has officially entered the "Potty Training Zone", which in the Tombrella house, means you run around nakedy all day until you catch on. Joel had sat on the potty twice already, after showing obvious signs he needed to go. Nothing. Well, just a few minutes ago, I heard Sam and Joel talking in the hall about pooping in the potty and then Sam ran in to get me and said, "Come see Mommy, come see!" Well I thought, "Wow, in just one day we have poo-poo success?! It took Samuel weeks to achieve this!"

Well, no. We didn't quite have success. A lovely present was sitting on the bathroom floor. Joel knew he needed to go and he made it to the right room... progress or a definite leaning if you ask me! So the training continues!

I think the theme of my Christmas will be, "All I want for Christmas is my two sons in underwear, my two sons in underwear..."! he he! Happy Wednesday!

Joel's 3rd B-Day Party

Well, Joel's birthday was a few weeks ago now, but I thought you might enjoy taking a look at how it went! He seemed to have a great time with all the fun activities and friends, and of course, all the new toys! We borrowed a friend's bounce house, had a spiderman slip-n-slide, and an oversized kiddy pool...fun was had by all! And the weather was perfect...overcast with no rain and a slightly cooler temperature! Definitely a rarity for August in Texas! Enjoy the pics!

Wish you all could have been there!

The boys and Eyan in the bounce house!

The adorable birthday boy!!!

Big brother Sam trying out the slip-n-slide...not quite sliding,

but having fun!

So proud of his birthday cake (my mom decorated)!

Our homemade Spiderman cupcakes!

"Are you saying Cheese?...I am!"

"I'm getting so old!"

"I love red icing...escpecially all over me!"

Present time!

Happy Birthday Joel-er Bear!

Our big boy!

Our big boy a few weeks before he was born!

Our boy right after his birth! So sweet!



The overjoyed and tired new parents!

It's hard to believe (as I await the arrival of our new baby boy) that my "baby boy" is 3 years old today! What a miracle and surprise he was!!! He is only 8 months younger than his big brother, which has been quite an adventure, but I wouldn't change it for the world! What a gift from the Lord the past 3 years have been to watch him grow and change from a sweet cuddly baby into a fun and imaginative little boy! How very kind of God to entrust you, Joel Aaron, to us! And I know you can't read this now (though sooner than later you will,no doubt!) but you are a dream come true! I absolutely love being your mommy and being the blessed one (along with Daddy of course) who gets to teach you about our great God and everything in this wonderful world He made! It's a joy to see you learn new things everyday and wander off into your own little "world" to play and imagine! And there is not much that can make my heart soar like hearing your sweet little voice say, "You da best Mommy!" or "I wuv you sooooo much Mommy!" Truly, those are moments that I will treasure and ponder in my heart forever! I love you sweet Joel and you will forever be my "Joel-er Bear"!

Our New "Kick"

The boys latest "kick" is Winnie the Pooh...they love watching the movie we have and Joel loves singing the Pooh song at all kinds of random times of the day! SOOOO cute! Here is a video in which we tried to capture some of his adorable singing!

(Oh, and all of you who are far away get to see my big 'ole belly! Only a few more weeks...Praise the Lord!)