Joseph's 12th Birthday

He did it.  He turned 12.  The last year before the teens.  I handled it better than I thought I would.  Although he did have to hear a lot of stories about when he was born and when he was a baby.  :)

Like how he had jaundice when he was born but wound up getting off the bili blanket just in time for Christmas Eve.  How we all thought he was going to be a girl.  (I only had 2 ultrasounds at 5 and 6 weeks due to complications and opted out of spending more money on the "gender reveal" ultrasound) His name would have been Olivia Noel had he been a she.   He cringes whenever I tell him that.  :)  I told him about ALL THE SNOW we had the year he was born.  His first Christmas, at 6 days old, was a blizzard.

We started his birthday off with coffee cake for breakfast. We stuck a #2 candle in there with a regular birthday candle next to it to stand in for the #1.  It's hard to see in the picture though. 

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I prank wrapped his birthday present. I knew he would know what it was as soon as he saw the shape.  So I borrowed a teddy bear from Adaiah and attached his present to the bear's back.... and wrapped the bear.

Wrapping a teddy bear - to look like a teddy bear - is HARD.

He thought it was hilarious and was totally stumped.  I need to remember to do that more often.  Prank wrapping.  Good times.

Anyway, he opened one present (just enough to hold him over) and then we went out to dinner.  He was wanting to check out a place that I had been a few nights before for a Christmas banquet with the ladies from church.  There was a 45 minute wait though... so we went to 5 guys burgers and fries instead.  Can't go wrong there.  Well, unless you are counting calories and then STAY AWAY.  :)  Birthday calories don't count though.  It's all good.

After dinner we came back home and he finished opening birthday presents.  

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I needed one more picture for the collage and decided to throw in a flash back photo.  It was taken on his 9th birthday.  He is growing up so fast!

One last thing to celebrate and that was whoopie pies.  Joseph asked for chocolate whoopie pies with peppermint filling.  They were delicious and I totally didn't miss making cake. Besides, the cake Nehemiah is dreaming up for his birthday sounds like it will be more than enough to keep my caking skills sharp.  :)

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Then it was time to play with those new toys!  We bought him a video game and Grandma got him Nerf Guns.  He also had some money to dream about spending.

So he went back and forth between battling with Nerf guns and playing the Wii U (an early Christmas present from Uncle Jon)  It was a fun evening!  Nerf darts are everywhere!!  I'm sure when we move we will find Nerf darts in strange places.  :)

So, now Joseph is 12.  He's going to be taller than me soon.  He loves video games, nerf guns, books, and computers.  He has taken interest in creating... as in creating things on the computer.  Editing video's, photo-shopping pictures, animating.  He got a sketch book a few weeks ago and he has created a little world of characters on it's pages.  For Christmas he got computer software to bring his drawings to life.

Happy 12th Birthday Joseph!