JJ is TWO!!! JJ tiene DOS anios!!!

Wow! Time has flown by! We have now had our little JJ in our lives and home for 2 whole years! It is so hard to believe, and yet we thank God so much for these 2 years and look forward with anticipation as to what He will do with our little boy's life in the coming years. We pray that very soon he will come to know Jesus as his most prized treasure. JJ fills our home with so much joy and happiness...we cannot imagine life without him! Having now hit the 2-year mark, JJ is talking non-stop, still some "baby talk" but gradually evolving into more and more sentences and full, concentrated conversations. He is such a sweet boy, daddy and mami have to keep themselves from wanting to pick him up and kiss him all the time! :) And he is a wonderful big brother, already helping with Eli and playing with him. Whenever our two boys see eachother, they both immediately start laughing and smiling...it just fills our hearts! JJ continues to love balls; he loves to dunk the basketball, swing his baseball bat, and lately he has gotten very much into kicking his soccer ball into his new goal. He has also started singing all the time, by himself, as he plays, in Spanish and in English...or sometimes in both! :) We could say a lot about our precious 2-year-old, but we will get to the pictures, so you can relive with us JJ's birthday preparations and party. We missed family, but were so glad to have JJ's abuelitos here to celebrate with us. They were very helpful and added even more smiles and laughter to our celebration!


JJ finger-painted his home-made birthday party invitations. Our theme was firefighter/trucks, which have always fascinated JJ. He always runs to the window when he hear a siren and points to the firetrucks everytime we drive by the station.

Painting with "Pika's" help

Soooo concentrated

"oooooohhhh! Mira pika!"

Mami trying to control the messy paint

The finished invitations, ready to be mailed.

We can't have a birthday party without a pinata (something we grew up with no matter where we lived). JJ and Abuelito worked on stuffing the firetruck pinata...

...and of course, they had to taste some of the goodies, while they worked! :)

Happy waking boy the morning of his birthday. Daddy and mami walked in the room singing to him, which started a day full of smiles.

Practicing blowing out a candle on his birthday pancake...daddy had to help.

"Cuantos anios tienes, JJ?" "DOS!" :)

"Que sera, abuelitos?!"..."like it!"

Making this firetruck cake was so much fun! I am starting to get the grasp of this! :)

Singing happy birthday to you... JJ surprised us by blowing out his birthday candle on cue all by himself!!




JJ went straight to picking out all the M&Ms on his birthday cupcake and then the frosting :)

"mmm....this good!"

Sweet Ashley celebrated her 22nd birthday, along with JJ. Here is mami with the birthday boy and girl.

Playing pass the parcel

"pass the parcel, JJ, pass it!"

JJ tearing off a layer and finding a surprise!...Luke was the big winner.

JJ's friend Aiden playing with JJ's new blow up toy. Thanks Papaw and Mamaw and Aunt Ginger and Uncle Vinnie and Patrick and Lilly!

Pinata time!!!

Eye on the target...

back, step, and...

swing it! Yeyyy JJ!



The coloring table was a bit hit with all of JJ's dear youth friends/babysitters! :)

The big surprise of the night was getting a visit from the real Fairdale firefighters in their firetruck!

They dressed up with all their gear to show the kids that they shouldn't be afraid of them and explained to the kids (and adults) what they needed to do in case of a fire. Very informative.

JJ went up to say thank you and immediately verbalized what was really on his mind, "see big firetruck?"

so, in spite of the cold, we spent a good while outside admiring the shiny big firetruck

Our little firefighter!

JJ's friend Luke

JJ got to see all the gadgets in the firetruck, and even hear the loud siren!

JJ's friend Adrianne

JJ knows that being a firefighter is a serious job! :)

I realized we didnt get many pictures at all of baby brother Eli during the party, so I had to take this one at home to show that Eli really did join in the fun with the firefighter/truck birthday party.