Happy 2nd Birthday Josh!

A friend of mine coined the phrase, "It's going to be the Fall of Festivities!" The McCarthy family has definitely adopted this, as it seems like there is something for us to celebrate every week. This weekend we had three reasons to celebrate!

Celebration #1
Liesel's brother and his wife arrived on Friday and will be staying with us through Thanksgiving, returning to England on Saturday! Nathan, of course, loves having his uncle and aunt around and is bonding with his unborn twin cousins already. Marne (his aunt) has been letting him feel the twins kicking. I think that there will be a special relationship between Nathan and his new cousins, once they are brought into the world!

Celebration #2
The timing was perfect. The day after Craig and Marne arrived, our local shopping center was having the official lighting of their Christmas lights. At 6:30pm, we bundled everyone into Liesel's 7-seater car, and headed to the shopping center. Parking there was definitely a challenge. After driving to the top of the the second parking garage, with no parkings in sight, Nathan and Liesel said a prayer, and as we came around the next corner, a car pulled out in front of us, giving us a premium parking spot! The crowds had gathered around the 30ft tall Christmas tree, and Nathan got the best seat in the house, when his 6'7" uncle lifted him on top of his shoulders! Shortly after arriving there, Santa arrived on the main stage and the countdown to the lighting began. As the lights came on, an impressive fireworks show followed, illuminating the crisp night air! It was magical! Before heading home, Craig bought us each a hot chocolate which was perfect to warm us up, as we admired the lights on the trees, and strung out above the streets.

See the local news clip covering the event below:


Celebration #3
On Sunday, November 21, our little Josh turned 2 years old! We are very blessed to again have family here to celebrate the birthday of one of our sons. After waking up, Josh was showered with a number of gifts, which both he, and Nathan, loved. One of his favorite presents was the collection of wild animals that his Gogo and Opa (grandparents) gave him. He was fascinated with the lions, tigers, giraffes, crocodiles, zebras, hippos and rhinos, and even took some of them to bed for his afternoon nap. Later that day, while everyone went for a walk around the neighborhood in this lovely spell of Fall weather with temperatures in the mid 60's (16C), I took the opportunity to put up the Christmas lights on the roof. Apparently most homeowners in Cleveland had the same idea, as we all know that the next time we see these kind of temperatures will be May 2011!
For dinner, Liesel cooked a delicious roast, and for dessert we brought out Josh's Elmo birthday cake! Happy Birthday Josh! Thanks for the past two years and we look forward to many more wonderful years with you!