Happy (much belated) birthday Jo!!!

Jo turned 8 (march 6th) and we had so much fun celebrating his birthday! Since this was a big b-day for him (we do a big party at 8 since they are getting baptized, and it's a big deal, we also do parties at 5, and will do them at 12 and 16) he choose to have it at the bowling alley. He invited 9 friends, and they had a great time bowling. they turned off all the lights and did a boogie bowl- where all the kids bowl under the black light. He has the nicest friends!
The coolest part of the whole day was present time. Jo is a bit of a ham, and him and his friends all have their little inside jokes... Jo always claims his favorite food to be ketchup and that mustard is his worst enemy. he takes the joke so far as to claim to invent ketchup ice cream when he's older, and takes dares to eat ketchup on all sorts of weird food. For his birthday, not one but 2 of his friends brought him bottles of ketchup.... It made me think of a shirt his aunt has that says I put ketchup on my ketchup.... He should make her proud!

We scheduled his baptism for April so that more of his family can come into town for it... we are so excited to see all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and g-parents!!!

I am so proud of him. He is such an amazing little guy!!!

Here are 8 little known facts about Jo, to celebrate his birthday:

8. He loves to draw. He makes little books and illustrates them wonderfully! They usually involve a bad animal like a scorpion or a monster truck with fangs.

7. He has the most creative imagination.

6. He was 90% deaf until he was almost 2, suffered seizures as a baby, has gone through years of speech therapy, has to wear an eye patch several hours a day, and has a few other ongoing medical problems that would isolate other kids and he NEVER complains (other then abt the eye patch)

5. He weighs the same as our 4 year old and is often mistaken for M's twin

4. He is named after the weezer song, we didn't realize until later (when we started going back to church) Jo is a name in the scriptures. It makes me love the name even more now that we know who Jo was.

3. He is an Irish twin, born 11 months after his brother (technically, my first 3 kids are considered Irish, or Vatican triplets...). He was a huge surprise and his first few months of life are a complete blur. thank goodness for pictures! We are not however Catholic.

2. He has no athletic ability. He would much rather draw or build then to do anything sports related. TAekwondo is the only exception at this time.

and the #1 interesting fact abt Jo: He is the coolest kid I have ever met in my life. He prefers hoodies and baggy jeans, vans, picks out the coolest glasses and wears his ball caps crooked. He cracks me up every day with his quirky little ways and idioms. He is all around his own person, and he honestly doesn't care what people think about him.

Jo- thanks for being you! You make our family complete!!