Thursday, June 20, 2013
James is 3 years old!!
My sweet baby James is 3 years old today!! Time has flown by, and he is getting so big.
Here are his 3-year-old stats:
Favorite toy- Cars (He calls them "cows" and has to sleep with at least two every night).
Favorite treat- Cake or ice cream, preferably chocolate.
Favorite color- Blue or red.
Favorite activity- Playing in his new playhouse in the yard, building a house with "wegos," running non-stop! Favorite food- "Mac & weeze!"
Favorite show- "Ho Hos" (Jake and the Neverland Pirates)
Favorite movie- Monsters Inc. Favorite things to say- "That's silly!" counting 1-10 (sometimes forgetting #5), "I get the cows (cars)!," "I want me!" (when he wants to do stuff himself), "I want to go pay! (play)".
Favorite outdoor activity: Eating blueberries off the bush, even the green ones!
I'll have his weight/height stats after his doctor's checkup mid-July.
His birthday party was yesterday, and we all had a blast! It was Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed, which is James's favorite show (a Disney Jr. kid's show written about the characters from Peter Pan but made educational and fun for preschoolers). He and his cousins had fun dressing up as pirates, going on a treasure hunt in the backyard, and doing a "hook toss" ring toss (all the boys got a prize, but James was funny in that he took all three rings, walked up to the board, and put them all on a hook at once!).
The adults also competed in a ring toss competition, of which Nathan was the winner. Other activities included sailing the high seas in a Bucky cardboard boat, and selecting your pirate name (you can see those in some of the pictures). James had a great time running around stealing crackers off the table and having sword fights with his cousins. He was, for the first time, eager to open his presents, and he loved getting a million Matchbox cars, which he promptly spilled into his new wheelbarrow and took off!
His big gift this year was a new playhouse (since he loves houses so much after watching the movie "Up"). This particular one has a fence you can build, a grill, a phone, a flower box, and nails you can hammer down. It also has a mailbox missing the back which Uncle Nathan turned into a fun surprise for the kids by putting his hand inside and having the kids "check the mail". :-)
Ellie chilled through it all, though she was a bit freaked out by all the people and noise. She did pretty good "swimming" in the "ocean" for most of the afternoon.
I made James a Pirates cake with the ocean and sand, and it was apple swirl flavored with cream cheese frosting. He liked it for the most part. I think I'll do chocolate next year...
Today, for his actual birthday day, we opened more presents (he got a camera, some books, a car, and a toy wood airplane), played with his new toys, and went to Red Robin for dinner where he had his first ever milkshake. He had a great time telling us all the shapes of the lamps above us and what color they were (he correctly identified and said triangle and circle!), and he got a kick out of the big carousel horse on top of the booths.
We love our little man with such a loving, sweet personality. He always says to me, "I give you wots and wots of hugs!" while hugging me, and he often will hug his sister, give her a toy, or kiss her. He's excited about EVERYTHING, and never, ever stops moving even when he's exhausted. He's a tinkerer, and will figure things out easily after just watching how they are done. James is my sweet little boy, and I'll never forget the moment I welcomed him into the world. What a blessing God has given us in this child.
Here is a link to the photo album from the party... it took me 2.5 hours to assemble this, and still the pictures are sideways for who knows what reason (I did turn them, but they turned back). So, oh well...
I am uploading some videos from the party but they are taking forever and I need to get to bed. So I'll do them in another post. I also have Father's Day and Ellie's first plane trip to blog about, but it will have to wait another couple days.
For now it's enough that James is 3... Happy birthday, my bean/noodle/pumpkin!
Here are his 3-year-old stats:
Favorite toy- Cars (He calls them "cows" and has to sleep with at least two every night).
Favorite treat- Cake or ice cream, preferably chocolate.
Favorite color- Blue or red.
Favorite activity- Playing in his new playhouse in the yard, building a house with "wegos," running non-stop! Favorite food- "Mac & weeze!"
Favorite show- "Ho Hos" (Jake and the Neverland Pirates)
Favorite movie- Monsters Inc. Favorite things to say- "That's silly!" counting 1-10 (sometimes forgetting #5), "I get the cows (cars)!," "I want me!" (when he wants to do stuff himself), "I want to go pay! (play)".
Favorite outdoor activity: Eating blueberries off the bush, even the green ones!
I'll have his weight/height stats after his doctor's checkup mid-July.
His birthday party was yesterday, and we all had a blast! It was Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed, which is James's favorite show (a Disney Jr. kid's show written about the characters from Peter Pan but made educational and fun for preschoolers). He and his cousins had fun dressing up as pirates, going on a treasure hunt in the backyard, and doing a "hook toss" ring toss (all the boys got a prize, but James was funny in that he took all three rings, walked up to the board, and put them all on a hook at once!).
The adults also competed in a ring toss competition, of which Nathan was the winner. Other activities included sailing the high seas in a Bucky cardboard boat, and selecting your pirate name (you can see those in some of the pictures). James had a great time running around stealing crackers off the table and having sword fights with his cousins. He was, for the first time, eager to open his presents, and he loved getting a million Matchbox cars, which he promptly spilled into his new wheelbarrow and took off!
His big gift this year was a new playhouse (since he loves houses so much after watching the movie "Up"). This particular one has a fence you can build, a grill, a phone, a flower box, and nails you can hammer down. It also has a mailbox missing the back which Uncle Nathan turned into a fun surprise for the kids by putting his hand inside and having the kids "check the mail". :-)
Ellie chilled through it all, though she was a bit freaked out by all the people and noise. She did pretty good "swimming" in the "ocean" for most of the afternoon.
I made James a Pirates cake with the ocean and sand, and it was apple swirl flavored with cream cheese frosting. He liked it for the most part. I think I'll do chocolate next year...
Today, for his actual birthday day, we opened more presents (he got a camera, some books, a car, and a toy wood airplane), played with his new toys, and went to Red Robin for dinner where he had his first ever milkshake. He had a great time telling us all the shapes of the lamps above us and what color they were (he correctly identified and said triangle and circle!), and he got a kick out of the big carousel horse on top of the booths.
We love our little man with such a loving, sweet personality. He always says to me, "I give you wots and wots of hugs!" while hugging me, and he often will hug his sister, give her a toy, or kiss her. He's excited about EVERYTHING, and never, ever stops moving even when he's exhausted. He's a tinkerer, and will figure things out easily after just watching how they are done. James is my sweet little boy, and I'll never forget the moment I welcomed him into the world. What a blessing God has given us in this child.
Here is a link to the photo album from the party... it took me 2.5 hours to assemble this, and still the pictures are sideways for who knows what reason (I did turn them, but they turned back). So, oh well...
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| James 3rd Birthday favorites |
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Sibling love
I put the kids in a shopping cart at Costco today, their first time sitting together. They thought it was a hoot! James kept hugging Ellie and she kept touching his hoodie and stealing his toys. :-)
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Getting ready to fly!
Honestly, the idea of flying with both of them terrifies me. I've been stressed out about it for months. Mainly because our last flight with James included a 3am wake-up time, a connection with a delay and gate change, food poisoning, screaming (from James) and overall not a pleasant experience.
This time I'm doing things a bit differently. For our sanity, I picked a non-stop flight in the middle of the day, got a CARES harness instead of lugging the carseat down the aisle (we will be gate-checking them), and am packing light as possible.
So in my attempt to dissolve my fears of keeping them fed/healthy/entertained for hours on end in a cramped airplane aisle, I decided to design my own airplane tray cover for each kid (I had some inspiration from some other sewing blogs, but in the end the overall design is my own). When the tray is up, we have room to store books, snacks, etc in the pockets. When it is down, the kids can play with the toys and store their crayons/snacks/cars/sippy cups in the pockets on the sides. We can also clip Ellie's toys on the ribbon loops on the side to avoid the inevitable toy-fell-on-the-gross-floor-and-now-found-it's-way-into-my-baby's-mouth scenario.
All of this is in the hopes that I can have a few minutes of sanity on our 4hr fight. Maybe work a crossword or flip through one magazine. Maybe? We'll see!
Anyway, here are the pics of the end result of my first attempt ever at designing a project from scratch.
Oh, and Ellie is enjoying her new carseat now! She's pretty much outgrown her old one.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Ellie is 8 months old!
My baby girl turned 8 months old yesterday, and though she is fighting a cold she is as happy and beautiful as ever! 
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Time marches on...
I think I may stop apologizing for the frequency (or lack of) that I am able to write here. Honestly, some days I don't even get to eat till 3pm because I'm taking care of the kids every second. I really try to keep on top of the blog, but clearly it is the thing I'm letting slide a bit these days and I have to let it be OK, because, along with washing my windows, it just isn't a priority compared to having clean dishes to eat off of and making sure Ellie has clean diapers. So, when I have time to write and post, I will! I may try to post more pictures from my phone since that seems doable...
Ellie is a sweet little girl, she is so calm and laid back most of the time that James tends to steal the spotlight running around talking constantly. She takes it all in stride, even when James is practically sitting on her or pulling on her arm (which I of course try to stop). She is starting to make expressive noises when she likes something, and she's eating all kinds of fruits, meats, and grains. My favorite thing about her is her inquisitive nature (she rolls/scoots halfway across the room to investigate a toy) and her sweet demeanor.
Ellie is getting really close to crawling, she gets up on all fours and rocks, and/or sticks one leg out to the side. I think she will figure it out one of these days. She's also still teething and we are waiting for those two front bottom teeth to pop through. OH, and she can now drink a little water from her sippy cup all on her own!
James is like a whirlwind. He's here, he's there, he's into everything all the time. I call him my little explorer, because there is nothing that seems to phase him much (except loud blenders) and he tinkers with EVERYTHING till he figures it out. He can unlock all our doors and windows, and he even unlocked, opened, and pushed out the screen of our front window the other day. And locked the bathroom door so no one could get in. And got his potty seat stuck on his head today.
He also loves his cars and airplanes. We watched an IMAX show on netflix about the building of a Boeing airplane and he was glued to the TV watching it! I am really excited to take him on an airplane flight in a few weeks, I think he is going to love the whole process. We've spent a lot of time prepping him for it, including reading books about what to expect in the flying process and talking about it.
As much as he loves planes, he loves the movie Up and the concept of a flying house more than anything. He insists that all the houses can fly. And when we walk to the mailbox, he stops at each crack in the sidewalk and jumps over each one with two feet (which is what he sees Carl do in the movie, pretending it's the grand canyon).
Also, James learns probably 3-4 new words a day all on his own. He is picking up language left and right and is always talking talking talking! Which is a huge relief considering how long we waited for it. He also said his own name (JAMES!) for the first time yesterday! :-)
As for me, I'm learning all about my new Brother sewing machine and enjoying my craft time when I have it at night. The garden is really coming along, we are harvesting sugar snap peas and lettuce and beets right now, and waiting to put in the squash and tomatoes till the weather warms. Eliot is still working away and loves his job(s). Life is good. :-)
Ellie is a sweet little girl, she is so calm and laid back most of the time that James tends to steal the spotlight running around talking constantly. She takes it all in stride, even when James is practically sitting on her or pulling on her arm (which I of course try to stop). She is starting to make expressive noises when she likes something, and she's eating all kinds of fruits, meats, and grains. My favorite thing about her is her inquisitive nature (she rolls/scoots halfway across the room to investigate a toy) and her sweet demeanor.
Ellie is getting really close to crawling, she gets up on all fours and rocks, and/or sticks one leg out to the side. I think she will figure it out one of these days. She's also still teething and we are waiting for those two front bottom teeth to pop through. OH, and she can now drink a little water from her sippy cup all on her own!
James is like a whirlwind. He's here, he's there, he's into everything all the time. I call him my little explorer, because there is nothing that seems to phase him much (except loud blenders) and he tinkers with EVERYTHING till he figures it out. He can unlock all our doors and windows, and he even unlocked, opened, and pushed out the screen of our front window the other day. And locked the bathroom door so no one could get in. And got his potty seat stuck on his head today.
He also loves his cars and airplanes. We watched an IMAX show on netflix about the building of a Boeing airplane and he was glued to the TV watching it! I am really excited to take him on an airplane flight in a few weeks, I think he is going to love the whole process. We've spent a lot of time prepping him for it, including reading books about what to expect in the flying process and talking about it.
As much as he loves planes, he loves the movie Up and the concept of a flying house more than anything. He insists that all the houses can fly. And when we walk to the mailbox, he stops at each crack in the sidewalk and jumps over each one with two feet (which is what he sees Carl do in the movie, pretending it's the grand canyon).
Also, James learns probably 3-4 new words a day all on his own. He is picking up language left and right and is always talking talking talking! Which is a huge relief considering how long we waited for it. He also said his own name (JAMES!) for the first time yesterday! :-)
As for me, I'm learning all about my new Brother sewing machine and enjoying my craft time when I have it at night. The garden is really coming along, we are harvesting sugar snap peas and lettuce and beets right now, and waiting to put in the squash and tomatoes till the weather warms. Eliot is still working away and loves his job(s). Life is good. :-)
Friday, May 3, 2013
Baby ducks!
Everyone in our house is suffering from the SECOND cold we've gotten in a row... it's meant 3 weeks of illness so far for me and James, and Eliot is just beginning to get sick. But James and I are on the mend, even if we are still a little sick, so I decided to get him out of the house because we are going CRAZY being inside all the time!
I took James to the Wilco farm store to see the baby ducks and chicks, and also redeem a free tomato plant coupon I had. He had a great time... he kept saying "Hi, baby ducks!" and LOVED it when they ran back and forth from the heat lamp to the water/food.
But why explain it when I can show it? Enjoy!
I took James to the Wilco farm store to see the baby ducks and chicks, and also redeem a free tomato plant coupon I had. He had a great time... he kept saying "Hi, baby ducks!" and LOVED it when they ran back and forth from the heat lamp to the water/food.
But why explain it when I can show it? Enjoy!
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