This is my Jamesy. Always ready for a snack! We affectionately call him "the big snack". It just suits him! We were over at my parents house for my birthday dinner Sunday night and out of the corner of my eye I saw James heading for the pantry. The last time we were there my dad had given him a few animal crackers. Well... this kid doesn't forget where the treats are located. He headed right on into the pantry and was helping himself to a few cookies before dinner. I have to say he is just so darn cute!
We had a lovely evening. The cousins have so much fun together! James just started saying Charlie's name. He calls him "Char". These are two buddies in the making. Love it!
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them sing joyful praises forever.
Spread your protection over them,
that all who love your name may be filled with joy.
This past Tuesday we had a birthday celebration for my sweet mother-in-law at our house. It was a fun filled evening of chinese food (she is easy to please), cake and presents. We are all so blessed to have her in our lives!
She loved the card James made for her!
And of course... she loved the card Drew picked out for her.
Heather made her a really special gift. She collected letters and special memories from friends and family and put them into a pretty ceramic box. Meredith was overwhelmed! She absolutely loved it!
Nan and her girls...
Make a wish!
James loved the cake!
She is a proud mama!
Happy Birthday Nan! We love you!
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people
Whoa... right? My belly is getting bigger by the moment and this is how I prefer to spend my time these days. I'm pretty sure I was about this big when James was born. Yikes! The other day I was filling my glass with water and I caught Paul looking at me. I asked him what he was looking at and his response was, "a lot". Gotta love it! This is the stage of pregnancy when you feel like a whale. Everything takes effort. Just putting on my shoes gets me winded. But as I sit here typing I am watching my belly dance. Now that is super cool! Even though this is my second time around it is still wildly amazing to think that there is actually a living little being in there. It's almost hard to wrap my mind around.
I can't wait to meet this little guy. I wake up at night wondering what he is going to look like and how he is going to fit into our family. I am simultaneously excited and scared of the change this will bring to our lives. I am sad to lose my one on one time with James and yet I know he is going to love having a little brother. Life will be different for sure... crazy and wonderfully different.
Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
I have been so bad about blogging the past few weeks. When James turned 18 months in January life began to change very quickly! He is so busy! We can no longer just hang around the house while he quietly plays with toys in the playroom. In the mornings we have to get out! This kid needs to burn off some energy! So we typically try to plan for a few mornings out. In the afternoon he usually takes a nice long nap and I try to catch a few zzz's myself. Then we play some more and make dinner. By the time we finish bath and bedtime routines I am wiped out! I keep thinking... "how am I going to do this with two?!" I am reminded of my dear older sisters... one has four and the other is pregnant with #8! Surely I can handle another one!
While James is eager to explore (aka... into everything!) he really is a joy. He makes me laugh so much these days. He is trying so hard to talk but mostly everything still comes out sounding like jibber jabber. It is so cute to listen to his sweet little voice in the playroom having entire conversations with himself while he plays with his Little People bus or farm animals. His little voice goes up and down while he pushes the bus around the room and loads and unloads the people. It is so neat to watch his imagination and creativity starting to take root. Here is a recent video of him while we were reading one of his favorite books...
I have been busy with my "new to you" sewing machine! A woman in my moms' quilting group was getting a new machine and offered up her old one to anyone who would take it.
Doesn't it remind you of your home ec days? Every time I turn her on I can hear my old teacher yelling at the boys, "Slow down! This is not the Indy 500!" By the way... do you know they call that Family Consumer Science now? Off the subject... but I think that's hilarious! Anyways, I love this thing! I am really getting into it and I have all kinds of projects planned. Don't ask me when I am going to get them done seeing as how I am going to have a newborn and an under 2 year old in less than 10 weeks. Yikes! But every time I sit down to this little beauty I just lose track of the time. So far I have made place mats and napkins and sweet little burp cloths.
Don't you just love them?
Paul asked me why we couldn't just buy some at Walmart. Because they are not as fun... duh! Besides, I did buy the burp cloths as Walmart. I just wanted to embellish them a bit! So fun!
Thankfully my mom has an entire basement of fabrics that I can go shopping in. She has already donated most of what I have used to my new little hobby!
In other news, we are working on the nursery. Slow but sure! Paul painted last night and I love the color. Pictures to follow soon. The furniture is in, but the bedding has not yet arrived. Go figure. I am anxiously waiting because my nesting instincts have kicked in for sure. I am starting to get really tired, so I am hoping to get everything situated soon. I want to be able to just sit back and relax for the last few weeks.
That's all for now, but I can't end this post without one more picture of this kid.
Today was a gray and rainy February day. It was looking like it was going to be a long morning, so I decided we better come up with a fun activity quick! I had read about the idea to make clean mush online and thought we would give it a try.
We started with two rolls of toilet paper that James was delighted to play with...
At first he was a little hesitant because I never let him play with the toilet paper! But then he got into the fun.
He ran and stomped and made a big mess without having to hear the words "No James!"
Then the real fun began! I grated a bar of soap... sounds crazy I know. Next I put it in a big plastic container and mixed it with 1/3 cup of Borax. Then I added the t.p. and mixed with warm water to make the mush.
I decided to strip him down to his onesie so we didn't make a total mess! Then I gave him some spoons and cups and a potato masher and let him go to town. He loved it!
I had fun too! Ordinarily I hate to make a mess, but it was actually fun to mush around in and it smelled nice and clean! It was a great way to spend an otherwise long morning!
I got to spend Valentine's Day with my favorite little man!
I always loved Valentine's Day growing up because my mom would make it a really fun day! We always got a little treat... nothing big, but just something that was special that she knew we would really enjoy. As a mother myself now I am finding fulfillment in watching my son and step-sons' delight as they share in this same tradition. It isn't about the gifts... it's about seeing the joy on their faces as they experience love and know how special they are to us.
This year I decorated little tins I had left over from James' birthday party and put their Valentines in them. They loved it!
James and I spent the morning looking at his new books...
And dancing with his frog that daddy and Drew picked out for him.
Then we went to story hour at the library and stopped to deliver a few Valentine treats to Nana and Pop, Aunt Lala and crew and our neighbors.
Later Drew got to open his gifts when he came home from school. He was most excited about the sugar cookies I made him. The quickest way to any 13 year old boys heart is through his belly! We had a nice Valentine's dinner together and played with James before sending him off to bed.
It wasn't about flowers and chocolates or sappy cards... I am so not into that stuff! Well, except for the chocolates part. I have never met a mouthful of chocolate that I didn't like!
It was just a fun day with my favorite people in life! Praise God! He is the giver of every good and perfect gift from above and He has blessed me in abundance.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
It has been a pretty rainy winter here, which I am not complaining about! But this past weekend we finally got a big snow storm and we woke up Saturday morning to nearly seven inches of snow! It was pretty exciting, so I raced out to Target to buy James a pair of snow boots and stuffed him into his cute this snowsuit that I bought at a consignment sale last fall. I thought he would love it! But he was less than thrilled. He hated the boots... due to the fact that his feet are so wide, it is very difficult to get this kid in a pair of shoes. I mean, it took some serious huffing and puffing to stuff his feet in! Once he was outside and he could run, he was just fine. He looked hysterical! Seriously, he reminded me of the little brother on A Christmas Story. I think it took us longer to put all the gear on than he was actually outside!
It brought back all the nostalgia of my own sled riding days... waking up to see a fresh blanket of snow yet untouched by the world, bundling up and racing outside with my neighbors. We would spend hours going down the hill in their side yard, building jumps, racing down the hill and then running back up for another turn. Oh the calories I must have burned! When we would finally tire out I would head back into our nice cozy house and drink hot cocoa by the fireplace. My mom and I would set up a card table and work on puzzles while watching movies like Anne of Green Gables. I'm so thankful for those memories and I hope to be able to create special ones with my own children.
Here are a few pictures of my own sweet little snow bunny...
He was loving it until he took a spill! Then it was time to go back inside!!
To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
