James today and Pantry pictures

I borrowed my parents' camera and computer for these.
(BTW, click on this first picture to enlarge it, and check out the right side of his tongue. It is still a little deformed from his boo-boo a couple of months ago!)








The before picture of my kitchen was taken with my camera, which I can't download now, but here are the after pics of the pantry.

A boring no-picture update :)

I have no pictures to share now, because my computer won't let me put pictures on it. Our techy-friend Cody helped us set up our extra storage drive, but somehow I'm not doing it right, and my old computer is COMPLETELY out of storage. Not one picture can be uploaded. It has 10 gigs, which is less than a lot of ipods! I remember getting SO excited when I got this computer in 2000, sophomore year of college, and it was so nice back then. I'm a little attached to it, it still has my college papers (and some of Kim and Amanda's college papers, job applications, wedding invitation lists, etc:)) on it, but I'm excited and ready to get a new one! Anyways, I'm rambling now! :)

This weekend was wonderful. I felt like it started on Thursday, because I got to eat breakfast with a really good friend of mine, Christine. She lives in Nashville and came in town for a wedding, and we got to squeeze in a breakfast. The rest of the weekend was wonderfully boring! I went to a movie Friday night with my parents and Elizabeth (a rare treat), to see The Bourne Ultimatum. Very great if you love action movies. I don't love all action movies, but I love all of the Bourne movies. Josh and Bryon had already seen it together this past week, so they watched the kiddos while we went. Saturday, Josh, James, and I went to the outlet mall in Hillsboro, and did shopping for James at Carters. All of his pj's were too small, so we bought him some summer ones to get him through the rest of the season and some adorable winter ones. I LOVE winter pj's on babies and toddlers. I can't wait for him to wear them. I know we still have a LONG ways to go, though! Saturday night, I had a blast reorganizing our pantry. We had weevils or rice beetles (not sure which one) get in our food, so I had to take everything out, throw away food that was opened, get it sprayed by pest control, wait a few days, and clean it. All the while, our food was in the laundry room. I decided to make it really organized, since I had to go to all of that trouble, so I went to Linens n Things and got some pantry organizers. It is perfect now, which is heavenly to me! I keep going in there and smiling. :) I took pictures, because it was comical seeing our pantry's contents everywhere, and took some after pictures, so I'll post those later.

I'm super excited that one of my really good friends, Amber, is blogging now! Her son is the one in the picture with James below. I get so excited when another friend comes over to the dark side. :) Her son, Kelton, is absolutely adorable and is one of James' best buddies. Kelton loves Josh the most out of the 3 of us, and only gets excited to see "Jop" when we get together.

I've also added my new photo website and a few other blog links that I've been meaning to add!

Thursday, we go back to work at Mother's Day Out for our work day. Tuesday starts the year! I'm so excited to go back and meet my new class! I'm very sad I won't have Thomas next year, and when I told him this today, he said, "Well, you can go buy some Thomas bread (there's a brand called Thomas) and think of me!" Somehow, that won't quite do it, but maybe I'll go up there and have lunch with Thomas and Matthew every once in a while. I will get to have little M E next door, in Amber's class! Our two classes go to the gym and playground together every day, so that'll be fun to see her more.

James seems to learn a new trick every day. Saturday, he went up to Josh with a diaper, layed on the floor, and put his legs up. He did it again an hour later! You'd think I taught him that one (bringing a diaper to Josh), but I didn't! I keep forgetting to record this one, but ever since we were in Atlanta, he's been asking "Doe?", while putting his hands up (like "where'd it go?") and shrugging his shoulders. He says that about 10 times a day, when something goes away. He's starting to add to it and says, "Weh doe?"

Some not-so-cute tricks, he got into my deep red lipstick yesterday, right as we were about to walk out the door for church. Luckily, he just got a teeny bit on the front and back of his church outfit. He had it all over his hands, so it could have been SO much worse. He also broke my favorite necklace this morning as I was trying to get ready for the day. I think I can fix it, but I'm going to have to be more aware of what he's got in his hands while I'm getting ready. He's so quick! Guess I have to learn how to be quicker!

That's all I've got for now! As soon as I figure out pictures, I'll post them. Hope everyone has a great week!

Summer Days

Not a lot to report on right now. We've been indoors a lot because of the heat, but I can't complain too much because this has been an incredible summer. I think we made it to August with no triple digits!

Here's what we've been up to...

James and his best buddy Kelton went to the spray park together last week. They both really enjoyed it! I think James got some of his braveness from watching Kelton, because last time we went with James, he was a lot more timid. They ran back and forth the whole time and enjoyed sticking their hands in the water and splashing.















My Aunt Carolyn and her good friend Eileen came to visit us for a few days. My mom's side of the family lives far away, so it was a rare treat to have both of my mom's sisters come visit us this summer!

Mary Beth turned 3, and Michael and Jilinda came down to celebrate. We always love having them in town. Mary Beth had an adorable princess party, and it was the cutest thing watching her savor each present that she got. By the time she was finished, there was pink on just about every inch of the living room. It was so much fun playing with her toys afterward and remembering how much I enjoyed all of the girly toys when I was little.

James is 16 months old now, which is so hard to believe! I absolutely love this age! I love how he talks to me all day long, wants to crawl on my back, gives me lots of hugs and kisses, brings books to me over and over and sits in my lap to read them, talks to everyone everywhere we go, laughs at himself, and makes funny faces to make me laugh. One of my favorite things he is doing right now is pointing to everything and jibber-jabbering a word with the same intonation that we use. He just got a new book that has the first 100 words with pictures, and he will go from page to page pointing to each picture and saying his word for it. He is also telling everyone and everything (and every room) "Bye-Bye!" right now. While he says it, he lifts up his hand and does a still wave like an older man. It's really funny. He is pure heaven to be with, and I couldn't feel more blessed.





People are starting to ask us when we are going to try for another. Right now we're thinking we're going to wait another year or so to start trying. I used to say two years apart and Josh used to say 3, but we both are agreeing on 2 1/2 - 3 years apart right now. We're planning on a trip this Spring, and then I kinda want to go through another summer without being pregnant. I love summertime and want another one just like this with just the three of us. You never know when the baby bug will strike, though!

Tips?

Hey blog friends! This morning I was thinking about how I'd like to get a little more organized in running my home, and I wanted to talk to some friends about it. I asked Kim on the phone, and she said she would love some tips, too, and gave me a great suggestion: blog about it! I kind of clean in spurts and would like to be more consistent. I try to be, but I never seem to keep it up! I also feel strongly that it's not good to clean all day long, and I enjoy playing with James, talking to friends on the phone, etc. too much to give that up, nor do I think I should. I don't even watch tv during the day, besides maybe 30 minutes right when I wake up. I do like to take naps during the afternoon (sometimes), have quiet time with God, blog, and read during his nap though. Sometimes, though, if I let the house get out of hand (which happens way too fast these days!), I feel more sluggish and overwhelmed. So if you've got a good tip that really works for you, like certain days of the week doing a certain job, please do share!

Parenting

My preacher wrote a blog on parenting, and I thought it was very worthy of sharing. He's doing a 4 part series on what you would pass on about certain areas of your life, and this part is on parenting. People sometimes comment throughout the day to add to the list. His blog is always a good read if you're looking for a little spiritual boost to your day!

Parenting

The others are
marriage
being a Christ-follower
being a minister

James' Looks

These pictures were taken by Elizabeth. I wanted her to capture some of James' looks and expressions, and I think she did a great job!

Atlanta trip and Meeting the quads!

Last Thursday, we headed up to Dallas at 6am to see one of my best friends, Suzanne, who had her quads the night before. The reason we had to go up so early was that we were flying to Atlanta to see Josh's family 11:00! I was so glad to see her and get to hug her neck before our trip. We had a really great time in Atlanta. When we got there we spent time with Josh's mom's side of the family at Aunt Allyson's house. We had a great meal, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching James interact with everyone. He really gets going when he's the center of attention! That night, we headed over to Josh's dad's house, where we spent the night 3/4 nights. Friday was jam-packed with fun! We went to the aquarium, which was INCREDIBLE!!! If you go, just expect a huge crowd. I was prepared by Kristy's blog, and that helped! We saw sharks, beluga whales, penguins, you name it. My favorite was the beluga whales. The are related to dolphins, so they're smiling, and they have really good vision, so you can see their eye sockets going up and down as they were checking everyone out. My other favorite part was watching James's face. He was fascinated by everything! When we walked outside afterward, we saw American Idol and radio tents. They were auditioning people to be the first people to try out for the Atlanta try-outs next week. They were also giving away free cokes, and I have to mention how incredible my drink was. I am a die hard diet coke fan. Never will touch most other soft drinks, but I decided to try Coke Zero with Vanilla and I LOVED it! It tasted like a diet coke float! So good! Anyways, back to the trip. Friday night, Josh's brother and family and sister and family spent the night with Josh's dad, and we had a blast talking, playing with the kids, and playing pretend Texas Hold'em. Saturday we drove to Gainesville, GA, north of Atlanta, to a cabin for the family reunion. That was really neat, getting to see extended family, some who I'd never seen before, and we enjoyed showing off our little guy. The kids had a great time playing outside, and James loved all of the attention he was getting from his cousins. I wish I'd gotten a picture, but James was letting Josie and Hannah hold his hands and walk him around for a little bit, which my Mr. Independent never lets us do for more than 5 seconds! Saturday night, we headed to Jo Anna's house and spent the night there. Sunday we got to go to Jo Anna and Charles's church, and Hannah was most excited about showing off her cousin to her friends! After church, we went back to Jo Anna's for some great sandwiches and dip prepared by chef Charles. He can even make sandwiches awesome! The rest of Josh's mom's side came over for the afternoon, and we had some great conversation! I also learned from Josh's 15 year old cousin what T9 texting was. I having been wanting to know that forever, and now I understand! I feel better now! Sunday night, we headed back to Josh's dad to spend our last night there. Monday, we flew home, just in time to make another visit to see the quads! Josh stayed at Suzanne and Joe's house with James so I could have a more relaxed visit with Suzanne. I enjoyed so much getting to just talk with Suzanne, who is doing excellent for just have 4 babies! The highlight though was seeing her 4 little wonders, lying in their beds and looking so healthy! It really was indescribable, so I won't even attempt to put it into words. We got in last night and are officially exhausted! Hopefully this will be a calm, easy week, so we can fully recuperate from all of our travels. I forgot to mention that James did not sleep very well this whole trip, so it felt SO good to be back in our bed last night, with James sound asleep in his bed! He seems to already be back to himself, though. Here are some pictures from the trip.


This fish was HUGE!!!
The beluga whale

Silly Face

 
I love this face of his. It makes me laugh every time! Had to post it!