James's birthday celebrations, Part 1

The birthday festivities have begun for our sweet almost 5 year old!  He is so excited that he gets to have 5 celebrations this year (Oh, to be a kid again!). :) Papa Joe was here last weekend, and we did a mini-birthday party with him.

Yesterday was James' PDO celebration.  He was so so excited to bring cupcakes for his friends and wanted to help me make them.  He loved having Mommy and Daddy eat lunch with him, got very into his friends singing him "Happy Birthday" and screamed "Eat More Chicken!!" with them, and then enjoyed his friends and teachers eating the cupcakes.  He told me they were the best cupcakes he's ever eaten (they were out of the box, but it melted me heart), and he proudly watched his teacher eat them and told her, "My mommy made those, and they're the best cupcakes I've ever had!"

Mobile Uploads

I just uploaded a couple hundred pictures from my cell phone and thought I'd share a few of my favorites...

Josh dancing with James after he found out he passed his big test!

James wanted me to take a picture of him and B-Bear

Jack took this and I think it's cute. :)

James talking to his elf on the shelf.

Josh coming up with ways to entertain the kids. :)

James took this picture during Sunday lunch.

Jack asking if he could open the lotion with a big smile, trying to charm me.

talking to the cows on our way home

Jack talking to a Baylor bear.

Jack did this all on his own...so cute!

Jack's first busted lip. :(

Melt my heart!!

James, "Look, Mom! It's like I'm on a canalt (canal)!" :)

My friend sent me this picture. It's of James's first attempt at a friend sleepover. He did so well until it was time to go to sleep and he said he "missed Mommy too much". He had a super fun time, though. We'll keep trying. :)

First Game, Second Season

James had his first soccer game Saturday of his new team, the Little Kickers.  We decided to do soccer again this Spring, since he had so much fun last Fall, but we had to switch to the other League (the more hard-core soccer league) to do that.  He had a hard time at first with the fact that he wasn't a Lion anymore and that his color was yellow, not blue.  It is a different experience, but it was a fun game to watch!  James still loves it and was smiling throughout the game. :)  He scored 2 or 3 goals (he thinks 3...:)) and was focused and hustling the whole game.  We're looking forward to another season!

Jack wanted his picture taken, too. :)

Something Current!

My sweet little angel has been settling more into the terrible two's lately. On two different days, I went to take a shower, came out, and heard James saying, "Mom! Jack is in trouble!"  I went to look and found the bottom two scenes.  The black sharpie marks were also on my computer screen and chair.

He is also throwing more tantrums and becoming more defiant.  His favorite word is no, or "nope".  Ugh!  I'll be happy when we are past this.  

He also continues to make me laugh.  One day last week, I went in to get him out of his crib, and found his monkey with his teddy bear's sweater on.  I asked Josh if he had done that (which would be weird if he had), and he laughingly said no. :)  I guess Jack thought his monkey needed that sweater on!

A church teacher warned another mother, who told me, that Jack had a thing for her daughter!  He had pulled a chair up for a little girl named Mia to sit right next to him at church. :)

My boys on St. Patrick's Day.  James just started going to speech therapy, "speech class", and absolutely loves it!  He has stuttered off and on since he was two, and with two speech therapists in my family, we thought it was time to give him a little help.  Josh did this when he was little, went to speech therapy, and completely outgrew it.  I've never once heard him stutter, so that gives me hope that James will never have to deal with this when he's older.  I really enjoyed watching him do his evaluation.  He has a very high vocabulary for his age, and his receptive vocabulary is 5 years higher than his expressive, which might be the cause of the disfluency.  James got to talk to his "speech teacher" on the phone, and now constantly wants to call her.  He was so determined to call her today, that he started calling random people on my phone looking for her.  My mom called me from work saying that her secretary said a little boy called looking for his speech teacher. :)  When I told his st this today, she gave him her personal cell number and said he could call her anytime!  :)  She could not be any sweeter.  We are now trying to work with him at home to smoothly connect our words and make them breathy like Marilyn Monroe. :)  If you hear me talking like Marilyn Monroe out in public, now you'll know why.

My little Irish boys.

                                                            

Jack's hilarious grumpy face

I love this face!

26/27 Months

*Big singer, some songs he sings a lot- head and shoulders knees and toes, ten little monkeys, adleweis,
*Obsessed with thomas the train
*Speaks in complete sentences often- "Can I had da peanut butter, please-please?" (He tries to charm me by saying "please-please?" in an adorable sweet way)
*Says "scooz me" when he passes gas or runs into someone. :)
*Is really into saying "I be wight back", running off, and then coming back. Over and over
*Loves to dance and entertain. He alternates arms going up and down and runs and spins around.
*Has the loudest, most ear-piercing scream I've ever heard. It's not during crying or tantrums, but more like to protest something. He'll just let out one big scream.
*Has off days of throwing tantrums, but for the most part is pretty low maintenance.
*He's hilarious! I can't describe it, but he keeps us, and James, laughing.

*He loves to entertain.  Attention will egg him on, and he will continue to do things bigger and bigger for laughs.
*If he hurts James, even on purpose, he'll look at him and say, "sorry Mae-mae", then James will say "that's okay" and then they'll give each other a sweet hug. It's so adorable.
*He's a little Romeo. He gets so excited when he sees the baby girls at our church that he'll say, "I wanna kiss!", then  put his hands on their face, and kiss them. He has a few girls he's particularly fond of, like Avi, Jentri, and LauraLayne.
*He is very loving and affectionate with us, in an aggressive way. He grabs the back of my head, squeezes our heads together, and gives me big, hard kisses, with his eyes open. :) It's hilarious.  He also cuddles on the couch every morning with Josh, and cuddles before bed every night with me.
*He loves to ask "why???" right now, and puts lots of fluctuation in the question.
*Says funny things, like, "Oh my goo-ness!! I sawl it right there!", when he found my address stamp he'd been looking for.
*He loves to go night-night. I think it may be because he goes non-stop all day, but he rarely resists. He'll snuggle and be so still the minute I turn on his "night-night button" (noise maker)

*He still takes 2-3 hour naps every day, with no fuss.
*He is now wanting to carry around his "b-bear and banket" (his calls his Teddy bears "b-bears like James now) a lot. He wakes up and will tell me which ones he wants. When I pick him up out of bed and give him his things, he'll bury into me with them. It is so sweet!!

*He goes to class happily every day.  Last week I was lingering, and he put up his hand and said, "Bye, Mama!!!  Have a good day!"

*He happily runs to my room after class each day.  Sometimes, when other moms start picking up kids, I'll hear his voice down the hall saying, "I wanna go see my Mama!"  

*He is so full of energy!!!  He has one speed most of the time, running.

*He's very happy go lucky, usually with a big smile on his face.

*His new thing is to call groups of women or girls "Ladies".  Josh dropped him off in the nursery during worship yesterday, and he said, "Hello, Ladies!!!" in his booming voice. When we were leaving lunch with Elizabeth, and her in-laws (in which there were a bunch of women and girls), he said, "I wanna go wit da ladies!"
*He is such a joy!!! I am loving watching him come into his own.  His personality gets bigger every month!

Wearing Uncle Michael's Bear Bryant hat

He holds all the stuffed animals and blankets he can.

His ultra-happy smile :)

I love when he puts his hands in his pockets like his big brother.

Jack 1-28-11

My computer wasn't working for a while, and my camera broke (and it thankfully was replaced for free), so I'm way behind on my blogging! I have lots to catch up on soon (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc), but for now I'll just post this video of the boys...