Bedtime Prayers

A conversation between me and James last night:

Me: What 3 things should we thank God for in our prayers tonight?
James: Maria, Christina, Gillian.
Me: Good one. What else?
James: Ben, Aunt Amy, Bill and Jane.
Me: Ok, one more thing.
James: Poop.
Me: Did you say food?
James: No, poop.

I love that kid.

Must Read

This is a really good book! I wasn't sure if I'd get into it since it's a far cry from my usual choice of chick-lit or Harry Potter/Twilight, but I gave it a try and loved it. The really amazing thing is Tom "I've never finished a book in my life" Ruden not only read it from cover-to-cover, but he started reading it on Friday night and finished Saturday morning. Yeah, it's that good!

Farmer's Market

Summer is here and along with summer comes farmer's markets. Tom and I aren't really the traditional farmer's market customers considering Tom doesn't eat anything green so our experience usually goes something like this: purchase breakfast burritos, eat breakfast burritos, wander aimlessly through the rest of the stands, leave. However, this year we are finding all sorts of kid-friendly booths that keep us there longer. When Jamesie's happy, everyone's happy!

Jamesie was really excited about this dragon. He growled at everyone that walked by and tried to get them with the dragon. Picture the monster voice with props. Other people probably think we're so weird, but I think he's hilarious.

Flying the airplane. The army man put him in there and Jamesie was just thrilled that he got to drive the plane like the "meme."

Speaking of farmer's markets, check out this post for a blast from the past.

One Month (AKA Logan's Post)

Ooops! Sorry! Wrong Baby. Let's try this again...









I can't believe our little LoganBear is so big already, can you? His first month flew by, and in typical second child fashion, he's almost two months already and I'm just now writing this blog! Sorry Buddy! But...if I had to describe Logan in one word I would say "nice". He is just the sweetest, nicest little guy in the world. With such a crazy big brother I guess you have to be pretty easy-going. So he probably doesn't mind if his one month blog is three weeks late.

Hey Shorty, It's Your Birthday

We're gonna party like it's your birthday...

With bubbles, ice cream, cake, and big wheels of course!

Love.

Catch 'em!

Here comes the big wheel gang!

LoganBear really wanted to enjoy the party but he just got too tired.

James leading the pack (He only made it half way before he had to turn around or get run over).

Cheeseburger!

Cake-notice the color?

Good thing James has his cousins to help him open those presents.

Helping cook for the party.

That ice cream is supposed to be for him and Grandpa, but I don't think Jamesie's sharing.

"Uncle Dennis, will you show me how to party?"

Love my new cousin.

"A new bike? Awesome! Now I can keep up with those girls!"

The morning after the party-enjoying his new toys inside before mean old mom put them outside.

Cool Dude!

2 years old!

Millions of people were glued to their televisions April 29, 2011 to watch the royal wedding; but we know that was a big day for a much more important reason: our little guy turned 2!!! I can not believe my little buddy is already two-years-old. How is that even possible? Here are some things you should know about James now that he is officially a big boy:

• James is still very very silly. He loves to pretend an alligator is coming and he is going to eat all of us all gone. Jamesie also loves to pretend he is a monster and he is going to get all of us. The monster speaks in a very deep voice and runs around on his tiptoes.
• If it moves, James loves it. He's really into big trucks, garbage trucks, school buses, airplanes, and trains. The "meme" drives all of these things. I think "meme" came from the word mailman but I'm not really sure. All I know is, according to James, he drives everything.
• Jamesie is still very much an outside boy. He thinks lawnmowers are super cool from a distance or when they're parked safely inside a garage, but when Tom is mowing James stays safe up on the deck. Inside, James feels the same way about vacuums. His favorite thing to say about these is "owie, don't touch it."
• I've accidentally convinced James that bugs, butterflies, and caterpillars are yucky. He won't even go down his slide if there is a bug anywhere near it. We're trying to work on this since little boys are supposed to love bugs.
• Likes: macaroni and cheese, pizza, ranch dressing on anything, his binky, riding his bike, Dora the Explorer (they watch it a daycare), asking "why?", fruit snacks, people, jumping on his bed, Foxy, dancing, bubble baths, talking (the boy takes after his Grandpa Craig), running around with no clothes on, and cuddling.
• Dislikes: hot dogs, naps and bedtime, and having his diaper changed.

As you can see, he doesn't have many dislikes. Jamesie is just a happy guy who has fun everywhere he goes. He's such a little peanut, and we are so blessed to have him! The world is a much better place with Jamesie in it.

Very patiently waiting for Daddy to finish putting his birthday present together.

Ready to play!

Enjoying his birthday present from mom and dad while also playing his new drum from Grandma and Grandpa. Looks like someone else is also enjoying the music set. Who knew Tom could play the trumpet?

So stinkin' cute!

Big brother's birthdays really make a guy tired.

Sweet.

"Ready for my cake!"

Yes, he had a pink cake. I was thinking cherry frosting would be delicious. I did not think it would be so pink. I have taken a lot of grief about it, and it was very embarrassing when Dr. Sayeed asked what kind of cake he had and Jamesie replied, "pink." I will not make this mistake again.

It may be pink, but it sure is good.

Everybody knows you don't have to wear pants on your birthday.

Maybe he has all the musical talent we don't have.

"I'm in the band too."

Easter Fail

I was pretty excited for Easter this year because it was going to be the first holiday Jamesie is old enough to understand and appreciate. (Actually, that's not entirely true. When I told him the Easter Bunny was going to come on Easter he said "Why?" so I told him because it's a special day that we celebrate and he said "Why?" so then I figured I should mention Jesus since He is the real reason for Easter and then James said "Why?" again, and then I was really stumped. Why does the Easter Bunny come?) Anyway, back to Easter. I went to the store and stocked up on some Easter Bunny goodies. We all know James has way too many toys and is a junk-food junkie, so I tried to get things that would make a fun Easter basket without going overboard. I thought I did a really good job and spent the days leading up to Easter looking forward to Sunday morning. That is, until the Easter Bunny was totally outdone. As Tom mentioned here my awesome coworkers brought over a big brother basket for James on the Friday before Easter. It was very nice of them; however, everything they included in their basket was similar to what I was planning to include in Jamesie's Easter basket except much cooler. Examples: The Easter Bunny got a bubble wand, coworkers got a bubble sword and an awesome electric bubble blower; The Easter Bunny got a 4-pack of Wal-Mart brand sidewalk chalk, coworkers got a deluxe Crayola brand sidewalk chalk set; The Easter Bunny got a yellow kickball (the kind in the big racks in the stores that only cost $1), coworkers got a sweet Nerf kickball. Not to mention the school bus, dump trucks, puzzles, and books that were also in the basket. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed because I obviously couldn't give him my junkie stuff anymore, but I rallied and decided to focus my efforts on the candy side of Easter. I decided the Easter Bunny could bring an empty basket and hide eggs all over the house. Jamesie could fill his own basket with a good old-fashioned Easter egg hunt. The night before Easter I stayed up late and lovingly filled plastic Easter eggs with candy. I wanted him to have a lot of eggs and not much candy so I put 2 M&Ms in each egg. I was very pleased with my plan as I hid eggs all over the house and anxiously awaited the next morning. James woke up Sunday morning and had a great time searching for eggs. Tom's mom had brought James an Easter basket also, so Tom put the eggs from that basket in with the Easter Bunny's eggs, and we sat back to watch him open his eggs and enjoy his M&Ms. Trying to be a good mom, I told him he could open and eat 3 eggs before breakfast. The first egg James chose was from his Grandma Ruden and imagine his excitement (and my dismay) when 30 M&Ms came pouring out. James REALLY enjoyed his candy, and was not interested at all in the eggs with only 2 M&Ms. I decided maybe 3 eggs was too many and we should just call it quits. Sorry Easter Bunny, there's always next year.

We bought this brand new swing for Logan because James loved swinging so much. It almost killed me to buy something at Target rather than a garage sale, but look how much Logan is enjoying it!