oh my!!!

A few cute stories before I forget...

- We spent the weekend at the cabin in Arnold and made a little trip up to Lake Alpine on Saturday.  While on a little stroll along the lake, James said "hi" to a gentleman in his 60s who was fishing.  The man replied, "hi, how are you?"  James then informed him... "I asked you first!"  Wowzers!!!  I think I may have Auntie Michelle or Uncle Gary to thank for this one!  :-)

- Later during our walk, there was a nice woman throwing a HUGE stick for her dog (the stick was probably about 4 feet long!)  The dog would drop it 1-2 feet out in the water so James would go pick it up and bring it to the woman.  He would then tell the woman, "Throw it out there really far!" as he pointed to let her know where to throw it!  So cute!!!

- Jack has a cute little stuffed animal toy whose belly lights up and sings lullabies.  As we were playing with it tonight, I mentioned that Jack's little bug was singing.  James replied, "No, seahorse!"  And sure enough, he was right, it is a seahorse!  Not sure who taught him that one!

- This one is my favorite for the week... The rule in our house is that James needs to stay at the table until everyone is done eating (other than Papa and Auntie Michelle of course because they eat SO SLOW!).  Tonight James left the table after he was done but before Josh and I were done so Josh was in James's room  escorting/carrying James back to the table.  James was saying, "Put me down!  Put me down!"  That wasn't working for him so he tried, "Simon says, put me down!  Simon says, put me down!"  Unfortunately for James, that didn't work either and he was returned to his seat at the table!

- When we are driving home through our neighborhood, James will let me know which way I should go.  For those of you who haven't been to our house, there are several ways to approach the house because we kind of live on a circle.  I usually go the middle way and James has gotten used to that.  Every time we approach that intersection, James will tell me to turn left.  He will also point the other way and say, "No go that way, that's the wrong way."  When I ask him why it's the wrong way, he let's me know that we walk that way and we can't drive that way.  This afternoon he even told me that it's a circle!

- James continues to do a great job with learning his letters!  He knows the sounds for all the letters and can recognize many of them.  He is also starting to be able to give you the letter if you give him the sound and tell you what letter a word starts with if you emphasize the first letter for him.  So proud!!!

Let's just say that James is talking up a storm and getting SOOO big!!!!  He is growing up way too fast which I am enjoying so much but also missing the other stages so much!

And now for Jack... Jack is growing like crazy too and almost sitting!  He can prop sit for 30 seconds or so and tries to correct himself when he loses his balance but usually over corrects and loses it the other way.  He can sit pretty well with the Boppy wrapped around him to provide a little support but will still sometimes fold in half and face plant!

- Jack is growing like crazy too!  He is finding his brother more and more entertaining everyday and more and more funny everyday!  Last week, James did something crazy and slightly dangerous (I can't remember what it was now) but I decided to tell James that it wasn't a good idea and that I didn't want him doing that anymore.  Meanwhile, Jack is sitting there laughing at him for whatever silly thing he did!  Ugh!  Way too early for this to start!

- Jack is also starting to eat a little!  I started rice cereal about 2 weeks ago and he is going better and better with it every night.  I wish I could say that starting solids helped Jack sleep better at night but no such luck!  He is still up nursing 3 times a night but I am trying to just enjoy the snuggle time and know that it won't last forever.  I am also enjoying getting a little reading in on the Kindle (if I can keep my eyes open at 2am to read!)

- Jack continues to HATE the car!  Ugh, when will this end!!!  If Jack is at all tired, he will scream constantly in the car.  Not fun but this too shall pass one day!

And now in the world of Josh and Jen...  I am always hearing of Josh's co-workers going to wonderful places with work and leaves me asking when it's our turn.  Well, our time has come!  Josh emailed me this morning about a 5 day trip to Hawaii with work in March.  At first I was hesitant to leave the boys for 5 days but then I decided, "We're going!"  I think I will have a count down going in the next week or so!!!!

Josh and I also got to enjoy a date on Saturday night!  Thanks to Mommy and Daddy, we had a very relaxing and fun evening watching Jeff Foxworthy at Ironstone in Murphys.  An evening relaxing on the grass under the stars and watching a great comedian... can't beat it!  (Other than the 5 days in Hawaii hopefully!!!!!!!  Can you tell I am excited!?!?!?!)

Okay, off for a run if I can get my body motivated!  (I have a bikini to fit into in 6 months now!)  Hope everyone is doing well!!!  Love to all!!!