2012 Pictures

We had our annual family pictures taken at the Seattle, WA Temple this year.  One of Emily's friends took our pictures and gave us an excellent deal.  The best part about it was James acted excited to have his picture taken.

We had James' 1-year photos taken while we were at the temple.  It's so crazy that a year has gone by with this little boy part of our family.  He slept through the night for the first time shortly after he hit his birthday.  Every before then he had woken up at least twice during the night (and as many as 10+ times).

Our Little Reader

I never thought James would show as much interest in books as he has these past few weeks.  Yes, he still loves pulling every book in his bookcase off the shelf like he always has, but he actually opens the books up now and reads them.  One of his favorites is "Elmo is Red, Cookie is Blue." He drags it all over the house, stopping every once-in-a-while to open it and look through it like a newspaper.  He loves it, and it has the wear and tear to prove it.  Needless to say, it will not survive to be passed on to subsequent siblings. 

Yesterday morning, James picked up the book, climbed into his car, and just sat there, reading the book.  I thought it was adorable!  He's like a tiny businessman, reading his favorite column in the car on the way to work. 

James meets swing

I have taken James to the little "park" near our place a couple times and held him while we swing together.  He always was okay with it--more interested in watching the other kids than actually swinging, I think.  Then, last Thursday, I let him graduate to the toddler swing.  Whoa, talk about instant love affair!  Even though it was blazing hot on Sunday, David & I took James out for "Todder Swing, part 2," and took the camera with us. 

 James was so happy on the swing.  He lights up our life!  If you want to see him light up yours, watch the video David took of him swinging.  It makes me smile from ear to ear every time I watch it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJJrbJFVzH4&feature=youtu.be

I love how David and James have the exact same color eyes, don't you? 

James feeds himself

I don't remember exactly what I was doing, but I had made James some pears and placed it in his cute blue bowl next to his high chair.  I turned around to wash some dishes for just a minute, and when I turned back to start feeding James, this is what I found:

There were pears all over his high chair, clothes, bib, hair, face . . . Let's just say James' first attempt at feeding himself resulted in a mid-day bath! 

James' first trip to Disneyworld

First off, I was crazy to think that Disney World would have the same appeal to an 8-month old that it does to me, the die-hard "I love Disney" 30-year old.  Secondly, I was crazy to think that the cost of two tickets to Disney World for two adults wouldn't give me a heart attack.  Finally, I was crazy to think that I wouldn't end up milking this vacation for all it was worth and posting tons of pictures of cute ol' James having a blast doing the handful of things he liked at Disney World.

What did James like at Disney World?

He loved Pooh and Tigger.  My parents love going to the Crystal Palace every time we go to Disney, and the perk of eating there is getting pictures with the Winnie the Pooh characters.  James was (thankfully) asleep for the majority of our time there, but when he woke up, he was so happy to get to play with Pooh's nose and Tigger's hands.  Talk about adorable!

James loved It's a Small World.  It was the only ride he enjoyed (maybe he liked the Carousel, but the jury's out still on that one).  He decided to eat during Philharmagic, he slept through Pooh's Adventure, he wanted to eat during Pirates, he wanted to eat during the Safari . . .  He ate during the Haunted Mansion.  Yes, there's a pattern here . . . Anyway, It's a Small World captivated him.  I think it was a combination of it being well-lit and having lots of colorful, moving objects.

James liked the parrot.

 James loved the water play area.  If there's anything I wish I would have done more with him while we were in Florida, it was play in water.  He could have spent his whole day in this fountain.

James loved the children and the people.  Everywhere we went, he smiled at people and made them happy.  That is definitely his greatest trait--his ability to make people happy.  He was thrilled when he came across a group of kids blowing bubbles with their bubble guns.  I'll be asking myself why we didn't buy one for James for years to come . . .

So, that's what James liked.  What did we like?  Hands down, it was the roller coaster, Mt. Everest.  David even went on it twice. 

But we also loved being with our family.  With Kelly and Jordan moving to Georgia soon, it will be awhile before we'll get to spend time together again.  Next family vacation:  Atlanta.  :-)