Busy days

Yup, real busy. And can you believe that he's been busy doing a little of everything BUT golf?! Is this the end of the golf obsession?!! James has picked up his clubs every once in a while, but coloring, books, jumping, and TV have been the stars of his show lately. Well, we'll see what happens. Maybe GOLF won't be his birthday party theme after all!

When we were grocery shopping James became attached to this Thomas cup. He had been playing with his trains lately (not anymore, sadly) so I thought Thomas was appropriate and I did want him to start drinking from a straw cup. I think we've kept him on sippy cups for too long. He is almost THREE, after all. Big boy.


Mine Mine Mine. That's what James says when he sees this little plant. I received the plant in a tiny little dixie cup at a wedding shower a few months ago. I planted the tiny flower into this pot and it has done very well. James helps me to water the plants and he has claimed this little flower pot.






Bubbles!


Don't mind ME in these pictures, James is the star.


Or maybe his beautiful brown eyes and lashes are!


We have introduced James to regular sized Legos. They are a bit advanced for him, but Jim is living his dream- playing Legos with his son :) James enjoys playing with the doors, windows, trees, and the little silly cars that I've put together.


Uh oh! The Tickle Monster! Tia ChaCha gave us this great book that came with Tickle Monster gloves. James loves to chase us around the house and tickle! Here Dada is his latest victim.


Dada doesn't stand a chance!






Dada and James have been enjoying a good book or two lately. Hooray for an interest in books again! I was worried.


We are so lucky to have an indoor playground :) (Thanks Grandma Rosie!)


Heh. James tries Wii Tennis.


On Thursday we headed to the Youth Golf course for some putting course action. We were free again- the man remembered James' eyes! I knew those eyes would get him anything he wants!!


Again, James loved the sand.


"I made it!"


Can you believe we only made it to the 6th hole?! All of a sudden James said, "All done. Go-go-go!" He put away his clubs and started to walk away. I was disappointed that golf didn't amuse him that morning, so we ended up going to Target for a cookie and going to the "bottle store" for Mama's pain-go-bye-bye-juice. (Heh. Okay, really, I needed cooking wine.)



Awesome! You know that cleaned up closet? James is now using it as his "Reading Room". He loves to play in that closet now! I put the Monkey chair in there (a gift from Bucko soooo long ago), and he now will cuddle up and play/read. We spent a good hour and 15 minutes after naptime yesterday just playing in his room!




James decided that Teddy Bear needs a nap.




"Goodnight! I love you." Awwwww.


I love this. James plays "hopscotch" on his rug. I bet Tia Kiki didn't see that one coming when she gave this to me at my baby shower :) How creative is he?!


I don't even want to talk about what's going on here.




Old toys have been rediscovered! Tia Kiki gave this to James when he was a wee little boy. He loved it when he was little because of the flashing lights, but now he will recognize the alphabet letters and numbers. Groovy.


Another discovery- this cool little penguin backpack on wheels. Jim and I bought this at the zoo when he was a wee little one and its been hanging in the closet, ignored. I brought it down to show James and he loves it. In these pictures he began filling the backpack with necessities- blocks, Elmo book, and two diapers! I was afraid he was plotting to run away from home.




Thank goodness he decided to stay. I'd miss him :)

But yay for babysitters! Jim and I are headed out tonight for a "date"! Thanks ahead of time to Tia ChaCha and Tio Donkey!! They rock.

James' bedroom

James' room was due for a good cleaning and organizing. Soooo much baby stuff that needs to go to storage for a future garage sale or something. I didn't want to put his precious books in a box somewhere, so I found a great space for them in his closet! They all lined up nicely on this little built-in shelf. He has so many books! Most of them are board books, but he has some big boy books that he's almost ready for. Tio Donkey gave him some really great ones for Christmas and Tia ChaCha is a lover of books, so she keeps us supplied too :)



We still have a box full of books downstairs too, these are the ones that are well loved.



Cleaning and organizing revealed some old friends. A sock monkey from Grandma Julie.


Mickey Mouse from Tia ChaCha. (James is just recently into Mickey and friends. We now watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV.)



A gang of stuffed animals. We have PLENTY now!


I've been pointing out the murals more often to James. He's aware of them, but we don't spend much time in his room.


The chest that Grandpa Larry built, with Brownie the Teddy Bear pictures above.


Ummm, a mess. These are the clothes, toys, and baby equipment that I have set aside for a garage sale or general storage.


I wonder when James will want to redecorate?!


Awwwww. The cowboy boots from Tia ChaCha. I love these. I keep them out because they are kinda decorative :)


Inside the chest: newborn clothes, knit hats, the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Tia ChaCha, birthday cards, Shutterfly calendars, and future items like soccer jerseys, fishing pole, and toys for when James is bigger.

Mmmm Food!

Raspberry chocolate chip ice cream. Yum. I added the chocolate chips because I've had raspberry chip ice cream at Sebastian Joe's (Mpls) and knew it would be wonderful.



The Farmers Market at Noble Garden Center has been great! Its not very big- probably 6-8 vendors- and they didn't have fruit until this week, so I jumped on those raspberries! I also bought red onions, zucchini, corn, basil, and red potatoes. Oh and James had a balloon monkey made for him. He was terrified but thanked the man. Such good manners :)

I used these vegies for Roasted Corn Salad.





And for dinner we had Chipotle Lime Chicken Tacos. Seriously, anything from this lady's blog is good.



My husband has a rating system. He would never tell me he doesn't like something I cook. I'll usually wait for one of these ratings:
1. Its okay. (Yuck or Please don't make this again.)
2. Its good. (Just that.)
3. Its really good. (Please make this often!)

These tacos rated a Its really good! He even suggested we make a huge batch of the chicken for my (not a surprise) birthday party. Or a taco bar of some sort. Well, we have until October to figure that out.

I miss the 70's!

What's James doing NOW?

Ummmm, he just handed me a piece of skin from his lip. He picked it off. Eeeeeeeewwww.



Hey, Grandma Rosie said to keep the pictures coming!

What's James doing NOW?

This blog feature has been brought to you by Tio Donkey. Tia ChaCha has told me that Donkey often wonders, I wonder what James is doing right now?

So... What is James doing right now? At 4pm?



Eating pretzels and watching the Upside Down Show- two of his current favorite things to do!

It's 4:05 and this Mama is thinking about what to make for dinner. Perhaps Smitten Kitchen's Cherry Tomato Sauce with pasta? Hooray for the Farmer's Market and tomatoes!

Parenting tips, Happy Birthday Dada & Beaching with ChaCha

First, some wise words from the Birthday boy, Jim:
Parenting Rule #23: If your child does not have sleep issues for a long time, do not question it. Do not even think about it. The minute you do, he will have sleep issues.

I asked him, Ummmm, what are the first 22 rules?! But he hasn't provided them in writing yet for me to cut and paste here. Look for those later.

So here's the story, last night Jim tells me, "Wow, James hasn't had any sleep issues for a long time. He sleeps like a rock." (paraphrased) ...I mean, James didn't even have any troubles adjusting to his new big boy bed. So an hour later Jim heard a very faint, "I scared...!" and crying. So I went to James and calmed him down a little. He gave me a very pathetic sounding, Good night Mama, I love you... and I thought he would be fine. A few minutes later Jim had to go console him again. And then an hour or so later James was crying again. It wasn't the kind of crying you could ignore. He sounded terrified and so small! I sat with him on my lap, Jim tried too, but nothing worked. He also thought it was morning and wanted to go downstairs. We don't even know what time it was, but it was definitely not the morning. We finally decided that we would take him to our bed.

It was a long night. Every time Jim or I looked over at James, lying between us and propped up on a pillow, his eyes were wide open. And as little as he is, he sure is a bed hog! When I knew he was finally sleeping I didn't want to move at all and disturb him. In the morning I found him laying across the bed, his head on/near his Dada and his legs on top of me. And of course he was fresh as a daisy at 6:30am.

It was probably the worst night of sleep we've had for a long long time. I told Jim that he jinxed us, half joking and half serious!

The most memorable moment last night was after a while of peace, all of us laying quietly, James said, "Excuuuuuse me. I tooted!" Hahaha!!

Happy Birthday to Dada! We celebrated Jim's birthday all weekend. We had a mostly relaxing weekend of eating, hanging out, and seeing our family. Grandma Laura, Uncle Joe and his friend Shannon came over for birthday cake.

Eating:
Friday night: Grilled flank steak, grilled zucchini, Fresh Corn Risotto
Saturday morning: Carol's for breakfast
Saturday night: LeeAnn Chin (one of Jim's favorites) & Chocolate Intensity Cake
Sunday morning: Cinnamon Bun filled pancakes & eggs
Sunday lunch: Culver's (another of Jim's favorites!)
Sunday dinner: Pioneer Woman's BBQ Meatballs, Mashed red potatoes, and Corn on the cob, MORE Chocolate Intensity Cake

On Saturday James and I met his Tia ChaCha for a day at the beach!! ChaCha knew of this beach/park at Lake Calhoun and it turned out to be very James friendly. He really liked playing in the sand, not so much the water, but maybe next time. There was also a great playground right next to the beach and we hit that too. ChaCha brought the BEST picnic lunch, complete with cupcakes and nectarines- James' favorite (this week)!



Is that for me?!


The cupcakes had butterfly rings on top. Ha!












I see you ChaCha!!


Well, here is hoping for a peaceful night tonight. We are not mentioning our good luck anymore :)