James's Second Birthday Party!

We celebrated with James's party on Sunday morning, since Gabe finally had the day off. He loves the "Cat in the Hat", so that was the theme we went with.  He had a great time celebrating with lots of friends, family, presents and bubbles:)  

James's Birthday weekend- Sprinkler Fun

After nap time on Saturday, the day continued to be beautiful and by that time all of the grandparents had arrived.  The kids enjoyed some sprinkler fun.  James prefers the elephants sprinkler because it doesn't spray quite as high as the other one... and he spends most of his sprinkler time drinking the water:)  

James's Birthday weekend- Horseback Riding

James definitely had an extended birthday this year, with something special each day of the weekend.  On Saturday I had to bring the kids to work with me to see a patient, then took them to the Camp Ketcha horse barn for pony rides.  Noah's first several days at camp this summer he has been upset that he is not big enough to ride the horses there, but they do offer pony rides on Saturdays, so hopefully this will hold him for a while... You have to be 2yo to ride, so I wasn't sure how James would do as he is also going through a bit of a "mommy" phase around strangers.  To my surprise he jumped right for the horse and never looked back riding the entire time without any problems... this was despite the fact that it was way past nap time.  Noah very much enjoyed himself and was thrilled to be able to ride on the pony by himself.  They taught him how to properly get on and off the pony as well as some other care things... all in all pretty cool and we will definitely go again!

James Turns Two!

Today James turns 2 year old!  Although I don't remember what our family was like without him, it seems like just yesterday we were heading home from the hospital with him.  He has turned into such a fun and cool little guy.  He has started communicating with us more lately, and is quite a character.  He still isn't saying many words, but he is making a big effort at trying word you ask him to say and even putting 2 words together. He can say "Noah" now which is so cool to hear.  He loves his big brother more than anyone and tries hard to copy EVERYTHING Noah does.  This has been a particularly hard lesson for Noah to learn... he is hoping that James will grow up a little faster so they can do all of the same things safely.  It is so funny to watch the two of them play or listen to them "talk", especially at night time when James won't go to sleep and Noah is tired.  I often hear:

J- "No-ah, No-ah, No-ah, No-ah"
N- "James, go to sleep.  It is night time"
J- "No-ah, No-ah, No-ah, No-ah"
N- "James, go to sleep!"

James loves his cars and will play for long periods of time just driving his cars on anything making lots of different "car sounds".

On his actual birthday James had to go to daycare while I went to work, but he did get to sample his cake before it was baked at breakfast and have a cupcake after supper:)