James Turns One!!

James turns one! I can't believe it has been a year already, but at the same time he feels like he has always been a part of our family. He has become so fun lately! He and Noah are really playing together now and stay up way too late laughing with each other in their room... it is hard to discipline that when they are so funny to listen too, I wish we had a camera in there to see what is so fun:) Now that he is one, James has actually started to crawl, thankfully he isn't very fast so I don't mind. He still can only say "dada", but Noah and I are working on that;) These pics are from his actual birthday.... we had cake for breakfast, went to play at an indoor playspace (which we won passes for at the library) and finished the day up with ice cream with daddy. He is crying in this pic b/c we tried to get him to take the cone away from his mouth...

2010 Aviation Day- Portland Jetport

The Portland Jetport has an annual aviation day where visitors can see the different types of planes and helicopters. They could even climb in some of them. Noah was, of course, thrilled by all of these planes. It was a pretty foggy/overcast day so they weren't really able to do the air show portion, but the kids had a great time anyhow. The middle picture is of Noah sitting on a helicopter- "that not an airplane, that a helicopter", I have been corrected more than once.

James' First Birthday Party!

We celebrated James' first birthday the weekend before his actual birthday b/c this was the only weekend Gabe had off this month. Noah had picked out a "construction" theme which was very exciting for them both. As you can see, James enjoyed the cake, but he was a bit tentative at first and only ate it after he had destroyed it:) He received lots of great presents and big brother Noah helped, but was not as upset about this not being his party as I had thought. Each time I would ask him about James' party in the week leading up to it he would say, "James' party, not my party". We gave James some of the musical instruments from our music class and in the bottom pics he is demonstrating his abilities as a one man band.

Noah & James & the Lobsters

On my way home from work I have found this local family farm that sells lobsters for fairly cheap. My parents were on their way for James' birthday weekend so I picked some up for them & Gabe. They weren't very lively lobsters so James had a ball, but Noah on the other hand was a bit skeptical of the whole thing. You can really hear Noah's language progression in this clip. He is saying that the lobsters have bandaids on their claws so they won't pinch. Don't forget to turn off the music at the bottom of the page. ** I can't get the clip to load for some reason, but I will keep trying!**

Noah the teacher

I was down cellar folding laundry while the boys were upstairs, Noah eating lunch and James playing with toys in his highchair. From the cellar I thought I could hear James' highchair move across the floor, but it wasn't much and there was no crying, so I finished folding the laundry. When I came up this is what I saw. Noah had pushed James up to the refrigerator and was pointing at all of the pictures and telling James about them. It was such a sweet moment as James was being a very interested pupil. To top it all off Noah says to me, "Mommy, I got James some milk, he wanted milk". And, he had gotten into the fridge, took out the sippy cup and gave it to James. What a thoughtful big brother.

Summer Arrives!

As much as I love what I do for work, it's days like this one that really make me wish for independent wealth (or at least no student loans)... as the boys are getting older I really wish I could spend more time with them, but for now I am VERY lucky to have a great job! The weather has been so nice recently we have spent most days outside. For the first year, Noah is no longer afraid of the sprinkler, well not as afraid as he has been in the past;) James has also enjoyed being outside so much and has eaten more grass than I would like to believe... in these pictures he is imitating Noah running through the sprinkler.

Potty Fun

To date Noah has shown little to no interest in potty training. When the mood strikes him he will sit on the toilet and read books. On this particular day I was really making a push for using the potty and this was the end result (after peeing on the floor twice, that is). I had left him alone for about 2 minutes... he was singing to himself while I was getting James dressed. When I walked in it took all of my strength not to burst out laughing... I stood there for a second trying to decide whether or not to take a picture. You can see from the look on his face and the roll he did try to roll some of it back up, but there it is... almost an entire roll neatly piled on the floor... thankfully NOT in the toilet! I think this will be one of those classic pics he will look back on when he is older:)

S'mores

We were very thankful to be able to have so many of our family come and see us for a BBQ at my parents house on our recent trip home. The boys loved spending time with everyone, especially playing with cousin Maria. Noah very much enjoyed his very first (and second) s'mores, I figured he made it to 3 without one, so why not... the second was a double decker s'more (thank you jacob & holly).... as you can see, he loved every bite!

Noah the animal trainer

Noah and James spent some time at Uncle Jon's barn with all of the animals on a recent trip north. Noah loved feeding the bunnies & llamas/alpacas and laughing at the chickens following us. James also enjoyed watching the animals, but more so enjoyed eating the grass and leaves...

Noah the Budding Photographer

My parents gave Noah a kids camera as a gift when James was born. At that time it was difficult for him to use, thus only haphazardly played with it. Well... over the past month or two he has become Photography King in our house. He is so good at using the camera now and has gone through several sets of batteries (I really need to remember to pick up the rechargeable ones at the store!). I have found it SO COOL to look at al of the pictures he has taken himself. I was sitting at the computer with him looking at them and he totally remembers and gets excited about every one of them! He is getting much better at centering things... has a few great still life pics. of his cowboy boot, his train, his toys, James' sock & a toy block, and his english muffin with peanut butter. The "self portraits" make me laugh. The quality isn't great, but I think you will get the picture:)

It is currently just a link on the right side of the page, but if anyone knows how to put a slideshow in an actual post could you please share? It took me forever just to figure out how to get what I have now:) I believe if you click somewhere on the slideshow it self it should take you to the link so you can look at them all a bit bigger. I will plan to add the pics to this slide show as he takes them... Enjoy the pics from the perspective of a 3 year old!!!

The Sweetest Gift

I have started letting Noah go into the yard by himself (it is fully fenced) for a few minutes at a time... he knows that he is not allowed to open the gate into the driveway. Well, last weekend he was playing, I couldn't see him so I asked Gabe to eyeball him and make sure he was ok. Gabe went to the door and there was Noah standing with this flower that "I pick this for Mommy"... Now to be completely honest my first thought was, where did that come from? Did he pick the neighbors tulips? He showed me a small clump of tulips growing amongst the shrubs in our front yard, "I pick for you". It was very sweet...

Easter Egg Hunt 2010