6.5 Extra Wide

This is James' shoe size except the extra wide is just barely wide enough. The lady at Stride Rite that measured his feet said he could actually use a 2XW, but that they don't make many of those. Urgh! Stride Rite is also very expensive so I researched and found several pairs on Ebay for a lot less. I got 3 pairs of gently used shoes for the price of 1 at the real store. The argument is still out as to what side of the family is to blame for these big wide feet. Either way, he didn't get them from his Mama!

The BIG Foot

The new tennis shoes

Going down the stairs like a big boy!

What a sport!

Handy Man

I had to replace some batteries in a few toys tonight and James was such a little helper. The screwdriver kept him busy for atleast 10 minutes. Then, on to the next thing!

Jack's birthday celebration at the Longhouse

Sunday we all got together for Jack's 9th Birthday at Abby and Davids new house near Lawrence. It is a very cool place.

The birthday boy

One of the sinks in the house

James loved running the halls and Gillian enjoyed chasing him.

Abby and David in the kitchen

Jack and Gillian

I LOVE this picture!!!

Playing in the wagon

A picture from the driveway leading up to the house. Yes, they do have grass on the roof.

James and Mama!

Beautiful Weather

James and I have been enjoying lots of time outside this month since it has been so mild. Thursday we met up with Rachel and Evalana at Deanna Rose.


Friday we got together with Jenny and Molly at the park. James is so lucky to have so many good girlfriends!

Puzzles

James is obsessed with his puzzles lately. He just figured out how they work this week and he will do them over and over. Very entertaining for him and so much fun for us to see him learning new things!

James also likes to pretend everything is a phone including puzzle pieces.

Auntie Ashley comes to KC

We were excited to get a call from Ashley last weekend saying she was coming to visit. Yea! She arrived Thursday night after James was asleep.

Friday she and James stayed at home while I went to work for a few hours. James loves the backyard!

Friday afternoon we got together at my parents house for a swim date with Jami, Andy, Morgan, Angie, and Kenyon. The kids all had so much fun together.

Auntie and James. James has a new swim ring that is working out really well. I also love that it has sleeves to protect his shoulders.

James and Morgan sharing a popsicle.

Saturday morning we went to visit Todd at the high school to watch his tennis team scrimmage.

Look at this cute message they posted for the new head coach. I'm so proud of Todd and his coaching accomplishments.

Saturday we also went to the Lee's Summit farmers market and got some great veggies and produce. We are already looking forward to going next weekend.

Our Toddler

I feel like we have officially entered toddlerhood. We have tantrums and major separation/stranger anxiety. We went back to church for the first time since being in Michigan today so it was James' first time in the nursery in 8 weeks. He has always done so well at the nursery and most times I never even took a pager. Thank goodness I took a pager today. He cried when we left, which we expected, but we thought after a few minutes he would calm down. No. This went on for atleast 20 minutes until the sweet girls in the nursery finally decided it was time to page us. He didn't want to be held and he was just hanging on the gate and pointing to the door. When I walked in the room he was so happy to see me and we cuddled the rest of the service in the nursery together. He wouldn't let me out of his sight for one second.

James is also becoming very much a dada's boy. He loves his daddy and doesn't want to leave his side all day. I noticed that James became more and more attached to Todd when we got home from Michigan. Our bedtime routine is for Todd to give James a bath and ready stories and then I come in and nurse him before he goes to sleep. Our first night home James refused to let go of Todd and come to me. When I did finally get him to calm down he didn't want to nurse at all, but he would let me cuddle with him and rock in the chair. This same routine went on for 3 nights so I finally got the message. James is a big boy now!

Here are some fun pictures from our last playdate with Morgan!

Happy Birthday Todd!

My cousin Rachel from AZ was in town this week and came over to visit this morning

Todd and James with balloons from his mom

Fun with balloons until James realized he couldn't escape them. He wasn't sure of them the rest of the day.


Reunited with his good friend Morgan

Jami and Seth joined us for Todd's birthday dinner of steak, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and grilled zucchini

Todd is 31 today! I made his grandma Orpha's famous white cake. It only took me 2 tries on the frosting to get it perfect.

James loved the cake and did the "more" sign over and over
p.s. we weighed him today and he is tipping the scales at 30 lbs!

Home Sweet Home

We are home from our wonderful month in Michigan. These are some videos and pictures from our last week:

Enjoying being naked!

Our little streaker

more streaking

Playing with my shape sorter



Asleep at dinner. He only had 1 nap that day and he really still needs 2 to be a happy boy!


Our last sunset at the cottage