You are Loved!

Every one goes through tough times and most everyone has moments in their life when they wonder if anyone cares or they simply need a reminder that people do. I love Raider's solution so that he doesn't allow himself to get down. He was having a bad day so he went to his room and went straight to work on the art piece you see below. He hung it on his ceiling just above his bed where he can see it every night and every morning. I am humbled, and I learn so much by the way Raider deals with things like this. Rather than bottling it all up or growing bitter he chose to find the positive in life and lay it out in bold colors so he wouldn't forget!! He gave me permission to post this picture in case anyone else needs help and ideas for getting through a bad day. :)

P.S. I reminded him he left Jesus off the list. I should have made him sing the song... Maybe I'll do that! :)

Storytime

We have started moving James' bedtime back a little so he is now going to sleep at the same time as Haylie. He really loves participating in storytime and our other bedtime routines. He listens to the book intently, cracks up when we read silly things and tries to help turn the pages :)

Spring in January

As much as I love the cold and the rain (and fires in the fireplace) I am a little sad that our sunny weather has disappeared over the last couple days. The kids really love to play outside and James especially, can go from a bad mood to a good mood just because he gets to go outside. We were really enjoying our Spring in January!!

The Cupcakes

I completely forgot to post a picture of the cupcakes for James' party. Micah and I stayed up until midnight the night before, making these. I got the idea from my friend April's baby shower several months ago and have been waiting to get the chance to make them. We were so proud of them I couldn't go without posting a pic!!

One Year!!!

James turned 1 year old last week. It's always so hard to watch your children grow up and it's just unbelieveable how fast it goes. I'm pretty sure I missed blogging about his 11-month and maybe even 10-month milestones so here are a couple updates on what James is up to - he's been up to a lot:

• He is walking! - Over the last month and a half he has gotten better and better. He still falls down and is a little unstable but he is doing really well and often walks around the house without holding onto anything.
• He is talking! - From what we can tell so far he says More, Milk, Ball and I believe he has been saying Out (when he wants out of his highchair). He has been saying the words for about a month but usually repeating the sounds after we say them - it took us awhile to realize he actually knew what he meant. Ball is definitely his most frequent word!
• He is signing! - He says more, all done, eat and we are currently working on please and thank you.
• He does NOT like strangers. James is still struggling with stranger anxiety or rather separation anxiety. We have a very hard time leaving him with anyone. He won't go in the church nursery or the childcare at the gym. He doesn't like babysitters or grandmas! He only likes Mom, Dad, Raider and Nanny - for everyone else if he gets any inclination that might leave him with them he instantly bursts into tears!

Here are some cute pictures of James at 1 YEAR OLD!

Prior to James' birthday party, Micah's parents came over to do a pre-birthday celebration. James was so excited to try his cupcake:

Once he got the cupcake he inhaled it in 60 seconds flat!!

Then, the day of his actual birthday party he just stared at the cupcake for awhile and finally dove in!

Unlike most kids who are interested in the paper or even the kids who are interested in the toys, James was just trying to hide from the large group of people all around him. He is a little anti-social :)

We had a doggy birthday party - I think James is also saying "woof woof" now when he sees his dog book or stuffed animal.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!!

The Gang

We have such a great Bible Study group. I feel like it's our own little "gang" - you know like "the gang's all here" not like "gang initiation." :) It's so fun to have a group of people who's company that you enjoy, that you can hang out with, pray for, share in each other's joys and sorrows, watch your kids grow up together and hang out at the beach together. This weekend we went to Bodega Bay for our 5th annual Bible Study retreat and we had so much fun. I loved staying up late, sleeping in (no kids), playing card games, chatting, and hanging out.

Here's "the gang" (minus Travis and Bethany - we were so sad to be missing you!!)

And the girls...

Happy Feet

Haylie and her cousin Kiley have been taking tap classes for the last two weeks and they LOVE it. Haylie can't wait to go to dance class each week. We were deciding between tap and ballet so we tried out both and the girls chose tap class. Although Haylie really wants to be a ballerina, all the noise that those tap shoes make was just too much fun to resist! It is the cutest thing ever so excuse the picture overload!!! (These are from the last two weeks)