Keepin' Busy

A few weeks ago Miss Elianna and her mommy came for a visit. James is just mesmerized by the lovely Elianna and her thick hair. He wanted to poke and touch her so badly! I told Kristen that if Pan*tene started a baby line of shampoo, her daughter could have a job doing commercials! :)

Last weekend we attended an ethnic festival here in town. Here's James chowing on a fresh tortilla from Colombia!

We walked through the booths (selling cuisine from tens of different countries) with Ricky, Kristen, and baby Elianna. I took the opportunity to get a family picture squeezed in.

Silly boy! He's been wearing the same size pants for months now. I don't think he's gaining much because he's always on the move! He loves to look out the front window to see the mail lady in her truck or our neighbor mowing the lawn!

This started two nights ago. This is James pretending he's talking on the phone. All we have to do is say, 'oh, hello?' and he puts his hand up by his ear. And yes, that's a grain of rice in his hair.

11 Months and Barking

Yes, he loves to bark like a dog. It's a little more practical than his previous 'mooing'. When we go on walks he gets very excited about seeing and hearing puppies! He's getting his animals confused, barking at the sight of kitties, too, but we're working on it.
James is also walking more and more each day. He can walk across the room and initiates it on his own. He's picking up speed, too!

Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend we traveled with James by car three hours to attend a giant family reunion birthday party for my great Uncle Kenny. We were able to attend three of the five gatherings packed into the weekend. Thirteen relatives from Denmark even came to celebrate with us! Now that James is much more mobile and active, the weekend sure was a reality check for me. It makes me appreciate all the more all the family that travels with young children to get together for holidays! And skipping naps left and right was hard on all three of us. James made lots of friends with all sorts of family members he was meeting for the first time, but never stayed put too long. He loved toddling around and exploring every new nook and cranny he could find. He was completely exhausted both nights.

The first event photographed was a picnic in the park. This is my Aunt Alice and Uncle Lyle's annual event, only this year they had oodles more guests! Mark jumped on in to help grill breakfast. It was delicious!! The second event was a big cookout at my grandparents' house. Finally, there are a few pictures from the actual birthday party Sunday afternoon, a catered lunch in a town hall. There are so many family members I don't have pictures of that it's shameful. It was fun to see and catch up with a few of them, but a lot of our time was indeed devoted to chasing our little guy around! Mark was super dad and did most of the chasing!

August Update

We are a little squinty in this photo, but it's the only one from Sunday. We finally got around to dedicating James at church. We've just had too many other schedule conflicts during the previous dedications. Both Mark's parents, as well as mine came over for brunch before church. Mark's sister Jody and my brother Jeff were also along. James was pretty well behaved during the dedication, which we were nervous about. There were four babies dedicated, and he was the fourth. Standing at the front of the church gave him plenty to observe!

Yesterday afternoon James had a case of the giggles. It started with me 'bonking' my head with his empty bottle. He laughed so hard over and over about it. This was toward the end of the silliness. What a funny sense of humor he has.
I can't even believe James will be 11 months next week! He has been getting closer to walking, taking two or three steps at a time now. James has also been paying closer attention to music, bopping his little head when he hears a tune he likes. It's so fun to see him grow and discover new things!

James and the *Giant* Peach: The Sequel

I jumped the gun with my first post on this topic. My mom sent these to me more recently. Yes, more pictures of James slurping on a peach. I really like that you can see his little elbow resting in the juice. What a peach! Not only does he not usually get to eat an entire peach for lunch, but I rarely give him the opportunity to get down and dirty like this. I need to do that more often!

James and the *Giant* Peach

I must give credit to my mom for the idea. She was peeling and freezing peaches and peach pies this afternoon when we visited her. I diced up a peach to mix with his plain yogurt. She called him 'J*mes and the Giant Peach', and I thought it would be cute to get a photo. And then take it away from him. James had something different in mind. Before we finished taking photos, we noticed dents in the very ripe peach and juice running down his arms and all over the tray. He proceeded to munch on the peach, peel and all. It may not have been very 'giant', but it was delicious, indeed!

I feel inspired to check out the book and read it. I somehow made it through elementary school without reading J*mes and the Giant Peach! Any personal book reviews?

Random This & That

It's been a while since I posted any pictures...so I scrounged up these photos from the past few weeks. James is in constant motion. I've noticed that I have less time to spruce him up for photo shoots, and most of the pictures I have of him are a blur. Literally. My kitchen is in a constant state of disarray; "his cupboard" is always emptied all over the floor, and toys are sprinkled from the living room throughout the house. I figure it's pretty normal, though.

James is 10 months now! And he officially took his first step and regained his balance over the weekend. He's able to stand on his own for several seconds at a time, too. It won't be long til he's walking on his own! With still only two teeth (bottom and center), he's usually gnawing on something and drooling everywhere!

my little laundry helper...it's too risky to leave him alone upstairs while I gather the laundry when it's done, and this was the best way to carry him along with the clothes back upstairs!

we had a pop-in visit from Grandma

we've had quite the tomato crop! we chose the 'better boy' variety and boy, oh boy are they great! we've been picking six or seven at a time and some of them are huge! my favorite thing to do with the extras is peel, dice, and freeze them for soups and chili this winter.