Great message

I am so grateful for wonderful messages like this, and so excited to hear from the prophet and apostles this weekend for General Conference. We are so blessed to have living prophets :) Can't wait!

Sunday

Sunday evenings are kind of nice. And sleepy.

sometimes...

...dry erase markers take so much effort to open up that you end up with a blue mustache.

EYES

James and his Daddy studying the anatomy of an eye...
Seriously, look at that little scientist!

I have a feeling that James and I are going to get a LOT of eye exams over the next four years...

Always such the hard decision.....1 or 2? Which one is better???

28

Happy Birthday, Superman. I love you!

Jonathan's birthday consisted of a lot of studying....but of course we had the obligatory birthday signs
(optometry style: "eye love you," "which is better, 27 or 28?" etc.), a yummy birthday dinner and then watched some "Psych" (great show!).



My pie sort of didn't turn out.
But we had a backup treat. And then I made him cupcakes yesterday to make up for the pie...and they may or may not be ALL gone already...







We love you, Daddy!

splish splash

Is there anything more fun than bath time??

(Since moving to San Antonio, I have learned to do a lizard check in the bath tub, because you never know when one of those little guys will be hiding underneath the bath toys.....creepy!)

easy as pie

When we bake things, James must help.
He is ALL over the "fun" jobs, which are any jobs that involve sugar or flour, or scooping.
If I ever dare do a "fun" job without him, he reminds me, "But I am the fun one!!"

We made a banana cream pie for Daddy's birthday.
Except it didn't turn out. It was delicious, mind you, but the darn thing would not set up. (Suggestions?)
However, if you are ever wanting to make homemade banana creamies - just make a non-set-up banana cream pie and then put it in the freezer.

Oh well. At least we got some yummy pie crust cookies out of it!
(Roll out the pie crust, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, cut into squares, and bake!)

The Amazing Adventures of Bames and Bapa

James and his Bapa are great buddies.

They love to play with the "little people" at Jukie's house, and they have names for all of them. The little people always have great adventures.

Bapa surprised James with a package in the mail with a book that he wrote (complete with photos of the "little people") about "Bames and Bapa." James absolutely loves it! We read it every day and he can't wait to get his next chapter in the mail!

James' First Piano "Recital"

James LOVES learning about music with his mommy - and just learned his first little piece! If you can't tell, at the very beginning of the video he is saying, "I am James, I'll play 'Three Black Bears.'"

Books

There really is nothing quite like cuddling up at night with a flashlight and a good book.
This is one of James' new favorites that he first read with Bapa in his library - "Gelgut's Pool."

The zoo

"I want to look at my magna-glass with animals!"

We love the zoo! James loved looking at the colorful little frogs with his "magna glass."

oh and I almost forgot these pictures -
James got to pet goats at the petting zoo. And one of them ate our zoo map.

My helper

"Mommy, do we need two cups of sugar?"

"I'll be the scooper!"

This kid is really good at scooping out flour from the cannister. 

And at flinging it all over himself and the floor.

"I'm just doin' some dishes..."

Jukie's house

The other day we got out some blocks and built a BIG wall all around the edges of James' rug.

James immediately decided that it was "Jukie's house."

It even had a little door, and lots of doggies inside, which he named names like Jukie, Bapa and James.

It was a great place to play.

Haircut

This boy was SO long overdue for a haircut. We finally buzzed it off and I think he looks pretty handsome....what do you think?

Before

After

Growin'

I think our boy is growing...

He likes to do things all by himself - putting on his own pants (backwards), washing his hands, getting a drink, going potty.

He uses some great words such as "actually" and "supposed."

He helps me cook and loves to measure out the ingredients and dump them in.

Plus, he's sure getting good at reaching things:

Why Mothers Need Their Sleep

In light of our excellent day and similar days that I'm sure you ALL have, I'd like to share this great youtube video my friend Janina sent me. So applicable, so true. Now go take a nap. Enjoy!

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I went to bed with one big pimple on my face and now I have three big pimples on my face, and when James got up he had a runny, boogery nose again and a cough and our health insurance ended yesterday and if he has another sinus infection I am not looking forward to another round of antibiotics anyway because the first one gave him the runs and why did we have to watch that episode of Psych last night because now it's really early and I am a tired mommy.

I could tell that it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

There are still lots of boxes needing to be unpacked and I still haven't hung up all of my clothes and there is so much to do but a cute little sickie boy clamors for my undivided attention. I should get dressed but my pajamas are comfy and I wish I had never gotten out of bed in the first place. James says, "Put on your clothes, Mommy! PJ's are not right." Then, with a chuckle, he says, "Mommy, you have big foots."

Thanks, Buddy. I think I'll move to Australia.

It has definitely been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I didn't get a chance to read my scriptures and when I tried to read them James (who apparently was also having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day) dropped his coloring book on the floor and started to cry and he ran to me wailing, "Mommy, I want yoouuu!!!" So I picked him up and he buried his snotty nose in my shirt, then threw his head back and bawled like only a sick, sleepy tantrumy toddler can (because that is just what he was.)

There was stuff all over the floor in the piano room and while I was trying to put it away James called from the other room and said, "Mommy!? My clothes are poopy!" (Just the words you want to hear.) So I took him to his room to change him and while he was on the changing table he stood up and knocked a picture frame off of the wall and as it fell it scraped against the back of the dresser and made a huge splinter in the wood which I cut my finger on, and then while I was changing the diaper James said, "I need to go potty!" so I got him down and he ran to sit on the potty, but nothing came so he stood up and then proceeded to pee all over the floor and on his foot.

What a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

I think I'd like to be in Australia right about now.

James would not take a nap, and when I turned on Dora the Explorer and we laid down on my bed to watch in the hopes that he would fall asleep, I fell asleep instead.

Then Daddy came home and when we tried to sign up for health insurance because ours ended yesterday, they told us that we had to pay for the entire year right now (which, frankly, is a bit tricky considering our recent move, starting optometry school and the fact that I currently only have two piano students) and while that was all going down, James was playing with his Daddy's iPod touch and dropped it on our tile floor and the screen cracked right in half. Then he put his dirty little feet on my face and when I told him not to his eyes filled up with tears and he cried, "But it's coooomfy!!"

I am thinking (and hoping) that all mommies have terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days just like this one - even in Australia!