missing my sister

Just wanted to share this great video of my cute sister. She's a missionary for the LDS church in Seattle and I'm sure the people there just love her and her fun personality - I mean, how could you not? Her cute companion is from Mongolia. I think my sister is pretty awesome and watching this video made me miss her! Check out her mission blog that my Mom updates for her. Love you, Liz!

Mama Bird

Our buddy loves the Polar Express. It is so cute (except that after watching it so much this week since we've both been sick, now he wants to watch it all. the. time. It gets just a little old). He loves the book, the movie - he's really into trains lately.

As I mentioned before, my Dad made James some Polar Express tickets. Oh how he loves those tickets. His favorite part of the movie is when the boy loses the ticket and it flies out the train and through the air, then lands on the ground where there is a pack of wolves, then flies into the air again and gets caught in a bird's mouth. The bird part is his most favorite. He'll say, "Mama Bird? Mama Bird?" and we watch that part over and over.

Here is James watching the "Mama Bird" part.

This kind of weather...

...makes me want to go hooky-bobbing!

Hooky-bobbing is simple: grab a rope and some sleds/inner tubes, tie them to the back of a truck, hop on, have someone drive the truck around in the snow.

Thinking of this makes me so happy because:

1) SNOW is involved, and who else loved the snow today??!
2) Reminds me of Christmas (less than two months, folks!)
3) I get to hear my grown-up brothers-in-law screaming like girls
4) Seeing Benjamin riding on an inner tube looking like a powdered donut
5) It's always fun when you see sleds flipping upside-down and flying through the air
6) It makes me miss my in-laws, and I can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving! Hope we have snow then!

And, if you just need a visual....here it is :) Hope you enjoy!

First Snow!

James has been standing at the window all morning saying, "Play? Snow?" I keep telling him that we can play in it after we get better (yes, I have the flu, too).

He just keeps on saying it. "Play? Snow? Dada? Bames? Mama?" (Bames means James.)

We can't wait until we are all better and can play in the snow! Of course, by that time, the snow may be gone...

Don't you just love the first snow of the year?? :)

Mores.

A couple more plurals our buddy uses...

He was looking for more cars and said, "Mores cars?"
"Oh, nos!!" (Two of his toys fell down)

Our Little Sickie, and the Joy of Grandparents

Poor little James started coughing last night and woke up this morning with a fever. After his nap (yes, he did indeed take a nap today!) he wasn't doing any better so I called and got him an appointment to see the doctor. My sweet Mama and sister rushed over to pick up James and I (since Jonathan was at work with the car) to go to the doctor.

It turns out that he has the flu, and I was so grateful we got him in there within 24 hours of getting sick, and also that he is still under two years old, because then the doctor was able to prescribe him some medicine. (Apparently they don't have a ton of this medication, so they are limiting it to certain groups of people, like children under two and high-risk people, etc.)

So, he is a little sickie but has been so sweet and pleasant the whole day. In fact the whole time we were at the doctor and in the car he kept saying, "Giki?? Pegs??" (He has really wanted to go back to Jukie's house and play with a peg-board toy they have.) He was so excited to go to his grandparents' house after the doctor.

I am so grateful for my wonderful parents who are so sweet to my little boy. My Dad loves to play with James, and boy does he make things fun! Tonight they were pulling a train all around the house, marching around to the Polar Express soundtrack, then watching the Polar Express while holding their homemade Polar Express tickets that my Dad made. They even got out a hole puncher and punched the tickets like they do in the movie. (Notice in the picture at the top the ticket in James' hand - the front of it has a picture of a train on it and there are holes punched. James took his ticket - or "Gick" - to bed with him tonight!)

When my Mom drove us home, James was so sleepy, he laid in my Mom's lap while she rocked him and sang to him. It was the sweetest thing, he sang right along with her, and is even getting to the point where he knows a lot of the words. I pretty much have sung I Love to See the Temple to him every single night, so he knows that one the best. This video is so sweet, I hope my Mom won't mind that I posted it.

may I take your order?

Earlier today I turned to Jonathan and asked, "What do you want for lunch?"

James immediately chimed in with his order:

"Juice, Milk, Crackers, Oatmeal, Spoon!"

Well then - yes sir! At least the kid knows what he wants, right? This is what he asks for for every meal, by the way. Can you tell we like breakfast food around here?

I was lucky and he said almost the same thing when I whipped out the camera...

a little jealousy...

"There is no other closeness in human life like the
closeness between a mother and her baby...
they are just a few heartbeats away from
being the same person." - Susan Cheever

As my Dad likes to say, James and I are pretty much the same person. As he is getting older, though, he is realizing more and more that we actually are, in fact, not. I suppose this can cause for some feelings of possessiveness toward his mommy.

Lately James cannot stand it when Jonathan and I show affection for each other.

We hold hands, and his little brow starts to furrow. This means business. Ever since the day he was born (when someone had the gall to straighten the little man's hat), whenever James furrows his brow it means he is bugged. He pushes his Daddy's hand away and says, "Mom!!"

We kiss, and he just can't stand it. He yells "Mom!!" and pushes Jonathan's face away.

Apparently we have some jealousy issues here.

(discovering his love for rolling in the dirt - now he's a real Boster boy!)

Apparently...

...my son really didn't miss us much at all. This is when I was taking him up to his bed tonight...guess he wanted to sleep at my parents' house again!



*"Jukie" is what he calls my mom, in case anyone was wondering

the big TWO-SIX

Yesterday I turned 26, and can't believe that I am now closer to 30 than to 20! I had such a wonderful birthday. Jonathan was able to get the day off work, and we decided to roll our anniversary (which is coming up in December) and my birthday all into one, and get away for a couple of days. My parents were so kind and watched James for us (he had a blast, I don't think he even missed us...). We got a sweet deal at this wonderful bed and breakfast near downtown Salt Lake City that we just love - we have stayed there a couple of times, including our honeymoon. We basically got to pick any room in the inn for a really good price. We picked our favorite, which has a spiral staircase going up to the turret (the highest part of the mansion), where there is a jacuzzi. This place is great, if you ever need a fun place to stay in Salt Lake, I would definitely recommend it! They often have wonderful deals.

It was great to get away, get a little break from being a mommy, and just relax.

some fun little windows up in the tower