No Pictures

So I am trying not to panic, but our computer has been acting up lately and jamming up anytime I open iPhoto. Well today I finally got it to open and all of my picture since December of last year are gone. Gone. But like I said, I am trying (unsuccessfully) not to panic. So here is a picture free post, which I know are super boring.

Here are some funny things that James has said this week:
"Congratulations! I'm having a piratey day!"
"Frogs make good pets because they eat hampsters, guinea pigs and cream cheese."
After asking him if he wanted to come with me to buy some new pants that would fit, "We should go to Super Target, they have pants for fat people there."
Oh, Bubba. You are pretty hilarious. And do wonders for my self-esteem.

Today James had a super early 3 year well-child visit. He hasn't been to the pediatrician since his 2 year appt. and needed a form signed for preschool, so I decided we might as well choose a pediatrician in Longmont before Baby He-Who comes. He weighs 27 lbs (15th percentile) and is 37 inches (40th percentile). He seems to be in perfect health and developing just fine, just like we knew. So a pretty un-eventful appointment. He was not in the mood to talk to the doctor at all. The only thing he told her the whole appointment was that his favorite song is "Daisy Dukes, Bikini on Top." Great. I am sure that made for an awesome first impression.

Mountain Life

We realized we had not taken advantage of the cabin at all this summer, so we headed up to the mountains on Friday for the weekend. The Haleys (our Mont BFFs) have a place right by the the cabin and they were up there too, so we had a great weekend enjoying the beautiful mountain weather with friends. The Haleys keep a pontoon boat on the lake in the summer, so we went out for a ride on Saturday morning. It was beautiful and a great way to enjoy the lake. Here are James and John ready to set sail! 

Tim and his #1 fan, Colin. Anytime Colin comes to our house, he wanders around saying, "Hi Tim! Hi Tim!" and then if Tim isn't home, he just settles for calling me Tim. His expression of utter joy when he sees Tim is absolutely hilarious and it is like slow motion watching him run to Tim with open arms with his little curls bouncing. When you ask Colin what he wants to be for Halloween, he says Tim. 
Enjoying the gorgeous views.

Saturday night we had a campfire at the cabin and cooked dinner outside.
A fox came to visit us while we were all out by the fire. I hustled Jax inside quickly so that he wouldn't become fox food, but the boys were pretty excited to see the fox up close.
The fox (see it to the left of James' shoe?) had no fear of us, even when Seth and Tim made a bunch of noise and threw a rock by it. The fox just sniffed the rock and came closer. I think it was hoping the rock was a hot dog.

Mamas and boys.

James' first experience with s'mores.
We spent Sunday enjoying the weather by walking around in Breckenridge, wading in the river and eating Mexican food. The boys loved the river, but the dads were the only ones brave enough to wade in-it was just a little chilly.


We had a great weekend in the mountains, we think it might be our last cabin trip as a family of 3! In other He-Who news; I pulled my groin while running after James on his trike last night. Turns out a groin pull during pregnancy is more painful than Pitocin induced labor with no epidural. Fun, fun times. Luckily Tim's mom watched James all day today, Tim has tomorrow off, and James has school Wednesday and Thursday, so I can sit around and not move for the next few days and hope that this heals quickly.

Weekend Update

We celebrated James' first day of preschool with a "First Day of Preschool Party." James got to pick out everything for the party including the guest list (Steff), food (make your own pizza), and theme (snap, crackle, pop). We even surprised him with his first ever Rice Krispie Treats and sang the Snap, Crackle, Pop song I remembered from Girl Scouts. James has a bizarre fascination with Snap, Crackle, (and especially) Pop so he was thrilled. 

Rolling out the dough for our grilled pizza. James' favorite had asparagus and sun dried tomatoes on it.
Tim went all out and made James this very authentic Pop hat. It has seen a lot of wear the past few days.
The Boulder County Fair has been going on all week at the Fairgrounds right by our house. It kicked off with a parade last weekend (A parade in the Mont? Shocking!) and the rodeo/fair/carnival went on all week. James and I went with the Haley fam on the first night to check out the animals, but he was mainly interested in the rides and games. We saved that fun for when Tim came back with all of us on Friday night. There was a large display of old tractors to climb on that the boys loved.
Heading to the carnival to eat some fried food on a stick.
James' first ever carnival ride. We kind of had to have him stand on his tippy toes to make the height cut off, but he love every second of the motorcycle ride with John and Colin (hiding behind John).
Carnie ride #2-a much tamer train ride. But still a huge hit with all 3 boys.
I am pretty sure James is some kind of Carnie Game savant-his first one ever and he popped a balloon with a dart on the first try!
Showing off his prize, Kelly the bear, who did not leave his side for 2 days.
Showing off prizes while waiting for Carnie food-snow cones, funnel cakes, corn dogs, oh my!
James finally got the hang of his Strider bike this weekend and went for a couple of rides around the block on it! He decided his bike needed a bath after yesterday's ride. The apron and undies were James' outfit of choice for bathing the bike.
Today we decided with Kelly and Seth to take all the boys bowling for the first time-it was only 50 cents per game so we figured it would be a fun/cheap family outing. It was a monumental family togetherness fail. I have literally never been so mortified or embarassed by James' behavior. He was such a disaster that we had to leave and James and I both spent a good part of the afternoon crying. Yuck. Sometimes parenting a 2 3/4 year old is not as easy as it looks :-) But before all hell broke loose at the bowling alley, I did get some pictures of James and his buddy John in their awesome bowling shoes. Looking good, right?
And yes, James' shirt does say Bowling Maniac. I am a fan of dressing him for the occasion.
James' first 2 days of preschool went exceedingly well and he was apparently a dream while at school both days. He has had a little bit of a tougher time adjusting at home. He has been upset each day when he wakes up and finds out it is not a school day, and his waking up at 6am excited for school has now become a new trend that leads to a very grumpy boy a few hours after waking up each morning. I made James a calendar so he can see what days he gets to go to school and he helped me make a Positive Attitude chart, so we will see if these help to curb the numerous meltdowns that we have been so lucky to experience the past few days. Now if I could just figure out how to get him back to sleeping an hour and a half later in the morning, I think we would all be much happier. Luckily we ended tonight on a good note and I am now listening to James sing himself to sleep-his own personal mash up of Kei$ha's Tick Tock and the Fraggle Rock theme song. I am glad his quirkiness and sweetness by far outweigh his moments of being a nightmare.

James' First Day of Preschool!

Today was a pretty big day for us, James started preschool! He has been so excited and this morning he woke up an hour and a half earlier than normal announcing that he was ready to go to school! Yesterday he got prepared by getting a big boy haircut (meaning I actually took him to the hair dresser as opposed to randomly cutting chunks of hair out of his eyes while in the bath tub), picking out his outfit and helping pack his back pack so that he was ready to go this morning.

His first of many "First day of school" pictures on the front porch.

We are very lucky that Longmont has multiple awesome preschools that we had to choose from. One of the huge selling points of the one we picked is that we can walk there, which I think I will appreciate even more once Baby He-Who is here and I do not have to load a baby in and out of the car for drop off and pick up times.

James with his main teacher, Miss Rachael (he wanted her to hold a train for the picture).

The Bella Vita School:


See ya!
James had absolutely no issue what so ever with me leaving him at school this morning. I walked him in and helped him take his shoes off and put them in his cubby and wash his hands (all the children have to wash hands as soon as they come inside) and then he took off with some new friends to "find the toys!" I had to go find him to get a hug good bye! When I picked him up this afternoon, he answered the door with the teacher wearing a super hero costume and told me that he had missed me all day long. I got a typed daily report from the teacher telling me what he ate, drank, when he pottied, who he played with etc. so that I feel like I have a very good idea of what he did the 4 1/2 hours that he was away from me today! Here are some highlights from the report from the teacher (for people like my parents who care):

-He ate sunflower butter on crackers and carrots and tomatoes from the school's garden for a snack

-He had Veggie stiry-fry with brown rice noodles, lentils and fresh fruit for lunch

-He drank water and tried soymilk and almondmilk (the whole school is vegan and the assistant teacher is a vegan chef/nutritionist.

-He asked to go potty 3 times

-He was very friendly to all the children and played very well with 2 other boys during free play and outside time

-He conducted the music for a group of children playing the drums 

-He liked dressing up

-He liked hearing one of the 5 year olds (who will start Kindergarten in the fall) read to him

-He had Spanish class (there is a special class each day, he will have music class on Thursdays and on Wednesdays right now it is either Spanish or Yoga, but will change once the fall semester begins in September)

And here are some highlights that James told me about on the way home:

-He liked Jules the best

-He really liked the bread at school and thinks I should ask what kind it is

-He liked to dress up

-He liked saying, "Hola" and "Adios" during Spanish

-He liked being the conductor

James will be going to school from 8-12:30 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We started him about a month early just incase Baby He-Who makes an early escape so that James wasn't starting school right at the same time the baby is born. He seems to have done great the first day, so let's hope that he continues to love it! I am so proud of my big boy!