Halloween!

Our festivities continued with pumpkin carving with the Haleys. They always get ginormous pumpkins from their grandparent's farm. This one was over 90 pounds! John and James loved trying to cut into it with their mini carving knives. Seth busted out the power tools when it was time to really carve it.

James is madly in love with He-Who. He always needs to know where he is and wants to give him pats, hugs, kisses, snuggles, etc. It is so sweet to see him love on Mac this much. Doesn't Cormac look thrilled with the attention too?
Our little Macky Moo the cow ready for some trick or treating.

James was so excited to trick or treat this year. We headed out early and hit about 6 houses before coming home to pass out candy. James loved sorting through his candy and choosing which piece to eat after dinner. He was pretty thrilled with how many pieces he got.

James was an expert at saying, "Trick or Treat!" although I could not convince him to say, "Tractor Treat!"
James loved watching at the window for trick or treaters and helping pass out candy (and tooth brushes!).
We had a perfect Halloween. Having James and now Cormac around make holidays so much more fun. Let the holiday seasons begin!

Halloween Weekend Part 1

We have already had a jam packed 2 days of Halloween excitement with more to come tomorrow on the actual holiday. Yesterday we went to James' art class in the morning and made all sorts of fun Halloween crafts, the cutest was handprint ghosts. We then headed to his school for their Halloween party. I have to say I was pretty skeptical of how long James' tractor costume would last, but he wanted it on the second we got out of the car and he left it on for the entire hour of the party. I had to pry it off him at the end so that he could take part in the pinata. Perhaps I am biased, but I think he had hands-down the cutest costume there. It was a huge hit with everyone.

The tractor did not stop him from doing anything. He was running around with his friends and playing in the dirt the whole time.
Taking a whack at the pinata that the kids helped make earlier in the week.
Last night we went to Trick or Treat Street at LHS and again James' costume was a huge hit.
And again he wore it almost the entire time. It was kind of hilarious watching him try to play games wearing a giant box.
Today was the big event in the Mont-the Halloween Parade down Main Street.
With his buddies Antonia, Colin and John.
Riley came up to join us at the parade too.
The best family pic we could get. I am a deadbeat and forgot to take any of just our little Macky Moo. I will try to remember tomorrow.
James made it almost the whole way before he had to ditch the costume and get a lift on Tim's shoulders. I was very impressed. We only saw one other tractor costume at the parade, but it was a decorated wagon. I still think James had the best costume we saw (well maybe tied with the giant Transoformer on stilts). He is so proud of it and was so excited to wear it at all the events the past two days.
Tomorrow is trick or treating, so more pics to follow!

Halloween Preview

We took advantage of the nice weather last weekend and the fact that everyone was willing to try on their costumes to do a little Halloween dress rehearsal. James picked out everyone's costumes this year. Actually his first choice for himself was Bulstrode the Barge, but we convinced him that a barge might be a difficult costime to pull off. His second choice was a John Deere tractor. We were in Baby Gap one day back in September and James saw the cow costume and just had to have it for Baby He-Who. How could I say no? Jax's pig costume was found at Pet's Mart and completed the farm theme. I think they all look pretty darn cute. Props to my dad and Tim for making the tractor, complete with working headlights and a smoke stack (exhaust pipe?) to put candy in.

We are looking forward to the annual Halloween Parade in the Mont on Saturday. We will see how far James will make it along the parade route before Tim ends up carrying the tractor and/or the farmer. Happy Halloween week!

Perfect Day at the Pumpkin Patch

We have been spoiled with amazing fall weather this month. This week we went to the pumpkin patch. James was very excited to pick out two pumpkins, a big one for him and a small one for Mac. As we pulled into the patch, James said, "Look, pumpkins as far as I can see!"

Scouting out 2 perfect pumpkins is hard work.

Tim ended up cutting about 8 off the vine for James to choose from.
Just laying in the dirt with some pumpkins.
Tim was all about having Mac stick his head through the cut-out and surprisingly James cooperated too.

One Final Birthday Celebration

Yesterday was James' birthday celebration at school. We got to eat lunch with him, meet all hs friends and watch his birthday ceremony. Here he is with all the cards his friends made for him.

The second we walked in the door, James wanted to hold his baby.
He was very proud showing off Cormac to all his friends. Had a crowd of preschoolers ever surrounded James as a baby, I would have probably had an anxiety attack and dipped him in a vat of Purel immediately afterward. I guess having a second kid even makes me more relaxed.
James got to hold the Earth and walk around the sun (candle) 3 times to represent his 3 years on Earth.
Singing Happy Birthday.
The cook, Miss Kelly, made a special (vegan) chocolate birthday cake which we got after our lunch of build your own pita pizzas. We took James and Mac to the pumpkin patch after school which explains their Halloweeny outfits.
I love James' school, I am so glad that he goes there! If you haven't already, follow the link at the top of the post below to see the whole slideshow of Mac's newborn pictures. I am pretty sure that I have watched it 85 times and the song makes me tear up everytime.

My Two Handsome Boys

*****Here is the link to the slideshow of all of Cormac's newborn pics: http://www.vibrantlifephotography.com/slideshows/Cormac (have your volume on) *******

James is settling into being a big brother much better this week. Now that all of the excitement of visitors and house guests has settled down he is back to his normal self, which is quite a relief. He wants to know where his baby is at all times and today for the first time he told me, "Mama, I love my baby so much." Awwww. Today was school picture day for James so he got to get dressed up in his new outfit from Ama and Grampa. I think he looked pretty handsome and can't wait to order the cheesy school picture that the photographer took.

Our little Oompa Loompa. Mac is still pretty orange from jaundice, but hopefully he will have a normal skin tone soon. He wore an all orange outfit the other day and it was not so flattering. I think green is a little better.
James likes to touch Mac's nose anytime he helps to hold him.
We had a photographer come to the house to take newborn photos of Mac last week. She posted a sneak peak on her blog and hopefully the rest will be ready soon, I can't wait to see them! The heat in the house was cranked up to 85 and between that and a space heater to keep Mac cozy, I was a gross sweaty mess. So I hate how I look in the family pic, but at least we got some sweet squishy ones of Mac which was the goal. You can see the sneak peak at:

www.vibrantlifephotography.com/blog/

It is funny, the picture of him in the cream hat looks nothing like him. We couldn't pick that photo out of a line up as being of Mac. But the rest totally capture his squinchiness perfectly and we love them!

Three!

3 years ago today I became a mom. Wow! I can't even imagine what my life was life without James in it. He is the sweetest, smartest, most funny kid I know and I am so lucky that he is mine. James has been turning into a kid instead of a toddler for awhile now, and he is even more kid-like to me now that I have Mac to compare him to. I am amazed at him daily and what an incredible person he is growing into. Here are just a few of the thousands of things that I love about my Bubba James at 3 years old:

-James has an insanely active imagination. He does not need much to entertain himself and will make up stories about whatever it is he is playing with complete with dialogue. It is hilarious to sit and just listen to him play and talk with his toys.

-James love music. He can hear a song once or twice and know all the words and tune and start singing it out of nowhere. We often hear him singing himself to sleep or awake. He can hear any Britney Spears or Lady Gaga song and immediately indentify who is singing it. He loves creating his own mash-ups of songs and combines the lyrics of 2 songs together. There are tons of songs that come on the radio that he can identify after hearing only a few notes/words.

-James yells, "I'm away-ake!" when he wakes up from nap or in the morning and won't get our of bed until one of us goes to get him.

-James loves friends. He always asks if he can have a friend over or go to a friend's house. He loves being around other kids and is Mr. Social Butterfly almost anywhere we go.

-James is very dramatic. Lately whenever he is frustrated by something we can hear him yell, "This is just terrible!!"

-James loves to snuggle. He often tells us, "I want to jump into your arms and hug you!" and when he is falling asleep he asks us to "Stay and snuggle just a few more couple minutes"

-James is super verbal and has a huge vocabulary and pronounces almost everything correctly, but still says piano, "Paneeno" and I refuse to correct him.

-He has an incredible memory. He remembers where he got every single toy he has and who gave it to him and for what occasion. He remembers books that he hasn't read in months and can recite literally probably 100 poems/rhymes from memory.

-James wants to be a construction man, a SCUBA diver and a daddy when he grows up.

Waking up this morning to balloons and donut holes.

James' special requests of the day include going to the park, having dinner at his favorite restaurant, Wahoo's Fish Tacos, and having vampire cupcakes for dessert. Here is James' 3rd year interview:

Most of his answers are pretty similar to his 2 year interview. (Oh and he is singing in his Doozer (from Fraggle Rock) voice. This is not a great example of his musical talents)

Happy Birthday to our sweet, sweet boy. We love you more than you could ever imagine.

Self Family Portrait
The vampire cupcakes. I think we did pretty good.

Busy Week

We had a busy week with lots of visitors and trying to find some return to James' normal routine. My mom was here all week taking care of everything around the house so that Tim and I could focus 100% on James and Mac, which was wonderful. She left this morning and left both of our freezers fully stocked with meals, so hopefully we won't fall apart now that we are on our own. James is still having a difficult time adjusting to everything. He loves Mac and calls him, "My baby" but is an absolute roller coaster of emotions. I think a lot of it is typical 3 year old behavior just amplified by having a new baby in the house. Here are our matching piratey boys getting ready for bed one night.

Lacey and I with our kiddos-instant best friends :-)
Some adorableness.
Finally, Baby He-Who in a moustache. James' dream come true.
James playing with one of many new toys he has been spoiled with this week.
Mac and I at exactly 1 week old-Thursday at 4:22 pm :-) I think we are both looking much better than we did a week ago.

Settling In

Mac has settled into life on the outside very comfortably and is sleeping and eating like a champ. Here are lots and lots of pictures of our first few days at home. We really can't tell yet, but I think Mac might just be a fat James. Time will tell. For now he has the squinchy fat old man look down...

We have seen his eyes a few times...

But he quickly falls back asleep.
James has been settling in as well. He is an emotional roller coaster, but seems to be pretty fond of Baby He-Who so far. In the same sentence he will say, "I don't really like babies at all. Bring me my baby right now!"

My dad was in town until Sunday and my mom is still here. They are taking very good care of us and I haven't had to lift a finger besides taking care of Mac. I could get used to this.

The weather has been beautiful and we went on our first walk yesterday to the park. Mac loved being wrapped in the Moby.

James has been bombarded with gifts to the point where when someone walks in the door he asks, "Is that for me?" Great. He got his very own Handy Manny toolbox set which he has been lusting after at John's house for months. It has made for a very happy boy.

The toolbox set has gone everywhere with him, including on our walk. We had to stop several times so that he could fix things on our way to the park.

Doing his new dance move, showing off his booty.

Last night Mac got his first sponge bath.

James was in charge of toe washing and did an excellent job.

All of the Nichols' cousins.