Introduction to James, Elias, and Cora

Birthday time around here starts in October - we celebrated Tobias' 35th birthday and my 30th birthday just before Halloween. James really enjoyed Halloween this year, especially carving his pumpkin with Tobias. Trick or Treat time for James and his best buddy, Abby. James thought Abby was a beautiful mermaid, but thought she would like being a super hero with him more! Happy Halloween from Spiderman! We had a wonderful birthday party for James this year. One of my dear friends is a phenomenal party planner and made the cake, decorations, and James' special birthday shirt! James wanted a banana flavored Spiderman cake and that's exactly what he got - lucky boy! And the cake tasted as good as it looked! Check out that smile - James in his special birthday shirt! We had a pizza party for James and his buddies - they watched a Spiderman cartoon while eating pizza and then time for cake and ice cream. Fun times. James also enjoyed a special birthday party at his school. He e...

We decided to take a weekend family vacation up to Pennsylvania to visit friends and see some sights. We decided to make a quick stop in Hershey, PA! They have a new attraction where you can create your own candy bar. James caught on quickly and is quite the chocolatier. Adding the ingredients of his choice. Watching his bar being made! The finished product! Yummy! James loved the Hershey Chocolate Factory. What good looking guys I have! Mommy and Daddy steal a kiss. We also attended the Woolly Worm Festival in Lewisburg, PA. James loved the animals and had a great time feeding them. There were goats, cows, and pigs. The little cowboy jumped right on this big horse and had a blast! Fall is also birthday season around here. We recently attended a great birthday party at the local gymnastics club and James loved it - although he still maintains that he wants to continue with his swim lessons. Our little monkey! James made it across the balance beam (the highest one) on his first try. On...

We had the opportunity to visit Tobias' family in Kansas a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. James is a true farm boy! Hard to tell from this picture, but James is on the 4-wheeler with Aunt Crystal helping herd a 2,000+ lb bull into the corral. James is fearless (notice how far away I am taking the picture)! James also helped fix fence with Grandpa. James learned about electric fences and how to test to see if a fence is 'live.' When he wasn't out working on the farm, James had plenty of time for some cuddle time! Uncle Josh found a creative (and tasty) way for James to learn to spell his name. Uncle Josh, James, and Hank on the 4-wheeler. James and Uncle Josh taking a break on the fence. Mommy and Daddy even rode the 4-wheeler. One of the most exciting parts of the trip was sharing the gender of our new baby with Tobias' family. We had just found out a couple of days before the trip and asked Teri, who is just a couple of months from graduating from culinary s...

We have enjoyed exploring more of Southern Maryland this past month. We explored a local light house! James and his ol' buddy tried out sailing at the local maritime museum. And James even tried his hand at being a pirate. Arrrr, Matey! But the best part of summer is enjoying time with our friends - fun while shucking some fresh corn. James is learning lots of new songs at his new school. Here is he is singing for your enjoyment while eating some lunch. One of the perks of living near a Naval Base is being able to enjoy a wonderful airshow. This was a special airshow this Labor Day Weekend, celebrating 100 years of Naval Aviation. This was James' first time seeing the Blue Angels fly. He was pretty impressed, but thought they were too noisy! In exciting family news - James is excited to announce that he will soon be a big brother. We are expecting a baby in late January.