Introduction to James, Elias, and Cora

James loves to read books. His current favorite is "The Wheels on the Bus" and we read it at least 5 times every day! I love this picture of James and his Daddy reading before bed. Aunt Teri, Tobias' youngest sister, arrived last week to help out with James. We are having so much fun with her. James loves that she's here again this summer. One of James' favorite things right now are bubbles. He helped me wash dishes one night and really enjoyed the soap sudes. Here's a funny video of James helping me wash dishes - it's about a minute long and it makes me laugh the whole time. The fun with bubbles also goes with bathtime. Earlier this week James climbed into bath completely clothed. Such a sweet smile!!

Earlier this week James had tubes put in his ears. The tubes are very small and are to help with the several ear infections he's had in the past several months. While the surgery was over in less than 20 minutes, he still felt pretty crummy all day. Here's a picture of James just a couple hours after the surgery. Not to worry though - James made a quick recovery. Here's a picture of him the next day! On Friday Tobias showed us around the helo hanger at his squadron. After learning a bit about the aircraft, James picked up his daddy's bag and was ready to fly! After his surgery, James got some new toys including Legos . Here's Tobias and James building a tower with the Legos . Tobias' mom always cut his hair growing up, and Tobias decided he wanted to do the same thing for James. It turned out really nice! To cool down after the haircut, James played in his new pool. Such fun!

I wanted to share some of James' Easter pictures from last week. We had a lot of fun, even though Tobias was gone. Here's James with one of his Easter baskets. Before church on Easter morning James let me take a couple of pictures of him in his new outfit! Some people are surprised at how tall James is - and he is tall. I took this picture yesterday to show how tall James is compared to Tobias, who is 6 ft.

We have a small pond behind our house with ducks - and recently ducklings. James is completely enthralled. Here are Tobias and James feeding some of the little ducklings. If you look closely you can see a turtle near the ducks too. Tobias just recently accomplished a major feat - he is now a Helicopter Aircraft Commander (HAC). Basically it means that he is now qualified to be the lead pilot when they fly. To celebrate Tobias' accomplishment we had a super yummy dinner. Here is James helping Daddy enjoy his dinner. James is showing off his super strength here! Olympic gymnast... perhaps! James and his favorite toy! I love this picture - I'm sure the day will come when James absolutely hates it though. He's so funny! Last weekend we went to an Easter Egg hunt and met up with a girlfriend from nursing school and her son, Aiden. Aiden and James had so much fun together. Aiden is 3 1/2. So big, yet still just a little guy! Here's James after taking a nice long wal...

I finally have some time to do a new post - Spring Break is here! While most of my friends from nursing school will be off traveling to fun places, I'm just going to stay around here and enjoy lots of time with Tobias and James. Since it's been a while since I updated the blog, here are some new things about James. Favorite pass time - reading books. He'll grab a book and bring it to you and then sit in your lap. Sometimes he'll "read" to himself too, which is pretty funny to watch. He also enjoys playing duets with Grandma Lorrin on Saturday nights! Favorite book - Touch and Feel Farm. We're reading The Wind in the Willows aloud right now and he seems to enjoy that one too. Favorite food - he enjoys any type of fruit, but loves grapes. This past week he's tried kiwi for the first time and it was a big hit! While he really enjoys fruit, James also enjoyed a homemade cherry pie sent by Grandma Walters! Best friend - Daddy with Bandit (our dog) in a ...

Tobias' parent's, Jim and Edie, are here visiting from St. Francis, KS. Tobias left to attend training in Maryland a couple of weeks ago, so he is missing out on the fun down here. James is sure enjoying his time with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma Edie and James after bath time. Grandpa Jim and James color with James' new crayons. Cuddle time with Grandpa Jim. These pictures make me laugh - they were taken on different days. Do you think James tired Grandpa Jim out?? While I was at school, James, Grandpa and Grandma went to the Jacksonville zoo. Grandpa Jim even showed James how to brush the Pygmy goats at the zoo. What fun!! While there is plenty of love for Grandma and Grandpa, I've been lucky to steal a couple of hugs from James too. He's such a sweet boy!

Our new year is off to a great start. James is busy learning and playing! In early January James and Tobias planted a little herb garden for me. The plants have sprouted and in just a couple of more weeks I should have some fresh basil! Tobias was off for the first part of January so he and James spent a lot of time playing together. This picture was taken while James was helping Tobias wash Bandit, our dog. Before things started to speed back up with school and work, we squeezed in a couple of play dates . Here is James playing with his best buddy, Clayton! I love this picture! The sun was right behind him, but you can still see his beautiful smile! The past couple of weeks have been so cold for us that we had to break out James' winter coat. Here he is brushing his teeth before I take him off to school. Cold weather also means warm flannel pjs . This was taken on a chilly Saturday morning. Here's a picture of my beautiful mom who visited us last weekend. It was great...