Introduction to James, Elias, and Cora

Happy Easter! This picture makes me giggle - James is always doing something funny. He has a great personality. Bat? Bunny? Or boy? Tobias and James are enjoying our backyard and the beautiful weather. Tobias is teaching James how to grow a garden. First they built the garden. Then they planted their seeds in little pots inside and waited for the seeds to grow. James would get excited every morning to see how big his plants were growing. Once the plants were large enough they transplanted them outside to the garden. James has quite the green thumb and is growing sunflowers, corn, peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and zucchini. In between the gardening, James is also enjoying the new sandbox Tobias built for him. Fun times with his buddies playing and building in the backyard. To celebrate Easter James participated in an Easter Egg Hunt the base chapel hosted for the kids. James loved to gather up all the eggs! Look at all those eggs! Nice job James! We also took some time to dye eggs....

Three years ago James' adoption was finalized. We honor this special day by celebrating Walters' Family Day! We started out early in the morning and drove to Washington D.C. We found one of our favorite restaurants from Jacksonville, The Original Pancake House. James finished his entire plate of pancakes! We took the Metro - James' first experience with public transportation! He was so excited to ride a subway train. We went to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. James has been asking about going to the zoo for months! He was so excited. The National Zoo was a great experience. James even had the opportunity to use a microscope for the first time. So many animals to enjoy! A metal anteater - what could be cooler? James and Tobias getting ready to head home. It was a wonderful way to spend a wonderful day. James was so tired by the time we headed for home. Nap time!

James his best buddies. Believe it or not, but James is the youngest of these 3 kids. The little girl is about 6 months older than James and the little boy is just 2 weeks older than James. Gives a bit of reference to his height! We have been fighting colds for part of the past month. Here's a picture of James in bed trying to get better. Thank goodness for the iPad , James was able to lay in bed and relax. It wasn't too long before James had bounced back and was his playful self again. The weather is warming up so James is able to play outside some afternoons. Tobias is going to build James a sandbox in the backyard. James loves to dig! James and I spend a few minutes every day working on preschool workbooks. Here we are working on writing our letters. Spring will be here in a couple of weeks and I had to get James some new clothes. I bought several outfits for him and bought mostly size 6 or boys medium. We had a fashion show earlier today - here are pictures of Jam...

The time period between New Year and Spring Break at the Naval Academy is called the Dark Ages and now I remember why. The weather here has been cold and dreary, although we haven't had much snow. James obviously doesn't let the weather get him down though! James and his buddy Abby make the most of cold days - staying in and watching movies. We have had a very busy year so far - complete with trips to CA for me and another trip to MN, which included James. Although the trips were for family health issues and a funeral, it was wonderful seeing family. In CA I was able to see my wonderful sister, Marthaa , and her beautiful family. It was wonderful to see little Gabe who is growing up so fast! James showing off his backpack and bear - he's such a big boy! While James and I were toughing out the winter weather, Tobias was in AZ for training. Tobias really enjoyed the desert and made time to explore. What a beautiful view! Can you believe how big that cactus is?! Tobias came...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with family. Our first visitor was my dad who flew out from California. My dad is a pilot too and bought a remote control helicopter for one of James' presents. The helo quickly became Daddy's toy! James is also quite the pilot! No surprise at all, of course! We were able to attend Christmas Eve service together and then James got to open one Christmas present. Here's a wonderful picture of my dad, James, and Tobias before the first present was opened. We have a family tradition of 'hiding' a pickle ornament on the tree and the person who finds the pickle gets a dollar. James was so excited to have found the pickle on Christmas morning. Hours after my dad headed back to California we were joined by Tobias' entire family from Kansas. James was spoiled by eight adults for a couple of days he loved every minute of it! A lovely picture of Tobias and his siblings with James. What a good lo...