James in the yard

Lots to do on a beautiful autumn day: inspect the trees with my pal Brodie, make faces at mom and swing in my Home Depot race car swing. Life can't get better than this!

New Hampshire Vacation 2

We're now back from our week vacation up at the beach. The weather was beautiful & we all had our fill of fresh seafood and New England late summer. What a fun time we all had. James learned a lot from cousin Anna & is now showing off some new speaking skills. He also learned about french fries (a new favorite of course) and perfected more of his walking skills (no more tripping over the thresholds of doorways going outside & mastering a few stairs). We had an opportunity to take some family pictures & were lucky that everyone was in good spirits during the photo session.
the last picture is the view from the deck of our vacation house. Being able to walk down the stairs onto the sand and falling asleep to the sound of the ocean was VERY therapeutic and EVERYONE slept well - - and through the nite! Mom and dad are very happy with this new trend that James has really gotten into - SLEEPING. I guess if you wait long enough, it does happen!

New Hampshire Vacation 1

We've spent the past week up on the coast of New Hampshire on vacation with Nanny & Boppa, Uncle Chris, Aunt Becki, Anna and baby Emma. It's been a very fun week for James who decided after spending the day in the foot-wash bucket because he didn't enjoy the cold water, that the ocean wasn't so bad after 5pm. It was even better once he was covered in sand from head to toe.

Poor dad has been spending a good portion of vacation at "work" downstairs in his makeshift office but we have been bringing him great fresh seafood, beers after 4pm and doing a lot of playing when he's done.

We'll post more when we get home!

Keeping me busy

What is it about children and their utter obsession with cleaning tools? And when and why does this intrigue ever wear off? James is a huge fan of the Swiffer and welcomes the chance to help out with the daily chores...as long as they involve the Swiffer. This morning he would not relinquish the tool until mom enticed him with a promise to go outside on the swings.
Oh and another thank you to Aunt Ali for the big wheel James received for his birthday. Too bad we have yet to be allowed to assemble the toy. James has not lost his interest in the 3 wheels that are meant for the bike. He will spend HOURS rolling the wheels, banging the wheels, watching them fall and doing it all over again. Maybe he'll let us put the bike together for Christmas!!

My new playset

Last weekend mom found this amazing jungle gym on craigslist (is there anything you can't find there?). Dad quickly lept into action and the next day, Grandpa and dad were disessembling the set from the old house (see first picture). And the coolest thing was waking up the morning after the set arrived and seeing that BRAND NEW UHAUL parked in the driveway (has anyone ever seen a Uhaul with 275 miles on the odometer??). I was THRILLLED to touch those wheels and run around the truck again and again. I secretly wished that the truck would have stayed along with the swing set. THEN, this past week, Dad and Boppa spent some time "refurbishing" the set and this Saturday, Dad, Boppa and Uncle Chris put it all back together again in our yard! It looks AMAZING and just like new!! Now I have my very own playground in the backyard. I especially love the swings and going down the slide on mom or dad's lap. I'm still perfecting climbing the ramp up to the forts. Brodie's favorite part is the ramp up to the forts. He loves to run up...and down...and up...and down...and then he lays up in the tower looking down on his domain. He has yet to understand that he must yeild to those on the swings and we've had a few run-ins, but we think he'll get it...eventually. We even had cousin Anna and cousin William over this weekend to try out the set.
(no post would be complete without a picture of James, so the last shot is of James running by the camera a few days ago. Note the huge shiner above his eye. Fear is not something James is aware of and we've been experiencing first hand exactly what it's like to raise a boy.)

Enjoying the little things in life

James got his first ride on mom and dad's tractor the other day. I call it mom and dad's tractor because both mom and dad are in charge of mowing the lawn. Because mommy has a bit of trouble with her hands right now, dad has taken over for the rest of the season. Lucky (or not) for us, it's rained a lot here so the lawn has not slowed down and requires weekly mowings. James was very eager to see what dad was doing and welcomed the opportunity to hop on for a spin. He takes machinery very seriously and was all business during his ride.

James also loves music and it just so happens that his Boppa is quite the musician. James and his cousin Anna get serenaded often from the Boppa either with his guitar or ukelele. James is always mesmorized by the instruments and songs & always lends a hand at strumming a few chords.

The Bridgewater Fair

This weekend was the annual Bridgewater Country Fair. This was actually James' second year at the fair, however last year, he was 5 weeks old and we were very conservative in our outings at that time. The fair is one of mommy's all time favorite things of the entire year so we made it a weekend-long event. On Saturday we brought cousin William. The boys had a great time running around visiting the sheep and chickens and William enjoyed going on all the rides. On Sunday, the weather was absolutely beautiful so we got to see the oxen pull and tractor pull events.
James was truly amazed with the fair: there were tractors, motors, wheels and animals EVERYWHERE. He couldn't believe his eyes! He got to run around in the mud and wander through the aisles of parked tractors squealing and pointing frantically at all the tires, wheels, motors and loud engines. Where ever he looked there was something to see and touch. He was especially excited to pet the sheep and cows and touch EVERY wheel on EVERY tractor he could get his little hands on. Dad says that in 6 years James will be old enough to enter the pull event with our tractor. He better start practicing now. Being able to see the fair through the eyes of our energetic one year old little boy was really a cool experience that mom and dad enjoyed most of all.
Tonight we think James will dream of John Deere's, loud motors and gigantic cows...

The molar mood swings

A pictures speaks 1,000 words so this sequence is pretty much self explanatory. We can go from happy to extraordinarily UNhappy in a matter of seconds when the teeth are involved. Good thing ours days are filled with plenty of distractions. We are thinking of renting out Brodie to other families who need a goofball dog around to provide laughs during these tough times. A shreiking James seems to always respond positively to a wacky dog running around after the broom...or balloon!

Emma Jean Peterson

She has arrived! Emma Jean Peterson has graced us with her presence in the world weighing in at 9lbs 1oz and 22 in long. Mom, dad and sister Anna are overjoyed with her arrival. Cousin James can't wait to share many happy times with now the two Peterson cousins. Congratulations to the happy family, Emma is a wonderful addition & we are all blessed to have her here!

A Day in my Diaper

Being 1 is pretty fun. I run around all day, play with toys, eat snacks, drink from my sippy cups, take the dog's toys and taunt him until he chases me. I love to laugh. A lot. I also speak my own language. Aunt Becki & Uncle Chris say it is Ewok language and if you really listen, I am definitely speaking my mind. Mom and dad are pretty well versed to my jabbering and can figure out what I need. I point very deliberately at what I want too, so that helps them out. I understand lots of words too. Go ahead, ask me if I want to take a ride in my wagon or have a yogurt. I can even point out the mouse hidden on the pages of some of my favorite books. When I'm asked, I can tell mom when I am hungry, thirsty and sometimes tired (though I hate to give in and take a nap). I can now say a few words of my own besides momma and dadda like dog, cat, baby, wheel and up. Of course, these are still my versions of the words but I'm pretty consistant so mom says we'll count them as words. Oh and I love to read my favorite books, over and over and over again.

Today was a big teething day, again. Can't wait to get my molars in...Dr said the bottom ones are on their way. They hurt A LOT and I have not been sleeping too much because of them. (sorry mom and dad) So because of the drool that seems to come with these teeth, mom stripped me down to my diaper this morning after breakfast. I'm so speedy these days, so putting on dry clothes was a challenging task and I was able to thwart mom's continuous mission to restrain me. Once she realized her attempts were futile, she gave in and snapped a few pictures of me in my glory. Oh and note the curls...would you expect anything else? Mom can't wait until my hair finally grows!