February Fun

Even though it was cold and overcast, we decided to go play at the beach one morning. James really wanted to test out his new beach shovel and we got to work digging the biggest hole we could!

 Eventually it got so deep that James couldn't get out of it without help.

 After digging the hole, it was time to fill it back in:

Rett was having fun walking around, but he got too close to the waves and after he got wet he was a little cranky. He loved playing in the sand though!

Our strawberry plants are growing some big strawberries! It looks like we are going to have a lot of them this year. Anthony even built a screen cover for them to keep the animals from nibbling on them before we can pick them. James loves to eat the strawberries that we grow, but he doesn't usually eat the ones from the grocery store. Go figure!

James had a little valentine play date with some friends from church, so he helped me make these superhero valentines for them. Rett got really upset while we were making these because he was dying for a tootsie roll pop. He gets so mad when he can't have what everyone else is having!

The boys were actually playing nicely together without pushing, shoving, or taking each other's toys so I tried to get a picture of it. They were jumping on the mini trampoline and every time Rett would fall down, James would purposefully fall down with him. Then they would laugh and laugh and laugh!

 Look at my big boy!

Rett has become such a climber! He climbs up on chairs, couches, anything he can get his hands on. Thankfully he hasn't tried to climb out of his crib yet! I took a picture of him trying to get one of the light switches above the couch. He climbed onto the couch and then up the back of the couch all by himself!

Finding little boy dress shoes has got to be the hardest thing in the world! Well, to be fair, finding little boy dress shoes that are less than $25 is the hardest thing to do. If I didn't mind spending that much, then I could just go and get them at Payless. However, trying to find them on sale at any other type of store is so hard! They either don't even carry them or they don't have small toddler sizes. I've tried buying a few pairs for Rett online and each time I can't even fit his toes in the shoes. Somehow the shoes are meant for narrow, dainty footed little boys. And Rett is not one of those little boys. Do you see these rolls? He even has rolls on the top  of his foot. So for now he wears socks to church because we just cant find him dress shoes that fit!

James is 4!

The day of James' birthday party I did a yearly interview with him:

I am this old: 4
The best show on TV is: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
My favorite thing about school (Mommy school) is: Play beards (mustaches)
The thing I am best at is: cleaning up and helping with dishes
If I could change my name, it would be: Rett (he was looking around the room for answers and he saw Rett :)
My favorite color is: Green
My favorite toy is: gripper/picker upper from the dollar tree (one of those long poles with a grip they make for people who can't bend over. He got attached for some reason :)
When I grow up I want to be: firefighter
I like to take these to bed with me at night: flashlight, toys, elephant
My favorite book is: We're going on a bear hunt
My favorite movie is: Bambi
My favorite season of the year is: Fall because of Halloween
A food I really like is: apples
My favorite animal is: giraffes
My favorite sport is: ghosties (tag)
My best friend is: mommy (awwwww!)
My favorite holiday is: Halloween
My favorite thing I did this year: go to the beach

The original plan for James' birthday party was to go to a go-kart place with family so he could ride go-karts for the first time. I just knew he would love racing around in them! The only one I knew about was in South Daytona, which is a bit of a drive for all of Anthony's family since they would already be driving 45 minutes just to get to our house. South Daytona is another 30 minutes away, so I thought we would do it at a place closer to Cocoa. Since we would have to drive for 30 minutes or so either way, I thought it would be better to drive down closer to everyone else. Anthony really liked that idea and said we should do it at a place in Cape Canaveral that has been around for years. I really should have called the place, but I hate calling people on the phone and we figured it would be the same as when we were there 10 years ago. I was so glad that we didn't tell James what we were doing, because when we got there, they didn't have go-karts anymore! All they had was mini-golf and a small arcade. James was happy and excited just to be having fun with everyone but I was a little disappointed. We also underestimated how cold and windy it was going to be, so for some reason I didn't think to bring jackets for us or the boys. James refuses to wear them anyway. He says, "I'm a tough boy, I don't need a jacket".

James loved hitting the ball. He would hit it, run to his ball, pick it up, place it right next to the hole and then hit it in. Sounds like a good strategy to me!

 James was so excited to see his cousins Dallas and Nevada. He followed them around the entire time and wanted to do everything they did. It is so fun to see cousins love each other!

 My mom volunteered to be on Rett patrol. He wanted to get down and climb around on everything, even the tall rickety wooden stairs.

 We let him play with the balls while we waited for everyone else to catch up to us. He would collect everyone's balls and then bring them over to Dallas. It was so funny! We tried to point to the hole so that he would put them in there, but he really just wanted to hand them to Dallas.

Anthony took his mini golfing very seriously and tried to line up each shot and keep track of how many strokes. 

 James carefully hitting his ball in at the last hole:

My mom was worried about Rett being cold, so she bought a sweater at the gift store and wrapped him up in it:

After mini golf we spent some time in the arcade playing games and collecting tickets. James wanted to play every game, regardless of what it was. He wouldn't even look at it, he would run up and say "Let's play this!". He really liked this shooting game where you shot robbers in a store. As I watched him I realized I'm not much of a fan of the shooting games where they shoot realistic looking people, even if they are bad guys. I would much rather he shoot aliens or something if he is going to play a shooting game!

After the arcade we drove down the street to an Italian place for pizza and cupcakes. While we waited for our food, James opened all of his presents and he was so excited for each one. The restaurant was pretty dark so I didn't get any good pictures, but I took some pictures of him with his presents a few days ago to put in his thank you cards.

From his Aunt Robin and his cousins he got a ball and bat set, a bath time safari kit, and a kite. We are saving the kite for the next time we go to the beach!

From Mimi and Papa he got a hooded towel that looks like a fox, complete with paws and a tail. He also got a unicorn towel that he decided to share and make Rett's :)

From Grandma he got a tiny train set and a Spiderman ball and glove. It goes perfectly with his bat!

From Aunt Happy (who wasn't there, but sent him a present in the mail) he got a toy chain saw. He was so excited to add that to his toy power tool collection! He loves to take it around outside and pretend to chop things down with it.

From Mom and Dad he got a Magic School bus science kit and batman spy set with a flashlight, a compass, and binoculars. He calls them "noculars".

I forgot his candle for his cupcakes at the party, so at home the next night he got to have another cupcake and blow out his candle.

A very sweet woman from church volunteered to do all the birthday cards for the primary children, so James also got a birthday card in the mail. I had no idea she was doing this, but she also taped a Sacajawea dollar coin inside the card. James was sooo excited to get a piece of "golden treasure". What a good idea!

He loves being 4 and being "big" now. He will randomly mention something like, "I am 4 now, so I can do (fill in the blank with what he wants to do)". We have talked about how after he turns 4, he will be old enough to go to preschool, so he keeps asking me when he gets to go to school like his friends. I told him after the summer he gets to go, but he wants to go now! We love our sweet, goofy, smart little boy!

Catch up

I want to catch up on the past few weeks before I do a post about James' 4th birthday. Can you believe our baby is 4??

Anthony's seahorse had another batch of babies! He took his sweet time having them over the course of a few days, so we had a lot of advance warning. We actually got to see the moment when he pushed the majority of them out and it was so cool! The seahorse swam around and around until he finally chose a spot and then clouds of babies came out of him. Anthony took a picture of them all after he got them out of the big tank and we counted 521 of them. Now, two weeks later, there are only seven left, but hopefully at least one of them will survive until adulthood.

One night we were playing with some stick-on mustaches and James had a blast! We all took turns wearing them and taking pictures. 

The boys still take a bath together every night, but it is getting kind of crowded in there as they both get bigger. Rett usually loses his patience with getting splashed and his toys taken away and wants to get out after about five minutes. One evening they were actually playing together and having fun, so I tried to get a picture. By the time I got my phone ready, Rett was crying because James had splashed him in the face. Oh well :)

A few months ago we had plans to visit Anthony's parents for dinner one Sunday evening. I wasn't feeling well, so Anthony took James with him so I could rest. He had a blast! Anthony's mom took him to play on the swings and look at the water. I was so proud of him for behaving so well.

Rett has never seemed very interested in reading books whenever I read with James, but lately he has decided that he loves it! He will grab a book, bring it to me, sit down and wait for me to start. His favorite book, hands down, is a board book that I used to read to James over and over called "Peek a who". He loves it so much, he even brought it over to give to me during family prayer one night and hit me in the nose with it! I looked up in surprise and he was sitting patiently waiting for me to start reading. We've read it so much that James has it memorized and volunteered to read it for Rett. It was so sweet!

Rett has started talking so much more. He brings us things and says, "here go". He answers questions with "yeah" or "uh uh" and we think we heard him say "bye". He mimics everything, so if James growls at him, he will growl back and they will get into growling matches. :) He also has started blowing us kisses and it is so adorable! We love our growing munchkin!