Happy Birthday, Baby!

James turned one on Thursday, March 24th. We were at Disneyland:

James's birthday churro:

James is so much like his daddy. From his quiet determination to his curly brown hair.

Wiped out at the end of the day:

Crazy to think he's only been with us a year now. Now he can walk now & say a few short words. My favorite is 'Wooow'! He loves to eat whatever we're eating & he only wants to do whatever his older brother or parents are doing-he even enjoyed the rides with us. I think Small World was his favorite, he danced and clapped a lot on it!

Even at such a young age, he's able to clearly make his wishes known. I have caught him a few times purposely getting Alec in trouble so he could get a toy-classic little brother! He loves to push buttons, so when I put a child gate in front of the DVD player, he moved a ride-on toy in front of the gate so he could stand on that to reach over & push the buttons.

James has such a sweet smile and loves to laugh! He's ticklish everywhere and his grandpa dubbed him, 'James the happy'. We love our smiley little man!

Luck o' the Irish to ya

The leprachaun left treats in Alec's soccer shoes (yes, Alec chose the shoes). She forgot to make sure we had potatoes, so he got an onion in one. Not like he cared either way when he saw the candy in the other:

We made green scrambled eggs. For dinner in the end since we woke up late & had to rush to work. Then Paul drove off with the keys to the Odyssey & his phone on silent. On a day I was giving a quiz. My students were SO understanding about postponing their quiz until after Spring Break-they're swell. :)

Alec 'helped' me decorate some cupcakes.

James helped rid us of a cupcake:

I arranged a few themed games, like tossing gold coins into the leprachaun's pot, a shamrock relay, a gold coin hunt (turned pretty competitive) and a variation of the Scottish "Heave Ho". Clearly no real hay bales, we tossed a grocery bag with odds and ends over the dowel. Yes, I realize the Scots & Irish are two different ethnic groups...but Alec doesn't. :) My mom, my sister, Kari & her family came over to play with us.

Alec told the history of St. Patrick's Day & explained that the 3 leaves of the shamrock were to represent the Trinity. He did a great job!

Finally, Auntie Kari read Alec, 'The Luckiest Leprechaun'

Alec was holding onto the spatula from the 'Heave Ho' game in case the book was boring...

Happy Birthday to me

For my birthday, Paul got me tickets to see 'The Lion King' at Mandalay Bay. Until mid-March, Nevada residents are buy 1, get 1 free, so we asked the ticket lady to find the best seats in section 'B'-March 12! Definitely worth the wait though. The seats were amazing & I loved the show!

After the show we wandered the Fashion Show Mall-clothes shopping (Yay!), then dinner at Maggiano's.

No one told me I was holding the ticket backwards. :)

Park Pics

Monday, Monday

Early Monday morning a happy (only AFTER being nursed) James crawled over & woke up daddy.

We were soon joined by Alec and his usual cheeky antics.

I herded the boys downstairs for some breakfast (more 'snacking' for James):

We decided to hit the trail and get some playtime in before Alec had to head out to pre school

Maggie & Milo, patiently waiting whilst the boys play:

Everything Alec does is absolutely hilarious to James, which only encourages him (and that's bad!)

Currently James's favorite thing is the slide! He can crawl up the steps and slide down on his tummy & his face gets this look of total glee!

At home the boys love to 'wrestle'. Alec is surprisingly gentle with his baby brother, so it looks more like James poking his brother & hugging him.

We invited my parents over for Family Home Evening, that Alec presented & a lovely fruit pizza Alec baked & decorated.

James is incredibly attached to my dad. He chooses him over everyone else-even me (his food source! Hello??)