Christmas 2010

James had a holiday party at daycare early last week and they enjoyed some decorated cookies (as seen here) and danced and boogied to a Christmas song.  James wasn't interested in dancing since he hadn't finished his cookie just quite yet but we know how he can boogie!

Prior to the long holiday weekend the Clarks and Atkinsons went to see Santa and the Macy's display with the boys (which has become an annual tradition).  Elliot and James had a great time checking out the display with the lights and all its moving parts.  The display viewing then led to some traversing through the aisles of Macy's and the skyways with Elliot in the lead and James trying to keep up on foot closely behind.  It was pretty cute to hear Elliot call out "Baby James."  The boys also visited with the Big Man himself - Santa.

James was visited by Santa on several occasions this holiday season and let's just say he hasn't warmed up the man in the red suit yet. There's always next year, right?

James enjoyed traveling over the river and through the woods to many holiday gatherings this past weekend.  Staying up way past his bedtime two nights in a row gave way to a 4-hour nap on Sunday and sleeping 12-hours that same night.  Guess he was a tired little boy after all that excitement.

Unwrapping packages and presents still weren't a thrill to James this year - but I know that will be short lived.  He was more interested in the bows on the packages than anything else.  But regardless we helped him unwrap his gifts and let him discover how all his new things worked.  There was a recurring theme to James' gifts this year - music!  Can you tell this guys love to bop along to tunes and dance?  He received several musical instruments and thus far they aren't driving mom and dad too crazy!

Mom and Dad (with the assistance of Santa of course) got James a "James Goes to the Farm" play set which included a James engine (of Thomas the Tank fame) and some barn accessories.  Of all the things James got for Christmas he's been the most attached to these two little cows that came with the play set.  He carries them everywhere and wants to bring them to the dinner table, the changing table, etc.  We have to hide them during these times so he doesn't get upset.  Guess James doesn't need anything fancy at all, just some barnyard animals to make him happy!  We'll have to get a picture of James and his cows for a future post!

And of course there were cookies and egg nog this at the house this holiday season.  James is definitely taking after his Dad in his love of egg nog.  He always asks for more when Dad shares his cup!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas - Happy Holidays to everyone and best wishes for 2011!

Snowpocalypse 2010!

So it was a blizzard that they predicted it would be - could have fooled us.  We figured we'd get some snow but some 17 inches or so later we were truly in awe and James can't figure out where he is as the snow drifts are taller than he is!  I'm sure he feels like a mouse in a maze heading out our front door to the garage these days.

We did manage to get him outside during this crazy storm and he got to experience his first true snow fall in his full winter get up.  With his boots, snow pants, hat, jacket and mittens he was quite toasty!  We were reminded of the movie The Christmas Story where Randy was so bundled up he could hardly move.  James didn't care to walk in the snow - and although the blowing snow didn't help with his enthusiasm we still got some cute pics of him that we'll be able to recall for many years to come!

James Upright ... and Other Tidbits.

James' tentative steps have progressed this week and he's becoming quite stable on his feet.  Here are some action shots of him at home showing us his new moves!

He also has discovered his "hiding place" in the living room and frequents the corner between the two couches.  He thinks we can't see him, but we'll just let him continue to play games with us, because it is pretty darn cute!

We decorated the house for Christmas after Thanksgiving and James of course was a wonderful assistant.  Here he is attempting to untangle some lights ... unfortunately he created knots which took Mom and Dad's hands to unravel.  Can't say he didn't try!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Milestone - Walking!

James practiced hard all day with Dad on Saturday while Mom was away for the day - and when she came home he showed her his new skill!

James is now walking - albeit somewhat tentatively yet, but in just two days he's already picked up speed!  He still alternates between walking and crawling but he's discovering the joy of being on two feet!

Look out world - James is now on the move upright!  We'll post pictures soon!

Lions and Tigers and Monkeys Oh My!

Halloween started with us selecting a pumpkin and carving it.  We enjoyed an afternoon with Liza and Elliot finding the perfect one!  James of course wanted to help out and he found the perfect pumpkin, but really had no interest in gutting the pumpkin as much as we had him feel things out.

James had several opportunities to don a Halloween costume this year.  We were fortunate to have several costumes gifted to us for their use this year so he took his turn in two of them to celebrate Halloween.

Daycare had a small celebration in which James donned his tiger costume and his buddy Madden his football player costume.  Madden and James met in Mom's Mommy and Me class shortly after they were born and they have enjoyed each other's company at daycare since they started over a year ago.  They both soon will be "graduating" to the toddler room and learning all sorts of new things together!

That same evening we had dinner with some friends and James was already in costume, so Clara joined in on the fun as a lion!  They were the perfect jungle pair!  As noted, the head on James' costume was a little small so we put this costume to rest after this outing.

On Halloween itself James donned a monkey costume.  With his love of bananas this was a perfect outfit for him.  He didn't seem to mind the costume once we got him into it.  We took him trick or treating to several neighbors homes but he was most helpful at handing out candy to all the kids coming to our door.

Luck have it the day after Halloween Mom was out shopping and found James' costume for next year!  Those of you who know James' love for trains can already guess what it is.

San Francisco

The Clark family traveled to San Francisco in mid-October for our first family "trip."  All expectations of this being a relaxing vacation were stunted from the get go knowing we were traveling to a bustling city.  And although we don't regret for a minute our decision to get James on an airplane and let him explore another city - we will say traveling via plane and living out of a diaper bag for a week is a bit of a challenge that all parents should experience.  The memories we have from this trip and the pictures we captured speak to the fun we had.  So without further ado - a short synopsis of James' adventures in San Francisco!

My first plane ride!  James was excited to say the least - but didn't fare so well, nor did Mommy with the flight attendant.  You can ask Daddy about that one.  We'll just say the flight home was much better because James slept for two hours of the four hour flight.

My first ride on BART, MUNI and a cable car.  We took public transportation for the duration of our trip.  No need to rent a car in a city that has a great transit system.

A visit with Auntie Aimee in San Francisco?  Aimee happened to be San Fran for work at the same time of our trip so we got to meet up for dinner one night and give her a break from work. 

Picking out a pumpkin?!?  Don't think we can take that on the airplane in our carry-on Mom!  Daddy had fun with James as Mom picked out diapers at Safeway.

I love flags!  Our big discovery on this trip was James' love for flags.  He can spot them on buildings, by the piers, in front of hotels, etc.  It was hilarious to all of a sudden hear him shout "ohs" or "ahs" over a flag blowing in the breeze.  We are now challenged to find him an appropriate flag themed Christmas gift.  Thoughts anyone?

My first experience with Thai food.  And boy did he like it!  I think he ate more than Mom and Dad both this night and he chowed on everything we put in front of him ... when his plate ran empty he helped himself from Daddy's plate.

James loved the aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences.  He loved seeing all the fishes and tried to touch them through the glass. 

 

Muir Woods wasn't the highlight of the trip for James (he fell asleep) as seen here.  The rest of us enjoyed the forest of "HUGE" trees and escaping the city.  The remainder of this afternoon was spent in Sausalito and some sun (which didn't show it's face very often on our trip!).

James never did adjust to "California time" when we were on our trip.  He managed to wake up each morning around 5.  After the first two nights we learned our lesson and went to bed when he went to bed in order to get some sleep.

Overall the trip was great!  We would have hoped for some warmer weather but it wasn't MN cold so we can't complain.  We enjoyed our time away but we were also happy to come home and sleep in our own beds and adjust to MN time! :)



Fall Firsts!

Since his 1st birthday James has experience many "1sts" and we thought we'd share them with you!

His first time playing in the leaves - and helping us with yard work.  He was mostly the foreman watching us work, but none the less he kept himself busy.

His first "walk" with one of his push toys.  He scooted his Thomas train clear across the dining and living room and was quite proud of himself as you can see from that smile on his face!

His first "real" hair cut at a salon.  As you can see he was not a happy camper - even Sesame Street videos couldn't cheer him up.  But the stylist was great and gave him a cute cut in record time.

There are several other firsts this past month but we'll devote some other posts to them - stay tuned!!