September

This month sure went by a lot faster than August (which Ryan and I have agreed is the most painfully slow month in Louisiana).  We are thankful that the fall has come to Shreveport. Of course when I say fall I mean temps in the 90's instead of the 100's. Definitely more bearable though! We have been trying to spend more time outside and it's been really nice.  I was too lazy to do many posts over the past month so here are all of our random photos and memories! 

Dressed up for church with his pirate squeakers on. He went CRAZY when I put these shoes on and now keeps wanting to wear them all the time 

Dining al fresco!

Our new favorite park 

He wants to swing high! (as he demands)

Another park we like, just not so close 

I think I'm getting too old for this. I could barely make it down the slide! 

It's no secret that we love to eat at Shogun.  Best vegetables ever (coming from someone who doesn't like veggies).  Now that they offer lunch we go SO much more.  It's much cheaper and we are always the first ones there for an early lunch so we get the place all to ourselves.

Watching the show.  The cook always makes JT some scrambled eggs as an appetizer.

Spent an afternoon strolling around the boardwalk

Lately whenever we hang out with families with babies James always wants to help hold the baby. He especially loves baby Reece! :) 

Helping Daddy put together the bookshelf 

Ryan has worked a lot this month so one day we killed a bunch of time by pushing the shopping cart around Petsmart.  The snakes and turtles were pretty exciting...

Cutie pie 

We finally got a car seat in Ryan's car so sometimes as a special treat he takes James home after we have met up. (a treat for James or a treat for myself??? Lol) Ryan turned around at a stoplight and James had gotten his stethoscope and put it on. Doctor in training? This mamma hopes not! (for the sake of whoever JT marries in the future, haha!)

James has loved to read books for quite some time now.  I have been really excited because he has a long enough attention span that I have been able to get out some of the books I used when teaching. I'm such a bookworm that I LOVE that he enjoys reading.  He likes to fill in the words while we are reading stories such as in this little video of us reading Good Night Moon.   Decided to post this for the grandparents' viewing pleasure. :)

And while I'm on a video kick I might as well include this one. Ryan will be embarrassed that I put this on the blog but I was SO proud that he was interviewed for the local news to give out information regarding prostate cancer.  Check him out- it's important info! 

Back to Mother's Day Out!

We were sooooo excited that it was time for Mother's Day Out to start back! I will be the first to admit that I love being at home with James but I sure do enjoy those precious few hours that he is out of the house.     I wasn't sure how he would do with a new classroom, new teacher, etc. but we tried to really get him excited about it.  I emphasized that he would be getting new friends to play with and new toys.  It amazes me how much better he does with new experiences and transitions when we take the time to really explain and prep him for it beforehand.  When we got to his class he noticed that they had a train table.  Mission accomplished: no tears, only excitement! He has loved going every minute since. 

Taking a picture with Daddy before he had to go to work.  I was a little bummed when I saw all the other dads that were able to go take their kids on the first day. :(  Not much flexibility in Ryan's job at this point in life! 

James wanted nothing to do with having his picture made. I took about 20 and this was the only one that was semi-decent

The good ole self timer

The next day of "school"

I had to sneak this picture. How funny is it that he will sleep on his nap mat?

 It has been a big couple of weeks.  New class at church, new class at school, MOPS, lots and lots of transitions.  I'm proud and happy to say that we have made a lot of progress since last year and thankfully these transitions have all gone smoothly. 

Trip to the OG

Over a year ago we found out that Whitney and Rod were going to be moving to Greenville SC.  Since we live in Greenville NC we figured we needed a way to differentiate between the two. So our Greenville is known as G-Vegas, and their Greenville is known as the OG (other Greenville).  We were so excited to get to spend Labor Day weekend with them and with Ryan's parents.

First time on the plane with his own seat 

When we got to Atlanta we had a couple of hours of layover.  One thing I love about my husband is that he is always willing to do random stuff, even if it doesn't always make sense.  He had noticed their way a Pei Wei (which we love) all the way in the international terminal so off we went for lettuce wraps at 9:00 a.m.! We had been up since 3:30 a.m so it felt like time for lunch, lol. 

James was pretty excited about his chicken and rice as well

One of the benefits to living far away is that sometimes we get to do extra celebrating. Since we hadn't celebrated James's birthday with Ryan's family when we arrived Aunt Whitney and Nana had set up a little party for him! 

Giving Whitney a thank you hug

Whitney bought this cake from a local place and it was delicious!!!!

After lunch and cake he got to open his presents.

Reading a new book from Nana 

We had a couple of hours of down time while James rested and we watched the ECU game. Then we decided to go to the zoo. Unfortunately when we arrived we found out they had just closed! Luckily there was a fun park right nearby so we went there instead.

James took a liking to Pop's hat and ended up wearing it for most of the weekend

Next we went for a walk downtown to look around, shop, and eat dinner.

Afterwards it was back for bath and bed.  Whitney and Rod got James some new bath toys so he was pretty happy! I also have to mention that James LOVED Whitney and Rod's dog. Now I have to confess that I really don't like animals but I must say that Stella grew on me over the weekend. She was so sweet and patient with James.

Story time with Uncle R and Aunt W

On Sunday we made our way back to the zoo and thankfully it was opened this time.

checking out the elephants 

And the monkeys 

Cool dude 

Before I knew it the trip was almost over and it was our last night at dinner.

I don't know how I feel about this! Haha! 

I wish I could say that I had some pictures of our final morning but James was in a terrible mood.  He didn't sleep very much over the weekend so things were a little stressful with him by the end.  He almost never falls asleep in his stroller but when we were walking through the Atlanta airport he completely passed out.  Ryan and I used this opportunity to have a "lunch date" at the airport while he napped. Ryan pointed out that this is only the second meal that he has ever slept through! 

Overall it was a great trip, and we really enjoyed seeing the Hollands and Whitney and Rod's new life in the OG.  They all did so much to make our trip as easy and special as possible.  Can't wait to go back again!