Final days of Summer

I have to confess that this is probably one of my least favorite times of year.  I know that is the wrong attitude, but it's the truth. Everyone has gone back to school, a lot of the kiddie activities stop for the month of August, its still too hot (as in it is over 100 degrees here this week) to be outside much, and I have pretty much exhausted all of my ideas for fun things to do. But... I'm trying to soak up the good in these last few days before we start our fall schedule. Here are a few of the things we have done over these last few days of summer.

We have spent several mornings at The Zone.  They have all sorts of jump houses. It took James a little while to warm up to it, but he really enjoys it now. Lately every time we get in the car he asks me if we are going to the "jump house" as he calls it. 

One sunny afternoon Ryan and James had a car wash. It benefited us all because we got two clean cars and James was thrilled to use the water hose. 

We always make it a point to go to the Farmer's Market several times each summer.  We love all the free samples and yummy food that is sold there.  Ryan discovered the BEST breakfast burritos so we had to go get breakfast one last time before summer was over, and I have an obsession with the cinnamon pecans, especially when they are still hot. Yum!

We let James choose a treat. Any guesses as to what he picked? 

 The day before hurricane/tropical storm Issac came I was kind of at a loss to do.  The morning started off with James getting up SUPER early and taking a morning nap (which he never does).  He was in a beast of a mood so after going to the gym I decided I just couldn't handle the thought of being stuck inside the rest of the day, especially since the weather was going to be yucky soon. My main issue was that it was the end of the month and I had spent all of James's "fun" money. Luckily I remembered that his great-grandma, Granny Baker, had sent him some birthday money. So we decided to have a fun mother-son boardwalk adventure for the afternoon! 

We started off at Bass Pro to check out the fish and just happened to get there at feeding time- always a lot of excitement for a 2 year old.  Then we headed to get pizza for lunch. 

Afterwards I introduced James to the wonderful world of double-doozie cookies at a little bakery shop.  2 cookies with icing in the middle- one of my favorites! Of course he doesn't really like cookies so he ate the m&ms off the top and gave the rest to me. 

Chowing down

Then we walked to the carousel and James picked out the horse to ride.  He loved it but boy those things make me feel sick, especially after eating so much! 

We did a little shopping. I never knew the Carter's store had Legos. I even found him a new pair of shoes for $7 at Stride Rite. I love a good deal! The most amazing thing is when we got home he took another nap! This from the kid that normally struggles to take one nap.  It ended up being a really great day. 

I guess I should mention that the day that Issac did finally come I managed to lock my keys inside the car WITH James in it.  Needless to say it was not my proudest mom moment.  Thankfully I was able to get up with Ryan who came to rescue us. Of course that meant standing out in the rain and wind for 20 minutes watching James have a melt down. At least I didn't have to call the fire department! 

One of James's recent obsessions at the end of the summer has been wanting to wear our clothes. I caught him walking around in my flip-flops, he insisted on trying on my gym shorts, and when Ryan got home he really wanted to dress just like daddy. 

Love my men! 

Cutie Pie

It's been a fun summer but it is time for some football, pumpkins, and cooler weather! 

James at 2 Years

We went for James's 2 year old check up last week.  I felt like we hadn't been in forever so I was curious to see his official weight and height.

Height: 35 1/2 inches, 80th percentile

Weight 32 pounds, 90th percentile

You wearing size 2T-3T clothing and are between a size 7 and 8 shoe.

Ryan and I are still shocked that we have such a big kid! I mean he isn't huge or anything, but I sure thought he would be more average. 

James you are up to so much these days! Over the past month your language has really exploded.  You have started putting lots of words together and saying little sentences.  Your favorite sentence is "Sit down there Mama!". You love to have your mom or dad right beside you, watching you play at all times.  I also had to laugh when we walked into Chick-fil-a the other day and you said, "People eat chicken". Yes James, they do. And so do we based on how often we go there. We also love to hear you say multi-syllable words such as "cheesebubba" (cheeseburger) and "bellbow" (elbow). You  have perfected your Louisiana drawl and can turn any one syllable word into at least three. :)You love to play pretend and you have really started to enjoy play dough.  Some of your other favorite things are trains, trucks, Elmo, books, balls, and the pool.  Some of your favorite foods are applesauce, ice cream, chicken, steak, blueberries, and soup.  You still love to get up early (as in often before 6) and you are still not a great napper. You love all of your friends and you talk about them frequently.  You are so happy whenever you get to visit with them.  You love to read books, especially your books about Zeezus (Jesus) and God as you tell us every night.  You can identify your uppercase letters and most of your lowercase.  This past month you have learned how to count to 10 (verbally) by yourself. However the teacher in me must clarify that you haven't quite got one-to-one correspondence when counting items, haha! We will keep working on that. We are working on obeying, not whining, and sharing but overall you are a pretty sweet little boy.  James you bring so much joy to your parents' lives and we love you more than you will ever know!

Some of our pictures from the last month:

I bought this at a yard sale down the road to go in our yard. Somehow it is still in the living room- James loves it!

Our crazy family

 

These next two pictures make us laugh but only those people who really know us will get it. 

This picture is a total Creech face (my side). This is how Ryan and I
normally see James. 

However every now and then he does this funny thing with his chin= total Ryan. 

Family story time on James's future big-boy bed

Ryan and James took advantage of the rain to practice splashing in puddles 

Where has the time gone?

And because I love comparisons :) 

2 years ago

1 year ago

Life today 

Happy 2nd Birthday James!!!

How is my sweet baby 2?!?!? Ryan and I both agree that this second year has FLOWN by and been much easier than the first.  That first year about did us in! :) We had a wonderful time celebrating James's second birthday! 

The morning of James's birthday he was up bright and EARLY. As in before 6:00 a.m. Someone was excited! 

He was so surprised to have balloons waiting for him.  What better way to start the day off than with a birthday pancake? 

After breakfast I woke Ryan up so we could do presents.  

JT got a puzzle with way too many pieces 

A new book bag with an Elmo coloring book inside 

A nap mat for school 

And the grand finale- a basketball goal! 

 The story behind this basketball goal is a little funny. I was feeling bad that we hadn't bought James any fun toys for his birthday. While we were at the beach Ryan ended up getting him this basketball goal as a surprise.  When Ryan walked out carrying it JT yelled, threw his milk cup across the room, and bolted over to the box! It was a priceless reaction. I just wish I had it on video! 

Soon after it was time to get ready for his party.  I had emotionally blackmailed my mom into coming back from the beach with me so she could attend the party. It just didn't feel right to not have any of our family here so we were glad she was able to be with us. 

We also let him open all his birthday mail- the kid LOVES getting mail 

Ryan's sister, James's Aunt Whitney, offered to make his birthday invitations. We decided to combine two of his favorite things: ice cream and airplanes. I thought they were adorable!!! Best of all, she designed, printed, made matching envelopes, and mailed them for me! I can't explain how nice it was to not have to worry about any of that. Thank you Whitney!!!! 

None of the pizza places were opened in time for the party so we got Papa Murphy's, and Ryan was in charge of baking and slicing.  He put those surgeon skills to good use with that pizza cutter! 

Finally we made our way over to one of James's favorite places: The Frozen Frog!  I seriously considered not doing a party this year but I felt bad that Ryan missed the party last year and I knew James would have a good time. It turned out to be a lot of fun for all of us! 

Hooray- the first guests are here!

Digging into the pizza 

Brown or Briggs (sorry Erinn I still can't tell them apart!) was so cute.  He came running into the store yelling, "Hi James hi James!" 

Brown and Briggs 

Mark and Jonathan

Maisey eating a little pizza

Sweet Sweet Avery.  

After pizza it was time for ice cream.  

Taylor looks excited! 

Must have tasted good 

I had a hard time thinking of an activity a bunch of toddlers could do, but I finally found these little hats to decorate  

Of course James was still eating at this point! 

Time for presents! 

We did have a minor meltdown when James cut the corner of his eye on a table while opening his presents.  As Ryan said, "Better our kid than one of the others!" 

Couvillon family 

Daphne, Mark, and Jonathan 

James attempting to give Emmy a hug. She wasn't having any of it though! 

Mrs. Miller was so sweet to come and celebrate with us

Trying to get a family picture but not so good. At least it shows his little birthday shirt. 

I realized after that we had two sets of twins at the party! 

Reece- what a cutie! 

 Just a few of the funny things that I observed ad mist the chaos.  A kid eating food off the floor.  Another kid continuously sneaking over to eat pretzels out of the container after he had finished the ones in his yogurt. Multiple kids running around crazy with balloons.  Kids opening presents when no one was looking. And I'm sure there was much more. What do you expect with a bunch of toddlers? I'm almost embarrassed to write this but after the party was over and everyone was gone, I said that I really didn't get as much frozen yogurt as I wanted so we all got more!!! 

JT seriously has his mouth full in all these pictures 

Sweet boy was so tired on the way home but was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. Love him to bits! 

 After James, Ryan, my mom, and myself ALL took a nap it was time to think about dinner. Where do you go for a 2 year old's birthday dinner? Chuckie Cheese, Chick-fil-a, McDonalds....no not in our family. Haha!  We had been telling mom how much we liked Texas Street Steakhouse so she convinced us that we should go there. Not your typical choice for a toddler but it was fabulous! 

James with his mouth full of Nene's fillet mignon! 

Well what do you know? They brought out some free ice cream for the birthday boy. 

For someone whose favorite food is ice cream, this was the ultimate day! 

After dinner we still had to eat cake, mostly because James had helped me make it and there was NO way he was forgetting about it.  

Per the birthday boy's request: a blue cake with "balls" (sprinkles) on it 

Favorite part- having us sing and blowing out the candle 

This candle gave him some trouble 

Another mouth full!

For all of our out of town friends and family, here is a little video of James blowing out his birthday candle on his ice cream at dinner.