Yum! Potatoes!

James loves food, but sometimes I think more of it ends up on him, then in him.  Here he is after enjoying some mashed potatoes.

Lights Before Christmas

Last night, we went to the Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo. It was awesome! It was 3 time warmer than when we went last year, and there were not a lot of people there. I put the pictures that turned out in a slide show for you to enjoy.

Here is a fun video.

James and I saw them hanging these light earlier this year. This next video is of the dancing trees.

A few pictures of James (and me). This is James all bundled up.

James and I in front of the really big tree with tons of lights.

Headed back outside after seeing the trains and Santa.

Laundry

James likes to help me with the laundry. He likes to watch anyway and try to get the clothes with buttons. He recently has liked to use the laundry basket to stand up. Before we moved our furniture in the front room, we were using the laundry basket to block James from some of the exposed cords. In this picture he was trying to get the plug in the wall.

Then he realized he was stuck, he had not yet learned how to move once he got himself standing there. In this picture, he just climbed right in.

I had gone into the kitchen for a minute, and that is what I found when I came back. He, of course, was stuck again.

Kitchen

James loves to follow me around the house and park under me feet. He loves to be in the kitchen with me.

Here he is giving his reflection a kiss (aka licking the oven door).

He also likes to open this drawer and pull out the towels and rags out. How long befor eI can get him to scrub the floor?

Here he is trying to open a drwer higher up.

Thanksgiving Vacation

We had a great Thanks giving vacation.  Jon got off on Tuesday afternoon, because the doctor he was working with left town.  It was so nice to have Jon home for five and a half days.  Here are some of the things we did.

We went to the zoo. 

 

Jon had not seen Nature's Neighborhood yet. 

It was so fun to be able to have him with us this time. 

James loved getting out of the stroller to play with daddy.

Thanksgiving at the Tollers. 

James enjoyed crawling around. 

James trying to drink some soda (not to worry, it was not opened). 

Time for pie. 

James playing. 

Robby decided to join James. 

James wanted to crawl on Robby. 

Sorry I did not take more pictures on Thanksgiving.  I was busy eating and keeping James from getting into things he should not be in.

Rearranging the funiture in our front room.  James was a little worried while we were moving things.

Now most of the cords that James loved to play with are behind furniture.  Jon and I are just waiting for James to show us the non-baby proof things of this set up.  So far it has been a lot better.  Here is one angle of the finished product.

Family temple trip.  Jon did a session, and James and I played at the church next door.

Turned James' car seat front facing. 

He loves it!  He loves being able to see mommy and daddy.  He kept trying to see daddy in the rearview mirror.  He feel asleep on the way home from the temple.

Lots of walks outside.

Daddy helping with James!

Cake

Here are the videos of James with his cake. There is also some fun conversation in the background. I left off the video that some might think the conversation in the background to be a little racist. This first one I am trying to give him a taste of the cake so he would at least try it, but he does not even want to try it.

He did not even want it on his hands at first. Here he just looks at it, as if that will get it off.

This last one is James smearing the cake on his high chair. This is normally what he does when he is done with something or does not want it. He moves his hand back and forth until it falls off the tray. This time it was just smearing it around really good.

Lightning McQueen

James finally got his own Lightning McQueen car. He loves it! It is in his hand almost all the time now. Here he is whining because I could not get it out of the wrapping fast enough.

Presents

Here is James unwrapping his presents. In the background you can hear the dryer and some Christmas music playing (it is after Thanksgiving so it is legal now).

Birthday for James

James had a good birthday.  I will try and get some videos posted through out the day.  Here is James eating breakfast. 

I sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  We were a little late for church, because for some reason it took longer than normal for James to eat and get him dressed.  Church was good.  A few highlights (for James)...

James bit me in sacrament meeting.  I could not believe how deep the indent marks were and he did not break the skin.  No picture, because we were in sacrament meeting.

James got to go to nursery for about 30 minutes.  I was filling in last minute.  James like playing with all the other kids.  The only problem was that he is so much younger and was getting trampled and pushed aside.  He also really liked music/singing time.  Then dad took him.

In the combined Piesthood/Relief Society, James enjoyed sharing his toys with Ike and Spencer.  Not to worry the slinky is fine.  I got it untangled.

After church, James eat lunch. 

Since he was not ready to go down for a nap, he opened presents. 

From his Grandma Brower. 

From mom and dad. 

He played for a few minutes. 

Then he took an hour nap.  While he napped, I baked a chocolate cake (James likes chocolate). 

Neither Jon nor I are fans of frosting, so we did cool whip on top.   James enjoyed playing with his new toys when he woke up.  Thanks for the fun toy. Grammy B. 

He climbed over the top of it a few times. 

We had a few friends over for dinner and cake.  For dinner we had Roast, potatoes, carrots, fruit, and rolls.  We did have to cange James's clothes after dinner.  He had potatoes all over.  James loved "playing" with Robby.  I think Robby liked it too, for a little while.

James even shared his toys with Robby. 

Then, it was time for cake.  We sang "Happy Birthday." 

Then, James dug in. 

Not really. 

James did not like the cake. 

He refused to eat it. 

He did enjoy smearing it all over his high chair. 

So it was still a mess, just not on James. 

Then he played some more with his present form Grandma Felt. 

He was ready for bed at 7:00.  Daddy read him a story. 

He was done with pictures.