Strawberry picking

As we did last year, we made a trip out to Marburger Orchard to do some strawberry picking. This has become something that James really enjoys doing so I have a feeling we will continue to do it in the future. It is something that his Aunt Roar (AKA my best friend Margaret) is incredibly enthusiastic about as well and they have a great time picking the strawberries together. Here are some photos from our trip.

 James is ready to start picking those strawberries

 Helping Aunt Roar pick out the perfect one

 Helping mommy

Me and my little man

I am looking forward to making this a yearly tradition. We're hoping to go pick peaches soon!

Small Chiquita

As most everyone knows, we have a Boston Terrier named Chiquita who was our first baby. Although James can be a bit much for her, they actually get along quite well and I have been pleasantly surprised at how good she is with him.

So, a few years ago my grandmother gave me a stuffed Boston Terrier purse since we have Chiquita and because she thought it was cute. Well, I'm not really the type to carry around a stuffed animal purse so it just got thrown in the back of my closet. I came across it a year or so ago and decided to give it to James (without the strap, ofcourse...I wouldn't want my son carrying a purse ;-)). For the longest time it just sat in his room with his other stuffed animals, until recently. All of the sudden he has had the sudden urge to take his "small Chiquita" with him everywhere. I just find it absolutely adorable so I thought I'd share some pictures of James with his "small Chiquita" (that's what he calls her)

James & "Small Chiquita"

 CHEESE!

James & "Small Chiquita" ready for our walk

The real Chiquita :-)

James' Big Boy Dino Room

We finally finished James' bedroom and here are some pictures of the final product...he can barely get into the bed (it's a little high), but he totally loves having a big boy bed.

 James' new big boy dino themed room

 The volcano we made for James' 2nd b-day party (which was dino themed as well) ended up being perfect for the room. Notice the pterodactyls flying around (those are vinyl wall decals...love them!)

 Artwork that I painted all on my own!

 More of my fabulous artwork ;-)

 Dino rug I got from Pottery Barn

 These are the letters my friend Jen made for James' nursery and they still work in the room! We are planning on adding small floating shelves to this wall eventually

 Another view of the room (the small desk has been in Mike's family for generations!)

Bedding from Pottery Barn with James' name embroidered on the shams

(and the pillow Aunt Roar gave him)

Mother's Day

Well, it's my third year of celebrating Mother's Day as an actual mother. Luckily this year I will be able to celebrate it with my whole family. The past two years Mike has had to be out of town for this momentous occasion. I know, I didn't even get to spend my first Mother's Day as a mother with my husband, but business is business. I'm blessed enough to have the luxury to be a stay-at-home-mom, so if he has to go make the bacon on Mother's Day, who am I to complain. I'm just happy that he can be here for it this year.

I have been doing some reflecting lately, however. I am so thrilled and happy to be a mother, so for me Mother's Day isn't necessarily a day to celebrate "me", but to celebrate my family, and specifically my son. He has brought me more joy than I could ever imagine, which makes me think about my mom and how much joy (hopefully) my brother and I brought her. As most everyone knows, I lost my mother at a very young age and I've always wondered what life would have been like with her in it. How would we have shaped eachother? Because I truly believe that a mother doesn't just shape their child, but the child shapes the mother also, as is clearly evident in how my son has shaped who I've become. Whether it be a more compassionate individual or patient person (albiet, not all of the time), he has shaped me. The thought of this fills my heart, but at the same time there is an unfillable void left which has been there ever since I lost my mom, which I never truly realized until I became a mother myself. The thought of leaving this earth tomorrow terrifies me more than anything because it means leaving my little boy. I wouldn't be able to see him grow up....go to his first day of kindergarten, make his first A, score his first goal, go to college, marry his true love, have his first born....then I remember that that happened to my mother, she missed all of my firsts. No mother should have to miss out on those things and although it breaks my  heart, I know it has made me who I am today. It has made me, I believe, a better mother. So this mother's day I want to honor my mother, Diann Jean Hoelscher for the life she gave me and for making me the mother I am today.

my mother on her wedding day

my father, mother, brother & myself circa March 1980

Mommy, I love you.

I have often heard it said that "I love you" can be overused. That if you say it to your loved ones too much, it loses meaning. I personally could not disagree more. In my family we say it at every opportunity possible and because of this, James will say it too us often as well. I don't know about it you, but I cannot hear "I love you mommy" enough from my son. Every time he looks up at me and says, "I love you, Mommy", my heart just melts.

So here's to saying "I love you" often and still meaning it every single time!

Easter 2011

This year we had a really nice Easter. James is finally to the age where he really enjoys the traditions of the holiday. I created a bunny trail for James to wake up to on Easter morning, a tradition that my father started for my brother and me. I think we were more excited about it when we woke up than James was. Mike and I actually woke up ealier than usual in anticipation of James waking up so that we could catch his reaction when he saw the trail. Here is the video of James picking up his bunny trail and discovering the pile of goodies at the end.

After enjoying some chocolate from the bunny trail, we got ready to go to Easter morning mass. James looked very handsome dressed up in his little suit.

After mass we headed over to Baw Paw and GiGi's house (my parents) for Easter dinner and the easter egg hunt. Since James is the only grandchild on my side of the family (soon to be another one, my brother and his wife are expecting their first in September!) he was more than spoiled with the amount of candy. Here is the video of the easter egg hunt. I will warn you, it is over 10 minutes long, but this is really for the grandparents benefit anyway ;-)

Long time, no blog

So it turns out having a child can take up quite a lot of your free time. Apparently the last time I blogged was over a year and a half ago...oops! I've decided that I am going to make a concerted effort to blog at least once a week. Mostly for the benefit of my family and friends, but also for myself so I can have something to look back on to remember things that have happened in our day-to-day lives.

James is already nearly 2 1/2 years old and it feels like just yesterday he was starting to walk. This is just proof that I need to keep up with this blog, because time really does fly. I guess it wouldn't hurt to catch up on what has happened the past year and a half, because A LOT has happened.

About 6 months ago we made the big move from Northern VA to the great state of Texas to be back with my family. Although it hasn't been easy (Mike has had to travel quite a bit for work), it was the best decision we could have made. James is constantly surrounded by people that love him and gets the undivided attention he deserves. Don't get me wrong, I had plenty of friends that would show him attention up in VA, but everyone lived so far away that I didn't get to see them as often as I would have liked and that made it difficult for James to hang out with anyone other than myself and Mike. Here we are in constant contact with my parents, my brother and his wife and some of my closest friends. We were also able to afford to enroll James in a really good preschool (the one I attended when I was young, in fact) and that has done wonders for his sociability. We moved into the a beautiful house in the same neighborhood I grew up in and it has an enormous yard for James to run endlessly in. I truly miss my friends back in VA, but I am so happy to be home. Here is a photo of our new home, along with some of James enjoying his backyard: