Fall Fun

Yesterday we headed out to Hondo, Texas for our second annual trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch. Since I've decided it's much easier to do outings with James when other children are present, we invited along our friends the Hutchison's and their two little ones. Logan was in James' class last year and is a regular play-date buddy. We couldn't have asked for a better weather, although it could have been a tad bit cooler. After some mimosas and breakfast tacos we hit the road. After an hour long car ride with two very rambunctious boys, we were more than thrilled to have arrived. First on the to-do list was going to be the corn maize, but the boys saw the large tube slides and had to do those first.

After numerous trips down the slide, we were ready to move on. But before we could do the corn maize, the boys had to jump on the enormous inflatable bouncy pillow.

Even though James was thrown around quite a bit on this thing by bigger kids, he loved it. Mike was even considering getting one for our backyard. Luckily, they only sell them to businesses and don't install them in people's personal yards, otherwise I'm sure we'd have one installed next week.

Next, it was on to the corn maze:

James & his buddy Logan leading the way

Our fearless leader

Phase one of the maze was a piece of cake so we decided to head on to phase 2, despite warnings that it could take an hour to finish.

It only took us 25 minutes, but it was still a bit too long for the kids who were demanding to be carried by the end of the maze. Luckily, Daddy's shoulders are always available for a ride.

After lunch, we continued on with some corn cob shooting (which James loved), hayrides and pumpkin picking. Here's some photos from the rest of the days activites.

James loved shooting the corn, but he needs to improve his aim a bit

Logan, James & Mike

On the hayride to the pumpkin patch

"I got a good one Mommy!"

James & his buddy Logan with their pumpkins

The Beadles & The Hutchisons (ofcourse James isn't looking at the camera...little stinker)

We had a great time and look forward to making this an annual tradition. Happy Fall everyone!

Halloween Decorating

It's that spooky time of year again so James and I have been working on decorating for Halloween, which has quickly become one of his favorite holidays. Can you blame him? You get to dress up, stay up past your bedtime and have tons of people give you candy for doing nothing more than simply saying, "Trick Or Treat". It's no surprise, it's most kids favorite if not second favorite holiday. What I really love is how much James has gotten into the spirit of all of the holidays. He loves helping me decorate the house and prepare for the upcoming holiday. This year was no different...

 James w/ the pumkins

 Love his face here

 James & our spooky skeleton

 As you can see we've added a new pumkin to the group :-)

 The front door entryway

 Our entry way table all decked out

Happy Halloween everyone!

Potty Training Take 2

So I am happy to say that we are progressing in the potty training world (see previous blog entry: Potty Training Hell). James has since been able to wear big boy underwear, or "underoos" as we so affectionately call them, while at home. Here he is sporting some of those bad boys:

I have instituted a new rewards system for going to the bathroom on the toilet, which I think has worked pretty well. If James goes #1 on the potty he gets one sticker and if he goes #2 he gets two stickers. This avoids having to give him too much candy throughout the day (especially since he can go up to 8 times a day, #1 that is). He loves stickers so this was a no-brainer. I even made a rewards sticker jar for him to pick his stickers from:

Overall this has really helped to incentivize the process for him. The teachers at school have also commented on how well he is using the potty at school and have even suggested sending him to school in underwear. I think I will wait until he's a bit further along, but it is encouraging to know it is working. Maybe he'll be potty trained before three afterall, but if not, I'm not going to be too concerned about it. He'll be ready when he's ready.