1 Year Well Baby Check

Took James to the doctors this morning for his 1 year check-up, he weighed in at 25 lbs 6 oz which puts him at 75% for his weight and 97% for his height. James got 3 more shots and his blood drawn for a iron check count. It seems just like yesterday that I was taking James in for his first visit with Dr. Strang and here we are already a year later!! Time really does fly by!!

Sesame Street Party!!

We had James' 1st birthday party on Sunday and had a great turn out. Everyone that is important to us and James was there! He had a blast since he was able to run around and pretty much do what he wanted since it was HIS party :) James got a ton of new toys and books, I think that we need a bigger place just so we can fit all his toys in it! Some of his favorites so far are his cozy cope car from his aunt & uncle Sharr, his bubble lawn mower from a friend of ours & his ball poper:) James has one last party with his friends at daycare on Wednesday and things should start to settle down after that.

James' smash cake

Helping dada put his cozy cope together

playing with all his new toys!!

Yay I'm 1 today!!

I can not believe that my little boy is 1 already!! It seems just like yesterday that we were traveling to the hospital to have him and now here we are a year later and he is walking and talking like a big boy. This past year James has taught us so much about life, love and what true happiness is!! We have laughed, cried and smile alot with James this past year. Some of James' favorite things to do now days are helping us load and start the dishwasher, load and unload the dryer and shut the door on the microwave when we make oatmeal in the morning. James has been walking since about 10 months old and he is now into running from room to room and twirling round in round and giggling while doing it. :) I was able to stay home with James on Tuesday so we got to spend the whole day together. We went out for his favorite food for supper which is pizza and french fries, came home and watched James dig into his cake which he loved!! Enjoy the pictures below. Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday to help us celebrate his birthday!!!

He loves ballons!!

He loved us singing to him!!

The cake was a BIG hit!! :)

3 More Inches

I went to get my haircut yesterday, well I was plannning on just getting it trimed but when I got there I was telling my hair stylist about this lady's hair that I saw and I thought it was super cute but wasnt sure if we could do it with my hair since it is so thick. Since I have lost all my curl from when I was pregnant I am finally able to wear it shorter!!! So since I had James almost a year again I have lost over 9 inches of my hair, started with cutting 6 inches off and now 3 inches. I am not sure if Don likes it since most guys like longer hair, but I love it. It is super easy and cool when I am outside at work since it is off my neck.....so hope everyone loves it!!!

Work Picnic

This Sunday we packed up & headed down to Lacona Ia for a work picnic with old & current employees of drivers license. The couple that hosted it have a huge acreage with alot of stuff to do. James had such a good time that he fell asleep on the way home with a cookie in each hand. The first thing that James noticed was the cows and ran right over to them and was yelling at them they all just looked at him and turn around and bolted the other direction. James loved watching mommy and the other kids jump on the trampoline and playing in the sand pit with Cindy. It was pretty cute James found this little lawn chair just his size to relax in & he also found alittle kitty that I am pretty sure he would have liked to take home!!!

Fun in Omaha!!

This weekend we took our very first family vacation. We thought since it was our first that we wouldn't go very far in case James had a major melt down!! So we packed up and left Saturday morning. The car ride down went pretty well that is once James fell asleep but he was a real trooper. When we got to Omaha went check into the hotel which James LOVED by the way, we than took James to the Children's Museum which James had a blast at. Clifford the big red dog was there and they had a life size play ground of Clifford's back yard that James played in. James was not at all interested in meeting Clifford he was more interested  in playing and running around!! It was really nice because this children's museum had a area for every age group and once we found the area for James' age group he played hard, I mean he threw a HUGE fit when we had to leave but the museum was closing and we had to go, but try explaining that to a 11 month old :) We than tried to find a place to eat for supper and James played so hard that he fell asleep in the car with a cookie in his hand, which if you have ever met my child you know that this is VERY rare!! Dinner did not end up going very well since James was super tired we ended up getting it to go and we all headed back to the hotel. James loved running the halls of the hotel room and running around inside our room. It was nice for Don & I since we could relax while James played since it was a small enough area so we could see James at all times. James did really good sleeping that night, in fact I am pretty sure that he slept better than both Don & I. Sunday morning we woke up nice and early and heading onto the Zoo. James loved the aquarium and the gorillas. I think that James like the aquarium the most since that was really the only place that he was able to run around at, thus the very positive side of going to the zoo first thing in the morning cause it is not busy at all!! James was so good at the Zoo he got to pick out a new book and stuff animal to take home, James read the book most of the way home. Daddy also picked out a neat puzzle for James to play with once he gets a little older. I am pretty sure that Don & I have learned that we will not be taking long trips for several years. The short weekend trips are just right for all 3 of us :) Enjoy the pictures below!!!

James chillin in the truck on the way there!

driving a truck like dada at the children's museum

The turtle came to say hello at the Zoo

like I said this was James' favorite part of the Zoo!!!

Flooded Car

So it has been forever since I have been on here sorry, life gets crazy fast around here!! :)
So this weekend we had a really bad storm in Altoona early Sunday morning. We had 65 mph winds, and lots & lots of rain in a VERY short time. Our drain in our parking lot back up and my car ended up getting flooded. Around 4:30 AM our door bell rang and it was our neighbors downstairs telling Don that my car was under water, so when Don woke me up I was really confused since our parking lot is flat & never thought that I would need to worry about possible flooding, but sure enough I grabbed my glasses and ran downstairs and the water was up to my door panel!! When Don & I walked in the water to get to my car, I realized that there was about 2 inches of water inside my car too!!! We just paid off the car off a week before Sunday, so you know that must of cursed us! Anyways after some very fun times with the dealership and car insurance adjusters the car is currently getting fixed and should be ready for pick up by Friday. Praise God no major repairs, only need new carpet & seats, air bag sensor and new fire wall insulation. Our garage was also flooded but most of our stuff was ok since we have alot of it high up or in tubs but it took us most of Sunday cleaning out the car and the garage going through boxes that did get water in them. I could not image going through a whole flooded house, I am pretty sure that I would just walk away!!

Our garage