Fun with Aunt Chelsea!

 James got to hang out with his Aunt Chelsea- my little sister- for the second time this Saturday.  It was a short visit, just 8.5 hours long.  Chelsea is doing a training this week in Georgia for her 11-month long mission trip starting next January.  Since she flew the red-eye from her home in California arriving here at just after 6am and not needing to meet up with others from her group until 4:30pm I picked her up bright and early to come home with us for a while.

 James was still asleep when we got home from the airport but woke up shortly after.  He IMMEDIATELY took to Chelsea even though the last time he saw her was when he was 4.5 months old in Hawaii.  He was his endearingly smiling self- charming his aunt once again.

 Despite the lack of sleep a red-eye flight always seems to leave the traveler Chelsea was wide awake and ready to play.  We had blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast- James loving both.  Then we played at home for a bit before loading up James into the car to head to the pharmacy to pick up a few things Chelsea needed for her week (and I needed to pick up yet another bottle of liquid vitamins...we've had quite a few accidents with the previous bottles that greatly shortened their usefulness).

 When we got back home we went out back so Chelsea could see the workshop Tim built and see how the project Jarrett is working on was going.  Jarrett let us know that Christi would be getting him lunch at Chick-fil-A and if we wanted some as well we should let her know.  I had planned on serving homemade chicken soup and dumplings but Chelsea's eyes lit up at the mention of Chick-fil-A as the closest one to her in CA is an hour away so she rarely gets to indulge in that wonderful chicken establishment.  Instead of expecting Christi to remember all our orders- 6 in total- Chelsea and I jumped in the car with her when she stopped by.  James was taking his nap so it worked out perfectly.

After lunch we finally got to take turns watching James and showering.  Then the red-eye finally hit Chel and we decided to take a short walk to the local coffee shop to get her a caffeine boost.  The weather was perfect and Chelsea got the chance to see a bit more of where we live along with her fresh air. A mile and half later we were back home and it was time for her to repack and for us to head back to the airport so she could meet up with her other teammates.

It was a very short visit but we are hoping to see her again for another one next Sunday on her way out of town. 
We love you, Chelsea!  And an early Happy Birthday!

Monkeying around (practice)

James is going to be a monkey for Halloween.  We are borrowing the costume from Christian who wore it last year.  I tried the body of it on James they other day right after he woke up from his afternoon nap to make sure it would fit.

He loved it so much he wore it for the next half hour.  My little monkey was so happy.

James' Bookcase- phase 2,3 & 4

 I forgot to take pictures during the construction phases-

 At this point all it needs is to sanded one more time-

 attach the top- (the paint we used is Milk Paint in Bayberry green...it looks odd in the photos because it is only partially dry)

 And add some sort of finish to protect it from drool, sippy cups and other baby mayhem.

Oh, and I suppose some shelves too.  

Finally back to blogging

Ever since our camping trip the monitor on our laptop has been malfunctioning. Which makes typing and viewing photos very difficult. Our work-around is to hook the laptop up to the separate monitor in the guest bedroom. This should mean that I could have still been posting consistently over the last month and a half, but since James is a darn fast crawler I can't be tied to the guest room while he is awake. I've had way too much to do around the house to blog during his naps, but yesterday Tim went on a business trip and I found myself with a free evening. So check out September as I post-dated some entries and added some for this month as well.

I wonder how often this will occur? (July 29)

This happened purely by accident.

James had started out the day with cream colored diapers on- and shorts, too.

But as the day wore on and diapers got changed...

He eventually ended up in his orange diaper.

Camping- Part three (back from July) Hiking

One day during our week of camping we drove up to Grayson Highlands to do a bit of hiking. The weather was PERFECT. And since we got to borrow Elsa's backpack carrier Tim was able to easily carry James. (I didn't even attempt it- I figured I earned a break from hauling him around.)

Oh my sweet boys, they truly make my heart melt.

James did great in the carrier, especially when we realized his arms needed to allowed out the top rather than trapped by his sides (you'll notice that in the first picture).
This state park is gorgeous. It reminds me of the moors in England...even has wild ponies like the moors have the wild horses. We didn't see the ponies this trip, but every time I've been there before they have been in sight or even nibbling on your pant legs. Hopefully James will get to see them next time.
He was comfortable enough and lulled by Tim's steps that he took his normal 30 minute snooze.

That pudgy arms sure makes a great pillow!

Helping

Power tools are loud and those ears are so precious.

This weekend James got to supervise some work that Tim and Jarrett were doing out back. He was the very best kind of boss, just watched with approval and no critique...at least not of the guys. He gave me plenty of fussing when I took him away from his pastime and into the house. (Lately all he wants to be is outside crawling in the dirt and rocks and gives QUITE the response to being taken away from that pursuit.)