This is why you shouldn't leave your Christmas tree up too long

Last month while up at the farm we decided we needed to do something with the Christmas tree we had used last October to celebrate Christmas early.  After our early Christmas we just put the tree outside and forgot about it.  It was green every time we came back- in December, green; in January, still green; in Feb, still green; in March, finally some browning occurring!  So we decided to throw in on the fire.  I was expecting some nice crackling and pine scent, but was astonished by the ferocious flames that resulted.  It was awesome.  Awesome in a "I love fireworks" kind of way, and awesome in the "you should never leave your Christmas trees with lights on unattended way".  I thought everyone who gets a live Christmas tree should know what a sappy tinder box they truly are, so we collected a couple of trees today in the field that we dried out and lit em up.

Be warned, you don't want this happening in your living room in late January- so don't procrastinate taking down your Christmas tree!

(make note of how tall the flames are when Tim goes to stand next to the fire)

On a side note, James saw the October tree go up in flames and he was not impressed.  Maybe it is a good thing he's not overly interested in open fires at this point.

James at the farm

James helping me log the apple trees' progress.

He says "this one have some bug damage"

"this one look ok"

Finished with the apple trees he wanted to see "what was making that loud noise?"

And discovered Tim target shootings with his deer rifle.   I tried to show James the wild turkey walking nearby but James was much more interested in what his daddy was up to.

This is James post sandbox and in the middle of a cold.  Snot has superb sand adhesion properties.

Despite being sick James is happy as a clam in our backyard. 

He is completely content to just walk and explore all the flowers.  And he is a trooper.  Yesterday on our evening walk around the property he headed up the hill saying "This is a steep hill!"  And then proceeded to the top and over and down and back- which is actually quite a hike for adult legs let alone a two-year old.

When did my baby get this big?

 When Tim was designing our new kitchen table and we knew we'd need stools I said that we'd only need to get three as there was no way James was going to be using a stool without a back -'he'd fall off!'  But of course James only used his high chair at the table perhaps half a dozen times before one meal he just climbed up onto the stool all by himself and proved me wrong.

 It IS high up and if he was to fall off it backward it certainly could cause him harm, but as he doesn't sit up there without supervision (so far) I think the reminders to sit on his bottom and to climb down carefully will insure his safety to some degree.

 You can just tell that he loves sitting up there- feeling so capable and old.  He especially loves having family dinner time around that table, getting his own placemat and napkin.

 And his other new favorite meal time accomplishment is drinking out of cup.  I know most children learn this at a much earlier age, but I never really even offered the opportunity because our house was on the market and I didn't want to have to deal with cleaning up large sticky messes.

 Despite the motherly neglect he somehow figured out how to do it himself (I think in the bath and the shower) and now gleefully drinks cups and cups of milk, orange juice and water without any real spilling.

Back to the aquarium after almost 2 months

 Since James and I were gone for the month of March and then the past couple of weeks have been busy we hadn't had the chance to visit the aquarium for quite some time.

 James had asked a couple of times lately if we could go see such-and-such an animal.  So today was the day!

 I prepped him that even though he wanted to see the octopus it might be hiding in the rocks.  The prepping certainly worked as James kept repeating this idea on the ride to the aquarium.  In the end the octopus was actually out (though this was a new smaller one, not sure what happened to the larger octopus) and James didn't seem all that interested.  Guess the octopus obsession is waning.

 Loves the jellies.  Loves biting his nails.

 Also loves the upside-down jellies (the first time he saw these many months ago it really frustrated him that they were upside-down and kept saying "turn over, jellies!").

 And James got to see his beloved Manta Rays.

 Pictures don't do this tank justice- it is ENORMOUS.  

First Ice Cream Cone

 Trying to kill time while being kicked out of the house for yet another showing we decided some ice cream sounded like a great distraction.

 James likes ice cream but had never had a cone before.  We took him to Morelli's and I ordered him a cake cone with once scoop of chocolate.

 I couldn't convince James to do more than literally lick it.  Not the kind of lick an experienced ice cone indulger does- twisting the cone to get the maximum ice cream into their mouth.  Instead the tip of his tongue kind of lapped at it.

 This method is super slow and resulted in much of the ice cream melting and dripping down the sides of the cone.  The advantage is that James was satisfied with his intake of ice cream long before the cone was finished so I got to eat the remainder.

If anyone goes to Morelli's they should definitely try the salted caramel that Tim and I shared- it was amazing.  Also on the menu (or at least on James' tray) were rubber bait earthworms that we picked up for James at our local fishing shop.

Finally coloring on his own

Ponytail

 James loves my ponytails.  He will run his hand down it while I hold him on my hip in store lines and will push it to the back if it happens to fall over my shoulder.

 Since his hair is getting so long I could resist giving him his own ponytail.  At first he loved it.

 It stayed in about 10 minutes before he started yanking on it.  But I managed to get in a few pictures.  He looks like some kind of Pacific Islander or Sumo wrestler to me.

Love that firecracker hair!