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Holy cow, I need to start writing down what the boys are saying every day and write in here every day. They are so cute and funny. Exhausting and energetic... but cute and funny nonetheless.

Jack-jack is officially a walker as of last week. He took his first steps around a month ago, and walking a tiny bit, but last week was a huge leap in walking. He is now 100% walking more than crawling. Barely crawling anymore. He started clapping on Sunday. Um, adorable. Aaaand he waves. So basically, he's not a baby anymore?? No, I won't let that happen. He may be huge and doing little boy things, but he is still my baby.

Gavin is in the throws of the terrible-twos, though I think he is adapting a bit. We still have our worse days, but they aren't every day like they were in the beginning. Thank heavens for that. Oh, man.

James's imagination is amazing right now. He is creating stories and building houses for his toys, he makes robots out of blocks. It is wonderful to see. He is also starting to get his own catch-phrases, for lack of a better description. Cracks. Me. Up.

It's funny- Brad can handle Gavin's little meltdowns and two-ness easy. I can handle Jack's bad days of crying easy. We cannot handle the opposite. Ah, meant for each other :)

Ready For Bed?

More like riled up for bed :)

Tonight just has to be documented. The boys LOVE to have pillows thrown on them. We'll do it for a little bit, but we usually move on in a few minutes. Not tonight. Gavin could not get enough. Over and over, he would walk over to me, "throw" (more like give) me the pillow, run and giggle over to the couch, get up, and wait for me to throw the pillow back at him. He was literally drunk on laughter. It was adorable. 

It took a while for James to even notice we were playing with the pillows, oddly enough. But once he got with one or two, he was in on the fun too. It was definitely a memorable and fun night, full of laughter and fun. Perfection.

Scary

For some reason, I "rented" three Disney movies at the same time from the library like a month ago. I guess I just didn't think they would ALL come at the same time! Learned my lesson, requesting one at a time from now on. Anyways, we had Hercules, Mulan, and Toy Story 2. Hercules was definitely the favorite for James, but Gavin really liked Mulan. James liked it, too, but soon HATED me putting it in. Whaaat?? It was so weird. He would act kind of bizarre when it was being watched. He finally started talking to me and I figured it out. He was scared of her:

The Match Maker

Really?? Of aaaaallllll the movies he has watched, I canNOT believe this is the one "villain" he is scared of the most. I guess he doesn't like her yelling and being mean to Mulan. Crazy. So we will NOT be buying that movie anytime soon :)

Kind of First Steps

Jack (sort of) took his first step last night! And he took a few steps today as well. Sort of... they are not that intentional. But they are there. I probably won't really count them as his firsts, but he is headed down the road to REAL steps! It's so cute because he gets SO excited to be standing, he knocks himself over. And giggles like crazy. James keeps wanting to hug him when he is standing... we are working on him not doing that until he is a bit more sturdy :)

Additionally to finally standing on his own and taking mili-steps, Jack loves to kneel. All. The. Time. He "walks" on his knees, bounces like crazy on his knees, just sits there on his knees. Loves it. It is quite adorable. Ah, I love our Jack-Jack.

Glow Sticks and Darkness

At Halloween time, I bought some glow sticks. Because, well, they are awesome. I got necklaces and sticks for Trick-or-Treating. We didn't use them all, and so I stashed them away in our misc drawer (aka big-heaping-mess-of-crap drawer). With a new baby, a toddler-baby, and James I did not want them being chewed on or misused. 

I kind of forgot about them until a little nosy 3-1/2 year old went snooping in the drawer yesterday. He pulled them out, asking me to go into the bathroom with him (we did this at Halloween time- kids have crazy good memories, right?!). Seeing as how both boys were miraculously napping at the same time, I had random time for just the two of us. We basically had a whole pack... and none of them worked. I'm pretty sure James accidentally set them all off months ago and I didn't know. Luckily, there was a whole other pack... which wasn't looking promising either. I ended up putting the whole pack in my hand and snapping them all. We found three that worked!! And they were blue... which is perfect for...

LIGHTSABERS!!

James graciously gave me one and he got the other two. He is the Jedi Master, after all. We had lots of fun. Lots and lots of fun. I'm pretty sure we were in and out of the bathroom for about two hours. Halfway through, James introduced the monster from Empire Strikes Back figure that we got to take down several times. James was very brave and would throw his lightsabers at him. My hero :)

I couldn't have asked for more fun and wonderful time to spend with my James. I never get time around the house with just him so I feel very blessed for this little window for mommy and James. Cherish the moments.

Huh??

I got to put the two eldest boys down tonight (like I do most nights, but ya know). We had gotten them rather riled up while talking to Nana and Papa on video chat so I knew they wouldn't really listen to the books being read- but oh well. While I was reading "Cuddle", James kept saying something I couldn't quite understand.

 "fjkd throat, huh??" 

I stopped reading and asked him to say it again.

"fin my throat, huh??" *shakes head back and forth sharply, hands splayed out*

** Key note: James has an adorably squeaky voice, so the huh is raaaather accentuated and high-pitched. So ultra-adorably squeaky **

I thought for a moment, broke out into a huge grin. I figured it out. I said:

"'I haven't been this choked up since I got a piece of moussaka stuck in my throat... Huh?!?!'... Is that what you were saying? Did I get it right??"

James breaks out into giggles, "Yes!... In my throat, HUH???"

He had been quoting Hades from Disney's Hercules... when Hades meets baby Herc. I was laughing soooo hard. He did it so funny. He even hopped out of bed to do a better impersonation. We continued to say this for at least 5 minutes, now Gavin adding his own "Huh??" and hand motions to the group. I'm hoping I can get this on video tomorrow because it truly is hilarious. 

Fourth of July

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. To get ready for it, I did a little shopping today with the boys. Got some fireworks, charcoal, food, etc. While at WalMart, James happily discovered the display case of Fourth of July wear. I turned around to get him and he had a BIG smile on his face- he had found an Uncle Sam hat. Then he went back, traded it for the stars one, and happily put that one on. I told him how cute he looked and he asked me what it was all for (while I put the hat back that I didn't want to pay for...). I told him it was for America's birthday. Conversation as follows...

Me: It's America's birthday

James: CAPTAIN America's birthday!!

Me: No, no... AMERICA... just America. It's where we live. 

James: It's Captain America's birthday!!

Me: No... *laugh*... just America. AMERica's birthday. It's our country... we live here. 

James:... it's America's birthday?

Me: Yes. 

Later on, at our second trip to WalMart, with Aunt Rachel (better known as Sissy 'round here)...

Sissy: It's America's birthday!

James: Captain America's birthday!

Sissy: No... (thinking how to make it easier) the USA. The USA's birthday is tomorrow!

James: Me S.A.'s birthday!

Can't blame him, right??