Thanksgiving 2012

James loved the fire pit at GG and Pops' house when it got dark after dinner! Aunt Cassie enjoyed her some James time :-)

I didn't want to take Logan out because he was a bit under the weather, so Gma Sharon (Brian's mom) played with him for a few minutes while I checked it all out.

 

Logan thought he was hysterical sitting in the booster when it wasn't attached to a chair. He chilled there for a good 20 minutes before getting antsy. We had a great trip and really enjoyed the extended time with family since we don't see them as often as we'd like to see them.

Santa 2011

The holidays just aren't complete without a visit to Santa! Thank you Cabela's for no line and our FREE picture with camo Santa and the roaming deer :-) James wasn't too thrilled with sitting on Santa's lap but the lady asked him to take Santa a card and managed to snap a picture quickly. Logan, on the other hand, could have cared less other then he was due for a bottle :-)

A Year in Review :: 2011

Life with a 2.5 year old and 3 month old has proven itself to be quite entertaining, especially as James has picked up more language. We hope this note finds you and your family doing well. Included are some of our favorite conversations from the past year to give you an idea of what happens in our lives.

With Danielle being a PE teacher and a huge sports fan, there’s often a game on the TV. The football commentary between games was on and the large former football players were talking
James (just shy of 2 yrs) :: “Elmo! TV!” (he’s obsessed with Elmo, so we just figured he wanted to watch Elmo)
Jim :: “No, that’s Warren Sapp….he’s pretty much just like Elmo though”
***not a minute later, without warning, who appears on screen but Elmo, singing Happy Birthday to Mr. Sapp -- James was ecstatic, Jim was shocked

After he tripped on the sidewalk, scraped up his knees and elbows, James flipped over on his back with his hands and feet up in the air like a turtle stuck on his back and said “I safe!” Maybe a baseball future???
Dani :: “James, what’s your favorite sport?”
James :: “Hockey!” (at this point, he’s hasn't seen hockey often)
Dani :: “I didn’t even know you knew hockey…are you sure it isn’t football?”
James :: “Footbum!”

You know you’ll always get an honest opinion from a child
James :: “Mommy done” as Danielle sang in the car

With a 2.5 year old and a 3 month old, many of our conversations revolve around feedings, (lack of) sleep and other bodily functions…also, James is quite observant of the world around him and closely imitates his teachers.
James (while pulling the back of my pants) :: “Mommy, no poops!”
...whew, good thing he checked (and hoping that is something we can say to him soon with potty training just starting…he was dry the other morning when he woke up!)

James is quite good with finding trouble and a has a pretty good sense of humor, I’m going to be keeping a close eye on him as he gets older, that’s for sure!
James :: “Mommy! Keys! I drive!”
Dani :: “Not until you’re 16, Bug”
James :: “Fourteen” (with a big smile on his face) -- I'm going to be prepared when he's 14 for the car to come through the family room wall

“Mommy, take picture!” as he poses with his shirt stuck on his head or a bucket on or while holding Logan (because he knows it’s cute)

After climbing out of his crib for the first time, I hear the door to our bedroom open and hear James exclaim :: “I got out! James did it!” He was so proud of himself, it was hard to be upset – but that was a looooong week of transitioning to a big boy bed and a new room (especially being 7 months pregnant and trying to lay down on a futon on the ground)

As he’s undoing the cord on the vacuum cord for the millionth time that day
Dani :: “What are you doing!?!”
James :: “I doing yak-uum and drive Mommy crazy.”
At least he’s aware of his actions and how they make people feel

You’ve gotta have goals in life…
Dani :: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
James :: “A man.”
Dani :: “OK. What kind of man?”
James :: “Um….a big one!”

James is very much in love with his baby brother…he will often blow past us just to say “Hello to my Logi Bear” (as he is about 2 inches from Logan’s face, tickling his cheeks; usually when Logan has just fallen asleep). He is very protective too, telling one of his friends at school who was admiring his brother, “No, that MY Logan!”

Logan seems to be a pretty go-with-the-flow kind of guy (which he has to be with crazy busy James running around)...as long as he's not hungry or in a dirty diaper, I can usually get him to smile his big big smile (takes up his whole face), talk to me (lots of "ah goo" and "ga" are involved) and even have started to get some brief giggles of excitement. He loves to chew on his fingers, is starting to help hold his bottle up and is just taking in the world around him. He isn't a huge fan of tummy time as he just rolls out of it, but is starting to head butt us a lot less when we're holding him (although I still have a deep bone bruise on my cheek I'm sure). From his back, he can get up onto his side when he wants. He has a huge appetite (quite the opposite of his big brother) and has some of the cutest rolls on his arms and thighs -- so lovable and hugable!!!

If you’re ever in need of a non-quiet house, ours is always full of action, so feel free to join us for a non-stop version of “Bah Bah Black Sheep” that mashes up with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Down by the Station” and a few “ah goos” from Logan thrown in when he actually gets a chance to make some noise.

Sung last weekend while in the bathroom ::
I love you in the fan
I love you in the fan
High-ho the dairy-o
I love you in the fan

Animals are a big hit for 2 year olds – James has found it daring to try and ride Easton like a horsie (if Easton stands up, James goes tumbling over) – I’m sure Easton would prefer James stick to jumping off the couch on to the yoga mats.

Every night, James has to have his lion, his bunny, his monkey pillow and his Elmo blanket plus whatever books we read to him – I don’t know how it’s comfortable, but he manages to hold on to them all.
***********************************************************************************
Top Two Quotes of the Year 2011
“Look! There’s Santa….and his goats!!!”

And my favorite :: If one of us is holding Logan, James will crawl up into our lap and cuddle in and say “two boys.” That’s right, James E, we have two wonderful boys that make every day brighter!

Wishing you and yours a Happy, Healthy 2012
Jim, Danielle, James, Logan and Easton

Sunshine x2

You Are My Sunshine :: Who is Who???? Good thing I bought this outfit on super clearance! I don't think it's going to make it to Christmas season either, but Logan sure did wear it well :-)

The best part was the stocking on the booty, haha! He hated the reindeer bib, the antlers kept getting in the way of him putting his hand in his mouth.

Answers :: First pic is James at 8 weeks, Second pic is Logan at 11 weeks

Gettin' Ready for the Big Man

Starting to get ready for the Big Man to make an appearance -- less then 50 days to Christmas, folks! I wanted to get some pictures of the boys in Christmas shirts and post them before the holidays because otherwise, it would just never happen. Also, Logan's are 0-3 months and he's getting close to the next size, so I wanted him to wear them at least once (this particular outfit is running a bit big, so crossing my fingers it will fit him for another month and we can get a picture of him and Sofia in their matching outfits).
Above :: James, always the silly man, successfully getting a smile out of his brother but not letting me see his face for the picture

James kept telling us there was a "snowman" on his shirt -- need to work on that one (I believe they were talking about snowmen at school one day). We're excited to bring out the Elf on the Shelf for this year as he loves hide-and-seek.

The actual smile was fantastic -- execution of picture taking by Mom :: failed; thus, the picture of Logan looking hammered...or maybe it was Logan imitating me sticking my tongue out at him :-)

Halloween 2011 :: Execution

James was excited to go to school and dress up "in a costume" today. Logan and Mommy were able to join him for a parade through the attached school (which had all the students and faculty ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the Young Preschool and two tag along Infants' adorableness). I'm happy for maternity leave as Logan and I were able to get to school in time to participate as this is probably my only chance to attend an event like this because my school district usually schedules a Teacher Institute day on Halloween (and you don't miss those in these tough times of RIF-ing teachers). Ms. P told them all to grab a teacher or a buddy's hand and off we went! They were actually very good at walking and staying together, you can tell they've been practicing.
After the parade, Logan and I headed home for him to eat and to let James enjoy learning the rest of the day (they had dry erase boards and black paper w/ chalk out when I left for practicing writing skills; also, he was excited to get a turn wearing the astronaut dress-up as I believe they are talking about astronauts this week). The rest of the day was hectic trying to get things done at home, finish up a training session for school (didn't have to do them on maternity leave, but don't want my name on any "list," especially with a new principal who may not know I'm on leave) and then back to pick up James. Gma Chele was at home when we got back, she helped me get James into lion form and I moved a (finally) sleeping Logan into his puppy costume and into the stroller (had a tough afternoon). Daddy got home from work, got his camera and adult beverage and we were on our way for some trick-or-treating :-) Gma Chele was nice enough to stay at home with Easton and hand out our goodies so we didn't eat all the left overs :-) Uncle John surprised James with a visit too on his home from work!

Now the hunt begins for next year's costumes!

Halloween 2011 :: Preparation

Going to blog out of order to keep current and eventually will go back and catch you up on fun things between Halloween and our last post :-)
James :: the designer, sketching out his pumpkin's face

Daddy :: production; (with the hovering designer keeping a watchful eye to make sure it's executed correctly)

Logan :: manager, making sure the other two play nice and work efficiently

3rd of July Party

3rd of July Pool Party at Gma Chele's house :: all of the family members involved
Look at that belly! Holy cowboys, you'd think I was ready to pop -- NOPE! Only 30 weeks preggers here! Cash has made sitting for long periods of time extremely uncomfortable (I could barely make it to this party -- leaning waaaaay back in the car) -- all those crazy pregnancy hormones have relaxed my joints too much, so my hips/pelvis shift almost every time I try to change positions, etc (sleeping is also a real treat). We were supposed to go to my cousin, Mallory's, wedding in Cleveland over this weekend, but I wouldn't have been able to move for about 2 days probably. I was really sad to miss it, but have been really impressed with the pictures I've seen so far of my beautiful cousin! Congrats to Mal and Matt!!!

We are working on James asking for permission to get in the pool (don't need him just jumping in with no one watching to get a toy or something) but he's usually quite content with his bucket, shovel and paint brush. He did have a good time showing off his swimming skills on the noodle with Daddy :-)

Jamie, Laura and I

Our family of 3 (+1 cookin)

James was soooo excited for fireworks this year! Yeah, my favorite holiday, so I'm happy he enjoyed! We took his own chair out into the viewing area at Gma's so he had his own special place. He screeched/screamed for the first 5 minutes or so, trying to imitate the whistle of each and every firework (ended when I gave him my camera for entertainment).

Watching fireworks with Mommy -- we had to put on the long sleeves again this year, but it was awesome weather!

One of the pictures James got of a firework exploding -- not too bad, Bug!

The screeching I was talking about -- you can hear how excited he was about the show though!

Father's Day

We came home from Indy to wish Daddy a "Happy Father's Day" -- this picture wasn't from the actual day, but it was one of the most current I haven't used yet and a good one of Jim wearing James' fishing hat :-)

James painted a fish for Daddy at school as an appreciation for all he's taught him

"No Mommy, James workin'" as he told me when I asked him to leave Daddy's " 'puter" -- something else he's learned from Daddy (because we know I'm not going to get any school work done at home with him running around)

Mother's Day 2011

Enjoy some quality cuddle time with my JamesE on Mother's Day :-) Daddy made us a fantastic french toast breakfast, so we were both all smiles :-)
My favorite things ever :: home- or school-made art projects!!! Was so worried I wouldn't get one this year with James transitioning classrooms, but his Toddler teachers came through strong!

Such a cute poem and tiny hand prints! Gotta love the tongue sticking out in the picture of him -- going through a phase where he's "tasting" the wind (or trying to cool off like a dog) -- actually caused a good bite through the tongue a couple weeks after this picture (ouchie, but all healed up nicely)!

I got two beautiful new links for my mother's bracelet...a turtle (from James) and a blue baby carriage (from Cash) and some clay to make a new hand print keepsake for our new front porch (whenever that project gets completed -- long, expensive story there) :-) Thanks for making me such a happy Mommy, James, I....LOVE....JAMES!!!!

Easter 2011

On Friday, Aunt Jen brought over an egg decorating kit -- James loved to put on the stickers!
Showing off his work

The look on Jim's face is priceless here -- cracks me up every time!

James was very much overwhelmed by the kids at the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday (again, it was pouring down rain, so it was inside)...we were about 2 minutes late (early morning out the door is not our forte), so James only got 1/2 an egg, but he didn't seem to mind.

Posing for a picture with Daddy...aw, shucks, the line for the creepy Easter bunny was around the gym, so we had to pass to get to our dr. appt on time (we were sooo excited to see Cash)!

Uncle Ed is a sucker for giving James sugar...so James (smartly) hangs close :-)

Jim rocking out Laura's yummy dessert

"Gentle" didn't quite get the point across on how to color eggs -- but it kept James and Gma Chele busy and out of trouble for awhile :-)

Easter Sunday -- watching the Blackhawks game Finding the goodies left for him -- he had two baskets, a froggie and an Elmo!

James LOVES music -- these maracas were a total hit!

Showing Daddy his new goods
The apron got put to use in the kitchen right away

Valentine's Day

!
James celebrated Valentine's Day at school with some cool art projects -- a heart with a picture of him on it w/ stickers and finger painting and painting a picture of Big Bird with water colors. I found him a shirt on Friday that says "Little Flirt" on it -- should be big enough for him to wear the next 3 years, haha :-) By the time I picked him up from school though, he had his outfit changed from playing in the sink, so I wasn't able to get a picture....next year! They had a table set up for kids to decorate and take home cookies....James started eating his before I could get the baggie to put it in....he was a mess of pink frosting all over his face and hands (which drove him bonkers)! He really enjoyed it though -- they're so good to the kids there!
The big news of the night though was James' Valentine's present for Jim and I :: he went poop in his potty!!! or, as he said, "James toot" and I think it squirted out on him :-) haha, we made a big deal about it and even made Daddy come upstairs to celebrate (it was before bed). While he was getting re-diapered and pajama-ed, I put it in the toilet and let him flush it and say "bye bye poopies." Very cute and so proud! He's been sitting on the darn toilet for at least 8 months now and this is the first time I've witnessed him doing anything productive on it....so while it may have been an accident, I'll take it :-D

Jim's Christmas 2010 Pics

Jim and I went through his pictures from Christmas and these were our favorites! Enjoy!

Christmas 2010

We celebrated Christmas at least 6 different times that I can think of, so we were super busy! It started off with celebrating with Uncle John and Aunt Bailey, then Christmas Eve and Christmas Day both at home and with the Montalbano's, then a pleasant drive to Indy for Christmas with the Gross'. We rounded off our Christmas by celebrating with Aunt Jen and Uncle Dominic :-) We had such a lovely time hanging out with family, and, of course, James got spoiled rotten! He got so much loot, we decided to merge our dining room and living room and made the dining room a play room -- MUCH better for some space to the family room now :-) Here are some pictures from the holiday season...just the ones from my camera though, I still haven't seen Jimmy's :-)

Thanksgiving 2010

We did Thanksgiving a week early with Jim's family (didn't have my camera out, so I didn't get any pics, sorry -- they would have been of dogs knocking wine onto Bailey and Jimmy spilling almost a whole gallon of milk on the floor and himself, if that helps picture it). Then we headed down to Indy (eventually, only took 6 hours to get there w/ crazy traffic, NOT a good day for us). We had a lot to celebrate that day -- Thanksgiving, GG's birthday and Jim and my 4th Anniversary! Busy Busy Day! GG and Pops watched James and Ainsley on Friday so we could go on a double date to see the new Harry Potter movie -- first movie we'd been to in well over 2 years! Then on Saturday, Jen, Patrick and Kennedy all came over for a visit before we left to come back home and get some things done around the house! It was great to see them, Kennedy is getting so big and super smart and LOVED having a real-life baby around with our niecers, Ains :-)

4th of July Weekend

We had a busy busy 4th of July weekend here at the Montalbano household! The week started with James finally getting a new tooth :-D #5 came through the bottom left while he was napping at the Wehrle's because we still didn't have any air conditioning in our house (I believe the final tally was +18 hours for two people to do the install, 3 overall days). They got our siding finished on Friday, so we didn't have to worry about it raining over the weekend (whew). Friday we went to Gma Chele's for a 2nd of July pool party and fireworks. James loved both! He had so much fun playing with Vince, Tom and Dominic -- they were troopers to entertain him. On Saturday, James attended his very first parade! It was an hour and a half long but he had fun watching the floats and playing with Abby and Bella. His favorite things were the marching bands and the truck and "choo-choo" floats. Sunday brought another first for James -- a trip to Arlington Race Track to see the "shoes" (as James called them). That night we saw some more fireworks with the Wehrle Family. I guess the fireworks got his blood pumping, because James decided to wake up at 4:15am on Monday (so not cool) but I still heard some fireworks going off then -- crazy people, GO TO SLEEP! We met up with family again for some yummy Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza -- YUMMY! What a fun, family-and-friend-filled holiday weekend -- wish they were all 3 days long :-)

Father's Day

We busted out the water table on Saturday before the baseball game. James had a blast with it and I'm hoping he'll be more likely to play with the water when at school. He loved when Daddy put water in the blue bucket to make the green wheel spin :-)
All my boys playing outside -- Easton loves to run in the backyard

Happy Father's Day, Jimmy! James painted a cube for Dad at school and then his teachers put in pictures of him and Daddy.

Doing the sign for "duck" (or trying to get the camera) -- just wanted to get his "Dad's Silly Monkey" outfit shown in honor of Father's Day.

James has taken to reading adult books -- favorites include A Healthy Heart (I think he wants us to read it) and Webster's Thesaurus and Dictionary -- I read him a new word and it's definition when he gets them out, maybe I'll expand my limited vocabulary in the process :-)

Our Soldier!

James' Uncle Larry is the soldier on the right saluting the flag on Memorial Day. He and U.S. Army Sgt Eric Sprang were on flag detail that day and this picture was featured as the Department of Defense's Picture of the Day (link to picture through Facebook). So very proud of our soldier -- can't wait for him to be home again! Thank you to all the soldiers, past and present, who have helped in defending our freedom!
Much love, The Montalbano Family
The picture description from FB :: DoD In Action - Photo of the Day: U.S. Army Sgt. Eric Sprang and Spc. Larry Motes salute the American flag during a Memorial Day ceremony at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan, May, 31, 2010. They serve with Task Force Cyclone, 38th Infantry Division, Indiana Army National Guard. (U.S. Navy photo by Master Chief Petty Officer Kevin Elliot, mass communication specialist)

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

We had a pretty relaxing Memorial Day weekend. Friday night we ventured out to Wildfire (not overly impressed but was OK) to celebrate Jim and John's Birthdays with Gma Chele and Bailey...that was interesting as James wanted absolutely nothing to do with sitting in his high chair, but we survived with the help of John walking him around when my arms were so tired and Cheerios :-) Saturday we had some friends over to celebrate Jimmy turning the big 3-0! Just a small crowd but it was good to see everyone and we got to watch the Blackhawks win Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals!!! WOO HOO, GO HAWKS!!!!
Sunday we popped over to the Schillinger's for a bit to see everyone. It was pretty toasty outside that day! I love my boyzzzz!

Eddie kept a close eye on James while he (James, not Eddie) was in timeout on the chair (he loved smacking the new TV screen, which he, nor I, can afford to repair).

Being a flying monkey with Uncle John

Bailey always finds fun stuff to keep James entertained -- today, Solo cups

Eddie and Jimmy were more intrigued by Madagascar than James -- who'd much rather use Vince as a jungle gym :-)