James's 9th Birthday

We celebrated James's 9th birthday with my family a couple of weeks early so that dad could be there to celebrate.  He came home from Colorado for a few days so we decided to have our family party for James while dad was in town, and of course James had no problem celebrating early ;)

Then on James's actual birthday, we went to Classic Skating with Steve's family and with Rose (James's birth mom) and her daughters.  He had a blast running around with his cousins.  I think we'll have to do this every year for his birthday.

Happy birthday my sweet 9-year-old boy!

Poor Solo

Solo is not having a good year already :(  She had surgery about a month ago and she just finished he medication and grew her fur back when a German Shepherd decided to come over and show her who's the boss.  Luckily James wasn't there, but poor Solo got it pretty bad and he even got me in the leg a bit as well.  (Man dog bites hurt!)  She had to have surgery and the vet had to shave her fur off again in multiple places, and she has to do another round of antibiotics.  If my little bit hurts like crazy then I can't imagine what Solo feels like.  

Ice Skating

We had to postpone our yearly Christmas tradition of outdoor ice skating because of the bitter, bitter, cold weather that we had in December. It usually is cold when we go ice skating so we just bring along some hot chocolate and doughnuts to warm us up, but this year it was just too cold out to even think about being outside. (Especially for our family visiting from warm California :)  Now here we are in February and it's 60 degrees out...we didn't even have to wear jackets to ice skate this year!

Stomp!

For an early Valentine's Day gift, I took Steve and James to see Stomp perform.  James LOVED it!  He was clapping and cheering louder than anyone else in the entire audience.  He got souvenir drum sticks after the show :)

First Trophy

James got his first real trophy!  He placed 3rd in his school's Art Inspirations contest for his painting.  He's gotten ribbons and medals and certificates, but never a trophy and he's wanted one so  badly for so long.  He even asked me to but him one at the store :) We are very proud of our little artist!

Happy New Year!

We had a fun New Year's Eve with our family visiting for the holidays from California.  We went to dinner at Litza's Pizza (a restaurant that my family has been going since my parents were in college.) Then we just played games and visited with each other until midnight.  Everyone managed to stay awake for the countdown where we blew whistles and horns and drank apple cider.  We were all sound asleep by 12:15 though :)

We're ready for another year!

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours

Random December Fun

A meal big enough for a giant!

The best snuggle buddy

Time to try out our fireplace

Don't tell Dad that I'm on the couch ;)

Christmas Vacation at the dollar theater? Yes please!

Look Mom! I brought a cow eyeball home from school that I dissected in science class today!

James's 1st Orchestra Concert

James got to start Viola lessons this year in school, and he had his 1st concert!  His school got a new music teacher who absolutely rocks (like all the rest of the teachers at his school...that we love :) I can't wait to see how he improves over the years while he's at that school. It's a k-8 school so 5 more years to go!

Christmas Tree!

We finally got our Christmas tree up!  After our move into our new house and our trip to Colorado, we were still unpacking boxes and didn't have any room for a tree!  Until now :)  Better late than never!

New House

We moved!  At our new house James gets to rake the leaves and mow the lawn...and he loves it!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Colorado with my family. James hasn't been there since he was a baby so I was excited to take him again and show him all that I love about my hometown.  the trip was way too short though so I have already started planning another trip for this summer :)

Our hotel...

Thanksgiving dinner...

Pearl Street mall...

Fun N' Stuff

 The mountain star...

The summer can't come soon enough!

Happy Halloween!

This year James dressed up as a "Toxic Waste Warrior"?  Seriously, I don't know where these costume companies come up with their ideas!  This year James was pretty focused on the amount of candy he got so we spent a LONG time trick-or-treating.  But it was fun and we had another great year.

Pumpkin Patch

Anther fun year at the pumpkin patch with James's birth mom Rose and he daughter Kayla!