We were woken up this morning to the sound of both kids talking. This has never happened before. Reese slept in till 7:30 along with JJ and they both woke up happy. What a gat start to the morning. Then as I was washing my face JJ came in and looked up at me and left. I heard some rustling in the cupboards of the other bathroom and when I looked up JJ had returned with his step stool. We put it up and he climbed on up to see what was going on. After I was finished he wanted to do the same thing, but instead we just washed his hands. He was grinning ear to ear, it was so cute. As we proceeded with the day JJ saw Jim having some chocolate milk and he needed to have it too. We played a bit on the floor where JJ tackled both of us.

What Nice Neighbors

As I was taking Slyder potty, our neighbor Julie came home. She shouted out, "Allison I have something for JJ, hold on I'll bring it to you.". I scooted inside to get JJ so Julie could give it to him herself. As she walked up the driveway JJ waved. Julie pulled out a big book for JJ from behind her back. As JJ looked at the book he noticed Thomas the train on the front. His eyes lit up and he said, "ooooooooo.". I could not believe it, it was a look and find Thomas book. JJ loved it. He gave Julie a hug and wanted to rush inside to read it. Julie told JJ that she hopes he enjoys the book and that he should go inside and read it on his new beanbag. JJ shook his head yes and said hmmm hmmm (thank you). He waved good-bye and we went inside the house. I asked him if he wanted to read it, but he ran off somewhere. Seconds later he was back carrying his beanbag. He plopped it on the ground, climbed up in it and grabbed the book. That book kept us occupied for the next 20 minutes. Thank you Thom family.

JJ's big day

Today was james' 2nd birthday party. We were surrounded by family and friends and this year JJ knew what was going on. It was a lot of fun. At one moment I remember watching JJ, he was dancing around the living room dining his abc song. It was a really cute moment. Then as more people were coming in we had our good friends the Coates family come. We told JJ that Tana was here. He ran to the backdoor and immediately grabbed her hand. He then began to take her around. One by one he was introducing Tana to everyone that was there. He was holding her hand and he would stop at every person, say dafrefvhujjss, look at Tana, then go to the next person and do the same thing. What great manners.

The Girl Has Moves

Reese has started to crawl!! Although it is just an army crawl right now, it is still a crawl. My little girl is so advanced as she scoots along the floor at only 5 months old.

Diaper Derby

On this Friday morning JJ woke up at 7am ready to go. Today was the day of the big Elk Rapids diaper derby. Last year JJ was unable to be apart of it since we were not up here, but this year he was ready. As we pulled up to the park around 10:00 we saw the other contenders registering for the diaper derby. Mimi and Papa were standing at the tent holding jj's registration number (10). We like to think that he received that number because he's a perfect 10. We waited a bit for our heat. Jim and I were sure that JJ would be in awe of the other kids and not run. All of the crawlers had to go first, but JJ was warming up (playing with Jim on the playground). When it was jj's turn he was lined up between two competitors, we heard ,"on your mark get set, go!". Once JJ heard those words he was off running. As he was racing from me to Jim you could tell that he was super excited. As he got toward the end of his lane he was the winner. JJ then had to wait for another heat to race before he was up again. In the final race JJ you could tell that he wanted to just be let loose. As Jim tried to hold on to him he was kicking his legs and squirming around. He wanted to run! The words were said again, "on your mark, get set, go!". JJ took off, arms flying from side to side as his little legs were moving as fast as they could. I was at the finish line and I could see how excited he was, he had a smile from ear to ear. As he got to the end he ran into my arms and gave me a high five. He had won it!! His prize.....diapers for Reese. What a good big brother. Later on we asked him who he was running to during the race, "mommy and daddy," or the Elk Rapids teen queens? As we asked him he made it pretty clear that it was the queens.

First Sea-Do Ride

Jim asked JJ if he wanted to go for a ride on the sea-do? Jj's response was yes. We thought that he would get on it and want to get off of it right away. However this was not the case. He absolutely loved it! Jim was taking him all around the Elk Lake. Jim would occasionally come in towards the dock and JJ would point out towards the lake. Jim kept asking JJ if he wanted to come in, JJ said no. He would then ask him if he wanted to go back out and he said yes. He loved it!

The Things Kids Say

This morning at the cottage we woke up at 4:30 to the sound of Reese crying. As Jim went to go make her bottle he heard Mimi and Papa "sawing logs.". He wondered how JJ was able to sleep with all that noise. Later on that morning we asked JJ was whining so we asked him if he got enough sleep last night? He shook his head no. We then asked him if he could hear Mimi and papa snoring? He shook his head yes. We then asked him if he knew what snoring was and what it sounds like? He then replied, "roooooaaaarrr."