Happy Easter

Easter was pretty low key around here this year but still lots of fun. On Saturday we dyed some eggs which James thought was the bomb. Jed and I were both surprised just how much he loved throwing those eggs into colored water.

 

On Sunday we went to church and then had a mini egg hunt (think 6 eggs) in the yard for James and he got a little Easter basket with some books, bubbles, stickers, and a new ball. James actually picked up 2 of the eggs and put them in his basket but then apparently decided he didn't quite get the point of this game and just pointed to the rest of the eggs. After that we just played outside in the yard (it was a gorgeous day) and then had a nice dinner at home.

Catching Up - The Never Ending Winter

This winter we had the opportunity to enjoy the polar vortex here in Cincinnati ... it was pretty yucky. This winter was long and cold, but good things did happen as well. James was adorable (per usual) and Jed finally took Step 1 of his boards (most people take this after the 2nd year of medical school but since Jed is in the MSTP program he could put it off for awhile ... which he did). Now that that test is over we can finally relax around here - Jed because he doesn't have to constantly study and me because Jed is occasionally home now. Of course Jed did spend most of his vacation studying so he won't be taking any actual time off for awhile :)

But lets not kid ourselves about why you're here - here are some cute pictures of James:

James got to start eating some soft whole foods (at his insistence).

Checking out the snow

Stacking and sorting (well mostly stacking - not a lot of sorting is occurring here).

A lot of the winter we had to content ourselves with looking outside instead of going outside.

But when it was nice we often headed to the zoo!

James enjoying bathtime

And it finally started to warm up - off the the park!

Playing Catchup - Thanksgiving and Christmas

Well believe it or not some things have happened in the last 4 and a half months. And I would be remiss if James being adorable on Thanksgiving and Christmas wasn't available to the internet.

James's First Thanksgiving (he missed it by one week last year)

Both Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent with the Cronquist family in Georgia this year which was of course tons of fun. Thanksgiving was an especially big deal this year as my sister and her husband and cute baby moved to Germany at the beginning of December so it was a chance for us to spend a little time with them before they jetted across the Atlantic.

While everyone was in Atlanta we enjoyed lots of time hanging out at the house as well as some fun outings including a trip to the aquarium, which James loved - see photographic evidence below:

James and his cousin enjoying a touch pool

James and his Aunt Danielle checking out the coral

A month later we headed back down to Georgia for Christmas. Luckily for James he got to celebrate a little bit of Christmas early as his present from Grandma and Grandpa Kendall was too big to make the trip with us.

 Christmas was fun as this year James was at least aware of what was going on even if he didn't yet understand the concept of Santa Claus. The only problem was that every time he opened something he wanted to stop and play with it so present opening was a slow affair :) I'm sure the holidays will just get more and more fun the older he gets!

A box - every child's favorite present

Doing a little present opening