Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the cutest firefighters around!

A New Little Pumpkin

Exciting news in the Kendall household: we are expecting! James will become a big brother, and Jed and I will become incredibly sleep deprived sometime around April 12th of next year. We are incredibly excited and can't wait to meet our newest addition!

**Also please note that there are about a billion (this is a slight exaggeration) update posts below so you should look at them if you want to see a ton of pictures of James.

A Very Fulfilling Saturday

I love Saturdays where you feel like you got something done and had fun. Last Saturday was one of those and it was beautiful to boot (think 80 degrees!). After a morning of playing and doing things around the house we headed to a pumpkin patch for the afternoon. James had a blast looking at the animals, jumping in the bounce house, and of course picking out a pumpkin and pulling the wagon (which he insisted on doing himself for awhile). Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Then that evening Jed and I even got to do something fun by ourselves! We got a babysitter and went out to dinner and then to a show by Ira Glass of This American Life Fame downtown. The show - Reinventing Radio, for anyone who's interested - was super interesting and informative, as well as funny and just a plain good time. It was really the perfect way to end a gorgeous day.

Here we are waiting to see Ira - admittedly it's not the best picture of us, but I didn't want you to think we didn't exist.

Trunk or Treat

James got to do a little trick or treating practice last weekend at our ward Trunk or Treat. James had been unsure of putting his costume on before so I was a little worried about getting it on him, but apparently my problem had been that I wasn't showing him his boot covers because he immediately declared that those were cool and put on the rest of his costume. He's still a little unsure about the hat, but we'll take what we can get.

James got the hang of trick or treating pretty fast once he realized that people were giving him chocolate bars. Luckily he's still little enough that we can just take his candy away and he has no complaints whatsoever as long as we give him a fun-size chocolate bar once every day or two.

And On to Utah

Remember how I had that relaxing weekend in Florida, well it was a good thing. The day that I flew back to Cincinnati Jed was flying to Utah to go hunting with his family - he actually flew out before me so I didn't even get to see him. I needed that rejuvenating weekend to get me through the next week and a half without Jed.

Luckily I wasn't on my own the whole time. That weekend James and I flew down to Georgia for a stopover on our way to meet Jed in Utah and hung out with my parents for several days. While we were in Georgia we played (of course), went to parks, made a beloved ramp out of cardboard on the stairs, and visited the aquarium.

Then on Wednesday we headed to Utah to meet Jed and spend through the weekend with him. We had lots of fun visiting with family, going to Gardner village, and playing at a pumpkin patch. James especially enjoyed riding in the razor and driving the tractor when he visited his Great Grandpa Kendall's farm.

After that it was back home where we promptly all came down with nasty colds. Let's just say that the suitcases remained packed for at least a week.

Checking out the otters.

Looking at all the fish. James was determined to see them all and kept telling us "I'm moving."

I told James to pose for a picture and this is what he came up with.

James LOVES the swings.

In the pool - I know it looks like we went to Georgia and Utah at two completely different times of year.

Checking out the cows with his cousins.

Driving the tractor with Grandpa.

Plotting something at Gardner Village.

Girls Trip to Destin

This September I was lucky enough to take a trip to Destin, Florida with two of my best friends who I have known since we were kids. We had a weekend trip that was (almost) kid-free (my friend Beth brought along her 6 month old who is nursing). It was so much fun to go hang out with friends and relax for a long weekend! It was a lovely and much needed break and I am so grateful to Jed and the other people who helped with James in order to make it happen!

Enjoying September

We had a beautiful start to the fall this year so we had a lot of lovely time in September to enjoy outside as well. We filled it with trips to the park and the zoo as well as lots of playing in the backyard and of course other fun staples like the museum and story time.

Playing Frisbee Golf.

Playing with animals at the Children's Museum.

Getting a little reading in.

James is a wonderful helper when I make cookies :)

Taking Pippin for a walk.

Playing with the statues at the zoo - James is very fond of the statue animals since he is allowed to pet them.

Other Summer Time Fun

Our summer wasn't ALL trips and visitors - we also had a lot of fun hanging out in Cincinnati ourselves this summer.

Bathtime fun

Visiting a fire station with playgroup and getting to sit in a firetruck was a highlight of the summer for James.

More fire station fun.

Story time at our library.

Playing in the ball room at the Children's Museum.

This pool was one of the best purchases I have ever made; James spent hours playing in it.

Playing on the chair with Pippin.

Grandma and Grandpa Kendall Come to Visit

Whew ... we had a busy July. A few days after we got back from the reunion in Oregon Jed's parents came out to Cincinnati to visit. They got to spend lots of time playing with James and have some fun in Cincinnati too. While they were here we caught a Reds game and also had some fun at the park. That's pretty hard to beat :)

At the Reds Game

James and Grandma at the splash park.

James and Grandpa playing on the swings.

McCarty Family Reunion and Grandma's 90th Celebration

We had quite the reunion in Oregon this July. To celebrate my Grandma's 90th year we had a family reunion in Coos Bay which included all of my Grandma's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren - and almost all of them were able to come. That means that there were 120 people at a 3 day family reunion. My wonderful Mom was in charge of the planning so she had a pretty busy week, but she did a great job and the reunion was so much fun.

I also realized that I took almost no pictures during the reunion. I'll have to get some from my sister and add them later :)

We started off with a very long day of travel, but James handled it well (I think I did pretty well too since Jed didn't fly out until a couple days after us so I was on my own for the trip to Coos Bay).

Checking out the tide pools.

The 4th of July

So I suppose it's time to do a little catching up - especially since these events took place over 3 months ago. Mostly this catch up post is just to post a few pictures. We spent this Forth of July in Georgia at my parents lake house. It was super nice to hang out on the lake and see my cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma who came by to celebrate the Fourth.

James got in the lake briefly to try out some swimming; he had been very intrigued by getting in the water until he was actually in the water, then he wasn't so sure.

We decided again this year to skip the fireworks because they happen so long after James's bedtime, but we lucked out because some of my parents neighbors set off some huge fireworks in their backyard so we still got a little bit of a show.

James driving the boat with Grandpa.

Riding the jet ski.

Trying desperately to break the speaker.

I was there too!