Last weekend

Last weekend was so wonderful! I love it when Jim is home and able to spend time with us. Here is Jemma saying, "I'm Snow White! I'm going to get married!"

And James mowing:

Saturday morning we went to have James' first haircut. Then Jemma got a cut. (She has been putting her hair into her mouth and playing with it, so I had Amy angle the hair around her face to make it a little more difficult.) And finally, Daddy got a cut too! :)

After the haircuts, James and I returned home for James' nap. Jemma and Daddy went to Home Depot, Atlantic Garden Center and Munden's for lunch. Munden's is a very old, small establishment and the ladies there know Jim and Jemma. Jim has even taken James to lunch there once.

Here is my happy boy post nap with his new haircut... isn't he just a cutie?!?

In the afternoon, we all headed out as a family to get James' first tricycle. We went to the Kettler store. I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to get James a sturdy tricycle with a parent pushbar and seatbelt. After doing some research, I decided on the Kettler. (We used James' birthday money for his new tricycle. Thank you very much to all the relatives who helped purchase this!) I have yet to take pictures, but they will come once the weather is a little warmer! As we arrived at the store, Jemma says "This is where they have a playground!" Jim had never been to the store, but we had checked it out once before. And there isn't really a playground in the store, but the back corner is set up as a display and they do have a see-saw and the kids can "test" any of their tricycles/bicycles/toys. And they do have tables and benches and highchairs... lots of really cool, sturdy stuff! And Jemma and James are great "testers"... Once again, the kids had fun testing lots of toys. Jemma really loves the see-saw... maybe we can look into that for a future birthday... James decided to be adventuresome and toppled head first into the carpet. He had a huge redspot in the middle of his forehead for the rest of the day!

We left the Kettler store and went to Toys-R-Us. For the kids' birthdays (if you register), they will send you a coupon in the mail. Plus when you visit the store they will give you a balloon, a hat and announce your birthday over the intercom. Currently James' favorite birthday present is the balloon! We spent the rest of the day just being together... luckily, both kids took a nap so we had fun dancing and singing and reading and playing Saturday evening.

On Sunday, Jemma woke early. She arrived at my side of the bed asking, "Where is my Daddy?" I sleepily replied, "On the other side of the bed." She walked over to the other side and I hear, "Daddy, I want to go downstairs. Can we play?" I'm thinking, "Ha, ha... I'm glad she is a Daddy's girl!!!" He tried to convenience her to get into bed and snuggle/sleep some more. That lasted about 3 minutes. Then they were up and off downstairs. I snuggled under the warm covers until 8:30! That's right... my little alarm clock (aka, James) didn't go off until 8:30!!!! I got to sleep in. And when I went downstairs, Jemma and Daddy had made bacon and pancakes. What a wonderful morning for me!!! :) Jemma and I decided that Jim needed some pampering, so we sent him off for a massage early Sunday afternoon.

Late Sunday afternoon, I escaped to our new Target for just a bit of a break. I was in the toy aisle when I hear a little girl (probably 3... maybe 4) behind me saying, "Mommy, I want to look at the toys... I want to look at the toys... toys... toys.) The Mommy says, "I need a new phone... we have to go get a new phone... fine..." I was reading a description on a box and thinking that I couldn't have heard what I just heard and peered around the corner. The Mom was nowhere in sight. The little girl was content to stay and play with all the toys. I didn't really know what to do... maybe the Mom thought this was acceptable... who am I to judge someone else's parenting decisions... but I couldn't just leave the little girl alone in a public place. So, I stayed in the aisle and read many more boxes until the girl's brother (who was probably 6... maybe 7) appeared to take her to her mother. I watched them together until they were several aisles away. This disturbs me. How can you leave a little girl alone in a store? Where else would she be willing to leave her? What is she thinking?!? Ok, so I'm judging... I should stop now. What would you do?

When I arrived home, we had a nice dinner. (Merin's mom generously made us a lasagna that I had frozen when she was here to help Merin & Scout.) Then we went for a brief walk to meet our new neighbors. Maggie and Keith moved out at the end of last month. (We were very sad to see them go, but so happy for them and this opportunity to spend 3 years in Italy.) A new couple with a daughter (11 months old) moved in! They are very sweet and we had fun chatting with them. I can't wait until the weather is nice and all the kids are outside playing together!

What a nice weekend...