Long Overdue Videos

I've got so many videos of James that we finally watched this weekend. He was so small! I don't even remember him being tiny and completely different than he is now. I have a few recent ones to share with everyone. He is totally mobile now, army crawling all over, so I thought we'd show one when he was still working on moving forward and then a couple new ones.

Disclaimer: by watching these videos you agree to not laugh at a) my ridiculous commentary and baby voices. b) Our hideously un-decorated bedroom. We're a bit slow when it comes to getting our house looking the way we want.


*Also, on the second video you have to skip it forward until 37 seconds before it actually starts. Don't ask me why.


James at about 2 months talking to Dad from Annette Steele on Vimeo.


* Skip forward to 37 seconds
James Crawls Backwards from Annette Steele on Vimeo.


Christmas Morning from Annette Steele on Vimeo.


James Army Crawls across the room. from Annette Steele on Vimeo.

Halloween and All That Jazz

Halloween has come and gone and I still haven't blogged about it!  Here are some photos from the holiday.

 The Clark family pumpkin-fest 

Family photo

Let me apologize for my haggard appearance in this image. Don't ask me why I look like an old asian woman in a ghostbusters costume. On another note, Shaun's proton pack was amazing. It only took a total of 48 strait hours to make and we only almost got divorced over it. When all was said and done he won second place in the work costume contest, improving on last years third place.

And James is slimer. Complete with real slime from eyes, nose, and mouth. But he's adorable :)

I love this one of all the Clark grandkids. Halle is the only one who knows how to look at a camera. James was mesmerized by Bailey's kitty spots then by Halle's sailor hat. 

All in all it was such a great first Halloween for my little man. Hope yours was good too!

Nursery

I finally took some pictures of James' room. Here's the finished nursery.

To Everything There is a Season

The last day of September! Even though it's 80+ degrees outside I'm starting to get that special fall feeling. These next three months are the best of the year. Since we're on the verge of cool weather it has made me think about the things I'll miss from this summer.

 1. James wearing nothing but onesies

2. Our constant trips to Thanksgiving point so I could get out of the house (and eat ice cream).

3. Camping trips and campfires with family

  4. Hanging out in the park

 5. Babies on blankets in the park

Autumn Harvest

Guess what I've been doing lately? Turning this:

Into this:

I love canning. It's one of those things that make people think I'm a grandma trapped in a young person body. Tomatoes are the best because I use them all winter in pasta sauce and soup and I know where they came from and that they were grown in the summer. Tomatoes from the grocery store in the winter are yucky.
This is the first year that our tomato plant decided not to grow five feet tall and produce until October, so these are from Shaun's grandpa's garden. We did get tons of cucumbers and I canned five jars of pickles (yum!)

I requested these awesome books a while ago at the Library:

They are so easy to follow and great for beginners. I haven't had a chance to do much with the Dairy book, but I did make some ricotta that was tasty! Ashley English has two other books that I want to read. Not that I'm at all prepared to keep chickens or bees, but I think it's amazing.

Three Month Old

Yesterday my good friend Sarah Faubus of Boxwood Clippings shot some three month photos of James for me. They turned out amazing so I thought I'd share my favorites. Technically he's almost four months so I guess I dropped the ball on that one, but at least I had them taken before he turned.

Mobile

Last week I made a mobile for James' nursery. I never liked any of the expensive, stuffed animal looking ones at the store. This one is pretty simple but I think it turned out great. I'll post some long overdue pictures of the finished nursery once it's up.