I Love Lucy

I always know when James needs a nap or when he needs some downtime

.

1. He wants to snuggle

2. He wants to watch an episode of I Love Lucy

It's like his ultimate combo for calming down and relaxing.

James LOVES I Love Lucy.

It seriously cracks me up. 

He gets all the jokes and can recite his favorite episodes.

Yesterday we were watching an episode where Lucy and Ethel confront Ricky and Fred about an amazing invention that would keep their hands from being soggy (a dishwasher) and Ricky replied that he knew what they wanted: rubber gloves!

It just so happens that at the exact moment, Paul was doing the dishes. James whispered in my ear that he wanted to make a surprise for his daddy: dish gloves! It just so happened that I had a brand new package under the sink so James found a ribbon and put his little gift together. 

As soon as Paul came home today James rushed downstairs with his present. . I don't think Paul knew what to think until I explained that it came from I Love Lucy.

We love our funny, thoughtful little boy.

I Am a Child of God

Today was the primary program in sacrament meeting. 

It was James' first.

All the kids came up with their own parts. They had to finish the line, "I know I am a child of God because..."

I'd been told for weeks that he had his part memorized and he was very confident. 

I was a little nervous that he would blurt out some random thing about games, or his imaginary "boss," or a number of other crazy obsessions he has right now.

He was perfect.

He kept his hands in his pockets while singing I Am a Child of God. 

He said his part with no help. 

"I know I am a child of God because I'm getting a baby sister."

I love watching his testimony grow. 

I love that he loves church. 

I love that his teachers are so patient with him. 

I love that he knows without a question that his Heavenly Father loves him. 

Autumn

Turns out my favorite season is pretty lame in Texas.

It's still hot (although it's cooling down...highs are in the high 80s/low 90s).

The only changing colors can be found in weeds and grass that have given way to a lovely yellowish brown.

Apple season was over in August, apparently. I missed that. I had planned to go out to an apple orchard  North of us...but when I called they scoffed at my stupidity in not knowing that the season is months early here.

Oops.

Not all is lost though. There's a big corn maze and some festivals and we are planning a trip out to some nature reserve that has maple trees so hopefully we will see some Fall colors yet!

At least our house looks like Fall!

James asked me last week if I would make him a surprise countdown to Halloween. 

Um, surprise? He was quite upset with me when he walked upstairs and saw what I was doing and realized that he wouldn't be surprised. 

He's an odd one.

Halloween isn't really my thing. 

I don't like being scared, I don't enjoy dressing up, and candy makes me fat. I know. I'm weird. 

BUT, my kid loves it and so I went all out...as usual.

I didn't wake up yesterday thinking about making this countdown calendar, but it did take up the majority of two days. So glad it's done and James can have fun counting down. Some of the things on our list:

Make Fall Crafts

Spooky Movie Nights (G rated, not-so-scary spooky movies)

Family Trips to Corn Mazes and Fall Festivals

Special Treat Days (Sundays)

Spooky Lunches and Dinners

Pumpkin Carving

Make Fall Treats

I think he's going to love it, but I sometimes think that my kid doesn't grasp my awesomeness in obliging his crazy requests.

And, if you've made it this long, here's a picture of me at 25 weeks in all my double-chinned glory. 15 more weeks (more or less)!