Bear gets a bath ... finally!!!

It's long over due but with my morning sickness/sensitive smell thing and our trip to England fast approaching I decided it was about time. Here are some before shots ...

After ...

Ok, so you can't SEE much difference ... but if this was a SMLOG (Smelly Blog) you would DEFINTELY smell the difference!!! I'm just relieved he didn't disintegrate!!!

Playing with Keagan, Andrew, Aiden and Ethan

We finally got over to Livermore to Keagan, Aiden, Andrew, Ethan and Devon yesterday. We haven't seen them since before James' birthday and so the little ones had all grown up so much. We had a great afternoon. Thanks for having us, Devon!

"Once you've put the coins in you can take them out of here ... like this ..."

Keagan shows James how the piggy bank works. They had a great time playing with this. I think Keagan would like playing with James' postbox that we got in England.

The three little guys busy playing together.

Mr Chocolate Face!

Unfortunately the one of Keagan grinning from ear to ear came out REALLY blurry ... really need to figure out the settings on my new camera!

Time for another hair cut ... BEFORE ...

Not looking too happy ...

After ...

James with his new big boy hair cut!! He certainly looks alot happier!!

(The Hairdresser used a little bit of moose to spike up the front.)

What happened to our Baby James?!?!?!

Playing with a birthday/Christmas present

When we were over at Aiden and Keagan's they gave James this really cool car racetrack thing. The cars race down the tracks when you push the red button. James loves playing with it - he definitely likes his cars! I do feel a bit like we've spent the last 24 hours hunting for the cars which seem to disappear behind the subwoofer/under the couch/into the bottom of the toy box/in the bin all the time ... The blue car is currently missing in action!! Thank you, Ott family!!

I love this photo but for some reason the flash didn't go off and so it came out a bit blurry.

With Santa

Here's our photo with Santa. It actually came out better than I thought it might as James wasn't too sure about sitting on Santa's knee. Thanks, Don for taking our photo!!

James' Blog goes HI-TECH!!!

Well, finally I have worked out how to put video clips on the blog ... and done it! For Christmas this year my present is a little camera - partly so I don't have to take my paparazi camera everywhere, and partly so that I can do little vide clips of the funny things James gets up to! I've been trying it out over the last few days so that I know how to use it when we come back to England for Christmas. The following clip is of James making a prank phone call ... He's obviously been watching Mummy on the phone. We didn't teach him how to hold it (or to dial the numbers for that matter!). He's definitely been watching me - he even wanders around like I do! If you need instructions on how to play the video see below.

The video clip has sound so turn your speakers on (if you have them). Then click on the play button (the triangle). It will take a few moments to start playing as the file size is fairly large so be patient!

Playing outside

James playing with the garden hose.

James loves his blue bucket and spends ages putting things in, and then taking things out of it.

"I know I'll dump this cold, muddy water out of the bucket ...

If I just lift it up and pour it out ... Oh."

(At least I know the new camera captures water falls nicely!)

James just realizing that probably wasn't the most sensible thing to have done ...

The empty bucket ...

We had to go inside after this to get cleaned up!

Santa Claus is coming to town ...

"Santa Claus is coming to our town!"

Actually he came on Saturday night to our church!! People could have their photo taken with him and he gave each child a gift. Oh, and there was hot chocolate and Christmas crafts too - and it was even snowing outside!!! For the first time James was not sure about Santa AT ALL and cried everytime we handed him over to Santa. Hopefully one of the family photos will come out - we'll post it when we get it!

James seemed more interested in the tree than in Santa ...

Here comes Bean!!!!

For those of you who haven't heard yet ... James will be a big brother next year!!! We are expecting our second baby on June 24th and here is the very first ultrasound picture. Just 10 weeks old! We never came up with a very good "pre-being-born" name for James but when we showed him this picture and explained it was his baby brother or sister, he gave us a big grin, pointed at the picture and said "BEAN!" so, for now, that's his/her name. The second trimester is just about to start so hopefully the morning sickness will stop SOON - it's been MUCH worse this time around! We'll keep you posted with our progress and I guess we'll need to think about renaming this blog!

Mr Bed Head

James looked very funny when we went in to get him out of bed this morning ... His hair was sticking up at the front. By the time I ran and got the camera it had already calmed down a bit. Who knows what he was doing in the night!

A cool way to countdown to Christmas!

James' Mummy made this cool paper chain advent calendar at the Hanging of the Greens event at church. It was supposed to be for the kids to do but James showed no intention of sitting still long enough to stick the stickers on, let alone make the paper chain!! I thought it was a really brilliant idea - I've never seen one like this before.

Each day of Advent you rip off one of the paper chains and count down to Christmas Day. James enjoys the ripping part!

This is what happens when you're too busy taking photos and not paying attention to the Destroyer ...

A Creative Advent!

I've got this really good Advent devotional/craft book. I've had it for a few years but this is the first time I'm actually using it! Each day there is a devotional about Advent and the meaning of Christmas and then a craft or project to do. James is still too young for most of them but I thought I would get some practice in for future years! This Candle Advent was the first one and was so simple and so cool! It's made out of felt and then on the first Sunday of each week of advent you add another flame (backed with velcro!).

This is a Father Christmas/Santa mobile.

I made this nativity set from a kit I got at Michaels. I really like how it turned out. Not sure if it will survive a James Attack though and so it's on a high up shelf!

James and his buddy

Bruce sent me this photo he took on his Palm at Hanging of the Greens... He'd called it "James and his buddy" It's pretty funny!

Hanging of the Greens ...

At church on Saturday we had a "Hanging of the Greens" event (I've formerly requested a change of name for next year ... my maiden name was Green and so "hanging of the Greens" doesn't sound good to me at all!) We put up all the Christmas decorations, had a meal together, had Christmas crafts for the kids and then the children got dressed up in nativity costumes and Bruce told them the story and we sang carols. Rob Fassano brought some of his trains for the kids to see too and they loved them. James caused the first derailment ... so sorry about that but thanks for bring ing them, Rob!!

Our little shepherd!

The kids all get dressed up as characters from the nativity story.

The kids all dressed up and listening to Bruce tell the nativity story.

Isn't the cow supposed to run away with the spoon ... not the shepherd!!!

Welcome Kezia Isabel Browning!!!

We just wanted to introduce you to James' first cousin - Kezia Isabel Browning. Born on November 22nd. We can't wait to meet her in person when we go home for Christmas!!! For more Kezia pictures you can visit her blog - http://browningadventures.blogspot.com/