Happy Birthday, Jim Beau

Jim Beau turned 1 on November 30!   We had a small little party with Mrs. Erin, Mrs. Melissa and Bridget and Carly.   He had his own little lion cake and ate a good bit of it.  He really enjoyed playing with all his new toys.   It is still weird to think that a year ago I was still in Gainesville going to the hospital every day.  Jim Beau has come a long way!

Crawling

We finally got our Flip Video back out so expect some more video action!  Here is video of Jim Beau crawling around.

Dance Class

Jane Ritchie has been taking dance class since the middle of August.  Last week was Parent Watch week where we could watch the class.  It was hilarious!   I hope to get some video posted at some point.  Here are the pictures!

Boo!

Jane Ritchie wanted to be Pocahontas for Halloween.   Jim Beau didn't really want to be anything, but he was a duck.  Grandma Marty was here to go trick or treating with us.  It was great except for the swarms of bugs!   You gotta love south Georgia!

Jim Beau on the move

Click  here to see some videos of Jim Beau on the move.  In the first one, I really think he was looking for Alex.  Oh, if you don't already know, Alex died on Sept. 30.   He had lymphoma and things got bad pretty quickly.  He was such a sweet boy and we miss him!   Here is a picture of him in his younger days!

The sun'll come out...

Jane Ritchie's cousins Matt and Luke were in a local Charlotte, NC production of Annie, so I took Jane Ritchie up to see the show.   Paul stayed home for the weekend with Jim Beau and they had a great time!  Jane Ritchie was sooooooooooo excited to get to see Annie.  She had seen parts of the movie and I wondered what she would think of the actual performers on the stage.   She sat through the whole thing like such a good girl.  She clapped and clapped after the songs!

After the show she got to meet Annie who no longer had her curly hair and was not in costume.  I think this was a little confusing for Jane Ritchie.   She kept asking if Annie could come to her house and play.  She also wanted to meet Daddy Warbucks.   Matt and Luke took us backstage and we met Daddy Warbucks, who had also already changed his clothes!    All in all, it was a great girls weekend.   We got to see Grandma Marty and Papa Bo, too!   Thanks to Jenny, Dave, Matt and Luke for a fun weekend!

Owen the dog

 Jane Ritchie with Annie.  Can you tell she's a little perplexed?

  On stage with Matt and Luke

Beech and Beach

I am so behind in updating our blog!    Here goes....

We have been on two fun trips lately.   First, we went up to Beech Mountain, NC to see Grandma Marty and Papa Bo, as well as Great Grandmother Jane and Paul's aunts, uncles and cousins.    It was a long drive, but on the way up we broke it up and stayed in South Carolina for the night.  It was all worth it to see everyone and feel some nice 70 degree weather!

Grandma Marty and Jim Beau

Great Grandma Jane 

Paul, Bubba and Hank

Paul's cousin Ellen and Trent

 Our next trip was to the beach in Alabama with my family over Labor Day.  It was another long drive and so we were lucky enough to have our friend and babysitter, Erin, come with us.   I really don't think I could drive 8 or 9 hours with both kids by myself!!!   We were there for a week and Paul was able to come for the weekend.   We saw May May, Gan Gan, Aunt Ruthie, Uncle John, Gracie, Aunt Angela, Uncle Sam, Alexa, Aunt B, Uncle Eddie, Montgomery, Elizabeth, Mary Creigh, Sister and Mockie.   Also our friends Sarah and Jeff came by one day with their boys, Matthew and Buzz.   They were there for the trauma of Jane Ritchie getting stung by a sting ray!   We took her to urgent care and she was such a brave girl.  Now she tells everyone she meets that she was stung by a sting ray.  

oil clean up equipment right by our house

School and Things

Jane Ritchie started a new school this week.  She is going to 3 year old preschool at a Baptist Church every day from 8 to 12.  There is a drop off/carpool line so she goes into the building by herself.  I was worried she would cry, but on the first day she walked right in.   The school goes up to 8th grade so there are older kids who help her to her classroom.  It is so nice not to have to get Jim Beau out of the car!    The first day her teacher was putting her in the car and told me that she did not hear Jane Ritchie's voice one time all day!!!   Can you imagine???   The second day Mrs. Ingrid said that she heard her say two words!   Here she is on her first day!

We went to Jacksonville to get Jane Ritchie some tap shoes today.  The lady at the dance store gave her some new crayons.  She wanted to try them out as soon as we got home.  We were pretty impressed with her first self portrait.  

The news with Jim Beau is that he has another ear infection!   This would be his third one in a row.  I don't think it is really going away.   They put him on a new antibiotic and so hopefully it will work.  He has not been happy but today he started feeling much better!

More Videos

Here is a link to some more short videos!

http://picasaweb.google.com/maryabigail808/July2010Videos#

Mobile

Sort of at the last minute I decided to take the kids to Mobile for a couple of weeks.   May May flew down here and drove over with us.  It took us 9 hours, but the kids were really good.  It helps when there is someone else in the car to tend to their needs!

We had a great time!   One of May May and Gan's neighbors came by the first day we were there.  They had seen kid stuff when they moved into the house last October and then I guess they saw that we were there.  Anyway, they have a four year old girl named Lawson and a 7 month old named Lillie.   They also have a pool, which was very exciting.  We went over there a couple of times to swim and Lawson came over to play in the baby pool at May May's house.   It is nice to know there is someone around JR's age there to play with when we visit.    They were still nice to us even after Jane Ritchie poo poo'd in their pool.    (FYI - she has all that under control now, which is GREAT!)

Jane Ritchie and Jim Beau got to meet 8 of their second cousins on July 5th down at Aunt B and Uncle Eddie's house at Ft. Morgan.  Their house is on the bay side and we saw a little bit of oil floating in the water.  Jane Ritchie had a great time playing in the sand and the pool they have set up under the house.  It was great to see everyone.  Montgomery worked all day on a chicken gumbo and it was awesome!

If you are interested in one of these t-shirts designed by Robert and Sally Frances Smith you can email wishtosaveourgulf@gmail.com or go to the Save Our Gulf facebook page for details.

We also had Jane Ritchie's 3rd birthday party.  Friends came over to play in the  baby pool.  Jane Ritchie wanted a Belle cake so we got an ugly princess one from Winn Dixie.  She loved it!

Ruthie and Liza

I also invited some of my friends over to the house for a little get together.  Everyone brought their kids so there ended up being 13 kids there!   It was crazy, but fun to see everyone.

 Larkin and Frances Price

Jane Thomas (Dad's former admin assistant at the US Attorney's office) and her mother

The Millers

Jack

Charlie aka Blueberry Salsa Bandit

Dad fixing cheese and crackers for the kids

The last week we all got sick!  We ended up at the urgent care three days in a row!   First with Jane Ritchie who had an ear infection.  Then I went and ended up getting a shot and a z-pack and the next day we took Jim Beau who had pink eye and an ear infection!!!   Thankfully it didn't take long for us all to start feeling better.

We did not want to come home, but it was time to get back and get ready for Daddy to come home.  It won't be long!!!