The First Week Back

We're back in Texas and it's been a fun week of familiar Texas activities.

We played in a rainstorm, planted some garden and had a cookout.

 To die for!!  These kids are too cute!!!

 Ali learned how to get a drink from the hose.  It's been a favorite activity ever since.

 Adorable smile!

 While Ali was out planting with Jimmy and Grandpa she had a little fun in the mud.

Silly little dance she did when I found her all muddy.

 Sweet girl!

 The planting glare.

 Grandpa the Farmer

 Everyone getting their meat ready to cook.

 We had hotdogs and Czech parky.  Dad is splitting the ends of the parky.  You eat it with spicy mustard and rye bread.  Yum-o!

 Beautiful Texas sky.

 Ali still had to cuddle with a bottle.

 James is getting ready to make a s'more.

The heat hasn't been as bad as we thought it would be.  We've enjoyed quite a few days outside and the weather will only get better from here on out.

We're Gonna Be Famous

When we got to Boston we furnished our apartments with awesome, vintage, temporary furniture.  We knew we would get rid of most or all of it at the end of the summer.  The time came to move so we posted all our stuff on craigslist.  A couple days before we moved Jimmy got an email from someone interested in one of our chairs.  The email said that they were doing Sandra Bullock movie and wanted to buy our chair.  Jimmy thought it was for sure a scam but replied anyway, telling them that they needed to pick it up by Wednesday.  Over the next 24 hours he went back and forth by email and phone with different "film" people about picking up the chair.  Then the big day finally came.   Jimmy coordinated with Kyra, "Set Director" who coordinated with Alix, "Set Director- Assistant", who coordinated with someone else, who coordinated with someone else who came to pick up our $5 vintage chair.

I played paparazzi and snapped a shot of the set designer who came to check out the chair.

Wish we would have charged more.  I'm sure Sandra would have been willing to part with at least a hundred bucks.

So that's it.  We're gonna be famous!  Our chair will be the star in an upcoming Sandra Bullock film, The Heat.  

Here are some other cute, random shots we got while in the moving process.  We gave James some watered down juice in a bottle and when he dropped it, Ali took advantage.  What's better than one bottle?  Two!!

 Sleeping beauty!  

 We cleared out this cabinet to get it ready to sell and the kids had a great time hiding in the cupboard.  I love how Ali always wants James to be a part of the fun.  She'll get in and then says, "Jamesy!" while pointing to the spot next to her.

 The table is gone but a box works just as well. 

 Sweetness!

MBA Graduate!

Jimmy graduated from Hult International Business School on August 16, 2012.

  Jimmy met us in the lobby before the ceremony started and as he walked over to us a wave of emotion hit me as my mind was flooded with the memories of the last year.  We experienced some of the highest highs and lowest lows and everything in between and I can't believe it's actually over.  Earning an MBA is hard enough, but doing that while moving to a foreign country, welcoming a new baby and taking care of a family is a lot to handle.  And on top of it all Jimmy was involved in several clubs, was the VP of the HSA and was in many other leadership roles throughout the year.   He never complained and kept a positive, supportive attitude through it all.  

Ali couldn't stop staring at Jimmy's robe and hat.  I couldn't either- he looked so handsome!

Jimmy and his two kids.  There were not many students taking photos like this!  Very few of them were married, let alone parents.

Proud family!

Very proud wife!!!

We were so happy to have both of our parents come for the graduation.  We could not have made it through this last year without the help and support of our amazing and loving parents.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!! (We did take a photo with my parents but somehow non of them ended up on our camera.  We'll have to get one from someone.)

This is one of Jimmy's favorite professors.  He taught negotiations and tired to help Jimmy learn how to win negotiations at home.  Nice try.  Hehehe!

This is another favorite professor.

Jimmy met this professor while studying in Shanghai but then had him again when we moved to Boston.  He won professor of the year in Shanghai and he was certainly one of Jimmy's favorites too.

James, James and James.  The James on the right is a very nice Irishman who works for Hult.  He was so kind to us and helped us out a lot in our short three months in Boston.

Our sweet little James was so sick the day of graduation and I felt so sad for him.  But he was a trooper!  We thought he needed a photo in front of the Shanghai sign.

Jimmy was chosen as 1 of 3 MBA students and the only American to present to Hult's board of directors.  It was an honor for him to be chosen and recognized as an outstanding student to be a part of the presentation.
I am so proud of Jimmy for the hours and hours of work that he put into his schooling and for the great job he did.  He was always such a help at home and fulfilled his church callings.  We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for carrying us through this last year and for blessing our lives in countless ways!

TX ➪ China ➪ MA ➪ ...

Remember the game M.A.S.H.?  Well, when I was younger Maine was always one of my places when playing M.A.S.H.  I just knew I belonged in New England even though I hadn't been there.  I still haven't been to Maine yet but I do know that my heart lives in New England.  Sadly, we are moving from Boston next week. 

The circle of our lives continues.  We moved from Texas to China then to Massachusetts and now we are going back to Texas.  We have been praying for months about where we should move after Jimmy graduates and Houston was not one of the places we were looking at.  However, the answer came to both of us that Houston was the place and we are happy to know it's where we are supposed to be.  So grateful for prayer.   As the song goes, "I left my heart in San Francisco"... but in this case, in Boston.  Some things we LOVE about Boston are:

The healthy lifestyle- everyone out jogging and walking. 

The gorgeous weather!  We wish we could be here for fall and winter!!!

The beautiful architecture and style.

The amazing nature and greenery.

The nice, chill, accepting people.  Everyone we have met has been SO nice and kicked back!

Jimmy and I both agree that it will be nice going back to a place that is familiar to us.  Houston, here we come!  Bring on the BBQ y'all!!!! 

7 Months!!

James is 7 months old and that was the fastest month of my life!  I cannot believe how quickly he is growing up!  I took most of the pictures this last month with the other camera which I don't have right now.  But I do have a couple adorable pictures of James.  I LOVE this boy so much!  He is the cuddliest, sweetest, yummiest boy in the world!   

 We finally got him in to see a doctor for the first time since being back in the states.  He got three shots.  Have I mentioned that he has the saddest cry and cry-face ever?  He does.  And I hate to see either of my kids cry but there's just something heartbreaking about James' cry.  Maybe it's because he never cries so when he does it's a big deal.  But he was a champ.  James weighs 24 pounds which puts him in the 95 percentile for his age.

Since he is closer to being a 1 year old (WEIRD!) than a newborn I have been thinking a lot about what he was like as a newborn and a couple things came to mind that I never recorded.
1- For the first few months of his life he was the loudest, and I mean LOUDEST, groan-stretcher you have ever heard.  And he would do his groan-stretch thing from about 4 am till 6 or 7 when he woke up.  It was so loud you could not sleep in the same room with it.  For weeks I thought he was awake while doing this but he wasn't.  He was just prepping his body to be the cutest cuddly baby ever.
2- He had the LOUDEST farts of anyone I knew.  Plus, according to some people, they were the smelliest things ever.  He was my sweet new baby so I thought they smelled like sweet baby smells but Jimmy did not agree.  Since he started eating solids he doesn't fart loudly anymore.  Strange!  I would think it would be the other way around.
3- He started laughing and cooing around 5 weeks old which is pretty early for a baby.  He has carried on this sweet disposition since that time.  He is currently going through a babble stage.  I love it and could listen to it all day!
4- If we sit close to him he will lift both arms, lean over, grab onto us and rest his head on us.  I cannot describe how much I love this.  He has been doing this for months and it is just the sweetest thing.
5- He is a cautious baby.  I can't count the number of times I have heard someone say, "He's such a serious baby" and I'm always caught off guard by it because he's totally not.  I've realized he's just cautious.  He's not goofy or silly (yet).  He just observes.  He has entered the stranger danger phase and likes to be with Mommy and Daddy.
I'm sure I'll think of more to add to the list.
James, you bless our lives every day with your sweetness and love.  Thank you for being a special part of our family.

First Wrestling Match!

I finally figured out how to quickly upload movies to YouTube!  We take so many little movies but I was uploading them from iMovie and that was taking forever!!
So here are Ali and James in their first wrestling match!  I'm sure Jimmy was so proud!

And then they had fun sitting in the fort Daddy built them!  Ali is just learning how cool forts are.

We love watching our kids play together.  Being a parent is the best!!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Truth be told I am not the best at making my babies do tummy time.  It seems like it is either like this:

Or like this:

 I love how James has mastered tummy time!  What a genius!  Why not just lay down if you don't like something!

Ali finally appreciates it.  She was so funny!  As soon as I picked James up she laid down and started copying him.

 I had given him a little ribbon so she pulled it over and played with it.

 She even pulled it across her body like he had done at one point.  It's fun having two little ones!

The funny thing is that the younger kids are supposed to copy what the older kid does but it's the other way around in our house... at least for now.  Other things that Ali has picked up from James are the following:
☞She likes to have a binky when she sees him using his binky even though she stopped using one a year ago.
☞He cried during his first few baths and since then Ali has not liked her baths as much and freaks out when we wash her hair.
☞She likes to sit in his baby seats.  We've never been able to put James in his bumbo because Ali always sits in it when we bring it out.
☞When he cries, she cries.  This one totally kills me!  I always tell her she doesn't have to cry just because he's crying.  Ha!  He usually stops crying because she starts crying so loud and he looks over to see what her deal is.

SLEEP!

It's great that James takes a binky now so he can play with play dough without eating it!

 Ali just learned the art of making play dough snakes.

 James decided to suck his toes one afternoon!  So funny!

 Our Ali loves watermelon!  This is also the first picture she has smiled on cue.

 Prettiest girl in the world!

 James eating a biscuit.

These two are just perfect!  I want to laugh and cry at the same time when I think about how happy they make me!  Plus we sleep trained James a couple nights ago and I got my first real sleep last night.  It was HEAVEN!  It has only been three nights and he slept from 7:30 pm to 5 am.  I nursed him at 5 and he went back to sleep till 7.  It's amazing how good a person can feel getting uninterrupted sleep!  I recommend it!