Archive for the 'James' Category

This story was related to me by my mom, who heard it from James' Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Stacy. So pardon me if I don't get all the details right, but it was too funny not to share:

Mrs. Stacy had just finished telling her first-grade class how God is like the air: He's all around us, even though we can't see Him. At this point, she sees James raise his hand, and he asks, "Excuse me, can I say something?" She gives him permission, so he continues: "You just used an analogy." (I think he might have come up with another example here to illustrate what an analogy is, but I'm not sure.) She tells him that, yes, it was an analogy. Another little boy turns to James and says, "Wow, James, you're smart!"

Analogies came up this week at the dinner table, when Jay was trying to explain something else to the kids. (I don't remember what it was now.) He said something about coming up with an analogy, and James said, "What is an analogy?" We spent the rest of the meal trying to help him understand the difference between analogies and simple descriptions ("No, 'A pie is like a circle' is not an analogy, it's just a description.") James was finally able to come up with his own analogy, indicating that he had the concept down. (I don't think Eliza ever quite got the concept, but she tried; she has a few years!) A lot of James' intelligence comes from a curiosity that needs to understand things. He is not satisfied until he really knows what you are talking about. Thankfully, Jay delights in explaining things (often using analogies!), so we get to have some interesting dinner and car-trip conversations. I do a fair share of explaining things myself, but I find it's even more fun listening to Jay's explanations!

James has always had a large vocabulary, but the way he uses adult phrases sometimes still makes me giggle. The other day I was talking about something that James didn't like, and he told me, "Mom, don't even mention that to me." And today we were trying to leave my parents' house, and James remembered that he had brought his Pokemon cards inside (by the way, did you know those things are making a comeback? James has taken a strong interest in them, much to my dismay.) Anyway, he asked, "Mom, did you get my stuff?" and he ran upstairs to look for them. A few seconds later, we heard him in Gerald's room, saying, "Apparently not." Mom and I looked at each other, and just laughed. That boy is too funny!

James came up to me this afternoon, and with a serious expression on his face, said this to me:

"If I had a DS (Nintendo's hand-held game system), I would be more excited and happy, because this place is a little lame."

I nearly fell out of my chair. I laughed and told him I was gonna write that one down, but he kept saying, "I really mean it." At supper I decided to say the blessing (the kids were arguing over who's turn it was anyway), and I made sure to include something like this: "Thanks for the good food we have, because there are some people who don't even have anything to eat; and thanks for all the things we have, because there are many who don't have a place to live, much less all the fun things we enjoy." I'm not sure if the kids paid it any attention, but it was something I needed to pray for myself. It made me realize once again how spoiled we are, how ungrateful we can be, and how easily we pass it on to our kids. Ouch. I want to be grateful!

James woke up this morning excited about church (or maybe just the pancake breakfast they're having there this morning), but he also had something else on his mind. As I was getting ready, he started singing, "Oh, yeah, nuttin' tomorrow! Oh, yeah, nuttin' tomorrow!" That's how I feel about Spring Break, too!

Missing: Sweet boy with good attitude. Easily amused, good tempered, obedient, generally unselfish. Last seen before school started last fall. Goes by James, but also answers to Buddy and Sweet Boy. Hoping he returns soon. We miss him. :)

Oh, and if you find my sanity while you're at it, I would be forever grateful.

James' doctor appointment went well, and he lived up to the school nurse's diagnosis as "very talkative". He answered all the questions and passed all the neurological exercises that the doctor had him do, such as walking on his tip-toes and his heels. The doctor was most concerned about his ongoing congestion, as well as his inflamed nasal passages. He prescribed antibiotics for a possible sinus infection, as well as nasal steroids on a trial basis. Hopefully that will take care of his headaches, but if it doesn't, we have a few other ideas. It's a good start, anyway!

James has been having headaches recently, and twice this week was sent to the school nurse because he complained so much. He seems fine otherwise, so I keep giving him Motrin and sending him to school. It concerns me a little, but I'm also not sure if James is being completely honest, which throws a kink in things. The note that the nurse sent home with him yesterday describes his condition very well: "Complained of intermittent head pain. Very talkative." I laughed out loud at that! We will probably take him to the doctor soon to get him checked out if the headaches keep coming, but in the meantime we could use some prayers as we try to figure out what to do about him.

I don't like to brag, but I have some pretty neat kids! Here are some of the things they have been doing lately:

James is getting better and better at reading. Here he is reading his library book to Eliza. They really love each other, you know! He is pretty good at writing, too, and got great marks on his report card from school.

Behind that goofy look is a pretty smart girl! She sounded out these words and wrote the letter they begin with by herself, with only a little help from me ("owl" is kind of hard to figure out from a simple phonetic standpoint). Pretty good for a 3-year-old, I think! She still loves numbers, and is getting good at figuring things up in her head.

James just finished his workbook for AWANA Sparks, meaning he memorized all the Bible verses in it. Now he gets to go back and review the verses to make sure they stay in his head!

Eliza woke up this morning and was singing "Father Abraham" in her bed. I guess she learned it at school. It was pretty funny to hear her just singing away!

The kids have started singing their bedtime prayers to God. I have to admit, this is a little frustrating for me (unbearably cute as it may be), because I usually don't leave much time for prayers (I know, bad Mom!) and it drags out the process because they like to hold the ending notes: "Dear Gooood, thank you for this whole daaaaaaay, thank you for this whole time we had togetheeeeeer." They are probably not getting enough sleep as it is. Oh, well.

James lives for the weekends, and Eliza lives for her next school day…they are so different! I love these little boogers!

A recap of our year in pictures:

Eliza got a bicycle for Christmas last year and she loves to ride! She has grown so much this year!

In February, Jay and I got to go to San Francisco to help some friends move into a new house. It was my first visit to California, and marked the end of Jay's year-and-a-half of traveling for work. We are so glad to have him home every evening, instead of just on the weekends!

We had snow in March, and I love this picture of James playing in it.

This was the most snow we've seen here since moving into our house in 2004. Jay was able to build this great snowman.

Spring finally came, and we took our annual trip to Wye Mountain to see the field of daffodils.

Our niece, Hannah, turned one year old in April!

We potty-trained Eliza this year…here we are celebrating her accomplishment!

James had his first experience with organized sports. He had a little trouble staying focused, though. :)

We all made it to the top of Pinnacle Mountain this year…no baby backpacks!

I had my 10-year high school reunion. I haven't changed that much…

We celebrated the Fourth of July by the river in downtown Little Rock.

Eliza turned three! Here she is practicing her dance moves in her new ballerina outfit. She also started preschool this year, and she goes 2 mornings a week.

We got to go to Disneyworld with my family. It was our first big vacation, and we had a blast.

James started kindergarten! It has been a big adjustment for us, but he is doing great.

I can't believe my baby is 5!

In October we had a family reunion, and it was the only time my whole immediate family was able to get together this year. Usually we are missing Joseph and Nicole who live in east Tennessee. It was good to see them!

The kids were Mario and Princess Peach for Halloween. I had fun putting their costumes together, but it was a lot of work!

This is the first time I let the kids help me make Christmas cookies. They especially enjoyed decorating them!

This is our Christmas card picture, which just shows how big our kids are getting! It has been a great year!

God has blessed us with many great Christmases, and this year was no exception! Santa brought the kids a few things Christmas morning, then we opened a few more presents before packing up to drive to Memphis that afternoon. We had Christmas at my Granny's first, then a few blocks away we had Christmas with Meemaw and Grandaddy at my aunt and uncle's house. If I am counting correctly, there were 45 people there; the only family members missing were my brother Joseph and his wife Nicole (missed y'all!) Yes, my mom has a huge family, and she did her best to make it bigger! My kids are still the only great-grandchildren on that side, but I expect within the next ten years or so there will be a baby boom, as all of my cousins are 21 and younger. Anyway, the kids had fun playing with all their first-cousins-once-removed!

We slept at my Granny's house, which is always an adventure! I think there were only 13 of us in her 2-bedroom house this time. It was not a good thing when Eliza woke up crying one night and couldn't stop. She cried for a good 20 minutes, with me holding her and talking to her the whole time. She just could not get calmed down! I'm sure we woke up the whole house, except James, who said he didn't remember it at all.

The day after Christmas, we drove over to Jackson, TN, where Jay's sister lives. Jay's mom had come up from Mississippi, so we had our Christmas with his family there. It was quite different from Christmas with my family! We had fun playing with Hannah and opening presents. Mammaw gave James a real guitar, which James loved and immediately started playing (even if it didn't sound that great!); he even started making up songs as he played along with Robbie, who had brought out his own guitar. It was great! I have a few pictures from all our adventures on my flickr. Videos coming as soon as I can get around to them!

We were all sick with colds the week before Christmas, but were mostly better by Christmas Day. Jay, however, took a turn for the worse after his brief time of feeling better. He has been sick ever since, and is thinking about going to the doctor if he doesn't start getting better soon. He had to work Monday and Tuesday, which didn't help! He doesn't have to go back until next Monday, so he has a little bit of time to recuperate from the holiday madness.

We are taking it easy today, enjoying our time off (especially James!) and trying to figure out where all these presents are going to go! May God bless you in this New Year!