Stays take IKEA

I have recently become obsessed with IKEA.  The place sells cheap furniture/everything AND meatballs!?! (Where have you been all my life?)  

This is how Jonny and Mommy do IKEA:

This is how James feels about IKEA:

Also this:

(LOVES IT!)

How Daddy and James do IKEA:

Until next time...after all of our cheap IKEA stuff has fallen apart...

Stays roll out!

New York

Ben had a business meeting in NYC, so I decided the boys and I should tag along.  We drove up, (stopping in New Jersey for a Mugleston visit-always awesome!) and we spent the night with this view:

The next morning, Ben left for work and the boys and I hit the street.  (And the subway--James loved it.)  I had wanted to go to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty so badly, but they're closed due to damage from hurricane Sandy.  Since my plan was a no go, we went for a ride on the (FREE!) Staten Island Ferry instead.  It took us past the Statue of Liberty, which we loved.  Someday we'll really make it there.

A boy and a lady:

Once we made it back to Times Square, we wandered around for a while.  The highlight of the trip for James was the Toys R Us store.  We rode the ferris wheel, with Buzz Lightyear, no less!  Hoo-rah!

Watching James run around the store with wide eyes and excitement for all the comic book toys was so fun for me.  James is totally obsessed with Spider-man, but he also loves the Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America.  He was so super excited about all the toys and displays, I thought Mr. James boy might just pass right out.

 

 HULK SMASH!

 

double high fives for a friend :)

 

It started snowing while we were in Times Square, so we kind of spent a lot of time in Toys R Us and the Disney store, but we were totally cool with that.  :)

 

On the list for next time:

-9/11 Memorial

-a stop at Liquiteria

-Ellis Island (oh please oh please!)

Until next time, New York!  

p.s-Jonny is in no photos because he spent the entire day snuggled up to me in the baby carrier.  Loved it!

What my week looked like:

This is Maddie, one of my Activity Days girls.  Maddie is in love...with Jonny.  Yesterday at church, Jonny discovered Maddie's braces.  Love those AD girls! 

 

The best part is watching Maddie try and hold my big fat baby.  (so juicy!)  Looks soooo funny.  Ugh, I love it :)

 

So much snorting going on in these pictures.  Hey SARAH!  He laughs just.like.YOU

Sometimes I set dinner on fire.  This is just pasta, imagine what I can do with tricky recipes!  Martha Stewart, here I come!

First time on the swings=huge success!

James is super into pirates right now.  He yells things like, "You scurvy dog!" and sneaks up behind me to shoot me with cannon balls.  Awesome!

James learned the story of David and Goliath by acting it out.  He defeated Goliath-Daddy with some paper stones.  He loved it, but I don't think I've fully convinced him that David from the scriptures is not Uncle David...?

James is also super into volcanoes right now, so we play hot lava...a lot.  p.s-Jonny is pretty good at it too :)

We believe that faith is like a little seed.

Spider-Man

James loves Spider-Man.  

Here he is with matching pajamas with his cousin, Tyler, slinging some web.

Though pirate runs in his blood, his Spidey-powers still come through on a treasure hunt for gold doubloons with his Grandpa, Captain Staylost (notice James slinging webs as he runs around).

Sometimes he also loves Batman, Iron Man, Hulk (Smash!), Rhino, and other super heroes and villains. He just about passed out at Toys 'R Us in Times Square when he saw all the super hero toys they had.

Mostly he loves Spider-Man

So watch out bad guys!

Tricky tricky

I found James with these screws, he wouldn't say where he got them:

 ...Somewhere in my house there is a chair or table just waiting to fall apart once I touch it. 

:)

Jonathan Edwyn Stay

Jonathan Edwyn Stay was born on July 23rd at 6:18 pm, weighing in at 8lbs 2oz.  His middle name is for Ben's Grandpa, who shared that birthday.  We're in love, again.

 My amazing midwife, Wendy Dotson

 James brought his trusty rhino with him to meet Jonny, of course

Jonathan came one week late, but I forgave him for that as soon as he was placed on my chest.  :)  I had made a goal to make it through this childbirth wth no pain medication, (maybe I'll post about that another time) and the longer he waited, the weaker my resolve became.  I even scheduled an induction for Sunday the 22nd, which I ended up cancelling.  I'm SO glad I did, because he came on his own the following day. 

I'm so in love with my THREE men. 

When Ben drove me to the hospital the day I had James, we listened to a Weezer song in the baby's honor.  This time, I drove myself to the hospital while on the phone with Ben and I didn't get a chance to play the song.  So here it is--for the boys, I sing loudest starting at the 3:32 mark

7/11 FREE SLURPEE DAY!

It's July 11th, which means 7-11 is giving out free slurpees!  I didn't know about this until this morning...but once I was made aware of it, it became a concrete part of our schedule.  :)

We sat and watched airplanes land and drank our free drinks...it was a good day.  Happy 7-11!