My Grandpa drives an airboat.

My dad loves to 'hunt the dragon' as he likes to call his gator hunting expeditions, and what kind of boat do you need to go gator hunting?  An air boat.  This isn't like the show 'Swamp People' where they ride out in their john boat and bait catch the gators.  This is stalk them at night, in the swamp, on an giant air boat, shoot them with a bow and a line, tow them back to the boat (still alive at this point), shoot them with a bang stick (hopefully now dead), then pull them in the boat (really hope its dead).

Now me, I think of air boats as part of the movie, The Rescuers.  The air boat in that was was way more akin to the 'Swamp People' type bayou experience. haha

No, thankfully my boy just sat on the airboat with his Papa. :-)  It made for some pretty pictures, and that makes one momma happy happy.

Safety first...

I feel the power!!

out of the frying pan and into the basket...

Poor James, what a tough life. :-)

Orange Cat Photo

Do you need pictures.... do you want awesome ones?  Then you want Dana. Orange Cat Photography is located in Hickory, NC.  The pictures speak for themselves!!  She took the first one when James was just about 7 months old, and the others were our newborn pictures.  We LOVE them, seriously.

ps. Are you getting that she comes highly recommended??

comparison and contrast

I can't help compiling pictures of James as he changes over time.  I can't see the changes as they happen because they are too small to notice every day; its only in hindsight that I can actually point out the things that look different.  See?

6 Months, 7 Months, 8 Months...

 

8 months old, wow

James Michael Prose is 8 months old now. wow, my boy is so big!

My boy skyping with his Mimi and Grandpa Prose.  Standing up tall! :-)

Too cute.  Love the little teeth!!

Happy boy.

Until next time...

James' best friend

This past week has flown by: James turned 8 months old, the weather is changing, I got to have such wonderful time with dear friends, and now its Monday again.  Sometimes the clock moves so slowly, and then I blink and its been a week.

James loves our dog Roosevelt, who we call 'Roo.'  Roo is a 4 year old Westie, and we love him most days.  Some days he is less loved (just being honest) when he has episodes like he did this last week.  Our dog needed a round of steroid, said our vet, to help his skin inflammation clear.  Long story short, no one told us that steroids make you pee like crazy, how hard would that have been?? "Oh, Mrs. Prose, by the way, your dog will pee like there's no tomorrow.  Have a great day."  Instead, we found this out on our own with 3 highly traumatic events that lead to my frenzied phone call to the vet.

Anyway, Roo has fallen back into good graces since these incidents are technically beyond his control, and all it takes is him walking into the room and James laughs like crazy.

I've given up on trying to keep James out of the dog kennel.  The goal now is keep the dog toys out of his mouth, and I'm succeeding most of the time. haha

James: Wow, this place is awesome!

Roo: Hey, that's mine!

James: Here I come!!

Roo: excuse me, I'll just grab this ball

James: Don't worry Roo, I've got the ball!!

Roo: yeah, you get it; I'll just lay here.

a boy's boy

My boy loves wheels.  My boy loves playing ball.  My boy loves getting outside and trying to eat anything he can get his hands on.  My boy will dive head first off of furniture without consideration to his health or his Mommy's sanity.  My boy is all boy.

Oh, I guess except for how much he likes mirrors. haha, but can you blame him?? He's so cute.  I'm sure its not vanity - yet.  :-)  This was a mirror / brush, very manly.

Little Bulldog, Little Gator

These two, I can't get enough of.  Look at mr. king of cool all laid back on the couch.  Florida Gator track suit.  What a boy.  Little Anna Kate sitting up all perfect, little cheerleader outfit, watching her team.  She's actually about to grab James' hand, and I can't help but think of what they would say if they could talk.  AK: "Oh, here they go, hold my hand James!" James: "relax." haha.  It couldn't be, "why'd you dress me up like this mom?" nope, I'm sure that's not it.

Love it.

Daddies are the best.

hanging out in Greenville

James and I got to go hang out in Greenville while Matt was working last week, and we had such a fun day.  We got in town and got to meet up with one of my girlfriends from my high school cheerleading squad.  I've been keeping up with Kelli's blog For This Child I Prayed, so I felt like I already knew Lael her beautiful daughter, even though we'd never met.  She was just as adorable in person as she looks in her pictures (Kelli takes some really nice pics).  Beautiful girls!

James and Lael played at Kelli's until we headed in town for lunch at Bellacinos.  Oh my, I didn't even know I'd missed it this much! haha, the barbeque grinder and I go way back.  The babies were too cute sitting up in their high chairs across the table from each other.  It really makes me wonder if their baby talk back and forth was some kind of inside conversation.  At least Kelli and I were very entertained. :-)

We got to try out a little coffee shop / ice cream parlor called Spill the Beans right by the Reedy River waterfall park downtown.  James and Lael played on the ground outside while we had a little coffee treat, and I must say that Kelli has helped me introduce James to the world of dirt.  I've been pretty reluctant to let him play in the dirt so far, but I knew the day was coming for me to just let go and give him a chance to play.  Now Lael was wearing her beautiful little smocked dress and white (yes white) monogramed bloomers, and she was playing in the dirt.  So, I had to let James.  Come on, what could I say to that??

Look at this face, what a cutie!!

James chased this little ball which held secret puffs snacks around the patio.  He is really moving these days.  I hardly got any pictures of his face; they were all of his little bum in the air, haha.

We got to catch up with my old roommate from Clemson, Monica at the Haywood Mall, and boy nothing beats seeing a good friend for the first time in a long time.  Monica, you're awesome!!  Thanks for hanging out with us so last minute. :-)

We got to go out to dinner with Matt at Tako Sushi in downtown and sit outside in the beautiful weather.  Love me some sushi, and we don't have a good place in Hickory to get it.  Our little fella enjoying the night.

Thanks Greenville.  We'll be seeing you soon.

sugar and spice

I love getting to see Anna Kate and James play.  They are only 11 days apart, and it never ceases to amaze me how much they are growing and changing.  This was their second real 'play' date where they have actually played together, and wow, they were so cute!!  She has the sweetest little disposition, and it is so fun to see her little reactions.  James is such and ham, but he was overshadowed today! :-)

Our little budding readers 'sharing' a book. haha, how sweet are they??

James stealing the book while Anna Kate isn't looking.  haha, He's showing off his little puppy dog.

What do you have Mom / Mrs. Kelly??

Doesn't this look like they got caught doing something they weren't supposed to. haha

Little smiles.  THE best. :-)  Thanks for coming over to play Anna Kate!!  Of course, the real thanks should go to the momma.  Thanks Kelly! The Webbs

Brownie Point

Matt, James and I were lucky enough to have family come visit us over Labor Day.  How nice is it when you don't have to do the traveling?? (pretty nice I say)  My Mom came in on Friday and I got to go pick her up after James went to bed, which worked out great.  It was so nice to be able to just talk; usually I only get that luxury during nap time.  My sis and bro-in-law, Christina and Paul, came in Friday night and stayed over before their climbing trip to Looking Glass outside Brevard in the Pisgah National Forrest.  My sis Michelle came up from Columbia on Saturday, and we all drove over to Brevard so Matt, James and I could hike up and see Christina and Paul climb.

One word. Wow.  I've wanted to see them climb for YEARS, seriously, years.  When Christina and I were at Clemson, the trips never worked out for me to tag along.  Not to mention that I'm not the most adept 'camper' as it were. haha.  Bug phobic, anyone else??  Anyways, I've been telling her that we should plan a trip where we meet up with them so I can just watch.  That's all I wanted, to see the action in its natural habitat vs. and inside climbing gym (which lacks all the beauty and natural danger of the sport).  I was not let down in the least.

Christina put up the top rope for us to climb on lead, because they wanted to give us the chance to climb.  Matt and I are both pretty athletic, so we were like, ok, let's go for it.  She was pretty impressive to watch, but it only got better later when they climbed something hard.  And yes, Matt and I did this! go us.

I went first, and wow, am I sore now!!  They were totally encouraging and gave great instruction so I could do it.  Honestly, would not have done it if they hadn't been so encouraging.  Here is our posed shot.

Here is my cool shot.  It looks so high! ps. it was high.  The climb was about 100 ft.  They said it was a 5.8 rating, which I'm told, is 'something most athletic people couldn't just get up off the couch and do.'

Matt went second, and he was much faster than me.  It is so crazy to see where the moves were harder for him and easier for me (and visa versa).  This one was pretty impressive to me.  Look at that flexibility!

Finally, Pauly climbed it for fun, barefooted, in about 5 min.  like taking a walk in the park.  I was impressed, until I saw them do the harder route, then I was really impressed.  They are pretty awesome.  Christina was just as awesome as I'd always known she would be.  I'm so glad I finally got to see it in person!!

Here is James and me watching Auntie Christina climb to start off.  He had a great time.  He loved touching the rock, and honestly, it was a pretty intimidating sight.  Because I climbed it on top rope without falling, that's called a 'brownie point.'  So, go me. :-)

Thanks Christina and Paul!!!

hilarious, to me anyways

I love my boy.  He cracks me up on a daily basis.  He just recently got 2 teeth!! They have been pretty hard to photograph, so it has taken me until now to find out where you can sort of see his teeth.  You can sort of see them (if you know what you're looking at) in the last minute hike blog.

Here are his two little teeth!! Yeah, sadly enough, the crying pictures are the ones that show the teeth best.

These are from James just playing the last few days.  I introduce to you, squeaks, rockin' the hat and playing the big plastic spoon.

I'm not sure what he was looking for, but I'm pretty sure he found it. haha

This one made me laugh: during, after, today.  Still laughing.  I love you James.  In case you're curious, it is a lion jingly toy.  He's got him by the tail.

last minute hike

Matt and I decided to take a last minute hike on Monday evening to South Mountain, NC.  We actually hadn't been back to hike it since I was preggo with James (20 weeks I think) and we hiked to the falls then.  Monday, we decided to take a different hike, and didn't quite realize how far and how long it would be.  James did great though for reaching the top about 7pm when he normally is winding down for bed, and we  still had to hike back down!  Poor fella, what a life. :-)

My handsome boys. :-) I'm not gonna lie, if the Lord chooses to give us more children, I'd really love a girl.  But, honestly I'm LOVIN my boys.  I could totally have more boys.

James really loves being outside, and since his life is mostly putting things in his mouth in any and every environment, it makes it hard.  Mommy just can't quite let go enough for him to eat nature.  Call me crazy.  I figure, when he gets a little older and not so apt to put things in his mouth, then we'll really be able to play outside.

When Matt and I worked at Crossroads Worldwide (ministries with Clayton King, Matt Orth, its awesome), they had a hiking activity that went to South Mountain, and I was SURE that there was an overlook that was pretty open where we could sit and enjoy it for a few minutes.  Unfortunately, we were not on the right path again. haha, we'll just have to go back and keep hiking the trails to find it.  I swear it's there.  Anybody know what I'm talking about??

You can obviously tell we weren't where I was describing as you look below.  It was still a beautiful view!