Out to Dinner

To my surprise, James picked Village Inn for our dinner date on Friday night. He ordered the biggest, messiest item on the menu, the All-World Double Cheeseburger (more napkins please). James came prepared with the following topics to discuss:

• Vehicles in the parking lot: make, model, and year of each one viewable from our booth
• Evelyn's lack of teeth: Did the tooth fairy visit her?
• Nephews: Why don't I have any? How about in six months?

God Have Mercy on My Soul

James' sanity was put to the test with a full house and schedule for Mother's Day weekend. On Friday night, he received his niece, Evelyn, with open arms. However, he didn't like it when she cried and told her to "be quiet" or "shhhhh". It must not have bothered him too badly though because he asked several times for a nephew to be named "Cranky." On Saturday, James helped our mom make chocolate chip cookies and a french silk pie. That evening he got out his treasured high school yearbook to show everyone. He spends time each night pouring over the pages. On Sunday, James came downstairs dressed and ready to go to church, but Venessa made him change his socks because gray wool socks just don't go with black dress pants. After the church service I told James not to change clothes when he got home because I wanted to take some pictures. James said, "God have mercy on my soul." 

More Cowbell!

Last night James found Vania's "Saturday Night Live - The Best of Will Ferrell" DVD. The video Vania took is a little blurry and hard to understand, but what James is trying to spit out is, "I got a fever! And the only prescription...is more cowbell!" Enjoy!

 

Jelly Donut Saves the Day

Any change in plans can cause James severe anxiety and distress, but James showed this week that he has made significant progress in "going with the flow." On Thursday morning, our mom and grandma left for Minnesota to visit James' new niece, Evelyn, for a couple days. James told me, "mom is with the baby in Minnesota." James is pretty attached to our mom, so we were glad to see our dad, James, and Hayden could survive without her for a couple days. James and I were looking forward to going to an Iowa Cubs game Friday night for the Autism Walk Kick Off, but the game was cancelled due to inclement weather. James was disappointed, but it only took me about thirty seconds to get him to agree that making Pillsbury cookies was a excellent alternative. When Hy-Vee didn't have the Pillsbury cookies James was looking for, I was shocked that his only response was, "jelly donut?" That night James asked to see pictures of Evelyn, and when he saw her, he said, "that's James' baby." He is a very proud uncle.

Hey, Baby Baby

James finally got to meet his niece, Evelyn Marie, yesterday. He was having trouble pronouncing her name and called her Abilene and Elf. We never thought James would be able to sit still enough to hold a newborn, but he proved us wrong. James immediately reached out for Evie and said, "Hey, baby baby." He sat still and held her for a long time. James was intrigued by her tiny fingers. He tried to play peek-a-boo with her and read her one of his favorite books, "Green Eggs and Ham". James shocked everyone by supervising a diaper change and throwing away a very dirty diaper! Before the visit was over, James asked for nephews. It was a long drive back for all of us. On the way home, James said, "I'm thinking about Dave Thomas...I'm thinking about Wendy's." 



Goodbye Fruit!

James got everything he wanted from the Easter Bunny and also thought that the "Boy Meets World" DVDs Vania got for her 20th birthday should be his. James put in his "Sports Funnies" VHS right away. He loves to watch a good tumble down a ski slope. Although scrambled eggs were part of the breakfast buffet, James couldn't eat them because they weren't right out of the frying pan and didn't smell right. He wasn't impressed by the bowl of fruit either. He yelled, "Goodbye fruit!"

 

Track Star

On Friday night James watched our mom and I put the finishing touches on the nursery for his niece who he has been calling "Rita". Then James and I went to see the movie "Mirror Mirror". James was so excited that he dumped his popcorn bucket. Not wanting to lose one kernel, James tried to shovel the popcorn on the floor back into his bucket, but thankfully, I was able to stop him. On Saturday morning James had his first track meet where he competed in the shot put. James didn't throw the farthest, but he was by far the most entertaining to watch.