Walk Like This

                                          Getting ready to plow the back nine

                                        First comes the card, then the bow...

                                       "I looove opening presents!"

                                        "It says here that the cow goes in the silo..."

                                         A cool treat for a hot day

Jacob had another birthday gift to open last night. This one was from Gramma Lynn and Papa Roger! As you can see he enjoyed playing with it and with the card. If you look close enough, you can see a piece of that in his mouth in the picture where he is smiling at the camera. Luckily, Daddy was able to rescue most of that from his mouth :-) With his new tractor and new barn, he is going to be all set to play Old MacDonald to his heart's content. Daddy and Micah enjoyed their weekly snow cone treat from the little stand on the way home from school. Each week they try a new flavor. This week was strawberry and black cherry.Yum! And extra stain stick for the clothes. In this video, Jacob is learning to take steps. Although he hasn't walked a long distance yet, he can take a few wobbly steps toward someone if he's inclined. Here he is practicing with Daddy. Today Micah is having a water day at school. They are learning about ocean animals and as part of that unit they are wearing swimsuits and playing water games on the playground today! I am sure he will come home excited to tell us all about it. We have decided to take a family vacation in a few weeks to Corinth, MS, where Micah was born. We'll drive to Memphis and spend the day and a night there and on to Corinth from there to stay with friends for a couple days. It will be fun showing Micah the house where we brought him home and getting to see all the great people in that town again. It will be our first vacation that doesn't involved visiting the grandparents, so we are looking forward to that and for the boys to have that experience. I think we'll probably go to the Memphis Children's museum and maybe the zoo if it isn't too hot and we have time. Our friends in Corinth have a pool so I'm sure Micah will love that! We also signed M up for swimming lessons in July at the Arkadelphia water park and got him a new Spider-Man water vest for when we go to the lake. We're all set for some summer fun!

Birthday gifts

Here is a YouTube link to the video of us singing Happy Birthday and Jacob "blowing" out the candle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gNbYrvGsb0&feature=youtu.be

And here is a video of him (well, Micah) opening his gift from Grammy and Pop Pop!

First Birthday!

May 26 was Jacob's first birthday! Jacob's birthday was on Saturday so we chose to celebrate on Monday after I had returned from Vermont. We spent the morning at the park.  Our friends and their 2-yr-old came over to celebrate with us. I made a mini yellow cake and cupcakes, with cool whip for frosting, and sprinkles.We grilled some chicken and had dinner, then sang Happy Birthday and put down the mini cake in front of Jacob. He wasted no time getting both hands in it! But it did take him a little bit to figure out he could eat it. Once he did, though, he demolished it! He was in good spirits even though he had a runny nose and was laughing and enjoying himself the whole time. After cake Micah helped him open gifts and then it was right in the tub to scrub off all those crumbs! Micah and David ran around playing while Jacob tried his best to imitate whatever they were doing. He had a bit of a hard time going to sleep that night, but who can blame him? I think he really enjoyed the day! I'll post some more in the next entry.

Vermont

                                         Beth and me

                                        Helen and Beth

                                        The three sisters

                                        The "homestead"

This weekend was a big one. It was my first time away from Jacob overnight. Dan was home with the boys while I flew to Vermont for Grampy's memorial service and burial. It was sad to say goodbye to him and to those memories I have at the house, which will probably be put on the market soon. But there were lots of happy memories, too, and that's what I try to dwell on. Due to the nature of the visit, I didn't take a whole lot of  "people" photos, but I did take lots of the house and property and a few of family members. It was kind of like a reunion and I enjoyed getting to see people I hadn't seen in a long time, even if it was only for a day. It was nice to have that time to be quiet and reflect, a luxury. And of course, I had to make the pilgrimage to the Mountainview creamie stand! I was glad to get home to the guys and see that they made out just fine (pizza and chocolate chip cookies seemed to help). Jacob's got a cold, but what's new ?  :-)

First Word

Jacob loves this page in his farm animal book because the piggy makes the funniest sound!

I'm pretty sure that Jacob has a new word, other than Mama and Dada. It's "book"! Since he was just a few months old, I've been reading him a book before bed each night so he's familiar with the idea. I think his favorite is Goodnight Moon since he almost always picks that one out of a group of books. A couple of weeks ago we were looking at books in his room and he picked one up and said "book". I figured he was just putting sounds together until I realized that he was doing it repeatedly whenever we would go to the pile of books or when he would pick one up off the floor in the living room. We knew that he likes reading since he often chooses to leaf through, or chew on, a book when given a variety of toys to choose from. He also likes to turn the pages of board books himself when we read to him. So I guess I'm willing to call it at this point! I hope he continues to have a love for reading, just like his parents and big brother do.

Jacob's Dedication/Mother's Day

Those who would like to see Jacob's dedication at church last Sunday, click here. Micah also sings in the preschool choir in this video. The kids sing, there's a video shown and then the dedication is around 15 minutes in, so you might want to fast-forward to there after you hear Micah sing. Also, for some reason, I had to load this video several times before the sounds would work, so you might have to, too. The dedication was our way of recognizing our desire to encourage Jacob to serve the Lord with his life. Ultimately, that will be his decision, but we pray that as he grows up and explores what it means to have faith, he will seek out Christ, the one who loves and teaches us what love is.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. Micah gave me two sprouting flowers in little cups that he had made at school! This is special to me, since the first Mother's Day gift I got from him was a styrofoam cup with Happy Mother's Day written on it and a flower inside :-) From Jacob, I got a little laminated bookmark with his picture and his footprint :-) And Dan surprised me with a Kindle Fire e-reader, which this bookworm has been wanting! We went out to eat and even though it ended up being one of those times when you just have to get your food, and then get a to-go box and get the heck outta there, it was still special. It gave me a chance to reflect on how grateful I am for my family. Really, this holiday is about Dan and the boys too, since I wouldn't "qualify" without them! And, of course, we are thankful for our mothers who raised us in loving families and showed us how we ought to love each other.

Put 'em in, spit 'em out, Rawhiiiii-de!

Jacob's new trick is putting rice puffs or other food in his mouth and then spitting it out again. This makes for a very messy meal, but it's a lot of fun for him. I have a cute video of him doing this on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/B2lFh1Htcow

This morning both he and daddy fell asleep in the chair before school. Micah and I were the only ones still awake when it was time to leave. Since Jacob wakes up so early, he's usually ready for naptime by 7:30 or 8. We are trying to put him to bed a little later and move toward a bedtime around 7, but so far it hasn't affected his wake time (5:15-5:30).