Jacob Turned 1

Over a month ago! And Bob wasn't there!

Okay, backing up.... we have some apartment building back in Maine, and, well, one really needed a new roof. So, Bob went to schedule flights and arrange schedules trying to make it work around the cabinetry jobs he had lined up, and the only time that could be done was the day before Jacob turned one - and, of course, it had to be for a least a week - he opted for the one week making for some very long days. But he had great help and great company!

Anyway, the kids and I decided that we were going to do something special for Jacob on his birthday anyway because it was, after all, his first! We contacted a few friends last minute and had a little party in the park - the kids decorating the cakes for that party. A caterpillar and a gummy bear bridge! It was rather chaotic, but I don't know why I hadn't figured that into the occasion given that Bob was out of town. But it was very nice for our friends to help us say "Happy First Birthday" to the little guy.

We did have a family FHE party for him as well. Since he'd done it once already, he knew exactly what to do with his presents. I decorated another caterpillar cake for that night. We finally used the pan that Aunt Julie had give us years ago - we've just been waiting for the right time.... it's a cupcake pan that does all the caterpillar section. (And it worked great!)

Anyway - as always, it's hard to admit that the year had already gone by. He's grown so much - and continues to do so. He has several words, constantly trying out new ones and trying to mimic the sounds he hears from us in relation to something he really wants. He does amazing with sign language - still smiles nearly all the time and is just full of love and life and enthusiasm!

The Rest of Family Vacation - in a Nut Shell

Okay, so I'm so far behind it almost seems silly to do anything more... but, I wanted to give you a quick sample of the rest of the visit with Marie's family - of course, I haven't put the pictures from Bud's camera on here yet, so you won't see those... at least not for now.


So, Fourth of July was spent having fun in the grandma and grandpa's backyard. Stomp Rockets, Geysers, getting sprayed by grandpa, and Jacob took his first real tumble... header... and got his first black eye. - Amazingly, for all the issues that little boys has, his black eye was all healed by the time we took pictures on Saturday morning!


I thought it was amazing to discover we could see the fireworks from our back porch (which is where Jacob and I watched them)... and honestly, a much better show - no trees in the way or anything like that, and no straining the neck!


We also went camping, played on the lakes, and took tons of family photos. In addition to all that, while Jacob and I took a break (the poor boy was beyond tuckered) the others went to Mt Lassen to go sledding (some great pictures, just not on my camera) and the went hiking and built a little teepee.

A great time as usual!

A Master in the House

I know I'm behind.....
BUT...
I'll catch up later....

THIS ONE'S FOR BOB!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

Bob completed his masters - in educational leadership - turning in his last assignment last night (which included a movie that just didn't want to do what it was told... but finally did - hey, prayer works). It was graded by this morning - he's done. He did it. And now we can breath... a little.

I'm so grateful for my husband and all that he does - supporting us, teaching the children, working hard, being there for me, and serving beyond compare. He's amazing - and though I wear down on my end much more often than he does on his, I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to support him through such advancements - and encourage him to grow and shine as an example not just for our own children, but for everyone who sees him. He is a shining beacon - and I'm so glad that he's my partner in the quest of life - my teammate in the race to eternity. I'm also glad the race can slow down a little, at least long enough for us to catch our breath before plunging forward again.

Coming to this end, I find myself spurring new desires... or rather, rediscovering old ones. I've been in mom mode for nearly ten years (or more if you count pregnancy) and in such, I've turned off the educational - career mode. I'm grateful that I did finish my bachelor's degree (completing it while pregnant with our second), but I've placed the rest of it on the back burner. Until recently, I've not been pursuing anything outside of the mom nest.... I'm still not really out of the mom nest - though I have picked up writing a lot more. It's something I used to be good at - and something I've been enjoying again (thus that lack of blogging). The stories I'm working on are for my own children - what better inspiration can there be. I don't know if anything will come of it, but it's something I'm doing for myself.

With Bob earning his masters, I've discovered an overwhelming desire to look back to my career path... though I'm not really sure what it would be any more. Things change as life goes forward. What I do know, though, is that I have four years to figure it out. Four years before Jacob is in school and I can honestly feel like I can dedicate large amounts of my time to furthering my education. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the mom nest - the nest that will grow to include so much more as the children grow and all our lives, interests, and schedules increase.

For now, I'm grateful for my husband's example - his love and his diligence. Grateful for all that he does and that he's doing. Grateful that he can look ahead to the future and plan accordingly. That he's willing to jump in and do whatever is necessary - finding and making the time to fit it all in.

I love you, honey! Great Job!

Cheri's Visit - And Grandma's Birthday

Since Aunt Marie and Uncle Adam were bringing their four little ones for the week, Aunt Cheri came up - and brought Great- Grandma Sylvia with her! It was very nice to see them both, and we had a very enjoyable visit.

Aunt Cheri played a lot of ball with the kids! Some of them had no fear of the ball - and some learned how to "crack it" - but they all had fun. Seeing that we didn't really have enough to "teams" there would be two in the outfield... the way it worked, once you batted and ran to home - or got out - then you went in the outfield. You were in the outfield for two runs of people. That way everyone could bat and everyone could be in the outfield! They had a blast with this, and at one point Aunt Marie was pitching.

Of course, during all the gaming, the little guys were doing their own thing. So cute! And grandpa? Well, you can see he found a great place to nap!

But... the best part was a surprise celebration for Grandma's birthday (seeing that we did it early). While the majority of us were gone to church, Aunt Cheri made her favorite cake - German Chocolate (and we all know just how hard that cake can be)! She hid it at our house - and our boys (well, Jeremy and Peter) made brownies for dessert - so she really was surprised! Funny stories, though - Aunt Cheri had to make the frosting 3 times... it's tricky and they really mean it when they say stir constantly!... and you really do need sugar in it. AND - we forgot the flour in the first batch of brownies... that's what happens when I'm instructing two youngester, trying to keep the daddy out of the batter and then starting putting away the ingredients already used (and put away the flour instead of the sugar)! We were a funny bunch of bakers!

But, as you can see, the cake was gorgeous! Mine never come out looking so good! And it was, of course, scrumptious! (The brownies were good an gooey) I already posted pictures in the earlier post of the aprons we gave Grandma, but you'll see a beautiful pitcher that Cheri made. And Kansas cousins gave the best gifts of all - the brought themselves and completed it with hugs!

Before Cousins

Cousins came for a visit..... that meant getting ready. I'm sure our getting ready was very different than that across the road - after all, they didn't sleep with us. Still, it was quite the handful with little kids!

Bob went off to Scout Camp - for the whole week - so I figured it was time to finish up some sewing projects. Okay, I'll be honest, I knew my time was running short. We were making cousin size aprons for Lynne for her birthday - that way kiddos can stay clean when they cook or bake with Grandma. Her birthday would be in two weeks. So I had a few to finish cutting out and I had all over them to cut liners for - I like my aprons (and that of my kid's) to be sturdy. And while I was at it, I decided to cut out one for Jacob (which he's seen... and worn... but wont' officially receive until our FHE family party for him) and a larger one for Jeremy... and had Beth's to do anyway. We had decided on 3 boy sizes and 3 girl sizes for Lynne - that gives a couple of extras, but makes it work out better for longer. That meant I was working on 9 aprons.

I was also altering a one piece swimsuit pattern to both fit me and become a tankini (seeing that I'm still nursing my little one). That was a scary project because altering swimwear is not like altering regular patterns and to change it on top of that, and make it something I thought was cute and have it all come out right... let alone that I had never sewn on lycra before.... okay, it was scary.

It was the next week (after Bob returned and the same week that cousins would be arriving at the end of) that I finished up all the aprons and then went crazy on my swimsuit - sink or swim, so to speak - or I wouldn't have anything to take the baby into the water with. The suit was originally finished up the day they arrived - though I hated the bottoms... they ended up much snugger then I would have liked and the skirt was a bit shorter than I had wanted.... but seeing that I was so round in the hips - yes I'm very curvy - I just couldn't feel comfortable with it. I did not have any more of that same color lycra (I'd bought all my lycra at least four years ago on clearance), but I found another color that seemed to work well. So I made a second set of bottoms, being more careful and changing the design to make sure the skirt did what I wanted - the under piece was perfect. I was very glad that it was the bottoms that I was redoing and not the top - the top took a lot of time, pinning, setting and all that. But, fortunately, it came out the first time! Anyway, I ended up with a fairly okay cutish suit... mostly, it's something I felt comfortable in - and even felt good in. That's saying something to this woman who's body is far from skinny and smooth - some day I might get back there, but I'm not holding my breath!

In amongst this, I was taking the kids across the road to swim in the afternoons - it was rather warm and the water was great for them. So I took along Jacob's water shoes - his all around shoes really - and some pieces of black lycra and spent the time hand sewing some "socks" to the shoes, so they didn't keep falling off his feet! They turned out well - and he wears them every where. If one comes off - which is very rare - he brings it to me to put on... he'll bring them to me when he wants to go outside as well!

As you see, I don't have pictures of everything - and we took pictures of the aprons on the kids at the end of the visit - and included my kids' aprons on themselves (You'll notice two sets of nearly matching aprons... Annie and Beth (pink and yellow trim) and then Haley and Gabi (orange and green trim)... that doesn't count the Eli and Jacob, who we didn't take a matching picture of, or Jeremy's that matches the medium boy one for Lynne) - but that's a bit of what we were doing getting ready... I wont mention that the kids and I cleaned the house three times before company arrived and it still was trashed the first time Aunt Cheri came through - though we cleaned it again that same time to get ready for Sunday... she happened to come back to hide Lynne's birthday cake on our counter and was probably quite surprised to see the house in order - I'm not sure she's ever seen it in such order - some what tidy onces, and trashed at least twice! (Yes, we can clean... we do clean... but it rarely ever stays that way)

Jeremy's 6!

Is it any wonder I'm always behind on post now a days? I must be busy or something....

Anyway, now that I'm more than a month away from Jeremy's birthday, I thought I probably ought to post some pictures! His birthday hits after school gets out - so, the invites were put in the last Friday Folders going home. Sounds fine, right? Well, the reality is (or so I believe based on what I discovered about myself) that we parents are excited enough to not have school - or things to send back - that we avoid the Friday Folder - figuring we'll get to it eventually! (Am I a terrible end of the school mom or what?)

Anyway - one family full of friends was unable to make last minute due to illness that attacked throughout the night. We certainly understood that - and were grateful not to have it passed on to our house. Only one school friend made it - and his mom called after the original RSVP date (see what I mean about Last Friday Folders). Still, it was Jeremy best friend from school so that worked out well. And small is never a problem around here - seeing that we have plenty of our own kids running around and making noise!

He wanted it to be Tom and Jerry - and I didn't have the energy (or the non-interrupted-from-baby ability) to accurately decorate such a cake... so, he chose an imagine and we printed one to stick on. Sound familiar? Seems like the habit I've begun to develop for him. Anyway, he, of course, wanted a strawberry cake - so I took a recipe that I have for an amazing lemon cake (one I altered and created as my own without even trying the original - I know, I'm crazy that way) and swapped out the lemon for vanilla and then added real strawberries. It was sooooooo good! Very moist, but held together - and a deep, rich flavor! YUMMY!

They spent the bulk of party time playing water guns - can't go wrong with water, right?

Our little FHE family party was fun too. Jeremy got exactly what he asked for (which included two chess games)! He has lots of chapter books to help propel him into the world of "long books"! And best of all, since he had chosen homemade ice cream sandwiches, he made us all be "candles" that he got to "blow out" one at a time. That's what they do in Kindergarten, and so we did it here - seeing that candles on ice cream doesn't always work out so well.

So, our first little man has moved up again - 6! I still shake my head at every child's milestones - because I can't believe the time has gone so fast!

It's Short

Eating dinner last night, we had garden salad... no big deal, we do this a lot. Then Peter says "I love these tawns!"

"Tawns?" we question "What are tawns?"

"Oh, you know. These little crunchy things." He holds up a crouton.

"Those are called croutons. Don't you remember?"

"Yeah. But it's just short for that."

Later in the meal, he mentions the "tawns" again and Bob asks again what they are...

"Dad... it's short for croutons.... you already know that."

Reading Awards

It pays to read... literally!

Last year, without knowing it would happen, the girls were the top ranked readers for their reading program and each earned a certificate to the local book store. This year, there were four awards given. I have not been there most of the time because of Jacob's nap schedule, so I've not been keeping up. But, the awards went to the top four kids - Gabi, Beth, Jeremy and a friend of Beth's.


Anyway, the awards this year were twice as much as last year, and they were for the book fair instead of the bookstore... which basically doubled their spending amount again because the book fair was buy one get one free!

Not being there for the awards, I took a picture of them with their books instead - four books each... they are very excited! (Don't mind the strange attire... it was backwards day today)

(Now - they're waiting on the details of the library's program)

Spring Sing

This year's Spring Sing was a collect of altered Disney songs. When I say altered, I do not mean keep the tune and change the words. I mean shortened, or sometimes changing a word of phrase to make it "politically correct".

In preparation, the kids kept complaining that the songs weren't complete, or were too slow, or they weren't going to get to do the whistling, or they changed the words.... whatever. My kids just haven't learned that it's okay sometimes to do those things for school. Or they were just edgy because school is coming to an end. Who knows.


But when it came down to it, they sang every word, sang well and did a wonderful job.

Bob was on a field trip, so he didn't get to see it and I thought, for all of three seconds, that I might record it for him to watch. But that was quickly changed to, I'll do my best to get a picture here or there... after all, Jacob was pulling on me. =)



Lynne, Peter, Jacob and I went - we were in row two - all the kids could see us - and, for the most part, Jacob (who was ready for a nap) was really good... except when I put him down where he couldn't reach the cover to the camera lens (I removed it and gave it to him so I could take a few pictures).

Peter

... took a header....




At least he's healing quickly.

Memorial Day

So the week is nearly over and I'm just getting to this, but I wanted to share how I felt.

This particular Memorial Day we went out to the cemetery - we don't always do this. I remember as a kid I played in the band and we always went to the Veteran's Cemetery and listened to the services and to taps and saw the tiny American Flags.

First off - these pictures don't even come close to doing the scene justice.

This year we went to see the flags, and imagine my awed surprise when I saw this:


It was overwhelming to me - the cemetery itself is not a rectangle, but these huge flags were around each section of the cemetery. After seeing several sections like these and coming up to one of them, already feeling the spirit, I had the thought: "It's like everything inside is being protected by America!" As that thought entered my head, tears sprang to my eyes, because, indeed, everything inside is protected by America - not the sections of cemetery, but the actual people, the country, by all that it stands of, aided by soldiers - everyone standing guard, fighting to protect what is inside - just as those flags symbolized.


I particularly loved the section of the cemetery where the most veteran's had been laid to rest, because in addition to these large flags all around, the ground was covered with the little ones too. Like sentinels surrounding each of us. The power and strength of which is unbeatable.

That's how I saw things that day. Our Country. A just cause. A righteous desire. A God driven people. Volunteers who serve and fight to preserve. Protected by angels.

God Bless America! Let Freedom Ring!