O Christmas Tree!

Here is our Christmas Tree finding adventure in pictures...

I cannot believe that Christms is only a few days away!  We have been having alot of fun with our special activitites each night counting down 'till Christmas.  Jacob is always excited to get up each morning and read what the fun activity is for the day.  Usually it is something simple such as craft project or hot chocolate before bed.  We have done a couple that require a bit more planning like going to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue or having a sleepover by the Christmas tree(that one is coming up later in the week!).  This is the first year we have done these special actvities leading up to the holiday, but I definitely think it is going to be a tradition that lasts!


Last week Jacob had his last day of school for 2011!  They ended with a party in his class which he was quite excited for.  He is also reading now, which completely blows my mind!  I brought out the B.O.B books to show him and he pulled out the first one and was able to read it to me!  He really loves to read right now and I hope his love for it continues!

He is not currently playing any sports right now, but in January I will be signing him up for t-ball.  He has played the past 2 years through the YMCA but this year is old enough to play Little League.  Right now he isn't entitely convinced that this will be fun because he thinks that he is going to "break his knee" because that is what happened to Uncle Dakota when we watched one of his games last summer(well, he didn't actually "break" his knee...just tore some ligaments).  I know he will enjoy it once he starts playing though.

Cutie Cameron

     Cameron...So many words come to mind when I think of him these days! 

Mischievous: Always seeing what he can get into
Hungry: All the time! Anytime anyone has food, he is there!
Cuddly: Only when he first wakes up or if he wakes in the middle of the night.  He loves his blankies and Binky's too.
Smart:  He copies everything, especially what big brother Jacob does...not always a good thing!
Mobile:  He is walking everywhere and trying to run
Talkative: Lots and lots of gibberish, but we do hear mama, Dada, milk, more(his version of it anyways...sounds an awful lot like "mine"), hot, that, and animal noises often.
Angry: He already seems to have such a temper, but I suppose it is normal tantrums
Cute: Always a cutie with his various faces(my favorites are the fish lips and his blinky eyes)

Here are some recent pictures of him....not the best quality, but still cute!



                                              (rolling on the floor in his "cowboy" clothes)

 Bath Pics!

I don't think I posted any of the trick-or treat photos...Shaggy, Scooby and the little Alien!

Carving Pumpkins and field trip

Yesterday Jacob had his first Kindergarten field trip..."The Farm" in Snohomish. Even though we had gone to the pumpkin patch over the weekend with the kids, he was very much looking forward to going again with his class. There were animals to look at, a hay jump, a fun playground, a corn kernel pool, hay ride and a pig show. Lots of exciting stuff!

He chose a green pumpkin this time since he got an orange one over the weekend!

Once Jason got home from work and we had dinner, we started the task of carving the pumpkins. Jacob is still grossed out about the pumpkin guts, but cleaned it out and went to work drawing sketches of what kind of face he wanted carved into it. Cameron was not at all shy when it came to touching the insides of his pumpkin. After the top was off he reached his hand right in, grabbed a handful of seeds and then popped them in his mouth.

It was a fun evening for all!

Pumpkins Patch!

This past Sunday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch to pick out the "perfect pumpkin". Jacob had been asking every day if we were going to be heading to the pumpkin patch so he was beyond excited when we finally said we were going! He had alot of fun riding cow train, going on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch and picking out his pumpkin. We all enjoyed watching Cameron experience it all for the first time too!

 Cow Train

 Cameron not sure about the Cow Train

 Family pic with one grumpy boy

Cameron giving the pumpkins kisses





Wheelbarrow ride



Daddy and the boys



 Jacob and his pumpkin

(Cameron's would be much cuter without my face in there lol)

  

I have been schooled!

Yesterday, Jacob caught me throwing a breath mint of the car window while we driving.  He then scolded me for littering into God's world. ME:  "You are right Jacob, I shouldn't have done that. I am sorry."  JACOB: "Don't say sorry to me Mommy, say sorry to God.  He is the one who created the whole world, not me!" Lol, I have been schooled by my 5 year old!

Updates

Updates!


Cameron is almost 11 months old and a sweet little angel is already hell on wheels!  He is into EVERYTHING!  Yesterday morning I went to grab something from another room and he quickly made his way to the one cabinet that has my candle stuff in it...He was just sitting so nicely while slamming one of my Partylite Iced Trio pieces on the cabinet door!  Thankfully it didn't break!  He is so the opposite of Jacob.  Jacob would be totally content to sit and play with a basket of toys at this age, Cameron not so much.  It's a good thing he is cute!  He now has 6 teeth.  Two on the bottom and 4 on the top...he finally isn't looking like a little vampire anymore with his fangs.  Speaking of his mouth, he puts anything he comes across into it!  This is something else that is so different than Jacob.  Sand, grass, rocks, fuzz, old cheerios, you name it and he has probably eaten it!  I am hoping this phase passes quickly!  Whenever he puts something in his mouth i quickly yell "yucky!" and remove it and he thinks it is hilarious to watch me run.  Now whenever I say "yuck" he sticks out his tongue and says "ahhhh".  Other words he is saying include: mama, dada, hi, moo, ahhh ahh(like a monkey) and he growls like a lion.

      Jacob is a couple of weeks into Kindergarten...so far he loves it!  We haven't had any of the separation anxiety stuff that we ended the Pre-K year with, so I am happy about that.  Last week, we had a parents night/ice cream social at his little school and he was so excited to show all of the work he has done and show us the classroom.  Daddy made it just as we were getting ready to leave and Jacob was so happy to be able to show his Dad the school too. 
   He isn't playing any sports this fall.  I had meant to sign him up for "real" soccer(not the YMCA soccer) since he is old enough now, but I totally forgot about it and didn't realize it until I started hearing people talk about their kids first soccer games.  I guess I will enjoy not have sports practices for the time being since next year at this time he will have football practice every night.

   In other news:

*We are going on 7 weeks of not having a vehicle and it is getting super old.  I do appreciate everyone who has let us borrow their vehicles though!  Hopefully, we can maybe take care of that soon...
*Jason is working all the time, alot of which is out of town.  Getting a little tired of the single parent thing, but we are managing OK.  It does make car shopping a tad difficult when he is always working though...
*I am completely nuts and have already gotten the kids Halloween costumes taken care of.
*I don't know what else is "noteworthy" so I will leave it at that!  Good night!

Updates!

   Yet again, it has been a while since I last wrote!  So much has happened over the past few weeks...where to begin?!?
  

    June 29th we celebrated Jacob's 5th birthday.  I can't believe he is already 5 and going to be starting kindergarten in the fall!  He had his birthday party at Lake Tye park this year, complete with a "Monster Jam" theme.  We had a BBQ and had all our family friends join us for the celebration.  Here are a few pics of the festivities:

Opening his 152 birthday marshmallows...This is what he was telling people that he would like as a birthday present.

Presents

Enthusiasm about blowing out the birthday candles

The "Monster Jam" cake that I created

His new bike from Mom and Dad

       Now on to Cameron...

  

     As of today, Cameron is offically 9 months old.  He is getting so big and is full of energy and attitude!  His 9 month stats: 20lbs 7oz and 29 3/4 inches long.  He still doesn't crawl in the traditional way yet, but boy does he get around!  He rolls around like crazy and has begun army crawling in the past week or so.  I think he will start the real crawling soon.  He has also started pulling up on things and thinks he is hot stuff!  The first time he did it he started crying because he scared himself! 

    We spend this past weekend over in Leavenworth with Jason's family.  We had beautiful(and hot!) weather and spent most of the time a Lake Wenatchee.  Jacob had so much fun playing on the beach in the sand and water.  That is seriously one of his favorite things to do during the summer!  He also had his first experience with inner-tubing behind the boat and had a blast!  He did really well and wasn't scared at all.  Cameron spent time at the beach too, but unforunately most of his time was spent in his "baby jail" a.k.a the pack n' play.  He thinks the beach is for eating(as well as grass, rocks and cotton balls!)  He did really enjoy hanging out in the pool with daddy though!  Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Lake Wenatchee

Cameron in "Baby Jail"

Driving the boat

Getting ready to inner-tube

Having fun!

Cameron on the boat...not a fan of the life jacket!

Cameron and Aunt Angie

Baby in the pool

So happy!