Take me out to the ballgame

We decided to head out to the ballpark Monday night. This was our first game of the season. The boys had so much fun. We were a little worried how Luke would do but he was great. He sat very still for about the first 20 minutes just looking around. Jacob was excited about it all. He asked if he could just eat peanuts for dinner. haha. He also wore his little red GAP hat and he said "My red GAP hat actually says Texas Rangers!" He was so excited! And surprisingly the heat wasn't that bad. There was a nice breeze and it felt great!

My dad ended up driving in and met us at the game. He had been wanting to go to a game all summer so we invited him to join us and he quickly said yes! It was a fun treat being able to see him during the week and the boys had fun with their Grandpa!









We had to introduce Jacob to Cracker Jacks!


Grandpa time


Grandpa time



Keeping Luke entertained with his books


April 2006-Jacob's first game- 6 months old


August 2008- Luke's first game- 7 months and Jacob 2 1/2

This and That

There hasn't been too much new going on here. We've been keeping busy during the week with various activities, swimming, play dates with friends, running errands etc. It's been nice to have normal weeks lately and relaxed weekends. The summer time is always busy, fun yet busy so it's nice to have everything slow down a bit.

The boys are doing great, all 3 of them! :) Jim's business is starting to feel a little more normal, like it was before the market went spiraling out of control last fall. We pray it stays this way!

Jacob is doing great. He is definitely at the age of asking questions and has been for some time now. The difference is now his questions are real questions and I can tell he is asking b/c he really wants to know how something works or why something is the way it is. He's not asking questions to just talk (like he used to do, haha)The other day he asked me "How does Santa's sleigh go when there isn't any snow?" (Not sure where this one came from but it was a good thought.) And today he asked me "How does the sun actually go down and the moon comes up?" Jim answered it by trying to explain how it all works (the Earth actually moves around the sun etc etc etc) but Jacob didn't like that answer and said in response "No, the sun actually goes down into the sky." So we decided the real science explanation will come later! haha. I told him awhile back that the sun was actually a big ball of fire and for days after that he would say to me while we were in the car "Mom, look at that big fire over there!" Too funny. The other day he was watching his letter factory DVD and said "Mom watch this part, the B can't jump until he makes his sound appropriately." I said. "Appropriately, huh" and he then repeated what he said as if it was no big deal! He also asked me recently "How does a train stay on the track?" It amazes me how much his little brain is working and how he's trying to figure it all out! I have to say that age '3' has been the best yet. I have thoroughly enjoyed this age and still watch in amazement how big my little boy is getting! I'm praying the 4's are just as good if not better!

Little Luke is doing great as well. He seems to have a lot more energy lately and has become quite independent when it comes to trying to do something. For example, in his little Gymboree class if I'm trying to help him climb up something, he basically shakes my hand off of his arm so he can do it by himself. He is also turning into quite the climber these days. He loves climbing up and into everything.(you'll see in the pictures below) He also LOVES to drink from a real cup and does not like for me to help him. And yes we have had some huge messes from this independent move! Today in Mass, we were sitting in the back in chairs (where we have been sitting until Luke isn't such a busy body and can be a little more contained for the length of Mass). Anyway, at one point he was being loud so I put my finger up to my lips and said "shhh". He then copies my gesture. So then a little while later, Jacob was up in Luke's face saying something and Luke put his finger up to his mouth to shhh Jacob. It was too funny!!

Luke also just got his last K-9 tooth yesterday, yippee! We have had some restless nights with this last tooth but once it broke through the gum, we are back to normal! Hopefully we will have a nice break from teething until he is closer to 2!

As I said he is quite the climber these days


And again, this is actually a basket full of clean clothes!


So proud of his accomplishment


Our airplane mechanic- Papa Jim would be proud


At one point he had the airplane propped up on his blocks and was working underneath it, but I didn't grab the camera fast enough!


Luke admiring his new tennis shoes. I think he looks so much bigger when he wears them!




Gotta love the fresh haircut look




I told Jim, Santa might need to bring Luke a chair like this for Christmas. If Luke is playing in it and Jacob comes close to it, Luke gets so mad!!!


That's a little better

Cousins

Kristina and kiddos came to visit last week and we decided to try to get the kids pictures taken all together for Grandma and Grandpa. We have never attempted this, thinking it would just be too hard getting all 5 kids to be looking the same direction, all smiling, not moving, not crying, not trying to walk off, you get the point! However, we were pleasantly surprised! Luke was the one that I was most worried about since he is the youngest at 18 months and in his own little world! He kept trying to walk over to me and crying a bit but I literally was sitting right next to him and once I could tell the photographer had their attention, I would lean over out of the range of the picture. It took some work but wasn't too bad! Luckily we had a few poses to choose from but decided on this one...and as you can imagine Grandma and Grandpa LOVED it!



We also had Jacob and Luke's picture taken a few months ago with their other cousin, Emily (Rhonda's little girl). She is 4 months younger than Luke and boy was it tough! Jacob did great but Luke and Emily were all over the place. Luke had fallen and hit his head right as we got there so he wasn't in the best of moods. We managed to get one good group picture where Luke wasn't crying, on the verge, but not crying. We framed these and gave them to Jim's mom and dad for Mother and Father's Day. They loved them!



Here are a few other poses they took just of the boys


Luke's signature smile




Cute profiles

The Boys

Luke will be 18 months on Friday- it's hard to believe he is already a year and a half! Luke has really been trying to keep up with his big brother lately. They have been really interacting more and more which is so fun to watch. One thing that is really different this time around is the fact that Luke has a built in play buddy while Jacob at Luke's age only had me. I'm realizing how nice it is that they can play together and entertain one another instead of me providing all the entertainment. It's been very nice!!

Little Luke forgets sometimes that he is still little as he is wanting to do everything Jacob is doing. For example, Luke now has to dip his chicken, french fries, etc in ketchup just like Jacob does. It's funny b/c Jacob just started using ketchup about 6 months ago. Luke has also found that his finger fits just perfectly into the little holes in his nose, gee I wonder who he saw doing that! After Luke brushes his teeth (which consists of him chewing on his toothbrush) he tries to spit in the sink like Jacob and tries to make the same noise Jacob makes while spitting. It's too funny! Speaking of teeth, Luke has been teething so badly lately. Those darn K-9's are a killer! He was so fussy last week, just random spurts of crying on and off all day, all week. It was a rough couple of days but thankfully he is better now. He has one more K-9 to break through on the bottom then hopefully we will have a nice long break until the 2 year molars start making their way through, then we will be done!!!

Jacob has been loving his big brother role lately. He can be so sweet with Luke while at the same time, so rough! What are big brothers for, right! Along with them playing together comes the typical brotherly spats. Luke wants everything Jacob has and Jacob's not too fond of that. I'm having to quickly learn how to solve these spats while Luke cries and Jacob tells me every last detail of what just happened. It makes for some interesting times, no doubt!

So, I want to brag on Jacob for a minute...I have been working with him on writing his name this summer. In preschool last year, they traced their names every day to practice writing the letters. I really wanted to keep him practicing this summer so he wouldn't lose interest and his skills. He's done so well and can now write his first and last name on his own. He definitely has to be in the mood to sit down and do it but if I catch the window, he really enjoys it. He is also learning his letter sounds, thanks to the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD. It's really helping him learn the sounds in a fun, entertaining way. Highly recommend the DVD.

Here are a few recent pictures...

Luke's new favorite pose




New Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck toys




Hard at work...as I was taking this picture Jacob said "Mom don't look, I want to surprise you." And of course Luke is right there with him. (eating the crayons probably as he loves to do!)


If you look closely you can see he wrote his name...can you tell I am proud of my little guy!!

Yellowstone Trip

As most of you know, we took a trip to Yellowstone National Park last week. Jim was awarded this trip through Edward Jones from all of his hard work. They take care of everything which is so nice. We flew in last Sunday and enjoyed 6 nights and 7 days there and had such a great time. We stayed in Big Sky, Montana which was about an hour drive into Yellowstone. We spent 3 days visiting Yellowstone and the other days at our resort. We saw a lot of wildlife including lots of buffalo, elk, a bald eagle, wild wolves, and even moose. We didn't see a bear which was our goal but maybe next time. One of the days at the resort I went to the spa in the morning and Jim went white water rafting in the afternoon which was great for both of us. The boys were great and Jacob just loved seeing the Old Faithful geyser and they both loved seeing all the animals. We even had a little check list of things for Jacob to look for and he found them all. We had a tough time getting home but finally made it after 2 cancelled flights on Delta...they then reaccommodated us on American with a 2 hour flight delay...but we finally got home at midnight on Sunday! What an ending to our vacation!! Other than that, we couldn't complain about anything. Jim said this trip fulfilled one of his dreams of taking us all to Yellowstone, he loves the mountains! Here are just a few pictures from the trip (out of the 256 we took)!



Old Faithful Geyser