Too smart!

I have a feeling that Jacob is going to be a challenge as he gets older. We have a drawer on the hutch in our kitchen that is basically the spot where I keep things like my UPCs for various things and my Box Tops for Education, pens, and packs of gum. Last night while I was making dinner, I realized that he had gotten ahold of a pack of gum. It was still in the cellophane wrapper, but that didn't deter him. He just went and found a pair of scissors and was sitting there on the stairs trying to open it! One day last week, he got ahold of a pack that had already been opened and was walking around chewing the gum (wrapper and all).

Last night, when Jason got home from work, he came out of the bathroom to let me know that there was a washcloth in the toilet. I wonder how THAT got there? I have heard about boys flushing all sorts of things down the toilet, and I guess I can be grateful he didn't flush it. We try to keep the bathroom doors closed, but every now and then someone will forget to close one. It's only a matter of time before he figures out how to open the doors anyway (he sure is trying hard to master it already)

He grew pretty much overnight and suddenly nothing is out of his reach anymore. If he can't reach it initially, he will get up on his tippy toes and reach and if that doesn't work, he finds a chair and scoots it and climbs up. He has gotten ahold of scissors, a knife, and toiletries in the bathroom. We have a bucket of candy that we keep on the hutch in our kitchen and the other day I turned around and realized he was having a great time devouring the Hershey's kisses in there! I have to constantly keep my eye on him because he is so sneaky, which makes preparing dinner in the evenings (or getting anything else done) INCREDIBLY tricky!

He is a constant source of entertainment for us. This morning, we let Zoey (our dog) out to go to the bathroom and she was barking. Jacob was sound asleep but we could hear him barking back. It cracked us up!

What a day!

I look forward to Saturdays all week, and by the time they get here, it seems like they're over and done with before I know it! One of these days, I just know that Emily will let us sleep in (at least, I keep hoping for that). This morning, I woke up to Emily poking and prodding me. She is relentless, so if you try to ignore her, she just intensifies things. I'll get her something to eat and beg her to watch TV for awhile (I know, I'm a fantastic parent!) but usually within minutes of me attempting to lay back down, she's back wanting something or asking a question. (I've always been an early riser, but I get up at 4:30 every morning during the week, so just once on the weekend I'd like to sleep in until at least 7, but Emily is always up between 5:30 and 6).

Emily went to a primary activity this morning and they made a craft about families. She had a great time!

Every Saturday morning, Jacob and I do a "mommy and me" swim class. They didn't have class during the Christmas break, so he's a bit out of the routine and it's been tough to get him back into the swing of things. The pool is indoor, but it's still cold when we get out!

Tonight while I was giving him a bath, he discovered that he could get in and out of the tub by himself and before I knew it, he turned into the mad streaker and it was impossible to keep him in the tub because he kept getting out and laughing the whole time!

I'm totally worn out and I'm teaching Emily's class at church tomorrow.....a class full of 4 year olds - I can guarantee that there will never be a dull moment!

One messy boy!

Jacob LOVES to eat. This has been quite a change for us because Emily could win a prize for being the pokiest eater on the planet (the exception, of course, is when I make macaroni and cheese - she can down that within seconds!)

Tonight I was having a hard time figuring out what to do for dinner and Jason suggested spaghetti. I thought it was a great idea because it's quick and easy and we had everything we needed to make it. I wasn't thinking about the kid factor.

Jacob insists on feeding himself and sometimes it gets quite messy. Tonight was ESPECIALLY messy!

I went to grab a towel so I could carry Jacob upstairs and straight to the tub without getting myself or anything else in the house messy and when I came back, I could hear Emily saying "alcohol" to Jacob and then Jacob who is my man of few words and usually refuses to repeat any words I say to him was saying it back. They kept going back and forth until I finally asked Emily where in the world she heard that word and she said, "Church" which was even more surprising. I asked her what they were talking about at church today and she said, "Alcohol is not good for your body." What a relief! :)

Pinkalicious!

Emily got the book Pinkalicious from her Uncle Nathan, Aunt Christine and cousins Ksenya, Kylie, and Crystal for Christmas. She loves to read it (she calls it her "Pink Cupcake book). So, yesterday when we arrived at the birthday party for one of her friends from her class at school, she was thrilled to realize that it was a "pink cupcake party."

The party was in a little cottage and it was SOOO cute. They had the kids dress up as either knights or princesses at the beginning. It was a little girl's dream come true. There were racks of gorgeous dresses, scarves, gloves, rings, tiaras, shoes, and purses. Emily picked out her dress right away.

After all the kids were dressed, the had a little fashion show where they announced each "prince" or "princess" as they made their grand debut. Here's a picture of Emily as she made her entrance:

Lady in waiting - here's a picture of Emily waiting while the rest of the kids were presented during the fashion show.

The group shot - Here's the whole crew!

This is how a princess decorates her cupcake!

This is how a princess EATS her cupcake!

This is how a princess drinks her "tea" (they had lemonade for everyone)...as you can see, princesses don't worry about being ladylike!

During the fashion show, they took a picture of each kid. The mounted it on foam backing, put a magnet on the back, and let the kids decorate them as a party favor to take home.

Before opening presents and playing games, they had a bit of time to "play." Emily came out with an added scarf and some gloves (her shoes were purple, but you can't see them, but I loved how none of it matched and she didn't care at all). When she walked out, she did a little curtsy in front of me and said, "Mom, they just keep making me more and more beautiful!" During the down time, they also got their nails painted and got a little bit of makeup.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this little girl who decided to snatch up all of the purses for herself! They kept putting them all away and within minutes, she'd be back with all of them again.

This party was just so cute and I think the adults had as much fun as the kids did. Even the boys had a blast with their swords and shields. Emily is already telling me that is where she wants to have her party. We'll see.....

Another cool site

This year I'm really trying to focus on emergency preparedness and particularly our food storage. In the process, I've become a bit of a blogaholic, but I came across this blog that I thought I'd share because it's very well done and she gives practical tips for setting up/rotating/inventorying your food storage as well as tips for putting together 72 hour kits!

Here it is:

Safely Gathered in

Shoe loving boy!

Jacob is going through a phase right now where he LOVES shoes. We're at that phase right now where of course when you're already running late and ready to walk out the door expecting your shoes to be by the door where they usually are, you can't find them or can only find one because he's been wearing them around the house!

From the time when he first gets up in the morning to the time when he goes to bed, he has to have some sort of shoe on his feet.

I figure that he will be outgrowing his current tennis shoes pretty soon and so I found some cute ones on Amazon that I ordered for him and we got them yesterday. I was putting things away this morning and set them outside of his door so I could put them in his room when he woke up. Of course, that was the first thing he noticed when he woke up. I could hear a rustling by the trash can and was frantic trying to figure out what he was throwing away that he shouldn't be or what he was pulling out of the trash (he loves to do both) and saw him pulling the paper out of his shoes so he could wear them (such a smart kid!)

Of course, this was followed by him following me around the house saying "Shoe shoe" begging me to put them on....



Here he is checking his shoe out to make sure that all the paper is gone!

M is for Monkey

Each week at preschool, Emily's class focuses on learning about a different letter. Then, on Friday for show and tell, they bring something that starts with that letter. This week was the letter M.

Last night, we were talking about show and tell. Emily said, "Well, I could take you for show and tell because your name starts with M" and I kind of smiled about that and then she said, "But, I think I will take 'monkey monks' instead." I said, "So you'd rather take monkey than me?" and she said, "Well, I do love you mom, but I really like monkey monks." It's nice to know where I rate!

For those who may not know Emily that well, when we were moving out here almost 4 years ago, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel somewhere in New Mexico, I think, and there was this cute stuffed monkey that my mom ended up buying for Emily. They have been pretty much inseparable (except for the time when he disappeared from the cart at Walmart, but thanks to eBay, we had a new one within 48 hours!).

Emily was barely one when she got him (she assures me he is a boy...how she knows this, I don't know), so in the beginning, his name was "hoo hoo" because she could make the monkey sound but eventually he became "Monkey Monks."

I feel like a woman!

Emily was very excited to get her CTR ring at church today. On the way home, she said, "Mom, I feel like a woman!" That caught me a bit off guard. I asked her what she meant and she said that she gets to wear jewelry now, so she feels like a woman. It cracked me up.

Tonight when she came down for dinner, she said, "Mom, did you make my favorite for dinner?" Emily's "favorite" varies from day to day, so I asked what she meant and she said, "Macaroni and cheese, of course." She was very disappointed when she found out that was NOT what we were having. I guess I could have saved a lot of time adn had a much happier kid by whipping up a batch of mac & cheese instead!

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I've been very delayed in posting things lately. Jason and I can't seem to get over these sinus infections we've had and have pretty much been sick the entire break. Every time we think we're on the mend, it seems like there's another setback.

The kids have been keeping busy and I thought I'd share a few things that they've been up to. I had more pictures of Emily, but for some reason they kept uploading sideways and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

Emily has been enjoying playing with all of her Barbie and Princess dolls. She has changed so much lately!

Just within the last week, I've noticed that she's become super conscientious about privacy. I first noticed it when we went on our Sea World trip and I pulled out her PJs to put on. My family went with us and she told me that she needed to take her PJs in the bathroom to change because it would be "too embarrassing" to change in front of everyone. She never cared before. Then, the other day, she was in the bathroom and she got all upset because Jacob came in and she just knew that he was watching her.

When I am working, she spends a lot of time with my parents, who are both diabetic. Lately, she has become VERY conscientious about her blood sugar. Since it's the holidays, we have had a lot of treats around here. She will say, "Mom, I can't eat that. It has too much sugar and too much sugar is bad for you. It will make my blood sugar really high. I will just have one." It cracks me up.



Jacob is growing up fast, too. He doesn't say much (that we can understand, at least), but he sure is a smart little guy. We were playing Candyland Castle the other night. If you haven't played it before, you get a little gingerbread card and there are different colored shapes that come out of the castle. You have to try to fill all of the shapes on your card before the other players. I was surprised to see that he was matching up his colors/shapes all by himself!

He loves to build things and has gotten to be quite good at building things out of the Legos he got for Christmas.

He's also been working on shooting baskets! We need to move the hoop up, though, because he's getting so big. It's funny because I still think of him as my "baby" but he is really getting to be so tall. He is already wearing some 3T stuff and he isn't even 2 yet! Jason was saying that by next summer, he'll probably be big enough (height-wise) to ride some of the rides by himself!


Jacob has also been brushing up on his guitar skills. We got Guitar Hero for our Wii awhile back and the kids love to watch us play. Jacob loves to carry the guitar around and my parents have a kids' guitar at their house that he loves, so they got him this one for Christmas and he walks around all day (in his slippers, which he also loves - Thanks Grandma and Grandpa White!) playing tunes for us.

At the start of this New Year, we realize that we have so much to be grateful for. We are especially grateful for our kids. Even though they keep us on our toes, we love them so much and have learned so much for them!

We hope you all had a wonderful New Year also!