Jake's Choir Concert

This year, Jake decided that he wanted to be in choir.  I, of course, am thrilled to bits to have him involved in something that he is excited about.  He was so excited to get to the concert, that I didn't have time to make sure that his hair was fixed. 

We enjoyed several fun Christmas songs and I enjoyed watching Jake intently sing with determination on his face.  My batteries died, but not before I got one picture of him setting up for the concert. 

He's a good little singer and can carry a tune.   I would love to see him continue.  Being a part of a group is such a good thing.   Concerts make me weepy eyed being the sap that I am.  But Jake's favorite thing about events like this is when Grandma Sharon offers to take us all out to Crown Burger.  Jake's sure eating like a man already as he devoured a double cheese burger with fries and a soda.  What are we in for? 

Love 'ya boy!

Captain Rex

Jake, of course, was Captain Rex for Halloween.  We took a two year break from the Star War's costumes but was back in full force this year.  He was one happy kiddo! 

We thought the costume looked best when he wore it with his clone trooper voice changer helmet.  He really looked like a clone but that helmet was not fun to wear. 

Jake loves that helmet so much, he will wear it to bed.  Until one night, he realized that he could trick me by placing the helmet and pillows in the bed.   This is how I found him sleeping. 

This was the first year that he went off with friends to trick or treat.  They had a blast running around as fast as they could.  Got quite a bit of candy too.

The three kids who started out the night like this:

Ended the night like this: 

We tucked them in one by one and kissed their chocolate covered faces goodnight. 

It was a good Halloween for all.

So where is Jake?

So many posts involve Mia and Sam and not so many for Jake. There is a reason you know. He is a 9-year-old boy who is completely goofy in every picture I take of him.

For example:

Love this kid. He is constantly going. Constantly talking. Constantly doing something. He's always goofy and more often then not, he'll make me laugh which just eggs him on.

This picture had us all rolling. We were at Gramps party when I told Jake to take a good picture. At the last second, he snapped into this pose.

Awww....Jakey.

Birthday party

Happy Birthday to Auntie Dee Dee (aka Megan) and Gramps!



We celebrated at the care center gramps is staying in. Just a few more weeks of antibiotics and he should be as good as new and ready to come home to his favorite big blue chair.









Auntie Dee-Dee was looking smashing for the day. She was spoiled with a blow out from her favorite stylist and a cutie sweater. She sure loves her sweaters. I still remember when Ry and I were dating, her announcing to me that it was sweater season when it was still 80+ degrees outside. We were on Weber State's campus by the institute. Funny what you remember.








Matt was happy to be there. Jake, well he was being Jake.























Sam was being silly. Mia thought that he was especially funny so she did it too.

The kids made Gramps a poster and they think it's the cat's meow to draw on it every time they go to the care center. And looky loo, I was there too.

Happy Birthday again!

First Day of School

The first day of school for Mia and Jake of course was exciting. The morning ran smoothly and the kids were happy. It's tradition to pick out your first day of school outfit and lay it out the night before. Mia choose a Wonder Woman t-shirt and skinny jeans which she calls her skinnies. Jake went for the classic stand by of Star Wars. I couldn't help but wonder why I let them pick these shirts out in the store when there were so many other darling choices but can't help but laugh. When I told my sister Sharmyn, she thought they needed to wear their super hero shirts the first day so they could run faster, think smarter and be less hungry. I think she might be right.

Everyday since, Mia's outfits have become more and more fashionista. Accessorizing with scarfs is her signature move. Whether it's a belt or a necklace-like style, it changes with her mood. She's all about her shoes being cute so her cute little Sketchers that are great for playing in are not acceptable. Now being in 1st grade, going all day has been a challenge for her playful heart, but she loves her teacher, has many old friends in her class and is making more new friends each day.

Jake's style is what I would call a little more laid back. As in, would wear the clothes he wore yesterday and slept in last night kind of a style. In typical Jake manner, he loves being at school. He really enjoys being a part of anything. I can't believe he is in 4th grade already! We both really like his teacher too. She's very organized and is teaching the kids great organizational habits. Already, the spelling, vocabulary, sentences and reading are challenging Jake which I am happy about since his spelling words last year were way to simple in my opinion.

So nearly ending week two of school, we are slowly building a routine. Trying to figure out the best homework times especially since Jake has a lot more of it this year. I'm looking forward to being involved in both classes this year and being able to see the dynamics of the class and how my children interact.

Now, if I could just figure out how to slow down time. These days are flying by too fast for me.

Painting

Jake's got a new obsession.

Painting army guys.

And then telling me about each of them.

He's got a whole slew of these guys that he plays with daily. Now they are new and improved.

I Spy......Wait! How did it get to the middle of July?

Let's just pretend that time didn't fly by shall we? Ok, glad we are on the page. Sooooo....

Happy 4th of July!!

The 4th was the best weather we have ever had. If only it could always be like that. Not too hot and overcast made parade watching just right. We were lucky enough to be invited to sit up at the house of the sweetest couple in the ward. Right on the main road, lots of shade and good food and friends.

Mia got to be in the parade this year. I got our whole section to cheer loudly for her so when she saw us, she got really excited and waved to us all like a movie star. She was cute and did well.

Sam took a while to get used to the idea of the parade but quickly warmed up when his little friend kept him in constant supply of taffy. She caught them. opened them up and feed them to him just as fast she could. Aww, cute little loves.

Even though the weather was mild, that didn't stop Jake from getting soaked from head to toe during the water fight part. The water fight is the highlight of Jake's year.

After the parade and the picnic, we had the in laws over for another BBQ, fireworks and fun. I didn't take one picture because I was too busy enjoying myself. It was fun!

Hmmm.....

Well I guess this is one reason why I shouldn't have Jake vacuum the floor while a friend is there. It turned into a 20 minute attempt to get a vacuum mark on their foreheads.

I can still hear their laughs and yells while they were doing it. Awww boys, you just can't help but laugh at them.

Children's Mueseum

A few weeks back in the midst of all the rain we got, Jessica and I decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum for a day of fun. It was a hit of course.

Sammy loved the balls beehive. Are you surprised? He spent the majority of his time putting one ball in after another in the tube that sucked it up. His windblown hair was too cute!

It's always fun for Jess and I to watch our boys together. Just a few months apart, it's interesting to me to watch their personalities.

The ball beehive was the very first thing in the museum. It took a bit of time to get him out to try other things.

Mia and Megan were inseparable from the start.

Jake enjoyed it all in typical Jake fashion. This building area was fun.

Climbing the wall was a sense of accomplishment for Jake and just plain fun for Mia. I used to climb quite a bit a long time ago. Haven't been such my college days. Would love to take the kids sometime and get them comfortable with it.

The helicopter was especially cool. I do believe that Jake and Ali planned a rescue mission.The off to the water fountain to get soaked. Never mind that it was only in the 70's at best. Kids didn't care until they were all soaked from head to toe and started to shake from the cold.

All in all, I think it was a successful outing. We all went home wishing we had more time to play.

Roughin' It Rainy Day Style

Just because it's non-stop raining practically since school let out doesn't mean that we can't enjoy our favorite summer treats.

Smore's - rainy day style

Same gooey marshmellow.

Same melted chocolate mess.

Same ability to burn to a crisp.

Thank Aunt Debbie for the great Christmas gift from a few years back. It's still being used!

School's Out for Jake

This is school year has already come to an end. I can't believe how fast it went. Each day, week, month, year come and go faster than I want it too. How can it be that we are already to another summer and my little ones are that much older and wiser too?

Jake-a-bee made it through 3rd grade with a smile on his face. He, in true Jacob fashion, was disappointed on the last day of school. He loves school! He loves to be with friends, have things to do, places to be, books to read and papers to finish. All at school of course because when he's home, finishing his homework sometimes became quite the chore. Jake started the year off a bit slow and found himself behind on his times tables. I set a goal for him to get them all done by the end of the year. We got permission to do them at home, we made charts and had treats and prizes all set out. Gladly, he did start to fly through them getting all the way to the 8's but fizzled out the last two weeks. Could not get that kid motivated even with the promise of a new Guitar Hero II. But in the end, he had decided that he couldn't get it done in time and wouldn't work on it. I can't help but be disappointed because he was so close but just so far. We figured he had 23 more tests to take to finish totally up to over 100 tests. That is a lot of tests!

His teacher was a nice ol' teacher on her last year before retirement. She was Hawaiian and Jake loved that. He often took her gifts of things that he thought she needed, like the Hula dancer playing cards that he found at the neighbors estate sale. Jake is sad that she is retiring this year and won't be able to see her next year to say Hi.

I like to let Jake pick out his teacher gifts and this year, Jake insisted on flowers and a Butterfinger. We found the cutest Hula girl card in my stash of cards (Thank you card club!!) and each wrote a note of thanks to her. She enjoyed them and sent home a sweet thank you note telling us that she felt that Jake was talented child with many gifts. When I went in to take a quick picture of the two of them, she told me that she was proud that he made it through the year with a happy heart because she often felt that she had to keep on him for being too noisy. That she was proud of all that he had accomplished and his effort to finish his times tables. And that she thought he was very smart and was able to understand things quickly and correctly, even when he was talking too much.

Boy oh boy does that explain my Jakey to the "T". Always talking, always fidgeting, always busy but shocks you by not missing a beat. Now if I could just figure out how to help him learn to sit still with his mouth shut. Haha....I just let that one sink in. Yeah, no. It's not happening anytime soon.

So thank you Mrs. T for a great 3rd grade year!

Point for Dad

Rock star Daddy scored big points tonight! I came home from work to find the kids up late playing. He bought them an air hockey table and the season finale of Clone Wars was on and he bought them chocolate milk.

Heaven they say.

I don't know why nights with me aren't so fun. We have a fun night of making them clean up and do homework.

I can't compete. I admit complete defeat.

Memories of a typical Sunday evening

It's no secret that I love to play games. And I love to play games with my kids, especially Jake. He's old enough to play games that I like and because he's Mr. Smart-tay pants, he picks up fast. Also, he can rock a mean guitar on Guitar Hero.

Last night, at our weekly-ish gathering at the in-laws, Jacob, Mia, Sam, Gram and I played Mexican Train. Jake, a pretty good opponent while Mia chooses her team member according to who is doing best loving to match the tiles for you. Sammy making towers with the tiles while Gram and I laugh. All together, playing games and having fun.

I am imagine that years down the line that they will remember the good ol' days sitting around Grams' table playing Mexican Train. Chompin' on snacks imprinting their tiles with Dorito dusted fingers. And hopefully, just hopefully, still loving to play Mexican Train with their Gram and their Mama after all those years. This is just one of many memories made on a cold Sunday night with their Grandma that loves them to the moon and back.

Picture obviously not from a cold Sunday night in March.

{PS: Gram, I need pictures from you digital camera on my computer. :)}

An author and illustrator...not so much.

When Jake was in Kindergarten, all he wanted to do was write and illustrate books. He made book after book about his life and of course Star Wars and I still have most of them. They are fun to look at.

After months and months of Jake begging me to start his own blog, I finally let him do it Sunday night. So far, he's had two real entries and the rest are all messing around silly boy stuff that make no sense. Looks like I might have to give him some subjects to write about.



So, if you are interesting in reading jibberish, Jake's A Rockin' Bloggin' is for you. I think it's best to keep it private, so request an invite if you haven't already gotten one.

Jake's 2008

A year in review of Jacob.

January

Jake rocks his first ever tumbling review. I am especially proud at how hard he worked at it and how he overcame his insecurities.

February

Jake turns eight. He has a energetic Star Wars party with several of his good friends. I learned that the next party I do will be at a venue with lots and lots of space to run around and yell.

March

Jake gets baptized. He was so excited and looked so handsome in his suit that Grandma Sharon and Gramps gave him for his birthday. Jake loves being the center of attention and usually gets very rowdy but that day, he had a reverent spirit about him. Ryan and I were blown away that we had a child old enough to be baptized already.

April

I love watching Jake play with Sammy. He's always been pretty good to him. Jake had spent quite a bit of time setting up his Lincoln Logs and soldier men requesting I take a video of his battles. Sam was instantly by his side, knocking down his buildings and men. Instead of getting mad, he pretended that Sammy was attacking the village. Unfortunately, Blogger won't upload the video clip.

May

A very successful end of year tumbling review and proud to be a bobcat.

June

Jake blogs about his Pokemon cards. Jake loves to have me take pictures of his collections. He often calls for me anxiously asking me to take pictures of his latest battle or collection. And he loves to blog about it!

July

The 4th of July parade water fight was the highlight of Jake's month. He was looking forward to using his new water gun and getting soaked.

August

Jake's first day of 3rd grade starts with tears, he mows the lawn for the first time and he blogs about his soldiers.

September

Jake enjoys his first season of soccer. I had been encouraging him to try it for years and finally, he wanted too. He did pretty good too. But, the highlight of the month for me was him finally, finally, FINALLY learning to ride his bike! Hooorrray!

October

Long gone are the days when I could encourage Jake to pick a costume that I loved. This years choice was 100% Jake. Halloween 2008 was good fun!

November

November flew by for me! Not much blogging was done but that doesn't mean we didn't have fun!

December

This year, Santa made all of Jacob's dreams come true by gifting him a Star Wars AT-TE walker! I hope Santa knows how 110% happy Jake is with it and plays with it daily.

It's amazing to me to look at how much he has grown this year. It's been fun for me to look back at all the fun things he has done this year! Here's to 2009!!