Little Climber

Jake is going through that stage where he thinks he needs to climb into, on top of, and over everything possible. It actually cracks me up. We put a huge basket on the stair landing to block him from climbing up the stairs. He somehow puts his little toes on the edge of the stair and then throws himself into the basket, climbs through all the shoes that are in it, and then climbs out the other end by the stairs, high-tailing it up the stairs as quick as possible so I can't catch him. He also likes to sit in his toy boxes and play with his toys. This is a picture of him sitting in my friend's cooler after a camping trip we went on. Funny. :)

I've been replaced...

I came up to bed the other day and this is what I found.

Wedding

Two good friends of ours got married yesterday evening (Matt & Stacey). Emily had the privilege of being one of the flower girls in the wedding. She was sick, so I was really worried that she wouldn't be able to make it, but she did great. The bride (Stacey) was so stunning and elegant. I had never been to a Catholic wedding before, so that was interesting. Matt is Jewish, so it was fun to see some of the Jewish traditions, as well.

Here are the flower girls with the bride before the ceremony.

So excited!

Emily and Jill waiting to line up for the procession.

Here they come!

The reception afterwards was so beautiful. It was definitely the most formal/fanciest wedding reception I have ever been to.

Here is Emily dancing with the groom (right before she collapsed & we took her home. She was SO tired!)

It was a really fun night (or really 2 nights with the rehearsal and dinner) with some great friends. I am so excited for Matt and Stacey and happy that they let us be a part of their awesome day. :)

Birthdays!

Pete and Jake share the same Birthday, August 22nd. Pete had most of the day off, which is a real treat for us. We went to lunch at a Sushi/Chinese buffet (Pete likes Sushi and the rest of us like Chinese).

While Pete was at work, the kids and I decorated the house. When he got home, we had dinner and then opened presents and had cake. I made Peter a dulce de leche cheesecake and Jake a baseball cake (pictures are on another camera and I haven't taken them off yet.) Jake enjoyed eating sweets for the first time. One of Pete's presents was tickets to a Red's game for the family. I'll post pictures of that soon.

These are my boys. Love them both so much! Anyone who knows Pete and me knows that we're a good fit; not in the sense that we're the same and go good together, but more like a jig saw puzzle where two different pieces seem to fit together. This baby is the sweetest thing. It's always hard to watch your baby get bigger, but with Jake, I am always just so grateful that he's with us and that he's healthy. Each day that he grows and I and see him exploring his surroundings more, I am reminded of that.

Here is a picture of Jake when he was a month old, buckled in the car seat to come home from the NICU. The picture next to it is how he looks now, 11 months later, sitting in his car seat. :)

(Don't mind his crazy hair and his crazy expression. It was nap time and he seemed really confused about us taking his picture!)

Back to school

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but I'll get it done. It may not be in chronological order, because I am starting with Emily going back to school. :)

So Emily started her first day of morning kindergarten this week.

Here is Emily in line at her school, heading in to her classroom. She was cool as a cucumber, but not necessarily feeling overly friendly or outgoing.

Here she is on the porch, right before school. She had her toe nails painted and everything. :)

Dance recital pictures

Emily's dance recital was so cute! I just love girls in tutus.

Here is her class backstage before the recital started. They were so excited!

And of course I had to throw one in of Jake. He's just too cute!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:

Everything here is green and beautiful; rolling hills, lush vegetation, green grass

Planting strawberries for the first time

Jake’s cute smile and laugh. I love it! I am so in love with this kid. He is just so sweet and cuddly and patient. I just love him to pieces.

Abby saying cute little things and getting so excited over everything she sees. When we go for walks she likes to come home and tell Peter what we see, “I taw a bunny robbit!” She says it with these big eyes and deep little voice. So cute!

Emily enjoying books and loving to tell jokes. Also, she likes to tell me great little facts, like last night, “Mom, do we live near a beach?” Me: “Nope.” Emily: “It’s a good thing because then baby sea turtles might see our lights on and follow our lights to our house instead of following the moon to the ocean.” Yep, that would be one of the hazards of living near a beach.

Going for walks

Breyer’s chocolate brownie ice cream

A Mary Higgins Clark murder mystery novel

Barbequed hamburgers

Friends that call or send an email to make sure I'm still alive

Pete’s call schedule for next year

Enjoying my kids

Kids going to bed

Emily’s dance recital and her looking so cute in her costume

The Bad:

Wanting to do more things with the house than I have money to

The dandelions that, if left undisturbed, grow to be at least 4 feet tall. No kidding. And I’ve got a few that are already off to a good start this season.

I worked in my yard Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and when I looked at it Sunday, I couldn’t even tell that I’d done anything to it. It would take me days to get it under control with the amount of humidity and rain we have here.

Spit up, laundry, crying in the night, my girls out growing their shoes too fast

Poop. On Jake’s clothes. On my clothes. Barely missed the couch and got all over the blanket instead.

Saturday call

Missing family

Knowing that the deer and squirrels will eat the strawberries that I just planted

The Ugly:

Seeing Peter after working 15 hours, then spending 7 grueling hours in the OR before losing the patient, trying to sleep 2 hours in the call room, then getting up and working 13 more hours. He looked terrible, poor guy.

Cramming 2 car seats and a booster seat in the back of my Saturn SL1

My wardrobe

My bathroom bathtub tile that I want to replace (see #1 under “The Bad”)

Me with 3 kids at church

My lack of patience at the end of a long day

I had cookie dough for lunch yesterday

Running through the parking lot to my car with my three kids during a terrible storm, tornado sirens blaring, dark as night, crashing thunder, lightening, crazy rain and wind.

Awesome. J

New pictures

(Abby just celebrated her 2nd birthday.)

We took the kids to get their pictures taken last Saturday. Not a very fun way to spend a Saturday morning, but I think they turned out good.

Things here are going just fine. We had a couple of sunny days this week, which was nice, so I was able to walk Em to school. Today it has rained all day. Last week it rained and we had a leak in the foundation the was sending water into our basement. Argh! It was only is a small part of it, but still a huge pain. I had to tear back the carpet and dry it, then pull the paneling off the wall so the waterproofers could come and find the leak. They came on Tuesday and then came back today to patch it. I told the guy that I should get a punch card for as many times as they've been to my house since we moved in. Also, my car has been in the shop. I walked down to the shop and picked it up last night and when I started it up, it was still making the same noise. What did I just pay $400 for?! Car repairs=no fun.

Pete is off nights now, so that's nice. It's good to have him back among the living. He takes his board exams tomorrow and then has to head to the hospital for an over night on-call shift. I'm trying to think of something to entertain the kids on a rainy day. Today we played Red Light/ Green Light, Simon Says, Mother May I, London Bridges,etc. I'm about burned out of those games so hopefully I can come up with something else. Maybe the library?

I left Abby alone with Jake while I went in to the other room for a minute. When I came back in, Abby was gone, but she had carefully tucked her baby doll in next to Jake. :) He is such a smiley little guy. I am really enjoying him. He's getting so nice and chubby, too. Hard to believe that 5 months ago he was 3 lbs when today he's almost 16 pounds!!