A day with Tutu and Grandma Jen

The other weekend we were so lucky to have Grandma Jenn and Tutu come visit us!!! It cracks me up because Tutu and Jacob are 88 years apart, but Tutu is one of Jacob's best playmates!!! He is constantly talking about her and the things she likes. "Tutu likes pancakes!" "Tutu likes baths!" "Tutu likes Santa Clause!" I'm not sure if Tutu likes all those things, but Jacob is pretty convinced that she does! Needless to say, Jacob was very excited to have Tutu over to play. There was a tea party, a picnic lunch, and painting of pumpkins!!! Brayden did join the tea party also, however his etiquette was much to be desired!

I think one of my favorite activities of Halloween is painting pumpkins.  It makes for such a a great decoration and easy activity for Jacob! This activity was totally Tutu's activity because she is the fabulous artist of the family. I love the photo on the left because they both have the same look on their face... the look of concentration!!! Maybe Jacob will get Tutu's talents instead of his mothers!!

Here is the final products...guess who's who's LOL! Tutu's pumpkin did get carved yesterday morning, but Jacob again said, "Tutu wants her pumpkin carved like this!" LOL this kid!!

Fun videos

There has been a lot of events caught on video recently! I know the saying is a photo is worth a 1,000 words, but there is something about seeing things play out live! Thank goodness for modern technology! I'll start with the oldest video first. Brayden walking for the first time!!! Granted the first couple steps weren't caught on camera, but the next were!!! He did it at gymnastics!!!

So proud of this little man!!! He is really cruising now!! Granted he still prefers to crawl because he likes to go fast, but he is walking better and better each day!

This next video is awesome because it shows how much Jacob is growing!!! He is speaking Spanish!!

And as promised from the last blog...here are two videos of the frog madness that took over our household the other night. As you will see in the second video...I think Brayden is the bully of the two boys lol.

Our house is in constant chaos, but oh my gosh it is so much fun!!!

Bishop Farms 2014!!!

Last year we discovered the wonderful pumpkin patch that is Bishop Farms. We had so much fun, that we had to go back this year (a couple times!). I didn't think that Bishop Farms could get better! But, they really stepped their game up even more!! They now have pony rides, a merry go round, and a zip line! We got so many great photos this year, thanks to Mrs. Gabby Adams!!! Oh and I can't take credit away from Jason because he did have the skill of getting the kids to cooperate with jellybeans! As you can see in most of the pictures they are looking up...that's because the jellybeans are located there! LOL

We had so much fun just playing in the pumpkins!!! The kids, especially the babies, loved touching them and balancing near them! I love the upper left photo! It totally looks like Brayden has his arm around Tessie, oh young love! LOL

My dad got to come with us this year! I think he was a little exhausted after, lol! But the boys loved having him there! We rode the train a couple of times, which Jacob of course loved!! My dad also loved it because there were all kinds of old cars and tractors to look at on the ride. Jacob found his pumpkin after much searching by my dad. He is quite excited for his pumpkin and has even slept with it! He often tells me that he loves his pumpkin! LOL this kid!!!

 

There is an awesome tractor ride out the acres and acres of pumpkins. The boys really liked it! I will give myself props though too, because I breastfed on the tractor, which was a skill!! LOL

 Oh these cute boys!!! Brayden seriously would not sit down and face the camera! He only wanted to touch the pumpkins!!! I swear he loves October as much as I do!!!

So, I think this was my favorite thing that we did at Bishop Farms. Gabby bought a ride for both Memo and Jacob... well, Jacob refused to get on, so I looked at the sign and the minimum age was 6 months. So. Brayden got to ride a pony!! He was definitely uneasy at first, but once he realized it was a rocking motion, he was super happy!!! Notice the black spot on his chin... I think he ate his weight in dirt that day! LOL!!!

Jacob- isms

Over the last couple of months we have had some of the most hilarious conversations with Jacob, known to man lol. His vocabulary is just crazy!!! He is really talking in complete sentences. which most of the time is great thing!! However, I must say that he is getting very good at justifying why he does not want to do certain things, which sometimes makes me think twice about his vocab ability. Most of the time comedy ensues with his statements...

So this first story begins with this frog to my left. I can't remember who got this for the boys, but we just recently pulled it out. Jacob is into hiding things and having us or Brayden find them. So he went and hid the frog in our room while we were all in his room...

J: Came running into his room saying "Momma! Daddy! Come look at the frog! He's talking nonsense!!"

A: "Your frog is talking nonsense?"

J: "Momma come look at it! He's talking nonsense!"

Both Mike and I were almost in tears because we were laughing so hard! What was awesome, was the amazing dance party that came after that. That will be the next post!


Mike took Jacob to his Halloween carnival at school last weekend (notice no pictures with this, that's because Mike didn't take any!) Jacob got a balloon sword to take home...

M: "Jacob don't let the balloon touch the ground because it will pop."

(Jacob touches the balloon to the ground and it popped)

J: With tears in his eyes, "Oh no daddy! My sword turned into a snail!"

The picture to the right is just so cute, and another example of how good a big brother Jacob is...

When I came outside to take this photo Jacob said...

"Momma, I'm taking care of my baby!"

My heart grew a 1,000 times over!

Recently, we got a new car seat for Jacob because Brayden has grown so much, that we needed to rotate everyone. So, Jacob is now forward facing (eeek!), but it has allowed for increased conversations in the car. Yesterday, when I picked him up from school, we got their report cards. Jacob was sitting in back.

J: "Momma can I have that mail?"

A: "Sure!" (hand it to him)

J: "Momma, can you give me glasses, so I can read?"

A: "I don't have glasses."
 
J: " Okay. Can we go put this mail in the post box?"

One of my favorite things that Jacob talks about, is his family members. He randomly just brings people up... I'm not sure what triggers his memory, but it is very funny!

While playing in the play room... "Momma, can Grandpa Chris come over? I love Grandpa Chris."

In the car on the way to school...
A: "Jacob I love you! Brayden I love you!"

J: "I love Brayden too! I love my daddy. I love my papa Eddie. I love my Grandpa Dayton. I love my Noni."

Coming down the stairs...

A:"Jacob do you want waffles for breakfast?"

J: "I want pancakes. Grandma Jen and Tutu like pancakes too! They come over and eat with me?"

I love this kid!!! And seeing him grow into this little boy has been amazing!!! I can't wait to see what the future brings!

Some of My Favorite's Birthdays!!!

So during my little break from blogging, I missed a few birthdays of people who are very near and dear to me!! And they just both happen to be born in June...my lovely nephew Everett and the best Grandma/Great Grandma in the whole world Tutu!! Both celebrated very significant birthdays this past June... Everett turned 2 and Tutu turned 90!

We'll start with Mr. Everett!!! I cannot believe this little man is 2!!! I swear it wasn't that long ago that I cut his finger clipping his nails as a tiny infant, thus becoming his favorite auntie! LOL Oh, the good times we have had Everett! Everett you have brought so much joy to our lives, especially Jacobs! He loves you so much and talks about you ALL the time!! He calls you his favorite cousin...although you are his only cousin right now, he means it very sincerely.  I must say, Everett celebrated his birthday in true toddler fashion...with Elmo and friends!! Kiki planned an awesome party in Oakland at a beautiful park! We had so much fun eating Cuban sandwiches that Matt made (totally appropriate toddler food, duh!) and Elmo cake pops that Noni made!

Next up is my favorite 90 year old on the planet...Tutu!!! Tutu is seriously one of the greatest women I know. She has always been there to support me whenever I have needed her, and she has always been able to tell me the truth, or put me in my place when I needed it. I have always said that of anyone in my family, I am the most like Tutu. I think from my personality to my toes (yes you read that right), Tutu and I are very similar... and I am so grateful for that! So for Tutu's 90th, she wanted to do a small get together at her house with just family...it's amazing how your family grows after 90 years!! It was such a wonderful party!! Seeing the entire Jacob family, and meeting Tutu's friends, or my mom's friends that she grew up with, was just so much fun! Tutu was always an amazing grandma, and to see her as a great grandma, is something more special than any words I could express.

My boys love their Tutu so much!!! Happy 90th Birthday Tutu!!

Brothers!!!

When I was pregnant with Brayden, I had many people tell me how crazy I was to have two kids so close together.  And I must say, for the first six months, I thought, "Man, those people were right!" LOL.  As Brayden has gotten older, watching the brother relationship develop is probably my most favorite thing about being a parent. It also helps that Jacob is an AMAZING big brother!!! I just had to share some of my favorite moments between these two crazy kids...

One of Jacob's favorite things to do, is to feed Brayden. I should make it clear that his favorite thing to do is to feed Brayden his own food, he does not like to share his food with Brayden. It allows for a giant mess, but the cuteness is worth it!  He has also started to enjoy pushing Brayden down the Thomas Roller Coaster, that video will be another blog. I must say, as a parent, my favorite thing they do together is take a bath. Not only for the convenience factor, but they actually have a pretty good time!

Jacob has taken on the responsibility of introducing Brayden to new foods... as seen above, strawberry ice cream! It's quite funny when Brayden wants to eat something that I told Jacob he cannot share with Brayden (fruit snacks, peanut butter, honey nut cheerios, etc) I will hear yelling from the other room and then Jacob stating, "NO BRAYDEN! ITS DANGEROUS FOR YOU!" LOL I think I may have said that a few too many times!

Here are the boys at the ever famous "Acorn Park." Jacob loves this park because he can pick up acorns and throw it into the stream.  Today, he was teaching Brayden how to throw them into the stream. He kept finding acorns and telling me, "Mommy, I found one for Brayden and one for me. You don't get one, okay?" LOL!!!! This kid!!! Brayden was much more interested in tasting the acorns, so Jacob had to throw most of them into the water.

One of the cutest moments I have had with these two. Jacob was walking ahead of Brayden for a minute or so, then he looked back. He saw how far ahead of him he was and said, "Brayden is my brother, so I walk with him." It was the slowest walk to the playground ever, but Jacob would not leave his brother behind!

Not only are these two so adorable to each other, about 50% of the time, but they are looking more and more alike! Just in the last week, I have had three strangers say comments of, "Man they are clones of each other!", "I guess it's no surprise what your next child will look like!", "They could be twins!" (I think the last person was confused, but I got the point). This picture of them around the same age just shows how much they do look alike! Gotta love my fatty, chunky babies!!

I love this two boys so much!!! Exhaustion never felt so good!!

Tahoe Vacations!!!

We have kept up our tradition yearly of going to Tahoe with the Burkholder family. I started to actually post about this year (yes a month or more late), but then I started looking back on photos from our previous vacations, and I realized how much things have changed!!! This year was the first time that Jacob and Everett could really truly enjoy it.

It was so fun taking the older boys to the lake and showing them the fish and ducks!! Granted we were all a little nervous about the dock (probably some more than others lol), but the boys did great!!! Jacob did great getting into the lake!!! It was shocking because it was super cold, but he went right in! The cousins were pretty much inseparable the whole time!!

As expressed before...the water was cold!!! LOL

Thinking past to previous years, one of the biggest changes I saw was the pool! Seeing both Everett and Jacob get more comfortable in the water was so fun... then also remembering years past with the ever elusive pool ring!! LOL

Jacob's chunky cheeks are hilarious!!! WOW has he grown!!!

Then of course the cousins!!! Going from neither one of them being able to crawl, to them sitting on the deck eating popsicles!! It brings so many memories back of Tyler and I at the cabin!

This photo is crazy on so many levels!! Number one being I forgot how monstrous Jacob was and how tiny Everett was!! Awe, morning laziness in the cabin!

And of course I could not leave out a photo of us before kids... Tahoe 2010! (Kimmy I have no clue where you were lol)

When Your BFF is a Boy (The Tessie Brayden story)

 As you may recall from an earlier blog, that Jacob is greatly influenced by his BFF Memo.  He wears high heels, plays with princesses, and has tea parties whenever he gets a chance. Not that it's a bad thing by any means, but I have a feeling that Brayden and Tessie's relationship may be a little bit different. As you may have noticed, Brayden is more of a "free spirit" than Jacob ever was, but it allows for some very comical moments...

This picture could not be more priceless for what was about to take place. My dear son, playing Eddie Haskel in the background, while Tessie knew something was about to happen. (I will say during this event I was on the play ground with the big kids and Gabby was with the babies...from a distance I hear "oh no, oh no, oh no" "then Tessie crying.) I have never been so grateful to have a play by play recorded through still frames....

This is so funny to me!!! I don't know if he was going in for the kiss or if he was just teething that bad he needed to chomp something!! Tessie has no teeth still, so she couldn't quite grasp the need to bite your friends face!

The other day, Tessie got her revenge... we decided to see how Brayden would look like a girl! LOL I must say pretty adorable!!

Summer Time...

Wow this summer flew by!!! I can't believe Mike went back to school this week and the boys are going back to daycare!!! CRAZY!!! I feel like I have so much to catch everyone up on that I don't know where to start?!?!? I guess the beginning is always a good place ;0)

So we had July fourth and the World Cup this year...it was quite the patriotic month!!! It was so fun to teach Jacob about soccer and about our country.  I think he was chanting U-S-A for the whole month of July. So I had to of course work on the 4th, but we still went to Gabby and Jason's house to celebrate. Jacob definitely didn't care for the fireworks because they were "too loud!", no surprise there! However, Brayden was fascinated by them.Thanks to Gabby we had many projects and themes happening...including waffles, cupcakes, make your own flag (it is quite possible that Memo and Jacob have never seen an American Flag based on their replication lol).

I thought these facial expressions were priceless!!! So funny watching them blow these out...oh and they were trick candles too! (Gabby's idea!!)

They obviously enjoyed the cupcakes too!!

Here is our patriotic breakfast!!

This summer there was a lot of swimming!!! Between us finally joining a gym1(yay to getting healthy!) and going to Tahoe, and other various swim places; Both Jacob and Everett are getting more comfortable in the water!!! As you can tell by the lower left picture, Brayden has no issues with water lol!

Jacob also took up a new sport this summer...

He really likes to golf...however, I believe the golf club went into the garbage after someone was hit in the head...lol!!! (Yeah, my dad gave him this!)

We have also had some good times with Everett and Kiki!!! We had a few sleepovers and lots of play dates!! these cousins love hanging out with each other!!

As I look over the spelling of this post I am realizing that there is a lot about Jacob LOL. Brayden has accomplished so much this summer too!!! I feel like this post is getting a little long, so my post tomorrow will be all about Brayden!

Baby Friends!!

I think the biggest difference between raising one child and raising two (besides the chaos) is that you have relationships with people that already have kids! When Jacob was born we pretty much only knew Gabby and Jason who had a baby, and yes Kimmy was pregnant. But in all reality, it made play dates a little more difficult because I had to go meet other moms first!! Well, now that we have had two years of developing relationships with other kid "owners," it has made it really easy for Brayden to meet friends!!I swear this child has met more babies in his short 7 months than I have as a PICU nurse!!

 His first friend is baby Angelina, or "Lina." Her mom, Melissa, and I work together and this is baby girl number three for them! Lina is about a month younger than Brayden and probably one of the most calm babies I have ever seen!! I think they will continue to be good friends...considering Brayden tried to kiss her the first time they met!

This baby Blake, our friend Ariana and Kieth's youngest. Their older boy, Cody, is one of Jacob's good friends. We owe them a lot because they introduced us to the balance bike! Anyways, Blake is exactly to the day a month older than Brayden! Here they are having fun at the Children's Museum!

And of course we cannot forget about Brayden's BFF...Tessie!!!! I think they have grown to tolerate each others presence now. Granted there have been a few mishaps, including Brayden trying to rip her face off (that's a day for another blog). I'm glad they get along because I see a very bonded future with them ;0)

And of course last but definitely not least... his favorite play person in the world is...Jacob!!!

Jacob loves showing Brayden how to do things!! If anyone has seen this guitar at our house, then you know how treasured this coveted toy is to Jacob.  He almost always shares it with Brayden!! It's so cute!!!

Hall of Fame

A few weeks ago I had a very exciting night, one that I thought would never happen... I was inducted into Cal State Hayward's Hall of Fame for soccer. I can honestly remember (it wasn't that long ago I know), but I remember looking in the halls of the KPE building and seeing all the Hall of Fame plaques on the wall and thinking "Wow, wouldn't it be awesome to have my name up there one day?!?" Well it has happened!!! I feel so incredibly honored. There was a really nice ceremony that I had to make a speech at!!! EEEK!!! It was a lot of fun to catch up with all my old coaches and teachers.  It was definitely a walk down memory lane. Here are some photos...

 Here is Amy and I... It was so much fun to hear her talk about the old team. It really made me want to go out and play again. Between this and the World Cup, I have been having major soccer dreams!

Here I am with the future Hall of Famer Mike Wood!!!!  I can't wait to see him up there!!

Here is the whole class of 2014. Yeah I am the youngest...lol