Cousin Birthday Fun

This last weekend Jake and I made a quick 24-hour trip to North Texas to celebrate Cohen's 3rd birthday. We spent Friday night in Gainesville and got to spend a little quality Nana and Big T time. We enjoyed a great dinner out, but it took a long time to get our food. Here's how Jake passed some of the time....silly boy.... Cohen's party was a swim/baseball theme, and Jake had a blast! Here's the birthday boy ready for his birthday cupcake...

Here's my boy enjoying his cupcake and watermelon. There was no way he was looking up for the camera with these tasty treats in front of him...

Jake LOVES watermelon!

Cohen opening his presents. The kids stayed nicely seated like this for present #1...

I think it only took til present #2 before they were all like this...

Jake had special swimming time with Nana, Big T, and me. Here he is with Big T trying out the big boys' water gun....

Our big 3 year-old trying on one of his presents! T-ball, here he comes...

First Kite

Yes, I realize kite flying time is usually Spring, but there seemed to be a nice breeze this particular day, and we didn't have anything better to do. Unfortunately, there was a nice breeze in the morning, but we went out in the evening, so we had a very hard time flying our kites. We brought two kites with us, one "better" one and one Mickey Mouse kids kite Jake got in his Easter basket (I know, better late than never). Anyhow, Daddy and Jake tried out the big kite first. This is about as good as it got... In order to keep the kite afloat, Kevin pretty much had to run full speed. It worked pretty well to keep the kite in the air, but it didn't work well at all when there's a little boy trying to follow behind. It was both a sad and hilarious moment. The little speck on the right of this pic is Kevin running with the kite. The littler speck on the left is Jake running after Kevin and the kite trying desperately to catch up. Poor little guy...

After deciding that wasn't the way to go. We switched kites and let Jake give it a try. He had it in the air for approximately 15 seconds...

Kevin then decided to try the running approach again, but with a partner this time. This was Jake's favorite attempt...

Finally, I gave it one last ditch effort,

before we gave up all together and Jake just played in the weeds...

He loved playing in these weeds. I have no idea why; it looked quite awful to me. They were chest level and kind of itchy, but he didn't seem to mind. He's all boy for sure...

Although it was pretty terrible timing on our part again, we ended up having a great time, as we usually do. Jake ran and ran, and played and played, and he loved having both Mommy and Daddy right there with him. We headed home straight to bath b/c this boy was hot, sweaty, and dirty, but also very happy, wouldn't you agree?

Post Nap

I promise Jake's hair was all lying flat on his head when I put him in his crib for nap; not anymore...Also, aren't these the most adorable smiles? He actually smiled on command for a picture!!! I couldn't be happier.

A recommendation....

This weekend, Kevin and I decided to be adventurous (for us), and actually take advantage of living in a city that has some fun event happening every weekend. The 6th Annual Austin Bat Festival was Saturday, August 21, 2010. If you don't know, Austin is "famous" for housing the largest urban bat colony in North America. The colony lives underneath Congress Bridge in downtown. It actually is quite cool b/c you can see them fly off for the night around sundown and there are over 1 million bats! Anyhow, Austin is proud of their bats so they hold a special festival in honor of them. It really would have been great, that is, if it wasn't 100+ degrees outside, and if the festival wasn't on the Congress Bridge with absolutely no break from the sun! As we started the adventure, we parked our car down Congress, and I thought, "Well, it is hot, but it's not too bad with the breeze and the shade." Well, that nice breeze and shade were nowhere to be found on Congress Bridge. We did brave the heat with lots of water, but probably made it through the festival in record time considering it was too hot to stand still to enjoy the bands or peruse the booths.

So, if you haven't already guessed: Our recommendation is to AVOID the Austin Bat Festival. Definitely come see the bats sometime at sundown (preferably when it's cooler), but don't torture yourself on the Congress Bridge in the scorching heat. Here's the proof of our unwise adventure....

And we had to get pics with the cool guitars on our walk back to the car!

Oh, well, maybe we'll have better luck with our next adventure!

Wendi's a genius

Thanks Wendi!!! Of course, something so simple, but so very, very important. Now that my problem is solved, there will be pictures soon to follow :-)

help please

I cannot get pictures to upload onto my blog and I am so frustrated. It's been a problem for over a week, but I haven't had time to deal with it and hoped it would solve itself. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. If you read this blog, then you already know I am technically challenged, so I have no idea what to do. Basically I try to upload pics (I've tried from both my computer hard drive and my camera memory card) and all that comes up are lots of letters and numbers that make no sense. I'm guessing it's some kind of computer code? Can anyone reading this help me? My blog is no good without precious pictures of Jake. If you're reading this, you're most likely friends or family so you also know how to contact me, so please do. Thanks!

Last Weekend of Summer

OK, this post has been long in coming due to techincal difficulties. Last weekend was the Lawsons' last weekend of summer because Kevin officially went back to work full-time. What did we do to honor such special family time?

Went swimming....
Jake really loved the pool this trip; he played around much more than he has on previous trips. He was also brave enough to wade in the water up to his chin and he did NOT want help from Mommy or Daddy, so he just had to deal with us always being right by. It's too hard to get action shots without compromising the safety of the camera, so these are his chillin' shots...

Enjoyed a special Saturday breakfast of cinnamon rolls. I guess there's no other way to eat them but to stuff your face...

He was not happy with the picture taking (maybe he was embarrassed of his bed head;-)), but I had to capture his icing-covered mouth...

Mowed the yard (with Daddy's help, of course)...

Doesn't it look beautiful?
Had a blast at our church's "Serve & Slide" Saturday evening. The event was a time to get extra hands to pack school supplies and backpacks for a needy community, then head out to some food and fun. Jake was a little too small for most activities, but we managed to try out the slide before it was too dominated by the big kids. It was a process. First, I had to help him up the steps. Once we got to the top, I then coached him to slide down beside me (we're the little specks at the top)...

Then in my coaching, I got a little too close to the incline and started sliding myself. By this point, I was definitely trying to urge Jake along, but unfortunately, I went down without him...

Luckily, there was a nice boy also at the top with Jake who continued the coaching, then with just a slight push (approved by Mommy, of course), Jake finally journeyed down...

And finally, tried on what Daddy would wear for his first day of school! No, not really, just wanted to add in this cute shot...

For memory's sake

I thought of a few more things I don't want to forget down the road, so bear with me.

* Jake's closet has a sliding door, and he loves to play with it. He'll go inside the closet, shut the door, wait a few seconds, then open it up....a version of peek-a-boo. He also sometimes requests for one of us to come in the closet with him.
*Although Jake is learning many new English words (he said 'thank you' for the first time yesterday), he continues to speak in a language we like to call 'Jake-ese.' He talks and talks, but you have no idea what he's saying. What makes it especially funny is that it truly seems like he's trying to have a conversation and he's waiting for you to respond. I really believe there are full out sentences just waiting to pop out anytime
*When Jake runs, he only swings his right arm; his left one stays close to his body. Kind of weird, I know, but also kind of cute.
*Overall, I'd say he's a good eater. He LOVES fruits and we always have several kinds of fruit on hand. His favorites right now are watermelon and grapes. He also really likes oranges, cantaloupe, bananas, apples, and blueberries. He's not as open to veggies, but his favorites are avocado and green beans. He also LOVES milk. He much prefers milk to water, which are pretty much the only two things we offer him.
*He went through a stage during June and July when bathtimes were unpredictable. Sometimes he HATED it and refused to sit down, which made bathtime hated by all. Luckily, he seems past that stage and all is good and fun in the tub.
*After the last post of Jake's favorite things, we decided to cut down on his TV watching, so now he only watches about 30 minutes per day. I have to say, it's probably more challening on us than him.....that's a lot of time to keep a little boy fully entertained!

Things I want to remember

Jake is doing and learning so many things these days. I'm definitely worried about forgetting some of the sweet and wonderful things about him. Luckily, this blog will have a better memory than me. Here are some of the things I hope to remember:

*He's learning more and more words. Some of the latest words I like the best are: plessse (please), eyes, ears, toes, Skylar (I have no idea how to spell the way he says it, but he does say it), drop (a command for Skylar), tee-tee, poo-poo, potty, shoes, Blambey (the name of his lovie) and "2, 3, go!"

*His "2, 3, go!" expression is especially cute. For some reason, he never says the #1, but he says this expression a lot. He uses it when he plays with his cars before pushing them off, when he plays running games, and sometimes just to keep us on our toes.

* When someone is sitting down and he wants you to get up for whatever reason, he grabs your hand and pulls. If you don't get up immediately, he pulls and adds a grunting noise. If you still don't get up, he'll say "plessse," which is irresistable.

* He's a good helper around the house and has started doing some very basic "chores" to help out. One is feeding Skylar. Kevin or I will fill Skylar's cup with food, hand it to Jake, then Jake carries it to her bowl to dump it out. He then takes the empty cup back to its bin. This definitely can be a bit messy depending on his aim, but luckily Skylar's good at eating everything to the last drop.

*He's very good at cleaning up toys when asked. I am very grateful for this.

*He is also responsible for putting back his milk/water cup back in the fridge. He'll wait at the fridge for us to open it up (he can't open it on his own, and I'm thankful) and he'll put his cups in their designated spots.

*He can make several animal sounds including the sounds of a monkey, snake, beaver, horse, cat, lion, bear, elephant, wolf, and owl. (His horse noise is my favorite)

*When asked what sound a doggie makes, he replies, "Doggie!"

*He can make all the animal movements from the book, "From Head to Toe." I'm pretty sure he has them memorized b/c he will sometimes start the motion before you finish the complete sentence. Our favorite motions are raising his shoulders as a buffalo and bending over to arch his back as a cat.

*He's gotten much more brave about water and sprinklers. At the beginning of the summer, he would not get his face wet and would not run through them. Now, he seems to love it.

*On a slightly more serious note, we've been doing time-outs with him for the last couple months. He probably gets time-out 2-4 times per week. His "spot" is the front entry mat at the door. He does great sitting there a full minute, and we always end by saying I love you and he gives us a hug to say, I'm sorry. We do our time-outs "Super Nanny" style, and it seems to be working well so far.

* We sometimes play a running game where we run back and forth from the front to back door, with the mats as our "base." He often starts in the position a track runner would; bent over with one hand on the ground.

* He's liked shoes for a long time, and this fetish is not slowing down. He LOVES to put on either Kevin's or my shoes. He also will "ask" for us to put on his own shoes even if we're just playing around the house. At least once everyday, we can find him in our shoes. Here's the pics to prove it. I promise they were not set up...

*He loves playing with new things. Some of the new things include Daddy's tools (at least the ones he can reach). He especially loves wrenches. They are on a lower shelf in the garage and he often grabs a couple to hold or possibly dig around with. Here he is discovering a tape measure...
*He's learned and loves to play "Ring Around the Rosie" and "Motorboat," which is similar to RAtR.
*He loves to play "Jake baseball." Jake baseball means he pitches to the batter (usually Daddy). Once the ball is hit, Jake picks it up, then runs to tag the batter before he reaches home. The first ever pitcher/outfielder combo!

*He's started doing some imaginary play. This first started with him "taking" the green eggs and ham from the book and feeding Kevin. When we talk about eating things, he really likes to pretend eating and feeding.
*He has become VERY opinionated about the books we read. If he doesn't want to read a book, he will slam it closed and lean over the chair to find another. His favorite books right now are "Happy Baby Things that Go," "Green Eggs and Ham," and "Where the Wild Things Are."
*Sometimes, he does something, and I think, "What in the world are you doing?" The following picture is an example of one of those moments... *Finally, he's mostly a super silly, happy boy who's full of smiles and laughter. A day doesn't go by when I don't look at him and thank God for giving us such a wonderful blessing.
What a big smile!

19 months

This week marked 19 months. Just pictures for now, but I'll find some time soon to add the latest in Jake's world... He's gettting so big we had to get him some new shoes ;-)

Back to Life

I'm thankful to now be home adjusting back into the regular routine. I missed my boys so much; things just don't feel quite right when the three of us are apart. Luckily, they had some help from Nana while I was gone and I know they were both grateful. I got back home Sunday from Peru, just in time to celebrate my 31st birthday on Monday. My parents came in for the occassion, and treated me to a great steak dinner. After dinner, Kevin surprised me with a Diary Queen ice cream cake! It was delicious...One of the days my parents were here, we headed to The Domain to do some window shopping and to enjoy the cooler weather the rain blew in. Jake had fun running around one area where there were some cool metal figures. The ground in this area is spongy and he was running around saying, "jumpy, jumpy, jumpy."

Had to pose in front of the pretty fountain...
Jake continues to be a Papa's boy. He followed my dad everywhere, and even cried when he left the room to go to the bathroom. It's super sweet to see their relationship; he truly wants to be everywhere Papa is. Here's Jake wearing Papa's hat...

Thanks Grandmama and Papa for spoiling us with lots of love, attention, and yummy food! We had a great week!