Aunt Kellie

I had the pleasure of staying with Chad and Cassy to help out with their kids. Of course, I'm always willing to be of help, but the help was especially needed now this precious girl has joined the family...

Campbell Reese joined our family on January 13, and I hadn't had the opportunity to meet her yet. Unfortunately, Kevin and Jake still haven't met her, but we'll be back soon over Spring Break.
She was a super sweet, easy baby to care for; plus I got to dress her up in girlie clothes and bows! I didn't realize until Cassy pointed it out, but I had been standing with my back arched to help support Campbell. I'm not used to a newborn, and my back let me know it for the next couple days.
I also had the delight to spend time with Cohen and Channing too. Channing is so cute and I especially love her beautiful eyes...

Cohen is such a big boy and a great big brother. One day as I was putting Cohen down for his nap, I set Campbell down on his floor so that we could read together. He immediately told me that he wanted her up with him on the bed, so the 3 of us had storytime together. He was so gentle, patient and loving: a great big brother to two little girls.
It was a blessing for me to spend great quality time with my nephew and nieces, and a reminder of how happy I am for Jake to have cousins whom I hope he is close to as he grows up.

Boots

One night as we were getting ready for bed, Jake noticed a pair of boots in his closet and insisted on putting them on. The boots belonged to me when I was little and are several sizes too big for Jake, but that didn't stop him. Being without clothes didn't stop him either...

I think this one's funny; like he's checking himself out...

I asked him to smile for the camera, and this is what I got...

Back tracking

I've been a slacker when it comes to blogging lately, so I'm going to do a little back tracking so I can catch up.

We had a great Valentine's Day. Kevin and I enjoyed a nice date night on the 13th while Jake had fun playing with his friends, Brady and Emily. The Saturday before Valentine's, the library had a special party. Here's the Valentine's hat Jake made at the library...
I made a special cake for my boys on Valentine's Day. Yummy strawberry with homemade cream cheese icing. For those who like strawberry cake: this was delicious and all I did was buy strawberry cake mix and substitute strawberry soda (soft drink) for the water. It's definitely worth a try! Gotta like the strawberry hearts...

Jake got sweet cards from his grandparents. Here he is opening his cards from Papa and Grandmama. They played music which he loved...
If you look closely in this pic, you can see Jake is holding Lightning McQueen. After losing one Lightning a couple months ago, we surprised him with a new one on V-day. He loves it, and has hardly been without it since...

Spaghetti Night!

Well, it was technically Chicken Parmesan night, but that doesn't have the same ring to it. Either way, Jake had him some spaghetti, which he loves. Spaghetti requires shirtless eating since it's much easier to get sauce off his tummy rather than his shirt. Anyhow, afterwards, he was full, happy and messy, and I had to capture a picture. His eyes look a little funny due to the flash once more, but nonetheless, you get the point... He liked sticking out his tummy even more b/c he was showing us where all the spaghetti went.

Oh, the Sun Will Come Out...

today! Well, it's actually been out since Friday, but these are my first pics of us out in the sun. Being that it was Superbowl Sunday, Jake was decked out in his football jersey, and he even insisted on wearing his helmet to the park... We brought kites to the park, and it was perfect for them. I was excited about the kite flying (much more excited than Jake). Here I am as Kevin was trying to get a picture of both Jake and I, but Jake ran off too quick...
Jake did stay engaged in the kite for a little bit. We were able to let all the string out...look how high!!!

We then tried his little Mickey Mouse kite. We thought he might be more interested in his "own" kite instead of our family one. He was more interested...

at least at first. He (we) worked and worked to get that Mickey kite in the air, but it just wasn't cooperating. Jake did capture a little wind here...

The attempts to get it to fly required lots of running, with little return...

Even though the Mickey kite never quite made it, we did have a great afternoon at the park. What a great way to precede our Superbowl night!

Our Fort

It's my personal opinion that fort making is vital to one's childhood. I distinctly remember making forts when I was little (and that's a pretty big deal, because my memory stinks), and I know Kevin has memories too. I like that you can make games of both the process of building it, and also the end result. Here's a look at our process and end result. I want to also add that when it comes to building forts at our house, Kevin is usually the key builder, so I want to give credit where credit is earned:

Whenever we build forts with Jake, we gather up all his stuffed animal friends to join us inside. Here's Jake starting the gathering...
And some more...

Here's Jake doing his best to help hold it up while we work to secure the sides...Here's a glimpse of what it looked like...
We used Jake's rocket ship tent as a cool entryway to the tent. Jake loved going in and out the tube...
I see you...

When it was all finished, and all our friends were gathered, we got inside and started introducing everyone. It's definitely important that your guests know each other in order to have a successful play group. Jake and Daddy are helping Woody and Charlie Brown get to know each other...

Buzz and Woody

Back to more indoor favs. I've lagged a little behind...there's just too much fun happening in our house. Plus, we had gorgeous weather this weekend so we actually played outside again! Jake is definitely a Toy Story fan, and he likes to play with his figures. He has big and little versions, and he likes to get them all out to play together. Here Daddy's holding the big version, while Jake holds the little guys....
Everyone giving a group hug...

SNOW!

Yes, we actually did have some snow here. It hit overnight, so we awoke to the beautiful white cover. I thought we would wait until later in the day to head out, but luckily Kevin realized it was already starting to melt in the beautiful sunshine, so we headed out just in time. Jake's encounters with snow last year didn't go so well; he definitely did not like it. This year was a much different story. He seemed amazed and LOVED playing in it. Here he is taking in the snow wonder...
I especially love this picture...His snowball balancing act...

Getting Daddy...

On the Phone

Jake loves playing with our cell phones, which isn't allowed. We try to get him to talk to his grandparents on the phone, but beyond "hello," he's really only interested in pushing the buttons. He does have a a couple play phones which have to do if he really needs to make an important call. Kevin was talking 'business' to his head coach, and Jake grabbed his phone to talk too...

Here are my boys talking serious stuff...

Are You Ready for Some Football?!?

Jake loves to play indoor football. He got an awesome Cowboys helmet, jersey, and pants from Chad, Cassy, Cohen, and Channing for Christmas. EVERY time he played at their house he would put on Cohen's football helmet, so this was the perfect gift. Even the smallest possible size is too big for him, but Jake doesn't mind at all. He still LOVES wearing the helmet, even though he has to constantly adjust it so he can see. Here's my little football player...
He also really loves this jersey. There have been several days when he insists on wearing it. He even wore it all day on a church Wednesday for my morning class and our evening class. He got lots of compliments!

It might be a sign the helmet is too big when Daddy can actually wear it! Here's Jake with his favorite teammate...

Cookie Time!

Being stuck inside the house is the perfect excuse to make cookies, and since Kevin had the day off, it was a perfect chance to include Jake as a helper, but have back-up when he reached his helper limit. I searched for a new recipe that didn't require a trip to the store, and found one for Chocolate Cat Cookies. Sounds cute and fun, right? They are basically chocolate/pb cookies made with devil's food cake mix. Should have been pretty simple, but it turned out to be a pretty big mess. Here's Jake stirring as we got the dough started... Once the dough is ready, it's time to make the cat faces, which require chocolate chips. My job was to mold the ears and make the whiskers with a fork indention, and it was Jake and Kevin's job to add the eyes and mouth. Let's just say, I think just one chocolate chip made it from Jake's hand to a cookie; all the rest went straight to his mouth! The boy loves his sweets and became quickly obsessed with eating the dough and chocolate chips. He was definitely no longer interested in helping. Here he is licking the spoon...

We tried to get a picture of him awaiting another bite of dough or chocolate chip, but he shut his eyes to the flash every time. I still include this because I think it's hilarious.

The dough was extremely sticky and messy, so after making cats with the first batch and having my helpers give up, I gave up too and made regular cookies the second batch. Either way, they tasted pretty good. Here's one of the cats...

I didn't capture any pictures of Jake eating the cookies, but trust me, he LOVED them!

Cars

Jake loves to play with cars, and thanks to a great Christmas, he got lots to play with. Here are just some of his Hot Wheels scattered all over the floor... He loves to race them. Here he is racing cars with Daddy...

Just in case you're wondering: the little spot underneath his right eye is a scratch he got while playing a couple days ago. I can't even count the number of scratches and bruises this child has gotten in the name of play. We're faithfully applying Neosporin, but for now, he's got a little 'handsome mark'...

He also loves these trucks which he got last Christmas from Chad and Cassy. They are the kind you pull back and the wheels spin on their own. They are really fast so they are especially fun to race. Getting ready...

On your mark, get set, GO!