Saturday, February 9, 2013

A Little Birthday Basketball

In lieu of a party this year, Jake chose to go to a UT basketball game with his two favorite friends; his cousin, Cohen, and school friend, Nicolas.  Everyone's schedule didn't align until this weekend, so we did a little birthday celebrating exactly one month after his birthday.  We started off the night at our house with Jake's favorites, pepperoni pizza followed by cake and ice cream.  He requested a strawberry cake, and I surprised him with this design...
Of course, he opened his presents...
And then, we headed to the Drum for the main event: UT Longhorns vs TCU Horned Frogs.  Cassy and I both attempted several shots of the boys outside, and Jake's eyes were closed in every one!  (He truly has flash sensitivity)  I still want to post this pic b/c they boys still look adorable and I love the cool background...
I was very pleased by how well Jake managed both friends and how well they all got along together considering Cohen and Nicolas just met.  I think they all had a blast, and I can't think of a better way for Jake to have celebrated #4!  It was a great night with family and friends, and to top it off the Longhorns won!!!  Here are the handsome guys once again...

Friday, February 8, 2013

Elephants!

A few weeks back, the Shriner circus was in Cedar Park, and a friend told me they were feeding the elephants for the public to see one Friday morning.  Since that sounded different and new, a couple friends and I took the kids to take a look.  It was the closest I think I'll ever be to an elephant without a barrier in between us, so it was pretty cool.  I liked seeing the elephants and the kids did too.  Their mid-morning snack was a mix of apples, banans and pears...
Here's a great close-up shot...
It was way too difficult to get a shot of Jake and the elephants b/c I had to lift him up so he could see.  We were lucky to have a front row position, so once we had our fill we moved out of the way for others.  Here's Jake in front of the crowd after we'd taken a look...


Things to remember

As I've said in an earlier post, I have loved age 3!  It's been so much fun having full conversations with Jake and seeing his personality blossom.  Here are a few things I want to remember about him at this precious time:

**Around Thanksgiving, he was learning about Pilgrims and Indians at school, and he REALLY got into Indians.  We checked out books about different tribes at the library, he frequently wanted to wear his Indian vest and necklace, and he also wanted to be called by his Indian name, Gray Wolf
**When he plays any sport at home, either by himself or with one of us, he always names what teams are playing.  For a long time, one of the teams was always the "Fordos."  He would announce, "Fordos vs. the Cowboys, or Fordos vs. the Longhorns."  I have no idea what a Fordo is, but he definitely loved that mascot.
**Over the last several months, he's taken much more interest in coloring and is SO much better coloring in the lines.  Up until recently, he had no interest at all, and would just scribble all over the page.  Now, he really cares and takes his time picking colors and making it look nice.
**He's quite the storyteller.  He'll frequently tell us made-up stories out of nowhere.  Oftentimes, these stories begin by him saying, "When I was a baby..."
**He still has quite the passion and opinion about clothes.  He'll quickly tell me he doesn't like something and probably only wears 1/4 or less of the clothes he owns because those are his favorites.  He also likes to dress up for specific occasions, and is always clothed appropriately for whatever sport he's playing, whether it's football, soccer, basketball or baseball.  Here he is dressed as a cowboy.  He got "real" cowboy clothes from my parents in late November and was so proud of his boots, shirt and belt.
 
**Another thing about clothes...he calls his khaki pants, any collared shirt, and his dress shoes "work clothes."  He insists on wearing his "work pants and shoes" and a Leander basketball shirt to every game, so he specifically changes clothes before we leave (no matter how late we're running). 
Jake in his "work clothes" Forgive the deer in the headlights
look.  He is working hard to open his eyes with the flash.

**He still sings all the time.  This is one of my very favorite traits of his.  Hearing him sing makes me so proud and melts my heart.  He sings mostly worship songs, but also lots of songs he makes up himself.
**His favorite TV show lately is Octonauts.  He loves to watch it even if he's already seen an episode several times.
**Jake is overall a pretty good eater, but is also usually an incredibly slow eater at dinner time.  He's usually the last one to finish at our table.
**Jake is already showing qualities of a great big brother by how he talks to us and my belly.  He seems genuinely excited for the baby to come.  A few weeks back, Kevin and I walked into his room and he had laid out his "Big Brother" shirt with pants and socks.  When we asked him what he was doing, he said, "Getting ready for my brother to come in 3 days."  Our hearts melted and it was hard to break the new that it was 3 months, not 3 days.  Once we explained it to him, he started crying b/c it was so far away.
**Jake wants to name his brother Owen Cohen or Daddy Chaddy.
**He'll reach up to hold my hand sometimes even when he's not required to.  This is also something I really love and am fearful for the time when he's "too old" to hold it at all.
**He's can give the best full body hugs--this is when he wraps both his arms and legs around you and holds tight.  They are the best!
**I noticed over the last couple months that when I am holding Jake, he often starts playing with my hair.  He just strokes it and strokes it.
**He seems to have favorite numbers.  Recently, the number is 89.  If you ask him question that requires a numerical response, he'll often respond with "89" even if it's way off.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Cousin Time

We missed out seeing Kevin's cousin, Kelly and her family, over Christmas so we planned a special get together so we could catch up with each other after the New Year.  Their family lives in San Antonio, and they were super nice to offer to drive up to us, and meet at the Oasis.  We really love their family and have always seemed to mesh really well with them, so I definitely enjoy and appreciate every time we get to be together.  Here we all are...
Ryan, Kelly, Brittany, Rodney, Kellie, Kevin, and Jake
The moment we drove up to the Oasis, Jake started commenting on how "cool" it was and was very excited to go exploring around the restaurant.  There's a bridge connecting the parking garage with restaurant and shops and Jake was super excited about crossing it.  Here's Jake and Kevin on the bridge...
I don't really know what to say about this last shot, except there is this weird looking thing outside the restaurant, and here are the guys checking it out...

9 years

Kevin and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on January 3.  I generally keep the content of this blog focused around Jake and our family as a whole, but I think it's important for our kids to know how important Kevin and I's relationship is.  In fact, without our love and relationship, there truly is no family, so I definitely think it's something to be acknowledged and celebrated. 
 
I am so blessed to be in a marriage with someone who loves and supports me through everything.  Kevin is patient and he's the best listener.  Kevin is my biggest encourager, and has a strength of showering me with verbal praise and affection.  He's a very attentive and active father.  He is so good engaging Jake and spending quality time with him.  He is very creative and imaginative; way more then me, and these strengths add a lot to who Jake is.  Jake (and all of Jake's friends) adore him, and it's easy to see the reason is due to the personal attention and easy manner he has with them.  I'm also really proud of the role he has a a teacher, coach, and church youth volunteer.  Children are so important to me, and I firmly believe every child is a gift from God and deserves love and support regardless of age, behavior, or circumstance.  Kevin has devoted his career to guiding young people and helping them grow intellectually, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually.  Public education gets such negative attention, but I'm proud that Kevin is a teacher and a coach in the public school system. He is a good, effective teacher, and I am certain his students and players' lives are positively impacted by his presence. 
 
I can hardly believe we've been married for 9 years and been together for over 12.  It does not feel that long, and I'm excited to venture into the future with him.  I love you so much, honey.  Happy 9 years! 
Kevin and I actually went on a date to celebrate 9 years!  It was a wonderful evening.
 Here we are before we headed out. 

Other birthday celebrations

We seem to have several friends who also celebrate birthdays around the start of the new year, which means lots of fun celebrating.  We helped celebrate Eliza's 2nd birthday Veggie Tale style.  Here's a hilarious picture of the kids.  5 of the 8 of them are 2 or under which explains the chaos (notice how Jake is doing his best to be perfectly posed, though)...
We also celebrated Aiden's 4th birthday with a fireman birthday party.  A real firetruck and fireman came to his house to help us all celebrate.  Here's Jake in front of the truck...

The kids were even offered rides on the truck!  The first trip the fireman took, Jake DID NOT want to go.  In fact, he stuck to his guns and stayed with me at the house while all the other kids took off on the truck.  I'm not sure what made him nervous of the whole thing, but he insisted he'd rather stay back.  Then again, when the party was about to end, the fireman offered another ride.  At first, Jake stated he didn't want to go, then at the last minute he agreed he would ride along with me.  I was so glad he did because it's probably a once in a lifetime opportunity, plus he had a great time and was so proud of himself.  It was a little dark to get a great picture of the ride, but here he is on a real firetruck!
Here are all the junior fireman.  What a fun afternoon!

Jake turns 4!

Jake turned 4 on January 2.  I can hardly believe it.  I LOVED age 3 and I'm certain I'll also love 4.  This stage of childhood is so great, and I'm blessed to be home to see it on a daily basis.  We started Jake's birthday off with a special breakfast.  This year I surprised him with mini pancake funny guys.  He was excited about the surprise and seemed to love the pancakes...
Here's all our pancake guys...
I found UT football guys at Terra Toys and it was the perfect gift for Jake.  For months, he's been using many different small objects like marbles or parts to other games to play football with them.  Now he actually has the real football players.  He immediately wanted to set it all up and begin playing...
Here are Jake and Daddy working on some plays...
Jake had already had birthday cakes with each set of grandparents and will have his special UT basketball birthday celebration at the start of February, so we all decided to stick to what he truly loves the best; ice cream!  We put his candles right into the ice cream container while we sang happy birthday.  Here's our big 4-year-old...
Once I've officially caught up on posts, I plan to post a special Jake post of all the things I want to remember about him at this age, so stayed tuned!