Picture overload

We haven't done anything terribly exciting lately, just enjoying life. Not enjoying this super hot weather, though!

Jacob decided one afternoon that this little nook under the bookshelf looked like a good place to cozy up with some pillows and blankets. Every so often he'll sit in there and tell me he is sitting in the 'nook'.

Watching a little tv from the nook

Last week I watched Luke DB a couple mornings. Of course the boys all had a blast playing together!
I pulled out some big brown paper, traced the boys and let them color their picture. Jacob's was already done because they did it with my mom in his Sunday School class. Isaac was NOT into me tracing him, but Luke just laid there super still. He kinda looked at me like, 'WHAT are you doing to me, Lady???'

Isaac looks like he is pondering how he wants to color his picture

I think this was actually Luke's picture that Jacob was coloring all over

Taking a little break on the bench. Please excuse the mess of shoes underneath the bench!

This is one of the projects I am working on right now. Its for a Mystery Crochet-a-Long. Every week, they give out a pattern for a square and in the end you sew them all together to make an afghan. Who knows what it will look like, but it is fun!
These are the first two squares that I made up. Tomorrow I get the next clue! These were pretty easy and they are supposed to get progressively more difficult. Maybe I'll learn something new!

Boy in a crate

Isaac wanted to wear these slippers and kept them on all afternoon. Never mind that it is 100 degrees!

Little drummer boy. He was completely smashing his face in there, but I couldn't get a good picture of it. He's fast!

Alan and I have had lots of date nights these past few weekends. A few weeks ago was the president's dinner at the university, then the next weekend was the promotion dinner for the faculty getting promotions at the university and last weekend we went to a fundraising event that was a wine tasting dinner - again, at the university. My parents watched the boys during all those events and last weekend even kept them over night! We are spoiled!! It was really nice to be able to sleep past 5:00 am, especially because I made the mistake of drinking coffee and was awake until after 2:00 am.

Reading with Oma. Everyone reads with a watering can, right?

By the look on Isaac's face, it seems as though Oma is reading something shocking!!

More painting

Yesterday we tried out the watercolor paints I got earlier this week. The boys had a ton of fun! Jacob actually painted, but Isaac mostly just played with the paints and brushes.
Although, I did manage to get him to get some paint on the paper.

Jacob is pretty intense when he paints. It is so cute!

Isaac did better with the paper on the ground



After painting for a while, Jacob decided he wanted to play in the sandbox, so the boys did that while I cleaned up all the paint mess. About 3 minutes later Jacob came over and said he wanted to paint some more. Sorry, Buddy! I just cleaned everything up. Of course, he put up a big stink, so I suggested he 'paint' with water on the driveway. At first he looked at me like I was nuts, but once I showed him what it was all about and he saw that it involved water, he was all into it. I think he 'painted' for over a half hour while Isaac sat in the sandbox and played quietly by himself. I looked around at both boys playing so nicely and ran to get my book. It was lovely!

Then Isaac joined in the water painting and the fun really started! He was pretty drenched, but they had so much fun!

Here he was telling me, 'I painteen!'

Biker dudes

Some pictures of my bikes dudes.....

Jacob is getting pretty good at riding his new bike. I think that is what is he telling me here, 'I ride my new bike pretty good, Mommy.'

Isaac is not terribly interested in learning to pedal. We have to keep reminding ourselves that Jacob was 6 months older when he first got on the tricycle.

Isaac prefers to just sit on it, but at least we've got him wearing his helmet! He hated it at first, but now he knows that in order to 'ride' his bike he needs to wear it. He's had a couple tip-over accidents so its good he is wearing it! Not that he is falling very far, but that concrete is hard and I want to protect that not quite fully developed head.

Such a big boy!

Love this picture!

Family Photos

A couple weeks ago we had family pics taken by the always fabulous Mark Leonard.

Some of the photos are posted on Mark' blog. You'll have to scroll past the pics of precious little Jenna to see our photos.
Be sure to leave a comment if you haven't already. We get free prints if we get 20 people to comment.

To see all the photos check out Mark's gallery site.

It was pretty crazy with two busy boys running around, but we had lots of fun getting these shots.

The boys loved this fire hydrant. I think they would have stayed there the whole afternoon.


This was an adventure. We trekked through some pretty nasty, thorny weeds to get to the cornfield. Then the boys were so distracted by the corn that they wouldn't look toward the camera. I had to keep pointing and yelling, 'LOOK!!!' to get them to look forward. Ah, memories!

Painting

Jacob got some paints and supplies for his birthday this year and we finally got them out. I didn't want to do it when Isaac was awake because I knew he would be completely covered in paint, so we had to do it while he napped, but lately it is just too hot to go out at noon. Jacob kept saying, 'I paint pretty soon.' and I was starting to feel really guilty about not doing it, so last week I suggested to him that we go outside and paint and he said, 'I paint pretty soon.' I said, 'No, now. Do you want to paint now?' He looked confused, then got a big smile on his face when he realized what I was saying.

Jacob LOVED it and it is all he has talked about the past week.
'I painted.'
'I paint again soon.'
'I show Isaac I painted.'
'I paint with Isaac.'
I could go on and on. Really. He loved it that much.
He seems very interested in painting with Isaac so I told him we would go get some water paints. I figure that will be less messy for an 18 month old.

Anyway, here are the pics.


You can see here in his second painting that the colors are getting pretty mixed. I didn't have a bowl of water out to rinse his brushes. I figured it would just add to the mess. I kinda like the result anyway.

And his third and final painting of the day. He was so proud of what he made!

I am so glad I didn't put shoes on him because he had paint spilled all over the mat I put down and kept stepping in it. By the end his feet were quite multi-colored. I should have gotten a picture of his painted piggies.

Bedtime routine

Bedtime around here can either be precious or crazy.

A typical evening goes something like this.....

6:45-7:00 bath time - For some reason my boys get super wild after their bath. I think the bubbles emit a giggle gas or something. As soon as those wet feet hit the floor, they are off running naked down the hall, laughing and looking for something to get into. That I get them diapered and jammied is a small miracle!

7:00 snack and milk and stories on the kiddie couch

7:15 potty and brush teeth

7:20 we head up to Jacob's room to sit on the rocking chair and read the children's Bible, say prayers and sing a couple songs. Jacob can only last through so much before he is saying, 'I go night-night now. I go night-night now, Mommy.' So we tuck Jacob in and head to Isaac's room for a couple more songs.

The other night we read the Christmas story (Jacob's choice), then sang 'Away in a Manger.' I thought it was an appropriate song to go with the story and it is sorta like a lullaby. The boys loved it. Then we said prayers and I suggested to Jacob to say he was thankful for Baby Jesus. Isaac caught on to that because a couple minutes later he said, 'Tank-ou' and when I asked him what he was thankful for he said, 'Desus'. Oh my goodness that just melted my heart! I know he was just repeating what we said, but it was still super precious.

So that was a good night. Last night was a different story.

Everything went pretty well until we got into the bathroom. Jacob wanted to bring a book and he picked a long one so we were in there for what seemed an eternity. By the time we were through in there it was already 7:30 so I rushed them upstairs and I attempted to read a quick Bible story, but Isaac wouldn't sit on my lap, he tried to throw the Bible and then after he jumped off my lap he ran around the room like a little banshee. I suggested to Jacob that maybe we should sing a song first to get Isaac to settle down. No way! Jacob wanted to read Noah, not sing! So here I am trying to get Isaac to sit on my lap, sing a nice song while Isaac struggled and Jacob yelled, 'Noah! Noah! Noah!' All I could do was laugh. I finally did get them settled enough to read the story, sing a song and say prayers, but it was NOT the precious experience like the night before.

You just never know what is going to happen when you have two toddlers! We'll see what tonight brings.....

18 months

My baby turns 18 months old today. Guess that means he's not really a baby anymore. Jacob reminds me of this all the time when I all Isaac 'Baby Isaac'. 'Isaac's not a baby, Mommy. Isaac's a big boy, Mommy.' I know. I know!

Isaac is quite a character!
He wore this bib on his head for quite a while one morning. I thought he looked like a nun so I called him 'Sister Isaac', but then Jacob had to inform me that 'Isaac is my BRUTTER, Mommy!'

Somehow he got this sticker stuck on his bum!


This morning he put this blanket over his head and was walking around going, 'Mmmmmmh. Mmmmmmhhhh' like he was a little monster!

Alan called him the 'Rainbow Monster' or something like that.

Some of the things Isaac likes to do:
* Play dough, stickers, color
* Puzzles - he's pretty good. He is very patient and persistent and will sit and try a piece for long time.
* Hide: Although I don't think his intention is always to hide. Sometimes he is just sitting quietly and inconspicuously. The other day I thought he was following me indoors after we went for a walk, but he didn't. I went outdoors to find him and couldn't. We were calling his name, looking everywhere and we finally spotted him crouching behind the stroller. I don't think he was trying to hide from us. He was just too busy doing his own thing to notice that we were trying to find him. He does like to actually hide though too, always behind the curtains.
* Tease/torment his brother: He'll grab a toy that Jacob is playing with and take off down the hall as fast as he can go, giggling all the way. Of course, this makes Jacob mad which makes Isaac run faster and giggle harder, which infuriates Jacob. Its a vicious cycle.

Isaac has an amazing vocabulary. The other day while the boys were playing outdoors I just started writing down all the words that Isaac uses and came up with over 80. Since then I have heard him say even more, so I would dare bet he uses 100+ words. I don't remember Jacob talking that much at a year and a half. One thing he can't say is 'Jacob'. He calls him 'Dabba'. People ask where that came from and I really don't know, but I called my brother Jeff 'Jushy' and 'Dushy' so maybe it is just in the genes to call your sibling weird names.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we got Isaac to use his blanket, monkey and doggy for night-night time. Now the past couple nights he has let me tuck him in. I tell him to lay down and then I cover him with his blankie and he tucks the blankie under himself just like his big brother Jacob (he's seen Jacob get tucked in a couple times lately, so maybe he is just trying to be like his big brother). Oh, it is so precious!! I could just stare and stare at him all cozied up with his blankie and stuffies.

He may not be a baby anymore, technically, but he loves to be cuddled by Mommy. I hear, 'I want Mommy. I want Mommy.' a lot and all he wants is to be held. Sometimes it is frustrating because I am trying to get something done, like make lunch or dinner, but I try to remind myself that someday he isn't going to 'want Mommy' anymore.

What a goofball! As I write this he is sitting in his chair with a plastic container over his face, saying something like, 'Hey ya! Hey ya! Hey ya!' to Jacob. Love that kid! He makes me laugh.

Three year stats

Jacob had his 3 year check up last week and weighed in at 29 pounds and was 37 inches. I think he is around the 25th percentile for both. His pediatrician just kinda laughed and asked if I remembered a year or so ago when he wasn't even on the charts for weight. He grew 3 inches since March when we measured him last! I have a feeling he is going to need some new pants this fall.

Here he is with Alan (and Thomas the train) last Sunday wearing their matching outfits (even their sandals match). I love the look on Isaac's face. He looks a little frightened.

According to Jacob at dinner tonight:
* We were eating 'cass' (quiche)
* My name is Mama Ballerina - took a while to figure out what he was saying. I said, 'Did you call me 'Mama Ballerina?' His response, 'Yes! I did.' He had the biggest grin on his face because he knew he was being hilarious.
* Alan was at the school dance (at dinner with students, really)

Where does he come up with this stuff?

Jacob is an explainer. He is always explaining and correcting Isaac. Last week we went to Baby Boot Camp and then to my parents'. Isaac heard the word 'Oma' and kept repeating it. Jacob said, 'We are going to Baby 'Boont' Camp first, Isaac.' Then Isaac started talking about Boppa and Jacob explained, 'Boppa's not going to be there, Isaac.' Then after we got to my parents' Isaac was walking the wrong way so Jacob said, 'No, the door is this way, Isaac.' He always uses Isaac's name at the end. Always.
'That's Daddy's car, Isaac. We are going in this car, Isaac.'
'Its not time to play now, Isaac. Its time for dinner, Isaac.'
'We cannot play outside, Isaac. Its too hot, Isaac.'

Jacob is very particular about things and I really hope it is just a phase. After he watches a cartoon he can't do anything else until we turn the t.v. off. 'Turn it off please, Mommy. Turn the t.b. off, Mommy.' He also can't stand it if we leave the kiddie couch in the living room when he isn't using it. 'Move the couch please, Mommy. Bring it to the playroom please, Mommy.'
In the bathroom the stool he uses to wash his hands has to be in JUST the right spot and so does the rug. If the rug is moved over to the side or the stool isn't pushed all the way up to the counter, he cannot wash his hands until it is fixed. We are working on trying to get him to relax about these things a bit and just let things slide.
There is a positive side to this. He likes to clean up. The other day he just started picking up his toys and I said, 'Hey, whatcha doing, Buddy?' 'I'm cleaning, Mommy. I clean it up for you.' Gotta love that!!

I remember when Jacob was smaller, he just wasn't all that cuddly. No hugs or kisses for that kid! That has really changed and now he is very affectionate. He will just come up to one of us and say, 'I wub you. I wub you bery much.' and give a big hug and tons of kisses. He goes up to Isaac, throws his arms around his neck (which Isaac doesn't always love) and says, 'I wub my brutter.' Just melts my heart!