Fall fun

We played circus one afternoon. 

Isaac is the daredevil monkey!

Good grief! This kid......

Introducing Jacob the Juggler!

The boys have really been into doing crafts lately. I'm not all that creative so thankfully Pinterest exists and I can copy other people's creativity.
One afternoon we made Minions from the movie Despicable Me out of toilet paper rolls. Jacob and Isaac were pretty proud (even though I did most of the work.)!

Isaac wanted me to take his picture with some fall leaves.

Playing basketball with a soccer ball. Guess what Jacob is asking to get for Christmas!

Halloween! We've got Iron Man and a Minion.

We took Kai for a walk one afternoon and Isaac thought this nubby tree was SO cool and wanted me to take his picture by it.

This was taken on another walk. We decided to go down the alley and found all kids of neat stuff.

Pumpkin Patch field trip #2

Isaac was super excited for his very first field trip!

I wish I had taken a video of them while they were in the honey house learning about bees. Isaac is not shy. That is for sure!! He had lots of answers and comments for the guide. Everyone thought he was super cute, though. And he is!

Hmmm....what percentage of the kiddos are looking at the camera? Love it!
This is a pic of the 2 day and 3 day classes.

Unlike his big brother who was probably the last in his class to choose his pumpkin, Isaac picked his in about 2 seconds.

My mom got to come on Isaac's field trip, too! So special for the boys to have Oma come along.

Pumpkin Patch field trip #1

 Jacob had his first field trip and got to go to Greenspot Farms, our favorite pumpkin patch.

 Feeding the animals has not always been his favorite thing to do, but he actually tried it this time!

 Love his smile in this picture!

This is the smile I usually get when I ask him to smile for a picture. He looks a bit pained.

It was fun that my mom got to go with us!

Searching for that perfect pumpkin.

 It took him a long time......

This was taken on the tractor ride back.

Nursery Rhyme Festival

Jacob was one of the little kittens who lost their mittens in the Nursery Ryhme Festival at his school. It was super cute!

 I love how his kitty ears fell onto his forehead. We tried signaling to him to push them back up, but he didn't seem to care. That's okay! Its cuter that way.

And they began to cry!

It was so neat to see how much Jacob participated and didn't seem as nervous as he has in the past when he has to get up and perform.

Meet Kai

Shortly after Homer died this summer, the boys got it in their heads that they wanted a Golden Retriever. We told them that we would start looking after our vacations were over, so that's what we did. We applied at a couple of the local Golden Retriever rescues, had our home interview/inspection and inquired about a few doggies who sadly were already spoken for. It's harder for a family with small children to find a dog through these particular rescues since they won't place a dog with small children if the dog hadn't already had exposure to kids that age. 

A couple weeks ago, Hazel's bio popped up on the rescue's website and I sent an email asking about her. 

Here's the bio that was posted about her. I t

She was still available so we went out to meet her in San Diego. Love at first sight! She's a big girl (90 lbs) but just the sweetest thing!

This is the pic they took for the Facebook page announcing that we are the new proud owners!

So, her real name is Roxy, but there was already a Roxy on the website so on their webpage she was known as Hazel. And we re-named her Kai. Isaac LOVES Lego Ninjago and Kai is his favorite character so long before we had a dog, he had the name picked out.

Isn't she pretty?

Everyone loves her!

She loves us too, but I have to say she probably loves me best. She follows me everywhere and panics a little if she doesn't know where I am. From what we understand from her foster family, she was bought as a puppy from a breeder but returned by the woman who said she couldn't keep her because of her husband. Nobody is sure to what extent, but they believe the man abused her in some way, which may be why she has a special affection for women. She's fine with Alan and the boys, just prefers to be near me. What can I say?

First days of school

Last week school started back up! The boys were so excited!

This was taken at the 'meet your teacher' day. Jacob has Mrs. Brandenberg and Isaac has Mrs. Meinders, both very sweet teachers. Can't wait to see what this year will bring. 

This is where Jacob sits at his table. Assigned seats - different than JrK!

Jacob got a new Lego backpack

 All ready for his first day!

 Jacob told me that this year he isn't going to stand next to me before school starts. He is going to play on the playground with his friends. Last year, Isaac would go play with the big kids and Jacob would stick to me like glue. Just as he said, that first day he ran off to the playground! He got a little freaked out when he couldn't figure out where to line up, but then on the third day of school after the bell rang I lost track of him and I freaked a little. Then I spotted him already in line trotting into his classroom. He didn't even say 'good-bye'. This is a pretty big deal for our shy guy! When I asked him about it later, he said, 'Well, I KNOW where to go, Mom!' Oh, my boy is growing up and getting more and more confident.

On Wednesday, Isaac had his first day of 3 day JrK. He was one super excited kid!

Where's my little baby? He looks so grown up!

Isaac picked out a Lego Ninjago backpack.

 It was a little sunny.

The boys both had a great first week! On the car rides home they would both talk and talk and talk about everything they did and learned and their new friends.

Now that I have 3 free mornings a week, many have asked what I have planned. I have a couple ventures that I am excited about!

In the past year or so, I've expanded my crocheting from just baby blankets to scarves, baskets, hats, and a few other things. I even had a few friends ask me to make things that they could buy. I decided that maybe I could start a little business with it, so I'm phasing out of giving blankets to all the babies born in my church and focusing instead on making things to sell. I've got quite a few things made and hope to have a boutique in October where people can come see and hopefully buy/order my things.

This was taken on Wednesday, my first morning alone. I got the car washed, ran a couple errands, did a few chores, then still had time to work on a scarf. 

I started using Jordan Essentials products about 6 months ago and love them so much I decided to become a consultant, mostly just to get the discount, but am also hoping to make it into a money-making venture as well. I have my premier spa party in a couple weeks and am quite excited about it!

Lots of new, exciting things going on for us!

SIX!!!

Jacob recently celebrated his sixth birthday!

To celebrate, we took the boys to Lego Land. It was our first visit there and the boys had a BLAST!!

One of the highlights was that we let the boys each pick out a small something from the gift shop. 

These were taken on Jacob's actual birthday. Isaac gave him a RangerLand game that is all about the National Parks. They both LOVE it!

A friend of mine has her birthday the day before Jacob's and she sent me home with a few leftover cupcakes from her party. YAY!

Last Sunday we had lunch and a birthday celebration at my parents'. Jacob requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting topped with a couple characters from Monsters Inc. 

Can't believe our little buddy is already six!