Christmas

Where do I start? We started the weekend out with Christmas Eve at church. I was hesitant to bring Jake into the service because he has never sat through one before. However, it was a special service and there were a lot of kids there. He was a little wiggles and called out quite a few times, but overall I was super proud. My favorite moment was when we gave him a snack bag to keep him quiet, only to realize my mistake of putting letter cookies in the mix. He would grab a letter cookie, call out it's name and it's sound sometimes (loudly) then make the cookie monster grumble as he ate each one. Oh it was cute, but embarrassing.

Jon and I felt like such parents Christmas Eve. It was so much staying up late (for us 11pm) putting together and wrapping Jake's toys. We talked about how much older he is and how much he is going to love his gifts. We also started some new traditions to help maintain the meaning of Christmas and some just for fun.
The rest of the weekend was spent with family. We love spending time with family and we saw almost everyone. Aunt Abby was in town and she made Jake laugh many times as usual. Jake was definitely spoiled, but loved his gifts and gave out lots of thank you hugs.

Ripping his way to the gifts
Jake and his cousins in awe of our train

the fam hanging out eating yummy apps

Jon putting together one of Jake's gifts

Mommel and Poppel giving Jake a great gift

The beginning... before any paper was thrown

Church with a lolli

His new chair and favorite pup at Aunt Janet and Uncle Rick's

Talking to Aunt Abs while she was waiting to come homeMommy's Christmas gift, a playroom organizer!!! LOVE it.

Neighborhood fun and family dancing

This past weekend the snow was such fun. I know some people hate the snow for the annoyance it brings, but I love it! I think it is so pretty and I love getting bundled up to go out. I do wish we could have lasted a little longer in the snow, but maybe when Jake is older he will last longer. I had visions of us playing for hours, making snowmen, sledding...then Jake face planted, looked freezing and the mom in me took over. We were back inside within 15 minutes. Oh well... it was a great fifteen minutes

Cousins, cuter than everdancing to the wiggleswith his cousin/twinLast night our court had an annual gift exchange/party. It was wonderful. Boy, did I choose the right neighborhood. We had a lot of fun talking to neighbors and Jake hung out with the big kids the whole time. I forgot he was there a few times, he was so good! He loved the truck he was given and we went home full of holiday cheer! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. I hope you have time to relax and reflect on what a wonderful gift we have been given.The neighborhood crewtaking a guitar break at the partyattempting the ornament craftsoo excited about his gift

The Swine brings lots of quality time...

What a week it has been! Last Monday Jon came down with the flu (which we are assuming was swine), he never saw a doctor. Then, this past Monday I caught it and my doctor also assumed it was swine flu. Oh what fun it is. I forgot how awful the flu is. I felt like a little kid again, wanting my mom there to feed me red Gatorade and rub my back. Jon tried his best to play mom! He is always wonderful when I am sick. He takes on Jake duties like a champ. Jake also had a lot of help from Aunt Janet and I had many phone calls from friends and family. Thanks to ALL! Jake had the flu shot and I think it saved him. He has an ear infection and a bad cold, but we will take it. Everyone is getting better and we are almost 100% over here now. Thank goodness!

self explanatory..."Staying alive" danceJake was able to convince his polar bear to play with him when mommy couldn't

Given the fact that we have been sick, we have had a lot of family time. We didn't leave the house this week other than to go to the doctor or pick up prescriptions. We have been creative with how to entertain ourselves. We started pillow piles, made up games (my favorite being, "where is baby Jesus?", played on pots and pans, doing Obama impressions (hysterical, trying to get this on video)... anything we can think of.

We are also very excited that the snow is here. We all went out in it this morning and had a blast. Jake is fearless in the snow and seems to have no gauge for temperature. In the summer he will jump right into a cold pool and today he face planted in the snow and stood up laughing. It amazes me. He cried when we brought him in and could have stayed out all day.I am personally so excited that it is Christmas week. This is my favorite time of the year. I love the meaning of Christmas, the music, the lights, the parties, giving gifts... I love it all. It is a bitter/sweet time for me in many ways because it was also my moms favorite time. She made it so special. She made it all about family and friends. I love sharing these times with many people because of her and I want that for Jake. I know that it is up to me now to make future holidays special for my little family. I love traditions, so I look forward to creating our own this season. This year, I am trying to incorporate the meaning of Christmas into activities or discussions with Jake. I know he is so little, but he understands so much. It is never to early to start learning about the wonder of Christ.My runny nosed lumberJAKEG boys display

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend two of our good friends got married in Philadelphia. Jon and I were lucky enough to have a baby free night thanks to Aunt Janet and Uncle Rick. We had a wonderful time and the wedding was beautiful! I so love weddings. Getting dressed up, eating yummy food, dancing all night... what could be better? We also were lucky to spend some much needed time with Jon's sister, Ab. Miss ya already!

Jake playing with Uncle Rick's shoes

Doin' the Jake

Now that we have recuperated from a double ear infection, things are back to normal...

heavy dancing

Jake has really changed in the last few weeks. I am noticing his personality more than ever. He has really started to make sense with his words and he repeats long phrases or makes up his own. Sometimes he will say the same long sentence of gibberish thirty times before I make sense of it. He is a persistent little guy and wants me to understand. Yesterday, he was looking at my glass. So, I pointed to his and said, "here's your juice honey." He looked at me and said," That's yours, not mine." Crazy... Then later that evening the sump pump in the basement came on and he said,"What was dat sound?" They are little conversations but, I love it!

the result of mommy saying," hurry get in the bath mommel is coming...

loving cars of any kind