Pieces of December

Here are some of the things Jakob has been up to this month. He is recognizing a lot of words, so reading is just around the corner. He writing is improving a lot..he still gets the upper case and lower case sequence mixed up at times. He is now coloring inside the lines.

Cool shades from Aunt Sue

Christmas pose and enjoying Kaleb's book

The Museum of Science in Boston with Nana

Enjoying Uncle Scotty's company

Craft time! Fun times at the church's Christmas party.

Telling Santa all the trains he wants for Christmas

New Yield sign from Grammy

Check out more pictures and "Jake's New Ride" on the family page.

Pieces of November

Jakob at his third most favorite place helping Miss Kathy sign out his books.

Doing "homework" in one of his workbooks.

Having fun with Playdoh

Trick or Treat

Story Hour

The library hosted story hour tonight. Costumes were optional..Jake wasn't "feeling" it tonight. We enjoyed 3 stories with refreshments and cookies after.

Harvest Festival

Jakob slept through 3/4 of the Harvest Festival (held at school), but I took him once he got up.

He didn't want to dress up as the pirate, so he wore his costume from last year (he wanted to buy the "Little Mermaid" costume earlier in the week.....). I had silver sparkles and spider clips in my hair!

We arrived when they were doing the raffles (we have no ticket!), but we got to see all of the kids dressed up. Jakob kept asking for his teacher and insisted we go to his classroom when we did not see her in the gym. He was disappointed when he saw the lights were out and the door was locked. We headed to the car and he started crying, saying he was sad that he didn't see his teacher. He said that she was sad too and that her heart was wrinkled. To cheer him up I asked him how his day was and that that I heard he and his teacher "twirled and danced around the classroom". I asked what kind of music they danced to and he said "a beautiful piece of music". So sweet.

Mr. Frank

Jakob just adores Mr. Frank (one of my Dad's good friends). He lives just down the street from us and during the summer and when my Dad isn't working crazy shifts, they walk over to see Mr. Frank. Mr. Frank helps Jake collect "special" rocks and also has treats for him. Here they are at "The Great Pumpkin Festival" held at my parents church.

I Swallowed a Rock!

So much drama on Columbus Day! Jakob was sent to his room for misbehaving and after a few minutes comes to the top of the stairs hysterical, crying "I swallowed a rock!". We freak out! He has a bucket of rocks he collects and we have no idea if it came from there or the size of the rock. He has no idea the size of the rock either. I get dressed thinking we have to go to the emergency room because my kids swallows a rock and it probably has jagged edges and he is going to injure his insides. Todd had him in the bathroom "You HAVE to throw up the rock!". Jakob was crying "I can't frow up the rock!". I call my Dad for reassurance and he ends up talking to Jake. We figure out the size of the rock and we all calm down. For whatever reason, he decided to swallow a rock from some creation my Mom made for Kaleb. *SIGH*. We reassure him the rock will come out in his poop. So, 5 minutes later he is on the potty trying "to poop the rock out" (he was pushing and making all of these obscene noises). We told him that it may be a day or two before he passes it. So every poo he does (which is like 3 a day on average) he wants us to look at it or he says "I pooping out the rock!".

Little Farmer Boy

On a visit to see Great Gram, Jake and I walked over to see the cows.

My Little Baker

Jake helped me bake and decorate a cake for Charlie (from work). He insisted on doing the sprinkles all by himself. He did a great job and all of the guys enjoyed the cake!

Trip to see Bob the Builder

On one of our last trips to the aquarium before our membership expires and at an additional cost, we saw Bob the Builder. It was basically a guy in a costume dancing around singing 3 songs for 20 minutes. Before he began his "show" 4 kids had a chance to answer a question and win a DVD. After the show he ended up doing the same thing AND Jake answered a question! He had a great time and was so excited. After we explored the aquarium and then headed to the village for lunch and a stroll. (Jakob picked the paper for his scrapbook page).

Jakob and his new "friends"

Jakob sayings:

At the McDonald's window: "I'll have a cheeseburger, no tomato please!"

As Kaleb tries to stand: "Let's have a rog of aplog for Kaleb!". He meant to say, "Let's have a round of applause for Kaleb!".

"Mom, can I get married next week?"

Mommy and Jake

And it begns..at 5

"Hey Mom! Kaelyn is my girlfriend, I love to sit with her on the bus. I gave her a kiss! My other girlfriend gave me a picture from her folder; don't throw it away!"

The Birthday Party

When we arrived at the firehouse, John S. had a surprise for Jakob in one of the fire trucks...a birthday present from him and Shawna...a Tonka fire truck!

As Missy and I set up for the party and Daddy was out getting pizza, Amy dropped off 4 birthday cakes (the main cake has a picture of Jakob and Kaleb on it)!

Friends and family arrived: the MacFarland's; Nana and Great Gram; Chris and his gang; Hannah and Fiona; Cheyenne and Colby; Grammy and Shawn; Steven and his Mom; the Mebane's; and Juan and his family.

After we ate pizza, we decorated candy bags for the fire truck pinata.

While some of the kids decorated bags, others were exploring Fire Engine #1. They were able to sit in the drivers seat, sit in the back and try on fire gear.

Pinata time! After many hits and a few holes, Daddy shook all of the candy out onto the floor and the kids all dove in!

Everyone enjoyed that yummy cake and some ice cream!

At the end of the party, John S. had another surprise for Jakob. He had him climb into another fire truck and he got to turn on the siren! They drove the truck back into the bay and then he was able to talk on the loud speaker (all we could make out was "over and out!).

(the black on his lips is from the stop light lollipop he had just eaten)

What a great birthday party! We asked Jake was his favorite part of the day was and he said "EVERYFING!".

First Day of Kindergarten

Jakob was so excited for school, he was ready by 7:00 a.m. (bus doesn't come until 12:15 p.m.)!

I made it home from work in time to walk him to the bus with Daddy and Grammy. He had a good first day!

For dinner that night, we met a few of my friends from work to see Aileen visiting from CO.

Birthday Boy

After orientation we picked up pizza for lunch and had cake (the bakery did not cook it through!) for dessert. Jakob enjoyed opening gifts from Nana and Grammy; when Daddy got home form work he opened the ones from us (he loved the Plan City Toys).

Kindergarten Orientation

We had a good morning and we were all excited for Jakob's trip on the bus. We all walked over to meet the bus and waited just a few minutes when we could see i coming down the road. After stopping twice on our street, the bus stooped for Jakob. The bus driver opened the doors and he ran on! I was trying to get a picture, but he was too quick!! Thebus driver was kind enough to ask him to came back over so I could get a shot.

After 30 minutes we headed to the school to pick him up. He and Hannah (his girl from pre-k who rides his bus and is in his class) had a great time meeting Mrs. B. and their new friends and cannot wait to have a "longer day tomorrow".

Happy Birthday Jakob

Can you believe that he is 5 years old today!!!

Summer Reading Allstar

The CT Defenders presented Jakob with an award for reading over 10 hours in the summer reading program (Library Sleuth).

Birthday Festivities, School

For Jakob's birthday this year we will be celebrating at the Brooklyn Firehouse! Todd and I kept going back and forth on where to have it and John S. from work suggested having it there (he is a firefighter). What a great idea..we would have never thought to have it there (we will be making a small donation for letting us use the firehouse). We are all excited, but I think I am most of all. We are having pizza or lunch; yummy cake make by Amy- because there are a "few" people coming, we need two cakes (1) will be a fire engine with a picture of Jake and Kaleb and (2) will be the fire house (it was supposed to be a cake of a building on fire..but she didn't want to freak the kids out; hopefully a VIP tour of the trucks from John; a pinata; and possibly a craft. Not going all out on the decorations, but the colors will be black, red, and yellow AND I found these cool police lights (along with the traffic light above) for the tables. Most of the party favors were found at the "Oriental Trading Co". The rest of this week is pretty booked in preparation for the party.

Tomorrow, our boy will turn 5 years old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone already. He will also be riding the school bus for kindergarten orientation- the bus will pick up the children and drop them off at school to meet their teacher and get a feel for what the first day of school will be like. He did give me a hard time about riding the bus to school, he told me "It freaks me out *his hands waving all about*!". I asked what the issue was and he doesn't like the fact that the stop sign attached to the bus goes in and out..of all people, Jake, afraid of a SIGN! But after heading to the school last week to drop off paperwork, he was able to take a little tour and to see his new class (which was his class from last year), and to talk to the teacher next door who happened to get him all excited about riding the bus (we also took out books from the library about the bus and first day of school). After the bus ride Nana, Grammy, and Grampy will stay and have pizza and cake to celebrate his big day.

Thursday will be Jake's first day of school. Lets keep our fingers crossed that he has a good day!

(Because of his allergy to peanut oil, his class will be labeled an "awareness zone". Although he does not eat peanut butter, he will break out in hives if he comes in contact with peanut butter/peanut shells).

Saturday will be the big event. Again, lets keep our fingers crossed that he has a good day! (Reference the picture of him scowling at Steven's birthday party if you are wondering why I say this..."not so nice Jake" has been visiting more often).

Sunday we will probably be be heading to the fair!

Oh, and yeah, I did cut his hair a little too short! Ooops. He got me back though by peeing in the tub while Kaleb was playing in the water. Then Kaleb got me as I was draining the water- I noticed little specs floating in the water...yeah..he pooped in the bath!! It was gross...especially because he was in one of those tub seats and it was flattened down like a pancake!!

The Heart of a Vehicle

"Hey Mom! Look! The Mudder (Mother) Board! It's the heart of a vehicle!"

Fun with Water Balloons