Mom, Mommy, Mooom

Jakob: "Mom, can you turn the baby down?!"

Jakob: "Mom, can we have 2 babies like on TLC?!"

Big Goob

Jakob is excited to be back to school! He told me the highlight of his first day back was seeing his teacher and her new hair (it was in a ponytail!). Almost all of the kids were sick over vacation =(.

He told me last night that he wanted to go to the emergency room because he had an ear ache...I said no and then he said "I want to go see DR C!". Kids. I then had to go into how we do not want to go to the ER again unless we absolutely have to.

Before school today

December School Happenings

• The class finished up discussing feelings and emotions: they talked daily about how they felt by using colors and animals from the story "My Many Colored Days" and also etched pictures on a black background and created pictures with popcorn to express how they felt; they also watched a short movie based on the story and painted the animals in the story while listening to music by the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra.
• In science the children explored and experimented with color (particularly how to separate a color)
• In dramatic play they acted out songs, stories, and movies
• School now provides healthy snacks on both Wednesdays and Thursdays!
• Trains! Trains! Trains! was the topic for 2 weeks. After reading the "Polar Express" the kids found bells in their backpacks and were overcome with the holiday spirit; the movie theater was transformed into a train station, allowing the children to take many trips and vacations
• In art, the children worked on special projects for the holiday celebration; made trains from various shapes; and decorated scenery for their "train ride"
• At the water table, the kids experienced the smooth and slimy feeling of gak (a liquid starch concoction); they also made train tracks with shaving cream with different trains ad cars
• At the sand table they explored the miracle of magnets and learned about magnetic force- they were also asked to make a hypothesis and guess if a particular item would stick to a magnet
• They tried to solve a mystery about a man named Mr. Black and why his XMAS tree could have tipped over while he was out to the grocery store.
• At circle, they played a train game where they pretended to board a train and the kids had to find the chair that's number corresponded to the number on their ticket.

Christmas vacation!!!

Sick Child Update

Jake's cough is still "chunky", but less frequent. He has willingly taken his meds, which is good. We still have to remind him to stay away from the baby while he is coughing and to be careful around him; and he still isn't listening...which is very frustrating.

I was able to cut his hair this morning with little to no hassle AND I was also able to wash his hair without him crying (he is afraid of the soap...).

School bell rings on Tuesday!

Just like Dad..shorts in the winter (only in the house for Jake!)....

Little lunch on the side for later...

Sickness Doesn't Stop Him

Well, Jakob has been sick now for 1 week with his cough getting worse. I called to see the doctor today...turns out Jake has a form of pneumonia- that is always my biggest fear when he has a cold, this time I was right. Aaahhhh. He hasn't complained about anything, which is weird- and he is still JAKOB. Todd and I have both had pneumonia (Todd was hospitalized and I was out of school for one week), so we know it isn't fun. Jakob is also on Zithromax (like Kaleb) and Robitussin for his cough. Hopefully this clears up before Tuesday (school...where we think this all started from)

Signs for Breakfast

Ho Ho Ho

Jakob and I were both up about the same time this morning- I do not know who was more excited for him to open his presents, me or him!

He is definitely not like Todd or I when we were younger when it comes to opening gifts! He is very slow (as I had mentioned in his birthday blog) - almost savoring the moment, exclaiming "THIS IS WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED!!", and then asking if he could open the next. It was cute. Took a while to get through the gifts =). I can't tell what Jakob liked the best as he got some really cool gifts from "Santa" and family.

Santa found "UK" road signs

Christmas Eve

Pictures are on the family page of the boys in their matching jammies.

Holiday Celebration

Todd, Jakob, and I were very excited for us to be able to attend his "Holiday Celebration" at school today.

We walked into the classroom and Jake's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree! The celebration lasted about an hour and in that time we did 4 crafts (made a rabbit ornament, decorated a train, created a candy cane from red/white beads and a pipe cleaner, and decorated a snowman), had a healthy snack, and listened to the children sing a few Christmas songs such as "The Chubby Snowman". It was so cute! We had a great time. Of course, I wanted to tear up a few times....

Enjoy the pictures!!!

When we first arrived, the children were in circle and then sang a few songs:


Decorating a train and making a rabbit ornament with Daddy:

Singing "The Chubby Snowman":


Crafts and some gifts:

He Loves to Sing

Here is Jakob singing Rascal Flatts version of "Life is a Highway" from Disney's Pixar Cars. You can find a clip of him singing "Feliz Navidad" on our page.

You should see him bee-bopping in the car..you can tell that he has some kind of rhythm...something Todd and I do not have! Yes, he sways around like that when he sings. And yes, he does have that much energy ALL of the time!

Christmas Pictures

I have posted our Christmas Photo(s) on the family page. Enjoy!

Sleepy

Jakob rarely takes afternoon naps now unless he is really tired or being difficult. Tonight he was being difficult, so after me telling him "no" to the 3rd showing of Charlie Brown's Christmas", he cried himself to sleep (we had it out over him picking the scab on his chin and me having to "clean" it...).

"Napping with Baby Brudder" (I placed Kaleb there to take the picture and Jakob positioned himself this way).

Penrod "Penry" Pooch

Jakob has come to like many of the older cartoons that Todd and I used to watch (Herculoids, Jetsons, Flintstones). Although I rather he not watch them, he is allowed to watch one once in a while (on Boomerang). His current favorite is "Hom Kom Phooey".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Phooey

Watching Over Baby Brother

November School Happenings

Here is a look at some of the things Jake and his classmates have been up to:

• Yankee candle fund raiser was delivered- Thanks for all who purchased an item or more to raise money for additional items for the preschool playground and a new gazebo


• The children learned about the life cycle of pumpkins


• At the water table the children sorted fruits and vegetables (FYI- fruit snacks are provided every Wednesday through a grant the school has); they also played with boats


• Played in the apple orchard for dramatic play; and were busy getting ready for the holiday feast (cleaning house, preparing food, and enjoying the meal)


• In art, they mixed red and yellow to finger paint pumpkins and also used a small gourd to make prints in a pumpkin patch


• They helped make pumpkin bread by measuring and mixing all of the ingredients!


• They learned about different types of apples (and also tasted an assortment) and created a chart about the characteristics of the apple slices; they also made applesauce and charted its characteristics-then compared the two


• In the sand table (and in their own cup), they planted apple seeds, made apple instruments in art (Jake's was yellow), baked apple pie with play dough, and measured the lengths of different objects with apples; they also played with mixed beans at this station; and carved sculptures


• They learned a bit about estimation by estimating how many paper apple prints would fit along the perimeter of the apples.


• In celebration of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the kids made mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and butter! They also went on a turkey hunt through the classroom (looking for colored turkeys and the child that had the colored match)


• Designs were made with rice and they also painted with feathers and sponge shaped feathers.


• Block area had Lincoln Logs!


• One subject they touched on was eating healthy (healthy food vs. junk, etc.)
• Feelings and emotions were discussed. In art, they kids cut out different pictures displaying a range of emotions to make a feelings collage. They also had to pick a feeling and represent that feeling while making a stick puppet. In their journals, they talked and drew about a time they felt a strong emotion. A hula hoop game was also played where the children had to express whichever feeling was in the hoop.

School Pics are in!

I was very pleased with the outcome of Jake's school pic. I made sure to tell him to smile correctly as he has this "fake" smile that he does. Problems with the scanner, so please excuse the quality (I mean dust on the pic).

Fake smile

Aaa-ha-ha-ha

Jakob's new Santa-like laugh...

So according to Jake, Daddy took him two places after school yesterday...to Nawrrwich and then to Nor-wich?

Tonight at dinner, I was opening ketchup packets to put next to a "few" fries and he was like "WOW Mom, you are a powerhouse!".

The boy sure keeps us laughing!!

A Teenager Already?

Jake keeps talking about "When I am 16....!". I have no idea where this is coming from. The other night he told me that when he turns 16, he will drive and pay attention and that he is also going to teach Kaleb how to drive!!!

Boy With Many Hats

So, Todd is infamous for having "many jackets". Will Jake be the boy with "many hats"? Took these two pics tonight within an hour of each other.

With his Bob the Builder hard hat

Wearing Daddy's dirty work hat

Choot Choot

Nana bought Jakob this really cool Lionel R/R Crossing signal and bank combo. When you add a coin, it makes the sound of a train blowing its whistle and the signal "dinging". Of course, he wants to be able to see the coins in the clear tube!