Summer's Here! Fun in East Lynn

OK, I'm not even going to try to explain why we haven't been a good blogger lately. I've been taking more pics with my cell phone, and posting on FaceBook more lately. Still, not good excuses, I know.

Well, this past weekend, we were down visiting our good friends the Steiners in East Lynn, IL, for our goddaughter Abby's 1st birthday party. They have a 3 1/2 yr old son, Ethan, who Jacob adores. He had a blast playing with all the kids at the party. We were in the country, so they even got to enjoy 4-wheeler rides and playing in a big rock pile.

Here's a pic of Jacob & Ethan enjoying a 4-wheeler ride with Chris.

Here's an adorable picture of our goddaughter, Abby, playing in the sandbox.

Jacob has also been enjoying playing on our new swingset in the backyard. We had our friends Amy, Ben & Braden over a few weeks ago, and we all enjoyed playing on the swingset after supper.

Here is Jacob, enjoying the slide!

Yup - Jacob has already figured out if he leans back far enough in the swing, he can be "upside down". Oh boy, we are going to have our hands full - that kid is fearless!

Lately, as Jacob gets closer to 3 (which everyone tells me is way worse than the terrible 2's), some defiant - ok, "naughty"- behavior has really kicked in. Tantrums, refusal to hold hands in parking lots, not listening, hitting when he doesn't get his way. It seems like every request or redirection I give him is a battle. (I am learning to pick said battles wisely...) His speech is really coming along by leaps & bounds. He has such a larger vocabulary, and parroting any word you ask him to say. Pronounciation still has a ways to go, but he's making so much progress! (Can you tell I'm a proud momma?)

Finally, in honor of Father's Day coming up in a few weeks, I leave you with an adorable pic of the two loves of my life...

New house... for Jacob

Chris slaved just about every waking hour this weekend (well, every hour that it wasn't raining), and almost completely finished Jacob's new swing set in the backyard. Here's a pic of the almost finished product:Jacob & I did help. Jacob had a blast driving his jeep around, digging dirt, and carrying random boards over, just to keep Chris on his toes. Jacob got to use the swingset just a little on Sunday, before the wind, rain & cold drove us inside. But, he sure did have a big grin on his face that whole time!

Oh, and since I don't blog often, I usually forget funny little stories. Well, here is one from tonight. I was doing the dishes after dinner, and Jacob says something I can't understand, and runs off. He comes back proudly holding a diaper, when I realized earlier that he had said "diaper". So, I asked him if he needed a diaper, and he nodded. Then I asked if he had pooped, but he said no, although I was beginning to smell it. So, he laid down and I proceeded to change his diaper. Sure enough, he had taken a big dump. Well, when I took off his dirty diaper, he yelled, "Bye Bye, Poop!". It cracked me up, and of course as soon as he realized he had gotten a laugh out of me, he kept saying it over & over. I was laughing so hard, I almost needed a diaper, if you know what I mean!

Things that Go

Catching up on pics: Here is our version of red-neck sledding when you don't have a proper sledding hill:

Here's Jacob riding the spring horse in our basement. Look familiar to some of you? Well, it is actually circa-late 70's/early 80's - it originally was Chris's. (although I also had one). It eventually was passed on to cousins Ariel & Aubrey. Somewhere along the way, it suffered a leg trauma that resulted in an amputation below the knee. Aunt Linda, who is a nurse, administered first aid - hence the bandage you see.

Here is Jacob in the mini-excavator our neighbor rented to do some final work on his yard. (no he did not get to drive - as you can see, it is off and securely attached to a trailer ready to be taken back).

And finally, here is Jacob test-driving his newest toy - an Arctic Cat power wheels. (I think the embarrassment of that pink Barbie jeep finally got to Daddy...)

A Whole Lotta Blog...

Well, we are sporadic bloggers for you - weeks of nothing, then a big blog like this. Chris picked an assortment all the way back from Christmas up till now...

We hosted both sets of grandparents over Christmas (plus 4 dogs...), and if you look at the picture below, you can clearly see that Jacob was not at all spoiled this, his first Christmas home with us.

Here is Jacob, nestling in with a good book into his new chair he got from Great Aunt Jan & Great Uncle Mike.

One of Jacob's favorite gifts was a stocking stuffer from Paw Paw and Bushe - his very own tube of chapstick, so he can be just like his Daddy! Only, he kept reapplying it over, and over, and over again!

Grandpa Willie, a well-know afficianado of duck tape, got the award for receiving the most creatively wrapped gift!

Much to my dismay, as well as to the rest of our entire family, all Cardinals fans, my parents (trying to be the cool in-laws) gave Chris an assortment of Cubs paraphenalia for Christmas... (don't worry, since Christmas, an equal amount of Cardinals items have been purchased so as to balance out)

Here is Jacob, enjoying a ride on Daddy's shoulders.


We've had a lot of snow here in Michigan since Christmas. Luckily, Jacob is very good with a snow shovel... and a snowblower!

We've been continuing to try and keep potty training in Jacob's mind... (but as you can see, the newly purchased potty ring wasn't in his mind - it was ON his mind!) ha ha

Here are pictures of Jacob with Paw Paw and Bushe from their recent visit this past week.

Here are some videos I took of Jacob recently - Chris has edited them down. Jacob is really turning into quite the talker, so I was thrilled when he cooperated on video and sang some of his favorite tunes!

Adoption Day!

A year ago today, a judge in Kemerovo City, Russia, officially named us parents of Jacob! And, coincidentally, we received his Michigan Birth Certificate for Foreign Birth today (no readoption needed in our state). He is talking more and more, developing quite the vocabulary. One of his clearest words is "Donald's", which is where I took him for dinner tonight to celebrate Adoption Day. I would not have believed it possible a year ago that I could possibly be happier or love someone as much as I did our new son. A year later, I know that both of those things are possible! And, seeing Chris in his new role as "Daddy" has also made me see him in a new light, and love him even more!

Here's a cute recent picture to go along with the post - he's enjoying his new Hess truck & loader that his Great Great Aunt in Boston sent him.

Jacob's First year Home.

Ok, we're a couple weeks early on the year and many weeks late on the blog but here you are. It's a little long, but hey it was a year!

Let it Know, Let it Know, Let it Know!

Well, the weather outside today was a bit frightful - snow all day, thanks to the lake effect we get being on the east side of Lake Michigan. But, it was just the big wet snowflakes that are kind of fun: pretty, but not too much downside, like having to shovel or drive in bad conditions. We took advantage and took Jacob outside to play in the snow. He's still having a bit of trouble making "s" sounds, so after we identified the white stuff as "snow", he kept shouting and pointing the rest of the day: "know, know, know!!!". Cute, yes, but is sounds conveniently like his other favorite word lately, "no, no, no". Here are pictures from the day out in the know, I mean, snow!