Happy Birthday Jacob!

I cannot believe that Jacob is 5 years old. It seems like just yesterday he was a cuddly little baby! We had a great birthday part for him at Monkey Joe's and a bunch of his friends from school came. After his party he said "Am I 5 now Mom?" I told him not yet. So, on his actual birthday he looked up at me and said "I am 5 now, aren't I?" Of course all day long everything was better for Jacob because he was 5! He really is growing and changing. He is doing really well with his "target" words at school and identifying which words begin with which letters. He has also become more inquisitive (catching up to Abby and her million questions a day). Here are a few pics of Jacob's party and actual birthday. I think the highlight of his birthday was when we got home from dinner and he had several birthday messages on the machine. He kept trying to talk to everyone on the answering machine. It was very comical!

Jacob opening one of his gifts (He got lots of hot wheels and he was thrilled about that)!

Jacob and all of his friends!

Abby's face plant on one of the slides!

Jacob ON his 5th birthday... so EXCITED!

One of my favorite pictures of Jacob when he was 4 months old!!!

Christmas in Georgia

On our way back to Georgia we picked up Blake and Dylan from S.C. and then we had Christmas here. It was good to have all four kids together. Last night was New Year's Eve and we just stayed home and played video games, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and watched a movie. It was very relaxing and the perfect way to ring in the new year. Happy New Year!!!!

Christmas in New Hampshire

Steve, Abby, Jacob and I drove up to New Hampshire for Christmas. We wanted a white Christmas and boy did we get one. The kids loved the snow. Jacob really loved it and we had a hard time getting him inside. We had Christmas eve with an ornament exchange, then we had three Christmases on Christmas day. We opened gifts until 9 at night. It took us a long time driving up and back but we had a wonderful time!

Christmas morning opening presents from Santa!

Abby, Caitlin and Jacob playing with their new DS's.

Jacob playing Santa!

Abby & Caitlin after sledding (it was freezing).

Jacob getting ready to sled down the hill (he knocked me off my feet on his way down the hill).

Trip to Pittsburgh

Last weekend Steve took Blake to Pittsburgh to see a Steelers' game for his 16th birthday! They had a blast. They played the Cowboys and the Steelers won 20-13, which made it extra special for Blake. Here are some pics...


Blake in front of Heinz Field!
Blake freezing at the game!

Steve on the ferry going over to the game!

Who is that masked man? Could it be Steve... a Pittsburgh fan or just cold?

Christmas is Coming

Here is Abby and Jacob's visit to Santa. This is a picture of the picture because I was not allowed to take photos! They were both SOOOOO excited. Abby said her tummy was shivering!

Jacob had a Christmas program at school. Steve, Blake, Abby and I went to watch them. Here is Jacob with his classmates reciting "Five Silver Bells." Jacob did such a great job!

Here are the kiddos and I right before we left for Jake's program.

Princess Abigail and her class got to wear pjs to school Friday to take a trip on the "Polar Express." They watched the "Polar Express," drank hot cocoa and worked on Christmas projects. Christmas is really in the air!

Thanksgiving & an Early Present for Blake

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Granddaddy Jim & Granola drove up from Florida and Blake & Dylan were both here so that made it extra special. Granola helped Abby with her school project to make a gingerbread person. She cut out an extra so Jacob could make one, too! For Thanksgiving dinner, Steve made his mom's delicious dressing and I made all of our favorite sides. I ordered the ham from Honeybaked Ham and it was YUMMY!

After dinner, we played "Rock Band." Thanksgiving night Granola took Steve, Blake & Dylan to see "Four Christmases" while Granddaddy & I stayed home with Abby & Jacob. He & I attempted to play "Rock Band" and had lots of fun laughing at ourselves. When they got home, Granddaddy, Granola, Blake & Dylan played Boxerjam on the computer--very addictive!

That night, Blake got an early 16th birthday present--tickets to the Steelers-Cowboys game in Pittsburgh. Steve & Blake are heading out Saturday to spend two days in Pittsburgh. Blake is VERY excited and we hope this will be a birthday to remember for him!

Abby the Indian & Jacob's Thanksgiving Dinner

At school, Abby is learning all about Thanksgiving (Pilgrims, Indians & the Mayflower). One of their projects was to make some "Indian" clothes and then they had a Kindergarten Thanksgiving party. They ate beef jerky, raisins, cranberries and other food like they may have eaten on the first Thanksgiving. Ms. Hunter, her teacher, was very nice to make sure Abby had some allergen free foods because the other kids had popcorn and peanuts as well.

Jacob's pre-K invited all of the parents to join them in a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It was delicious and so much fun to get to eat with Jakey! My favorite part of the meal was to listen to the kids sing grace... too sweet!

I asked Jacob if I could take his picture and he wanted to make sure his marshmallow could be included~
Abby & her "clothes" and placemat!

Dylan's Wrestling Tournament

Last weekend, Steve drove up to S.C. to watch Dylan's wrestling tournament. He had 3 matches scheduled and he won the first one because the other wrestler didn't show up. He won the second match (9-0). He wanted to leave with Steve so he left before his 3rd match, but the guy he was supposed to wrestle broke his arm so he would not have wrestled anyway. Here are some pics...

The Pampered Princess

Yesterday, I took Abby to Sweet 'n' Sassy to get the "Pampered Princess" package (wash, cut, and style her hair; pedicure and manicure). She had a great time and chose french braids for her hairstyle. Here are some pics...




Excuse her messy face, they had ravioli for dinner!

Abby's toes (by the time she'd been home an hour she'd already scuffed her big toe).

Cube Starts with "Q"

The other night Jacob and I were playing a little game where one of would say "What word starts with a __ (place letter here)?" and the other one would reply with a word. Well, I asked Jacob "What word starts with a Q?" and he said "Cube." I said "Cube starts with a C." Then he looked at me and said very slowly "No, listen Mommy Q-Q-cube." It was very cute!

Abby and Jacob were given the opportunity to vote at school (not based on anything other than the names, I guess). Well, Abby voted for John McCain and Jacob voted for Barack Obama (which he says "Buk-O-bom-bom"). When asked why he voted for Buk-O-bom-bom Jacob said "Because he can dance."

Things here are going well. Blake is at a football game tonight. Steve, the kids and I are just hanging out. We're very ready for the holidays and our visit from Granddaddy Jim and Granellie (or as the kids say "Granola").

I will post some photos soon!

Happy Halloween

It is hard to believe it is already Halloween! We've been very busy with baking and decorating our "special" cupcakes (Steve and the kids made these together) and cookies, painting pumpkins (since poor Jake is allergic to pumpkins carving was out) and of course Trick or Treating. The kids had parties at school today, so I made some spider cupcakes and Abby was very excited because her teacher made the same kind (except with eggs) so that was neat. It was pretty cold tonight, but we had a great time trick or treating. Abby and Jacob had a blast running from house to house and ringing the doorbells. They had it down to a science that if the light was out we would skip that house. They made out pretty well and our neighbor made them great goody bags full of fun stuff. I also bought them some "safe" candy from Vermont Nut Free chocolates and some other non-candy stuff. So, they had a great evening as the Princess and the Knight. Blake went to a football game with some friends and Steve stayed home to give out the candy.

Our egg-free spider cupcake!


Abby contemplating how she is going to paint her pumpkin!

Jacob used all the colors on his!

Our beautiful princess!

The Knight, Sir Jacob!

So sweet!
After the goody collecting (Steve found these really cool bags that light up).

Abby all bundled up with her goodies (notice the nice bag from our neighbor).

Blake and Kristine

As promised... pics of Blake and Kristine. Don't they look nice?