Dancing Baby

Choices

Adam: I want to visit great-grandpa Peery.
Me: Honey, great-grandpa Peery died, we can't go visit him.
Adam: I know, I want to visit him in the cemetery.
Me: (putting him off) I'm not sure if we can do that, that cemetery is up in Salt Lake.
Adam: Mom, it's been a long time since I visited him, I want to go now!
Me: The problem is, dad and I made plans to go to Temple Square tonight as a family.
Adam: (to himself) Hmm. Temple square. . . visiting family. . . dead family. (To me) Mom, I'm going to do eeny meeny miney mo.

Rockin' Twins

Here are Jacob and Chloe--I think they're talking about starting a band. Jacob's got an agent on the phone.

Beautiful

What a beautiful place to live and work. This is the view from the front door of Sam's office.

wrestlemania

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Heaven

Here is Adam in heaven (aka: Coeur D'Alene Idaho with his cousins)

In October we found out Sam had 5 cavities (after a lifetime of no cavities, poor Sam). We decided this justified a visit to my sister Kim and her husband Tom, who is a dentist. So we packed up the kids and headed out. Here's a picture of the boys in the car.

We left in the evening, and drove to Idaho Falls and got a hotel (for free, with points). We took the boys swimming, then went to bed. Notice I didn't say we slept, since Jacob was in a new place. :)

The next morning we enjoyed checking out the falls of Idaho Falls--there is a huge man-made set of water falls that is a hydro-electric dam. It generates power for the city. It was beautiful weather, and a beautiful spot.

We continued our drive through Idaho and Montana. Sam was familiar with the route up to Butte, since his family drove to Cardston Canada all of his life. But from Butte to Coeur D'Alene was beautiful. Here are some pictures of the trees.

I thought these are "evergreens" but the trees seemed to be changing color, like leaves in the fall.

There were even red trees! Anyway, we were so happy to arrive and the kids loved playing with their cousins. The next morning we went to "down town." The kids played at the park, we walked by the lake, and browsed the shops. Of course we got burgers at Hudsons. :)

That night Kim and Tom took us to the best restaurant in town, and it was the best food I've had in a long while! I'm feeling like my Grandpa Stan when I say that, but it's true! Then we caught a movie. The kids were with babysitters--that was heaven for me!

Sunday morning was painful--baby Paige was up early, then Jacob woke up, and they seemed to take turns crying and keeping everyone up. Thank goodness for a day of rest!

Monday was spent seeing Dr. Dance, and getting all the holes in our teeth fixed. The office is beautiful, the staff wonderful--Adam loved the slide! We left late in the afternoon, and drove to Helena to spend the night. By this point Jacob was good and tired, so we all slept well. It was a full day of driving home, and by the end Jacob was crying at the mere sight of his car seat.

As Sam and I reflected on it, we haven't had such a pleasant vacation in so long. We can't wait to go back, hopefully in the summertime!

Roseola

Back in July Jacob got roseola. I found these cute pictures from Sam's phone. First, he had a temperature for four days. And it was high, like 103.4. Other than being hot, he was just fine. Happy as a lark. Then the fever broke, the rash hit, and he was cranky.

Here's a picture of his belly. This was the first day, I think. The rash got a lot worse--raised and red all over his body.

Birthday visit with Isaac

We enjoyed a visit from Isaac, Jacob's birthfather, and some of his family. Here they are together. Jacob definitely has Isaac's "sort of curly" hair. And I remember visiting with Isaac's dad and he told us Isaac's mom Mary had big hands. Jacob definitely has big hands too. It's so nice to know little things like that about our adopted children.

Isaac's girlfriend came, as well as his sisters and their children. Here's Isaac and I, with all the kids.

And this one has everyone except for Sam (he was taking the picture).

Thanksgiving

A belated Thanksgiving to you! I sure am grateful for these boys--grateful to be a mom and have these wonderful children to love!

Happy Halloween

Let me begin by saying that I don't really like Halloween. Something about witches, devils, ghosts, and zombies suggests that it is Satan's holiday. Add to that giving little children tons of candy for no apparent reason, and I'm convinced that it is.

I have softened, because even if you hate Halloween, it's cute to dress your children up as Bob the Builder or a Lion, or something like that. Who can resist playing dress ups?!?

For some reason, I always totally fail when it comes to getting cute Halloween pictures.

Here is Jacob on Halloween. You can see his latest "war wound"--a nice triangle cut in the forehead from falling onto the corner of the banister.

We went to Adam's school Halloween parade, and this was the best picture I got of Adam. 

Jacob enjoyed wandering around and visiting all the people. He was slightly obsessed with the basketball hoop.

I decided I needed better pictures, so I made the boys dress up the other day. Now this is more like it. I especially love that you can see Jacob's new top teeth. 

What a sweet little monkey! On Halloween I called him "chubba chimp."

And here are some good pictures of Adam, as a Ninja. He wasn't allowed to wear the mask at school, or bring the sword. So he ended up looking like a fire nation soldier (name that show).

Close up, dramatic shot. Believe it or not, I didn't pose him. This is ALL NATURAL.

And the two boys together. Jacob was melting down by this point, so we came full circle to Halloween!

Happy Birthday Chalupa!

Jacob turned one!

Jacob's real name is Jacob Keaton.

We started calling him "Chubba". This mutated into "Chubba chew." Sometimes Sam jokes that he is "King of the chews." It's a little sacrilegious, but I laugh every time.

And then his name became "Chubba chalupa." Which has been shortened to "Chalupa." It's very cute, but a little odd when I hear little Brynlee (age 3) call him Chalupa. It means we use that nick name more than his real name. How embarrassing.

Living vicariously

(Here's a post I wrote a month ago, and never posted)

I recently found out that I no longer need to gate the top of my stairs. Jacob is too afraid to go down them. I have tried to teach him, but he just fusses and cries all the way down.

Instead, he lives vicariously. He throws everything down the stairs. And then he looks at them longingly, as if to say "Goodbye old shoe, I cannot follow you, but I will remember you with fondness. Enjoy your visit down the stairs."

By "everything" I mean, dishes, tupperware, apple cores left on the table, toys, bags, you name it. But his favorite is to throw the shoes, especially Sam's shoes.

(Update: One day about a week ago, Jacob decided to go down the stairs. No trial and error--I walked in and he was at the bottom. He's very proficient now, going up and down without a problem. He still throws everything down the stairs, but now he goes to visit them.)

Bad guys never go there

Happy Thanksgiving

Adam's teacher sent home a "recipe book" from the children--each outlined how to make a favorite dish. Here's a few cute samples:

Ham (by Jadon)--Get a pig from a farm. Take it to a place that cuts it. Cook it for maybe 25 hours. Set a timer to know it is done. Take the parts that you wouldn't eat, like the snout and the hooves, to the dump. Eat it. It might taste like turkey.

Corn (by Ryan)--You buy seeds and then water and put the seeds in a hole. I water it. It grows for a couple of days. It looks like it's growing and then when it is all grown we use some scissors to cut off the leaves, and then after it is all cut off we take the corn in, then we cook it for about an hour or two. Then when it is done, I eat it. It tastes like real corn.

The foods described included turkey, corn, stuffing, mac and cheese, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Methods ranged from "get it at Wal-Mart" to hunting. While each was funny and cute, Adam's was the most imaginative:

Chicken (Because I am half wolf) (by Adam)
I would get the chicken at Wal-Mart. It looks gray when you buy it. I would make it by boiling water until it bubbled. Then I would put the chicken in for 3 hours. It looks reddish and brownish. Then I would put some chicken sauce on it. It looks red and it tastes good. I am half wolf and wolves like chicken. Because I am wolf, I can run fast and I can kill fast. My wolf body is kind of hard to see. It is invisible like having glasses. I can use my claws to eat the meat. My favorite food to eat is meat. I like that I get to eat chicken. I would have salad with it because salad is one of my favorite foods. Wolves don't really like salad, but since I am human too, I eat anything. And I am only half wolf.

Carpool Conversation

Adam: (fake burping) What was that?
Friend: I don't know.
Adam: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Listen again (fake burping). Now you do it.
Friend: I can't. That's your talent.
Adam: I have TONS of talents.
Friend: My talents are to do a wheelie on my bike, and front flips. You know Jesus gives you your talents.
Adam: Yeah, because he's the son of God.
Friend: And if you don't share your talents, He takes them right away. And sometimes you don't even know it.
Adam: So that's what happened to you.

Sunday surprise

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Take a guess. . .

First, look at this picture (drawn by Adam, of course) and see if you can guess what it is . . .

And the answer is . . .

PS I'm pretty sure he had help with the "Thanke you for giving me the papaer." But the "mostrs vrsee aleens" (aka Monsters versus Aliens) was all by himself.

Sub!

This one goes out to our soccer playing cousins Hazel and Parker and Uncle Thomas. We have him signed up for the one year old league.

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Beautiful fall evening

A beautiful fall evening

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My Mom Moment

I remember going to church as a teenager with my very large family. There we were, in "our" pew, the second or third from the front. With my two parents and six siblings (three brothers, three sisters), we took up nearly the whole row with just our family.

At one point during the meeting there was commotion among us, and I soon found out that the center of it was my mom. I could see her, stifling laughter, shoulders shaking up and down. Finally the message was passed to me "Look at mom's shoes." Sure enough, mom had on two different shoes. I think they were both navy, but one was open-toe and the other wasn't.

How embarrassing. I mean, really mom. Is it so hard to get a PAIR of MATCHING shoes when getting dressed on a Sunday morning?

And then a few days ago as I loaded two babies into the car (Jacob and Chloe), herded Adam and Avery to the van with instructions to "Buckle up!", and headed out the door to drop off at pre-school and pick up a carpool of Kindergartners, I could not find my shoes. See, I have this little elf (also known as Jacob) who likes to transplant things from one end of the house to the other. All I could find was this:

Grateful to at least find two shoes (and for the right feet), I was suddenly very impressed with my mom. Both of her shoes were navy, and both had the same height heel. Unless you pointed it out, nobody would even notice.

As I walked out, hoping I would not have to get out of the car, I was stifling laughter, and my shoulders were shaking. I have become my mother. If you want to see the great things they are doing in the world, go here.

Sharing

Daddy's Boy

Let me out!

Actually, Jacob is saying "Let me in!" He's feeling really left out when all the kids go downstairs without him. Pretty soon, he'll be able to do stairs and I'll let him go down with the kids.

Something odd . . .

I couldn't get a picture that showed this very well, since you can't see both ears at once. But Adam loaded up Jacob's ears with a kernel of cereal--both blue!

Twae Kon Do

Adam is so excited, he's beside himself. We just found out that a really nice guy does free Taekwondo lessons once a week. So Sam and Adam are signed up and fighting! Adam is really proud of himself, and I'm sure he'll learn to say it right!

First day of school

Here is Adam on his first day of school!

Yes, but how does he REALLY feel about school. . . 

Moms and birthmoms

It's fun to have Jacob's birthmom come for visits. We are the founding members of the "Jacob fan club." I love this picture--you can see how much they look alike. And, you get a glimpse of "crazy baby Jacob." He gets this way when he's really excited and/or really tired. He goes into super-fun mode, crawling all over, growling at us. It's like he can hardly contain all the excitement in that little body. This is one of Jacob's new games--playing ball. He throws it to you, then crawls over and gives the ball to you. Then you toss it to him. Repeat.

Macaroni Lover

Jacob has discovered a new passion--Macaroni and Cheese. He likes to eat it, wear it, and share with Rusty. A win-win-win, if you ask me.

Bring a Friend

If you're going to invade the dog's private quarters, it's best to bring a friend!

Peery blog gone mobile

This is the first official post from the mighty EVO. If this works it will open up grand new horizons for the Peery blog.

His favorite spot

Jacob loves riding on Sam's shoulders. Sam is such a good sport--he doesn't even mind the drool in his hair. And Jacob has this cute trick--watch the video!

Even the dog was playing

Jacob and Rusty

We joke about how similar Jacob and Rusty are. They are about the same size (when Jacob is crawling), though Jacob is MUCH heavier. They both just want to be with you--in your lap if possible. They both scavenge around the floor eating anything they find. And here we have Jacob taking a turn in Rusty's kennel.

Teeth!

It took until 10 months for a tooth to show up--the bottom two came in at once!

Brothers

Jacob was slightly obsessed with Adam's pink sunglasses.

Adam tried to get him to look at the camera.

Success!

Bathtime Brothers

The other night while Adam was in the bath, we started hearing hysterical laughter coming from the bathroom. It is Jacob's favorite (read "forbidden") place to go, and even better since it was an opportunity to get wet!

Brainwashing

Let the brainwashing begin!

Not the end of the world

Adam: It's okay mom. It's okay that I can't play with friends tonight. It's not the end of the world. The end of the world is when Jesus comes, blah, blah, blah, and he stays like, 100 years, and the earth becomes a glass ball. So, it's okay.

Conversation with Adam

Adam: I don't like playing with XYZ friend.
Me: Why?
Adam: He uses potty language and tries to get me to use potty language.
Me: Hmmm.
Adam: He follows Satan.
Me: (trying not to laugh)
Adam: Yeah, he does bad things.

What's wrong with this picture?

So our family got home late from the Lehi Rodeo (post coming soon!), and Sam put Adam to bed. Something seemed a little off to me when Adam yelled from his bedroom: "Mom, I need you to check on me in 5 minutes. Dad is asleep!" :)

Quiet Time

This is what my house looks like at 2pm on a Tuesday:

Adam's not really asleep. But 4 out of 5 is not bad!