Visit with Grandma and Grandpa

So once every 3-4 months Sam and I do a "getaway." We leave the kids with our parents for a night and get a hotel. The rule of the first night is: food and fun. We go on a nice long date. That usually means Bombay House, our favorite restaurant, a movie, Coldstone. . .

The next morning is all about business. We discuss our family goals, schedule, finances, etc. It's so great to get away, but it's also really nice to have time away from home to take a look at our lives and make plans. We often look at the upcoming year, and break it down into quarterly and monthly chunks.

Anyway, this time around we were lucky enough to have my parents back from their mission. They watched the kids during the night, and Sam's mom and her husband took them the next day. Here are pictures from the fun:

This bird was eating a mouse on our back fence.

Jacob having breakfast (note my mom's home made roll--yum).

Ada on the i-phone. Not sure if this is real or his fake one.

Jacob and Grandpa Mike.

Adam "smiling."

Dirty Mouth

We took Adam and Jacob to Thanksgiving Point's dinosaur museum. In the sand pit where you "dig for bones" Jacob decided to eat the dirt. Besides the plain grossness of eating sand, it was sand that hundreds of children had played in barefoot. Blech.

Las Vegas, July 2011

Right after my parents returned from their mission my nephew Lincoln was baptized. I didn't take any pictures (since I went without Sam and with two kids), but thankfully my mom did.

When I first saw this picture I thought "Why is my sister Kate holding Jacob?" Then I realized it was me.

Terrible Two's

My friend once told me that "terrible two's" doesn't mean your child is terrible--it means "If you turn your back for a minute, something terrible happens!"

This incident was only sort of terrible--finding Jacob sitting on the counter eating peanut butter with a knife.

Family Reunion--Temple Square

This summer for my family reunion we took a trip to temple square. All these pictures were taken by Adam, on his new camera. That's why he's not in any pictures (and I am).

Salt Lake Temple, from the ground.

Sale Lake Temple, from the top level of the Joseph Smith building.

The steeple of the temple, with Angel Moroni.

While Adam was taking this picture of Trax, Jacob and I were down on the street waiting to see it.

Christus at the visitor's center.

Jacob and I.

Aren't you impressed with Adam's photography skills?

Windblown

How do you get hair like this?

Blowdryer.

First Day of School

I'm still catching up on posts from this summer and fall. Here is Adam on his first day of first grade:

He had a big change this year--he's attending American Preparatory Academy, a charter school in Draper. Sam takes him on his way to work, and a neighbor picks him up every day except Wednesdays, when I do.

He has made lots of new friends and adjusted quickly to the changes. We're grateful he's able to attend there, and have watched him grow and develop so much in such a short time.

Adam's 7th Birthday

Adam wanted a wolf cake. I made the frosting, but Sam did the artwork. 

Adam's main gift was a camera--many of these pictures were actually taken on his camera instead of mine! In truth, it's a nicer camera than mine is. :)  He also got a Green Lantern mask and ring, which he was kind to share with Jacob.

In the afternoon we had a friend birthday party. They all decorated a birthday poster for Adam, we decorated cupcakes and ate them, and played water games in the sprinklers.

 Adam and Alivia.

 Gavin, Brynlee, and Maddie.

 Paige and Sam. 

  Peter, Ethan, and Avery.

 Sam, Garrett, Hiram, and Adam.

 Grandma Irene came over later that night and gave Adam his awesome new Hogwart's Lego set.

Swimming Video

Swimmers

I have two little fish.

This summer we signed Adam up for swimming lessons--a first. He taught himself to swim and had always resisted any teaching (at least when done by us). He's really quite a natural, so we wanted him to develop his skills in this area. So to AF rec center we went!

The first session was torture for Jacob, because I did not sign him up. But I learned my lesson well: It's less painful to get in the water every day than to keep your 2 year old out of the water.

HE LOVED IT!

The best thing we purchased all summer was this "life jacket." It's like floaties with a panel across the tummy.  It really helps keep their face out of the water. That is, if they want to.

Jacob had no desire to keep his face dry. We finally started putting goggles on him, since he spent more time with his face in the water than out. He loved it when the kids would make faces at him underwater.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is worth more. Coming soon. . .

Sweet Dreams

So, Jacob started climbing out of his crib. Grrr. I hate it when that happens! A friend of mine gave us a Thomas the Tank toddler bed, so out went the crib and in went Thomas. Jacob LOVED the bed--he's in that train phase that all boys seem to enjoy around age 2. So he would talk about the bed "Train" "Choo Choo" but he was afraid to sleep in the bed itself.

This was confirmed during a trip to the zoo this summer--he loved the train, but completely freaked out when we actually got on the train to ride it.

The other problem with the bed is that he often rolled out of it. This was before we had our room finished, and he was sharing with Adam. I'd hear a "thump" and crying--Jacob fell out again. Soon Adam was awake, and we were having a family party at 2am.

After I realized for sure that the bed was a problem, I gave it away, put back up the crib, and bought a crib tent. It looks like this:

He can still jump around, see out, etc. He just can't climb out. Though he doesn't want to take a nap or go to bed, the tent doesn't freak him out at all--in fact he's very proud that he learned to zip it up himself and gets really mad if I won't let him do it.

Now we have Adam in a separate room and Jacob contained in his crib, we are all sleeping MUCH more soundly!