Happy birthday Bear!

Nearly 2 weeks ago, we celebrated Jakey's first birthday!  (I was shortly thereafter struck down by the nastiest cold bug I've had in a loooooong time, and am still on the mend, which is why it has taken me so long to post these pics.)  Jake had a fun birthday celebration with one of our favorite curries for dinner, kukupaka (coconut chicken,) and dinosaur cake for dessert made by mom.  Yes, Jake already eats curry... but honestly, he will eat just about anything you put in front of him.  (Except for bananas- he only eats them 50% of the time.)

Charlotte and Toby told me that Jacob wanted a dinosaur cake.  I did my best, and this is what I came up with.  I like making the kids' birthday cakes-so far we have only done one store bought cake and we all agreed it didn't taste great- but inevitably about 20 things go wrong and I get very frustrated.  So far the kids have all been happy with the end results though and I hope they will make for happy memories of their homemade cakes.

Jakey liked it.  He kept looking at it like he was trying to memorize what it looked like for future reference.

The happy, sugared up, ONE year old boy!

We did invite just a couple of our friends over to celebrate with us, and the kiddos had a great time playing together.  I confess, Rob and I don't socialize much, and WE had a great time visiting with a couple of our grown-up friends as well.  :)

Today we took the kids to Monkey Joe's for a fun family activity and for the first time Jacob was DETERMINED to participate. He bounced and went down the slides and just smiled from ear to ear.  

His personality is emerging more all the time- he is super kinetic... always in motion.  His favorite game is to play ball.  You have to be careful though, because he will throw anything that comes into his hands, including my Kindle which is currently broken from being thrown on the tile floor. He especially likes to throw things down the stairs. He empties my cupboards and rearranges the chairs several times a day. He is also fearless about water and sticks his face under the water in the bathtub regularly. I don't think he has any idea that he is a baby; if he sees Toby doing something then Jakey will try to do it too.  He will occasionally settle in for a cuddle, and he likes to give kisses, but only for a moment because he's got to get back to making messes! 

Jacob is still not very verbal.  We can make out a few things like "dada," "om," "up," and "all done." He also shakes his head no.  But that is pretty much it for communication beyond growls and giggles.  He is a speedy walker and doesn't resort to crawling anywhere anymore. He can go up and down the stairs.  He has also gotten better about sleeping and will often sleep from 8-10 pm, then get up and have a bottle and then sleep from 10pm-5am.  He also still takes 1-2 naps during the day. He has 8-10 teeth in his little mouth- though it is challenging to get a good look at them as he speeds by. 

One of Jake's absolute favorite things to do right now, is to brush his hair.  Which is really very funny considering that he hardly has any. He gets a brush out of the bathroom drawer and just strolls around the house brushing his hair and smiling.  You will no longer be his friend if you take the hairbrush away from him.  We are so thankful for our funny little Jakey bear. I am somewhat dismayed at how quickly he is growing up, but I'm guessing that will always be the case.  Right this moment he is pulling on my leg to be picked up, and I suddenly want nothing more than to cuddle with him... while I still can.  Happy birthday Bear!  

In her own words

Ready to go to Kindergarten!

Charlotte found her locker, and her seat, and was all set for school to begin.

One last squeeze before we left our sweet girl!  

(I thought I would be emotional, but I guess I got that out enough beforehand because we were all just smiley and excited for her new adventure.)

Here is Charlotte to tell you all about her first day of school... I thought about writing something to accompany (explain parts of) this, but I decided it would be best to let her speak for herself.  ;)

Edist-ooooooooo!

On Saturday we ran away from home. We drove to Edisto Beach in South Carolina and spent the day as a family enjoying the sun, sand, and surf.  I would call Edisto an overlooked little beach haven.  There was ZERO traffic on our route there (something unimaginable on a Saturday in August in NJ or MD!) We were able to park the car (for free) and be on the sand in about 10 steps. Across the street was a Piggly Wiggly where we could grab milk for Jake's bottle and snacks for the rest of us.  Perfect spot for a day trip.  :)

Jake embraced his first time at the beach by crawling straight into the water. No fear.  Even after getting nailed by a wave, he came up sputtering and kept moving forward. He is a crazy kid! 

Our engineer, Toby, dug ditches and built castles in between dips in the ocean.

And Charlotte barely left the water all day. 

As you can see, the beach was nearly empty.  There was a group of young adults from Quebec next to us though.  We had fun chatting with them (in English and French) about their travels down the coast headed for Florida, then west to California, then north to British Columbia, and then back east to Quebec in a van- picking fruit as workers when they are in need of cash.  Sounds like an adventure, huh?! The kids enjoyed sharing seashells, buckets, and shovels with our new buddies from the north. 

Fun memories.  :)

Oh what do you do in the Summertime?

Hard to believe it, but our last Summer before Charlotte starts school is coming to a close.  They begin school this year on August 7th!  In just 2 weeks! *Gasp*  So how have we been occupying ourselves since we've been home from PA?

We went to "dress like a cow" day at Chick-Fil-A.  Yes, I helped the kids make these awesome costumes so that we could get free kid's meals. They loved it. 

On a more serious note, Rob's Grandma Anderson passed away and we attended her funeral in Atlanta.  I know we hardly look broken up about it in these pictures  She was very elderly and not in good health.  Her husband passed away nearly a year ago, and she was really very ready to go.  She will be very missed, but we are glad she is at peace. The occasion was a day to spend with family and remember her fondly, and I think she would have been pleased with our smiles.

Grandma was buried in the National Cemetery in GA along with Grandpa Anderson.  It is a beautiful place, and we attended the burial... however, we learned rather late that we could not go to the graveside until the burial was completed due to "safety concerns." We spent the 90 minutes (in the 100 degree heat) waiting under a pavilion and taking family photos and visiting.  It wasn't in the plan, but it all worked out.

Rob's Mom and Dad with 6 of their 11 (soon to be 12) grandchildren.

Jakey has been growing like a little weed!  Here he is eating pasta for dinner and bits of banana for dessert.  He is a tender-hearted boy, but does he ever have a temper! I need to try to get video of one of his tantrums that he now throws when things do not immediately go his way.  He's gonna have to get over that pretty quick.  ;) 

 I got Rob these resistance bands for Father's Day this year and Toby thinks they are the coolest toy ever.  Aside from wearing them as an accessory, he has connected them and stretched them the entire length of the house, and used them to slingshot himself in the living room.  We decided we'd better put them away up high before he injures himself.  Toby also will be starting Joy School this Fall. 5 other moms and myself will take turns teaching our 6 preschoolers 2 mornings a week.  I think the little man is going to LOVE it!

I'm a loser, baby

So, I wasn't going to blog this but I've been, ummm, enjoying some local notoriety lately (by enjoying I mean being completely horrified by) and I've decided that maybe if I put it all out there then people will stop asking me about it.  

See, here's what happened... Just after Easter my friend Kristin started a Biggest Loser competition. I was way excited.  I had just canceled my gym membership and I was looking for something to keep me motivated in trying to lose the baby weight and this sounded like it fit the bill perfectly.  We started with 25 women.  We each paid $20 and then $1/week at each of 12 weekly weigh-ins.  There were some minimal penalties to be paid if you gained weight, or stayed the same, or missed a weigh-in.  And, long story short, I won!  Normally, I would shrug and say, "oh it's not a big deal."  But not this time my friend.  This time I worked HARD.  You might even say I worked my butt off. (And other body parts as well.) 

Before & After photos

For those who want to know the details: I lost 28 lbs, 1.5 inches off each arm, 3.5 inches off each leg,  4.5 inches off my waist and 3.5 inches off my hips.  I reached a healthy weight for the first time in my adult life!  (And now I am just trying to stay here.)  I am genuinely proud of myself- which is kinda bizarre and kinda awesome.  And I know they always say this- but honestly, if I can do it, anybody can.  If you want to host your own Biggest Loser- you can get all the info here.

Sweet Home Pennsylvania

Last night we got home from nearly 3 weeks in PA visiting with my family. (Rob came up to join us for the last few days and help with the drive home.) Maybe you're wondering what we did during that time?  Here is a small sampling...

We hiked in flip flops. (My specialty.)

Charlotte took this pic- not bad!

We spent time with animals.

A certain horse named Simon even tried to kiss my baby bear.

Jennifer recognized a kindred spirit in Charlotte.  In her words- 'when we find one that seems to have the sickness, we like to encourage it.'

Even my serious little man took a ride on Simon.  

Look out Cowboy Woody!

Kaufman Kousins- most of them.

We went to gymnastics.

Charlotte got brave on the balance beam. (And yeah that's Jake buzzing by on the trampoline in the background.)

My sisters and I finally finished going through my mom's photos.

I really like this one of her from the 1960s.

We learned not to take a water gun from the baby.

(Jake took his first steps while we were in PA as well.)

We ate things that turned our tongues blue.

We celebrated!

We bounced!

(Ben and Toby may have had a wrestle-mania moment here.)

We drove things with motors!

And more things with motors!

We spent time just hanging out.

And helped build paths with 150+ lb. rocks.  

(Well, some of us did.)

We used fireworks to have tank battles and destroy toy soldiers.

Occasionally we slept.

But not very much.

  

Mostly, we made some new memories.

Thanks for the good time, y'all!

a child's prayer

Toby offered the following prayer at bedtime tonight:

"Heavenly Father,

Thankful for this day. Thankful for our chairs, and our pillows, and blankets, and the doors, and for the walls not falling down.  Maybe someday they'll fall down... but not today. * Please bless mommy for preparing it. ** Thankful for our family. Please we have a new baby BOY sister in our family. ***

In the name of Jesus Christ- Oh I forgot- thankful for our tables, and chairs, and blankets, and all, all, aaaaallll our toys. [silence] Please bless mommy for preparing it.****

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."



*I think this is fallout from a nightmare he had 2 nights ago.
** This is a common refrain at dinner, and Toby has adopted it at bedtime as well.
*** Charlotte has been praying for a baby sister for about a month now, I guess Toby has decided another girl in the house would not benefit him.  Also, no, I am not currently expecting a baby.
**** Now he's just procrastinating bedtime.

Happy Mudder's Day!

(In case you haven't seen my facebook profile, I thought I'd blog about the Marine Mud Challenge that I did on Saturday.  Besides, I want to remember some of these details, so this is also for me personally.)  

First let me say that I had no intention of doing this.  A week ago a friend of mine posted on Facebook that someone had dropped out of her team, and she needed a new member.  On an impulse, I signed up.  The team was called "RMFAO" which stood for: Running My Fat BUM Off.  Since I have been trying to get to a healthier weight, this sounded like a good workout for me.  :)  And, well, it was.

The course is 5 miles long.  We started out running up a mud bank where a very nice Marine then shot us with a fire hose.  Then we had to run through some muck, up this mud bank, slide down the other side under the cargo net, and crawl out through the tunnel.  5 minutes in, and I was wet, muddy, and scraped up.  Fun!

The course had a lot of challenging obstacles... especially for a girl like me who has no upper body strength. I managed to do them ALL, except this one.  With some team assistance, I got my bum up onto the lower bar, but I was too scared to go up over the top bar and then drop down.  That bottom bar is about 8 feet high.  (I had to jump up to grab it.) I went over much higher things, but they all offered a little more to hold onto.  I was shaking like a leaf on this one, and it was the only time on the whole course where I was freaked out.

This was the first of many walls to climb over.  I had never climber over a wall before in my life and I was so proud of myself for getting up there!  Little did I know there were like 4 more walls to climb on the course.  Nathan and Eve were spotting me on my drop down, but I still managed to scrape up my knee on the wall and land on my bum in a pile of pine cones.  Also, a teenager from our church was racing just behind us and broke his leg coming over this wall.  He's having surgery on it today.

This was the taller of two sets of "stairways."  No problemo.

This was the beastliest thing, that I actually accomplished.  The tire wall was very high (15 feet?) and you climbed it like a cargo net.  That was tricky enough, but then you had to go over the top- and my legs weren't long enough to be holding onto anything as I scooted over the top, so I held onto that chain for dear life.  Then you had to climb down the other side.  

Running down the sand cliff. 

Wading through the "big pit" there were I think 5 of these logs that you had to climb over... funny that I don't remember exactly, but I was just very focused on whatever was directly in front of me. 

I'm in the foreground here getting ready to climb over yet another wall out of the last mud pit.  Eve is behind me.  The Marines were yelling at us to belly crawl through this mud... it was so thick and deep, it was hard to lift your feet out of it.

Go team!!  

I'm so glad I did this.  It was HARD, but it's great to feel like I can do hard things.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  ;)

When i got home I was welcomed by 3 beautiful roses from my 3 beautiful babies.  Thank you sweet Rob for encouraging me and supporting me in all my dorky plans! 

After a long, hot shower we headed out with a picnic dinner to Lady Antebellum Amphitheater to hear the Symphony Orchestra of Augusta.  The kiddos danced and played to the classical tunes.

It's a lovely venue.

And I am a lucky momma. 

Best. Mother's Day. Ever.