There and Back Again

We made it back to Arkadelphia in one piece! All things considered the boys did great in the car and we didn't have any major meltdowns, unless you consider Micah's little cry after our return. He had such a good time he didn't want it to be over! Although we were sharing a room, we all were able to sleep pretty well. We had lots of fun with "Uncle Petey" and "Aunt Tammy" and Seamus, their 2-yr-old grandson who spent the night on Friday. They threw a party for us on Saturday night so we got to visit with lots of folks from the theatre. We also visited the park, the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, and several other places in town. We found a cool building toy at the awesome Goodwill  store they have there and got that for Micah (see photo above). Jacob has been practicing his walking skills all weekend so I posted a new video of that.

Fun Without Fuss

Here's a cute video of Jacob playing with an empty plastic container in the kitchen. He loves to raid the recycling bin with the plastic milk jugs, etc., and play with the stuff in there, see which container makes what sounds, etc. You can also hear Micah in the background, being chased by Daddy :-)

Here's Micah, enjoying the sprinkler in the front yard! We're hoping to get the grass to grow back in this one spot so we just set it up, and let Micah run through.

Sometimes it's good to remember that for kids, fun doesn't have to be complicated. A new thing, whatever it is, is enough to please them.

I am looking forward to our Corinth visit. We haven't been since Micah was 2. We've told him that it's the place he was born. He keeps asking if we're going back there so he can be born or Jacob can be born. Although I explain that this has already happened, it hasn't quite sunk it yet :-) Then he got really confused when he left the porch door opened and Dan asked if he was "born in a barn." Kids take everything literally so of course, this resulted in a bunch of questions about where he was born!

A Little Help

This weekend we just enjoyed some family time at home. We went to a farm and picked blackberries with some friends and I made a berry pie out of them which was pretty good! Micah had a fun time and already wants to go back. Jacob got into the kiddie pool for the first time and I think he liked it although it was a little too cloudy to stay in for too long. We found out that his earlier ear infection never cleared up so we have him on a new antibiotic. Hopefully this one will work. Then he'll be on a month of a low-dose antibiotic to help keep him out of the "ear tube zone". I don't want him to have to get those, but I'd rather him have the tubes than suffer with these continual ear infections. He seem to be sleeping better so I think he's starting to feel better. We will be taking a trip to Corinth, MS, this weekend to visit with friends there so I'm hoping we're all healthy for that. Dan has about 13 kids for his theatre camp this week and everything's going smooth so far. He's been doing a lot of work on the house including redoing our bath/shower stall and drywall and painting the second bathroom.

Walk Like This

                                          Getting ready to plow the back nine

                                        First comes the card, then the bow...

                                       "I looove opening presents!"

                                        "It says here that the cow goes in the silo..."

                                         A cool treat for a hot day

Jacob had another birthday gift to open last night. This one was from Gramma Lynn and Papa Roger! As you can see he enjoyed playing with it and with the card. If you look close enough, you can see a piece of that in his mouth in the picture where he is smiling at the camera. Luckily, Daddy was able to rescue most of that from his mouth :-) With his new tractor and new barn, he is going to be all set to play Old MacDonald to his heart's content. Daddy and Micah enjoyed their weekly snow cone treat from the little stand on the way home from school. Each week they try a new flavor. This week was strawberry and black cherry.Yum! And extra stain stick for the clothes. In this video, Jacob is learning to take steps. Although he hasn't walked a long distance yet, he can take a few wobbly steps toward someone if he's inclined. Here he is practicing with Daddy. Today Micah is having a water day at school. They are learning about ocean animals and as part of that unit they are wearing swimsuits and playing water games on the playground today! I am sure he will come home excited to tell us all about it. We have decided to take a family vacation in a few weeks to Corinth, MS, where Micah was born. We'll drive to Memphis and spend the day and a night there and on to Corinth from there to stay with friends for a couple days. It will be fun showing Micah the house where we brought him home and getting to see all the great people in that town again. It will be our first vacation that doesn't involved visiting the grandparents, so we are looking forward to that and for the boys to have that experience. I think we'll probably go to the Memphis Children's museum and maybe the zoo if it isn't too hot and we have time. Our friends in Corinth have a pool so I'm sure Micah will love that! We also signed M up for swimming lessons in July at the Arkadelphia water park and got him a new Spider-Man water vest for when we go to the lake. We're all set for some summer fun!

Birthday gifts

Here is a YouTube link to the video of us singing Happy Birthday and Jacob "blowing" out the candle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gNbYrvGsb0&feature=youtu.be

And here is a video of him (well, Micah) opening his gift from Grammy and Pop Pop!

First Birthday!

May 26 was Jacob's first birthday! Jacob's birthday was on Saturday so we chose to celebrate on Monday after I had returned from Vermont. We spent the morning at the park.  Our friends and their 2-yr-old came over to celebrate with us. I made a mini yellow cake and cupcakes, with cool whip for frosting, and sprinkles.We grilled some chicken and had dinner, then sang Happy Birthday and put down the mini cake in front of Jacob. He wasted no time getting both hands in it! But it did take him a little bit to figure out he could eat it. Once he did, though, he demolished it! He was in good spirits even though he had a runny nose and was laughing and enjoying himself the whole time. After cake Micah helped him open gifts and then it was right in the tub to scrub off all those crumbs! Micah and David ran around playing while Jacob tried his best to imitate whatever they were doing. He had a bit of a hard time going to sleep that night, but who can blame him? I think he really enjoyed the day! I'll post some more in the next entry.

Vermont

                                         Beth and me

                                        Helen and Beth

                                        The three sisters

                                        The "homestead"

This weekend was a big one. It was my first time away from Jacob overnight. Dan was home with the boys while I flew to Vermont for Grampy's memorial service and burial. It was sad to say goodbye to him and to those memories I have at the house, which will probably be put on the market soon. But there were lots of happy memories, too, and that's what I try to dwell on. Due to the nature of the visit, I didn't take a whole lot of  "people" photos, but I did take lots of the house and property and a few of family members. It was kind of like a reunion and I enjoyed getting to see people I hadn't seen in a long time, even if it was only for a day. It was nice to have that time to be quiet and reflect, a luxury. And of course, I had to make the pilgrimage to the Mountainview creamie stand! I was glad to get home to the guys and see that they made out just fine (pizza and chocolate chip cookies seemed to help). Jacob's got a cold, but what's new ?  :-)