Jakob loves, loves, loves gum! The other day at the store he asked if he could get some Hubba Bubba and I was feeling nice, so I said sure. He couldn't wait to pop a piece in his mouth and of course Mason had to have some too, so I shared a piece with him. When you chew Hubba Bubba, you can't help but blow bubbles, right? Jakob just keep staring at me and trying to pop my bubbles, so I told him to try to blow his own bubble and tried my best to show him how to do it. To my surpise and even more to his, he got it! He was so excited and for the next 3 or 4 days, (until the gum was gone) he would wake up and want to hurry and eat breakfast (very unlike him) so he could have a piece of gum! The simple joys of childhood!

Blogging Around The World

Most of you know that my mom is from Germany and most of her siblings and their kids still live there. I have been keeping in touch with my cousin, Bettina, through e-mail and she has my blog address, as well as my sister-in-laws, and keeps in touch with all of us that way and loves to see pictures of our families. Last week I thought to myself, I would love to see more pictures of her family and keep in touch with her on a more regular basis and what better way than blogging! So I sent her an e-mail and gave her the blogger website and asked her to try setting up a blog-I wasn't sure how it would work. So she gave it a try and it worked! It's really cool because everything is in German. If you would like to check it out, go to www.bettinafamily.blogspot.com. I am so excited to be able to keep in touch with my family who is halfway around the world-isn't technology a wonderful thing? Thanks again Bettina!

Hannah's 4 Months Old

Why does time have to go by so fast? On Monday I took Hannah to the doctor for her 4 month well-check. She now weighs 15 lbs. 4 oz. and is 26 in. She was in the 75% for weight and again, off the charts for height. To put her length in perspective, she is already to long for the infant carseat carrier! Hannah has started eating solids and loves it so far. She is still such a good sleeper, but during the day she has realized that if she cries when you put her down, someone will be right there to pick her back up. Babies are smart! She has started playing with her little piggy's and it is sooo cute! She has also learned to roll from her back to her front. She is very active, I am kind of dreading the day she starts crawling and walking because I fear she will be a little busy body! She loves to talk and gets really excited when you talk back to her and when she watches her brothers run around like crazy monkeys. She is such a sweet baby and we love her to pieces!

The Party That Never Ends!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jakob's best buddy, Garrison, from kindergarten was moving to Oregon the day of Jakob's party and wasn't going to be able to come, they were both pretty sad about it, so we invited Garrison over on Thursday after school to have an unofficial birthday/going away party for just the two of them! As I was making cupcakes for the official party, I made a small cake for the unofficial party. Jakob has always wanted to dig into a cake with his hands and stuff his face, so I let them. You would have thought I handed them each a million dollars-they had so much fun getting all dirty and gooey from the cake! Then they had a squirt gun and water balloon fight, I took them swimming at our neighbors and we finished off the night with a sleepover! They had so much fun and we are really going to miss Garrison.

Then the official party. I was so stressed about have a party at a public pool with a bunch of kids mostly 6 and under, but it turned out really well. I think most everyone's parents stayed, so that eased the stress a ton. The kids had so much fun swimming and going down the slides-it was hard to break some of them away to eat, do presents and have cake, but somehow we managed to squeeze everything in in the 2 hours we were alotted for the party! I think Jakob had a great time with all of his friends and cousins and is already ready looking forward to next years birthday! (We did have to inform him though that next year it would just be a little family party-I am taking my sister's idea and only doing parties every other year on their even birthdays-it just gets too expensive and now we have 3 kids to do parties for-so I think it is a great idea!)

OOOUCH!

On Monday I had to take Jakob to the dentist for a check-up and cleaning, plus a couple weeks ago we notcied that his bottom big boy teeth were growing in behind his baby teeth, but yet the baby teeth weren't loose. I knew what the dentist was going to want to do, but kind hoped that he wouldn't have to, but he did--he pulled both of his bottom baby teeth out so the big ones could grow properly. Jakob has never had a cavity or any other major dental work done, so I was afraid he was going to freak out, but he was so brave and didn't even shed a tear! I couldn't believe it! (Thank goodness he didn't inherit the fear of the dentist from his mom, because I would have been balling my head off if that were me!) The dentist put his teeth is a bag and told him to leave it under his pillow, so the first thing he did when we got home was ran straight to his room. This morning he woke up to a 5 dollar bill under his pillow! I think the toothfairy must have seen how brave he was at the dentist! You are a trooper Jakob, we love ya!

Fun In The Sun

It's finally open! We took the kids to the rec. center on Saturday to go swimming. They were so excited! I think I have been asked at least 100 times since last summer when the pool was going to open again, so since it was open for the weekend we decided it would be fun to take the kids. Mason has been in swim lesson for the past 2 weeks and is almost swimming without floaties, so Wade spent alot of time in the free-swim area letting him get some good praciting in and Jakob invited his best friend Garrison along and they spent most of their time on the big slide.
This was Hannah's first visit to the pool. We where there for 3 hours and she seemed to enjoy every bit of it, luckily the water wasn't too cold or that could have changed things a bit. Her and I did take several breaks just to get out of the sun and she loved to just lay on the lounge chair like a big girl and look around at everything. It was a fun day and we look forward to the rest of the summer to spend by the pool! (I just wish that pool was in my own backyard!)

Happy 6th Birthday Jakob!

I can't believe my baby is already 6! Jakob celebrated his 6th birthday last Friday. He woke up and could not wait 1 minute to open his presents. He got a razor scooter he really wanted, a giant squirt gun, some new clothes, a car (from Hannah) and a game (from Mason). Then dad took him to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, he got to share cupcakes with his kindergarten class, played outside for a couple of hours with his new toys after school and then we took him to Olive Garden for dinner and met Oma and Opa there. After dinner we took him to Nielson's for some yummy icecream. Jakob had a fun-filled birthday and it's not over yet. He really wanted to have a pool party and the pool doesn't open until this Friday, so he will get to celebrate his birthday all over again, what a lucky kid! Jakob we love you so much and appreciate what a good boy and big brother you are. We hope you had the best birthday ever!