Recent pics.....

Mia, VERY much enjoying her chocolate cupcake at Grady's Bday Party!

We are still working on eliminating/shortening Jake's naps and it is still a struggle to wake him up when he does nap. I have still been finding him sleeping in funny places.....but this was a first!

Yay! Jake is getting old enough to do little art projects.....you all know I love to do that stuff, so it was fun to do it together. He got bored with it pretty fast, but I had fun finishing it up!

What, you don't you play in your underwear and ski hat?

Mia, brushing up on her keyboarding skills

Twain Harte

We had a great weekend in Twain Harte with Mom, Peter, Julie and Tim. Played in the water up at Pinecrest, hung out at the cabin, and had some nice family time together! Jake and Mia were occupied throwing rocks into the creek for a good portion of the weekend, and smores were an obvious highlight as well.

For those of you who always say "she's such a happy baby, she NEVER cries".....well, here is proof. She is MOSTLY happy, but boy does she let you know if she's not!

Gramps was the only adult to brave the chilly water.....and the kids sure appreciated it! He was able to get his workout for the day, and Jake and Mia had tons of fun!

Grammie warming Jake up after a cool dip in the water!

Yet another adorable pic of Julie and Tim....

Uncle Tim and Jake......this was before Jake fell asleep on him
and left poor Tim with his arm dead asleep!

Auntie Julie snuggling with Mia....

Jake's collection of sticks for the "campfire"

Mia stole that marshmallow right out from under me before I could get it to the fire to roast

SMORES! or as Jake calls them, "mores"

Who knows how many marshmallows she ate before the night was over.....

Dirty Girl

This particular set of pictures from our weekend in Twain Harte needed its own post! Mia was sitting on the picnic table bench eating a chip. She fell forward FLAT on her face and was completely covered in dirt. It was one of those moments where we all gasped, and then once we saw she was okay, burst into hysterics. She didn't cry....and the chip NEVER left her mouth (you can see it sticking out in the top picture).....she just proceeded to eat the dirt covered snack.

Cute ones.....

One of our favorite things to do.....snuggle with a sleeping "baby"

Jake after eating a chocolate covered oreo

They love playing with their Daddy!!

I just LOVE this pic of Daddy and his girl!

Movie Night!

Brian had to be away a few nights for "work"....I say it in quotes because he spent 3 days at the Claremont for some training in what I refer to as his overachievers club.....wish my "work" required that!! I tried to do some fun stuff with the kids so that they didn't miss him too much.....of course, a movie night was on the list.....Mia was SO excited to get to sit like a big kid with her own bowl of popcorn and watch the movie.

Annual Labor Day BBQ at Mom and Peter's!

I just love seeing Jake and Mia with their Great Grandad.....how lucky they are that they not only get to know him, but he's still up to playing with them!!
Here they are playing a game of catch ;)

Jake took a few spills doing some "tricks" on his scooter (been watching too many of the skateboarders at the skate park) and Brian told him he needed to wear gloves. Well, of course Jake wanted gloves right then! Daddy came up with the next best thing....his dirty socks on Jake's hands.....lovely.

Just like her mamma....she's a multi-tasker!
She was running around playing with a cookie in her mouth...too funny!

The fam.....everyone having a great time!

First day of school

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Today was Jake's first day of preschool for this year.....he is in the 3 year old's class at Sonshine. Even though he is attending the same school as last year, since he's in a different classroom with different teachers, he considers it a totally new thing. I've been dreading the first day a little bit, as he's been tentative about going. Soooo, my game plan was to give him his new Cars backpack RIGHT before leaving for school, in an effort to redirect his attention :) It worked like a charm! Though I'm not sure how Thursday will go, when the backpack is old news! I dropped him off, he walked right into class and proceeded to chat his teacher's ear off about the fact that Lightning McQueen was on his NEW backpack....totally unaware of the fact that she was trying to manage 20 other kids :) He already has a new "best friend" and seemed to have fun. Hoping that it continues to go smoothly!

Kids

They were just cracking me up with their "outfits"....Jake in his blue moose hat, and Mia (my not-so-girly girl) with her head phones and chainsaw. Dang these kids make me laugh.

Messy girl!!

Mia is in the process of learning how to feed herself.....wow, what a MESS!!! I have to let her try, or she'll never learn, but I swear that we're going through more stain remover than that crazy family with 20 kids. Often I have to remove her from the high chair and just plop her straight into the bath. Eventually she'll get the hang of it.....I hope!!

Apple Season

It's apple season in our yard....our one tree produces more apples than you can believe and fortunately, they're really good! Although, they all come at once and there's only so many apple recipes you can make! In any case, the kids have fun picking (and eating) the apples.....Mia often chooses the ones from the ground that have already been "sampled" by the squirrels....eewww! Brian and I can't help but laugh too, thinking of Bailey....that dog used to eat about 2 dozen a DAY (not exagerating)......and boy, do I miss him helping me keep them picked up off the ground!

Pool in the yard

This is a video from earlier this summer when the Wallace crew was visiting.....this one's for you, Punk....enjoy!!

Mia says "SMILE"

I'm sure this has NOTHING to do with the fact that I'm always saying this to her while shoving a camera lense in her face ;) Here she is, with one of her first few words.

What a day......

We were driving yesterday morning and saw this little dog walking around....no tag. It was 9am and already 95 degrees out, so I knocked on some doors but didn't find his home. Couldn't bear to leave him outside and wandering in the heat, so I thought we'd keep him inside for a little while. I put up some signs, left my info with the shelter, and was SURE that someone would claim this little guy momentarily. When he came inside, he jumped right up on the couch and made himself at home. He was SOO sweet.....let the kids play with him, snuggled right up to everyone, and was DEFINITELY someone's pet. Since nobody had come for him, we let him stay at our house for the night. When I climbed in bed, he hopped IN bed with me and snuggled up on my pillow. Not gonna work for me....I love dogs, but have never had a 'lap animal' of any kind. So my new dog friend and I bunked on the couch together instead.....I needed my space :) He was just fine on the other end of the couch from me. To my amazement, a day and a half later, nobody had claimed him. And I learned that he is NOT an outside dog.....left him out there for an hour or so to run an errand and came home to a destroyed screen door. Ugghh.....I'm sure Brian's going to have a few choice words over that!! In any case, the shelter has picked him up now and ASSURED me that if the owners don't find a home for this dog, he would be adopted with NO problem and not put to sleep. Jake is NOT going to be happy when he wakes up and his buddy is gone. He's told me on more than one occasion that he LOVES the dog and will miss him when he's not here. Mia loves all furry friends and couldn't have been happier with our visitor!

Stuff...

Mia doesn't have too many words yet, but said "cheese" today while smiling for this sweet picture.

Popsicles!!

Mia has been trying to feed herself.....love her, but she's not really getting much better at this little task :) On this particular day

Obsession

Sooo, Jake's latest obsession is the skateboard park. I have often taken him to some of the bigger skate parks to just watch the skateboarders.....he's always been thoroughly entertained watching them from BEHIND the fence. Well, this time we went to one that was a little less intimidating (and had no fence)......once he saw some kids riding scooters out there, that's all she wrote. He was out there with them, "scootering", and doing a great job staying out of their way :)

It's nearly impossible to keep Mia off of the skating area, so I have to come prepared with lots of snacks! Once she's through with her food, it just becomes a game of her running to the skateboard area, me picking her up, and her screaming at the top of her lungs. If there aren't any teenagers, I've let her go out there and she just runs around in circles.....smiling the whole time!

Here he goes, down the "big ramp". It doesn't look that steep in this picture, but let me tell ya', it seems steep when my little man is going down it.....with the wheels shimmying on his scooter!!

Here is Mia, smiling up at the squirrel she was trying to make friends with.....
who of course ran safely up a tree to escape her :)

The face......you may have to click on the picture to see it, but this is Jake's intense look when he comes down the ramp....tongue out, eyebrows furrowed. Love him.