We have had a crazy year this year. In the words of Jim Gaffigan (from his book "Dad is Fat") when you're a parent, you can be having dinner in Paris and then get thrust into a battle in Vietnam on the same day. We have had a lot of dinners in Paris that are worth remembering (and a few battles that have destroyed the carpet shampooer).
Favorite activities:
Jacob loves playing puzzles. He especially likes his map puzzle that says that names of the states...but who's kidding. His favorite activity is destroying things. He knows how to destroy anything and can do it amazing fast. He has successfully dismantled his lamp in his room, somehow unscrewing by hand and pulling out every single glass panel.
Christine is an artist. She loves to color and create like her mom.
She loves designing beed boards and playing with Playdough. She likes to make the sculptures pictured on the box.
Both kids like to play outside as often as possible. They'll even settle for playing in the garage if we won't let them out back. Jacob doesn't say a whole lot of words very clearly, and certainly not a lot of two syllable words, but "Outside" he shouts quite clearly. During our 50 day drought here in central Texas, the kids loved to run in the sprinkler and play in the backyard pool and slide. They became very adept at spraying each other with those hose.
Christine loves washing off the back porch, she will decorate the whole floor (and sometimes the walls, much to my chagrin) with sidewalk chalk and then wash all it all down and scrub it with the car brush. Jacob will chip in to help spray. I think she thinks he is helping, but I think he is just trying to spray her and doesn't have very good aim.
Surgical gloves are a great accessory for cleaning cars.
The kids love playing in water so much that during the winter months, we had to take off the knob on the hose, so they wouldn't turn it on when they were playing in the backyard. In the summer, if we ever went outside, even for a second, Jacob would book it over to the pool and face plant/belly flop right in, clothes, shoes and all.
Both kids like to play outside as often as possible. They'll even settle for playing in the garage if we won't let them out back. Jacob doesn't say a whole lot of words very clearly, and certainly not a lot of two syllable words, but "Outside" he shouts quite clearly. During our 50 day drought here in central Texas, the kids loved to run in the sprinkler and play in the backyard pool and slide. They became very adept at spraying each other with those hose.
Christine loves washing off the back porch, she will decorate the whole floor (and sometimes the walls, much to my chagrin) with sidewalk chalk and then wash all it all down and scrub it with the car brush. Jacob will chip in to help spray. I think she thinks he is helping, but I think he is just trying to spray her and doesn't have very good aim.
Christine is currently getting sprayed by the hose.
Favorite Game:
Jacob is obsessed with Angela's iPad and phone. If he could, he would play on them forever. Luckily for him we give him time limits.
But if we ever find that Jacob is being exceptionally quite, you can bet, he has found the iPad or Angela's phone and is playing on it. One night Angela went to check on him at 11 at night. He was so quite we assumed he had fallen asleep over an hour earlier. Nope, he had somehow, snuck out and found the iPad, and had been playing with it ever since. (Angela wants to add: Jacob normally doesn't stay up THAT late, this was when we had just taken the binkey away from Jacob and he was having a hard time falling asleep at night without it). Jacob is starting to like to play Elmo Memory.
But if we ever find that Jacob is being exceptionally quite, you can bet, he has found the iPad or Angela's phone and is playing on it. One night Angela went to check on him at 11 at night. He was so quite we assumed he had fallen asleep over an hour earlier. Nope, he had somehow, snuck out and found the iPad, and had been playing with it ever since. (Angela wants to add: Jacob normally doesn't stay up THAT late, this was when we had just taken the binkey away from Jacob and he was having a hard time falling asleep at night without it). Jacob is starting to like to play Elmo Memory.
Christine loves to play Guess Who. We have the Disney version. Sadly, she beats me sometimes.
Favorite Chore:
Jacob loves helping vacuuming and mowing. He will get out the vacuum and plug it in. He knows how to turn it on. Then he gets his little push toy out and acts like its a vacuum. He also loves to help me mow. He pushes the lawn mower around the yard with me. He tries to use the pull cord to start it, but is not quite strong enough.
Christine loves to set the table for dinner. She always says she is "making a surprise for Mommy". She has to have all the right utensils, plates, and cups otherwise she gets a bit frustrated with Daddy for not doing it right. She sets them up perfectly and usually wants a center piece. She also loves making beds. She insists on making Jacob's bed even though he never sleeps in it. (Jacob prefers the floor)
Favorite Foods:
Jacob like his sister was born with opinions. In the morning he usually wants cereal "ereal", but his tastes shifts daily, sometimes marshmallow mates, sometimes captain crunch, fruity pebbles, and then Angela bought some Life for herself. Yeah! he wanted that everyday until it was gone. Also if you eat after him, he will definitely be begging for tastes from your bowls.
Speaking of having to share food with kids. After one especially difficult shopping trip, Angela bought herself a Reeses Candy Bar to eat in the car. When she sat in the driver seat, and reached for her her candy bar, she couldn't find it. Christine had found it, and with wonderful big sister love, had taken one for herself and shared one with her brother. "It's perfect mom!" Being a mom is a tough gig.
Speaking of having to share food with kids. After one especially difficult shopping trip, Angela bought herself a Reeses Candy Bar to eat in the car. When she sat in the driver seat, and reached for her her candy bar, she couldn't find it. Christine had found it, and with wonderful big sister love, had taken one for herself and shared one with her brother. "It's perfect mom!" Being a mom is a tough gig.
Jacob also loves hot dogs. If you offer him nuggets for instance, he will respond, "No nuggets, Hot dog." The way he says it, as if your perhaps you didn't understand him the first time, is hillarious.
Both Christine and Jacob love fruit. We had a lot of fun harvesting our first crop of peaches from our peach tree this year. It was delicious.
At scripture study, we were talking about how Nephi built a boat. We talked about what we would want to take with us in the boat. At first Christine listed off her ever enlarging family of stuffed animals and dolls. After explaining that we would probably not be able to take our toys, but we could take food with us. She responded, "I would bring 100 plums and 100 grapes. because they're purple." 100 in Christine language, just means, the largest number that I can think of. Of note she reports having 100 books.
Of course they love all the treats their Mommy makes...
..Especially licking the bowl
Look Jacob's sharing!
(I saw this at the hospital and had to send it immediately to Angela!)
Jacob learned to get around the child lock on his door. He then loved sneaking out and getting into things he shouldn't (toys that were in timeout, ribbons from Mommy's craft room, Christine's room, etc). One night I heard a scamper of feet in the general direction of Jacob's room. I go in to the room, and he tosses a bag of Frito's aside and acts like he was not just helping himself to the huge big bag.
Both Christine and Jacob love fruit. We had a lot of fun harvesting our first crop of peaches from our peach tree this year. It was delicious.
Of course they love all the treats their Mommy makes...
Look Jacob's sharing!
The kids also love getting water for themselves out of the refrigerator door. At first, Christine did it, which was very helpful. It didn't take long for Jacob to figure out the trick! Of course his motor skills are not as refined, so about 20% actually makes it into the cup. When you catch him in this act, he will smile, dash over, grab a hand towel, and, as if he had come up with a brilliant idea you had not thought of, will announce "towel" and drop it on the pool of water.
(I saw this at the hospital and had to send it immediately to Angela!)
Jacob learned to get around the child lock on his door. He then loved sneaking out and getting into things he shouldn't (toys that were in timeout, ribbons from Mommy's craft room, Christine's room, etc). One night I heard a scamper of feet in the general direction of Jacob's room. I go in to the room, and he tosses a bag of Frito's aside and acts like he was not just helping himself to the huge big bag.
Favorite Show:
Jacob loves Dora. She was his first word, and has stayed as his favorite show. He also loves Super Why. Except he calls that show "Super kids". Jacob likes to watch Curious George for tips on how to destroy things. I think Jacob wants to be George.
Christine love My Little Pony. She is having a My Little Pony birthday party for her 5th birthday. Her favorite is Twilight sparkle because she is purple. Mommy's favorite is Rarity because she designs and sews pony clothes. Jacob hates ponies, whenever Angela turns on Ponies for Christine he says "No! No pony!"
When Christine went to Utah and her cousin had a My Little Pony plush toy, she basically stole it throughout the vacation.
When Christine went to Utah and her cousin had a My Little Pony plush toy, she basically stole it throughout the vacation.
Funny Things They Do:
Jacob loves to fake sleep. After riding in the car for any amount of time, when you go to take him out of his car seat he will pretend he is asleep. Sometimes it is more believable than others. He always makes really loud snoring noises. Sometimes he closes his eyes too. But sometimes he just makes the snoring noises. He always starts laughing when we say, "Oh no Jacob is asleep." He thinks his routine is so funny. Christine has picked up on the routine and has also started fake sleeping. It's pretty funny taking two fake sleeping kids out of the car.
Strong character traits:
Jacob is crazy, he loves jumping and climbing and getting into things. If there is a chair or table he can climb on, he will, and then he will jump off of it. He figured out that if he put his little couch next to the big couch he can jump off the arm of the couch onto his little couch. He loves jumping on his mother, which means that Angela is always covered in bruises. We are amazed that it took us until September of this year for us to finally need to take Jacob to the ER. He was, as usual being crazy, and fell and bit through his lip.
I was on-call at the hospital, but luckily I was able to meet Angela at the Peds Hospital and bring him back and show him to the other surgical residents and the ER attending, who agreed it didn't need stitches. (Angela wants to add: I was very upset by all the blood in Jacob's mouth and the HOLE through his mouth/chin and frustrated that in comparison to knife stabbings and other severe injuries Jeff sees daily, Jeff was very upbeat about such a "minor" injury. Sigh, it's hard to be the wife of a surgeon, but at least it did save us from paying a $200 copay.)
I was on-call at the hospital, but luckily I was able to meet Angela at the Peds Hospital and bring him back and show him to the other surgical residents and the ER attending, who agreed it didn't need stitches. (Angela wants to add: I was very upset by all the blood in Jacob's mouth and the HOLE through his mouth/chin and frustrated that in comparison to knife stabbings and other severe injuries Jeff sees daily, Jeff was very upbeat about such a "minor" injury. Sigh, it's hard to be the wife of a surgeon, but at least it did save us from paying a $200 copay.)
Christine is confident and set in doing things her way. When she gives a talk or shares a scripture in primary she is not bashful at all. She will walk right up to the podium and clearly say everything she has practiced. She is never shy to answer or question, and always want to participate and voice her opinion.
Favorite Toys
Jacob loves any toy that Christine is playing with currently (unless the ipad or ipod is more readily accessible).
Christine is very particular with how she plays with her toys (Here's a display case for Minnie Mouse Shoes), so you can imagine the endless fights and frustrations the two have as they learn to share and play with each other.
Christine will set up an amazing tea party, utensils for each stuffed animal, a table spread, she'll have waiter's and chef's assigned, with working pots and pans, and Jacob will come barreling through, stealing the food, knocking over the table, and stepping on the clients.
Jacob's favorite toy, by far, is Christine's play guitar. Christine begged for a toy guitar for Christmas. When she got it, she was almost as excited about it as Jacob was. It immediately became a toy of contention, and has spent the majority of time in timeout since. It's not even a very cool guitar. It was like $10 at wal-mart and the strings are all loose and don't play. Irregardless, the kids, specifically Jacob, can't get enough of it, "it-tar!"
Christine's favorite toys are her Lego's and mega-blocks. That girl is so creative with these blocks. She is always inventing new things to make out of them, that absolutely blow my mind. The hamburger bun piece and the pirate bird's nest, have long since lost their intended roles, and are now always paired together as a delicious cupcake to be served at tea.
Favorite Books
Jacob loves reading books. This is good, because about a year ago I would have written, Jacob loves destroying/eating books. Luckily we've broken him of that destructive behavior, and now he just likes to read books. He of course loves Dora books, not so much for the stories, but for pointing out Dora and things like bananas and balls. He loves Run Mouse Run, mostly because it involves Mommy tickling him. But recently, he has really latched on to Blue Hat, Green Hat, by Sandra Boynton. He thinks this book is so funny. He loves shouting "Oops!" and making the splashing noise when the Turkey jumps into the pool. We went to Kohl's the other day to pick out shoes for Jacob. He picked out blue Nike sneakers, just like his Dad...
well so I thought. But when we got home, he went immediately to this book and pointed out the blue shoes the moose was wearing, just like his! He loves those shoes. We often find him asleep at night, with his blue sneakers on the wrong feet.
Christine loves her collection books, books that have multiple stories in them. We first got Mary Englebreit's collections of Fairy Tales, She loved it so much that we got the collection of Nursery Rhymes. We got a Disney Princess storybook collection. Nana sent a collection of Fancy Nancy Fall Stories after that, and our collection of collection books has been growing since. She loves to look at the table of contents, point out the story we are on and read the page number. She has gotten really good at reading page numbers, even three digit ones. Her favorite stories within the collections, are the Disney Princess stories, though.
