I love Christmas time!

I love the holidays and it has really become a magical time of year watching it through Jake!. each holiday light brings a smile to his face, he loves looking at all the yard decorations, reading holiday books and talking about Santa.

today was breakfast with Santa at the Firehouse. Kurt and Jake went last year but I was working, so I was really excited today. Jake loves it because of the firetrucks! that kid would sit in the Driver's seat of the firetruck until bedtime if he could.

They bring Santa in on the firetruck which the kids love. I wasn't sure how Jake would react because he was not interested last year, but after a couple minutes of watching the other kids rush Santa, Jake decided he was ok and let Santa hold him. Jake told him he was going to be a firefighter!

We ate pancakes for breakfast, played more on the trucks then Santa read a story and all the kids lined up to sit on his lap. Jake sat on his lap and asked for trucks and choo-choos for Christmas. Jake had a great time!

Jake and Maddy



jake and Forrest in Battalion 1



Driving the Ladder-- Happy as can be!


Jake and Santa Claus




CLASSIC!




really-- could he get any cuter?


On the way home we picked up our Christmas tree!



Check back soon for more, hoping to decorate our tree tonight!

Holiday weekend of FUN

What a great 4 days this has been! Kurt and I have been off together and it is always great to spend time with all of us for more than a day!.

we went up to NoVa for Thanksgiving to spend the Holiday with Kurt's family. It was really great because his Grandmother (Nanny) came as well as Aunt Karen and Uncle Rich with his kids : Dina and Tommy who we have not seen since our wedding. They have never met Jake so it was very cool to spend some time with them.



Of course no Thanksgiving is complete without a ride in the wheelbarrow


Aunt Karen and Dina


Dina, Nanny, Aunt Karen


The FEAST



Of course dinner was fabulous, we all overstuffed ourselves and Jake was eating long after everyone else stopped!




The following day we picked up my parents and went to Alexandria to meet my brother for breakfast. Then we went on to Mt. Vernon. It was a perfect day, 65 degrees, no clouds and EVERYONE had the same idea we did. Mt Vernon was packed. We got our tickets around 12:30 and our scheduled time to see the actual house was 3:40. You do the math with a 2 year old. NO way we would be staying that long! But we did have a great time walking around the grounds.








We came home Saturday and today (Sunday)went to the airplane museum to see the train show. Jake Loves the airplane museum and what could be better than airplanes and trains!
this was the end of the train show so there were not many people there which was nice.



One train set-up had a cool Thomas engine where the kids could get in, pull the cord and make the steam whistle and control Thomas the train.









--if you are paying attention you will notice the necklace. Jake insisted on a necklace this morning when he saw me put mine on. This is the "manliest" one I have.



After the train show Jake took a nice long nap, we started decorating the house then we went to pick up a couple things to help decorate. Kurt has been wanting to get a train track to go around the tree and found one!
Jake was so giddy about the train, we was talking a mile a minute and kept saying " ohh thank you Mommy, thank you Daddy" " I'm happy with you Mommy".
I have never seen him this excited about something!

The set up. Upstairs around a fake tree we bought.










This might be in a tie for may favorite picture of the year




they have been playing with it for 2 hours now! They took a short break for dinner but Jake was so excited to get back to his " beautiful steam engine"

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Halloween

I was very excited about Halloween this year. We had been reading Halloween books for about a month and Jake was starting to get it. He would carry his bucket around and pretend to knock, then say Trick or treat. So i was excited to take him out!



This is his funny/mad face



My plan was to take to him to about 5-10 houses just within short distance of our house. We Live on a big circle and it is almost a mile all the way around! I have a friend/co-worker that lives on the opposite side and she wanted to see Jake so I had planned on going back to the house after a couple houses, getting his buggy and pushing him over.
Jake had a different idea after the first house gave him candy. He insisted on walking, and walking, and walking. I offered to carry him or his bucket but he said no and and kept walking! He made it the entire way around and was a little upset when we were done! He definitely has our sweet tooth!

Sitting anxiously on steps before we go


And we are off... this kid has a mission-- CANDY!




Back home with a mouth full of candy

pumpkins and America!

We had Jake pick some mini pumpkins and let him paint them.











The many faces of Jake, he has more facial expressions, these were just a couple I captured the other day.

The sweet:


The Silly


The Mad:


The Paparazzi


The chipmunk



Jake really likes to talk about America right now. He wants us to tell him about going to the moon and we have to sing God Bless America and the Pledge of Allegiance at night time. Why these songs?? because he asked me to sing about America and this was all I could think of at the time!

Good friends

We went to Shreveport to visit my BFF Katie and her family at the end of Sept. We stayed for a week and for the most part had a really great time. I was very impressed with the kids and how well they did together. Taylor shared all her toys very well and baby Emma Kate was just perfect!

Unfortunately Jake got ear infections, Kurt had a sinus infection and I had strep throat! But we still had fun!

I miss my Katie so much, one week is not nearly long enough.

Here are a couple pics she did not have, but please check out her blog: http://ourcopacabana.com/ for more pics












We went to the pumpkin patch today, Jake loves it at this farm because they have a tractor you can climb on and a big playground!





last year at the farm:





I cant believe how much he has grown