Grandma & Grandpa Came for a Visit...

We had such a great weekend! Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and we attended a family wedding on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. We also got in a lot of relaxing porch time and a couple of nice hikes. Lots of fun pictures to share so enjoy.

What do you mean Grandma & Grandpa are leaving?

That's a good one Grandpa!

This is my Daddy and his Mama... my Grandma!

You did it Grandma... 3.2 miles and two waterfalls!

Watch this splash Grandma!

Daddy can we go all the way to the top?

What a beautiful day for a hike!

Wow this water is cold!

Come on Grandma & Grandpa... we're almost there!

I took my family on a great hike!

I love this book you got for me Grandpa!

Whew... what a day! I'm tired!

Play it again Grandpa!

Grandma and I love to dance together!

We can't pick them until they turn red Grandma.

I'm so happy that you came to my house Grandma!

Grandma... this is my sand & water table that you've

heard so much about on my blog.

I love my Mama and she loves me!

Really Grandma... I saw that duck go right over this bank into the water.

Hey... where did that duck go?

Come on Daddy... I think we can catch them!

Grandma's brother and his new wife...

This is my Grandma & Grandpa...

My very first time wading in the river...

What a sweet wedding...

This new Aquadoodle is awesome Mama!

Happy Father's Day!

We enjoyed a very nice Father's Day with Jake. Trip is a wonderful father and Jake is lucky to have him. I fall in love with Trip all over again every day watching him with our son. I love to listen to him give Jake his bath at night because the giggles coming from the bathroom always make me smile and remind me how grateful I am to be married to such a kind man. I wouldn't want to raise this amazing little boy with anyone else. It's really an incredible blessing to share this beautiful child with Trip.

We had a Father's Day brunch at Mamaw & Papaw's house (and I must say that I have a really wonderful Daddy too) and then we went for a nice hike in the afternoon after a little relaxing in front of the TV (watching the US Open coverage).

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

It was a really good day Daddy!

Three Daddy's and their babies. I'm the short one.

Jake spent Saturday at Mamaw & Papaw's house too. Trip and I needed a day to do some work around the house and Mamaw & Papaw were very happy to babysit. On the way back to pick him up we saw a turtle in the middle of the road and stopped to save it. Trip decided we should take it with us and show it to Jake because it's one of the words he can say and read. Well... Trip was right... it was a great idea because Jake LOVED that turtle! He cried and cried when we set it free.

What do you mean I can't keep it!?!?


Jake is continuing to enjoy his sand & water table and has even had some of the neighborhood kids playing in it with him. He also decided last night that it was officially time to taste the sand so he got himself a big ol' shovel full and then made the funniest face. He also loves Trip's ipod and he'll ask for it then carry it around saying "music, music". Occasionally, he will lift one of the ear buds up to his ear and listen for a little while.

Yuck... sand does not taste like chicken!

Getting ready to listen to some tunes before I

take the car for a spin...

I like playing with my new friends.

Our cat, Circles, is 17 years old and we were concerned about how he would adjust to having Jake in the house but he has been wonderful and Jake adores him. You may remember the video we shared where Jake was chasing Circles around the house... well he does that pretty much every day and Circles just hangs right in there and never gets upset. We've been teaching Jake that he needs to leave Circles alone when he's eating and he is really doing better about just standing beside him while he eats instead of trying to pet him.

Mama... I'm not touching him but I'm ready as soon

as he gets finished eating okay?

In my last post, I mentioned that Jake had a few kitchen cabinets that he can explore... well... let's just say that we're thinking about adding a lock to one of the cabinets now.

This is so fun! Why didn't I do this sooner?

Was I not supposed to do that Mama?

Jake and I were watching Trip wash his state car last night and Jake started "jumping" which was so adorable we had to get a short video to share... enjoy...

Jump... jump... jump...

More to come next week. Grandma and Grandpa are coming for a visit and we're also attending a wedding so I'm hoping to get some good pictures to share.

"They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them."

The title of this post is a line out of the book I'm currently reading (My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult) and I just can't get it out of my head. I suppose the reason it has stuck with me is that I can already see the truth in it. Jake is becoming more and more independent. He really takes pride in doing things for himself... brushing his teeth... feeding himself.... walking... etc. Its really bittersweet to see your child growing up. You are so proud of every little thing that they accomplish but yet you're a little sad too because you're reminded that they will rely on you less and less as time passes. Every parent that we know has told us to savor every moment because it all goes by too fast and trust me we are taking their advice. Jake is our priority and we take great pleasure in every smile... every laugh... every hug... every word.... every little thing that he does... every single day.

We've had our first batch of corn soup this season and boy howdy was it good! Jake had already had supper but he wanted to try it too and I think he liked it because he came back for another bite.

Mmmm... so this is corn soup.


We're still hiking and sometimes we depart from a parking lot at a facility on the parkway. Jake really likes it when we do use that as our starting point because he gets to run around a lot longer. If we park on the side of the road he doesn't get to get down so we let him play and explore when we use the parking lot and its always tough to get him to leave.

Don't forget the water for our hike Mama.


There are a few cabinets in our kitchen that don't have cabinet locks on them because they don't contain anything that Jake could get hurt on and we thought it might be good if he had a few places that he could explore on his own. One of the cabinets has cutting boards, serving trays and cookie sheets and Jake empties it out regularly. He is especially partial to one of our serving trays that has snow flakes on it and he loves to pull it out and sit on it. We're not sure but we think he's practicing for sledding season.

Daddy can I use this as a sled?


Jake has always been a "propper". Literally since the very day he was born he has always liked to prop his feet up and still does it all the time. We've just started using his booster seat without the tray and it took him no time at all to figure out that he could prop his feet up on the table... yikes! We're working on teaching him that he really shouldn't put his feet on the table but it was just so darn cute that I had to share a couple of pictures.

I'll just hang out here until breakfast is ready Daddy.

Whewwww I need to relax after eating my breakfast.

This past Sunday was Mamaw's birthday (yep... just 3 days after Grandma's birthday) so we took dinner to her to celebrate. My wonderful husband made Chicken Tetrazzini, garlic bread and a huge salad which were all delicious. I made some really great (if I do say so myself) Strawberry Cream Cupcakes for the birthday girl. Jake provided entertainment for the gathering. As always he brought Mamaw and Papaw lots of smiles. He pushed one of their outdoor tables all over the porch like it was his job, he "talked" on the phone and flirted with a pretty girl (yep... I'm talking about you Laura).

Mamaw... your fung shui is all out of whack.

Hello

Who should I call now?

Happy Birthday Mamaw!

Papaw ... you're my buddy!

Jake is now 16 months old and still an absolute joy. He has such a sweet personality. Admittedly, he does have a bit of a stubborn streak that his Daddy says he got from me but so far its a cute trait. I might not say that when he gets older.

Happy 16 Month Birthday to Me!

I better proofread Daddy's sign to be sure that

he got everything right.

Jake is still loving his water and sand table. That thing was worth every penny! You can see from the picture below how wet he gets splashing but it doesn't bother him one bit in fact he LOVES it!

One more big splash and my shirt should be wet all the way around.

Mama... if I'm good can I play here all day long?

I need just a little more ketchup.

Last weekend... we took dinner to our friends that just had a baby. We enjoyed a really nice visit with them and their precious baby boy. Jake was intrigued and kept saying "baby" over and over.

Hi baby Kruz!

I'm coming Daddy.

Daddy... was that the last rock?

Oops... I'm busted... eating vanilla wafers again.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Appointment with Dr. Love (oops... forgot to include this yesterday)...

I knew that I was forgetting something in my update yesterday and last night it occurred to me that I forgot to share what a great doctor's appointment Jake had last week. It was his 15 month appointment and he weighed 20 lbs and had grown to 29 1/2" tall.

When we arrived at the pediatrician's office there was an adorable little girl in the waiting room with her Dad. She was probably 3 or 4 years old and Jake was totally taken with her. He literally could not take his eyes off her. He was sitting in my lap and he would smile at her and then bury his face against me over and over again. After a little while he asked for my keys so I gave them to him and he said "down" so I put him down on the floor. He then proceeded to march across the waiting room right up to the little girl where he smiled at her... held out my keys and said "keys". Her Dad thought it was hilarious that a 15 month old already knew how to win over a girl by offering up the keys to Mama's car :)

When the nurse called us back for Jake's appointment she told us to go to the "J" room and Jake started sounding out the "J". The nurse could not believe it and started asking him other letters which he was more than happy to sound out for her. He said a bunch of words for her while she was measuring and weighing him and she was just amazed. When Dr. Love came in he asked how many words Jake was saying now and I told him that he hit 100 several weeks ago and we had stopped counting at that point. Jake then said a few words for him including "doctor" and Dr. Love was thrilled and jokingly said that if Jake kept going at this rate that he would expect him to be able to read words soon. He was a little shocked when I told him that Jake could read most of his words now so I grabbed a piece of paper and started writing down various words (girls... eyes... shoes... trees... nose... teeth... cup... etc.) and Jake read each one of them as I wrote them down. Dr. Love smiled.. stood up and said ... "I'm going to get another Doctor, I'll be right back". He came back with another pediatrician in the practice and asked me to write down some more words for Jake (birds... car... keys... etc.). I did and Jake read them out loud and then the other doctor sat down and said... "in all my years of practice... I've never seen anything like that". When the nurse came back in later to give Jake his shots she said that the doctor's were all huddled up talking about Jake reading. I was so proud of my little boy!!!! He's just such a little sponge and he loves learning new words. I'm sure you can now understand why I couldn't resist sharing this story :-)

Snakes and tomatoes...

Yep... we're still hiking. Almost everyday when Jake wakes up from his afternoon nap he very loudly says... "DOT" to let us know that he's ready to go hiking and touch the dots on the trail. We've hiked back to the river a couple more times so Jake could throw rocks in the water and its tough to get him to leave. He loves to watch the splash when his rock hits the water. In the past couple of weeks we've also met several "friends" along the way. We've encountered 4 snakes (all non-venomous) on the trail so far this year including a 5 foot long black snake yesterday that nearly gave me a heart attack. I didn't see him until I was right upon him... yikes! He was trying to cross the trail and we happily got out of his way. We've also seen two really large black snakes in our neighborhood in the past week. I'm not a snake person but I refuse to let them keep me from hiking with my family so I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open.

DOOOOT!!!

I love to hike!

Lets go Daddy!

Splash!

Mama ... when will Daddy be finished mowing?

Hold still Circles and I'll brush your hair.

I see you Daddy.

We love to grow fresh veggies... especially tomatoes... but haven't had any luck since we moved into this house in 2001. There just isn't a good spot for a garden since we're in the woods. We tried a raised bed on the side of our house and we also tried containers on our back deck but neither one received enough sunlight to produce. This year we decided that we just had to have some homegrown tomatoes so we planted them in containers in front of our house. They are doing great! They are already loaded with blooms and one even has a little bitty tomato. We are so excited that it looks like we'll have yummy fresh homegrown tomatoes this year.

Mama... I can help take care of the tomatoes.

Bye bye, Doh Doh

My Aunt Doris (the children of her nieces and nephews called her Doh Doh) passed away this past Friday and words are inadequate to express the sadness that I feel. She was so very special to me and I already miss her. I have so many wonderful memories of her but I just wish I would have had one more visit... one more chance to hear her laugh... one more chance to tell her how much I loved her. She was always there for all of her family and friends and I take some comfort in knowing that she is now in heaven watching over us still. Her grandaughter, Laura, read Proverbs 31:10-31 at her funeral and it fit her perfectly so if you have a chance read it and you'll get a glimpse of the very special person that will always be loved and greatly missed.

The picture below was taken at my baby shower last year which she helped my sister-in-law host. I love that she's laughing in the picture.

We already miss you Doh Doh!
I'm so sad that Jake won't get to know you like we did...