We're moving on up....

I've been so blessed to be able to stay at home with Jake for the past year and a half and I'll forever be grateful for every moment.  I love him so very much that it literally brings me to my knees sometimes and I'll miss him terribly when I go back to work but that time is approaching very quickly.  I've accepted a position with a great family-friendly company and we'll be moving shortly after the holidays.  We're moving back to the place where Trip and I met 20 years ago and we're so excited.  Granted... it has made the Christmas season a little more stressful since we've been trying to find a place to live, investigating and visiting child care centers, getting our house ready for market and oh yeah.... Christmas shopping, decorating, visiting, etc.  We haven't even had time to take Jake to see Santa yet but we're determined to make that happen next week. 

Happy 22-Month Birthday to Me!!!

Daddy... where do you want me to put your computer bag?

I'm getting very, very sleepy...

Daddy and I pulled hard for ASU but they lost in the semi-finals to Montana.

I'm making Mama some strawberry tea in my kitchen.

Let's see how many I leave this time...

Mama... can I wear your cowboy boots?

Did I get all the pizza off my face Mama?

Mama has been so busy that it looks like I'm going to have to update my blog all by myself...

Playing in the kitchen with Papaw.

I love it when I get up from my nap and Mamaw and Papaw are here!

I love these twinkly lights!

Here I am "helping" Mama with the tree.

Daddy thought it was really funny that I was standing in a pot eating a peanut butter 'nilla wafer...

I just figured out that I can use this ottoman to turn on the TV all by myself!  I hope Mama doesn't see me.

Well ... it's snowing here. It's been snowing all day and we've got about 8" already!  We are planning on getting Jake out in it tomorrow morning and I'll take lots of pictures if we do.

Grateful hearts....

Words are inadequate to express how grateful we are for our little boy.  We are so blessed and we know it so our hearts were full on Thanksgiving and we had a truly wonderful day!  I wish I had gotten some good pictures but I got caught up in the cooking, the eating and the cleaning up before I realized that I hadn't taken my usual gazillion snapshots.  Oh well... I promise to do better at all of our various Christmas gatherings. 

Speaking of Christmas.... we're so excited to experience it with Jake this year.  He loves all of our neighbors outdoor lights and already knows Santa Claus when he sees him.  We know that he's going to have so much fun opening presents this year too.  We're going to decorate our tree this week which should be lots of fun.  We stayed in a hotel a little over a week ago and they had a fireplace in the lobby along with their really big, beautiful Christmas tree and Jake was really impressed so Trip spent lots of time taking Jake downstairs to see them.

Happy 21-Month Birthday to Me!

Daddy makes a great pillow...

I think Daddy's golf hat looks better on me...

This play-doh stuff is really cool!

I pushed my "house" in here so that I could get a little alone time.

Still loving my Pooh suit...

Yikes... Daddy has big feet!

Don't look so worried... I'll try not to spill it...

I know it's in here somewhere...

Here it is!  Some... yogurt... please.

Good Morning Mama!

I love to watch this Pooh video at the end of a long, hard day of playing.

A quite week....

Not much happened this week... Jake had a cold but he was a sweetie and I got a couple of cute shots to share so enjoy and look for more updates soon.

Watcha doing now Mama???

I love taking showers!!!!

Yep... still wearing my Pooh suit...

Halloween brought us no tricks just lots of treats...

We had a very happy Halloween with our little Jake-a-Pooh (that's a costume hint)!  We have called our little man Jake-a-Pooh since he was born and he LOVES his Pooh bear so our costume choice this year was easy.  He loved it!  He even had to put it back on as soon as he woke up this morning.  He said ... "Mama... costume... wear it, wear it". 

It has been a fun week filled with pumpkins, candy, family time and hiking.  We've been able to hit the trail several times this week and really enjoyed the cool Fall weather and the beautiful colors of the changing leaves.  Jake is hiking more and more on his own... on Thursday he actually hiked a whole mile!  He even cried when we made him get in the back pack but he was exhausted and starting to stagger so we had to make him stop :)

Mama... don't you think I look just like Pooh...

Let's see what they put in my pumpkin bucket...

Look Mama... Uncle Don gave me a flashlight with candy in it...

Daddy made me pumpkin shaped pancakes with chocolate chips for Halloween.

I'm such a lucky boy to have such a great Daddy!

Yummy!  Thanks Daddy!

It looks like its raining leaves Daddy!

This is one of my favorite meals because it has asparagus, mushrooms and pasta!

Wow... this tree is really, really tall...

What do you mean... I can't keep these in my room!

Mama... this leaf is my favorite...

I think this "hat" needs some more work....

I'll fix the "hat" ... while Daddy works on the face....

Are you gonna help or just take pictures Mama?

Do you want me to do that Daddy?

Look Mama... eyes!

I'll put his "hat" back on Daddy.

My friends came by to help me make my very first leaf pile.

I can hike by myself but I can really enjoy the views from here...

Aren't the leaves pretty?

Do you like my smile?  Mama asked me to smile and this is what she got...

Hey Daddy...  can you help me carry all of these?

Mama says that I'm her "punkin" but I'm not even orange...

I have to have this one... it's just my size!

This pretty yellow tree is right outside our kitchen window.

I love hiking!