Hi-ya!

Today was Jacob's first day of Taekwondo and what an event it was! For over two weeks now Jacob has been running and jumping all over the yard and calling himself "Taekwondo Man"after visiting a Taekwondo class with Nona. I was a little concerned that he might be disappointed when he realized that it wouldn't just be jumping and shouting, but he actually did quite well.

He was unexpectedly shy and I could tell that he didn't know what to do with all of the individual attention. He almost seemed embarrassed and for a moment I actually worried that he might not like it.

After his one on one class we all went out to dinner and headed home. We put Abby to bed and immediately Jacob asked to put on his uniform and began doing all of the moves that the instructor had shown him. He even remembered to bow and say "yes, sir!" It was amazing. Even though he didn't interact much in his class, he retained all of the instructions and moves and impressed us all with his show tonight. Oh, and how adorable is he in his uniform!

Growing up...

On Saturday Abby woke up with a bunch of new-found confidence. She decided to take the whole walking thing seriously and began toddling everywhere instead of crawling. She also decided to use the babysign for "eat" and has been saying "Mama" like crazy (I have been waiting for this for so long it seems!). She even pointed to her nose when Mommy asked where Abby's was! So cute! Here are a few pictures from our eventful weekend.

The best $4 I've ever spent.

So this past weekend we went garage sale-ing with Erin and Will. We started at the community center since they were having a big, multi-family sale. It was there that we struck gold! For just $4 we got a Fisher Price Laugh and Learn house-thingy. Let me tell you--this toy had been a miracle. Jacob and Abby will sit and play TOGETHER for nearly 30-45 minutes every day! It's so wonderful and so satisfying to know that I got a great deal!

My Little Picasso

For Christmas Jacob received an art easel so today we ventured to Target to pick up some finger paints that I promised he could use during Abby's nap. Lately he's really been craving alone time, so it was nice to have a new activity that just he and I could do together.

He took the whole "finger paint" thing literally. I was totally expecting him to dive right in and get all messy, but instead he used just one finger to swirl around the paint. He was very deliberate about the colors he chose and was quite pleased with his finished piece.

Mighty to Save.

This past year has been the most challenging of my life so far. I've experienced every emotion possible--anger, joy, doubt, praise, despair. All directed at God. Brad has always told me that these are times when your faith shines. I didn't see it as that at first. I just kept asking, "Why?" and not believing the simple truths that I once embraced when I was an infant in the faith.

Recently, I've come around again. I KNOW that I serve an amazing and wonderful God. I tend to keep things bottled up with God and then something will hit me and I fall apart at His feet. At Lakeside we've recently starting singing a new worship song, "Mighty to Save." This song sums up everything I have been thinking and feeling over these past months. I love this because it communicates to God what I know to be true--"Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save!"

The great outdoors.

Today was especially windy, but I just had to get Jacob out of the house to run off some energy and ensure that he would take his nap. He had been up since 5:45 am (two hours earlier than normal) because he knew that Daddy was coming home from Seattle and would get up with him in the morning. So since we had an extended pre-nap time, we ventured to a new park with Aunt Erin and Wilson so Jacob could slide, swing, and run around. A perfect morning by toddler standards.

Since spring is well on its way we've been spending the majority of the day either at the park or in our backyard. Here are a few pictures that I've taken during these outings.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Nona and Me.

 
 
 
 

Jacob and Nona were able to spend some much needed time together today and I thought it would be great to take some pictures to remember the day.

Say Cheese!

 

 

I've been put in charge of taking my adorable nephew's monthly portraits and I must say, he is quite the cutie! He's such a great subject and I absolutely love that I can always get Wilson to smile! Can you tell that I'm such a proud auntie?

I want candy!

Since Brad has a few travel dates coming up, he decided to take a half day this past Thursday to venture with us to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. Jacob has loved these little beans for as long as I can remember. It all started at Nona and Papa's when Papa had a bowl full of jellybeans and Jacob kept asking for more of "Papa's bites". They quickly turned into his favorite candy (and our favorite bribe) so we thought we'd take him to the place where they are actually made.

I wasn't sure how he would do on the 40 minute tour, but he was awesome! He wore his little "Jelly Belly" paper hat the whole time and was very interested in the videos they showed at each stop. He was also excited when one of the workers actually waived at him. At one point, Jacob grabbed both my leg and Brad's and exclaimed, "This is so fun!" And it was so fun. Seeing Jacob's amazement was totally worthwhile. And the free bag of Jelly Bellies was a nice bonus.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end--something that Jacob has yet to understand. As we were leaving he turned and just stared back at the factory and pouted his little lips.

After some coaxing we managed to get him back in the van and headed home. What a great way to spend a Thursday afternoon!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Last month we celebrated our little Abby's first birthday. It seems like her first year went by so much faster than Jacob's did. I couldn't believe that it was already time to get out the cupcake pans and bake up her first taste of birthday cake!

We had a wonderful celebration for her and she really seemed to enjoy the day. Thinking that we may be done at two kids made this day a bit bittersweet for me. While I'm excited that she is turning into a little girl, I'm going to miss my sweet little baby.

Happy Birthday Abby! I can't wait to see what the next year has in store!

Out from under our rock...

I've been feeling out of touch with the world wide web lately with our family website down. It seems like everyday the kids are getting bigger and doing new things and I haven't had a tangible way to document it. So, since my wonderful husband just gave me a new PINK dell laptop, I figure I should embark on a new adventure--blogging.

I'm not entirely sure that we have anything worthwhile or interesting (to anyone else, that is) to blog about. You'll mostly find stories of our kids here and if you know them, you know that Jacob alone provides me with several bloggable moments daily.

So here it is...our attempt at blogging. I'm big into scrapbooking and since I'm quite behind on the kiddos books, this might actually be a way to keep track of the memories and moments that won't make it into the scrapbooks until years from now. Wish me luck!