Halloween 2009

October 31^st 2009

Yesterday Jase went potty on his big boy potty and daddy gave him candy (skittles from the Halloween candy we will be handing out) Gabby also got a couple M&Ms, well, a few minutes later, Jase starts screaming “No, Gabby!” “Blue” “NO!” “Damnit!!!!” She had stolen his last blue skittle (he was saving the best for last) and shoved it in her mouth. He was SO upset, kept screaming at her over and over, while she’s crawling around with blue spit coming out of her mouth, so guilty! Well then, Gabby comes over to me, and I can tell she has a mouthful, I ask her to spit it out, and out come four skittles. She starts to gag and throws up, I catch it, and ask Rob to get something for me to clean it up with while I’m watching her to make sure she doesn’t hurl again. Rob gets a single paper towel, then looks at what I’m holding and says “Oh my” Jase gets a close look at starts gagging and saying “ew, yuck” more gagging. Rob gets me something to clean it up with, and I hand it back to him, then he starts to gag. So as I’m cleaning up the thief, both boys are gagging from the incident J

Halloween

Jase has been excited all week for Halloween to come. He can even say “trick or treat”

Today he also said “gabby apple on chin” her chin was covered in applesauce, he’s getting so good at putting sentences together, I just had to throw that in. Anway, he has known since last night, that trick or treating is today. I have been telling him the order of events: Sleep, breakfast, lunch, nap, dinner then trick or treat. Well, it gets to nap time, and he is just WAY too excited about trick or treating to sleep. Rob came home from working with his dad at 2, right after I had put the kids down, and they both went in their beds very easily. Rob was unloading his car and we heard giggling. Surely that wasn’t our kids. I had just checked on Gabby and she was fast asleep! I creep upstairs, both of the kids doors are only cracked, just like I had left them. I still hear giggling. I peak in Gabby’s room and find Jase and Gabby jumping in her crib. He had gotten out of bed, went into her room, closed the door and climbed in her crib, woke her up and they decided to jump!

Gabby LOVES to help me around the house, just like Jase did at this age. She loves the dishwasher, cabinets, and today she followed me around with her own towel as I was cleaning the floors she was right behind me. She also likes to try and help change Jastin’s diaper J

October 25th 2009

October 25^th 2009

This has been a COLD October!!!! We had a very nice week temperature wise last week, so the kids and I took advantage of it and spent almost every day at Mastadon park. The fall leaves are absolutely beautiful as well, so we got some great pictures. Jase and Gabby both love being outside. Jase loves to explore, he takes his bug catcher and shoves it full of neat stuff he finds, mostly ladybugs, rocks, and his favorite, the red berries (sometimes orange if we’re lucky) on the trees in the park. We have walked the big trail (2 ¼ miles) a couple of times this week. Jase walks it mostly himself, although he does need a little help going up. Coming down is a different story, he would run down the whole thing if we would let him. He takes a few tumbles, that’s for sure, but gets right back up! Both of the kids love the creek. Gabby loves to try and get in after she gets bored of throwing in rocks. Jase kept yelling “no, don’t Gabby!” “no pool, Gabby!” I tried explaining it was a creek, but he just was not having any of it, and told me it was a big pool. (Same thing with strawberries and pumpkins lately, he calls them both apples, although I think we might have pumpkin down nowJ)

Speaking of pumpkins, we have ours now. We weren’t able to get any at the pumpkin patch since the kids were a little crabby near the end. We each have a pumpkin, and will carve them sometime this week coming up. We have a fall festival to attend Tuesday night with parents as teachers. The kids get to dress up and get candy, play games, etc. I haven’t decided if we are going to go or not. There will be LOTS of kids there, and I would hate for Gabby and Jase to pick up the flu or other illness and be sick for Halloween.

Jase still continues to do well with his speech. I wrote down his words 2 weeks ago, and came up with over 100 very easily, which is right where he should be. He’s really working on stringing his sentences together. He has has 2 word sentences for quite some time now, but is pretty much mastering that. He is talking in front of strangers (saying hi, bye, etc.) very well. We’re so proud of him. He loves to watch SuperWhy in the mornings, and he jumps right in and helps them spell words and claps, it’s very cute! He’s very interested in the alphabet right now, so that’s what we’ve been working on. Rob came up last night while Jase and I were reading books and Jase wanted daddy to sing the ABC’s with us. Man, what it out of tune, but very cool to sing all together! His other favorite song is “baby bumblebee”. We were all supposed to be lying down for a nap last week, when I was woken up by Jase at my side of the bed, in just a diaper, playing my little guitar my grandma made, while singing and dancing to baby bumblebee. Very funny

October 11th 2009

October 11^th, 2009

What a fun, busy weekend!! Rob was off all weekend, and the kids loved it! Friday morning Jase, Gabby, and I had a parents as teachers (PAT) playdate at the old value city building fox now owns (I think it’s called the roy wilde conference center?) We have been in there before, but in the main conference room part. The ESCE part is where they have the playdates, it’s an enterance off to the left of the bldg. When we walked in, it was so bright and colorful from floor to ceiling. It was like walking into a preschool, I wasn’t expecting that at all, I think they just made some improvements to this portion over the last year or so. Anyway, I was so impressed, there were at least 10 classrooms that wrapped around and down the hallway, each FILLED with toys, posters on the walls, fun projects hanging from the ceiling. I believe they also use these rooms for early speech therapy, physical therapy, and headstart type programs. We saw Jessica and Nathan Grimm at our playdate. There were around 25 other kids there, and it lasted about an hour, but it really went smoothly. The kids pretty much had “open play time” with a few activities parents could do with the kids there, or take them home. Most kids were 2 years old, the kids had a blast. We have many more PAT playdates coming up in the near future.

Saturday we (I guess I should say “I”) decided to finally clean the basement and make a play area for the kids. It actually only took a couple of hours. I found brand new carpeting and carpet pad at a garage sale earlier in the day right up the street, perfect for the play area. The kids LOVE the play area, it actually is turning out really nice. We have moved some toys down there, plan on moving the play house down shortly and some of Jastin’s bikes for the winter, the koala climber, as well as the sand table (this I just want to move inside, they’ll just use the top to drive cars on, no playing with sand in the basement, too messy!) Rob and I set up the big ball pit, and Jase actually remembered what it was as we were getting it out. He yelled “yay!”, and I asked him if he knew what it was for and he said “yeah, ball….pool” close enough.

Sunday was our visit to the pumpkin patch. It was a little cold in the morning, so we bundled everyone up, hoping to beat the crowd, but it was still pretty busy when we got there at 10am. The kids still enjoyed themselves, they really liked looking at the pumpkins and gourds. They had the tractor show as well, so of course, Jase spent some time over there looking at tractors. One farmer even let Jase sit on his orange tractor. I asked Jase if it was his favorite, and he said no, he liked the green and red ones better J They had fun mazes, slides, a fort, and bouncy houses. We even saw our friends the Grimms, and the Rhoads as well (for a few minutes before the kids ran off again) Once Jase discovered how much fun was to be had at “fort spooky” he didn’t want to leave that area. It got to be an hour past lunchtime, and nap time for Gabriella, so needless to say we left the pumpkin patch without a pumpkin and two crabby kids. Oh well, it was still fun!

Jase is doing amazing with his speech. I just got done putting him to bed, bedtime is my favorite time of day with Jase. We go into his room, we turn on his lamp and read lots of books. He really gets animated with the books and his vocabulary at this time. He definitely has his favorite books that we read pretty much every night. He is getting really good and naming things in the books, and naming more colors. He is also getting very good at singing his ABC’s (and recognizing them in books), I think he wanted to sing them about 5 times before he would let me start the prayer tonight! We always end with our prayer. He knows to say “dear god” and says things he’s thankful for (mommy, daddy, gabby, his grandparents, French fries, and of course, Thomas and Red the firetruck) and he always ends with “AMEN!!!” Then “night night mommy, I love you”

Gabriella is teething, so she’s a little crabby and not very giving with her smiles lately (unless she’s in the ball pit downstairs!) She’s up to almost 20 words, her favorites being “up, mama, dada, ba(ball), da(dog), baoon(balloon), hi, yeah” She still refuses to walk, which is fine with me. I keep telling Rob she is going to be reciting “twinkle twinkle little star” to her physical therapist when they are teaching her how to walk in a few months, LOL. She is just not interested, but she’ll get there….then we’ll be in trouble! She is SO independent (which we have known since birth J ) She goes down the steps on her own (with me right there, of course). She likes to wash and dry her hands, brush her teeth, pretty much everything all by herself. She has a very short attention span, I mean, it’s exhausting just watching her play around the living room. She also has a very short temper and loves terrorizing the dogs. Wait, that sounds EXACTLY like her daddy!

March 2010

March 2^nd 2010

Well, we’ve had our sickness that we all knew would hit us this winter. I think it’s finally over! Now that we are a family of four, it seems the past few times we’ve been sick it just takes 2-3 weeks for any sickness to make it’s way out of our house. Once our immune system is down, game over and we seem to pick up any little thing, so I think we just had a few “bugs”. I used Oust spray and Clorox bleach wipes like you would not believe so we wouldn’t catch the nasty stomach bug again. I think that’s the worst, especially since Jase and Gabby just walk around and puke all over the place. Gabby even puked in the middle of walking around and eating a stick of cheese, without missing a beat.

Our life this week has seemed to go back to normal, finally. I have something planned everyday for the kids, which is nice because they are really getting cabin fever. We started pulling up our linoleum in our foyer/downstairs bath this weekend and got the tile laid, it looks awesome. I’ll have to take pictures once everything is in order, but it looks so great with the new vanity! The weather has been nice, so I’ve been getting the kids bundled up and we’ve been “exploring” outside. If Gabby could talk a little more I would LOVE to know what she’s thinking when she’s outside! She just says “oh, no!” over and over again. She is just in awe over rocks, grass, planes, anything really (well except cars, they seem to frighten her right now). We even found a grasshopper and followed it around for quite awhile. Now every chance Jase gets he says he wants to “go down the hill for a hopper”. I bought some bug catching kits at the dollar store and the kids have been catching ladybugs in our house as well.

The parents as teachers lady came over today. I really think Jastin’s speech amazed her (it’s been six months since she’s been here). Last time she was here, I was still concerned because he wasn’t really talking in front of other people, and now it’s just amazing! Gabby is ahead on just about all of her milestones (which I already knew). It’s funny to see how strong willed Gabby is compared to Jase at that age. The PAT lady really picked up on it quickly since Gabby makes it pretty much common knowledge. She started screaming “my juju!!!!” when Jase was playing with something she wanted. Jase has started acting up a little more this week and I really think it’s because of not running off enough energy, and he sees the way Gabby acts when she doesn’t get her way (as soon as she starts whining and throwing a fit, he replicates it to a “t” instantly). He can easily be stopped though, when I explain to him that he is a “big boy” and needs to set an example for Gabby. He really likes the idea of being the big brother and showing his little sister things. So hopefully the weather will be nice again soon so we can venture outside more often.

4-22-2010 Jase after he went poopy in the potty “mommy, wipe mine butt!…I can’t wipe mine butt cause I can’t see mine butt”

4-27-2010 Gabby said “I love you” for the first time J

5-2-2010 Gabby went potty on the big girl potty for the 1^st time!!!!

5-19-2010 Jastin was blowing off his hot dinner and told me “I’m blowing my dinner up”

5-20-2010 Gabby jumped off the ground with both feet for the first time

February 2010

-11-2010

I haven’t updated the blog in SO long, I’m really going to try and get back on track to putting in an entry every week again.

It’s February and the weather is just bitterly cold lately, we’ve ALL been sick and are very ready for spring! This past week Jase started an indoor soccer parent and me class called “kickaroos”. He really does love it. He loves running around and making goals the most. Sometimes he has trouble slowing down long enough to do the other exercises, I really think it has something to do with him being cooked up in the house the past two weeks! He also started preschool today! He absolutely LOVES it! I went in to drop him off at 9 am, the teacher said I could stay for awhile if I wanted, so I let Gabby play for a few minutes until Jase told me to “go bye bye mommy” and pushed me towards the door. There are 4 other kids in his class. They have open play for 30 minutes or so at the beginning of class while the teacher takes turns working with each student individually on a certain project. Today they strung yarn through holes punched out of a paper plate. Jase loved it so much he kept asking to do it when he came home. It was one of the students birthdays and also the Valentine’s party, so Jastin kept talking about all the suckers, candy, and cupcakes they got today. After open play, they have time set aside for potty break, snack break, craft time, they sing songs, read a story, etc. He talked about it a bunch on the way home. When I went to pick him up he even said he wanted to stay! He also spilled water on himself and decided to strip down and run around (I can definitely picture him doing this!) Good thing he takes extra clothes!

He is doing SO well with his language, I am amazed everyday with the new things I hear him talk about. He picks up books and reads them to himself, or Gabby or even Bentley, our cat now. Six months ago he was only using single words and 2 word combinations, now just about everything he says is a 4-6 word sentence. He’s getting so good at explaining his pretend play to me. He made a pig out of playdoh today and told me the piggy was walking to mawmaw’s house and even made the noises of his feet moving and everything! He is very interested in drawing right now. He has known his capital letters for quite some time, but he now likes to draw them. He can draw “E, F and O” all by himself and they look great!

is running around like a crazy girl! She also doesn’t like to listen, haha. Anytime we say “Gabby, come here” she’s gone around the corner. She has gotten a lot better with hitting. For awhile there she was smacking everyone in sight repeatedly. She now gives lots of kisses and hugs, I think she gets a lot of that from Jase. He is always kissing and hugging too. She is also picking up a lot of language. She is getting very good at two word sentences and I love to see the expression on her face when she makes a short sentence. Yesterday she said “more apple” and just looked so excited to have put those words together all on her own.

2-22-2010

I walked into the kitchen to Jase on the phone talking away, thinking he’s just pretending. I see the phone lit up and hear him telling someone “daddy is pooping on the potty”. I ask him if he hung up the phone and I hear a voice say “no” on the other end. I picked it up and start asking questions and figure out it’s our friend of the family who does our taxes.

Jastin's last day of preschool 2010

May 20^th, 2010 Jastin’s last day of preschool for this year

Jase got his first ever progress report today. Here’s a little of what the teacher said:

Spiritual Development: He enjoys listening and singing to bible songs and stories

Cognitive Development: He understands and can follow simple directions and speaks clearly in sentences. Can identify his colors, can match his colors, shapes and numbers, but unsure of some of the words.

Fine motor development: Jase is slowly mastering his fine motor skills (stringing beads, holding a pencil correctly, etc.)

Gross motor development: Doing great!

Self Help: Jase does very well with taking care of his personal needs (using the bathroom, washing hands, put on coat, etc.)

Social development: (sharing, making friends, following rules, etc.)

Jase has done very well at making new friends at school – he is such a sweet little boy and a joy to have in class.

I stayed a few minutes after class and talked to his teacher (Mrs. Clouser), I also got a picture of the two of them together. He really enjoys school, and hugged his 3 classmates goodbye (even tried to get a kiss from his good friend Carson). The teacher said he has a crush on the cute little blond in his class, Lauren. Jase loves to follow her around all the time. The teacher says she is very bossy, but he likes to play with her J Jase is really going to miss school this summer, he loves talking about it when we get home. I’m thinking of taking him to the Sunday school there this summer to see how he likes it.

July 22nd 2009 our first wedding

July 22nd 2009

We had our first wedding to attend with our kids. Well, actually we didn’t attend the wedding, the kids were napping, so we dropped off grandma Karen and went straight to the hotel so the kids could rest up for the reception. Jase and Gabriella were amazed by the hotel, they have never stayed in one (Jase stayed in a condo last year). The kept looking up at how high the ceiling was, I think it was 9 floors, the sides of the hotel were mostly glass and we could see the airplanes really closely since the airport was nearby. The elevators were also glass so we could look down on the pool, restaurants, and lobby.

We stayed on the 8th floor, and as soon as we got off the elevator I read the sign that said “welcome to the quiet zone” “no children, marching bands, or circus animals on this floor” etc etc etc . EEK! They knew we had kids (babies, really) on this floor, so I was a little nervous, and hoping the other guests wouldn’t mind. Luckily we were at the end of the hall, but that just made it super fun for Jase to run down the entire hallway screaming! Oh well, no complaints were made on us! The kids slept well, Jase woke up once at 4 am and didn’t really know where he was, so it took a little bit to get him back to bed.
The reception was a blast for the kids. Once we got past the speeches where the kids had to “behave and be quiet”, Jase was the life of the party. He got out on the dance floor and shook his booty! He had so much fun, everyone was watching him dance and run around. However, when they played the first slow dance, he wasn’t quite sure what to do. There were a lot of couples out dancing on the dance floor, he spotted out one particular old couple dancing. The woman was wearing a long skirt with a big slit up the back, well, the only thing I can think of is that Jase thought it was a tent and decided to go right in! Rob, Gabby, my mom and myself were all watching as this happened and had no clue what to do! In the few seconds that we could all plainly see what he was about to do, we couldn’t get the words out, we were either laughing so hard or had our chins on the floor, mouths gaping open. We finally got ourselves together and yelled “JASE!” “NO!” as he was already halfway in. I don’t think the older couple noticed too much, or maybe they did, we ran off to tell everyone else! All in all it was a fun time.
Jase also had his first night in his big boy bed all by himself! We can take the crib down soon since he’s been doing really well. He doesn’t cry when it’s time for bed, he has been known to wander down the hallway, or into our room and start talking away. “Mom?” “Moooommmm?” “Hi.” “night night”
I usually say, “night night Jase, go back in your bed” he runs to his bed
And this usually repeats a few times before he stays in his bed for good
We’re LOVING the awesome weather, but have only been to the park once recently. Jase loves being around other kids, well, anyone for that matter. He’s really come out of his shyness phase. Also, another huge accomplishment for him was going down the slide by himself. He hasn’t done this in 5 months. He has been too scared. The last time he went down a slide, I had taken him to a park with Gabby by myself and I couldn’t help him at the top and bottom of the slide, so I stood at the top to help him down, and he hit his head on the slide when he stopped at the bottom. I’m so glad he isn’t afraid anymore! He also loves the rock wall and has started saying “hi” and other things to other kids, which is another huge accomplishment with him. Anytime we get a chance at a playdate, or other social activity we go, and I think it’s really helping him along with his shyness. He usually has been a little leery the first few minutes we’ve went anywhere and it takes him 10 or so minutes to warm up to everyone and then he’s fine. Not now! Any park, birthday party, or friend’s house, and he jumps right in.