thanksgiving weekend

I thought I'd post some thanksgiving weekend pictures. Jacob helped mom and grandma in the kitchen preparing the thanksgiving meal and got some beater licking time in. He thought he'd share the whipping cream with grandma. The day after thanksgiving we hired a babysitter (thanks molly!) and went shopping ALL day. It was a lot of fun though. We bought jammies that were gonna be for christmas, but grandma wanted to see him in them before she left, so we decided to get some good pajama snuggle time in. On saturday we went and got our christmas tree. Grandma and grandpa came with and it was a lot of fun. We got some good pictures of jacob running around in the field. We had a great weekend. I am so thankful for all the many blessings in my life, especially those of my family. Happy Thanksgiving!

hanging out

The other day jacob and I spent the day just hanging out. I was in my pajamas most of the day and he spent the day with a shirt and no pants, the belt to my robe and a box of graham crackers close by. At one point during the day I realized how silly he looked and decided to take a picture. We read books, played trains, did lots of arts and crafts and just generally hung out. Jacob helped me do laundry and followed me from room to room as I picked up. It wasn't the kind of day most people would look at and think was very productive, but it taught me a lot about just relaxing and enjoying my kid and not being so worried about how my house (or myself) looked. Thank you God for the simpleness of life at times. May we as moms always take the time out of our busy schedules to stop and look at our children, give them a hug or kiss and see if maybe there's something they're trying to tell us or teach us about the beauty of the simple things.

Auntie Meredith

Here's a picture of jacob and auntie meredith taking a nap together. Meredith was up last weekend to visit. Jacob got some good quality time in with her. He also loves his birthday gift she got for him, an aqua doodle mat. I think it's a great toy, and has definitely earned it's title for toy of the year award. So, thanks mere for a great toy that is mess-free! We love you and miss you already around here. Hugs and kisses-aaron, jess and jakers

Choo! Choo!

Jacob has recently become obsessed with trains. (choo-choos) I got a great deal on one at a garage sale this summer and kept it to give to him for his birthday. He has had a lot of fun playing with it. Then someone gave him a Thomas the tank engine book for a birthday present and we are now approaching our 277th time reading it! My husband despises the book because it's very wordy and some of the words are very hard for a little kid (or a big kid-aaron)to understand. Last night he was reading it to Jacob and he just started going off about how poorly written the book was and how he might as well write a children's book because he could certainly do better. Which, I must admit I agree. Anyways, he said he was going to blog about the book specifically because he is so annoyed by it and cannot believe someone actually published it the way it was written. It was a very funny little "soap box" moment, but I guess you would've had to been there to get all of the amusement out of it that I did. Anyways, I thought I'd post a picture of jacob with his screwdriver trying to fix the train. He is a determined young boy to say the least!