Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!!

Today we went to get our Christmas tree. Last year James was terrified when we got to the tree lot. He had to be held the whole time and couldn't wait to leave. This year we were on our way there and he says, " Mommy I so excited!" Awe, how he has grown up. He walked right in and started touching and smelling the trees! He seemed to like the "snow" ones.

Brianna & Jake

Daddy & James looking for a tree

We found one right away and brought it home. Tomorrow we are decorating so there will be more to come!

Craig's B-day Surprise

Craig's Birthday is coming up on Wednesday so we went out on Saturday for his B-day. He had no idea what we were doing. I love planning surprises but I was a little nervous with this one. I decided to take him to a flight simulator. I don't know of anyone who has done this but I saw an ad in a magazine and thought it would be fun since he is into video games and it was something different. I didn't really want to do it and thought he would have more fun with his buddies who are also into video games so I called two of his friends and asked them if they wanted to join him. They both jumped on the idea! So we went out to grab a little bite to eat before since our "take-off" was at 7:30. We pulled up to the place and it was perfect because Mike and Thorin were already there. Craig sees where we were and is excited...good I made a good choice. Then we open the door and he sees Mike and Thorin so he is totally surprised! Yeah! We check in and then they suit up!

Mike, Thorin, & Craig

Then they go into a 10 minute briefing on how to operate their planes.

The control room

These are the screens where you can view all the people flying. This is where I watched from!

All ready to dogfight!
Craig

Thorin

Mike

Here is a picture of the their screen

I did good! It was a hit, they had a great time!

Girls Night Out!

Wednesday night was my annual holiday girls night. We have been doing this for I don't know how many years. It is so good to visit and get out for a nice dinner around the holidays. We used to go to each others houses and do a gift exchange but now it is just all about getting out of the house and leaving the husbands and kids behind! So we went to this little restaurant in downtown Brea. I do have to say the company was much better than the food! I don't think any of us will be going back there! HA! Then we went over to Starbucks for a night cap (times have changed) and we were there until they kicked us out. Who knew Starbucks closed at 10:00??? None of us did! We had a great night but missed two of our friends who weren't able to make it. :( Hope to see Jules and Courtney soon!

Thanksgiving Weekend!

Gosh I haven't blogged in a while. I know I am a little late! We have been pretty busy. I won't make it long and boring! Our Thanksgiving weekend started out making cookies. James helped Mommy decorate cookies for Thanksgiving day.


Thanksgiving Day we went over to my Aunt's house and had a wonderful meal. I didn't take any pictures except of Jake and Michael!

See James outside...Jake is copying him!

Saturday we went to a family party for our new cousin Ayden. The boys had a ton of fun on the playset, bounce house, and all the other activities!



Then we made cookies again for Brianna and Alex's B-day dinner at Nonni's since we had leftover cookie dough.

The girls and their cake

Jake had his first meatball at Nonni's house and LOVED it! Who doesn't right?Ate the whole thing!

Jake is also SO close to walking. He has taken up to 15 steps!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIANNA!!!

Today is Brianna's Birthday and she is 15 years old!!! 15 seems like such a big number to me. One more year and she will have her license! I seriously don't know where the time went. It feels like just yesterday that I was in labor for TWO days with her. She is becoming such a beautiful young lady, inside and out!

Happy Birthday Brianna!
I love you!

Terrible Twos or Just Trying to be a BIG BOY??

The last week and the last few days have been really trying with James. I had never been so glad for it to be the weekend where Craig could take over. Friday afternoon I made an appt for a pedicure and was outta here! I thought I was going to run away from home! From so many time-outs, to getting out of bed EVERY night, to who knows what else. And just when I think James is doing so well learning to play by himself...the last month or so he has been playing so nice, he will go in his room and just play, it was a relief for me! Well last Thursday I am upstairs and James was downstairs watching Curious George, one of his favorite shows, all of a sudden it sounds like someone is in the garage. So I run downstairs to find James in the garage with Ricky's dog food EVERYWHERE! In a bucket, on top of the box the bassinet is stored in, on top of his car, and ALL over the floor from one end to the other!
James also has this new thing where he loves to pull the comforter off our bed and lay on it watching tv in our room. Well he was doing that and playing with his cars. I guess he decides he is going to "wax" his cars with my Victoria Secret lotion on the comforter and using the sheet to wipe them down! OH MY! This was at about 8:00 at night so in goes ALL the bedding to the wash! Needless to say we went to bed late that night!

The green thing in the picture is a little putting green of Craig's and James uses it to play "car show" on it! Full of lotion!

James was trying to be helpful giving Jake some Rice Krispys!

This morning he again gives it another try, cleaning his cars with toothpaste! I find him in our bathroom with toothpaste all over his cars and ALL over the floor. This time thank goodness he used his own shirt to wipe them with, oh and Brianna's toothbrush!
***If anyone wants to go out for a glass of wine...I'M AVAILABLE!!!

Jake 9 Months!!

Jake was 9 months last Saturday. We went to the Dr. today and he is doing very well developmentally. He weighed in at 20lbs. even and is in the 75th percentile for weight. His height, well it seems like Jake hasn't had his growth spurt for this month again. That is what happened at his 4 month check-up. He was only 26 3/4" which was only 3/4 more than his 6 month check-up. It puts him in the 10th percentile. The Dr. says that doesn't seem right so he probably just hasn't grown for this period and wouldn't worry about it. Although Daddy is worried already of course! He asked what size clothes he is in and he is in 9 month to 12 month so he is on track!
Here are some 9 month pictures of Jake that my friend Carrie took. And below are some of the things Jake is up to now!


Jake is getting better with sleeping but we are still in training mode. He is going to bed well, by himself, with a little crying and he will sleep until about 5:00, but then he wakes up and wants to be fed. Then he will sleep for another 2 hours. For naps he goes to sleep MOST of the time on his own, crying for about 10 minutes or so. It is just the period of time he sleeps, I can't get anything done. I am lucky if he sleeps 1 1/2 hrs. And that is a rarity! It is usually 1hr. I even tried going to 2 naps a day. Didn't work!

Jake is still a very happy baby. We get SO many compliments on his dimples, everyone just loves them. They are pretty cute if I do say so myself! We are truly blessed or lucky that we have had such easy babies! The only time he is crying is when he is hungry, every two hours still! Or when he is tired. Almost most of the time Jake has his tongue sticking out of his mouth. Whenever he is smiling, which is pretty often, it usually comes out. Or right when he gets done nursing he sits up and his tongue is sticking out. It is the weirdest thing. I guess it might be hereditary because my Mom said that I always had my tongue sticking out of my mouth too!





Jake is crawling so fast now I think he is going to be an early walker like his brother. He has been pulling himself up on things since he started crawling. He walks around all the furniture, pushes the baby walker, goes from one piece of furniture to the other, and can crawl up the stairs. Don't worry, we have the gate back up! He gets around quite well! He has also been standing up and letting go. The time that he is letting go is getting longer and longer and he even is doing little squats, trying to balance! It is kinda a game now because we get so excited and therefore he gets so exited! He will let go, put his hands up, and smile real big. Like he is doing here! When he does this I say "So big", he loves it! I don't think he will be walking at 9 1/2 months like James but I don't think it will be too far off!


Jake loves his little blankie. I was a blanket kid and wanted James to be one so I practically forced it on James. Now he can't go anywhere without his blankie. It is kinda a pain, I don't know what I was thinking! Since Jake is so little and I don't want a big blanket in his crib for reasons of suffocation, I gave him this little blankie. I got it for the car for James when he was littler. It was supposed to be a "take-a-long" one but that never worked out. He always wanted his "blankie". Anyhow I put it in Jake's crib when he started sleeping in there and just in the last month or so he holds it when he goes to sleep, or sucks on it if he loses his binki. In the last two weeks he has been holding onto it even after he wakes up and will crawl all around the house holding it! It is so cute! I guess they will both be blankie boys!

Jake LOVES to play with anything that is in the form of a stick. Like this one here. He finds all of them. This one is from one of James' trains, he loves James' Lincoln logs, or the fat pen that goes to another one of James' toys. Any thing in that shape he loves it. My Mom tells me take that away from him he is going to gag himself, but he just loves them so much and it hasn't happened yet so when it does maybe he will learn his lesson! Or I will!



Jake loves his big brother and his big sister. He lights up when he sees Brianna, it is so cute to see. He cracks up at James all the time, I always wonder what is going through his head! He has just started mimicking James, it is so funny. They have the best time in the bath tub, my two little water babies. Sometimes I just put them in there for a little break! He follows James all around the house. James gets quite disturbed when Jake destroys his Lincoln Log houses, or takes his cars, and doesn't always handle it very well. Jake is going to be one tough kid!







Jake is very much a Mama's boy. He loves his Daddy very much too and gets so excited to see Daddy when Daddy is done working but I can hardly leave his sight! I know I am with him all day and I am his food source but this little guy has some serious separation anxiety. If I am out and he is totally happy when I walk in the door and he sees me he starts crying and crawling towards me. Hi first word was Mama!:) Sometimes I feel like geez can I just get a break, but I know I will be missing these moments soon!

Happy 9 months Jake! Next BIG post will be 1 YEAR!!!