Christmas and more Christmas!

Another Christmas has gone and Jacob is still asking to open presents. He's really set on opening Harley and Hannah's presents under the tree, even though they are at my parents for these few days we are in Chaska this week. For the first year he was good at opening his presents and was a great help to Gavin too.

We headed to Melrose on Tuesday night in the Malibu, since the Explorer's idler (or something) was making it idle too high for us to drive all the way to Melrose. 4 people, 2 dogs and all their gear and presents in a small sedan. It was a cozy as it sounds.

We started Christmas Eve at my parents for brunch and the opening of the stocking presents. When I was young we opened stocking presents all throughout December - think "oooh, look, bobby pins!" (underwear, socks, chapstick) and we did that here this year too. But for the last couple years mom hands out names and $30 and we each are responsible for buying 15 gifts with the $30 for whatever name we get. This year I had to buy for Alyssa and Fred had my dad. My mom always gets to buy for her grandchildren.

Gavin and cousin Isaac at my parents'

Then we headed to Middendorfs' for dinner about 2:30 and then did our exchange gifts. The littlest ones exchange names and most of the nieces and nephews and all the adults do a dice game exchange. I brought a blender this year and left with a very cushy new bathrobe. Fred came with the new Metallica CD and walk talkies and left with the new Metallica CD and walkie talkies. We always buy something we really want since it is such a variety of ages that its hard to by something that everyone would like.

At 5 we had church with my family. We made it there a few minutes late with a Jacob who was tired, hungry and thirsty! He ended up just falling asleep on my lap, which I was torn about as he missed what CHRISTmas is all about. But it is hard with all the running and all the fun cousins to play with, there is no way we'd get a nap out of him.

After church we go to my parents' and open the remainder of the presents. Fred got a new jacket for snowmobiling. I got a beverage tub, new file bins, a shower cleaner, and lots of other good stuff. Jacob got Legos and an emergency vehicle set. Gavin got his own little couch, a toy box and piggy bank.

Family photo after chruch

Dre always wants a picture with all her neices and nephews, this was the best one this year.

Then back to the Middendorfs' for the rest of the gift opening. I got a new frying pan, snow globe, and vaccuum for the steps. Fred got a blow-up Santa for in the front yard next year and wrenches. Jacob got a computer and Kid K'nex and, as usual, noisy stuff from Chad and Mary - this year a percussion set (bongo drum, tamborine, maracas, shakers and more!) and a roll-out electric keyboard. Gavin got a rocking chair and the Leapfrog Alphabet Train.

Jacob with a piece of the percussion set.

The next day it was off to my Grandma's in Springfield, MN. That's about a 2 hour drive from Melrose. We went there for lunch on Christmas Day. It's always a little challenging to be at Grandma's with all her crystal, ceramic nativity set and ceramic village all at kid height, but the kids did really well and it was fun to catch up with relatives.

Alyssa brought fun entertainment gifts to distract from the breakables,
the sunglasses were a hit.

Cool dudes, Isaac and Jacob.

We spent Friday and Saturday in Melrose. Fred got to do a lot of snowmobiling. I tried shopping the day after Christmas with 2 kids. Exhausting and unproductive. Luckily I needed nothing and Fred was off snowmobiling anyway. Fred and I actually went out on Saturday night, Alyssa's birthday, down to Scooters. Alyssa and Joe and Joe's brother and girlfriend were there and we thought a lot of people from our class would be there, but not as many as were thought were there. It was fun to see and catch up with the ones that were there though.

On Sunday, we came back to Chaska after church. All our presents and presents left from Santa were waiting for us. It was fun to see what Santa had brought, since he hadn't told me. XBox games and a controller for Jacob, Fred and I. Gavin got a guitar. Jacob's big present was Hotwheels Tricks Tracks and Gavin a ride on dump truck. Fred got a leather jacket that needs to be exchanged and I got new outside lights for the house (my requests for new furniture, new appliances, and panelled doors were all denied). For our Christmas supper we ordered pizza (Jacob's favorite) and then made Jesus a birthday cake. And the Christmas celebrations came to a close, but we are still eating cake.

Me and Jacob helped Gavin open his Santa present.

Gavin needed a snack amidst the present opening.

Gavin with his big present.

Jacob and me with the Jesus cake.

With the Explorer on the fritz we debated trading it in and getting something new, but after looking last night and just not knowing what to buy, its in the shop getting fixed and we'll keep an eye out for a new vehicle

We are heading back up to Melrose tomorrow to celebrate New Year's with some of Fred's family. And I am sure Fred will do more snowmobiling over the weekend. Maddie finally has her dance recital on Saturday (its been postponed twice due to weather), so that should be fun. And I hope to get a peak a Avery Braegelmann, Lori and Ryan's newest.

Gavin's latest face. He'll do it on request. He's also been very brave about walking around the house this week. He's very proud of himself.

If I don't see you before or shortly after. Happy New Year!

Ready for Christmas

Gavin is obsessed with phones. He has picked up many things, put them by his ear and in his best southern drawl said "hiah". He loves to use real phones, but will also resort to remotes, "Little People" figurines, ornaments, crackers, a sandwich or if real desperate his bare hand. It's very cute. He is also saying "pup", we think. The other night when the Target commercial was on TV is sounded like he tried to say "There's no place like Target at Christmas to save." Fred and I just looked at each other, like "really?". It was funny.

Gavin using a hand-held game as a phone.

Gavin, who hasn't ever been a pacifier baby, uses a gear from the toolbench as one.

When not on the phone, all he wants to do is walk around. No not by himself, but with my finger firmly gripped in his chubby hand. Oh, the miles we've put on and he has a very definite idea of where he wants to go. Through the gate, over and over.

Jacob has been big into Cars the movie lately and role plays the characters with his cars and stuffed animals. We've watched the movie enough that Jacob can recite the Rusteez commercial.

Jacob in the snow volcano.

Jacob, Gavin and I went to Macy's 8th floor today with Alyssa, Maddie, Isaac, Grandma Jeske and Adrea. We always eat down in the food court and then head up to the 8th floor. Today the line started on the 5th floor! It went from the 5th floor straight to the 8th floor, no waiting on the 6th or 7th, but still longer than we've ever waited. Now that Maddie is in school we can't go when the rest of the crowds are at school and work. Arg. Now we have to figure out when a better time to go is. Any suggestions? The theme this year was "A Day in the Life of an Elf". Gavin was in awe of all the movement, but Jacob was a bit freaked out by the moving trees and the creepy figurines.

Waiting in line on the 5th floor.

Posing in line, on the 5th floor.

Alyssa, Maddie and Isaac.



Me with my boys.


Best group shot we got, not even the whole group and half of us look goofy. Yes Mom, this is better than the one of you with your eyes shut.

We are getting ready to head up to Melrose for Christmas. We were suppose to celebrate Christmas at my Grandma's last Saturday, but with the weather we didn't go. We will celebrate all day long on Christmas Eve, at both family's and then head to my Grandma's on Christmas day now. Fred is hoping to spend the rest of the weekend snowmobiling. I am hoping to shop for a new car as I think the Explorer is dying. Hopefully it makes it to Melrose with all the presents. I think we'll wait to do our family Christmas when we get back on Sunday. Santa will have come while we were away ;)

I think this is my 3rd year in fantasy football and it looks like I am going to win the Toilet bowl in my girls league and take the championship in the family league. Big money! I still don't always know who plays for who or if they are a RB or WR, but I guess you don't have to - its about the stats. Oh, and luck.

Away In A Manger

Jacob was in his first Christmas program yesterday at church, at 2 of the services. He sang “Away In A Manger” with his 3-year old Sunday School class. They sang loud enough for most to hear and at the second program Jacob joined in on some of the actions. They were cute as can be! I teach the 3-year old Sunday School with another teacher, Lori, and at the first service one of our 3 year olds got left in the narthex while the rest were up front singing. So second service we made sure we had all 11 up there. When they got done singing the little girl who missed the first show says “Mommy, I sang the whole song!” loud enough for all to hear.

Here is the video of the first program...

Here are pics from the second program...



"asleep on the hay"

"the stars in the sky" (Jacob in non-action)

Mid-December Update

Ready for Christmas? We are getting there. The Christmas tree got set-up on the 4th, the stockings are hung and the snow globes are out and that is about all we're doing. Fred always has grand plans for lots of lights on the outside of our house, but they're has never been ONE out there. We do have them purchased and this year he even bought the really tall ladder to fix some siding, so one of these years there shall be lights!

Jacob helped Fred set up the tree and then helped me decorate it. I was the only one to break an ornament, it was a snow globe, so that made me sad. The string on the ornament broke just as I was saying to Jacob how he couldn't hang it because it was breakable. I assume someone was trying to tell me something.

Jacob by our tree. If you look closely, you can see about

5 ornaments per branch right behind him.

We have started opening stocking presents and managed to keep Jacob from opening the presents under the tree. We wrapped and put their big presents under the tree without thinking and now we have to figure out what Santa is going to bring. Hmmm.

Future Doctor?

Gavin has been taking steps since we got back from Florida. He actually took about 10 steps the last night we were in Florida, but he hasn't been practicing much. He's pretty cautious about it. Plus, he's more obsessed with climbing the steps so he has no time to do any walking. He's saying "uh-oh" these days, give fives, and does a goofy head shake when he's being silly. His terrible eczema that he had when we returned from Florida has been cleared up with some steriods, so we'll see if we can keep it away with lots of cream lotion. He's also become quite the Daddy's boy. He leaps out of my arms and into Fred's and doesn't want to come back to me. Stinker.

Gavin outside. Watching Jacob play in the snow.



Gavin by the Leapfrog table from Rosenbergers.

Fred finished up fall semester of school this week. He doesn't start up again until February. Yeah! Then he has just one class during the week and the other every other Saturday, which I like much better. He'll finish up his masters of software engineering in the spring of 2010. Yes, I am counting down.

I have been busy with the boys. Preschool, MOPS, gym time, ball pit, playdates. Taking Jacob to preschool 3 days a week in this weather is no treat. He seems to be slowed down by the cold and doesn't understand to hurry up to get into the warmth. And hauling the 30 pounder on my hip makes it all the more challenging. We had our MOPS Christmas party this Tuesday and that was really fun. Jacob made an ornament in MOPPETS. On Wednesday night I got to do a progressive dinner with my MOMS Club. Apps at one house, salad at another, dinner at another and finish up with dessert at another. That was a good night as well.

Last weekend Jacob and I got to go to Madeline's Christmas at the Paramount in St Cloud. To prepare, we checked out Madeline books from the library, so Jacob was excited to see Madeline. It was a cute show and Jacob is still talking about it.

This weekend we have Jesus' birthday party at church on Saturday and then Jacob sings "Away in a Manger" on Sunday for the Christmas program. Both sets of grandparents plan to be here to witness the 20 second debut. If it ends up being too snowy for them to come, I'll post the "performance". On Sunday, we also get to got celebrate Logan and Riley's (Corey's twins) birthday with them and then I am wrapping presents at Eden Prairie mall as a fundraiser for MOPS. I also hope to get out on Saturday to finish up shopping.

No Toys Needed

Last night I was looking at ads from the paper and I asked Jacob if he'd like to look at the Toys 'R Us ad to find toys he might want for Christmas (since he's only said more smash 'n crash cars and I don't know either). He said "I don't need more toys, look I have plenty." As he motions to his toy room that is cluttered with toys and a complete mess. So I guess I am done shopping for him.

Florida Journal

So I cursed myself last week by saying to a friend that my kids hadn't been sick much this season and I wasn't real worried about them being sick for our trip. Well, Jacob woke up with a cough on Friday before we left, had a cough on Saturday when we travelled to Florida and by the time mom and dad arrived on Sunday night he had a temp and had thrown up. Yuk! Not fun on vacation. We considered taking him to a pediatritian down there, but he came around with some sneaky meds - the kid pukes at anything, so getting medicine in him is an art. A pediatrician's office in Florida did alert me to suppository fever reducer, so now I have that on hand too.

But, enough about sickness and more about the vacation. The kids did really well on the plane rides down to Florida. We had a layover in Houston since I wasn't willing to pay over double for our flights to have a direct flight. We had a slight hang up in Houston with a crew issue and then a light that needed fixing. Gavin and I wandered the plane while they made the repair. He fussed a little on that flight, but nothing like the 14 month old up in first class. I wonder how those first class travellers felt about a screaming toddler hanging out in their space. We got to our hotel late Saturday night, technically early Sunday morning. Gavin was way overtired by that point and had a hard time getting to sleep that night. He ended up sleeping in a king sized bed with me, so you can imagine how well I slept since we never do that and I was afraid that he would wake up at any moment and crawl right out of the bed. But, he slept until 9 am.

As Gavin and I were sleeping in, Jacob woke up with Fred and Jacob "wanted a new cabin". Fred told him he wanted to show him something cool and they went out onto the deck. This was the view from our room.

Jacob was impressed. They sat out there for a little bit and Fred asked if Jacob wanted to go back into the room or stay out and watch the ocean. He wanted to stay out, which is amazing if you know what a TV hound Jacob is. After observing for a little while, they headed down to the beach to check it out. I don't know that they ever made it to the beach without getting wet. This is Jacob after their first exploration. I believe they chased waves and Jacob may have tackled a few.

We spent the rest of the day recovering from our travels the day before. We played at the park at the nearby local beach and found a chocolate shake during our quest to find sand toys. We took Gavin down to the beach and he was a little afraid of the ocean. The first couple days it was pretty windy and the waves pretty big. This is Gavin trying to crawl up Fred and away from the waves.

That evening I picked up my mom and dad from the airport so they could join us on our vacation, or should we say - so they could watch the kids.

Monday was shot with Jacob being sick. I think Fred and him went swimming in the morning, but after that he was done. Poor kid, his fever spiked at 103 that night but he seemed to be better in the morning and we headed to Miami ("Your-ami?" Jacob asked") to pick up Adrea from the airport. I have a cousin who is going to med school in Miami. He is in MN doing rotations, but his wife is in Miami by herself, so we met up with Katie and went out to eat in the South Beach area of Miami and then walked down to check out the beach there. Tuesday evening Fred, Adrea and I participated in a resort run activity, remember the activities on Dirty Dancing (not the dirty dancing)?, well on Tuesday night it was Bingo. $10 per person to play for about an hour and pots ranging from $5 to $150. We won nothing, but it was fun.

Wednesday we went to the cafe that my dad had been frequenting for his morning coffee and our gang had breakfast there before walking over to the marina to feed the Jack fish. They sell frozen shrimp to feed these fish, but don't give very good directions as to where to feed them. "Anywhere on the property" is pretty vague and we ended up feeding half the shrimp to the crazy seagulls before finding the Jack fish. They were big and fast and fun to watch.

Then the pool fun began. Jacob loved swimming in the pool and more so jumping into the pool. Temps were in the mid-70s during the day and it was warm enough for us Minnesotans to enjoy the pool and very nice to enjoy poolside lounging. Adrea didn't miss many minutes of soakable sun while she was there.

Jacob and Fred

Me, Gavin and Fred

Gavin enjoyed the pool as well. He was a little hesitant at first, but then he loved it. He splashed and floated and laughed. He has what I think is eczema on his torso, which was not helped by the sunscreen and chlorine. We'll be visiting the pediatritian this week about that.

We did take a break from Wednesday's pool time to participate in the egg toss down on the beach. The same boy that won the big pot in Bingo won the egg toss tournament, so we decided to give up trying to win anything else.

Wednesday evening Fred and I took advantage of our fellow vacations (mom, dad and Adrea) and went out on a date. We had dinner at a Japanese steak house and then wandered around window shopping until we made room for cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. We were in the City Square of West Palm Beach and apparently the palm trees snow a couple times a night, but we made no effort to catch that. Snow? No thank you.

Thursday morning we headed out to get our Thanksgiving dinner from Winn Dixie - including the turkey, mashed pototoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, dressing, gravy and rolls. We also made a stop at Perkins for the most important part - pies! We did whittle down our pie order to just French Silk and Peanut Butter Silk. Since lunch was hot (we thought we had to heat it) and we were hungry we ate at about 11:30. Then out to the pool for swimming and Scrabble.

The resort had a Scrabble board, so we were in heaven as we got to play Scrabble while enjoying the beautiful weather.

Friday morning mom and dad "got to go home" as my mom stated it. Lounging around a resort and watching our kids is apparently not their ideal vacation. They would rather be out doing stuff, so we really appreciated them hanging out with us and more so the kids as without them we would have been trapped inside the room while they napped and with their messed up schedules somedays there was always someone napping.

Mom and Dad on the beach

The rest of us enjoyed another gorgeous day by the pool and beach. We did try to venture out last night to find an arcade. As this was Fred's idea, he had found the arcade "Gamestop". It was at the Palm Beach Mall and was actually just a game store. Fine by me as I am not a video game player and Jacob was fine with the little ride on machines by the front door. So we found some food and headed back to the resort to try to get to sleep early as we had an early morning of flights on Saturday. But rest was not to be had as Gavin had finally come down with Jacob's yuk and was up a couple times during the night and Adrea and I were up at 3:30 am to get her to the Ft Lauderdale airport in time for her flight and early enough for me to get back to the resort to get my family and back to the Ft Lauderdale airport (about an hour from our resort in West Palm Beach).

We got home today at about 2. We had a very short layover in Houston on our way home, so we got our exercise in by running from one terminal to the next. The boys slept most of the way on the second flight. Jacob was asleep by take-off and Gavin fell asleep during take-off. They were both by Fred, so I had my own little vacation in a vacation.

It was great to enjoy the weather and water in Florida and we had a great time, but it is also nice to be home.

Gearing up for Florida

We have been adjusting to the cold here. I still am reluctant to wear my winter jacket and Gavin screams when I put his on (and then screams again when I buckle him into his carseat), but Jacob goes to school each day with his winter coat, snow pants, hat and mittens. They take them outside each day unless its under 5 degrees. Brrr, yet another reason not to be a preschool teacher.

We are looking forward to the warm weather in Floriday. We leave on Saturday for West Palm Beach. We stay right on the ocean and hopefully the mid to upper 70's forecast holds true. We are just going to be beach bums and pool bums. We may venture out to an attraction or two, but no Disney or anything like that. My parents are joining us for the week and Adrea is coming down mid-week too. Lots of help with the kids! But that left us without dog care, so they will be boarded for the first time in their pampered lives. I did find a place though where they don't cage the dogs, so hopefully they cope well there.

Jacob got to go to a birthday party for his friend Merrick yesterday at Pump-it-Up a bounce house place. He had a blast. Now he is very anxious to go to Merrick's to play with all his cool presents.

We have been playing smash and crash cars non-stop. Its all Jacob wants to do. Unless he takes a break to play Candy Land or a "Remembory" game. Gavin is very good about climbing around and finding things to entertain himself with. He can stand for a few seconds by himself and he has taken a few steps from the coffee table to the couch.

I got to take Jacob to see the Superstars of gymnastics a couple weekends ago in St Paul. He was very excited to Nastia Lukin, but wondered where the swimmers (from the Olympics) were. It was a fun show, but we could have done without the Disney concert part. This last Friday night I got to go to Coldplay with my friend Kim. Fred got free tickets from work last minute, so it was awesome that we were able to go. I didn't know many of their songs, but they sounded great. Then on Saturday night we had our church card club and Fred's mom and niece came down to babysit. I won low prize - anything for chocolate sticks I guess.

Have a great Thanksgiving. Check back in early December for a recap of the Florida vacay.

Trick-or-Treating in November

Jacob's question of the day:

"Can we go trick-or-treating when it gets dark? My pumpkin (candy bucket) is getting pretty empty."

You know you live in Minnesota when...

...On Monday you are wearing flip flops and on Friday snow boots.

...On Wednesday you are playing in the leaves and on Friday you are playing in the snow.

...Your 3 year old wants to go outside at 6:30 AM to play in the first snow.

Jacob in the leaves on Wendesday, notice the short sleeves.

Jacob out on the deck this morning ready to play in the snow.

Global Warming Makes for a Beautiful November

How nice it was to trick-or-treat with just a light sweatshirt on the other night. Jacob loved trick-or-treating with his friends Kyle and Bobby and Bobby's little brother Brandon. It took a couple houses until we got the "Thank you" down after the "trick-or-treat", but after that he was a gracious Spiderman. Trick-or-treating does have a lot of rules: Let them put the candy in your bucket; If they let you pick out candy from their bowl, just pick one (I am sure Jacob broke this rule); Stay on the sidewalk; Only say "trick-or-treat" once, don't try to score twice at the same house (again, Jacob broke that rule and it worked for him); and so on. Jacob's pumpkin was heavy by the end of the night, I was surprised he hadn't said anything about it when I took it from him. After trick-or-treating in our friends' neighborhood, Fred took him to a couple of our neighbors too. We have been eating that candy non-stop. Arg.

Brandon, Bobby, Jacob (Spidey), and Kyle

We also enjoyed the beautiful weather by getting some yard work done this weekend. I got the flower beds cleaned out and we got the leaves raked. I thought it would be fun to get one of those oh, so cute pictures of Gavin in the leaves. Well...

Gavin is not such a fan of leaves.

Most of my days are spent trying to keep Jacob from loving his little brother to death. This is pretty much all I say all day "get away from him", "don't hug his head", "don't pull him over", "let him be", "don't crawl over him", "please, just leave him alone!". But Gavin mostly seems to enjoy the "attention" and I have been really unsuccessful in getting Jacob to ignore his brother.

Posing brothers.

Gavin has been up to all sorts of new things lately. He's become an avid clapper, he can do "So Big" on command, he can scale a whole flight of stairs, he got his fifth tooth on Sunday (so that gap in the front will be filled in soon as he has his side teeth, but not the front ones), climging on things, and he's getting up in the wee hours of the morning thanks to daylight savings time, new teeth and a cold. I'm tired.

Gavin suprised me by climbing up on Jacob's lawn chair.

Do they celebrate Halloween at Boarding School?

Ah, Jacob is 3 years old and just completed his first "homework assignement" yesterday. He had to sort objects and we had to note how he did it. Well he was apparently not in the mood to sort or comply with instructions. It was a battle that lasted about 2 hours (including time-outs, being sent to his room, threatening not to go to "Holyween") and finally the assignment got completed. So, I have been researching boarding schools today. I cannot do 12 years of real homework if its going to be like that! I hope the next assignment goes better or I may get serious about this boarding school stuff. I did have conferences with Jacob's teacher today and he said he is doing well with most things, listening pretty well, has lots of friends, just needs to work on writing and cutting mostly.

Even though we threatened not to go to "Holyween" (our church's Halloween celebration), we did end up going last night. We took our Spiderman and Chunky Monkey to church for the cupcake walk, crafts, bingo and then "Trunk or Treating". People decorate their trunks or back ends of their SUVs and Vans and hand out candy. Jacob had a great time and did a great job trunk or treating. He said "so, at Holyween I say 'trunk or treat' and at Halloween I'll say "trick or treat' ", so smart when it comes to getting candy. Jacob gets to dress up for school on Wednesday and then we have a MOMS Club Halloween party on Thursday. I don't know where or if we'll go trick or treating on Friday night yet, we may have had enough Halloween by then and we can just hand out candy here.

This is the costume Drea bought Jacob for last year, but it didn't quite fit him.

On Saturday, Jacob and Fred carved pumpkins.

Gavin is fast these days. He is crawling all over. He loves to crawl into the bathrooms by the toilets. Gross! Then he stands up and gets toilet paper and, of course, puts it in his mouth. Yuk! He is also showing other boy traits, such as "driving" cars and playing with balls - even scoring some points on the basketball "court". He also started ECFE (Early Childhood and Family Education) classes last week. I was hoping we would seperate in the class, so he would get more used to doing that, but we haven't yet and I don't think we will. So I am paying money to go play with my kid, which I could do at home. Jacob does get to go to sibling care and play with out kids, so he likes that and I am meeting more moms with kids Gavin's age. Dylan in Gavin's class is just a little older than him and they enjoy hanging out near each other. Dylan's mom thinks I am a rock star for having 2 kids, I won't be introducing her to my friends with 4 or 6 kids:)

He shoots, he scores!

Yes, I'll eat anything.

Fred was in Alabama last week with work. Adrea came down to help out on Monday night and my mom came on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday. So really, it was a pretty easy week. Fred got home on Friday and I went out on a girls night to PF Changs - yum! Then on Saturday night we had our church card club here. We had a good turn out and had lots of fun playing 500 and enjoying all the appetizers.

9-Month Old Gavin

I forgot to mention in my last post, that Gavin is now 9 months old (was on the 8th anyway). He had his check-up. Weighed in at 25 lbs 13 oz (95th percentile) and was 29 inches long (80th percentile). He was a very brave boy when he got his shots and then only wimpered a little when they pricked his finger to do the hemoglobin and lead testing.

We made a trek back to Melrose for the weekend. It had been a while. Jacob got to play with Maddie and Isaac and the twins (Logan and Riley, Corey's boys) were up at Grandma and Grandpa Middendorf's. Jacob also got to go to the farm, play with the kitties there, ride in the tractor with Fred and then "farm" with Jordan (Joel and Julie's youngest). It made for a tired boy.

The Middendorf adults all went out for supper at Gerard's in Sauk Centre on Saturday night to celebrate Joel & Julie's 15th anniversary. Then over to the farm for cards and smart talk.

Fred is in Alabama this week for work. Pray for me:)

Mid-October Update

We've been enjoying the fall season. We've been to the Apple Orchard with Grandma Jeske. Took a scary trailer ride out to pick some apples, fed some goats and were done in under an hour. Perfect outing for a 3 yr old and 9 month old. To point out what a city boy we are raising, as we turned onto the gravel road to the orchard, Jacob says "why are we driving on this trail?" He's been on gravel roads before, but obviously not enough.

Gavin & Jacob at the Orchard

Jacob with Grandma Jeske on the trailer at the orchard.

We've also make a trip to a pumpkin patch. We have pumpkins from Joe & Alyssa's patch, but Jacob and his friend Kyle have such a good time running through the pumpkin patch and picking their own pumpkins, we made the trip over to one in Shakopee and Jacob got to pick one pumpkin. He did have so much fun, so much in fact he had a potty accident at the far end of the field. Arg. With boys its so easy to go potty where ever needed, so I was a little irritated at by the "accident". So alas the road of potty training does not run smooth.

Jacob and Gavin at the pumpkin patch.

We saw a couple performances over the weekend. Jacob and I went to St Cloud for Peter Pan at the Paramount on Saturday with Alyssa, Maddie, Isaac and Grandma J. That was a fun show with many of the characters flying around the stage. Then, Fred got free tickets from work to Playhouse Disney Live. So we got to go see that on Sunday. Jacob loved it. We got to see the Little Einsteins, Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, Tigger and Handy Manny. It was a nice short show and Jacob managed to eat 2 hot dogs in the midst of singing, dancing and clapping. The kid who never has an interest in eating begs for a second hot dog when they run $3.50, go figure.

Jacob has been doing well in school. Just one playground fight so far. He gives me no info about his days, hopefully the teacher will fill me in at conferences in a couple weeks. They do say he shares well and listens well. Not such a good listener at home, so its good to hear he's better at school, I guess. He does have a special friend, Maggie, apparently they are inseperable and they like to play Wonder Pets on the playground. Jacob went on his first field trip today. They went to a farm and saw cows, chicken and a cat. Wow!

Fred returned from Vegas none the richer this year. He came back even last year and paid for his trip, so he had high hopes, but no luck this year. Next week he is off to Alabama for work, all week! I am not looking forward to that. He had the option to go to Canada, but they won't let him in for a couple years due to his accident back in '99.

I got to go to the season opener of the Wild. They won and it was a fun night out with the girls. I have another girls night tomorrow night. With Fred taking classes 2 nights a week, I need all the nights out I can get. Adrea does come take Jacob on Tuesday nights for gymnastics and then helps me with bed time, so that is nice.

Gavin is a great baby at this time. He's sleeping better, usually through the night. He loves to crawl around and explore. He'll sit and play with different toys for a while and is just easy to entertain. He makes kissing sounds and was waving the other day, but I can't get him to do it again. He loves the dogs and hugs and kisses them when they let him get close.

Gavin thinks he's very clever cruising around furniture.

As a final thought, today in the car I told Jacob something was a "good idea" and he said "you mean a quesidilla".

Potty Trained

Well, my most exciting news is that Jacob is wearing underware these days and we've been accident free since last Friday. Yeah! I hope this is the end of potty training for Jacob and I hope its easier and quicker with Gavin. I think the final push of bribing with Hershey kisses did the trick.

Jacob in his underware.

This morning we went to Shakopee to watch a steam engine pull through. It was massive and loud, but Jacob and Gavin enjoyed watching it, although Jacob was wishing he'd had his "earmops" (earmuffs) with.

Gavin is crawling around more and getting better at pulling himself up on stuff, except when he's wearing jeans that restrict his movement. He seems to sleep better when Fred puts him to bed, which isn't good news for me as Fred is gone until Sunday (Vegas) and always gone on Monday and Tuesday nights.

This past weekend Jacob and I went to the races in Shakopee with my mom and my uncle. The races were pretty good and Jacob did really well with only a 30 minute nap. And he really enjoyed the figure 8 trailer race. Cars and vans pulling trailers, boats, campers and what not and trying to knock them off each other. It's wild and totally fun to watch. On Saturday evening we had card club with our church group, which is always fun. My mom stayed down to babysit, which I guess was pretty easy with a worn out Jacob.

I am teaching 3 year old Sunday School at church and Jacob is in my class. It's quite a challenge to keep 3 year olds entertained and happy for 45 minutes. Each activity lasts about 3 minutes and at the end of the class I never feel as if they've learned what they are suppose to. I hope we get better as the year goes on.

Fred is off to Vegas with Corey and a friend from work tomorrow. He's gone until Sunday. It's going to be a long week, but we do have lots of activities planned, so hopefully it's not too bad and maybe he'll bring home some winnings.