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.

Gavin on the move!

So Gavin is crawling and scooting around furniture. Ah! He has been enjoying pulling himself up on things for a couple weeks probably and now he's motivated enough to get to something he can pull up on to crawl there. Then today we were at a friends and he was walking along the couch. I am not ready for that! A nice safe crawl would be nice for a while, but I don't think he'll be satisfied with that.

Mid-September Update

I had a fabulous weekend away with the girls at Ludlow's Resort on Lake Vermillion. We had lots of fun catching up, playing games, enjoying a few beverages and, of course, eating. The weather was dreary, which gave us good excuse to be pretty lazy and enjoy some shopping in Ely. Fred and the boys faired well at my parents' house for the weekend. Fred was real funny, with the egging on of Alyssa, to tell me that Gavin had started crawling while I was gone. He has not.

Gavin has gotten two more teeth for a total of 3. He has his two bottom ones, he got the second one last Friday, and he got the to left lateral one last Monday. He'll look kind of wierd if he doesn't get his two upper front teeth soon, but he's looking a little battered these days anyway. He took a tumble out of the stoller at the park on Friday, so he's got quite a bruise around his left eye. I still feel like a horrible mom for letting that happen and I am still not sure how I did. Then the next day while Fred was home with him, Gavin was trying to pull up on the coffee table and slipped and added a bruise to his forehead. Jacob suggested that maybe he wear a helmet. Funny as that's what my family always said of Jacob too.

Jacob has been enjoying school and gymnastics. He made a friend, Maggie, at preschool. I am sure he plays with a lot of kids, he's pretty social. He brings home new paintings about everyday and I can usually tell which colors he painted with by just looking at his clothes. Jacob also got to start Sunday School yesterday at our church. It is the first time they've had 3 yr old Sunday School there and since I urged the idea, I am also one of the teachers. It's interesting trying to keep 3 yr olds busy and entertained, I hope we get better at it as we go - I do have a partner to help with the 10 kids - Thank God!

I got to go scrapbooking on Saturday with Alyssa. We went to a friend's house and put together School Days albums for our kids. So now we just have to plop pictures in them each year and then they'll have a scrapbook of their school years when they are done. We each put together 2 ablums in about 5 hours, which was pretty slick and we didn't have to bring anything which felt strange, but so easy. While we were scrapping, Adrea and Mom took Maddie and Jacob to Underwater World and to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. Jacob did not appreciate the thunder and lightning at the cafe.

Fred had poker here on Saturday night. He had a small group, so they'd played in the house. I think Fred just decided that it was easier to clean the house than the garage. I played the second game and tied for 2nd, so I got half my money back. Fred is getting ready to go to Vegas next week with his brother Corey and a friend from work.

We are enjoying the last days of summer and this beautiful weather. We've been going to lots of parks and playing out back a lot on what Jacob calls "my park".

Michael Phelps is Jacob's Friend

This morning as Jacob is running around the house he asks me if I want to run with him. As you know, I am not a runner and so this time I say "no". He was OK with that and said he'd run with his friends, none being visible. After a few timed laps I asked him who his running friends were. He replied "Kyle, Bobby, and Michael Phelps". I do hope someday we do get to meet that Michael Phelps.

Gavin is busy. He's rolling all over and trying to pull himself up on things and he loves to stand by things. This pulling and standing make me nervous as I know sooner or later he will slip, we will not be there and he's going to bonk that head. He might be scooting on his butt, I have plopped him down a couple times and when I look at him a few minutes later he's still sitting but a couple feet away from where he was put. He's also babbling more than just "ma, ma, mom" and has a few more syllables and sometimes its "da", not that he's talking about anything imparticular.

Gavin attempting to pull-up on the toy ottoman.

Gavin standing by the Zebra. I did witness him standing with his hands in the air once, he did catch himself again on the zebra.

Fall Begins

We finished off the summer with a Labor Day weekend in Melrose. We got out to the lake once, the rest of the weekend was too windy. Jacob and Fred fished a little, almost got a bite and Gavin enjoyed a fudge bar with Grandma and Grandpa.

Last week Jacob started preschool on Friday. He is going to preschool 3 days a week through the public school system. His teacher is Ms. Patti, he's in the Tiger group when they do their small groups, and his good friend Kyle is in his same class. When I picked him up the first day the teacher said he had a good day and said he was a good sharer, that made me proud.

Gavin had his first playgroup with our MOMs Club while Jacob was at his first day of school. Playgroup was at our house, but Gavin fell asleep on the way home from school, so he slept through most of the playdate. When he woke up though, he was very happy to see friends at his house to play. He's a very social baby and as my mom says "thinks the world is here for his entertainment alone."

This past weekend we were up in Melrose again. I did a 30-mile bike ride on Saturday morning with my sisters, ouch. I was hurting at the end of it and that night before I went to bed I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to move in the morning, but I was fine, amazingly. Maybe I was just glad I wasn't running with my sisters who are training for the Twin Cities 10-mile run.

Yesterday Fred worked on the shed once more and I think they are about done, inside and out. Gavin and I went to Camp Hill Village with my mom to see a tile mosaic my mom had worked on with a girl scout doing working for her gold award. I had went up there one day with her and saw the pieces getting grouted. It was really fun to see the pieces all together and how it came out, um, it was fun to have their cookies too.

We start MOPS tomorrow morning. The theme this year is Adventures in Motherhood, which should bring up fun topics. This weekend I am headed to Vermillion Lake with Becky, Jolene and Kim. A girls weekend, I can't wait!

Isaac, Maddie and Jacob dressing up in Grandma's hats and scarves.

Grandma and Grandpa J feeding Gavin a fudge bar.

Our lake boy.

Jacob and Gavin.

Gavin's first playgroup.