Where did the time go?

Yikes, August 21st already? Seriously? I wish I would have taken the time to update on Tom and Nat's visit because I feel like I hardly remember already! Let's see...

Their Arrival:

Tom and Natalie had no real problems flying in despite Natalie's broken foot. They both agreed the only way to travel is with a cast (real or fake) on your foot! They were treated great and wheeled around from gate to gate. The said you also get sympathy points when carrying around the FAA approved container for ashes.

The guys spent most of their time fishing with little to show for it, but as Aaron says "That's why they call it fishing and not catching!" Aaron and Tom got to enjoy TWO charters, as well. One with Mark, Bruce, Aaron's dad and a family friend and another with Bruce, Martin (Sherry's boyfriend - the nascar driver) and Tuna (their friend/driver). Aaron's best friend is now Martin. No, not because he is a famous race car driver - because he enjoys hunting, fishing AND snowboarding - oh, boy! The trifecta of a friend!

Natalie and I spent most of our time in the hot tub, catching up and enjoying some kid-free time.

On Sunday, we had the baptism for Brody. It went pretty good. The minister called him robust and carried him around for the congregation to see. He was mellow as always and didn't mind at all! He also had no problems with the water on his head - what a champ :) Afterwards, he fell asleep in my arms.

We had some family photos taken afterwards that went surprisingly well. Who would have thought you could have gotten a decent picture of 4 kids under the age of 27 months? I'll try to scan them soon.

So, I know I have more stories about their visit, but this is all I can remember for now. I'll update later if I think of more stuff!

Other random stories I don't want to forget about the boys.

Take Picture!:
I guess I pull out the camera too often when the boys are interacting because every time Jacob leans in close to Brody now he demands "TAKE PICTURE!!" I'm always like "oh, good idea!". Thank goodness Jacob is around for me to capture these moments.

Learning the ABC's:
A lot of girls on a message board I belong to have children about the same age as Jacob who all apparently know some or all of their ABC's. I've been working with Jacob for the past 8 months with these and this is where our progress has taken us:

ME: Jacob, can you repeat after me?
JACOB: nods his head
ME: Jacob, say A-B-C.
JACOB: FIVE!

Hmmm, good thing I'm not considering home schooling. Jacob may not be the smartest kid in his preschool class, but I bet he will be the best snowboarder.

Laundry:
Jacob loves to help out around the house and will often take dirty clothes into the laundry room for me. I have to be very specific in saying laundry basket though, because he prefers to put dirty clothes in the dryer. It also helps when I leave the dryer door shut. I digress... anyways yesterday I took Jacob for a potty break and then allowed him to sit on the counter and wash his hands for an ex-te-nd-ed period of time. Finally, Brody had enough of entertaining himself and demanded my attention. I told Jacob that I needed to go get Brody and that he could continue to wash his hands if he wanted to, using his step stool. Jacob protested. I left anyway. While comforting Brody I hear Jacob repeat "Potty! Potty!", so I set Brody down and as I walk back to the bathroom I hear a flush. I peak into the bathroom to see a pantless Jacob standing over the toilet going "Oh, Wow". Well, he has flushed the toilet plenty of times and it's not all that exciting anymore, so I'm suddenly freaking trying to figure out what when down the toilet that was so cool to Jacob. I'm looking all around when it occurs to me, my son has no pants on. When I left him - pants. Now - no pants. Uh oh. Could they have really flushed that easily? I mean they are small and all, but still? So I ask Jacob where his pants went and he replies "Dirty." Dirty? I ask and he nods. So of course my first thought is that they were dirty so he flushed them down the toilet, but then it occurred to me to check the laundry room basket and sure enough! I've trained him better than Aaron! I was so excited that he put clothes in the basket totally unprompted that I completely forgot that some item in my home is probably long gone down the toilet.

And another potty related story.
With potty training in full swing, we decided it is easiest to let Jacob pee outside off of the parents deck. Not the classiest of things to do, but hey... we live in Northern Michigan, what do you expect? And he is actually training much faster outside than he is inside. So fast forward to a few weeks ago during Tom and Nat's visit. We are all enjoying a nice dinner while Jacob is playing out on the deck. As usual, he realizes he has to go potty and pulls his pants down, pushes his little hips against the rails and pees, then pulls his pants back up. Great. A few moments later, we see him pull his pants down again. We are all thinking "going again already?" Jacob then proceeds to BACK UP to the rails and takes a number 2. On the deck. Unfortunately poo doesn't have the same trajectory as pee, so this made for quite a mess and quite a sight for everyone who was trying to enjoy their dinner! We all yelled and then laughed at poor Jacob, who has NO IDEA why he wasn't being praised.