Tom and Natalie home for a visit!Jacob took good care of Owen:Wow, I even think Jacob is sharing here *gasp*!Ummmm, Yeah. Brody is the big guy on the LEFT. Did I mention that Brody is 6 months younger than Owen?

Owen and Nat enjoying the boat:
Jake and Brody checking stuff out:
Brody looking cute:

Owen loved the water! Tom is looking into wetsuits for 10 month olds.
Well, the water he liked. Life Jacket? Notsomuch.
Something over there is SO COOL it requires TWO pointed fingers!

Ummm, could Owen BE any cuter??

There are way too many boys in this family.

Da Boyz.

Chubs.

Cutie pies
Whoa! We are going to break Grandma's back adding this one to the mix!!! And yes, Brody is still only 4 months old.
Sherry, a family friend currently living in North Carolina, came for a visit, too.

We all enjoyed a KID-FREE dinner!!!
Aaron and I (Kid-free and frisky) with Sherry and her boyfriend.
If Sherry's boyfriend looks familiar, that is probably because he came in 5th at last weeks Nascar race! Good luck this week Martin!

It's been a busy last couple days! Visiting with friends and family, fishing charters (for the boys), baptism for Brody, photo shoots, taking care of dad's ashes... I hope to find the time to update about everything tomorrow!

Harbor Days '08

Despite his lack of enthusiasm in the photo, Jacob really enjoyed the jet ski rides!Cousins together! Here are Noah and Brody...
Family Photo - Jacob and Brody are like "Oh man... we are WAY too cool for this"
Brody in the Bjorn
Jacob fishing at the carnival. He had NO interest in the prize, he only wanted to fish. I think we need to fill up our kiddie pool with some plastic fish and give him a pole...
In other news... Tom and Natalie are coming for a much needed visit on Tuesday!! It should be an interesting experience for them since Natalie broke her foot last week and is in a great deal of pain :(
What a beautiful weekend!! Nice sunny days and the bay was pretty warm (for the bay!). The fireworks were amazing as always and it was so much fun to watch Jacobs reaction. Jacob was in total awe and kept trying to reach and touch them. The only time he got scared was during the huge finale that was just out of control - then he turned and dove into me. Seconds later, it was finished and Jacob turned around and said "One more time?" The interesting thing about fireworks is that whatever vantage point you have, the fireworks always seem to be coming right towards you. Well on Saturday, we knew for SURE the fireworks were coming right towards us because they literally DID! It rained ashes and large 2" sections of fireworks on us. Luckily the only piece that was still burning landed on the dock!

Brody is 4 months old!!

Here is a video of Brody and Mommy enjoying some mirror fun. We usually do tummy time this way, but by the time I got my camera he was done with tummy time, but we still had some more fun. He is SOOOO silly :)

Brody turned 4 months old on Saturday! We took him to his 4 month well child check up today and found out that he is 17lbs 8oz (97th percentile), 26.5inches (97th percentile) and has a head circumference of 17.5inches (90th percentile)... BIG, BIG, BIG! He and Jacob will probably be wearing the same size clothes next month. Good grief! Doctor said he looks good and meets all his milestones (giggling, rolling over, putting weight on his legs while standing). He really didn't like his immunizations, not even the oral one that the nurse insists that all babies like. Unfortunately, Aaron found out that his tylenol wore off while he was FAR away from the house on a walk - this is what his little face looked like once he returned home and settled down... :( Poor guy.

In other news, we met with the minister today to discuss Brody's baptism. The big day is planned for August 10th - anyone interested is welcome to attend!

Fun Downstate

We returned Sunday late afternoon from visiting with Kim, Peggy, Deb and Bob in Gun Lake and had a great time despite the weather. I wish I had gotten more photos of everyone, but oh well... here is what I have...

Jacob thought swimming was "okay"... Yeah right, he freakin' loved it!

Brody hung out, trying to stay dry...But then he got brave enough to go for a swim with Kim...
Jake was great about wearing his life jacket...
Brody wasn't quite as comfortable in his...

But he sure looked cute in it!!

Debby introduced me to the fine world of non-alcoholic beers!!

The kids did great on the ride down and back... they really are so good in the car **knock on wood**. I think that is because anytime we go anywhere around here (groceries, grandparents, etc.) it's an hour drive round trip, so they are just used to long car rides. Friday evening we hung out on the 'toon for awhile and then played some Texas Hold 'em. Jacob slept TERRIBLE Friday night, waking at 4am, in and out of sleep (in our bed) until 5am and then up for the day after that. We kept waiting for the rain to clear on Saturday so we could go out on the boat and passed the time napping, watching a movie, playing hold 'em and snacking. Finally in the evening we made our way back out on the water. Saturday night was more hold 'em. Thankfully, both boys slept good on Saturday night. On Sunday Kim, Peggy, Aaron and Jacob went out tubing and had a good time! Jacob loved it and wanted to go "FAST"!

Jacob Potty Training News

In other news, potty training is in full swing. We certainly wouldn't have planned to get aggressive about potty training while visiting friends downstate, but Jacob kind of set the pace by repeatedly having dry diapers and then going potty on the toilet. That, and he REALLY wanted to wear his Choo Choo (Thomas the train) big boy pants. So we pretty much started last week Monday and then by Friday got aggressive and have been in the Choo Choo pants most of the time (except naptime and bedtime). He has only had a handful of accidents with #1, but we still haven't been successful at catching a #2. At this stage, he still isn't telling us WHEN he has to go, we just keep putting him on the potty every so often, but I'm hoping we will turn the corner for that soon. And, he is even doing great while being out. Monday we were out of the house for 9 consecutive hours and he did fabulous. I was very proud :)

Side Effects of Having a Baby

This weekend I attempted to fill Debby (32wks pg w/#1) in on some of the fun things pg/labor/delivery/recovery related that aren't really talked about and I had a hard time coming up with some things. One thing I remembered to tell her was how your hair does crazy things after birth like fall out for months and months and then suddenly there is this really annoying regrowth. After telling her this story, she said "So your hair is falling out right now?" and I thought about it and was like wow, I guess it hasn't fallen out with this one yet, hooray! And I think literally since that moment, my hair has been falling.out.like.crazy. It's so annoying because I'm constantly itchy from loose strands of hair that fall down the back or front of my shirt or on my arms. Blah! Anyways... anyone else have any info for Debby on the crazy pg related stuff that no one ever tells you?? Please, leave it in the comments section!!

Meeting New Friends

So Aaron and I have lived in the TC area for a good five years and really haven't made many friends, besides Dennis and Kyra (who we met through our parents) and Jason and Janet (who we met through Dennis and Kyra). Don't get me wrong, we LOVE the four friends we do have up here, but we would certainly like to meet and become friends with more people/couples. This area has been so difficult to meet people and we aren't exactly sure why. So, Part of our 9hrs out on Monday included dinner at a local mexican restaurant. While we were there, a family just like ours came in (Mom, Dad, toddler and baby). Luckily for us, Jacob broke the ice and started interacting with their 2yr old which got us adults talking. We really 'hit it off' and they seemed like they both had great personalities (which is hard to find). We left the restaurant and I asked Aaron to go back inside and give them our number. He refused - introvert jerk. So I was forced to do the thing that I never really had to do before... make the first move and go give my digits. It was so awkward and I stumbled over my words a bunch, but hey I did it. So now it's in their hands. I hope they call so that we can create more awkwardness all over again by trying to hang out with strangers.

And in other news, the truck is for sale!

Let me know if you know anyone that might be interested!

I think we are going to attempt to go down to one vehicle. It's a scary move, but with us living at the hatchery rarely does it occur where we need two vehicles so we figured we could just make other arrangements for those rare occurrences. The plan is to also sell my car and purchase a slightly used SUV (something that will pull the pop-up or a small boat), but we aren't in a huge hurry. So we shall see how things go!

Camping Recap

We survived our first camping attempt with two children! We had a good time, even though the weather wasn't that great. Jacob LOVED being outside and playing with Cori. He also enjoyed tracking as much dirt into the pop-up as he possibly could. Sleeping arrangements worked out ok. Brody and I slept on one side and Jacob and Aaron on the other side for the first night. The second night, Jacob remained in his pack and play all night. We tried to get him to sleep in the pack and play the first night, but he woke up around 1am and began jumping up and down - a successful tactic for getting our attention because this caused the entire camper to shake like crazy! Both Jacob and Cori were VERY good about staying away from the campfire. Cori acts so grown up now that we often give her a little too much responsibility. My favorite Cori quotes from the weekend included, "I can't, I'm only five!" and "You get him, you're the adults!"

This weekend we are going to Kim and Peggy's for some fun on Gun Lake with Debby and Bob also. We ALWAYS have a good time there, so we are really looking forward to it.

In Jacob news, his language skills have really exploded! He seems to know hundreds of words now and uses them in the right context. He is also putting together 3-4 word sentences all the time. He loves to say "Cheeeeeese!" anytime someone pulls out a camera. I think we have been taking him out to eat too often though. Monday night while eating out with mom and Aunt Sharon, Jacob shouted "TOAST!!!" to the waitress when she came to take our order. Then last night, we went out just as a family and he declared to the waiter that he would like "APPLE JUICE!!!!" when we were ordering our drinks.

Brody is doing great. He has been giving me some longer stretches at night (4-5.5hrs), it's been fab-u-lous!

I know I've got more to say... but I can't recall at the moment. Until I remember...

Brody enjoying the beach:

Jacob enjoying the pool:


Blue Angels (The airshow ran a little long and by the time the blue angels came out, Jacob was a little bit done with airplanes. He did think they were "loud" and "fast" though!) :

First swim in the big lake for Jacob for 2008, it was a bit cold for him (and the rest of us!):


Brody thought the airshow was a little boring. I think I heard him grumble something about "If you've seen one plane...":
After returning to the dock, the boys enjoy their grandparents: Yesterday, the boys and I went to the Cherry Festival for Kids day with Kyra and Cori. First stop was at the midway for some games:Jacob realizes this fishing thing would be easier if he just reached in, forget the pole! Next stop, Pizza on the deck at Pangeas!Then to the park to check out the activities. Dennis recently stated that Jacob reminds him of Bam Bam from the Flintstones. I can't imagine why, he only held on to this stick the entire time we were there.:
Cori danced:
While Jacob watched:
They are good buddies:

About 30 seconds after taking this photo, Jacob fell off the bleachers - whoops! Good thing he is tough! (Notice the skinned knees from Monday night):

The highlight of the day for Jacob was getting an up close look at some firetrucks!

Thanks for looking!!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Aaron! Happy Birthday, America!

We had a great weekend, hope everyone else did as well! Thursday we made our way to the Elk Rapids and introduced Jacob to boating. He kept repeating "Boat! Boat!" until we took him inside the cabin of the boat then it was "House! House!" Aaron and I were like "Well, sort of!" Aaron played golf with the guys during the evening and didn't get done until late so we just ended up staying overnight at their house. Friday we just hung out around the boat during the day and then had a family bbq at the parents house in the evening. Friday evening was our first overnight at the boat. Unfortunately, it did not go so well. Jacob fell out of bed around 1am and we brought the frightened little guy into bed with us. Two adults and two kids in a small bed just doesn't work. Especially when one of those kids is Jacob and likes to kick you in his sleep. Saturday we had to get up early (not a challenge at all when you sleep like sh*t) and we got ready to take the boat out to see the air show/blue angels. We had a large group with the parents, Joy, Carole and their families. Jacob LOVES older kids and had a ball playing and watching all of them. He was especially interested in Berkleigh who is now 13 and... well... looks and acts like she is about 17. Which is CRAZY because the last time I saw her she was just a little girl! Wowza. Jacob's favorite thing to do all day was touch Berkleigh. Airplanes? Boats? Ya they are ok, but whoa, there is a cute girl onboard! Both boys did great with the boat ride and loud airplanes and were very good. Jacob didn't care much for his life jacket, but was easily distracted from his discomfort by a certain pretty girl. Aaron and I didn't do anything special for our anniversary, but we had a very fun day. No gifts, either, although I did get Aaron two cards which I left at home, whoops! We will make up for it next year when the boys are older and I'm no longer breastfeeding!

What else? Oh, Saturday night sleeping arrangements went MUCH better. Jacob fell out of bed again, but this time slept through it so we left him sleeping on the floor. (Don't worry, the floor was well padded both nights)

This week is the Cherry Festival. I plan on taking the boys down to the open space tomorrow with Kyra if the weather cooperates. Can you believe I've never actually been to the open space? I keep saying I want to go, but then it never happens. Maybe this year...

This Saturday and Sunday will be our first attempt at camping with two kids. We are going to be camping at a place on Elk Lake with Kyra, Dennis and Cori. Hopefully we get good weather for that too!

In other news, Brody is ROLLING OVER! (From back to belly) Go Brody! Tummy time is not going quite as well though. I think it will be awhile before he figures out how to go from belly to back.

I gotta get going... I'll upload some pics tomorrow!