friends

we took a picture of jacob and isabel last year, in front of the tree at church. so we decided to try it again this year.



and add the siblings to the picture. this is the best one we got. poor Ana.:(

baby, it's cold outside

but not cold enough that jacob can't go outside to ride his new toy (christmas present from grandpa scruggs).



and cold enough to have the oven on for baking cookies with friends.

some things i've recently learned about my son

• he under-estimates the power of scissors. this morning we woke up to a dusting of snow, which highly excited us. so for something fun to do, jacob and i made paper snowflakes. and for a few brief moments i let him do the cutting. and then he cut the snowflake in half. it was short-lived, but we ended up with a few pretty snowflakes, one for each member of the family. (jackson included)
  
• in some clothes, he is wearing a 5T in shirts, but still a bit baggy in the 3T pants. long torso, tiny waste. what's a boy to do?
  
• he can sing "pa-rump-pa-pum-pum" pretty well for a 2 year old. i didn't even think he heard the song playing in the background this morning as we played. but he must have, because he was singing "the little drummer boy" to himself after lunch. cuteness!
  
• and while we're on the subject of singing, his new favorite song is "baby, it's cold outside". like mother, like son. it's sooo cute to hear him singing it.
  
• another thing, just like his mother, he likes to eat chicken hearts. i roasted a chicken yesterday for dinner, and for some reason, this chicken had 4 or 5 hearts in the package of innards. (liking them myself, when i discovered this i was like "bonus!". for those of you that like them too, you know what i mean, right?) i usually roast them in the pan right along with the bird, for a little added flavor. jacob saw them in the pan and asked to have a bite. after trying one, he ended up asking for and eating 2 more. that's my boy.
  
• he loves loves loves tractors. ok, i know, that's old news. but he still manages to change every conversation and educational experience to the subject of tractors.

i love you, jacob.

most exciting birthday ever

ok, i lied.

it does seem that the older you get, the less exciting your birthdays are. (maybe with the exception of milestone birthdays, like 40, 50, 60, etc - and yes, i am expecting something grand for all of you who are the plan-ahead type.)

jesse and i had the privilege of a date night last night. our good friends offered to watch the children for us so that jesse could take me out for my birthday. on our way to dinner, we realized that my birthday celebrations lasted all week, and they all revolved around food. jesse said "well, honey, you really like food." not something i really want to admit to as i approach my 30th year, metabolism slowing down and all.

my birthday was wednesday, but it started with an improptu gathering of friends on tuesday night as my 2 friends dragged their husbands and children to chick-fil-a to enjoy a pre-birthday dinner and peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes. (this was all because i had been working all day and did not feel like cooking dinner, laziness!)

wednesday, my dearest loving husband prepared belgian waffles with strawberry sauce and whipped cream for breakfast. MMMmmm- definitely the highlight. and after breakfast i treated myself to a dr appt...not a treat at all.

for dinner, jesse didn't want me to have to cook (words that i wish he would say every day) so we used my birthday coupon to McAlister's deli and enjoyed another tasty dinner.

thursday my friends from work took me out to lunch at a chinese restaurant- another one of my favorites. thank you guys!

as i mentioned earlier, last night was our date night, and we made our way to Dewey's pizza for the "bronx bomber" and their cranberry/pinenut/goat cheese house salad-yummmm! we picked up a chocolate torte from the bakery next door, and shared dessert with our gracious babysitters, the Nordines. thank you for watching our kids!!

looking back, this week was ridiculous. we don't ever EVER eat out this much, especially all in one week. it was a special birthday week of eating. and as you can see, i really do love food. this is a very very dangerous thing.

i used my birthday money towards a new camera, which was delivered on thursday. some pics from the new cam:

thankful

happy thanksgiving!

we are so thankful for so many things: our children, our health, our friends, our family, our home, our jobs, a working car, food on the table, and mostly our Savior who sent his only Son to die for us.

psalm 92: 1-2

"it is good to give thanks to the Lord,
and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
and Your faithfulness every night."


thank you to the Nordine's who opened their thanksgiving table to us. what a tasty feast!!

comparisons

we were reading in jacob's Bible story book the other night. we turn the page as Mary and Joseph are on their journey to Bethlehem and jaocb declares "library!"

it took us a moment, but we soon realized that jacob is a little more observant than we give him credit for. here is a photo of our brand new local library...

and the little town of Bethlehem in jacob's book...



so while we're comparing things, i can't help but think how much jacob resembles Curious George every time we watch the movie. and i found this photo to do a little comparison to a picture i took of jacob this morning. ancestors? surely not.

what's going on

been feeling a bit lazy on the blogging lately. i guess not much has been happening around here to get too excited about. we've been cruising along to our normal routine. been spending our warmer days soaking up the last bits of sunshine outside.

and our cooler days inside doing such things as blanket time (one of the handful of things i thank the ezzo's for) while mommy cleans, cooks, works or feeds her fb addiction. ;)

jacob's on the verge of potty training. he does #1 on the potty about 3 times a day, yet still manages to fill his diapers with liquid in between. this child drinks ALL THE DAY LONG! he still doesn't seem interested in #2 on the potty, even though he has done it successfully once or twice. one thing is for sure- he certainly likes the undressing part of going potty. i find him several times a day in his birthday suit (for him everything needs to come off in order to go to the bathroom- pants, shirt, socks- everything). ahhhh...the joys of toddlerhood.

kate's been practicing her newly developed walking skills. she is now walking about 80% of the time, and only crawls when she is too fussy to walk. (i guess she gets lazy?)

and speaking of walking, i was talked into walking the cincinnati thanksgiving day 10k with a friend. i am beginning to think she has lured me in under false pretenses because she keeps suggesting that we will be running "every so often". should be an interesting morning. i've never done a race like this before, and am actually looking forward to eating thanksgiving dinner guilt-free.

i feel like this week is the calm before the storm. december is a busy month for us- birthdays, holidays, and (since my job is retail-related) i will be busy working too.

kids say the darndest things

jacob has become very inquisitive and observant. oh how wonderful, he is growing up and wanting to learn.... and saying some very truthful and honest things. this is how our conversation went yesterday morning, while we were talking about what happens with his food when he eats it: (we are on the verge of potty training here, and all things relating to the diaper or the potty are hot topics right now.)

mommy: it goes in your mouth, down your throat, into your tummy, and out your bum-bum.

jacob: in mouth, in hole, out the bum-bum

mommy: yea, that's pretty close! good job!

jacob: you have bum-bum.

mommy: that's right, i do have a bum-bum. and you have one too.

jacob: you have little bum-bum.

mommy: awww, thank you jacob!

jacob: no, you have big bum-bum.

mommy: :(

yes, he did put the emphasis on the word big.

so, when i was telling jesse about this conversation, he laughed. it made me sad all over again. and then he suggested that i "blog about it". so, here it is, honey. now everyone knows that my 2 year old thinks i have a big bum. all the more incentive to kick-off my new weight loss and exercise program. "what is it?" you ask. i don't quite know yet, i will have to get back to you on that one. all i know is that i have a little over 2 months before our trip to mexico, so i better get it figured out fast!

visitors

aunt brianne and uncle kevin spent the weekend with us. we wnjoyed having them visit and i think they had a good time playing with the kids. i know jacob is now very fond of his uncle kevin. :)
we took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and had a fire on friday night. played outside, went shopping, watched the penn state game, and ate some great food on saturday. and said goodbye to them after lunch today.
we love seeing the kids interact with family- just wished we lived a bit closer to pittsburgh so we could see them more often.

happy birthday kate!

so, i am just a day late. but things have been a little busy here at our house. my colorado grandma is here visiting with my mom, and we had a little birthday brunch party for kate today. so the last few days have been full of preparations for company and the party. and now we are more than happy to enjoy an extra hour of daylight savings sleep. :)

here are some pictures from kate's birthday cake on her actual birthday

and here are some pictures from her sunflower brunch party today

4 generations (great grandma vollbracht, cydney,kate, mom)

happy due-date-versary to me!

kate is just 2 days away from turning 1 year old. and sappy me is feeling all nostalgic, thinking back over her first year, and thinking how time sure does FLY!

so when i get to feeling nostalgic like this, i start thinking "so what was i doing a year ago today? 5 years ago today? or even worse, 10 years ago?" (ok, so i wasn't really considering the 10 year one until i started writing here...i am not that ridiculous.)

a year ago today was kate's "due date". and i use that term loosely, because we all know that no one really knows the day their baby will arrive (unless you have a scheduled c-section, of course). and i am pretty sure i was feeling really depressed on this day because i had convinced myself that kate was going to be 2 weeks early, and she had shown no signs of her pending arrival- yet. but then, on october 30, sweet little kate evelyn, just 55 minutes before i was supposed to be at the hospital to be induced, was born at 5:05 am. and that is what i was doing last year.

5 years ago, i had just quit my job at starbucks to join my friend julie, who had her own cleaning business. we cleaned, on a weekly and bi-weekly basis, about 24 homes. we loved it, and loved the paychecks too. :) little did i know that just 8 months later, jesse and i would be packing up our belongings and moving to the bluegrass state.

10 years ago, i had just graduated from high school and was 1 month into my freshman year of college at covenant college in lookout mountain, georgia. i loved the school, but wasn't liking the fact that i was in school and not knowing what i wanted to get my degree in. let's just say, the whole school thing didn't last long. :)

any of you remember what you were doing last year? 5 years ago? 10 years ago? this is a memory challenge. :)

p.s. i just have to make it public here- last night i made janelle's/kate's apple butter pork roast and it was DEEEE-LISH! thank you ladies!

a good reminder

oh the innocence of 2 year olds. they tend to say anything and everything.

over the last few weeks, jesse has been trying to teach jacob how everything we "own" has been given to us by God. the toys we play with, the food we eat, the clothes we wear. none of it is our's.

so every time we drive up to the house, pulling into the driveway, jacob almost always says, "this is not our's jacob's house."

thank you, my dear 2 year old, for this reminder. :)

on the topic of food

following the recent dinner blog posts of 2 fellow blogging friends, i decided to photo diary our dinner the other night.

"what are you doing?" jesse's looking at me like i am crazy, snapping photos of the food after i get it on the table. (kate and melissa- tell me your husbands are wondering the same thing :o).)

a minute later, after i don't answer him because i am trying to be as still as can be so the picture isn't blurry (you know, when you're taking a close-up and trying not to use a flash), "you're gonna blog about this, aren't you."

"maybe." :o)

well, it's not as fancy as your delicious-looking apple butter pork, kate. and it's not as well-photographed as your comforting cheesy potato soup, melissa. (and i must add, i am anxiously awaiting to try these 2 recipes out...they are on my grocery list this week!) here is my attempt to blog our dinner. :)

this here has been a staple meal for the last, oh, 6 or 7 weeks at our house. some of jesse's favorites, and i have figured out ways to prepare them quickly so i can make them on a regular basis.

tried and true, jiffy corn muffins, hydrogenanted lard and all :o)

roast chicken (which i used the leftovers to make broth after dinner, for our chicken noodle soup the next night)

green beans (yes, dripping with butter, wouldn't have it any other way)

sweet potato casserole (for jesse, jacob and kate)

and sweet potato fries (for me- i prefer them to the casserole. and since i take my green beans dripping with butter, i'll skip on the marshmallows and brown sugar that make the sweet potato casserole edible)

the big reveal

last night was the long awaited date night...telling jesse about his 30th birthday surprise. been keeping it a secret for over a month and it's so good to not have to hide it anymore!
although he doesn't turn 30 until december 31st, candace and i decided that for planning sake, we should tell our husbands in advance about the trip we have planned for them. in january, candace, lee, jesse, and i will be travelling to cozumel for a 5 day vacation- kid free!

so last night, candace and i got our unknowing husbands to Chipotle (to keep with the mexican theme) where we presented them with their sunscreen and luggage tags for the trip. to read about the exciting details of the night, candace wrote about it on her blog.

yep, that's jesse with the luggage tags hanging from his ears. it's never a dull moment.

since kate had a little cold, only jacob got to spend the evening with some friends, who kindly babysat him. and thus, kate tagged along on our date night. and had fun trying on this super cute hat we found for her at the Gap. (no we didn't buy it... i think it was a $30 hat or something ridiculous.)

just a FEW of my favorite things

• chocolate. obviously one of jacob's favorites too. he had his first OREO this weekend. and notice his shirt even has the chocolate monster on it.

• happy toddlers and kind friends. we recently received this table as a gift from a friend of our's who was thinking of kate when they saw it. don't mind that it says "princess" all over the table top and the back of the chair. pink and princess don't matter to jacob, he loves that it is his size. he asks to eat breakfast there almost every day. i am not keen on the idea of eating meals in the living room, but this week it has been a special treat for him and i love to see him when he is happy.

• new magazines. especially Fall or Holiday editions! got this new one in the mail the other day and am slowly going through it.
  
  
• frost. not the cold that comes with it, but i like how beautiful everything looks with a sparkly frost covering it. stacia- here's my "out my kitchen window".
  

• dancing babies. kate has been working on her dance moves. here's a video at one of her recent practice sessions.
  

tractor heaven

jacob was thrilled to see all the tractors at the pumpkin farm yesterday. we enjoyed a hayride, petting zoo, and muddy corn maze. kate seemed to enjoy herself too, although she did start to get fussy in the corn maze. i guess we weren't getting out fast enough for her. and in her defense, it WAS getting chilly! all in all, a pleasant evening out with the family and friends. i always enjoy bringing home pumpkins to add to the fall ambiance. :)











and while we're on the subject of things orange, can i just say, i am loving the recent victories of the cincinnati bengals! how exciting for a team who is not always been that good, and has spent years losing game after game. keep it up, team. who dey! go bengals!



(sorry to all pittsburgh friends and family, there's always next time.)

and speaking of WINNING, jesse and i are officially addicted to the mcdonalds monoply game. jesse is most convinced that the next time we go, we will be the million dollar winners. ok, maybe next time. no? ok, then definitely the time after that?!
crazy? yes. we went there 3 times this past weekend- yep, friday, saturday, and sunday. so far all we've won is a small coffee or soft drink, and i may have gained a pant size with all the french fries and sweet tea i've consumed. maybe once we win that million dollars i can hire a personal trainer and lose the weight. :)

photo shoot

we had a family photo shoot this morning with Lauren Bryson Photography. and i can now agree wholeheartedly with candace when she said what she said about 2 year-olds and photo shoots. very stressful for mom and dad, and you would have thought it was torture to the toddler with the way he was behaving. but also, just as candace mentioned, lauren is very talented and i am sure she captured jacob and kate's good moments (as short as they were). jacob wouldn't sit still or do anything he was told. kate sat there great, but was stoic and wouldn't crack a smile. thank you for your patience, lauren!

so we get home from our photo shoot, and while kate is still in her dress, i thought i would get some quick fall pictures of her with the pumpkin (wasn't even an option for jacob- he was DONE with the camera, and the tractor was way more interesting than a pumpkin). and wouldn't you know... i got her to smile. all by myself. :)