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: