exciting!

maybe only exciting for me, because i am the mom, but regardless... jacob just wrote his name, all by himself.




ok, so i told him what letters to write (except for the "J" because he knows that one well) but i gave him no instruction on how to make the letters.(we're still working on the "c", half the time he likes to make it backwards) he's actually learning!!! yay for Answers for Preschoolers!



other exciting news- jacob and kate had a quick visit from their grandma and grandpa mclane, as they stayed the night on their way home from a missions conference in chattanooga, tn. we loved having them, for the 13 hours that they were here. it's always a delight to have the grandparents visit!




and speaking of grandparents visiting, jesse's parents are heading down here this weekend to take care of the kiddos while i am out of commision. having my wisdom teeth extracted this friday. :( boooo. i'd appreciate your prayers. so not looking forward to the needles, anesthesia, and recovery. so long, wisdom.

my kids are growing up too fast

they're not babies any more.

parties and such

my baby turned 2 this past week.

i've always loved the costume aspect of halloween, just hate the dark side of the "holiday". i never really participated in trick-or-treat growing up, and neither did jesse. we have made the decision to not have our kids participate, but i didn't want to let that stop us from enjoying the dress-up fun. so, i took advantage of kate's birthdate, being on october 30th, and decided to throw a costume birthday party. the guests' costumes were great, the weather was perfect, i think kate had fun, and jesse and i got to have blue hair. an all-around splendid evening with friends. kate did a costume change halfway through the party when she went from being a cupcake to being a kitty. :o)



fast forward a week. we made a trip to pittsburgh to meet my new nephew, and we also had a family gathering to celebrate kate's birthday. needless to say, we're partied out.



while in pittsburgh, we also got to spend time with cousin jezze (born july 2010). she's changed so much since we last saw her in august. it was a treat to see her!



and now we are ready for a crazy november and december. i get tired just thinking about it. i'm gonna go start a pot of coffee...

pumpkin patch

i love fall! seems to be the sentiments of a lot of folks, as i have seen a handful of adorable fall and pumpkin patch pictures from various friends. my fall wouldn't ever be complete without a visit to the pumpkin patch, which is just what we did with friends last week.

jacob, of course, thoroughly enjoyed the tractors. and kate loved the pumpkin part.

quotable

the kids are saying funny things all the time. i don't ever right them down, but i had the urge to note these few, since they happened on the same day...

me: "jacob, do you know your middle name?"
jacob: "pié."
me: "no, that's your last name. what's your middle name? jacob....?"
jacob: "pié don't touch the tv."

he was so confident in his answer, which made it all the funnier. :o)



jesse: "kate, did you poop your pants?"
kate: "not yeeeet!"

she cracked the biggest smile when she said it, like she knew she was being a smarty pants.



me: "jacob, don't touch those papers, those are for mommy's work." (referring to a stack i had set on the floor because i ran out of room on the desk)
jacob: "then what did you put them on the floor for?"

back-talking at age 3! this could get ugly.

oh boy!

it's been way too long since my last post. i guess the end of september and beginning of october were busy times for this family, seeing as how i didn't have time to blog. anyhow...

the most exciting event that has taken place in these past few weeks... the arrival of my sister's baby boy, my nephew, Easton Michael Stecko.

born monday, october 4, 3:05 pm, 7 lbs 9 oz. 20 1/2 in. we are anxiously awaiting our upcoming trip to pittsburgh to meet him in person. but we have been able to see him via skype, which we are so thankful to have these modern methods of communication.

mid-september we enjoyed a visit from pappy and gammie. we spent the weekend playing, picnicking, star-gazing, and eating! gammie cooked us a delicious meal including brisket. it was nice to have a big sunday dinner. we usually fix sandwiches because we are so hungry when we get home from church.

the following weekend we enjoyed a relaxing weekend at home, complete with some kite flying. the weather has been unseasonably warm, and we have been trying to make the most of being able to play outside with flip flops on and no jacket.

we've been to the zoo twice this month, thanks to a nice friend who has kindly shared her passes. the kids loved both trips. 1st trip highlight was the train ride. 2nd trip highlight, the carousel ride.

i've been sick for the past 2 weeks, and am looking forward to feeling better. we've got a birthday party to plan for a very special 2 year old. and a trip to pittsburgh to visit little Easton!

a new bed, a haircut, visitors, and a campout

september has been keeping us very busy. there's been a lot going on in just 2 short weeks.

at the end of august, jacob got a new bed. a bunk bed. oh boy oh boy! it was like christmas in august for him. he was thrilled, and it was so fun to see him so full of joy. unrelated, i have also stopped giving jacob an afternoon nap. after several months of naptime frustration, disobedience, etc, i realized that he was just ready. so now we have "rest time" instead. and he has been more than willing to be in his bed for an hour or so. it's almost like a treat. he's growing up!


jacob gave himself a haircut. i had only left him alone with the "youth" scissors (safely strapped into a booster chair, mind you) long enough to get kate out of her crib and get back downstairs. i guess he only had enough time to do on snip. glad i wasn't out of the room any longer! i thought about saving the chunk of hair for his baby book, but not until after i had thrown it in the trash in my frustrated rant. and i wasn't wanting to dig through the trash to save it.


my aunt vivian and uncle duane came to visit on their cross country drive to colorado. the kids loved having them and i told them they were welcome to visit ANY time they bring me a bushel of fresh ripe chambersburg peaches from york, PA. :o)

box was overflowing when i started slicing them to freeze them, but i had to stop to get a pic

grandma and grandpa mclane came to visit that same weekend, and we kept busy shopping and eating and playing. it was a fun, but exhausting, weekend. when they come to visit, we always seem to make a trip to the creation museum. and on this particular time, kate and i had the opportunity to ride gomer the camel. jacob declined.

kate and grandma, heading across the "bumpy bridge"

this past weekend, jesse and i got a last minute urge to go camping. after looking online for a good campground or state park area, and noticing most of the good ones were 2+ hours away, we decided to save the camping trip for another weekend and to camp out in the backyard instead. the kids had never been camping, so this was sort of a test-run, you know, to see if they could endure. and they did. they loved it. it was jesse who was ready to head inside at 4am. lets just say, he realized that shorts and a tshirt was not appropriate attire for the 50-ish degree temps. and the matresses were oh so uncomfortable. we carried the kids into their beds, managing to keep them asleep. both of us had back-aches for the next 48 hours. i guess we are getting older...how sad.

kate and jacob, marshmallows in hand, they would not stop moving!

today i started a very very casual (homeschool) preschool with jacob. kate tagged along and was a trooper. jacob was more interested than i thought he'd be. but i did learn that his attention span was very short. we will have a lot of practicing to do. i really have no clue what i am doing, but his little bit of interest did boost my confidence and i think this may just turn out to be a new exciting part of our day. at least for a few weeks, right?