Lily Kate Jacob loves you!

Jacob lovingly refers to Lily as Ninee. When he wakes up in the morning he looks for Ninee. The entire ride home after dropping Lily Kate off at school Jacob says Ninee? as if asking me "Where is she"? When he wakes up from his nap if she is not there with me to get him he goes straight to her door and bangs on it again saying Ninee! Today when he woke up from his nap Lily Kate was still sleeping and Jacob insisted on waking her up. And he insisted that he get in her bed to have his bottle and snuggle with his Ninee. He kept on pointing to her saying Ninee, Ninee. Josh and I just looked at each other and smiled, how blessed we are to experience such loving moments.

Happy Birthday Megan and Jason!

Recently we celebrated Aunt Megan and Uncle Jason's birthday. The family gathered at Grammies house for the festive occasion. On the way to the party Lily Kate was inquiring if Grammie had purchased all the proper decorations.......balloons, streamers, and the all important party hats. We will remember that this is required at all future BIG person birthday parties. Lily Kate did help with the unwrapping of the presents and led us all in a boisterous version of Happy Birthday sung one time for Auntie Meggie and one time for Uncle Jasey. After presents Lily Kate decided to try the infamous brithday eclair cake, the 1year wedding cake, and an ice cream cone...........yes this really happened. Why not live a little at age four, party hats and lots of dessert.........hey this girl knows how to celebrate! Happy Birthday!

Gideon we love you!

Recently Aunt Rachel and baby Gideon spent the weekend with us. Lily Kate loves to have family here, she loves that someone will be here to eat pancakes with us on Saturday mornings, or that she can wake up her Aunties in the morning, or that she has one more person to entertain! Gideon is growing so fast and it was so amazing to watch him play and interact with his cousins. Every time I see him he is doing something different, and just keeps getting cuter. We love you Gideon!

Silly playtime

I love the days when I get surprised by happy silly playtime. I never know when it will happen but when it does it is so fun to sit back and watch. The two usually play hide and seek, chase the kitty. or snuggle with the baby. Jacob loves to hang out wherever Lily is, and when he is lucky she will let him play with her. These are usually the moments when they get silly and make up fun games. Hopefully as they get older they will have plenty of silly, crazy, fun times together.

A visit from Seth David

Oh the fun times Lily Kate has with Seth David! These two always pick up right were they left off, Lily Kate will give up her dress up, and My Little Pony's to play in the dirt, ride around in the Jeep, line up cars for hours, and tell silly jokes with Seth. There are always tears when Seth is leaving, and you can tell how much she loves having him around.

Girls night out!

I love girls night out. Girls night out started after Jacob was born, and every other week Lily Kate and I go out on a date with NO BOYS! She loves to say that. We go out for a chocolate milk at Starbucks and a shopping trip at Target, or on a mission to Gymboree so she can pick out a Thanksgiving recital dress, or a trip to the library to stock up on books and movies, or just a hang out date at the smoothie shop. No matter where we are I get two or three hours to hear all her stories from school, or ballet, or how her fish Gill is doing. Our time is full of her silly giggles and laughter. I experience her unabashed forwardness to strangers and through our conversations I get to see the sensitive and compassionate side of Lily.

As Lily gets older and busier I feel that my time with her seems to be slipping away. She is no longer by my side from the time she gets up in the morning to the time I put her down at night. And that is why I love girls night out, for me every minute is priceless.

The great outdoors with Jacob

Jacob loves to be outside. He loves to walk down the drive way, look up at the trees and say tree, leaf, leaf, leaf, until you pick him a leaf. He loves to ride in the John Deer with Lily Kate driving, wind in his hair, the bumpy gravel drive shaking his little body around. He loves to push a little scooter around, or dig in the dirt, or even better follow his big sister exploring the yard. He loves to fill little buckets with gravel, and most recently he loves to carry little pumpkins around and then throw them down in the driveway. He loves balls and he loves to swing badmitten raquets around in leaves and the dirt. He loves to throw himself into the five foot hydrangea bushes in front of the house, and he just sits there and looks up over the blooms at you. Every time he hears a bird chirp or a dog bark he says "B" or "D"! Every bug, bee, frog, fuzzy wuzzy, ant, or ladybug he comes in counter with is a moment of great intensity and curiosity. Jacob has provided a great opportunity for our entire family to rediscover the great outdoors.