Jacobs Piano Recital

This was Jacob's 2nd recital.  You can see how much he improved from last May here.  Now he is doing both the treble and bass clef, and the notes are not labled on the sheet music.

Happy Halloween

There is one thing that I really love about Halloween and it is the sense of community that you get walking through your neighborhood in the evening and stopping at all of your neighbors houses.  The rest of it I don't really care for... We always get home way too late, and with way too much sugar.  Overall we had a great time though.  This year we went with 2 other neighbor boys (Jacobs best friend who he also sits next to in class), his little brother who just happens to be 4, the same as Ethan and their dad.

Darth Vaders holding Superman captive for a picture.  Yes, they both wanted to be Darth Vader and they were both okay with the other one wanting to be the same thing.

Here they are at the neighbors house right before we head out together.

Super Sammie :-)

Team Rip Your Heart Out and Shove It Down Your Throat

When we first started the season and they were assigning us to our different teams and coaches, I gave the lady Jacobs name and she said ""Ok, he is on Team Caring". "What?", I said. "Are you serious? Team Caring is the name of our team? That has to be a joke! Why not just call us Team Lame, or Team Rainbow Lambs and Flowers? You name your ball team after some kind of ferocious or noble animal like, The Lions or The Stallions, not Team Caring!!" Ok, I didn't really say that to her, but I did think it.

We never spoke of that name again. I don't even think the boys ever knew that was the name of their team. How could I reveal such shame to them. They enjoyed the season though, and as you can see they "won" medals. I don't know what they did to win the medals, seeing as everyone else received one also, but I think it has something to do with paying the $55 to play T-Ball. Now I only wonder if later when they actually accomplish something and win a medal it will mean just a little bit less because of this.

T-Ball

Jacob and Ethan started t-ball this year. They are on the same team which makes things easier for the whole family. I forgot to bring a camera to the first game so these pictures are from their second game. This week there was much improvement about not running to get the ball if it is on the other side of the field and then tackling everyone else in order to get the ball first. You can see an example of that in the bottom picture.

The games are pretty simple. We only play 2 innings. Everyone gets to bat each inning and everyone plays the field (it gets a little crowded). There are no stikes or outs and we don't keep score. I guess if we did keep score the team with the most players would win since everyone gets to run the bases.

Mr. Intense

The ball went right into his glove.

Jacob Batting

Jacobs 1st Piano Recital

Jacob started piano lessons with Calana in January. Today he had his first recital. This was the first time he has ever done anything in front of a large group (about 50 people) by himself. I was very impressed with how he handled himself. Later he said he really liked it and when asked said that he wasn't nervous at all.

Here are the 2 songs that he did.

Water Fight After the Rain Tonight

"Ethan don't shoot me I have my camera!"

"Can you hold still for just 5 seconds so I can get a picture of you that isn't blurry."

Shooting the spider on the back of my car

Wishing he could run with the big boys

Cow Town Field Trip

A Flying Cow
...and you hate it when a bird poops on your windshield!

Chucky Jesus?

This morning Jacob has been asking me to give him words to spell on paper. So we went through things like "run", "jump", "sun", etc... Then he rolled out some play dough and wanted to spell words with it. So I asked him if he could spell "Jesus". He asked if it had a "Z" in it and I explained to him how the letter "s" makes the "z" sound sometimes. As we were sounding out the word "Jesus" several times, Ethan said "Chucky Jesus". I looked at him and he said "I want to go to Chucky Jesus". At this point I realized that in 4 year old language "cheeses" and "Jesus" are pronounced virtually the same. So I asked him if he realized that it is "cheeses" not "Jesus", like what we eat on Pizza. He looked up at me and smiled with a sheepish smile that told me that all this time he thought his favorite place in the world to eat was "Chucky Jesus".

The Boys on Easter

Just catching up on some picture posts. These are hip shots (meaning that I wasn't looking through the lens so they are more candid b/c the boys weren't expecting it) taken on Easter day.

Sorry it has been so long.

Here are some pictures from the zoo last Saturday.

Not sure why Rachel is not in this picture.

Its all about the mustache...

This is the true reason for growing my beard!

I had fun with this at work today. I like how it makes me look continually mad. I am actually smiling in this picture.
RELEVANT Gentleman's Society


Bonus video of Jacob on his bike!

Bonus video of Ethan on his trike.

Guess what Jacob learned today?!!

see more here >>

Manhattan MAdGwICk

Georgia Grace

"Mountain" Climbing

The "Tubes"

more...

Jenny talks about our trip some in her latest post.

Super Parents?

Jacob has now made several references to how Jenny and I can see through things. I asked him why he thought that and he told me a story about how he was doing something he shouldn't behind a wall or something and we new what he was doing. That is on top of the fact that we have told him things like how we can always tell if he is not telling the truth and how we always know when he is doing something wrong. Yesterday he wanted me to help him come find a moth in the basement because I can see through things. I haven't had the heart to tell him that I can't. The sad thing is that in reality he can probably see better than I can.

My Nerd Score

Thats about what I expected.

Today at lunch Jacob and I were telling Jenny about a Super Massive Blackhole show we watched on the Science channel. When we were finished Jenny just looked at me and said, "You realize after saying all of that your Nerd Score just went up a few points."

A Samuel Homecoming

Resting up to head home.
(You can see some scratches on his face from his long fingernails. The scratches aren't as bad as they look in that picture though)

First time in his car seat. Really what he wants is to be fed again.

Right before we leave.
(Jenny looks nervous b/c the nurse is waiting for us while I insist on taking some pictures)

Samuel arrives home... and there was much rejoicing!!
(That is Bonnie, Jenny's mom, on the left)

Samuel Settles In

Jacab and Ethan were both excited to hold him. Ethan is obsessed with "helping" Samuel with his binky. The new rule is that Ethan isn't supposed to touch it. Jacob, as you can see in the picture is very helpful with the binky.

Samuel shows off how strong he is by lifting his head after only being out in the big world for about 36 hours. At one point I laid him on his stomach then I went to get my camera and when I turned back around he was on his back. Thanks Betsy for the great blanket!

**He really doesn't cry that much. Just when I am taking pictures.

Samuel Meets Jacob & Ethan

Ethan kisses Samuel