Seeing Our Little One Grow

So I am not sure that everyone kows, but I was called to serve in the Primary (second counselor in the presidency) and I am so excited about it. I started about 3 weeks ago and just love it. It is so fun to work with the kids and especially Jacob. He learns so fast and it is fun to see him blossom in the Sunbeam class. He started out a little rough but he finally understands the following:
1.He has to stay in his seats.
2.He cant lick the kids in front of, or behind him.
3.He cant pull his arms into his shirt and swing his sleeves at other kids near by.
4.He cant sing a solo rendition of the song for the class, immediately after they sang it as a group.
5.He cant lean forward to put his head on the floor while simultaneously balancing his stomach on the chair and humming words to a song of choice (it was a freak show that week).
6.He cant yell the answer "Jesus" to every question asked (funniest when irrelevant).
7.He cant hug the teachers and say you are so pretty and special in front of the whole class during sharing time.
8.He cant lift the little girls pretty skirts to see what they are wearing underneath. (we looked like total perves!)
9.He cant pull off his clip-on-tie and swing it around above his head, like a hellicopter, at the poor kid next to him. (they can really hurt!)
Incase you are wondering, YES, he sure did do all 9 of those + a few others that I cant think of off hand. I so am proud of him now. He goes through the class and participates and only occasionally needs the "death look" from me. He loves to answer questions and is lovingly referred to as "Primaries most enthusiastic supporter" by the teachers and councilors. He yells out "Yes" and "Why" or "How" to every question asked. He loves to show he is listening and that he really cares. Today he told the class that He just loves Jesus because he is the only brother he has got and that it makes his heart sad when he does bad things because he cant make his only brother mad at him. It was cute but it would have been cuter if they were not looking for the answer to why do we read our scriptures. At least he gets the principle, Right?
In any case, I have had the chance to witness so many sweet moments and see him understand things that are so exciting to me. I never really know how much he gets but when he explains the story of Alma or Abinadi or Jesus on the boat, I feel so good that he knows those things. He sings the songs with such excitement and really gets a kick out of learning. I am so glad that I have the gospel to teach to him. He is a good boy. He is everything I could ever have asked for, and even more, if you can believe it.

This evening we invited over Ricks colleague, Toshana and it was a blast. I made Zucchini Pie (Sounds sick but it is amazing!!!), fresh corn on the cob, a home made Caesar salad and home made Pistachio ice cream (yep, I made it myself) for desert. She is such a fun person and I love knowing her. She gets me and it is nice to have a chat buddy again (miss ya Rachel, Laura, Kim, Steph, Jenn, Mel, and everyone else). You know how I love to chat! Jakie of course thought that she came to visit him and called to her for her thoughts on everything. She is married but her husband is in another state for Med School. We were glad to have her in our home and hope she will come back soon. Jakie loved her and I think the feeling was mutual. We had a great time and I am excited to get to have all of Rick's co workers (Fellows) over as well. We will invite them all!

We had a visit to Dr. Heart (love him!!!), Jakie's Pediatrician, for Jake's check up and he said Jake is "super healthy, super bright, super energetic and super HUGE!" He measured in the 98th percentile for height and 95th for weight (40lbs of pure muscle). He has always measured in the 96-99th percentile for almost everything but the Dr. said he measures the height of a 5 year old and weight of a 4 + year old. I guess I had better start saving for extra tall clothes and extra huge beds, cars, etc. for this little one. I come from a family of tall men and Rick has 7ft uncles & cousins so I figured that would happen. I am no shorty at 5"11", so the writing was on the wall. I am just glad to know that he is so healthy. If you are looking at pictures and thinking, wow, Jake is growing like a weed, it is because he is. I cant keep him in pants for longer than 3 months at a time since birth. The waist is never a problem but the length always kills me. I had better have a boy next because we have tons of little boys clothes. We probably have 2x's the wardrobe of a normal child because we needed a wardrobe in every size at one point or another.

Well, we love you all! Hope you enjoy the update and have a great Sunday evening!

How does this happen in 5 minutes time?

So, any of you out there with toddler age or older, do you ever feel like you clean and clean and it is all in vain?? I DO! I cleaned up Jakie's room, Organized, washed, etc. and then today I went in and here is what I found: Scary huh! I heard him banging around in there, i thought putting things away, and then when I went into his room I found that scene. I asked what the heck he was doing and he said that he was looking for Edward (a specific tiny train maybe 2 inches long). He never found Edward but his room is a disaster area. The worst part is what can I do? I could punish him but he does not get it. I made him clean up the tracks and train and exiled him from his room while I finished cleaning the rest of it up. Ah, I need to store or get rid of about 1/2 of those toys. Anyone want some? We need a house!

Back By Popular Demand

So it was called to my attention that our last Called to Serve video was not super visible. I decided to re shoot the childish zeal that Jakie displays while singing it and post it for his fans (i.e. Mom, Dad, Kate, etc.). Here is Jakie in his Sunday best (not the shoes when you can! They are adorable) looking just like a little missionary. So cute!

Getting in Gear!

I had a really great moment that I have been waiting for today. I woke up and I actually was excited about working out. I am now 29 and I swear that I have had the alarm set for 7am since middle school. Why??? To go work out. Problem is that I can count the number of times that I actually got up on 1 hands and even worse, I can count the number of times that I worked out (in a way that would actually do something) on 2 hands. That is not much for a oh, say 15 year span!!
Well, I am not sure if it is the fact that I am finally not working and have time, the fact that I have so many cute clothes that I want to wear again, or if the fact that I turn 30 this year is only 5 months away. Well, actually, when I type it out like that I think it is safe to say that the extra time + being 30 this year is what is kicking my workout mode into high gear. I don't want to be younger, I just don't want to go another day saying that I will do it tomorrow. That new resolution has finally kicked in and now I am on fire. I am actually working out daily and feeling great about it. I dare say that I love it!
I went to the pool today and started out with my routine that I have done for the last week and still wanted more when it was over. I ended up adding on another 24 laps to really work on my form & speed. When it was over people asked me if I swam competitively. I said no and they said that I had good form & looked like a really good swimmer. I was quite excited and feeling good for a while, until it occurred to me, as I hit the shower, that most of them were over 80. I was actually swimming (most of them could not swim, just wade with their water weights) and that probably looked SUPER awesome to them. Never mind that though, I wont let that get me down. I am stoked!
I went and got a book of lap routines that are super effective. I should be able to do a mile in 20-30 minutes before Christmas. That is 62 laps at about 3 laps per minute in a 25 meter pool. I am varying the routine to get endurance, speed and form, but mostly, it is good to feel all of my muscles again. Tomorrow I get to do weights which is super effective, but I prefer swimming. I guess I will just wait for the excitement for the weights to kick in too. I sure hope it does.
Tonight is the start of the Olympics and I am so excited to see them. After working on swimming for so long, I am ready to see the swim parts. Michael Phelps (love him or hate him) is an amazing swimmer.

I am such a want-to-be, but I do love to watch him swim. I hope he takes the Olympics by storm again! I am excited to see the rest of it too. Summer Games are by far my favorite of the Olympic seasons. I love winter stuff, but I really could see myself loving to do all of the summer activities.
Anyway, I hope you all watch this Olympic Season. Let me know which of the games are your favorites and if you swim, we should race one day. Just kidding! Unless you really want to and then you are on baby (after another 4 months of training of course). Hey, maybe Rick would race me??......Nope! He said forget it. Well, at least I know I could kill any of the 80 year old folks at my pool that think I am in training! HA! I guess I will just have to take that for now.

Zaboomafoo??? A Cartoon Jakie Loves

I have a very silly boy! For the last days Jacob has been asking to watch a new cartoon (I think it is spelled Zaboomafoo) and I cant seem to say the name right. He loves it when I try to say the name and got such a kick out of it that I thought I would tape and share it with you. He laughs like this everyday and I just enjoy being a mom to such a happy boy.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

So, I actually caught Jakie in the act and the camera was nearby to catch proof. Check this little one out and see if you can hear what he said. I laughed so hard at his replies that I finally had to let him off the hook for the lie and naughty behavior.

What you get for the $$

So, Rick and I are in the midst of a househunt here in Pittsburgh (acutally, surrounding suburbs) but we are still so blown away for what you can get here for your $$. These pics are basically from my dream home and you will not belive the price. Not that we have a lot of $$ to spend, but this home in Seattle would be somewhere in the million $ range or so, at least! The home below is like 1/9th of that!! Maybe less. Crazy huh. I cant wait to find the perfect one. We want, basically this exact look, but we need a bigger yard, and a little more room between homes would be amazing. I love when I find something so almost perfect and that is something we can afford. Isn't it so cute! Pretty much everything we are looking at will be along these lines. I will show the homes we are considering for a vote when we get that far. Right now it is just search and dream stage. I love it here!