Wowza. My last post was in March of 2010. I admittedly have slacked off and been distracted and had other things going on in my life and have rarely found or tried to make the time to sit down and update this blog. I have been asked by some family members why I stopped posting on here and could find no good reason. Really. Which is why I am here now. I am going to attempt to keep up with this a little better than I have over the last oh, two and a half years.

Since my last post we have moved twice. That's right. Packed up the entire house and moved. We have gone from being renters to mortgage paying grown ups.

Alexis is no longer 6, but a very smart (she is at the top of her class), beautiful (inside and out), independent 8 (and 1/2) year old girl (teenager). She likes to read and will finish a book in a day, much like her Grandma. She has made a few BFF's and seems to always be on the phone or asking them to spend the night. Can you believe that she is about to be a third grader?

This is Alexis on her birthday in Seattle right after she got her birthday present. Julie, her American Girl Doll.

Hanging on the back porch (Note: Jake is actually hanging on the back porch)

Jacob. As always I don't even know how to describe Jacob. The best I can do is to say that he is all boy. At 3 1/2 he prefers to go by the name Iron Man. He laser beams (I really don't know if that is what it is called) little old ladies shopping in Safeway. He pushes my buttons everyday. He is loud and rambunctious. He is curious and ever exploring. He doesn't ever sit still and will go non stop until bed. Gene has likened him to Charlie Sheen, having one speed which is GO. He likes loud cars and all the Marvel super heroes. As long as something comes apart and makes noise, he likes it. He is smart and very funny. He is just on the cusp of being a bully and I can already hear the principal calling to tell me that Jake has been suspended -again. 

Always the jokester

You would think that this was planned, sadly it was not. He is so awesome he woke up from a nap with this do'.

This is Jake pretending to care that Dad is taking the time to read him a book.

Gene and I are doing well. He is still working with the railroad and getting higher up in seniority, which is leaving him home more often than before. It is nice having him around, I suppose ;) I still stay at home trying to keep Jake busy and learning. Thank God that half day pre school starts in the fall!

This was the quick "catch-up) that you all deserve and I will do my best to do a better job of keeping this thing up to date so that all of you friends and family who are near and far can keep up with the happenings of this crazy circus family.

My oh my, where has the time gone? One day Alexis is this tiny little person that loved to watch Nemo and snuggle her feet into your back while napping together. The next she is 6 going on 25 writing love letters to boys. I really cannot believe it.

Every Friday Alexis' teacher sends home all work the kids have done during the week including any notes or announcements from the school. This usually adds up to between 15-20 pieces of paper. Last Friday though there was one paper in particular that stood out. She grabbed it out of her bag with a quickness saying that it was in her bag on accident, that it was supposed to be in someone else's bag. After some persuasion she handed over the paper seen below.

Now, keep in mind that Grandpa was here dropping her off from a weekend of skiing. She handed me the paper looking me dead in the eye saying, "I think Alex wrote this." Being her mom and the one who sits to do homework with her every night I know her handwriting when I see it. This was definitely written by my daughter!

Needless to say this little note did not end up in the garbage can, but scanned into the computer and posted to the Internet where it will live for all time! Muhahaha. Okay, seriously, I am going to keep it and I have big plans of pulling it out sometime in the future while sitting down with her first serious boyfriend.

Thank you in advance Alexis, for giving me the tools to drive you crazy for years to come!

Updates and Birthday

Hello again my blog followers,

I am slowly making my way back to the regular world and gaining back energy I thought I had long lost. Since my surgery I am noticing many positive changes a couple of them being improved moods and increased energy. So, one of my first tasks is to update my blog and let you in on what the kids have been up to. (P.S This blog is a mix of two notes, I had a death in my family two weeks ago. It completely removed me from my normal life. Because of this I have decided to include birthday pictures to this blog. Hope you all understand.)

Jacob is now 16 months old and growing quickly. He is into everything and has little noises to commentate all of his movements. He knows what gets him in trouble (i.e: pushing the power button on the computer, pushing the power button on the t.v., pushing the power button on the XBox, taking off with one of our phones and pushing all the buttons on it, you get the idea) so he will watch for the one second that you have your back turned and move in for the kill. Once you have noticed his unfavorable behavior and he knows you have noticed he runs in the other direction hoping that you won't catch him. He likes to lay on the floor and play with his trucks making as close to an engine sound as he can. He has recently learned how to kick his toys across the living room and just today learned how to kick his sister. He likes to be sang to, for long periods of time. He LOVES Keebler Club Crackers asking for them by saying "cacka"( not to be confused with kaka). He has four teeth, two on the bottom and two on the top, those coupled with his dimples get him lots of attention most every where he goes. Jacob has the best laugh. He is learning how to play and interact with us quickly. He and Alexis play hide and seek through the house most every day. In addition to asking for a cracker he can say bye-bye, get down, hot, this, up, and he is working on boots-he watches Dad get ready for work. He can tell you where his eye is and his nose, just be prepared for him to shove his finger completely up his nostril when you ask. When he is pleased with something he with either inhale deeply with his mouth wide open or pucker up his lips together and say "OOOOOO"! He can tell you what a monkey says which sounds very similar to what the train says. He can also tell you what the dog says. In his world the dog doesn't bark, but pant. Blue tends to pant whenever Jake is around him. Our little man is basically still bald having only a few little luffs of red hair here and there. He still is no picky eater, taking in whatever is in near proximity from whoever will give it to him. For example, he seems to have a fear of my sisters room mate, Mallory, crying every time he is left alone in a room with her or even just seeing that she is watching him from afar. When Mallory joined us in the living room with her dinner she and Jake became instant BFF's. Thus proving that the way to a mans heart, even a little man, is through his belly.

Alexis has just celebrated another birthday. She is now the ripe age of 6. I really can't believe that I have a 6 year old daughter. Mostly because she acts like she is 16. We had our first official "I'm not going to school because I don't have anything to wear" day! She had plenty to wear, just not the things that she wanted to wear. She wants a striped sweater dress from the Gap to go with her black boots with some leggings that will match both of them. *sigh* She ended up wearing some cute Old Navy fleece pants with a fleece zip up that, you guessed it, matched her boots. I am going to need two jobs to support her fashion sense. I see it already. She is very outspoken and very opinionated, which at this point tends to get her in trouble more than help her out. We mostly use the method of taking away her belongings. This usually works but I am nervous that we will have to move on to another solution because a few days ago after fighting and arguing with her all day she was finally sent to bed and told one last time to behave. She went to bed and was silent for about 10 minutes before she came out to say this, "This is the rhyme I made about today. 'I lost my Wii, I lost my MP3. My dad said if I don't go to bed then I'll loose my t.v' Thank you and good night".So you see what we are up against. We had our first parent/teacher conference in November. Alexis is ahead in some areas and right where she needs to be in others! She loves going to school (as long as she is dressed right). She is very dedicated to her home work every night, always doing more than she needs to be doing. Every night we are to sound out the words to one sentence. She not only sounds out the words while I write it down, but then copies the sentence on her own 4 more times! She was recognized at a PTA meeting in December for being responsible. It was her first big award and we treated it as such. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for dinner and then treated her to her favorite ice cream shop, Maggie Moo's" when the meeting was over. For the past two weekends in a row my parents have taken her up to their favorite ski spot and let her take classes, just to see if she would be interested. Surprising to all of us she fell in love with it. The fist day my parents signed her up only for morning lessons thinking that she would be tired and ready to go by lunch. Wrong. She asked to go to afternoon class as well. She came home with a whole report on how much fun she had and what she had learned. This last weekend, her second lesson, she was able to take her edgied-wedies (contraption that prevents skis from crossing) off and use the chair lift to go down a slightly bigger hill. Gene and I are so proud. I will work on getting pictures from my family so that I can brag a little more. She is smart and witty and silly, and I love her more than the world.

Birthday Cake

Chuck E. Cheese and the birthday girl

Alexis being a diva, as usual, hogging the camera

Jake was really wishing he could run wild!

"It's the birthday song"

Alexis' party guest (we suspect she has a crush on the boy)

Alexis(2) and Arianna in the back

The good ol' party table

Handsome Man

Our big Birthday Girl

Color Books!

The sweater dress she had been wanting

A girl can never have too much nail polish

Big thanks to my friend Heather for taking all the pictures.

School Picture

I just wanted to put up Alexis' school picture. We just got them back today. She looks so grown up. Love you, Princess!

Halloween

Last year Halloween kind of snuck up on us. Jake hadn't been around for too long and I hadn't quite healed enough to brave decorations and the pre-Halloween hype. Jacob was a preemie and most definitely not up to exploring the holiday.
This year though we have managed to get our decor up in full force and even managed to carve four pumpkins. The kids are going to have quiet the entourage following them in their trick-or-treating adventure. My parents were already out to celebrate my sisters birthday, which was the 30th, and stayed for the big event. Alexis dressed as Snow White and couldn't get from one house to the next fast enough. Jacob was dressed as a very pale Lofa Tatupu. They both got plenty of candy and had a lot of fun seeing the Halloween sights!
Now it is time to pack up the Halloween decorations and get ready for the snow. Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday!

The house!

Little Seahawk

Jacob sneaking into the candy early!

Snow White


Our Princess

Along the way we ran into the evil Step-Mother!

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago Gene, Alexis, and I were surprised by the early arrival of our handsome little Jacob. His entrance into the world was slightly traumatic, yet amazing. He has melted my heart since our first face to face meeting. He and Alexis are practically inseparable. He adores Gene, and Gene in return adores him. There isn't much that this amazing little man does that doesn't put a smile on our faces. People stop us in the store to tell us how adorable he is. He smiles at most people in passing, giving those that pay extra homage a few babbling Jacob phrases.
Since Jake made his appearance last October not a day has gone by that he has not amazed us. He is independent, happy, easy going, energetic, loving, and has always loved to eat. In this last year we have watched his personality develop more and more. Today, he is understanding that Mom needs more cuddles than Dad. That sister is a playmate. That Dad is someone to joke with. He has learned to laugh, learned to tease, and is beginning to verbally communicate his wants. He thinks it is funny to pull hair and hit you in the nose. He isn't fond of sharing his toys. He pretends to be shy when we have visitors.
I could go on forever, but I am going to let his birthday party pictures do the rest of the talking.

Dino Costco Cake

Dump Truck

Lightening McQueen outfit

remote control airplane

most annoying toy ever

Grandma and Grandpa with the Birthday Boy

Cake in the nostril

First Day of School, First Day of School

It is hard to believe that today marked Alexis' first day of school. The past five years have really flown by.
Our day started with her running into my room yelling "First day of school, first day of school! Mom, I can't wait first day of school!" It was only 7:50 in the morning and school doesn't start until 12:30, which left her plenty of time to ask "Is it time for school yet? How much longer until school?"
She continued her preparation process by eating a bowl of cereal and cinnamon toast. Then deciding on what to wear. She went through three outfits before she found "the best one for the first day". After choosing her outfit, which was a skirt/button up shirt/pink vest combo we debated for about ten minutes on how I should fix her hair. We finally agreed on two braids. Next came the shoes. The silver sandals or the black flats. "Definitely the black flats." Finally topped of the look with her new Tinker Belle backpack.
With the process we had for her first day I am really scared to see what is lying in store for the first day of Jr. High!

Trying to figure out what to have for breakfast

Choosing the outfit

The One

Hair and shoes in place

Finishing touch on any "First Day of School" outfit

Fashonista

"Let's go already"

"Awe Mom! Can we just go now?"

Found her cubby and her name tag

One of the newest Westview Wildcats