the tales of summer

Jacob enjoyed some much needed heat relief one evening with our neighbor O on her slip n slide.  They had a blast!

She's teaching him the essentials of summer time fun!

This here is the morning of his 23rd month.  A before shot if you will of what happened later in the day.  He loves bananas.

The precious little one took a major spill while pushing a little ride on toy on the cement.  A fat lip, chipped tooth, and lots of blood...about 10 minutes later he says, I all better, go back outside? 

I cannot believe that Louie let Jacob do this!  The cat was very kind and Jacob thought it was great!

Showing off his Pizza Ranch tattoo.  He's pretty proud of it.

While I had a day away, Nate and Jacob had a fun outing to a parade and then went out to lunch together.  His favorite "float" was the fire trucks.  He still asks to go to the parade to see them.

He's just an all around happy guy  :)

...except on the boat.  He wasn't so fond of the ride this year.

So we dropped him off at our friends parents - he knows them and neighbor O was there, so it was way bettern for him and us!  Then we could enjoy some tubing and swimming in the lake.

A few days ago he found our closet, took the matching pair out, put them on, walked out and said, I ready to go to church! 

Then this weekend we decided to be finished with the crib and get the twin bed out for him.  Nate's old bed, my old bedding, nothing special at all, but he loves the bubble bed!  It's definitely a transition that we are trying to form good habits with.  The first nap is what you see below!  It took a little while for him to settle down and realize he was going to sleep here.  I was so tired that while I was helping him get acclimated I fell asleep and we slept for over 2 hours!  It was very refreshing!

He was so tired by bed time he didn't get out of bed at all and fell fast asleep!  This is how we found him sleeping when we went to check on him before we went to bed.  Tonight on the other hand isn't going so easily.  Shucks!  We'll get there before we know it.  And as I write this, Nate is leaving his room - he's asleep, we hope!

Sadly, this is the eve of the first day of school for me.  I have mixed emotions for sure!  I absolutely LOVE summer to no end and really don't want the seasons to continue.  Fall is gorgeous and beautiful and I love the smells of Fall, but I know all to well that the winter that follows is much to long and I dislike that VERY, VERY much!  So as I long for summer to continue I will write a few of my favorites from the summer...
     *picnics in the park
     *swimming at the pool after nap
     *eating my lunch outside in the hot sun while Jacob napped
     *reading my book after lunch outside
     *chocolate and vanilla ice cream cones
     *vacation
     *fresh green beans (few in my garden this year)
     *garden tomatoes (only a few so far with hopes of more)
     *carrots still growing deep in the ground
     *tank tops
     *the scent of sunscreen
     *Jacob wearing his cute bucket hats
     *golf
this list could go on...

A few things that I did not enjoy from the summer
     *the week with 3 tornado warnings
     *the 2-5 inches of rain that seemed to come with every storm
     *mosquitoes....they were thick this year

But as I close on this entry and look for to what is inevitably here....

...‎'twas the night before school and all through my mind, were visions of ice cream and water of some kind. The summer had gone by way to fast, but I knew the first day would soon be a blast. The kiddos all shedding a tear, the parents all rejoicing, school finally is here!

the good life

that's the saying on the Nebraska sign at the state line. We had a good weekend in the great state of Nebraska. Nate was on a "the not at all annual dudes golf expedition" while Jacob and I spent time with some family. We all enjoyed the weekend away, but it's good to be home and back in our own surroundings too.

we found a snake skin in the backyard

it was taller/longer than the two toddlers!

dropping a locust shell by the snake skin

We had a lot of fun hanging with family and friends.  Now it's time for the Sunday night fire with the neighbors!

a month goes by just like that

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since we posted!  I don't feel like we've been that busy, but it's the daily-ness that goes by and by.  This has been an excellent summer and there have been many highlights.  Here's a couple from the weekend of the 4th.  Jacob enjoyed riding the fire truck and the pony named Jay.  Fireworks were also quite fun for him.  We pulled up a couple youtube videos of fireworks to show them to him before to give him an idea of what he was going to see.  He still asks to watch fireworks on the "poo-dee-der"

Our summer has also consisted of weekly picnics, trips to the pool, the library, walks and playing outside - a lot!  I'm so thankful that the weather has cooperated and summer has truly been summer.  The storms haven't been near as strong as they were in June either - 3 nights in the basement with tornado warnings in 5 days was a bit much in my opinion. 

The golf course is the site of bi-weekly date nights for us.  Unfortunately we've missed a couple - but when we've gone we've made a great team for "couples league". 

Jacob continues to watch attentively at every move we make or others around him.  He can make a pretty full golf swing and make connection with the ball.  He can also hold a bat and ball, toss the ball and hit it with his bat.  We can also toss him the ball in which he sometimes makes contact. 

The gardens are keeping me busy as beans are in harvest and the weeds aren't giving up and the sweet corn in the area is also beginning to be ready.  We spent several hours last night freezing 11 doz ears of corn.  I hope to get more corn and do it again! 

Just a few weeks remain of summer and the calendar is filling up.  We're looking forward to what's ahead!  Hopefully a trip to Michigan, Omaha, lots of trips to the pool, a visit to the lake perhaps, a birthday party for a 2 year old (WOW!) and the kick off of another school year will quickly be on our heals.  Looking forward to each day of the "dailyness" and outings with the lil guy.

For now, nap time is over and he is calling us from his room.  He's ready to get up!

summer lovin'

Happy Summer!

Wouldn't you like to know what's going through his mind?! 

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Monday morning Jacob slept in (he was up too late so thankfully he slept in!), when he woke up this is how I found him in his room.  I laughed!  We always go into his room before we go to sleep at night to talk to him, kiss him goodnight, stare at him...etc.  When we had done this Sunday night I had found that his pj's were unzipped and zipped them back up.  It's amazing to me how he just figures things out - he was unable to put them back on properly though. :)

 

Sunday night Jacob sang Jesus Loves Me all on his own, tonight during bedtime routine Nate started singing to him as I ran to get the camera.  Thankfully he was able to perform tonight with the camera rolling.  (I am trying to embed this video from facebook - I haven't done this before, so it may or may not work)  We'll give it a shot!

what a catch!

Jacob is in this incredibly fun stage of life of discovering, copying, thinking on his own, saying random things, climbing, throwing sand in his hair, going on his belly down the water slide at the swimming pool...the list literally could go on and on.  I am adjusting to being home with him every day all day.  Our days are usually chalk full and we're both exhausted by evening! 

Here's what today looked like:  sleep til 8 (thanks buddy!), take our time eating breakfast (or lack of today), spot a butterfly in our garage, capture it, create a home for it, pack a picnic, leave at 10:30 for a playdate in the park with some moms from church, leave at 1:20 - make a stop at the grocery store on the way home for the necessities - ice cream and cones and 3 gallons of milk - we go through it fast and it was on sale - 4 gallons for $10 (you don't have to buy the 4 to get the deal too), get home - change diaper - NAP TIME!  This is when I do the dishes, sweep the floor, pick strawberries, pull a few weeds....J wakes up and we hit the pool from 3:45 - 5:30.  Supper was planned but changed when we got home and leftover pizza sounded way better!  After supper we blew bubbles outside, I gave him wagon rides around the house and we sat at the patio table just enjoying our non-stormy night that was predicted otherwise.  Bathtime was to follow as we desperately did not want to go inside.  We had to de-sand the kids scalp from the morning at the park so it was necessary!  After bath, daddy came home from work and they shared books and lots of laughter.  Then the neighbors came for a quick visit to check out the butterfly and wind Jacob up.  He was full of laughter today.  8:40 arrived and bedtime was necessary - he crashed!  Hardly a peep! 

A few days ago Jacob brought his blocks to me and said, wanna build track - this is what he made!  After he was finished he found his tractor to drive on it. 

Reading bedtime stories with daddy a few nights ago.

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Reading "I Love You Through and Through" - This page says, I love your insides - so Jacob is showing us his insides.

"I love your fingers & toes" - wiggling his fingers.

Here is our catch of the day today - a butterfly!  It was in our garage, Nate actually spotted it last night and it looked dead and he just tossed it aside and we decided to find out in the morning....it was fluttering like crazy against the screen door - I caught it in the vase! 

He's admiring his butterfly!  It's so precious - when we went outside, it came too, when we ate supper, it sat at the table too.  He likes watching it eat the pineapple and strawberry.

It's quite beautiful!  Yellow tipped wings with blue dots.  After searching images of butterflies online I finally found the name of this particular butterfly - it's called a Mourning Cloak.  It happens to be the state butterfly of Montana.  They lead a long life for a butterfly - 10 months!  How's that for learning something new every day!?

What was your catch of the day?  Hopefully you can think of one thing or perhaps your whole day was a great catch!  I loved my day with my son and wouldn't change it for the world.

a working vacation

Pizza Ranch held their annual summer meetings in the Wisconsin Dells this past week.  This meant J & I got a vacation while Nate had to do work.  It's a great location with so much to do.  We brought our babysitter along as there were some things that I was also involved with.  She was a great help and we like her a lot, we are so glad we took her along.  I have a lot of pictures included in this post that I probably should have created a slide show for.

We met up with one of Nate's friends for supper and some mini golf.  Jacob is pretty proud to be wearing his moose antlers and sitting next to the moose. 

We had one afternoon of sunshine, even though it was on the chillier side we still opted for the outdoor waterpark.  The water was surprisingly warm and Jacob loved the fountains.

Nate was able to join us for some waterpark time and of course Jacob loved it!

He liked going down the slides on his own too.

After the outdoor park we thought we would introduce him to the indoor park since he was having a good time and could see what it was like.  Jacob has not been a huge indoor pool fan so we didn't know how this would go.  It went well and couldn't get enough of the water, splashing, slides, fountains, the "crazy river"...etc.

One morning I decided to take Jacob to a wildlife park - the advertisement sounded interesting and it was toddler friendly - unlike most other attractions at the dells.  Other than it being slightly overpriced - more than the Omaha zoo daily admission - Jacob got his money's worth - it was free for him :)  We arrived just in time for an animal show where we saw this turtle, baby tigers, an opossum, some rodent from South America, a joey...then we wondered around the park, took a train ride, then found our way to the giraffes, zebra, and petting zoo area.

Here's some food giraffe!  Except his hand is closed and giraffe can't see it.

Isn't that tongue disgusting?!  A little creepy if you ask me.

Getting a little more comfortable with the idea.

Jacob just had a blast playing with the giraffes.

He even wanted to put the food on his hand...and he's still talking about it!

Checking out this end of the giraffe - and the giraffe getting down to Jacob's level.  Cute!

So then we made our way to the petting zoo (like I said before...)  but what we didn't realize is that we could feed them too and gave all of our food to the big bully giraffe - the huge one - he was all over the place.  So there was no one else around this area and Jacob really wanted to feed these animals too.  You couldn't just get food from a dispenser - it was clear on the other side of the park at the office - we weren't going back to get more food.  However, there was scattered food on the ground from other people who dropped it while feeding the creatures.  I showed J how to pick up some food from the ground and put it on the shovel for the animals to eat.  We have one quick little learner on our hands and he was scooping up food like crazy.  Too bad the shovel string wasn't long enough to reach the ground.

This little boy LOVES animals!

Jacob trying some sweet corn for the first time.  It was our anniversary yesterday so we grilled steaks, had baked potatoes and sweet corn.  It was delicious!  Then later we took a trip to Le Mars for some ice cream!  We celebrated as a family - Nate and I didn't get to go out alone as we had spent our budget for a babysitter already for the month.  We couldn't get a free sitter to our home so we celebrated as a family!  It was great!  It was low cost - which was great because we ended up buying each other a wheel bearing for our anniversary - and will soon be purchasing another. 

We've had a great harvest of strawberries to which Jacob has now taken a liking to!!!!  Hope you all are having a great start to summer, thanks for checking in!  Oh yeah, check out the video down below of Jacob feeding a giraffe.

Jacob feeds a giraffe!

On a recent trip to the Wisconsin Dells we visited a wildlife park where we got to feed some of the animals.  Jacob's favorite animal lately has been his toy giraffe so this was right up his alley!  He loved being up close and checking out the enormous creature.