Crafts and New Phrases

Tuesdays and Thursdays are non preschool days for Jake. So most of the time we spend those days at home during the Winter when the farm is closed. Today, while at home, we made homemade bouncy balls from a kit that Jake received at Xmas. I was skeptical about how they would turn out but they actually work and are very attractive :)

Henry has been bottle free for a week now. It has been a hard transition for him. We cut him off cold turkey after he was sick last week. He wont drink milk now at all so we are working on creative beverage containers that he will drink milk from. His new phrase is "Ta Da" when he finds something or wants to show us something. He also does a good rooster and dinosaur impersonation.

The boys had a nice Valentine's Day and wore coordinating Valentine Monster shirts. Above is the card we sent out to family this year :)

ski trips and other stuff

We went on our annual ski trip with my mother and family to Wintergreen. We had a nice time and Jake got to go tubing and skiiing this year. Jake went on the kiddie ski lift 2 times with me, without falling :)

At school, Jake just finished letter "p" - he can write the Upper case letters through P, with a little prompting on L, M, & P. Lower case are coming along and we will continue to practice. The teacher said he is doing well his letters and knows his opposites well. He has been doing well at school and not getting into trouble (getting stars instead of circles w/ frowny face) and so he gets his reward of a Redbox movie and a slushie :)

Henry is talking alot and said "sippy cup" today. He was sick yesterday and threw up 5 times (Jake had flu last week and missed 2 days of school) - But Henry is much better and we did not let him have milk while he was sick. And because he was without a bottle for 12 hours, we went ahead and decided to take him off the bottle now. He keeps asking for it "milk....milk....milk" but he has gone a complete day now. I feel sad for him because I know how much he loved it and how much of a comfort it was to him. It makes me cry just thinking about it. Poor buddy - but hopefully he will be ok moving on without his "milk" - sniff sniff ;(

Henry is also wearing some 3T pants now :)

New Year - New Firsts

It is now 2011 - Jake and Henry continue to amaze us, and amuse us, with the things they do each day. Jake is on letter N at school and got a good report this week from this teachers on his progress. He has quite the imagination and likes to play all sorts of scenarios from hunting, to farming, to monster trucks, to scooby doo. He especially tells the best Hunting "stories" using things he has heard Steve talk about. He and Henry played "mountain lion" the other day and Henry made me laugh so hard because he pretended like he was using a grunt call and made grunt noises - even a 20 month old is picking up on hunting techniques!

Jake is wearing a size 7 clothes and 13 shoe - he is growing and is about 60lbs now! Probably 45 inches....he was good at school this week and got to get his reward: a slurpee and a redbox movie rental :) Jake has started to like to watch more grownup tv but thankfully still watches cartoons too. I don't want him to growup too fast so I encourage cartoons over the hunting or speed channels. He is also really into MARIO BROTHERS, his new wii game. He is very good! Very smart when it comes to the choices he has to make and he has a great memory! We play together and it is fun!

Henry has started singing songs. He knows various parts and will chime in when he can. It is precious. He knows the "meow-meow" part in "Kitty Cat's Picnic" (which he calls Patch) and parts of "Up on the HouseTop" which he calls "caws" (for Santa Claus)- He continues to love to play with Jake, wear our clothes and shoes around the house, and drink lots of "milk" (bottles)- He is a rough and tumble, like Jake, so keeps a bruise on him at all times. He has had several cases of hives and we are not sure of the cause. But none the past 3 weeks. Jake has managed to stay healthy all Winter other than a few sniffles - fingers crossed for the next few months!

Christmas 2010 and other updates

Jake and Henry had a great xmas this year (Henry's 2nd and Jake's 5th) - Santa brought them everything they asked for: a toy kitchen, 2 hunting wii games, and a monster truck wii game, along with numerous surprises. Henry opened presents very well this year and really enjoyed getting "big trucks" and "choo-choos" - Jake was more picky and didn't show excitement unless his gift was hunting themed, wii game, or farm/truck. He does not show good manners when opening clothes (although I have tried to help him act with kindness - he still told one giver he wanted something else) - And to make Christmas even more special, we had a white Christmas evening and it is still snowing now, the day after :) We have been playing with our new things, watching the snow, and hoping we don't lose power. Planning to build a snowman tomorrow!

Henry now has teeth #14 & #15 in - Jake is wearing size 12.5 shoe -

They were both wisemen in the church xmas program - and Jake's preschool xmas program was cancelled this year because of snow - we have had alot of snow in the past 3 weeks!

vivid imagination

jake is really into playing imaginary scenarios and right now, hunting is his favorite. i gave in and let him have a toy shotgun and he makes me and steve pretend to be deer that he is hunting. he also likes to play "bear" too. but today, he got to go hunting for real, with steve. they went for an hour right before dark. they sat in the double tree stand that steve got for xmas last year and jake took his gun :) they saw a few does and steve said that jake did very well - sitting still, being fairly quiet (which is a challenge for jake) - they had fun! every time they leave together, henry cries and cries because he wants to go too. poor buddy - one day he will get to go. and then i will be all alone - what in the world would i do with the time???? lol :)

another cute thing was that henry said "book" and "choo choo" today - and jake asked me "peel him up" an apple (he meant cut it up) :)

before i forget

sometimes i feel desperate to write memories down, before i forget them. my video camera charger is lost and i felt so sad to no record the boys on video in their halloween costumes - this will be the 1st year this happened - and yet, it is too late now - grandma got them though - hopefully i can record from her recording.....anyway, henry was a state trooper and jake kept calling him "henry cooper" instead of trooper :)

last week at school, it was a special week and each day was something fun. they had pajama day, wear red day, and wacky hair day. jake kept calling i "waxy" hair day :) at school, he can now write his letters A through I :)

henry is saying more words, like moon, bugs, shoes, milk, me...he loves the moon and points it out all of the time :)

jake also says "we haven't done that for a few whiles"

pumpkin patch patrol

jake and henry are policemen for halloween this year. jake is an officer and henry is a state trooper. they are absolutely adorable and i had the most fun posing them in the pumpkin patch as my "pumpkin patch patrol" :) they were so cute that tonight, at jake's school's halloween festival, henry won BEST COSTUME for his age group :) he really was the cutest one there!

henry is growing and maturing each day. he understand everything we tell him but does not talk much. he did say "papa" today (pointing to my dad) and points and says "moon" every night that he sees it in the sky. he also says "golly goll" for ball and is also saying the acual word "ball" too :)

jake is doing great in school and can now write letter A-K on his own (needs help with G and I) and can copy the entire alphabet by looking at it.

more later - hen is fussing