Christmas Pictures

Jake FINALLY let Santa come to our house for Christmas! This was a good thing since he realized there was no way he was getting any presents!

Jake was ripping open presents and getting all excited about it and then saying "what's next?". It was so cute. Luke really wasn't that into it and this was bothering Jake so he just ended up opening most of Luke's gifts too.

Santa Claus or the UPS Man?

As most of you know, Jake has not been too keen on Santa Claus for awhile. Whenever you ask him, he says that "Santa can't come here, he can just leave the presents at Grammy's house".
He now has moved onto something else. He has realized that whenever he has gotten a new toy, the UPS man brings it. So now, he has decided that he doesn't want Santa to come at all, he just wants the UPS Man to bring him some presents!
You have to love the way 4-year olds think!!

Luke is getting so big that I am sure I will be the shortest one in the house when 2010 rolls around! He is talking a lot more in what we call "Luke speak". He says a TON of words we can understand but he loves to add his own flair to each sentence he says. Its so adorable!! He does still have a temper and Grammy thinks he could use some anger management classes. I wonder if they offer that for 2-year olds?!?

Thanksgiving-Southern Style

We spent our holiday down at my parents house on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.

Jake and Luke left with Grammy and Uncle John last Sunday and Mommy and Daddy drive down late Wed night. Pop, Uncle Mark and Rachele all made it down as well.

We had a good time golfing, seeing Uncle John and Aunt Rachele's new boat and of most importantly, riding in the golf cart!!

Jake's Newest Toy

So Jake's birthday present from Grammy and Pop finally arrived yesterday. Of course it was in a MILLION pieces and took awhile to put together.
I finally got the trailer together this morning. I don't understand why toy assemby directions are so vague?!?!!
Anyway, I have attached a quick video, hope you can see it. The camera batteries were dead so I had to use my cell phone instead!

I feel bad that I have not posted anything is awhile. Life has been pretty hectic.
I promise to add some pictures from Halloween soon!
The boys are doing well and getting bigger by the day. I swear they are both going to be taller than me by the time they are 5!!

Aquarium Trip

Today I decided that we should take a trip down to the aquarium on the Boardwalk in Pt. Pleasant to see the fishies. ("shishies" as Luke calls them!) We spent about an hour in the aquarium and Jake loved the alligators. Luke seemed to like the penguins more. Jake just kept referring to them as the "things from Happy Feet". After we left we went onto the beach for a little bit but it was very windy. At this point, Luke was really not liking anything anymore so we left. We went to have some lunch and them came home.
I have attached some pics as well.

Jake turns 4!

Wow, time does fly! It is hard to believe that yesterday, Jake turned 4 years old! We had a little get together on Wednesday with the kids from school. They had pizza and painted pumpkins for Halloween. So yesterday, we just did a low-key family dinner. In the morning, I asked Jake if there was anything special he would like to do for his birthday. His response-"How about we just go get some presents?". Typical 4 year old answer I guess!
He got a ton of new toys (like we really need anymore!!), some more Lionel trains, a ride on John Deere pedal tractor, and his Halloween costume which he is wearing in the picture above.
Can you tell he likes fire trucks!?! :)

Luke was having a blast as well and would not give up the fire hat. When he had to, STAY OUT OF HIS WAY! He has a little bit of a temper!!

More pics will be uploaded later!

Hiking

Yesterday was a beautiful first day of Fall. We decided to go up to Long Valley and go hiking in Hacklebarney State Park. The boys had a good time. Jake loved to jump from rock to rock but his feet moved faster than his mind and he tripped quite a few times. He didn't complain and we all had a great time!

Lately Luke has been very possessive and I found these "Toddler Property Laws" on the internet and they fit him perfectly:

1. If I like it- it's mine!

2. If it's in my hand-it's mine!

3. If I had it a little while ago- it's mine!

4. If I am building something- all the pieces are mine!

5. If it looks just like mine- it's mine!

6. If I think it's mine- it's mine!

Luke's 2nd Birthday

Luke turned two last week! How the time flies! On Thursday, for his actual birthday, we just did a family dinner at home with my parents and Josh's parents.

Then on Saturday, we had a big party with a fire truck theme. The party started at 3pm and then around 4, Josh went over to the fire house to get the fire truck. The brought the truck to the house and the kids got to check it out. Then they all got to sit on the top of the truck and go for a ride. When they came back some of this kids got into their bathing suits and got sprayed with the hose.

Everyone had a great time! Luke got a ton of new toys and clothes. Jake really still doesn't get that it wasn't HIS birthday and was very excited about all the presents.

Hope everyone is well!

Fire truck rides The cake

Yummy cake!

Labor Day Parade

There is a parade in town on Labor Day and of course Josh's fire department was in it. Jake was so excited and he got to ride in the fire truck.

I am adding a few pictures now but I will add more later!

Jake's Newest Request

As most of you know, Jake is a tad OBSESSED with John Deere tractors. For the past 2 days he has been carrying around an etoys catalog with a ride on John Deere gator in it. (Keep in mind he already had a huge Jeep Power Wheels courtesy of Grammy and a pedal John Deere tractor with a trailer courtesy of Mormor.) He has been asking anyone and everyone to buy it for him. I took the boys to the diner in Madison yesterday for lunch after we left the gym and he even asked the waitress if she would buy it for him! She was very nice and said "I will have to see how much money I make today!" He finally told me HE would buy it for himself with the money in his piggy bank. I think he has about $30 in it and the toy cost $350!!!

So this morning hw woke up with the catalog (yes, he even sleeps with it) and told me that he just NEEDS this gator. He said "why don't you just buy it for Luke's birthday and we can share it". Fat chance of that happening since they both are not too keen on t he idea of sharing.

I told him to wait till his birthday and maybe Mommy will win the lottery and buy it for you. He said "ok Mommy". We'll see how long that lasts.

Back from the Beach

We arrived home from LBI on Tuesday. Everyone was not excited about it but all good things must come to an end!

The boys had a blast while we were away although they did miss Daddy. Josh tried to get down as much as he could so that was good.

We went to the beach, went out in the boat, went for walk and bike rides. We also made daily trips to the fire house as well as "Uncle Mark's ambulence garage". Jake is obsessed with them. He will sit in each ambulence and pretend to drive. Mark even showed up one morning in the Hummer ambulence and took us for a ride on the beach!

All in all, it was a great time.

Now we are trying to get back into a routine. I started classes for my Masters on Tuesday. I am taking 2 classes. They are on Mondays and Tuesdays from 5-7pm. Not too bad and I should be done by December 2008.

I start meetings at school on Tuesday. I am still in Kindergarten and have 15 kids in my class again so that should be good.

Hope everyone is well!

August already?!?

The boys and I just got back from a couple of days down in South Carolina. It was a last minute trip and we drove down with my mom on Aug 1. The boys were AWESOME in the car. We drove straight through with a few stops and it took about 14 hours.

They had a blast once we were down there even though it was extremely hot. There were record high temperatures and with the heat index it was close to 114 some days.

We went to the beach, hung out at the pool, went fishing and played golf.

We flew home on Tuesday which was quite an adventure. We left Hilton Head airport no problem and had to change planes in Charlotte. After gate hopping a few times, we boarded our next flight home. Keep in mind this was the HOTTEST day. They made us sit on the plane at the gate with the cabin door open for over an hour. I felt so bad for Jake and Luke but they tried hard to be really good despite the waiting and heat.

We finally made it home and they were VERY happy to see their Daddy!

Jake is finishing up camp this week and we are heading to LBI in Saturday for the rest of the summer.

Enjoying Summer!

Not too much to report on this end. I am just enjoying my time home with the boys.

Jake is in camp again this week and next since he likes it so much.

It also gives me some time to spend with just Luke and he loves it. Only problem is he is becoming quite attached and I can't even seem to go to the bathroom alone! I can't wait to see what happens when I go back to school in Sept!

I have been taking him to the gym with me and putting him in babysitting while I exercise. Inititally he didn't like being left but once I am gone, he has a great time!

The boys and I might go back to Daufuskie with my parents this week but we are not sure. We might just stick around here since we will be going to LBI on Aug 11 for about 3 weeks.

Josh has been busy with work and the fire dept. He left on a fire call around 3:30 am on Sunday and didn't get home until almost 10am. THere was a bad house fire in the next town. After getting home he went on another call for a car accident at the car wash. HE gets there and low and behold, my parents silver jeep is rammed into a telephone pole!! The guy at the car wash was driving out and somehow did lots of damage to the car. I have put up a picture to show. Luckily, no one was hurt!

New Toy

This week Jake went to camp. He had a blast! Luke unfortunately, caught whatever Jake had last weekend and spent the first half of the week sick. Such a sad little guy when he doesn't feel good.
The boys also got a new toy this week. We really wanted to get a nice wooden swingset but they were a little pricy. Especially the one that Jake picked out of the catalog. It was priced at $13,000!!! I told him to start putting more money in his piggy bank.
So anyway, we got one of those Little Tikes inflatable jump houses. Jake calls it the "jumpy house". He loves it and could spend all day in it. Luke on the other hand, is not so sure about it.
I will get some pictures up soon.
Jake is signed up for camp again next week. This past week was a dinosaur theme and next week's theme is "Icky Sticky". I can't even imagine what that entails!!

Weekend Update

We spent most of the weekend at home since Jake hasn't been feeling well. He had a fever of almost 104 yesterday which really concerned so I called the pediatrician. She wasn't too concerned about it and told me to just watch him and if he wasn't better on Monday to bring him in. He seems a little better today but still wants to stay "on the couch in my jammies".
Hopefully it was just a 24 hour thing since he is supposed to start camp tomorrow.
He loved going to school this year so I signed him up for a couple of weeks at a preschool in town for camp. He will be going from 9am-1pm and having lunch there. He's so excited about his new lunch box! I am curious to see how it goes because he is a BIG PB&J fan and the camp is nut free.
I am hoping to get to the gym more this week since I tested out leaving Luke in Kids Central (babysitting) and he seems to like it.

July 12, 2007

Luke did good sleeping AT HOME (these are the key words) since we have been home from LBI. He slept great Tuesday night. Wednesday we went to pick up Aunt Ashleigh and she and I got to go workout at the gym. Jake and Luke got to play in Kids Central (aka babysitting) for about an hour and a half. We left and went back to Josh's parents house to get them to sleep. That was just an exhausting task. 2 hours plus later, they were both asleep! Gramps got the joy of watching them while Mommy, Aunt Ashleigh, Aunt Jessica and MorMor went to go see the new Harry Potter movie.
NEedless to say, I was excited since i hadn't been to the movies since BEFORE Luke was born. Josh took me to go see Wedding Crashers in late August of 2005 to take my mind off the fact that labor with luke was just not coming as soon as I hoped it would!
As for Luke sleeping, I guess he is just like his Mommy. I am told I was the BEST sleeper...as long as I was in MY crib! :)

We just got back from spending a few days down at Long Beach Island.
Jake had a blast swimming in MeMe and Uncle Jay's pool and playing with Kaitlyn.
Luke is still going through his unsure faze. (aka- NOTHING makes him happy)
He also was quite the night owl both nights we were there. Mommy would have like to stay a couple more days but functioning on no sleep just was not working for her! :)
So hopefully since we are back in Mendham tonight, Luke will sleep.
Stay tuned...

July 2007

I have been so bad about keeping up with this blog AND with taking pictures.

I am done with school for the summer so hopefully I will be better at this.

We just returned from a week away at my parents new house on Daufuskie Island, SC.
The boys had a wonderful time and were so excited that Uncle John and Aunt Rachele were there!

Josh and Jake did a lot of fishing and Jake got hourly rides in the golf cart which he LOVES.
I am going to put some pictures up.

Yesterday Josh was in the Brookside 4th of July Parade and Jake was so excited to see all the fire trucks.

June 2007

It's been so long since I have updated this! I have been busy with the end of the school year.
School FINALLY ended on Friday the 22nd and I am so excited about it!!!
We are leaving Tuesday to spend a week at my parents new house on Daufuskie Island, SC ('Fuskie as Jake calls it!)
We will stay until right before the 4th of July and then come home. Josh is in the 4th of July Parade so I wanted to boys to see that. For those of you that don't know, back in December Josh joined to volunteer fire dept in Mendham and has been going to class 3 nights a week and FINALLY just finished last week.
The rest of July will be busy. Jake will be going to summer camp at a preschool in town most mornings. Aunt Ashleigh is coming home from Alaska for the month!! YEA!
THen in August we are heading down th LBI before the dreaded school year starts again.
I promise this summer I will be better about keeping up with this!

Uncle Ryan

Uncle Ryan in Iraq

We miss you!!

April 19th

Luke is starting to talk a lot more but for the most part, everyone is "daddy". So cute though! He says a lot of words- apple, cookie, bath, potty, jake.

Which brings me to Jake. We are working hard on the potty training but a lot of times he just says, "No thank you Mommy, I'll be fine." At least he is polite about it. We are bribing him with M&M's (he must be just like Aunt Ashleigh and MorMor!). It is slowly working but at this rate we keep telling him that Luke is going to be potty trained before him!

South Carolina

Last week the boys and I were in South Carolina with my parents. We spent most of the week on Daufuskie Island and Jake was in heaven! He LOVES golf carts and since they have no cars on the island, he was loving it.
At the end of the week we headed over the Belfair to spend time with Josh's parents. Although there was no golf cart at the house, Jake's other obsession was fullfilled--JOHN DEERE TRACTORS!
All the equiptment at Belfair is John Deere and Jake spent a long time with Gramps trying out each and ever piece of machinery. We have pictures to provve it and I will get them on as soon as possible.

Welcome!

Hello All!
The main reason I am starting this blog is for Uncle Ryan. As many of you know, Ashleigh's husband Ryan is in the Army and is currently in Iraq.
I am SO bad about sending pictures so I and information so I am hoping that it will be a good way for Ryan to feel like he is with us all the time!
ENJOY!