Jacob's 1st Birthday

Jacob had so much fun the day of his 1st birthday party. We didn't do any big parties this year, so it was just our little family, some cake & presents. (I even re-used the decorations from Andrew's 1st birthday! Shhh...) Jacob loved the balloons, but he kept popping them-- didn't scare him, just confused him as to what happened.

I thought his cupcake-cake turned out amazing! I made it from a bunch of cupcakes frosted together into the shape of a one.

He probably had no clue what was going on, except for that he was the center of attention, and he likes that!

He was a little unsure about everyone singing the birthday song to him!

And really had no idea what to do with the flame on his cake. But Daddy helped blow it out.

And then he knew exactly what to do. He immediately dove in with his little hand. And tore it up.

And he "cheesed" again and again as his brother and sisters cheered him on!

After a little cleaning up, it was time for gifts. He still didn't really know what to do, but he was pretty relaxed and seemed to be enjoying himself!

 Well, for the most part... He wasn't too sure of the present bigger than himself.

Another present was finally finishing the wooden letters for his name on the wall above his bed. We have done this for every one of the kids. The others we finished before they were born. Jacob's took a little longer. :)

After presents it was time to play! He really loves "vrooming" his trucks, just like his big brother. He can even make car noises as he pushes them around. The fire truck wasn't a new toy, but it seemed to be his favorite for the day!

Jacob @ 1 Year Old!

There is no possible way my little baby is already a whole year old! It seems like just yesterday he came into our lives & changed our family forever. He is so sweet and silly and smart.

I mean, come on-- look at that face! 

Jacob loves all kinds of boy things-- he loves to smash things, hit things with hammers or sticks, throw things, drive his cars & trucks around, and he really likes dirt. Every time we play outside he makes his way to the sandbox, where he immediately begins to throw the dirt around.

He also likes chasing balls around, and will go to great lengths to get them when they disappear under the furniture!

He has had a rough couple weeks with teething & a little cold, and had some pretty fussy days where he just wanted to be held, and even then he had to be moving around while being held. Dinner time is usually the worst. If he sees food, he wants to eat NOW!

And he LOVES to eat. This boy will eat anything and everything I put on his tray. And quickly. If he can put it in his mouth, it's gone within seconds. He eats grown-up portions of peas & carrots, he eats chicken & ham, hot dogs, any kind of fruit, bowls-full of Cheerios, and even stranger things like avocados, candied yams, and meatballs. And yet he doesn't seem to be getting a whole lot bigger. He's been about the same weight for a few months now, as he's always on the move.

We were recently gifted a walker toy and he is in LOVE with the idea that he can stand upright and get around. The first time he got so excited he got ahead of himself and kept falling, but since then, he runs it ALL OVER the room, standing up on two feet. He still doesn't cruise a lot around tables or other furniture, but he can pull up on anything and definitely will be walking soon.

He will only sit still at night when he's ready for bed for just a few minutes to hear one or two short books. Those he will listen to intently, but otherwise he won't be still for anything except eating. He's always on the go. He often doesn't sleep well at night, waking up sometimes two or three times, just to sit up in the crib and cry. I put his paci in and he'll lay back down to sleep again, but then he's usually up and ready to play by 5:30 or 6 in the morning. Often I can put him downstairs in his pack 'n play and he'll sleep another hour or so. He doesn't really like sleeping much in the car anymore, either, which makes for interesting nap times on the days when we're out & about! 

Leah's Baptism

This past Labor Day we had the privilege of welcoming our not-so-little baby girl into eternal life in Jesus. A year or so ago, she talked with Brett about how to become a Christian at home, and they prayed a prayer. They worked through a little workbook together. But she wasn't quite ready to get baptized. I think she had to be sure of her decision. Then, after she spent a week at Word of Life Camp, she came back and told us she had gotten saved. She seemed to understand exactly what that meant, and at last she wasn't fearful about being baptized. There were two other girls, close to her age, who had also recently made salvation decisions, so we decided to baptize them at the lake during an already-planned church picnic.

There were tons of people there, it was beautiful weather, and everyone had so much fun together. We truly felt like a family, eating and fellowshipping and swimming and rejoicing in new life. We truly love being with our church family. And we are so excited that this sweet girl is now a believer in Christ. She is truly excited about reading her Bible, especially when it comes to doing her T&T (AWANA) book and is always eager to tell about things she learns in Sunday School. She is growing tremendously this year and we are excited to see what God does in her life!

1st Week of School

I'm so excited to have another year of homeschooling ahead! I always have fun teaching these kids and love learning new things right along with them. Of course there are always struggles, and this year we have the added challenge of a busy toddler and preschooler, but somehow we will make it through. I can't believe it's been 4 years since we started with Leah.

Our first week started strong-- the kids were excited to start new things. They still enjoy going downstairs each morning to do our work together. We have had some issues with Leah getting very frustrated with her math every day, but I have ordered her a new program that hopefully will be a little less challenging and help us get through that. Leah also struggles with handwriting, so we are going to have a daily practice time of just writing.

Andrew is already excelling in his reading, and loves reading short chapter books together now during our reading time. As a first grader, he also gets to add grammar and spelling to his schedule. He is great at math and doesn't require much help.

Abigail (who was a little tired the first day of school, as seen below) will be going to the town's public preschool on Mondays and Fridays. This was a decision we made for several reasons: one, to have her out of the house a couple mornings a week so I can give more attention to the older two, and two, to give her an opportunity to socialize with other kids and learn to be away from Mommy. I will still be attempting to teach her at home-- the ABC's & numbers, at the very least when she's here. She does enjoy sitting down and doing worksheets like her older brother and sister, and she's actually really good at matching shapes and colors and normal preschool-level things.

She was so excited for her first day of preschool on Friday, and barely wanted to eat breakfast because she "didn't want to be late." She got a new backpack and a new outfit and was so excited. She was a little more shy once she got to school but her teacher was incredible about pulling her into an activity (Play-doh) and she didn't even look back as I left. She didn't tell me much about it at the end of the day, but I could tell she had fun and she wants to go back! 

Thankfully, at this point, Jacob still takes a longer nap in the mornings, so for a few months at least, he won't be a problem. He usually comes down with us at first, crawls around a little, makes messes, gets fussy, then goes to bed. Eventually I will work on training him to sit still at the table for short amounts of time so he won't be a huge distraction.

Abigail also loves sensory bins, and one of her favorites is the beans. She dumps them out & scoops & pours. One day I let her do them in Jacob's pack & play so they weren't all over the floor. She was in heaven! And of course big brother had to join in.

And of course the most important part of any homeschool day: p.e.! We took one last trip to the playground (because it's at the school, and we can't use it on school days) to enjoy the nice weather the first day of school. 

We start back to Classical Conversations this week on Tuesday, and I will be venturing out as a tutor this year. I am both excited and anxious, looking forward to starting a new year!