Easter Egg Hunt

Today we went to an Easter Egg Hunt hosted by the MWR up at the Naval Recreation Center. We met Kaylee and her parents up there. The kids all had fun, though the adults were slightly disappointed. I loved the fact that they had the egg hunts divided into a lot of smaller age groups. The kids all 'hunted' in the under 2 age group. I know Jaycob is above 2, but they were doing them all at the same time in different locations and its kinda hard for Daddy to be in two places at once with the camera. So I figured it wasn't going to hurt anyone if he 'hunted' with Abygail and Kaylee!!

It was nice that the eggs were just thrown over a ball field and the kids just had to gather them. The thing that just bugged me is ALL the prizes in the eggs were NOT for an under 3 crowd, let alone for an under 2 crowd!! Quarter sized compasses, those jelly things you throw against the window, dress-up rings, quarter sized tops, and friendship bracelets. The bracelets were really the only thing the kids will be able to play with. Now I understand there really isn't a whole lot that you can put in an egg that would be suitable for a child younger then 2, but the least they could do was put candy in them for the parents to eat and decide what was suitable for their child. Tootsie rolls, M&M's, Skittles, ect.... Instead they put toys in there that a young child can obviously tell is a toy, but you have to tell them they can't play with it!! That's just cruel!! Ok.... I'm done ranting now, sorry!!!

The kids also got their faces painted. I really wasn't sure if Jaycob would let the girl draw on his face, but he crawled right up there! He sat there and held really still for her. Daddy took a picture when she was done and showed it to him on the camera. He thought it was pretty funny!! Abygail held really still and did really well too!

Oh Yeah!! Jaycob also got to meet a lady dressed up as an Easter Bunny!! He wasn't afraid of her or anything. He patiently waited his turn, took his piece of candy, said "Thank-You", and went about his merry way!

After the kids participated in everything that was suitable for their age we went and played on the playgrounds. Jaycob fell in love with this really HIGH old metal slide. He went all the way up the steep steps all by himself and slid all the way down himself, even controlling his speed down it so he didn't fall off the end like the other children!!

Fun was had by all... I'm surprised at least Abygail didn't fall asleep on the way home. We had put the kids down for nap extra early hoping they would sleep and get in some kind of nap before we went. They both ended up with about 30 minutes of sleep. They were both really good the whole time we were there, and from my understanding were both good all night all the way through bedtime!! I don't know though, I had went out for an evening with 'the girls'!!

Bit of Conversation

I just went up to get laundry and the following is what I heard coming from Jaycob's room:

Jaycob: "Yeanh-Yeanh" (this is Kaylee, he keeps changing the way he says her name!)

Jaycob2: "Yeanh-Yeanh. No! Yeanh-Yeanh"

Jaycob: "Truck? Yeanh-Yeanh. Mommy"

Jaycob2: "No no no! Yeanh-Yeanh daddy truck!"

Jaycob: "Yeanh-Yeanh truck mommy!!!

Jaycob2: "Yeanh-Yeanh weeeeeeee" (Weeee is what Jaycob calls the slide or swings depending on context)

Jaycob: "Truck Yeanh-Yeanh weeeeee"

This is where I had to leave for fear of laughing so hard that I might disturb him!! This whole conversation was like he was fighting with himself. Except the very last line was agreeing with himself... It was all too funny. I guess you loose something of it without the inflection in his voice, but I had to record it more for me then all of you!!

After dinner we went to the park with Kaylee and her parents... This is what must have prompted this bit of conversation!!

A Squirrel

Jaycob's standing by the sliding glass door trying to tell me something, I'm not paying attention. Oreo goes over to the door, jumps and flips out on the door. I get up just in time to see a squirrel duck out underneath the fence. I looked at Jaycob and told him that was a squirrel, did he see the squirrel, is that what he was trying to tell me??

He looks at me, shakes his head yes and put both his hands up near his mouth... Took a minute for me to figure out what he was doing. He was showing me how the squirrel was eating! He then did it again and then signed eat and bird. I'm guessing the translation would be, "Mama, the squirrel was eating the bird food!!".

As I wrote out the first sentence up there he said, "There you are!" The squirrel had come back and we sat and watched him for a few minutes. Jaycob continued to put his hands up and pretend he was eating like a squirrel, making all the "MmmmMmmm" sounds he could come up with! All too cute! If only I can get him to do it again for Daddy later tonight!

Ohhh and there he is again... The word must have just got out that there's sunflower seeds over on this side of the fence! The kids are LOVING having a new 'thing' to watch out there.

Monday @ Rachel's

Ok she hadn't posted her entry before I started mine about the library... But its up there now! So go post your Moronic Moment over at Rachel's...

Very Good!!

We went to the library this morning, even though the last two times have not gone well. I was actually debating not going at all, but I figured ahhh what's the worst that could happen?? A repeat of the previous performances... Not to bad in the realm of things and Abygail still enjoys herself no matter how Jaycob acts...

We went, picked out some books, went into story time, came out and played with some of the other kids!

During story time, this week, Jaycob was very good. We sing the same song every week at the beginning and he did all the movements that went with that. Then he actually listened to the story and drank his juice (small meltdown here because I didn't understand he wanted his juice). After the story they did a finger play that went along with it, he tried to join and follow along with that! And another 2 songs that he had never heard before he tried singing and doing the movements. At the end we always do twinkle twinkle and he sang and did all the movements to that too!! Since we hadn't stayed for the last few times we hadn't heard the story or all the songs in between, but there was Jaycob like he's heard them all before!!

So, yeah, this week went MUCH better then it has in a while! We got some books, no video this week... Since I haven't posted lately the books we've been checking out I've had a few people ask (you know who you are!!)... We have moved from all board books to a mix of board and "real" page books!! Here's our list for this week:

• Peek-A-Boo! by Roberta Grobel Intrater - this book has real baby faces that Aby loves.
• Little Piglet by Nicola Smee - simplistic story of a day in a piglets life.
• Green by Moira Anderson - has real pictures of green items and talks about them. Jay so far has had the Blue and Yellow books and LOVED them.
• I'll Catch the Moon by Nina Crews - I haven't read it yet. Just know that it has a lot of pictures of the moon, something Jay is really into right now!

A Day in PA

We got up bright and early before 0600, got the kids up and ready, and headed out the door! Thought for sure at least Abygail would sleep on the way there. Nope. All the way to Uncle D, Aunt T, and Cousin L's both kids were awake and even very good. We made it through D.C. easy enough and after being in the van for 3 hours we were all so glad we made it their house!

Fun was had by all... Cousin L loved all the festivities! Jaycob and Abygail loved having someone new to play with, including all his toys!!

And this is how the cake went over... As you can see she warmed up to it eventually!

The kids were pretty good all the way home for the most part too... One small break down about a stop light, but it blew over quick enough... Bedtime went over well enough even without the normal bedtime routine. Everyone slept in this morning so Mommy and Daddy were happy!!

Just a Quick Note

We went to the park today with Melissa and Kaylee... We stayed a very long time... Abygail actually fell asleep on the way home... Jaycob's diaper stayed dry from before we left the house til we got home 4 hours later... Then he peed in the potty!!!

Ok Pictures from the park!

Another Park

Tired.... Just going to post pictures of yet another park Melissa showed us! Thank-You!

He Likes It, Jaycob Really Does Like It!!

Today we went to a new place that opened up last week. Its called The JumpYard and its this place that's filled with a bunch of those balloon moonwalk things. Our play group was supposed to meet there this week, but sadly everyone had to cancel due to being sick. Everyone that is except Melissa and Kaylee! So we went a little earlier then planned.

We walked in and the kids were more then willing to get going! They stripped thier coats and shoes and went after it!! It being the giant balloons of course!!

Jaycob, leery of things they way he is, I thought I was going to really have to do some coaxing to get him on these things. I was wrong! He climbed right up on each one of them like he's done it all before. He loved all the slides and tunnels. He had such a blast!

Abygail on the other hand.... She hated all the balloons! She clung to me like a little monkey. She eventually warmed up enough that she let me put her down. They do have all kinds of jumpers, exersaucers, and other baby toys to make it a more family friendly place. So most the time I was playing with Jaycob and Kaylee while also keeping an eye on Abygail playing with all the baby toys. She never did warm up to the balloons and really could have cared less about what the rest of us were doing!!

After playing for about an hour and a half or so we came home, had lunch, and they both passed out soon after going to bed!!

Jaycob Jumping for Choo-Choo's

I've just rediscovered Photobucket and I've figured out that they host your video's too!! So here's a little clip for your viewing pleasure. It's a bit grainy because it was taken with my regular camera. And for some reason I was stupid enough and turned the camera sideways, so it's a little hard to watch once I did that. But here you go anyway!!

Oh yeah... The whole time he's doing this he's shouting Choo-Choo, Whoo-Whoo, and making steam sounds!

About Today

We've been trying to get Jaycob to tell Bryan about his day. This was today's dialog.
Note: Jaycob first starting calling Kaylee 'Kay-Kay', but for some reason changed it to 'Yeaaah-Yeaaah'. Who knows why?

Mommy: "Jaycob, did you tell Daddy who we went and seen today?"

Daddy: "Jaycob, who did you see today?"

Looks at me and asked who...

Daddy: "Jaycob, did you go and see Kaylee today?"

Jaycob shakes his head non-chalantly.

Then looks at Bryan and you can see the question actually registers. He starts flapping his arms and gets all excited!

Jaycob: "Yeaaaah- Yeaaah truck!"

Mommy: "Yes, we seen Kaylee's truck"

Jaycob: "Bye, bye Yeaaah- Yeaaah!"

Daddy: "You went and seen Kaylee today?"

Jaycob: "Yeaaah- Yeaaah dahdy?"

Daddy: "You seen Kaylee's daddy too?"

Jaycob shakes head excitedly!
Jaycob: "Yeaaah- Yeaaah mama?"

Daddy: "Yep you seen Kaylee's mommy too"

Jaycob once again shakes head excitedly.
Jaycob: "Yeaaah- Yeaaah, Yeaaah- Yeaaah!"

Thursday in Pictures

We did finally find a stroller for Abygail for under $10!! She loves it!!

Wednesday in Pictures

In the morning we went to a play group, sorry no pictures.

When we got home it was lunch and naps. After naps we went out and played.





After dinner we went out to the park with Kaylee and her parents! I'm totally loving having someone here to talk to over the age of 3!!

Tuesday in Pictures

Ok I have pictures for this day, but I'm choosing not to share them at this moment...

Permissions pending, sorry!!

I will say that we had Melissa and Kaylee over for a little while in the morning....
We had a blast! Abygail has a mark to prove it!
I have no pictures to show you all the fun!

3/20 Edited to add: This is what most of our attention was tuned into on this day! (Sorry Mom!!)

Taken 3/13







Taken 3/20

Monday in Pictures

This is LOVE!

The Suspense Ends....

Ok I know quite a few of you have asked me what Jaycob was talking about in my last post. So here is the answer.

He wanted us to get a shoe and squish a spider that was crawling around near his train!

I know... Stupid... But it was funny especially considering he's only seen us do that a couple of times, and none of the recently.

Guess the Meaning

Tonight after dinner Jaycob was playing with his trains near the television. One minute he was playing the next he was standing by the sliding glass door pointing at his trains saying, "Choo-Choo". We told him he could go play with his train and few other things, but he just stood there. He then said, "Choo- Choo" pointing at his train over in the corner and "Shoe Mama" pointing at his shoe. Ok so.... What his train ran over his shoe? His shoe got in the way of his train? (yes he refers to his shoes while on his feet as a third party!) But he continued to just stand there and told us, "No!" to all of guesses as to what he was talking about.

Guess what he was trying to tell us.....

Monday Again & Moron Monday

First off... Business... Go tell your moronic story over at Rachel's... Go... Now!!

We did go to the library this morning. I was quite a bit leery after last week's episode, but we went anyways! You'll never guess who showed up... Kaylee and her mommy! Kaylee's wonderful mommy remembered me saying at some point that we're usually at the library on Monday mornings so she brought Kaylee up!! Jaycob actually recognized her. He followed her with his eyes and at the same time ignored her, you know how guys are!! Whenever Kaylee danced during story time Jaycob just had to tell me about, it was all too funny!

After story time Kaylee and her mommy decided they were going to go to the park. I decided we were going to tag along. We tagged right along to park that we haven't been to before!! Just as close as the other one we go to, but in my opinion better!! Thanks Melissa for showing us that park!!!

The kids had a blast! Jaycob did get in trouble for throwing wood chips. Both liked the swings, though I wish they had more. Abygail loved climbing up and down the steps way up high. And Jaycob did find a slide he was comfortable with and went down it by himself quite a few times! Oh and me... I liked going to the park and having someone to talk to other then a 1 and 2 year old!!! Another mommy.. Oh it was great! There might even be a repeat performance tomorrow!!

Anyway... They're both in bed and sound asleep... I think I may just do the same!!

Outside Fun

Not only did Jaycob and I get to go to a birthday party today, but it was also warm enough to play outside after nap time all the way until dinner time and even a little bit after dinner! After the sun moved out the air got very cold though...

Jaycob rediscovered how much he loves his little slide. Last year he still preferred to have you help him up the stairs. And when we did we would count them. This year he's climbing them all by himself and he's even counting the steps!

Abygail has decided to make the lawnmower a baby stroller! Jaycob yelled at her for it and told her, "Vroom, Vroom!". Guess we'll have to look into getting her a real baby stroller.

Neither one of them really wanted to come in for dinner and again when it got darker. These pictures are right before we made them come in after sun down.

HyperSpace

Woo Hoo! We finally got a chance to go to HyperSpace, for a birthday party. Its like the big play place around here.

Knowing how the kids acted at Jungle Java I decided to only take Jaycob and leave Abygail at home with Daddy. At Jungle Java Jaycob was very afraid of anything with holes in it (i.e. the netting, rope ladders.) Here at HyperSpace I figured some of it would be platforms and such like the McDonald's play places. Nope at HyperSpace their Sky Maze is all those nylon strap nets!! Jaycob was not thrilled!!

Jaycob refused to even go near the Sky Maze at first. But the pull of a woman is irresistible! Jaycob has found his first real little friend, I think. Some one that he knows the name of, talks about, and gets excited when he sees her! This little woman is Kaylee from both of our playgroups. She is the cutest little thing ever! Of course as we've noticed Jaycob prefers, she's dark haired and can stand on her own two feet!! Anyways... She had no fear of going up in the Sky Maze and climbing all over the netting. Jaycob wanted to go to the slide that was in the middle of it all, but he didn't want to go bad enough until he seen Kaylee doing it!! By the time we were done he was cautiously following Kaylee up a platform or two!

We eventually ended up in a party room for presents, pizza, cake,

and fun. Jaycob didn't have as much issue as I thought he would with the presents. Though he did insist on sitting next to them! The pizza he ate pieces of, I didn't think it was that great. But to each his own I guess. Cake, he ate a small piece and kept looking at me like he was getting away with something! It was too funny!

After cake we went and played some games. And this is what came of that!! Jaycob and Kaylee danced together on one of those dance off games. Ok actually Kaylee danced like her little hot momma self and Jaycob watched, throwing in a little shake once in a while! But Kaylee can sure get down with the best of 'em!! It was all too cute!

Jaycob also played a few other games, but nothing excited him like dancing with Kaylee.

We actually ended up following Kaylee and her mom most the way home and the whole time Jaycob was exclaiming, "KK stop?" at red lights. "KK go?" at green lights. And "KK truck?" when we passed them! I'm glad he finally has a little friend that he actually talk about and such! He went as far as to ask about her this morning.

Paint 'N' Pottery

Play group today was at one of those paint and pottery places. Lots of breakable pottery pieces, wonderful place to have a play group for a group of 3 and unders you would think!! But actually we all did pretty good. We had over 10 moms and about 15 children between the ages of 8 weeks and 4, though I think the majority of the children were either 18 months or 30 months.

But anywho.... Jaycob and Abygail actually had tons of fun! They painted their tiles very nicely, with just the brushes and everything. But then I made a tile for each of them with their hand prints. Which gave them the wonderful idea to paint on their hand and smear it all over their tiles... So their tiles don't look so nice any more. All well, I'm still really anxious to see what they look like once they've been fired.

We'll have to go back out there and pick them up about this time next week. That's the bad part. It was a 45 minute drive there!! We live in the middle of no where here that we had to drive 45 minutes to get to a pottery place. We almost didn't go, I was worried about the drive there and back. But it went real well, the kids were really good!

On the way there Abygail fell asleep for about 20 minutes. Jaycob told me at every stop light to stop or go. And he talked about every car, truck, or woo-woo (anything with lights on it) at every light or that went zooming past us! For those of you who know him you'll find it just as astounding that he didn't even ask for a cup on the way there!! On the way back Abygail fell asleep within 5 minutes of being back on the road. And Jaycob did the exact same thing as he did on the way there!!

Ohhh I almost forgot... We also went out to eat with all the ladies and babies!! We went to Ruby Tuesdays. We called ahead so they could set up tables for us, but I think they were still surprised when we showed up! I think we had 7 moms, 4 children older then 2, and 7 younger then 18 months. Can you believe a restaurant like that only had 5 high chairs?? Hmmm, I thought it was a little odd! When we showed up (another woman and I) We got a couple of rude comments about what the noise level might end up being, but this was while their children were screaming!! Yeah go figure!!

In getting ready to go I completely forgot my camera. I had it in my hand ready to go and then... I don't know! I guess it will give me something to write about on Moron Monday! But all in all it was a good day. I'm so proud of my kids for being so good both in the van and at the pottery place!!

Note: Thanks Lisa for remembering the camera and sharing the pictures!