4th of July Part 1

For the 4th of July this year we went to San Luis Obispo to share a wonderful holiday week with Ryan's family.  It was the best vacation and we all had a really good time.  We relaxed, played at the house, went to a 4th of July picnic, went to the beach and the zoo.  We had such a good time that I took a million pictures.  So here are most of them to share...part 2 Day at the zoo will follow as I was afraid I would not have enough memory on the blog entry to contain them all.  :)  enjoy!!!

"Ma" (the name Jake is trying out right now for his Grandmas) got AJ some yummy baby food finger foods...and just like big brother used to do...AJ sticks the entire wheel into his mouth.  :)

Jake LOVES watermelon, and really seemed to enjoy eating on the lawn

Jake is such a big boy now...getting better at the big boy swing

AJ's very first time on a swing...I think he likes it...

..and seems pretty relaxed too :)

My 3 boys :)

AJ's first time in the big bath without his plastic tub....he LOVED it...so much easier to make big splashes

Introducing your pilot for this flight, Jake Brown

Crazy drivers!

My little surfer boy

Some adorable bonding time

This was also AJ's first time at the beach (crazy to think that a year ago we were here and he was still in my tummy)...at first he was not too sure.

Jake could hardly wait to get in the water, but wanted to hug his daddy for a little support

But he had a blast and went in a couple more times

...and AJ even dipped his feet in the ocean to check it out...wonder what he thought?

...I think this answers that question.  :D  I was actually amazed, I was not sure what he would think of the cold water...but he laughed when I put his feet in.  Little AJ is going to be a fish just like his big brother.

Our adorable happy family

And one happy Jakey Bear

"What is this stuff?"

I think we made another Beach Bum

These boys are serious about their sandcastles

AJ was really excited to play in the sand and get dirty

And of course no adventure is complete for Jake unless there is a slide involved

What a wonderful Day with Grandma and Grandpa and so many wonderful memories were made.
Stay tuned for part 2...which hopefully will come soon followed by Jake's swim lessons.  :D

Catch Up Pictures

I have so many pictures to share its amazing!  :)  I have some fun ones that were taken before 4th of July, a lot of great ones from the holiday, and then Jake's swim lesson pictures to share.  So for this first post I am just going to share those earlier catch up ones.  :)

But the boys are great and we are having an amazing time with them.  AJ just turned 11 months old on Sunday and he is just so much fun.  He has a fun personality and is just so happy most of the time.  He is still not crawling but honestly I think its because he is really trying to figure out this standing, pull up and walking thing.  He is not really close yet but loves standing up and holding onto us and has scootched up to me and pulled himself up to standing a couple times...so he is getting there.  And even though the silly boy cannot crawl...well forward that is, he can go from playing on his tummy to sitting up.  So between that and rolling, turning and scootching backwards, this boy can get around pretty well.  And...big news here...on Friday he finally cut his first tooth!!!!!  So we are on the road to more solid foods which makes this little food lover very happy.  :)  His favorite foods right now are strawberries, pancakes and yogurt...but he really enjoys all the baby foods too.  :)

Jake is doing wonderful as well.  He has developed a deep love for cupcakes and dinosaurs.  Cupcakes are from one of his favorite books If You Give a Cat a Cupcake  and so now anything he finds with cupcakes is just the best thing in the world.  :)  The other night we were praying before going to bed...basically me telling him word by word what to say...its pretty cute, and we were in the middle of thanking Jesus for Mommy, Daddy and AJ when all of a sudden he thanked Jesus for cupcakes.  lol  And then dinosaurs...we have a fun place to eat and shop around here called Charlie Brown's and out front they have all these huge animals...they have a few dinosaurs and so this was Jake's introduction to them...it was love at first sight.  :)  His verbal is also coming along well.  We are all working with him and we are seeing more and more come out of him and its really fun to see what he is really thinking and have small little talks with him.  I so love my little Jakey Bear.

Well onto those pictures...enjoy   

Introducing "Ma" to a couple of his pals

Such a cutie pie

AJ loves going over to his books and pulling them all out...I remember his big brother doing the very same thing

"Mmmmm ice cream...someday maybe Mommy and Daddy will give me the real stuff"

Hehehe...often times when scootching around backwards on his tummy, AJ will find himself stuck in some furniture.  :)

This was a toy that Jake had gotten for a first birthday present from some good friends and AJ LOVES it...often gives us the time to get Jake a bath which is really nice.  So much fun to watch AJ enjoy the same things that his big brother did.

Well more soon!!!

Bring on the Summer and AJ is 10 months!!!

Wow, I really cannot believe that AJ is 10 months old.  Wasn't I just getting up in the middle of the night to have a snack because he was coming via c-section the next day.  Hard to believe.  But he is an amazing little guy, super happy, talkative, loves to play with toys and his brother and wants so badly to move!!!!  No he is not crawling yet, although he is excellent at scootching backwards and piveting around...so he often finds himself stuck on furniture.  :)  He is also able to eat more foods now which he loves.  He adores all of his veggies but Sweet Potatoes are his favorite, loves peaches and pears and is pretty excited about his new additions of chicken and turkey.  Now he just really wants to eat what we are eating...although there is another problem...no teeth yet.  Poor little guy.  But I have the feeling they are coming as he has been more than a bit fussy this weekend...time will tell.

Jake is also great...LOVING that its summer time.  He is a major fish and loves playing in his little pool in the backyard and going to the big pool down the street.  I took him yesterday and he had a blast...especially when a lifeguard asked if he would like to play with a kick board.  He really thought he was hot stuff...so much so that he started flurting with the female lifeguards.  shaking head.  He was yelling "hi guys" and then making motorboat sounds once he got their attention.  Yeah, they thought he was pretty funny.  Oh....I am in trouble with this one.  But we have also been working hard on his verbal and he is doing very well.  Still have a way to go to catch him up but we have been impressed with how he is improving...he even said the word "another" the other day which really impressed me.  But he remains my adorable boy who loves to cuddle (for short times of course), play, build towers, race and crash cars, and goof around with his brother.  And his potty training is still coming along...we are very proud of him.  OK now onto pictures.  :)

 Jake's first time in the water for the summer...you never know how they will do...but he walked straight outside and directly in the pool.  I think he had been waiting all winter for this.  :D

One happy boy

Time with Grandma and Grandpa before bed...not sure who is having more fun  :)

This is what happens when you leave your husband and your parents with the baby  :D  And yes he loved it.

I love this picture so much...Adorable Big Brother and Little Brother PJs

AJ watching his favorite tv show...reminds me a lot of his big brother at the same age :)

"Don't blame my mommy for the outfit...I made a mess at breakfast...but I am really happy!!!"

Adorable little Guy

This is so cute...Jake wanted to tuck "Horsey" into bed for a nap of his own.  The funny thing is that this is actually a dog toy that Jake picked out on his own about a year ago for his own...and now AJ loves it to...poor Piper on the other hand never is allowed to touch it.

Jake found that the laundry basket made for a great boat

AJ all ready for a trip to the pool....sadly we did not get pictures of his first trip in the pool...but we will get some later.  He loved it though and happoly spasked while we each held him.  I think he is going to be a fish just like his brother.

A picture of AJ scootching around...he can really get some distance and loves that he is able to get to some of his brother's toys.

The other day I heard AJ unhappily fussing..I came over to see he had gotten a teething ring stuck around his foot.  No idea how he did it but he was not pleased.  hehe

Well I hope that you all have a great 4th of July...Hopefully I will have some more great pictures to share with everyone soon!!!

Catching Up...Again

You know, I'm not really sure what happened...I knew it had been a while since I last blogged but then I looked at the date and was amazed.  So here are some new pictures for you...sure they are from the end of May and the beginning of June...but you can still enjoy them as new.  :D

For my next post I will tell all about my 10 month old little AJ and his awesome Big Brother Jake...they are both getting so big and we are having such a blast with them.  :)  And yes I have a bunch of pictures backed up on my camera that I can hardly wait to download and share with you.

Onto the pictures...

 Our Little Puff Addict Jr...we used to call Jake a Puff Addict and AJ is the same way.  He adores this wonderful snack that just melts in his mouth...yes even at 10 months the poor boy still does not have any teeth.  But he LOVES these.  His favorite are the sweet potatoe ones but he also enjoys the banana and vanilla flavored ones.  But from this picture can't you just tell he is in love.  :)

 My crazy boys playing together in their matching NC State t-shirts

 Such an adorable little boy

 Jake has also become more of a helper in doing the laundry.  He has always loved loading it too and from the basket....

...but now he will help me move it around as well...

....although he then needs to take a break from all his hard work.  :D  And the wonderful boy even enjoys helping me hang up the wet laundry on the drying racks.  He still needs a little more training on hanging it straight vs in a clump...but he shows great promise.  :D

 Its been a long time since Jake had a bath picture...this boy loves the bath.  Even if he happened to have his bath in the morning on a particular day he will ask to have one at night.  The boy loves the water.

As anyone who lives out here in the AV will tell you, this area gets really windy and in one of the last storms we lost a panel of our fence.  So when Ryan and our neighbor were out working on it..Jake decided that he would be a big helper.  :)

This was a nice night were we went out to the backyard and had a fire in our firepit and roasted smores.  AJ thouroughly enjoyed himself...and then fell asleep.  Poor Jake missed the whole thing as we went out after he went to bed.  One thing that AJ can say he did before his brother..too bad he didn't get to eat any.

No this is not a picture of toys all over the house...although I could share some of those that would knock your socks off.  But this was a good example of how far AJ can scootch around.  He started out in front of the chair with his carseat and very quickly found himself under the pool table...

....so Big Brother decided to come to his brother's aid.  :)

AJ playing with his beloved train

The love of my boys...I love watching how Jake interacts with AJ..it is so sweet.  Even as I type this Jake is jumping up and down...just because it is making AJ laugh.

My happy boy in his bright orange shirt.  Right now orange is Jake's favorite color...as he loves the few orange shirts he has and when given the option to pick out new sandles this year for the pool he picked...you guessed it orange.  They don't go with any of his swim trunks...but hey he's happy.  :)

The boys also love rolling a ball back and forth..I have it on video and will have to try and share it later if the file is not too big...but they have a great time.  :)

And yes there is a story behind the iron grasp AJ has on his hat.  This particular night AJ really liked his hat but Jake kept taking it off his head.  So poor little AJ went on the defensive and held on tight...pretty much until he fell asleep that night.  :)

My adorable little baseball player

Precious, precious sleeping baby.  This was the start of him sleeping on his side.

And for those of you who have sent Jake a card at some point..I really hope you don't mind that he does not think they are quite finished.  He LOVES coloring the inside of his cards.  Poor Ryan just got to glimps the inside of his Father's Day cards before Jake grabbed them up and started coloring.  :)

OK...more soon...I promise.  :)