Tonight

Cam and I have been really busy today. It was good to be home all day and catch up. Catch up days always make our lives run more smoothly. First on the list? My office/craft room. All the other rooms in the house have gotten some sort of de-clutter time, but not my office. This is mostly due to the daunting nature of the task. :) Well, It is done now!!! We moved some furniture around and now I don't have to sew down on the kitchen table. Sweet!

Some other happenings of the day included a fussy Jake. I am sure he is getting one molar. He is chomping on his index finger shoved all the way back and when I feel, there seems to be a slight bump. We wont mention the three bottom front teeth he is working on to match the one what popped up last week. Poor kid! So on top of all that, we decided it was time to finally cut Jakes hair... again. This will officially be Jake's 3rd hair cut.

We wrestled him to get this picture... haha.

It looks like a baby mug shot, but oh well!

This is what we took off.

And the phone is how we bribed him to sit still.

I used a 2 on the sides and buzzed it and then I cut the top myself.

I am pretty pleased. He actually sat mostly still!

Here is the series of after shots where he is thinking, "Where'd the phone go! I'm hungry! My teeth hurt! And, I want to go to bed!"

Baby Mug Shot #2

This is Jake crawling over me while I am trying to get some kind if picture.

Can you even see a difference in his hair?

And then he was mad because I wasn't sharing the camera and I was holding him back with one hand while taking the picture with the other.

Poor kid. Lots of loves followed.

And dinner.

After dinner we did a bath.

Are you bored yet?

I have been feeling like I haven't been getting good 'ol classic photos of Jake lately.

Like the bath. :)

Posing.

He doesn't ever sit in the bath, but him not crying while in the bath is a huge improvement so we let him stand. He hasn't fallen yet! (Knock on wood...)

This is him squatting. It is the closest I have ever seen him voluntarily get to the water.

And, some bath-time smiles.

It is blurry, I know.

My point and shoot does that. :(

Hope your day was as fun as ours.

Picture of my current projects, my new office, and of course Jakey are to come all week!

For the Korea-residing siblings...

Meet Jake - the 14 month old version.

We never turn on the TV. Not because we are opposed, but because we don't have cable and we are never home - so, I have been slowly training Jake to entertain himself in front of the TV. This was our second lesson.

He sat in front of the TV watching very intently with the Catch Phrase timer beeping for like five minutes. It was too funny.

Another thing Jake is good at is growing. We just pulled out all of the stashed 18 month old clothes and are starting to transition. :) The reason I tell you all of this is because we found this little gem.

Yeah, it's a Wall-E (The movie. Have you seen it?) shirt. Wall-E lights up. He.Was.Mesmorized.

And, as of right now, Green Beans are Jake's favorite food.

Well... next to cotton candy. ;)

What's New?

Jake has FOUR teeth. Well, actually, I think he has five as of today.

This is the end result a new face he is making, but it shows his teeth perfectly! It is kind of a scrunchy face thing. I don't know where he learned it, but it is slightly irritating me in a "that's an ugly face but it is making me laugh" kind of way.

He loves, loves, loves pancakes with blueberries or chocolate chips or plain! He's a fan.

And, we have one of these outside of our house.

We are officially attempting to short sale our house after trying to work with the bank to modify our loan for a year. A YEAR, PEOPLE! :) That's a long time. :)

So, if you know anyone who wants a good looking house and can stand to wait for the bank to approve the short sale - send them my way!

Or, if you know someone who is renting a house that we can live in, send them as well.

One of the Pack

Jake thinks he is one of the dogs.

He loves to play in the dog kennel

And he often throws things out the dog door.

remotes, dishes, toys, food, dog bowls... whatever.

The dogs love him.

But they steal his food.

(This was Melinda bribing Jake for pictures - Major had had enough.)

And, when the dogs beg...

Jake begs too.

Today, I knew he was ready for a nap when he laid down on Major's dog bed.

Scroll down to read about Noon Years Eve!

Noon Years at the Zoo

My sister was in town for New Years and so we took the kiddos to Noon Years Eve at the Zoo. Radio Disney was there bringing in the new year at noon complete with a apple cider toast!

Me and Jakey with our cider.

He is clapping to the music.

Before the toast we walked around a bit. There was snow for the kids to play in, but it was pretty packed and dirty by the time we got there.

This is Cameron trying to lure in some ducks with pop corn but Jake leaned over and ate it. HAHA. Silly kid.

Here are some ducks.

Look at my little man! He is just looking at the Wallabies like a big kid!

Jake on an elephant trunk

Jake with Daddy on the Elephant.

Cousin Ember on the elephant.

Our Christmas

Christmas this year was awesome. We had a wonderful time reflecting on the birth of our Savior as well as being spoiled by Santa and his helpers.

On Christmas Eve, we always get to open pajamas. We did this in the morning before I went to work.

Here's Jake

Here Dad!

(His bear and him had matching p.j's)

A picture with Mom.

On Christmas Eve, Santa dropped off some goodies.

(It should be mentioned that on Christmas day, Jake slept in later than he has slept in ... ever. We got up, showered, and then decided to wake him when he finally woke up.)

Anyway, Jake got this chair.

Daddy got this Dutch Oven

Mommy got these fancy scissors.

Jake also got lots of books!

And Daddy got this cool Lego book.

but Jake's favorite book is barely a book at all. It is a little toy with pages and it makes noise.

After presents, we packed up and spent the rest of the day with family.

Jake played us hymns and we all sung along... Just Kidding.

But, his favorite thing to do right now is to gently play the piano. He does it everywhere we go that has one. :) This is at Grandma Payne's.

Oh, and before I end this, I must introduce you to Jake's new friend.

He isn't named yet, but this tiger is so fun. It is big enough to ride and it says on the tag that it holds up to 140lbs! Jake likes it, if you couldn't tell by the picture. He is actually laughing!

We hope all your Christmas's were awesome too! Until next year. :)

Happy Birthday Maddie

Two years ago today, Madison Ryen came into our lives.

We're thinking of you little one.

As always, if you would like to donate to March of Dimes in Madison's name, her picture on the right will link you there.