Practice Makes Perfect

This morning, Brett and I were sitting at the table, and Jacob was playing in the living room, when we heard him start playing the piano. I love listening to that sound! After a few minutes, I turned to look through the doorway, and I could see Jacob standing on the piano bench, instead of kneeling like he has recently learned how to do. Brett went in there to get him down, and called me in. This is what we discovered. The kleenex box, which had been on the table underneath the clock, was always accessible to little hands, so I moved it to the piano. Now what am I going to do with it???

Decorating the Classroom

This last Tuesday, almost my entire 7th grade was there for the annual Decorate the Classroom time. Each year, we choose a theme with which to decorate the entire room, and this year it is Car Racing. The theme remains top secret until the first day of school. They worked so well that they even cleaned all the desks and counters for me and put up the background for a bulletin board in the hallway. We had a super time!

And Here's My Brother!

Here's the picture we got today - I took a picture of it, holding it sideways so that hopefully you would see it better. This is Caleb's face, with the right side of it illuminated. You can see forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, and just for Aunt Rebecca - big, fat cheeks for kissing. And if I'm not mistaken, that's the right hand you see creeping up. Pretty exciting to think that 8 weeks from today, we'll get to see this face in person! :)

"A Trip to Chicago" ..... or should I say "Another Trip"...

Today, Jacob came with us to Chicago for the first of my once-a-week ultrasounds to check the baby's growth, movements, and general progress. While we were waiting, Jacob and I played with the camera, and Daddy watched "The Incredibles" on the small flat-screen TV right next to where we were sitting.

....And the coffee table won!

First time in a big swimming pool

On Wednesday, Jacob went in a big pool for the first time. He did not want to get in. So we sat on Mommy's lap on the first step, then the second step, then he stood on the third step. But it took a long time to get comfortable with Mommy holding him in the "deep" water. However, once you see a ball and start to play with it, you forget about being afraid of the water. When it was time to leave after an hour, I lifted him out and onto the side of the pool, intending to walk him around to the steps, and he sat back down and scooted to get in! He did put his face down in the water just before these pictures - the first one is actually of him about to sneeze! :) But all that coughing and sputtering didn't keep him from going after the ball again.

What Fun!

We spent a wonderful few days with Grandma and Aunt Elizabeth here. As you can see, Jacob had a lot of fun - Aunt Elizabeth played with him and had him laughing all the time. But I think that Grandma loved the kisses more. (You think Grandpa will regret having gone to Germany when he sees this picture? Nah, probably not!)

.......Now...with pictures

Jacob loves his KidSongs videos - he goes into a kind of a trance when one begins playing. He barely moves, which means I can get all kinds of things done! They really are wonderful. Today, when "Old MacDonald" was being sung, Jacob actually sang "E, I, O" along with it.

Keeping up with...just about everybody

Well, some things are inevitable...like blogs, for example. When you are the only one in the family without a blog, they look at you with a "Poor thing - she doesn't have a blog - *sigh*" expression on their faces. So, here goes....and that just leaves Elizabeth to get the expressions. :)