Potty trained:)

I don't have any photos but have been meaning to write to mark the milestone of Jake being potty trained:) He is 2 years and about 8 months old. He has been doing great in the last two weeks, even through the night and in the car, which I didn't know how we would conquer. It just clicked one day and he hasn't gone back:) I also want to write about a little story that a teacher told me today at school. She said Jake laid his head back and hit it on the ground lightly. He then says to Cole, his best friend, " Best friend, I don't feel good!" and Cole stopped what he was playing and came over and sat next to him. Cole then proceded to kiss Jake on his head where his boo boo was. Jake and Cole then hugged and Jake said " Friend I feel better now". The teacher, who is not normally there, said it was one of the sweetest things she has witnessed. I am only sad that we will be moving Jake to another preschool in July and he will most likely be seperated from his other friends who will also be moving to different schools, including Cole. I truly hope Jake makes more friends at his new preschool. Jake is doing great. He has a boo boo on his leg that we think is excema and have been trying to treat it and put bandaids on it. The doc said just to put hydrocortizone on it and a bandaid but it still is there, so we will see if we take him back to the doctor. On Jake's school report it says that he has taught everyone the app state song, and when talking to another mom, Jake's good friend Clara, she mentioned that Jake taught Clara the song....lol. He loves Toy Story and insists he wants a "Buzz party" for his 3rd birthday party which we will have at the YMCA that I work at. We are still working at getting rid of the paci. My mom just visited this past weekend so Josh and I could go to the football banquet at app and we enjoyed ourselves. Jake likes to act like Buzz and pretend a lot like he is flying to bed at night. He likes to help with chores at home like taking the clothes out of the dryer or helping put them in. He loves his two neices and refers to them as his babies.

Airport Playdate

Great group of girls from work at Low Country resturant in Marion this past weekend.

These pictures were taken from our playdate with the Hickory Mommies group this past weekend at the Hickory airport. We also went to Pizza Hut and then to the park.

2 and 1/2 years old

Well Jake turned 2 1/2 a month ago so I am finally getting time to write a post to catch up: He is 3 feet tall (he has grown 2 inches in the last 6 months) and he still weighs about 30 pounds.

Jake does really good peeing for 80% off the time but we haven't gotten to trying underwear that often although he has it at school to try. He also realizes that telling us that he has to pee is also a way of getting out of going to sleep. Here is the potty chart that we have had up in his room for the past 6 weeks:

As you can tell he helped decorate it.

He really likes to play with his tool set that he got for Christmas and he loves doing puzzles and playing memory. He still loves potato salad, chicken and peas and corn along with pickles and olives.

We made a make shift play area in our basement with our old living room furniture and t.v. so he now has a space to play in and for all of his toys that don't fit in the living room or his room. We have a heater for the space so that we can use it during the winter.

Right now he loves watching Despicable Me and Courdoroy among other movies like Shrek. He LOVES Little Einsteins in the morning when he gets a chance.

He is so smart at counting, he talks really clearly ( we tried to post videos but it doesn't work for some reason). He just got his own umbrella for when it rains. He is a funny kid. He is a cuddler. He loves his cousins whom he refers to as his "babies".

He hit his head last week in the bathroom and we had to take him to urgent care for safety precautions. No stiches. Then he had a blow out in Harris Teeter this past wednesday and I had to cart him around with just a shirt and a pull-up. Times are busy and crazy these days but we are enjoying this age. We try to read with him every night and spend quality quiet time playing games. He hasn't understood hide and seek yet but he like to hide with one of us. Otherwise he doesn't hide very well because he lets us know where he is.

Here are some pictures that I took of Jake blowing bubbles that his Aunt Trish sent for V-day:

By the last picture he was done with me taking pictures.

On another note here is a picture of our new bedroom set (not a picture of our room specifically) along with the lamp that Josh bought for the nightstand. Now we have all of our major furniture and we can feel like adults:)

That's about it right now. Very busy last couple of months coming off of football season. Today is the last day of winter gym for Josh and then on to Spring football. Hoping to post more in the future but every weekend seems to be packed. Hoping to get Jake in his new daycare once he is fully potty trained, before August at the latest (since he turns 3 in July).

Christmas/NYE 2010

This picture was taken before the milk was split under the booth on NYE at Mellow Mushroom and before he then proceeded to throw up all over the floor what milk he had drank. Happy New Year to us....lol.

These pics were taken at Josh's parents house the day after Christmas.

Jake and Peyton with Josh's mom, Jake is almost 2 1/2 years and Peyton is 5 months.

Jake and my best friend Mandy at my parents Christmas Eve GTG

Jake's Teachers

Jake and his best friend Cole Ward at daycare


Jake and his good friend Clara

Christmas was very enjoyable this year. We put a tree up in the living room, we were able to visit Atlanta for an entire week since App State lost in the 3rd round of the playoffs. It was so nice to be able to spend time with friends and family without being rushed. We all received many nice gifts also on Christmas Day. We then left for SC just as it was beginning to snow. We were about to spend time with family there, open gifts and play some in the snow. I left the following morning to go back to work and Josh came back to spend a couple more days with Jake and his family.

Update on Jake:

He is in 2T clothing, he is starting to tell us pretty often when he has to pee pee on the potty so that seems to be going well. He talks really well and has great vocabulary. He can take all of his clothes off, he likes talking on the phone and uses many adult phrases like " I'll be right back, k?" He loves to read books, play with trucks and other pretend play toys. He likes to tell us " You be careful!" if we are eating hot soup or doing something else he thinks is dangerous. He loves to help cook and brush his teeth. I think he is starting to have less tantrums as he is able to tell us why he is upset. He is a joy to be around, to listen to him explain things to seriously yet he loves to laugh and "push your tickle switch". He is sleeping in his bed through the night most nights. He loves to ask "Whatcha doing?" He loves to watch Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Club and loves Toy Story 3 and Shrek.

Thanksgiving and week 3 of the playoffs

It has been a busy past couple of weeks. We had a bye week the first week of playoffs and went down to Rock Hill, SC to visit Josh's family for Thanksgiving. Then this past weekend played Western Illinois in the snow and won. This week we are playing Villanova at noon on ESPN and it will be crazy as I have a special event at work (Gingerbread house making) and will go straight to the game, but luckily my mom is coming up to help with Jake.

Tonight we finally had time to get the Christmas tree up and Jake loved decorating it with candy canes. He loves the Christmas tree and actually likes Santa this year. We will see how he does when we see him at the mall. So far he has seen him twice and done well.

Potty training is doing alright. He pee peed on the potty tonight before his bath time and I think tried a couple times at school. It cracks me up because we he doesn't have to go he says" There's no water in there".

He loves candy canes but candy doesn't always work for bribing him to try peeing on the potty.

Below are some pictures of Jake decorating the tree, Jake at our Christmas Tree lighting at the Y and Paige and I with Peyton and Jake after church.

Just because this is like a scrapbook for myself I have to put down two memories:

1) Jake putting my sister's my Buddy in time out for kicking him
2) These days everything is "mine" and "a big one". So if its a piece of candy its he says "it's mine and then asks "it's a big one mommy?"

We just got him snow boots at Target yesterday and he loves them so much he wore them to school today and walked around with them on the wrong feet because he put them on himself and didn't want to take them off.

Boone after the game 12/4/10

Jake eating a candy cane at the Y

Jake yelling at Santa Claus

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

We just got back the great family photos taken this year by Monica Reid Photography, who also did our photos last year. Now it was time to figure out where we were going to get our Christmas photos printed this year....

in comes Shutterfly. They are doing a sweet promotion where they give bloggers like me, 50 free Christmas cards just for blogging about them! Those that know me know I am always in for a deal, especially when it's free :)

So I took a look at their website and here are a few designs I might try:

Honestly, just picking 4 to show only 4 designs I loved was hard. They have so many choices:

Christmas cards

We also are looking at doing a few calendars as gifts:

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

Ordering and personalizing these cards, calendars and other gifts are so simple. I have so many friends who rave about the ease of using Shutterfly so I am defiently looking forward to using them this year.

So take a look at them for your own family, I am sure that you too will find that there are many choices, the hardest part (after getting the right picture) is finding your favorite card!

Halloween and Toddler Bed, App State 8-1

For Halloween Jake was Woody from Toy Story. He loves Toy Story these days. We got hom Toy Story 2 last weekend and bought Toy Story 3 to give him at Christmas. We went to 10-15 houses and then went home. He loved the Tootsie-Roll pops he got and the flashlight my mom gave him was very helpful lit up in his Halloween bag.

We also finally broke down and purchased a toddler bed and new sports comforter set that were both on sale at Target. He loves his new bed but we are having a hard time getting him to stay in it at night since its so easy to get in and out of.

App State lost this past weekend in overtime to GA Southern but are at home against Wofford this weekend, a team who is undefeated in the conference. My mom came up to help watch Jake as I had to work. This weekend Josh's parents are coming up to watch the game. Next weekend I am flying with the team down to the University of Florida for the App State vs. Florida game.

Jake is starting to potty train again. He pee peed at school yesterday and again a couple of times this morning before peeing on the floor and deciding he wanted a diaper on again. We are not pushing him but hope that he will be potty trained by February so we can switch daycares.

We are getting some more family pictures taken this weekend for Christmas cards in hopes of getting some where we are all looking at the camera or not scwinting. The photographer was so nice to offer to take some additional ones.

Jake is doing well though. He loves putting stickers in his Toy Story sticker book, playing with his lego fire truck, throwing or kicking all kinds of sports balls. He loves to help in the kitchen, and feed the dog. He can easily open his bedroom door and luckily in our house we really only live on the top level. He loves puzzles and his vocabulary gets better every day. He known almost everywhere by his "hut. hut" as he does it whereever he goes.....school, the Y, the grocery store, Owens Field house.

7 and 0 and Parents visit

Appalachian State is currently 7-0 after beating Western Carolina this weekend. Jake went to his first away game and did well in the stands watching for Yosef. He continues every time his gets in the car to take his shoes off. He got the hand, foot and mouth disease this past week and I had to stay home with him one day and he went to work with Josh one day. He loves Toy Story and watches it constantly, we are going to have to get him 2 and 3. He is going to be Woody for Halloween.

We are looking at changing his daycare to First Baptist Daycare in Marion once he is potty trained. Due to daycare going up $75 per month this new daycare is $20 cheaper than what we pay now, doesn't have the teacher turnover, they take them to the library and have a music teacher come in and teach, they have a science room and room to run and play inside in other rooms if the weather is bad. I have heard nothing but good things about the school ......The list goes on, the only thing I am concerned about is Jake missing his current friends, but some of them I heard may leave once they are potty trained....so we shall see!

On other notes, the pictures on this post are from when my parents visited two weekends ago We attended the Hickory Oktoberfest as well as the App vs. Elon game. We also had a professional photographer take pictures while they were here.

There are a few up above......

Last weekend Aunt Paige and Uncle Eric visited although we unfortunatly have no pictures of that visit. We also visited our neice Thea who was born on Thursday Oct. 14th, 2010 at 11:55 p.m. to Josh's brother, Tim and his wife Trisha.

Mandy, my best friend, comes ot visit this weekend so that along with the Furman game and trick-or-treating so make for a fun weekend!