Halloween Music Party

Today was Jake's Halloween party in music class.  Lots of kids were missing today for class, which I was bummed about since I was up making treat bags for each one of them last night.  Jake was not in the Halloween spirit, but I'm thinking it's teeth since he seems to be fussy and constantly drooling!  He enjoyed seeing all the others dressed up and followed "Dorothy" around the most...how fitting! The lady dressed like a purple whoopie cushion is the instructor...she was actually an egg shaker that we use a lot during class.  I dressed up like a witch....just a hat really.  It was a fun music class filled with scary songs and tales! Video not working again, but I'll try again in the morning.

Look at that hair!  Waking up from a nap!

Carving Pumpkins

Not sure what to do

They are in love with each other

Jake, Daddy, and I carved pumpkins today!  We gave Jake a little pumpkin to dig into, but he didn't really want anything to do with it.  He smacked it a few times, but didn't want to put his hands in to pull out the seeds!  We carved "J-A-K-E" in Jake's pumpkin and a haunted house in our big one.  Jake's name didn't turn out well because I didn't think ahead of time how to cut out the letter "A" without the whole thing falling out.  Oops!  After we took all the seeds out, I toasted them in the oven.  They turned out very tasty.

We're getting really excited about trick-or-treating with Jake for the first time!  He is going to be a lion.  The costume fits him perfectly and especially highlights his chubby, round face! 
It was a beautiful day here...high of 74!  We took a nice long family walk and looked at everyone's Halloween decorations.  We're hoping the weather will stay this nice for next weekend's trick-or-treating!

Jake playing catch with Daddy...of course, with an Addy toy instead of his own

Ohio trip!

A little behind on posting these, but wanted to get the videos downloaded!  Jake had a great week seeing family and friends! Pictures of the week on facebook.

Jake riding his new toy!Playing at Grandma Phyllis's

Eating Grandma Phyllis's foodTalking with Papa Joe

Jake's 1st hayride!
Playing video games with Uncle Mike!

Buffalo, NY

What a wonderful Butwin wedding!  Everything was beautiful and Jessica & Chris looked so happy and stunning together! 

Jake was quite fussy most the weekend, but we made it through.  It's amazing how some babies need structure and routines...well, Jake is definitely one of those kids.  He missed many naps!  He had a great time at the reception, though!  He loved watching all the kids and, especially, got to bond with his cousin, Erin.  Erin was the mini babysitter.  She helped me tear some food up for him, spoon fed him some bananas, and entertained him.  It seemed that all the girl cousins were anxious to get in and play with Jake! They crawled on the floor with him and were even pushing him in his stroller to try and get him to sleep.  Of course, the speed in which they were going and the numerous crashes into the walls didn't help the whole falling asleep part!

Erin feeding Jake!

Crawling with Jake

Dad, Uncle Steve, & Uncle Joe doing the Twist together!

So glad to be back in his own crib!

This morning, Jake and I went to our first library class together with Carolyn and Angela.  It was a quick 30 minutes of nursery rhymes, music, and reading books together.  I'm really glad I'm finding places for Jake to interact with other children his age.  We go every Monday! 

Addy & Jake take a bath together!

At the library

A Moose & A Magnet

Jake has been having lots of fun these past few days.  He picked his Moose stuffed animal off the self and loves holding on tight to him.  He will mimic the moose.  If Moose claps, Jake will clap!  It's really sweet to see him interact. 

Jake has really been thinking a lot as he's playing, now.  He likes to hold one toy and hit another with it.  Cause and effect is also a new concept he's learning.  TOUCHDOWN is one of his favorite things to do and he does it right on cue!

Today, Jake got his first Halloween card!  It was from Grandma D and Grandpa.  He LOVED the card because it was similar to a book.  It also had a pumpkin magnet on the front of it that he immediately took off and played with for a good half hour.  He would carry it around in his mouth and spin in circles with it.  He even tried placing the magnet on the picture of the pumpkin that was on the inside of the card.  I thought it was pretty cool that he might have actually understood that they look the same.


Jake's eating more and more whole food.  Yesterday, he ate some well done steak, green beans, and baked potato.  Today, he got to try a pork chop and pasta!  He's getting so big! 

We're looking forward to the weekend with the Butwin family for wedding number two!  Packing everything up tomorrow!

Pasta!

Halloween card!

Jake's 1st Hair Cut

Well, we didn't make it to a year like we hoped to get Jake's hair cut, but it was just getting so long and hanging over his eyes.  We went to Kids Snips in Wheaton.  Jake was in a great mood and was excited to sit in the police car chair and turn the wheel.  He sat still most of the time and not one fussy moment.  He was curious about the buzzers and spray bottle of water.  They put Mickey Mouse on TV for him to watch.  It took her about 15 minutes and it turned out great!  Only a little trouble going around his ears with the clippers so one looks a little higher than the other.  I'm so glad we got him in before the wedding we are going to this weekend.

All finished!

I also went out and bought Jake another long sleeve shirt to wear to the wedding.  I didn't have it in me to go to another Butwin family wedding with him in the same shirt!  Long videos tonight of the hair cut!  I  wanted to video the entire thing, but our memory card was full! 

Jake liked seeing Addy's teeth!

Pumpkin Patch!

Jake, Daddy, me, Carolyn, Chris, and Angela all went to the pumpkin farm today to pick out the best first pumpkins!  It was a bit windy today, but we managed to eat some roasted corn on the cob, carmel apples, pretzels, hot chocolate, and apple cider!  Jake enjoyed playing with the pumpkins and crawling around on them.  We went to a different (and much closer) farm than last year, so we weren't able to recreate the "how tall this fall" exactly.  They did have their own sign that we took pictures near.  Jake had a blast! 

 After the farm, I made a combination of my dad and Ben's mom's chili recipe.  We invited Carolyn and her family over for dinner and to watch the Notre Dame game.  The chili was great and it was so fun to have friends over.  Jake and Angela had so much fun together.  They would chase each other down the hallway and screech.  Angela tried to show Jake how to walk (she's already taking a few steps at a time on her own).  Jake just watched and would crawl super fast to show her that he's still getting around! They only made it to the second quarter before bed time called for both of them.  Tomorrow we are taking Jake for his first hair cut!  

                                                                             

Getting Ready for Halloween!

Jake and I have been decorating the house for Halloween!  Many of the items I thought I could leave close to the ground are now up high.  Addy and Jake were having a field day with the paper pumpkins and only four out of the six survived!  Addy also got a hold of the bat and put a small hole in it's wing!  Tomorrow we will be going to the pumpkin farm so Jake can pick out his first pumpkin! 

Jake having fun in a bin

We went out to Champs for dinner tonight and Jake is starting to realize that "real" food is much better than baby food.  This concerns me because I want him to keep on baby food at least until we're finished traveling for convenience factors! I had a wrap that had turkey and lots of different veggies in it.  I pulled little pieces off for Jake and he couldn't shovel it in fast enough.