Good Times With Dad

I love to help daddy with whatever he's doing. It might be work to him but to me it's fun. Can you tell from my smile.

This was taken at Sea World. I actually wore a hat but as you can see I like to wear it kinda low. The flowers are so pretty and they smell really good too. Mommy noticed some Gardenia trees and smelled them every time we passed one.

This was Easter Sunday at Abby's cousins house. Their cat actually let us pet it. She's big and fluffy and purrs when you pet her. She doesn't run away from you either.

I really really liked this princess jeep. So much so that after they unplugged the battery I figured out how to plug it back in. Daddy gave me a high five for that one.

My Easter basket. The Easter Bunny left a little stub from his carrot. He must have been hungry. Thank you Easter Bunny for my chocolate bunny.

Exuce me everybody while I pick a little something here. I was admiring my freckle but something started to tickle and now I'm digging for it.

Look at my blue tongue. It's blue from my lollipop that the bank teller gave me.

I was helping daddy plant some flowers and then I got distracted with some play.

Jake just loves his Aunt Maine. We rented a bounce house for the backyard for Jake's 3rd birthday. He had an absolute blast. This little boy loves to bounce! Here he is opening presents with the help of little Mikey and Emily.

Saying "Thank you for my presents everybody."

With daddy. his best friend.

Me, Tara and Jake jumping around after the party. Mike's behind the camera. This bouncing is quite a workout. No wonder Jake is pooped for days after.

Jake and Uncle David, his godfather. Jake is always excited when he comes over and Uncle David loves to play with him.

Jake had such a good time at this place. Trains trains everywhere make for a completely happy little bear. These people really get into this stuff.

Over the Christmas Holiday

A special note: since we bought a new computer I have had problems uploading pictures and video. So, I tried for like an hour to put some video up but wouldn't you know I sucked up most of the battery just on that and its on power saver. So I hope that pictures are enough for now.


Tara and Kristi gave Jake this Mickey Mouse fishing game for Christmas. Now he says "Mommy, want to play fishing with me?" He loves it but doesn't quite play by the rules. Everyone else catches the fish and he takes them for his own pile. I'm not sure if everyone knows this but Tara has taken an incredible interest in photography and took this picture of Kristi and Jake. Too bad we're not good enough to get a precious one of her with Jake.
So we started the tradition of making a gingerbread house for the holidays every year. Even Tara said "how did it turn out so well," when she found out that Mike and Jake made it. Me, I did the prep and clean up. Jake tried to eat some of the candies and actually did; not caring that they were hard as rocks.

He loves to play in the yard. Often, he will walk over to the hose and start playing and pretending. Then he says "I want to get wet mommy, I want to get wet." I usually wait for Mike to get home because it often becomes a big job. Also, there's no one he would rather play with than daddy. There are lots of videos of the same play day but, hey, that's what I have.

At 'Funtastic Playland'

I discovered another indoor playground for Jake.

The Petting Zoo

The last time dad and Kathie came for a visit they wanted to go to the San Antonio Zoo. At the time it was too cold. So months go by and Jake becomes more interested in more things. I decide to take a trial test to the zoo before they come back for their next visit. Well Jake had a blast. He loved the hippopotamuses and the monkeys. The butterfly garden too. I think he truly enjoyed everything. They have a petting zoo for kids but it only has the goats you see in the pictures. He was apprehensive at first until mommy started petting the animals. Then he became very interested in the tails and the little holes underneath. He would tickle the tails just to see them wiggle and then giggle himself.

Monkey Joe's

Now I've been taking Jake to these inflatable places for a couple of months now trying to scope out the best ones. Turns out I have to go to Georgia for the cleanest and best one yet. They even have a rest area for the parent with recliners, a giant flat screen and ports for your laptop. Needless to say the kids, all of them, had a blast and fell asleep on the way back to Blairsville.
Madison and Jake were having a wrestling match with a helpless giraffe. Then Jake proceeded to drink all of one of the other kids drinks. If you look at the video you can get a sense of the size of these slides compared to the kids.

Vacation to Georgia

Mike took these pictures of Jake and the tractor. Said "his eyes got so big when he saw that thing and he did not want to get off of it." Anything that has a steering wheel he wants to drive. He loved to walk around and look at all the different country stuff. On the way there however all he wanted was out of his car seat. He slept maybe two hours the whole way there and keep in mind we drive overnight. That was not a fun part of the vacation. But then again the driving never is.

These other pictures are from the Cabbage Patch Hospital. He kept going back to the miniature town set up with a train, a lake and a waterfall. After that he kept going back to the school lunchroom. He kept trying to eat the fake pizza from one of the Cabbage Patch kids trays. Turns out he was starving since he hadn't had much for breakfast. Anyway, the trip was fun for him and not for me. Luckily we went to lunch after this.

Happy Birthday Tara

We took a lot video but this one is my favorite. I hope everyone else thinks it's cute too.

Re: Just for Tara

Correction
For those of you who have seen the 'Just for Tara' video. After going back and watching and listening a couple of times I think Jake really did say "miss you" like Mike thought. Tough to tell but he didn't say "my turn" until cued by me. Sorry Tara. Jake is getting much better at saying your name. He points to pictures and names Tara, Kristi, Mommy and of course Daddy most of all.

Things that go bump and jump

While we had central air and heat installed at the house I had to find places to take Jake to keep him occupied for about a week. This is a place called 'Fiddlesticks.' It's an indoor playground. They even have a couple of rooms divided by half walls; one is an art room where the kids can color with chalk on walls or color at tables or even paint and the other room is like a sand box. It was filled with what I think was refined plastic from old tires. Mike said "Why do you guys smell like plastic?" when we got home. They had a boat in there and dinasaur fossils you could dig up and even child size working excavators. The rest of the place was open with all kinds of stuff. Playhouses, musical instruments, the same clubhouse we have in our backyard, tools, dolls, etc. We can bring our own food and eat in the designated areas. And of course the ride in the video. All of this in the AIR CONDITIONING. I know the ride doesn't look like much but the little ones just love it.

San Antonio Children's Museum

Here we are at the Children's Museum of San Antonio. We bought the yearly membership and it has paid off. Jake loves this place. On the top floor they have a miniature airport with a plane and all. The kids can play pilot to ticket agent to baggage handler. On the main level is the bubble room which we usually need a change of clothes for and the basement level is revolving. Last season they had a 'Jump to Japan' exhibit and the new one has something to do with trains. I'm taking Jake tomorrow so we'll have to update the blog again soon.

The Big Slide

This video was taken at 'Inflatable Wonderland' in The Rolling Oaks Mall. Jake is jumping in the stairwell and the slides are on either side. They have about 15 different inflatables. Some had slides, some had obstacle courses. Lots and lots of benches for the parents to sit on because we aren't allowed on the inflatables. They also have a mini movie theater with a pretty big screen and some arcade games. He had such a good time and was very mad at me for taking him out. Not for long though. We started driving for about 30 seconds when I looked in the rearview mirror and watched him pass out. He was sooo tired. Mike cannot wait to take him. I think it's because he wants to sneak onto the rides.

Just for Tara

This one is just for Tara. The video is too big to send through e-mail and some of you may not even be able to download it at all. Tara, I hope you are able to download and save this one because I'm probably going to delete from the site since its kind of big, but I wanted you to be able to see it.

The Summer Begins

So we decided to bring out Jake's pool but discovered overnight that it was deflating. We went out and bought the same pool, different color. Needless to say that now we can't go outside without wanting to go in the pool. Jake just loves to splash. I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of pool toys and the biggest hits were the blow up beach ball and the sinking dive toys. On extra special days daddy gets into the pool with him and that makes for an extra happy Jakester and a cooled off Eskimo (Mike).

Barbeque at Arts House

Jake and Abby playing with bubble makers. It's amazing how bubbles can entertain the little people. While Art was grilling the meat we all sat out on the patio. It's covered and the weather was breezy. It turned out to be a nice day. This part of the yard was a nice spot to take pictures of the kids. The little ones have started calling the toys "mine" but have been doing well at sharing.

This is Abbygale's kitchen. It's on the porch in the shade. The doorbell works and well that's another button for Jake. They ate their lunch here and played peek-a-boo through the window with me. There are two little seats inside, a sink with a faucet and a phone. Also there's a mail slot right underneath the doorbell.

Here's Jake sitting in Abby's wagon. Abby tried pulling Jake, the wagon didn't budge. After we got in the car and down the street Jake passed out and was pooped for the rest of the night.

May 4th, 2008

For any of you who have ever been around Jake, you already know how much he likes to play with buttons. Well, he got hold of the camera and just started pushing away. This was the best picture he took of himself. I love the thumb!
He loves to be outside with daddy. Here he is helping daddy water the flowers out front. "outside with daddy, outside with daddy."
This is Jake's cousin Abbygale, Art and Cheryl's daughter. We had the family over for dinner while David was down from Houston for a couple days. Jake didn't want to do anything without Uncle David and kept calling "Uncle David, Uncle David." Even after David went back home he kept calling for him. Jake and Abby had a good time playing with just about every toy in the house. Jake would call "Abby, where are you. Abby, where are you?" Mike and I just loved seeing Jake so happy playing with another little person. He had a really good time.