Julie's First Birthday!

Silly Hats

Jake's 3rd Birthday, Spiderman Style

More Halloween Pictures

Pre-Halloween Fun

At the beginning of October we had a free rental and so we rented a Dora Halloween special. Ever since Jake watched that show, we are going Halloween crazy at our house!

Hugs!

Looking at each other is always more fun than looking at the camera!

It's hard to find a time when Jake isn't smiling, but asking him to stop looking at the pumpkins so I could take a picture definitely creates one of those moments.

For yesterday:

Jake - His love and enthusiasm for pumpkins, and Halloween in general, made me smile all day.

Julie - Slept through the night!



For Today:

Jake - He finally learned how to hold up just two fingers to say how old he is . . . I wonder what will happen with that after his birthday here in a few months. He was so proud of himself!

Julie - Not being shy around Grandma Terri this time, and showing off her walking abilities. This happened with Jake too, but I am still amazed at how easily babies pick themselves up and try again whenever they fall (definitely something I can work on).

Can't Sleep

Today in Relief Society, someone made a great comment about President Eyring's talk in conference asking us to remember God's hand in all things. She mentioned how their daughter has started keeping a happiness journal for each of her two kids. I know 'happy moments' are slightly different from what President Eyring was talking about, but I'm going work my way up to what he had in mind. I started a happiness journal for myself, and a lot of my happy moments are about my kids, but I sat in bed tonight thinking how great it would be for each of my kids to have a book of happy thoughts about them when they grow up. So, until I get a book, I figure a blog will do (especially for 12:55 a.m.).

Jake - Lately when he gets hurt he will tell me, "No, go see doctor!" instead of letting me kiss his boo-boo better. Well, tonight he pretended to be a doctor and kiss his own boo-boo better. He's so independent!

Julie - Her smile is definitely a happy moment in someone's life every day. What made me smile the most about her today is when she started babbling, "Da da da da." She's done it maybe one other time so far, but it sure is cute to hear!

Happy Birthday Grandma Terri

The cake Jake helped Mommy make and remake many times that day.

Julie modeling the t-shirt uncle Brian sent to Mom for her birthday. It's the same t-shirt he wore when he helped cleanup the Ohio floods this summer.

Jake 'helped' Grandma Terri open every single one of her presents.

My Mom's birthday wish - to have someone else take a picture of her, how I got roped into it I'll never know! :)

Pumpkin Patch!

We are having our family pictures taken in a few weeks and hopefully a professional can get us all to smile at the same time!

Jake loved looking for his very own pumpkin. He went through most of the pumpkin patch before we realized he was looking for a clean pumpkin! Once we told him he could clean it off when we got home he found one pretty quick.

This was our 'hay ride' down to the pumpkin patch. I should have taken a picture of the horses because Jake's favorite part of the ride was watching the horses pull us through the mud.

We finally reached the end of the corn maze (you can see it on the right), and Jake takes off down the road all by himself.

Daddy looking awfully silly in his warm, red hat!

Jacob's New Firsts

I thought we had run out of new things for Jacob to have 'firsts' with, but I guess he wanted to prove me wrong this week. He finally learned how to open the refrigerator door. A few minutes ago I thought he was still taking his nap and heard something in the kitchen . . . and this is what I found. :) If only I hadn't bought that tub of chocolate chip cookie dough at Costco, maybe he wouldn't have been so motivated!



Another thing that he has started doing this week (which is also cute but somewhat agitating at the same time) is climbing into Julie's crib anytime he's awake and she's taking a nap. She's smiling in the picture but it's not always such a happy outcome. I tend to find them with books and toys in there too. Maybe I wasn't so deprived after all by not having an older brother!


On Friday this week, right before Jake and I headed to the mailbox, I asked him to get the letters from Daddy. He disappeared for a minute and then walked around the corner carrying a bunch of his alphabet magnets from the fridge. Ok, maybe that's not really a 'first' but it was pretty cute.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy turned 30 on Saturday, so we had a busy week getting ready. Nanna, Bumpa, Uncle Travis (who is now known as Uncle Spiderman), Aunt Amanda, Coen and Levi all came down to help celebrate with us. We had so much fun while they were here!

Go Mariners!

Steckers

We went to Seattle to watch Daddy's triathlon and got to hang out with Nanna and Bumpa as well as the Stecker cousins.

Fletcher Family Gathering

About two weeks ago, we got together with the Fletcher's. Here's some pictures!