All About Jacob

Remember that in the fall we had to drop soccer because the practices fell on Sundays. We were going to do martial arts, but that turned out to be very pricey.  So we waited for the spring when another soccer organization I had heard about starts back up. I am thrilled to say that we have registered Jacob in the Upward soccer program at Second Baptist Kingwood starting at the end of March.  I am even more thrilled at the way they handle the Kingergarten program, which is that the practices and the games are back to back on Saturdays. Something like 30 minutes of practice and then a 30 minute game.  For working parents this is perfect! This is also great for the kids because honestly by 5 or 6 PM on weekdays Jacob is tired and hungry. 

Jacob is definitely a Big Kid now, he is tall and athletic, all arms and legs and sweaty hair and constant movement.  Like all 6 year old boys he is goofy.  He loves jokes and riddles and slapstick humor.

Even though he's not a pre-schooler anymore, he does still say some pretty funny things. 

• When you are pitching a ball he will say "Throw it underarm" instead of underhand.
• The other day I told him to he didn't need to wear a long-sleeved shirt. He replied, "OK, but I still need long-sleeved pants, right?" 
• He also refers to Oklahoma as "Uncle Homa's", ie. "I am not an Uncle Homa fan, I'm a Texas fan" (good boy!)
• He still says "Out of balance" instead of out of bounds.
• His grandparents are taking a trip soon to "Honk Honk" (Hong Kong)
• He says our president is "Rock Oh Bama"
• He says the first president was "George Washingmachine"

Jacob is reading and sounding out words.
He has made 100% on his spelling words so far this school year and his report cards are great. 
He does not enjoy drawing or coloring, he doesn't take his time with writing or coloring in pictures. 
He is great at counting and math and has his father's good memory.
He loves to play checkers, connect 4, Uno and most any card or board game.
He also loves his DS and to play games on the Wii.
We continue to work with him on his attitude when learning new things, his nature is to get frustrated when he is not fantastic at something the very first time.
In school the only trouble he gets into is "being chatty" and "interupting".  I asked him why he is interupting and he told me that he is usually trying to tell the teacher about sports! (We love his teacher, she is so patient!)

Jacob generally is happy and easy to be around. Every now and then he will have a grumpy attitude but it is usually pretty easy to snap him out of it.  More than anything if we get onto him it is for being LOUD. Man is that kid loud. Or for just being a little too wild indoors (i.e trying to play full court basketball with Aidan in Miss Jessica's playroom! Sorry again about that Miss Jessica!)

He is still someone that loves routine and a schedule and he still does best when he knows what to expect.
I love it that he can tell time! If you have a kid that is wired to like planning and scheduling and that kid can tell time, then suddenly life gets much easier. I can tell him, 'OK from 3 to 4 we will nap, at 4 we will get up and take showers and get dressed, at 5 we will leave for the restaurant' and it just all flows nicely and he does what he is supposed to do with no problems.

He is not totally grown up, it will suprise me still sometimes if he starts crying, for instance if he doesn't get his choice at a restaurant or can't stay up late to finish a basketball game on TV.   I have to remember that he is only six and six is still pretty little in the scheme of things. 

I love it that he is not too big to do some little kid things.

He is not too big to:
Let me kiss him bye in the mornings
Sit in my lap for a story
Be carried in if he falls asleep in the car
Get excited over little things (ice cream, seeing an eagle or pretty sunset, feeding the turtles)
Cry if he gets hurt
Be tucked in and say "I love you" at night.

Found it

The missing camera has been found. I know you all were worried about that!

Given an hour…

I can do a LOT of cooking.  Here is what I got done today after church:

Browned & Seasoned 1 pound of ground chicken, then a pound of ground beef, then 1.25 pounds Italian sausage. I do these all in one pot, one right after the other, starting with the most mild flavored and ending with the most flavored.  While one is cooling/draining I start the next, then bag them all into ziplocks, label and pop them into the freezer. 

After the Italian sausage I added water to the pot (without rinsing) and boiled pasta for lasagna casserole (Which despite the name is made with rotini pasta).

Meanwhile I prepped two cloves of garlic and a pound of fresh green beans.  After emptying out the pasta and water I added garlic, olive oil and butter to the hot pan (note I still haven’t had to wash the pan and I’ve only used the one pan) then sauté the green beans for about 8 minutes until green and tender-crisp. Once done I set them off to the side in a pyrex dish for tonight’s dinner. ( I never store anything hot in plastic if I can help it, except for gallon freezer Ziploc's but even then I let it cool down a lot first)

I also rough chopped an onion, then placed a pork roast and a full bottle of BBQ sauce, and then a bottle full of water into a crockpot set on low for 8 hours.  The resulting pulled pork BBQ will become empanada filling.

I also cut up some chicken, rolled it in Dijon mustard and then into equal parts bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. These went onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, covered in foil and into the fridge (the beans and chicken were for tonight’s dinner, if not I would have put the entire cookie sheet into the freezer and then after they were frozen I would have moved them into Ziplocs.)

I went ahead and put together the lasagna casserole with the pasta, half the sausage, some cottage cheese, 1 can of V-8 and half a jar of red sauce all topped with mozzarella. This is sitting in the fridge ready to bake off later in the week.

Then I took a 30 minute power nap before getting outside into the glorious weather with my family!

Tonight before dinner I mixed up my first ever batch of empanada dough. I really hope it is good because it used up a lot of ingredients, nearly 4 cups of flour, 2 eggs, 2 sticks of butter (that’s a double batch) After the horrible horrible pretzels incident I am really wary of using up that much on an untried recipe.  The dough is chilling in the fridge, realistically it may be a few days until I have time to form the empanadas – I really hope it will be tasty!

This picture is from my phone, I can’t find my real camera! Ach.

On a completely other note, there is a park at the back of Kingwood that I somehow have never heard about before. Last Friday night we heard all about it at a dinner party and so on Saturday Bella and I grabbed a subway sandwich and went to check it out.

Again, the camera is umm. well, let’s just say it isn’t where it should be at the moment, so these are also from the phone.  It was so calm and beautiful, I had no idea there was a huge park like this in Kingwood! Bella and I walked out past the prairie and a little ways into the woods. But it was getting late so we had to head back home.  Not the best snap of Bella, but the phone is slow and takes the picture a few beats after you think it will.

If this is how it looks in February, I can’t wait to visit again in Spring!  It was so peaceful and quiet (well except for kids and dogs) – my soul felt restored!

Will’s 40th Birthday Party

 

Our Birthday Boy

We invited everyone out to join us at Tin Roof BBQ in Humble. It was casual and fun.  I worried and fretted over the weather, but the rain held off. It was cool and breezy but not too cold that we couldn’t enjoy ourselves.

Jacob and Aiden bonded over Mario Cart

Bella, Joanna and Anna take the stage

My sweet girlfriends (and James) – aren’t they beautiful?

Bob and Leigh came from Austin with Cousin Lulu

Our good friends (Ryan works with Will) joined us – we’re so glad they have moved to Kingwood!

The Pence girls – sooo photogenic!

There’s Emma – what a cutie pie!

(Total sidebar - These are the little girl’s names that were there: Anabel, Luella, Emma, Anna, Joanna & Natalie – doesn’t it sound like it could be a list of names from a hundred years ago? I love all those classic old fashioned names!)

The highlight of the night – cake balls from April’s Tasty Treats. She is local and on Facebook.  These were phenomenal – we will certainly be ordering from her again!

Bella and Luella are such sweet loving cousins – they had a great time playing Princess.

Thanks everyone for making Will’s special birthday a true celebration of all that makes life wonderful – family, food, friends and fellowship.

Birthday...still playing catch up from December

December 28th I turned 38. I don’t get too hung up on getting older. I mean, it happens and I still feel like the same me on the inside.

We were off from work all that week and had a fun day. We decided to go to the zoo.  There is a whole new section – it is really neat. If you have been to Animal Kingdom at Disney  - it is a lot more like that than any other part of the zoo where the restaurants and paths and every part is themed. 

The next day we went to San Antonio with Will’s parents. We stayed down by the river walk.  It was special to take Jacob out on the River Walk boat during Christmas to see all the lights. I remember going when I was a kid.

(OK – I just have to say this – notice how when I am not in humid icky Houston weather that my hair actually looks nice!)

Bella was asleep back in the hotel room with Grandma.

The lights were so pretty but I had a hard time getting decent pictures.

The next morning Will and his parents had a meeting to go to, and I took the kids over to my Aunt and Uncle’s house to visit my grandparents.  Jacob and my Uncle played checkers.

Then we left San Antonio and went to Austin for a few days.  In Austin we rented a little house and had a little party to celebrate my birthday some more.

We had my parents, Will’s parents, Will’s brother and my sister in law and my sister in law’s sister, and their parents, oh and some cousins too.

Do I look snookered in this picture? I wasn’t really (no really) I just get mushy over making birthday wishes and was so pleased to have everyone come out and was thinking about making a wish.

The night after this one was New Year’s eve. I don’t have a single picture but Will and I went out with Robert and Leigh to a little house party and had a great time, the party had fire pits on the back deck and Will and I started 2011 with a toast, and a kiss by firelight under the stars.  A perfect beginning to a new year I think.

Well I for one am a bit nonplussed

At least where we are – we have not seen any snow. Will says he could see some in the air today but not anything that would stick. All we got was a few icicles here and there. My poor kids are so disappointed.  I had to work today (from home) but Will and the kids were both off.  It was a cold stuck inside all day kind of day.  The kids watched movies (Princess and the Frog, Scooby Doo, Dora) and Jacob played his DS (he likes Mario Cart) and I worked and read.

We did have excitement of another kind. Last night our washing machine started leaking.  This is upsetting because it is only 5 years old! What happened to the days when a washer would last a decade or more?!  Will looked at it and declared that it wasn’t a cheaply fixable thing (the wall of the pump had actually cracked or something????) Ugg. I hate unplanned expenses. Even though we have savings to take care of life’s road bumps, it still makes me mad!

So…Will headed off today and came home a hero in my book.  He found a beautiful new washer dryer set (although he had to go to two different places each piece was at a different store).  Both were last year’s floor models with minor dents and were HALF the original price and then he talked them down even more on each one.  I was so proud of him.  One of the dents is on the side that faces the wall so no one will ever see it, the other dent is on the front and is literally like the size of a dime! Hah.  I love love love them! They are so shiny and pretty and they will save water and power. 

Now we are back in business as far as washing clothes goes and the kids really had a blast with the bubble pack.  They lined it up end to end down the hallway and ran up and down it. Jacob called it his “popsicle course” (I think he meant obstacle course but then it “pops” so popsicle course, he’s a wordsmith that one)

Sorry you will have to tilt your head – I don’t know how to flip the video…

Fun with bubble pack